LALL Wolverines lose to Pali High Varsity in LA Watts Games, first ever, Lacrose Championship, 5-1.

 

Small in numbers, the Wolverine team we entered in the LA Watts games was big on desire and effort as we made it past Glendale 4-3 in the quarter finals and Torrance 4-0 in the semi to make it to the first LA Watts Lacrosse Championship game where we lost to the 2009 Palisades Charter High School Varsity Team (yes, they had graduated Sr’s playing as allowed by the LA Watts Games rules) who were the undefeated (12-0) winner of the CIF CA CITY League Championship, 5-1.

 

Each of our opponents in the play-offs had at least 20 players on their squad, which provided ample subs on a hot and humid Saturday at Los Angeles Southwest College grass field.  Rising HW Sophomore Goalie Matt Mantel won the sportsmanship award for the second place Wolverines.  The long pole defense was anchored by HW rising Sr. Henry Mantel and rising Jr. Alec Caso while the midfield was represented by HW rising Sr. Joe Edwards and rising Jr’s. Daniel Edelstein and Will Oliver.  HW rising Sophomore Evan Meister started out at Attack and then volunteered to play long pole along side his HW team mates as the team was short qualified long poles.  The team was rounded out by Pali rising freshman attackman: Daniel Gurvis, Nick Jaffe and Brentwood rising freshman David Ruxin and by midfielder’s: Pali rising Jr.’s Blake Bower and  Hayden Cook. Needless-to-say, we were out numbered in every match but we were NEVER out manned! These guys worked their tale ends off!

 

Coach Bryan and Charlie were very proud of the way these young men performed.  It would have been easy for them to concede victory to our opponents as we were not only out numbered but we were also, on average, considerably younger than each of the teams we faced. Yet, the coaches felt they had the advantage in the early contests in that our small, young squad had more desire and demonstrated more heart and effort than did their opponents. Plus, the Wolverines had better lax skills and were much better coached than were their opponents! Our players did an excellent job of sharing the responsibilities for each of the positions. Everyone took turns running midfield shifts allowing team mates to take necessary breaks to catch their breath and get oxygen to their aching muscles.

 

We were thrilled to be in the finals vs a much bigger, faster, and older Pali TEAM – Coach Hylen indicated that most of their players had been playing together for 2 years! But, we made the finals non-the-less!

 

We congratulate Pali on a well deserved win. We only could imagine what the result could have been had we had a full complement of players.  Well, there’s always next year!

• Leigh Jester, Duke Univeristy, 2007,  Member, US National Team, 2006 named IWLCA/US Lacrosse and Inside Lacrosse All-America lists, IWLCA All-South first team, National Player of the Week by Inside Lacrosse and womenslacrosse.com on April 10, 2006, All-ACC team, LALL U14 Coach

• Ashleigh Haas, University of Virgina, 2005, 2004 NCAA Division I National Champion, ACC Tournement Champion, ACC Tournement MVP, HS All-American 2000, 2001, LALL U14 Coach