Recruiting Roundup: 2010 Adrenaline Challenge Day 1
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 12:28 pmfrom insidelacrosse.com
January 9th, 2010 by Geoff Shannon
sunset
I began my Friday at 4:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, brushing two inches of powdered snow off the front window of my ‘95 Buick. My day ended at about 7:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, taking in a warm evening sunset over San Diego, preparing for the annual Adrenaline Challenge team event.
Such is the West, and its role in lacrosse’s expansion. While Baltimore has already been buried by a 19+ inch snowfall this winter, San Diego is smooth a 75 degrees—shorts weather where I come from— and able to host 60 girls and boys teams from 10 states and two Canadian provinces for a two-day recruiting tournament.
Because this is a No Evaluation Period for Division I coaches, the Adrenaline Challenge is focused on providing Division II and Division III coaches a chance to check out the breadth of talent that California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Nevada, Missouri and other western states are developing thanks to the growing high school and club program scene. Today I’ve seen coaches from Washington & Lee, Ferrum, Bates, Dominican College, Cortland, and dozens of others of DII, DIII and MCLA programs (Adrenaline has the official list here).
As IL’s self-proclaimed recruiting guru, I’m scouting the Elite Division, with 42 boys teams competing for the tournament title.
Highlighted Players
As this is a team event focused on DII, DIII and MCLA program recruiting, the talent is not as concentrated as it would be at an elite level recruiting tournament. Half the fun though, is working the fields and finding the players. Among today’s highlight players* that I saw:
(*quick disclaimer, I attended as many games and saw as many teams as one man could possibly catch today, but that doesn’t mean I saw every game. Apologies to those performances I might have missed.)
Will McKee, So., M, St. Ignatuis Prep, Calif/Nor Cal Braves
I actually talked with Will McKee last summer during a recruiting trip to San Fran. He stood out as a talent then, but it appears he’s put on some muscle and improved his shot on the run since, adding another dimension to his already impressive speed. In a 5-5 game against the St. Louis Samurai, he put up three goals dodging from uptop, and the team had trouble keeping up with his wheels for most of the contest. St. Ignatius has a history of producing strong DI talent (Cornell’s Roy Lang, incoming Virginia recruit Rob Emery), and McKee definitely has some DI-like raw materials.
Patrick Worstell, So., Midfield, San Ramon Valley, Calif/Nor Cal Pups
A younger prospect that stood out to recruiters and to myself. His size, physicality and dodging ability were all visible this weekend. Father Pete played for Maryland back in the day, so he has the DI blood in him. NorCal Pup teammate Mike Tagliaferri, So., M, San Ramon Valley, Calif worked well in tandem with Worstell, and could also create his own shot off the edge.
Zack Weaver, Jr., Goalie, Rancho Bernardo, Calif./La Regional Blue
The La Regional Blue team finished 3-0 and in prime driver’s seat position at the end of the day, thanks in part to Weaver’s stellar play. Though a San Diego high schooler, Weaver’s joined the LA team for some exposure and has performed admirably. I caught him in a three-goal skid during a matchup with Seven Nations but recruiters really liked his game through the day (made the all-star team). Teammate Dakota Randall, A, Mira Costa, Calif. was also highlighted on the team.
Highlighted Teams
rhino
Rhino Lacrosse
Ryan Powell’s outfit out of Oregon played a strong game against Beachhead lacrosse early in the day, taking a 5-3 victory. Attackman Michael Marcott, A, So., Lincoln HS, Ore. put up two goals and an assist when I was watching, while Seth Goddin, M, So. Lake Oswego, Ore was a physical presence at face-off.
Seven Nations
Made up of players from San Diego’s Chaminade Prep School (not to be confused with New York’s Chaminade), the Seven Nations team showcased a strong attack in seniors Mike Spagnoli and Ryan Bitter, who put up three goals and three assists versus the NorCal Pups.
San Diego LaxDawgs Brown
Scrappy group, enjoyable to watch. Points coming from everywhere but attack combination of seniors Mikey Soumekh (Coronado) and Eddie Vita (Coronado) appeared to be the core of the offense in the game I saw. Another Top 8 team headed into Sunday.
St. Louis Samurai
Though I described some how impressed I was with the top talent on the NorCal Braves team, the Samurai actually held the Braves to a tie thanks to some second half defensive adjustments, especially from junior longpole Taylor Oswald (Chaminade/St. Louis), who was able to stop McKee on two occasions at the end of the game. On the offensive end senior attackman Pat Anthon (Chaminade/St. Louis) put the team on his back with two late goals and an assist for the 5-5 tie with NorCal Braves. My favorite game of the day.
Calgary Raiders
Ah ha, these boys brought a lot of the boxla world with them to this event. Displayed great ball movement, a Canadian lacrosse staple, especially in transition. Also were a little rough and tumble on the field, and saw more flags fly in their game against LaxDawgs then I saw the rest of the day. Wore their boxla helmets on the field. Gritty. Midfielder Brett Baron (Central Memorial) made all-star game.
Sunday Seeds
(1) Brady’s Bunch vs. (8) Seattle Starz Elite
(2) San Diego Shredderz Elite vs. (7) Arizona Burn Orange
(3) Austin ATX vs. (6) NorCal Braves
(4) San Diego LaxDawgs Brown vs. (5) Danville Sniper
*Of note, last year’s champs Fog City did not make the Top 8. Hoping to check out both Brady’s Bunch and San Diego Shredderz Elite tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow, thanks to the power of 3G and iMac, will hopefully be live-blogging the Elite All-Star Game and the HS All-Star Game, as well as checking out a few of the teams I missed today. Will have a final post-event wrapup tomorrow evening hopefully, as well as details on a few videos we should have up from the event sometime in the coming week.
News and Notes
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*After arriving in San Diego following a 6-hour, two plane flight Friday, I was famished, so I headed out to the nearest In-N-Out Burger. Made famous by “The Big Lebowski,” In-N-Out is a staple of my West Coast adventures. Media Manager Joe Sweeney and I hit it up twice last summer during a recruiting trip to the San Fran area (Navy coach Richie Meade told us during a hotel shuttle trip that if In-N-Out burger was his left had he would marry it).
There’s an In-N-Out a short drive from the Hilton San Diego Resort, so I made my way to get a Protein Style with Fries (In-N-Out is famous for their ( secret menu). But as I walked through the parking lot, a gang of 40 plus high school boys in neckties and slacks bounded out of a charter bus and into the burger joint. A line that was empty a second ago when I parked my car was now packed from counter to door with ravenous dudes, and my quick fast-food order was now going to be 20 minutes.
Hilarious, then, that the team turned out to be the St. Louis Samurai, an elite club lacrosse program coached by Fontbonne (DIII) head coach Nick Sliva. The Samurai were fielding two teams in the tournament, and the entire gang needed to pound some burgers after a long trip from Missouri. We talked, and Silva mentioned how encouraged he was about the new DIII Midwest lacrosse conference kicking in, since they’ll have an AQ coming in 2012.
Must say, Samurai also sported the best unis of the day, going full out with the Japanese them
samurailax
*Reigning 2009 DIII Champion head coach Steve Beville was the biggest profile name in attendance Saturday. Beville mentioned that while 85% to 90% of his roster will always come from New York, it doesn’t hurt to check out West Coast talent.
*Chatted with new Ferrum (DIII) coach Nat St. Laurent, who’s out trying to build a roster for his upstart program. Ferrum just added lacrosse last year, and St. Laurent has about 15 players on the roster but also looking to add more as the program builds itself.
