Seattle Starz, Take Western Title at Sonoma Shootout!

 Sonoma, California- The Seattle Starz brought two teams down to what has become, the west coast recruiting event- The Adrenaline Sonoma Shootout.  The Seattle Starz program has been bringing teams to this event for the last two years, and for three years prior, I took them as Team Washington.  Each year, more competitive teams have joined the Shootout, and each year, Seattle has brought more competitive teams down to compete.

 This year, the Starz brought two teams down to participate in the High School and the Elite brackets of the tournament in an effort to help get the 40+ college coaches to see some of the young talent in the Northwest.  This year would be the best to date, with the Starz Elite team finishing second only to a team of mostly graduated all-stars from Maryland including notable schools Boys Latin, Gilman, and several already enrolled division I players attending Maryland and Virginia.

The tourney was broken into the high school division and Elite division with 24 teams in the elite and 18 teams in the High School division.  Upon arrival on Thursday, A slot opened up in the Elite division, and based on the caliber of talent in the division, the Seattle High School team was moved up to play against the High School elite.  As most of these players have been Varsity players, this seemed like a great opportunity for looks with coaches, as well as playing higher caliber Lacrosse.

Day 1

In order to make the tourney, each division was divided into conferences for bracketing purposes; three for the High School division, and four for the Elite division.  In order to advance into the tournament, each team would have to play a four-game seeding round. Both teams would play in the Elite bracket, and play two games on Thursday.

  The Elite team battled against Team Oregon B first, defeating them 15-3 shaking out the bus ride and travel legs in an effort to test their mettle.  Just a short time later, they would battle a team from Seattle drawing from Bainbridge defeating them 15-1 as the second seeding game ended.

The High School team played the Orange County Starz B team losing in a close contest.  The second seeding game pitted a tough Conejo Valley Starz team against the Seattle Starz High School team.  Seattle led early, but could not stop a late rally costing them the game. 

That was just playing the Lacrosse games- after the scorching Sonoma sun, there were game films breaking down the play of the first game with a college coach.  Both teams were fortunate to have that discussion with none other, Kevin Corrigan, Head Coach of Notre Dame.  This proved a great learning experience for all who attended, and helpful to see the level of coaching a DI coach can provide for players and coaches alike.   After all of this, it was lights out, and time to gear up for day two.

Day 2

Starting the day early, both teams would have a practice session with a college coach, learning drills and working on fine points of the game.  Coaches from Nazareth and Lafayette both contributed feedback and interacted with the kids in a session run like a college practice.  After this, two more seeding games would take place.  The Elite Seattle Starz would battle the tourney favorites to a 7-4 game falling short after a few rebound goals on the crease for the Mermen, and their tremendous goalie play, recording 26 saves. One highlight included Taylor Platt stripping a guy, cracking his stick in half, and running the ball coast to coast with a nice bouncing off-hip shot to score.  Talk about ESPN highlight reel.

The High School team battled two of the best teams in the tourney- Orange County A and Arizona Elite dropping both contests in close scoring battles.  Adam Bowen was a notable performer for the High School team, making tremendous saves on great shots in each game.  In the final seeding game, Seattle Elite played Lake Oswego Elite in a 19-0 game against a classy team. With those games finished, it was time to finish the “bracketology” to seed 16 teams for a playoff tourney, and 8 teams for the High School division.

Day 3

The Elite Seattle team would compete against the Laxdawgs, a San Diego All-Star team which led to a 9-1 victory in the morning game, as the first game of the actual tournament.  The high school team seemed to struggle to find their groove against the Orange County B team, dropping a close one after a back and forth battle.

The level of play amongst all the teams was particularly amazing.  Given these kids are all competing in what was 110 degree sun, and playing three games of Lacrosse a day, it is as much a war of attrition as it is a Lacrosse tournament.  Hydration, eating healthful food, and sleep are contingent factors for performance in this type of environment.  Another amazing thing was the caliber of players participating in the all-star games. 

In each division, two teams of players were selected to play in the all-star game for each division, bringing all the coaches and players to watch the best players selected by the complete panel of college coaches.  From the Starz, Adam Bowen, Jason Travis and Alex Bates in the High School division, and Shane O’Neill, Drew Snider, Taylor Platt and Max Olsen all played.

All-Star Games

The High School All-star game happens first, and since we were moved to the Adam Bowen starts in cage for team Southswell, Jason Travis and Alex Bates starting at midfield and attack respectively.  Bowen makes several saves in a first few minutes dominated by defense for the Southswell team before a score by adrenaline. It looks like a battle of defense, 3 players from each team in camp at The High School bracket we're chosen to play in the all-star game Saturday.  Alex Bates scores to make it 3-2 Blue.  A few minutes later, Southswell bumps another one in and we are 4-2 with 20 minutes left to play.  Most of these players represent the top teams on the west coast, and will be the next recruiting class for 2008 and 2009.  Final score is 6-4 Southswell.
In the Elite Division, Seattle Starz were represented by Drew Snider (Garfield), Shane O’Neill (Seattle Prep), Max Olsen (Bainbridge), and Mike Clenshaw (Orange County, CA).  Snider accounted for two goals in the first half with both O’Neill and Olsen getting a bunch of touches and time.  One team was coached by Doug Carl, Sonoma State coach, and the other by Kevin Anderson, assistant at Notre Dame.  During this game, more than 50 college coaches are here looking for their 2007 recruits and measuring against some committed 206 recruits for comparison.  Watching this much talent on the field is almost overwhelming since the talent pool here just four years ago was 16 teams and a handful of all-stars.  This year, there are 42 teams and an exponential improvement in talent in the last four years.
Also new this year, a team formed from Maryland composed of some of the best players in Maryland represented by 9 players in this game.  Final score is 11-6, with a hat trick for the 2-time all-American Drew Snider.  All the all-star players needed to eat and relax for the last game of the day only an hour and thirty minutes away; in our case, that would be a big match up with the Arizona Starz.

The Elite team had their closest game to date, playing Arizona Starz Elite for their second tourney game.  Seattle had never defeated Arizona, and in fact, was knocked out of the tourney last year by Arizona who was using a goalie from Severn High School in Maryland.  That same goalie is going to Maryland and currently playing for the Mermen.  This time, the scales would tip in favor of Seattle.  Running a fast-paced game, Arizona capitalized early and led early 3-0 in the first half when Max Olson broke the seal and got Seattle on the board.  Closing out the half, Greg Bearson dodges through the crease finding net ending the half 4-2.  “At halftime, I think we sort of caught our breath.  We had a rushed half, some unforced errors and a lot of transition.  We talked about tuning up the offense and playing more efficiently on defense and offense, “ according to coach Fred Wilmot.

Starting the second half, Seattle seamed to play with renewed energy and inspired performance.  Snider, O’Neill and Rohrbach scored in a back and forth lead giving Seattle the lead 6-5.  Just under five minutes, Arizona forced a shot inside tying the score 6-6.

Seattle demonstrated poise by snapping a goal off after Snider won the face off, dodged and fired a twinefinder top shelf on Arizona’s all-star goalie.  Once regaining the lead, Seattle fended off several attempts at the cage through Taylor Platt and John Blackstone.  Regaining possession inside two minutes, Seattle held on to win.  The win was significant for two reasons- Arizona knocked Seattle out of the playoffs here last year and Seattle has never beaten Arizona before.

After this big win, several players participated in mini-stix tourneys and dodge ball tourneys.  Many went back to their rooms and took a cold shower, relaxed and slept from exhaustion.  Right now, this is farther than any Seattle team has made it in the six years we have been attending this tourney.

The next game would be the interstate rivalry between Seattle and Team Oregon.  Another step up in caliber as Team Oregon typically has been in the finals or won the tourney since they have brought their team.  Seattle also played Team Oregon just a week before to tune up for the Sonoma Shootout, with only a few Elite players, and lost.  For now, that is food for thought, I think sleep and staying cool sounds better as the night grows late.

Day 4

The Mermen had advanced through and would play Fog City in a game probably destined to be a bit of a mismatch.  Seattle would have to play a great game in order to defeat Team Oregon, and the finals were scheduled to immediately follow the semi-final game. 

Seattle came out somewhat lethargic and scattered in the first half of play, and I felt fortunate to be down 3-2 at half.  Jake Medwell took it upon himself grabbing the face on the first face-off of the second half, to drive to the cage and answer a question with an exclamation as he fired a perfect bouncer at the crease ending its flight wrapped around the net inside the cross bar.  He came off with the “Jake smile”.  Shortly after half, Seattle was down 5-3 and their hopes for another shot at the mythical Mermen, Hanging in the balance.  Led by Caldwell Rohrbach, Taylor Platt, Shane O’Neill, and Drew Snider, Seattle chipped away at the Oregon lead one goal at a time.  Platt dominated on defense, and Schmidt shined in goal as Seattle mounted the assault ending in a team-earned 7-5 victory over Team Oregon.  Seattle had toppled the perennial powerhouse with all the graduated seniors and high school all-Americans they had.  Seattle would advance to the finals- a game only 5 minutes away.

The High School team finished up 1-2 in the tourney, finishing with their best Lacrosse against De La Salle.  As a top seed in the High School bracket, the tournament organizers moved the Seattle HS team to the Elite division where their battles included some of the top teams in the division.  Given the level of play in the Elite division, the High School team performed admirably.

“get a drink and relax for the full five minutes,” I said to the team.  Really though, they had all played their hearts out, gotten tons of looks from college coaches, battled back from two halftime deficits and now, in 110 degree weather, they would play the team we could have beaten completely fresh the first time with a few things going differently, but now, completely exhausted.  The Mermen trounced every team by more than 10 goals on their way up to the top.  Rumor has it they had not taken their shorts off all week.  Their sponsor wouldn’t let them, was the joke.  These Maryland all-stars were great guys, and classy on and off the field.  Ironically, the goalie that ended Seattle’s dream team last year, was now the goalie in cage for the Mermen and on his way to Maryland.  Also on the Mermen, the number one defensive recruit in the country.

Completely exhausted, the Mermen led Seattle at halftime, 7-0.  Everyone was under the tent, towels on heads, trying to find more inside to continue the game. Caldwell Rohrbach encouraged the team from the field with voice and action as he gets a feed from Alec Springer and dives into the crease scoring the first goal.  A minute later, Bearson finishes a feed from AJ Ellis making the score 9-2.  With seconds left and nothing else left in the gas tank, Schmidt steps out of the cage as the whistle blows and a shot hits the net.  Everyone looks around and the official counts it.  10-2 is the final, the best any team from Seattle has ever performed, now the race to check out and get to the Dragons game.

One hour later, we make the decision to just get on the road to the airport, to return to Seattle completely spent, but having proved Seattle Starz is the best in the west.  See you all for tryouts at Mercer Island August 20th!  sign-ups available at www.starzlax.com.

STAY TUNED FOR TONS OF PICTURES!!