St. Charles wins first North/South Shootout
St. Charles’ boys lacrosse team won Saturday and Sunday’s inaugural North/South Shootout hosted by Wheaton North and Wheaton Warrenville South.
In a Sunday semifinal at Red Grange Field in Wheaton, St. Charles held on for a 5-4 victory over Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley. The game was delayed for 30 minutes with 1:18 remaining because of lightning.
St. Charles met Wheaton Warrenville South in the title game. The Tigers had advanced by beating Wheaton North 4-3 in overtime on a Ryan McNeill goal with 26 seconds left in the extra session.
“I think we stepped up in these games and did a lot better than we we had in practice,” Wheaton Warrenville South senior defender Jacob Kazar said. “Our fastbreak game is one of the best things we can do as a team. We picked it up (Saturday) and then started slow (Sunday) with the rain, but then we picked it up again.”
In the title game, Scott Blouin put the Tigers ahead of St. Charles, but St. Charles answered with 4 straight goals to take 4-1 lead. St. Charles held on for a 5-3 victory and finished 5-0 in the tournament. The Tigers finished 4-1.
“I told the guys that when you go 5-0 you have to play good,” St. Charles coach Andy Thompson said. “You don’t get many times to say you’re a champion, so I wanted to make sure they understood that and could have fun with it.”
Brian Sullivan scored three times in the championship to lead St. Charles.
“We were able to move the ball well,” Sullivan said. “We were able to get into the crease and go 1-on-1 with the goalie and we were patient. Coach Thompson preaches patience and we did a good job of controlling the ball.”
Wheaton North finished 2-2 in the tournament. The Falcons fell to St. Charles 9-1 on Saturday but bounced back to beat Naperville Central 9-5 and Naperville North 9-4 before falling to Wheaton Warreville South in overtime Sunday.
“It was definitely a learning experience,” Wheaton North coach Chris Weed said. “We’re only at about 25 percent of where we’ll end up being at the end of the season with our offense, defense and clears, but it was good to get a lot of guys a chance to play.”
Waubsonie Valley/Metea Valley also finished 2-2.
“It was a good chance to see our offensive and defensive schemes,” Waubonsie Valley coach Mike Julius said. “This month is like a tryout kind of situation where we can sort of see where we’re at right now.”
Neuqua Valley bounced back after a 1-2 start Saturday and defeated Naperville Central 11-4 and Naperville North 8-7 on Sunday. The Wildcats finished 3-2 in the tournament.
Rounding out the tournament teams were Naperville Central (1-3) and Warren (0-4).
“I think it was a good tournament for everybody,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Mike Blouin said. “It gave everyone an opportunity to get some early season games without any real pressure.”
Libertyville tops New Trier for Oak Park title: Libertyville won Saturday’s 12-team Oak Park preseason tournament, winning five makeshift games — including a 4-3 decision in the title game against New Trier, which has won six straight Illinois High School Lacrosse Association championships.
“It was a good day. Everyone on the roster got playing time and we won the tournament,” Libertyville coach Brady Sullivan said. “It was just a scrimmage, but we’ve been working hard and the kids looked sharp.”
Libertyville won against Oak Park and River Forest and twice against Hoffman Estates, once with starters playing and the other with the backups taking over. Libertyville utilized most of its roster in a win against Evanston in the semifinals before edging New Trier.
“We were able to play all eight of our defenders, all six of our attackmen and most of our middies,” Sullivan said. “We played unselfish.”
In addition to being pleased with how well the team played together as a unit, Sullivan praised the work of senior goalkeeper Griffin Adams.
“His save percentage was 75 percent which is really, really high,” he said. “Against teams like Evanston and New Trier, 60 percent would be really good and he was at 75 percent.”
Libertyville will take on Grayslake Central on Tuesday and then has a big early-season matchup with Lake Forest before heading to Louisville over the weekend for a spring break trip.
Stevenson was also at Oak Park on Saturday and finished 1-2, falling to Glenbrook North and New Trier and beating Glenbard West 4-1.
“We’ve got about 15 new players and 11 returners, so we’re young,” Stevenson coach Brian Larsen said. “It gave us a chance to play a lot guys. We’ve got a lot of talent, but we’re young, but I think we’ll be pretty strong.”
Cadets make the cut for coach: There was a great deal of attention directed at Marmion last fall thanks to the great success of the football team — which advanced to the 6A title game in Champaign. At around the same time, Marmion lacrosse coach Kevin Griffin was diagnosed with an aggressive form of colon cancer. Understandably, the news rocked the lacrosse team hard.
Griffin underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments, which he scheduled in such a way that would allow him to return in time for this spring’s season. During these treatments, several of the Cadets told Griffin that when he lost his hair they wanted to shave their own heads to show solidarity and support of his battle.
Turns out Griffin never lost his hair — but next Sunday, several Cadets will.
Players have been gathering sponsors for a Cut of Colon Cancer, which has been scheduled at Marmion on Sunday from noon-4 p.m. Players will have their heads shaved by stylists from Balderas Salon in Aurora, which has donated the services of six stylists. The money raised will benefit the Colon Cancer Alliance, the oldest and largest national patient advocacy organization dedicated to ending the suffering caused by colorectal cancer.
If you interested in supporting this worthy cause, please contact Laura Glonek at (630) 588-8681.
Bartlett bones up on the rulebook: Bartlett lost 20 seniors to graduation, so the Hawks will be young this season. While instructing and coaching are primary duties of coach Mike Steichen, he also knows that he’ll be fielding plenty of questions from parents about the rules of the sport. While lacrosse continues to grow, many players still enter high school with limited experience. And as they learn the game, so are their parents.
“I find myself explaining to a lot of moms and parents about slashing and stick checking,” Steichen said. “They see people running down the field and smacking them and they can’t understand why it’s allowed. It’s a judgment call and as long as you’re aggressive with the hands and hit the hands of the stick, you’re fine.”
The IHSA has a new protocol for concussions through the National Federation of High School Sports which states, “Any athlete who exhibits signs and symptoms of behaviors consistent with a concussion (such as a loss of consciousness, headache, dizziness, confusion, or balance problems) shall be immediately removed from the contest and shall not return to play until cleared by an appropriate health care professional.”
Additionally, Steichen said officials will pay special attention to the conduct on the field to minimize head injuries.
“I think they’re going to be very concerned with watching for hits to the head and neck,” he said. “The high check might get an unnecessary roughness and I would think they’re going to error on the side of caution.”
Fremd enjoys break from practice: Fremd’s players were getting antsy chasing after and beating up each other in practice, so they had no problem heading into Chicago to face Harlan on Tuesday. The Vikings overpowered the Falcons 17-1.
“The guys could use the work before spring break and we wanted them to stay focused, so it was good to play a different-colored jersey,” Fremd coach Tony Medina said. “(Harlan) called to see if we wanted to play and we were getting stir crazy. It ended up being a beautiful day and a good opportunity.”
The Vikings will continue practicing during spring break but won’t resume action until they face Palatine on March 30. Having lost only a few seniors from last year’s team, Medina believes the Palatine contest will give the Vikings a better idea of where they stand this spring.
“It’ll be good to see where we stand, even if it’s so early in the season,” he said.
Defense should keep the Vikings in most contests, including their last line of defense in third-year starting goalkeeper Nick Klein. They also have standout Nate Serviss, a potential Division I recruit, leading the midfield.