A Long Weekend in Lincoln
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Game 1 vs Lincoln Rampage Varsity
We gathered at Valley Southwoods on the morning of Saturday, March 28, 2009 and divided the players into small groups in preparation for our drive to Nebraska’s capital city. The University of Nebraska hosted its annual “Border War” high school lacrosse tournament featuring teams from Lincoln, Omaha, the Kansas City area, and for the first time ever, West Des Moines.
After some schedule shuffling by UNL, we were slated to face the home team, Rampage, at 2:00 pm. Arriving on campus a little before 1:00 pm, we searched for two things – our field and a restroom. We found two fields, one of which was empty while the other had both a game and restrooms. A little pit stop later we headed back to the empty field to prepare for our game.
The long drive looked to have taken its toll on our players, as they seemed a bit stiff early on. Goals came tit-for-tat as our teams took turn scoring. Every quarter ended with a tied score. Luckily we took the lead in the fourth quarter and held on for the remainder of the game to win 7-6.
Downtime
Following the post-game handshake, we checked in to our hotel and the players were instructed to clean up. While I updated the website, Coach Zach met with the players. Shortly thereafter we partook in a pizza dinner during which I witnessed the frightening scene of 20 high school kids storming pizza boxes like a plague of locusts. I’m still having nightmares…
We then headed back to campus to watch the University of Arkansas lax club take on the Huskers. The Hogs came in with only three players on their bench, but more guys trickled in as the game went on (they were no doubt lost in Lincoln’s maze of winding one way roads). The game stayed fairly close early on thanks mostly to the efforts of Matt Anderson of Arkansas (Seton Hall Prep, West Orange, NJ).
While focusing primarily on attack, Anderson played the entire field through out the game – including a stint with a long pole during a man down situation. Anderson was active on each of the Razorback’s points in the 10-6 loss. The man never left the field…
Game 2 vs St. Thomas Aquinas
Coach Zach was marginally familiar with St. Thomas Aquinas coming into the game; a few of his former Kansas State teammates played there in high school. We received a brief scouting report from some of his former teammates who were coaching another KC area team participating in the tournament. Based on our early information, we thought we would stand a fair chance against the Saints.
The game started fairly evenly with the first quarter ending with the teams tied at one. Aside from shoddy refereeing (a Husker lax player filled in to the best of his abilities for the scheduled ref who was MIA), we did not look too bad early on. Granted there was some grogginess and all around unprepared looks coming from our boys, no doubt the result of a late night of goofing around at the hotel…
When we came into the second quarter, something drastic happened. Valley kept playing fairly well (other than a few missed passes), but the Saints shot to life. Gillman clears seemed to confuse our attack’s ride and left our defense fairly flatfooted. Their assault was relentless and they tacked on eight goals while we managed a fat goose egg.
More of the same came in the third quarter; it ended 5-0. We stepped it up in the final quarter as our defense once again became stingy. Our bench received plenty of rotation and the boys received a unique learning experience in the 14-1 loss.
From my understanding (the scores are almost impossible to find), the other Nebraska League teams also fared poorly against the more established Kansas teams…
Game 3 vs Papio LaVista Varsity
Our final game was originally scheduled to be against Kansas powerhouse Blue Valley West. For some reason, the Jaguars had to cancel at the last minute which resulted in us facing another Nebraska League varsity squad (judging by the Saints game, this may not have been such a bad thing). We drew Papio, whom we scouted last week in their game against Creighton. Knowing their strengths and weaknesses before hand would be helpful indeed.
I’m not sure if it was the whooping we took that morning or if it was the cat naps the boys took between games, but a completely different Valley team stepped onto the field against the boys in maroon. We came in with a strong focus and left the first quarter with a goal advantage.
As the game wore on, we continued our assault on our way to scoring ten goals. Our passing was better than it had been all weekend. Shots were precise and well timed. Penalties were in check (only one versus nine and seven in our other games this weekend and eleven total last weekend). Grazi was actually running with a full head of steam, which resulted in a pretty sick goal (he also managed an assist). Papio scored five goals, but we were clearly the better performing team; the scoreboard and stats speak for themselves. It was a good way to end our road trip.
As a result of this tournament, Valley is undefeated against Nebraska teams. The Saints gave us our only loss, but they also gave us a benchmark to improve our game. On a side note, all four wins this season have come in our white jerseys. We wore black against the gold-clad Saints...