St. Charles residents win national event
St. Charles lacrosse was well represented at Dick's Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions in Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 5-6.
Six St. Charles players played key roles on the Team Illinois U-17 National Championship team.
Teams qualified by winning one of 18 tournaments throughout the country this past summer and fall. Team Illinois went 5-0 in the tournament and defeated the hometown favorites, Tampa Tribe, 11-2 in the championship game.
The team included sophomores Taylor Coughlin, Ben Dvorak, Chad Ellis, Dominic Imbordino, Pat Killeen and freshman Pat McGushin. Billy Rawson was also on the team this summer when they qualified, but was unavailable due to wrestling season.
Offensively, Coughlin, Dvorak and Ellis accounted for 20 of the teams 58 goals. Defensively, Imbordino and Killeen accounted for over 70 percent of the team's ground balls and takeaways and helped goalkeeper McGushin post the only shutout in the tournament while holding opponents to 10 goals during the entire tournament.
Men's basketball
Lancaster reaches 250:ŒAurora University men's basketball coach James Lancaster earned his 250th career victory Wednesday with the Spartans' 72-61 win over Northern Athletics Conference opponent Concordia University, Chicago.
With the victory, Lancaster continued to add to his legacy at AU. In January of 2006, Lancaster surpassed Don Holler for the most wins as men's coach in AU history (208). Holler was 207-154 in 14 years as the coach before Lancaster succeeded him in 1994.
During his tenure as the men's head coach, Lancaster has amassed a composite record of 250-105 (.704), which is the highest winning percentage of any men's basketball coach at AU. Entering the 2007-2008 season, Lancaster was 24th in wins among the NCAA men's basketball active coaches and 25th in winning percentage all-time.
His Spartans won back-to-back titles in the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference in 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 and again in 2003-2004 and 2004-2005. He also led the men's program to their first ever NCAA Division III playoff appearance in 1998 and his team repeated that performance in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007. In 2005, AU hosted their first NCAA men's basketball tournament game and did so again in 2007.
The Spartans return to action Saturday when they host Concordia University, Wisconsin on AU Partnership School Day. Game time is set for 4:15 p.m. in Thornton Gymnasium.