How About An Amazing 80-Yard High School Lacrosse Goal

It's not often that high school lacrosse comes across the desks here at Outside the Boxscore but the below clip is definitely worth a viewing.

It comes to us from Washington DC during the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship game between Gonzaga High and Good Counsel.

Watch as Matt Borda hit a shot from the other side of the field:



(Courtesy of NESN)

Read More

Bench Clearing Lacrosse Brawl, Yes Please!

The below video comes to us from the great white north of Canada during a lacrosse match between the Toronto Rock/Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League.

Let's just say that things got a bit chippy:



(Courtesy of Bob's Blitz)

Read More

Hey Look, An Awesome Lacrosse Brawl!

Let's be honest, I'm not a lacrosse fan but I am one that enjoys a good brewhaha at any point of the day.

This brawl comes to us from the National Lacrosse League between the Boston Blazers and the Philadelphia Wings.

So, pull up a chair and go microwave some popcorn to enjoy the video of this brawl.



(Courtesy of The Slanch Report)

Read More

High School Lacrosse News: Saint John's over Shrewsbury 13-9

Technically this would be a FIELD TRIP! but I didn't take any pictures and it'll be a relatively short post, so no special tag.

Anyways, in a game three years in the making, Saint John's of Shrewsbury (16-3) took out Shrewsbury (11-6) in the Quaterfinals of the Central Massachusetts Lacrosse Playoffs. Why was this game so anticipated? Well for one, a prep school will always be natural rivals with the town that it's placed in, and this is very much the case between SJ and SHS, and every game is extremely well attended. Additionally though, Saint John's was the cream of the crop when lacrosse first got big in Central Massachusetts (around 2000). They'd routinely beat local teams by scores of 16-2 and win CMass every year. However, the last time they won was 2003, when yours truly was playing goalie and we lost to Amherst Pelham in States. Since then Saint John's has repeatedly come up empty, with the last two years being most painful since they lost each championship game to Shrewsbury, a former cellar dwellar of the early 00's.

Today SJ finally made it happen, though not entirely convincingly. SJ jumped to an early 2-0 lead before Shrewsbury scored a quick 2 and tied it back up. Eventually SJ pulled ahead, however, and entered half at 8-4. And that would be there difference, as both teams scored 5 goals in the second half, ending the game at its final 13-9 score.

Final Thoughts: Colin O'Rourke, an All American for SJ this year and one of two CMass players this year to get a D1 scholarship, was a big part of the outcome of today's game. Even though he was locked off by a midfielder for most of the game, he still managed to put up a number of goals and assists. He was injured the past two years for the Shrewsbury game, and it makes you wonder if SJ would have won back then had he played...Goalie play is huge, and today proved it. SJ's goalie made some huge saves in the second half that killed SHS momentum, while the SHS keeper wasn't doing it after a solid start...Saint John's continues on into the Semifinals to face Grafton, who beat Saint Peter Marian's today in overtime to advance.

Read More

Cornell vs. Syracuse Division 1 Lacrosse Final - One For the Ages

After this game ended, a 10-9 Syracuse win in overtime after a furious 3 goal comeback, my brother turned to me and said "This just may be the greatest sporting event I've ever personally witnessed." And you know, I just may have to agree.

Down 9-6 with about 5 minutes left, Cuse finally began to attack on offense after missing the net all day long. But even then, it seemed too little too late, as Cornell had the ball and a one goal lead with 27 seconds left on the clock. It all seemed to be over.

But Cornell couldn't manage to clear the ball. The long pole carrying the ball lost it around midfield, and a cuse midfielder picked it up. In triple coverage, he threw up a behind the back prayer of a pass that was caught about 20 yards downfield by a Cuse attackman. This attackman ran a bit, then got himself into double coverage, but somehow got off a pass across crease to Kenny Nims. Nims, with 4.6 seconds left, threw a single fake on Cornell Keeper Jake Myers before putting the ball in the net. Possibly, or rather probably, the GREATEST twenty five seconds of lacrosse I have ever seen (and the funny thing is, Nims has done this before).

Overtime was essentially all Syracuse's (losing a three goal lead in five minutes killed all Cornell momentum). After a quick strip on defense by Sid Smith (and his flowing locks) Cuse held the ball for about two minutes before finally scoring on an awkward pass and shoot (the goal was on the doorstep, but the pass to set it up was sort of an awkward lob), and the crowd absolutely erupted (There were about 50,000 fans present in total and it definitely felt like 2/3 of them were Cuse fans).

Without further adieu, my thoughts on specifics:

Player of the Game: This is a really tough one. I was all set to give it Cornell Midfielder John Glynn, who scored at least a hat trick and also won nearly every faceoff of the first three quarters. However, it's Cuse who eventually came out on top in the end, and their dominance on fourth quarter faceoffs had a lot to do with that. It's tempting to go with Nims and his game tying goal, or Cody Jamieson (who scored the game winner) or even Sid Smith (who had the excellent strip in overtime to set up the game winner). However, I'm giving player of the game to the player who threw the over the shoulder pass that set up the game tying goal by Nims. For now he will remain anonymous since I have no idea who he was, but his pass could not have been much more perfect, and so I give him credit for an amazing play.

Play/Goal of the Game: The Nims Goal. As if there was any question. Although Ryan Hurley of Cornell made a sweet cut around the crease with a dump to John Glynn to set up one of Cornell's last goals, and that would have been the goal of the game if not for the last second heroics of Cuse.

How Far Cuse Had to Come Back: At around 10 minutes left in the 4th Quarter, the game was 7-6 Cornell and looking close. Cornell's Jake Myers made a huge save on the doorstep, but as he was on the ground a Cuse player scooped the ball up and over him for an apparent goal. However, the player was in the crease, the goal was called back, and Cuse was deflated. Cornell then went on to possess the ball for three straight minutes (including 2 Cuse penalties) until Max Seibald put in goal number 8 for Cornell. It only got worse when goal number 9 scored, but Cuse refused to lay down and take it, and you have to give them credit for that.

Damn You Played Good, Sorry You Lost: John Glynn, as mentioned, played lights out today. Jake Myers, who I've already mentioned several times in this post, also was incredible. His best save (and probably the save of the game) came with 4 seconds left in the first half on a point blank Cuse scoring opportunity, which is pretty strange when you consider how the game tying goal scored. I guess shot opportunities with 4 seconds left were just kind of Syracuse's thing today.

Hawker of the Tournament: I'm tempted to go with this one guy who shouted great things like "Buy my stuff" and "Getch ya Cheesy Deliciousness Here," but my choice is one Italian Ice Hawker from Sunday's Division 2 Game. His classic line? "Get your italian ice here. See the world in another dimension. The Italian Dimension. Unbelievable."

Read More

FIELD TRIP! D2 and D3 College Lacrosse Championships at Gillette Stadium

The College Lacrosse Championships at Gillette continued yesterday, and so does my coverage of them here! Sadly a ticket misprint led to me and my brother not getting to the first game until half time, and so I don't have a whole lot to say about Cortland's 9-7 win over Gettysburg. I do, however, have a lot to say about the later game, an 8-7 nail biting win by C.W. Post over Le Moyne.

Meaningless Stat of the Game: Le Moyne had, according to the scoreboard late in the 4th period, beaten C.W. Post 7 times in a row. That streak obviously ended yesterday.

Player of the Game: Without question, C.W. Post's Dan Sciulla. Early on I wasn't super impressed by him, he made the saves he had to and missed the ones that were real difficult (and had a deflection go in that wasn't his fault as well). But as the game went into crunch time, Sciulla turned into an absolute wall, keeping his team in the lead as well as giving them the momentum to score more. For example, at one point late in the game, Sciulla made a stop from a shot right on the crease that drove the crowd wild. However, as Sciulla picked up the ball, a defender of his had a terrible push in the back which gave possession back to Le Moyne. But Sciulla then made 2 more huge saves, and had 2 more (total is 5) before Le Moyne would score again. That's what you need from a Championship Keeper.

Play of the Game: For a while it was tempting to give it to the Le Moyne player who put in the 7th goal and gave his team a shouting chance. But with about 7 seconds left, Sciulla made a huuuuge save on a really good shot and then beat the ball to the line, ensuring possession and the victory. As C.W. Post chucked the ball down field, their fans absolutely erupted, a truly beautiful scene.

WTF Moment of the Game: One Long Pole Midfielder on C.W. Post, who will remain unnamed, cleared backwards every time he had the chance. This strategy works sometimes (and did for him 2/3 times), but it takes a lot more time and kills any break opportunity, so I didn't understand why he kept at it. The third time he tried, however, he was absolutely decked, and didn't try it again.

Short Term Memory of the Game: C.W. Post player Greg Cerar had a terrible push in the back, with possession, right in front of the referee. However, after his team killed the penalty, Cerar came right out of the box and scored almost immediately. He finished with 4 goals, the last on an empty net after his defender didn't lock off on him.

268 Home runs and One Goal: Brooks Robinson scored goal number four for Le Moyne. Nice to see old Hoover making an appearance at age 72.

Player of the Game if Sciulla didn't play like a house on fire AND Cerar didn't have 4 goals: Daniel DeCosta, C.W. Post. This kid had a huge effort play to beat a sleeping attackman to the line on a shot, a huge check that knocked down his man on a later possession, AND a sick sidelines play where he fell to the ground but still managed to keep the ball in his stick and pass it off despite immense pressure. DeCosta had moxie, and he was messing up Le Moyne's game all day long.


Today at 1pm is the D1 Final between Cornell and Syracuse. Hopefully it'll be a pretty exciting game like the D2 final was, but either way I'll let all you readers know how it went!

Read More

FIELD TRIP! - D1 College Lacrosse Semifinals at Gillette Stadium

Today Outside the Boxscore brings you something a little outside the general area of BallHype related blogs. Most Lacrosse stuff seems to only get reported on ESPN2 and without fanfare, so I thought I'd give it a little write up since I went to the games today and will be at the D1, 2, and 3 championship games tomorrow and Monday.

Today's games were not what you'd call close. Syracuse spanked Duke after a close first quarter and a half 17-7 in the first game, and then Cornell manhandled top seeded Virginia 15-6 in the night (later day?) cap. So were the games interesting from a tension standpoint? No. But were they fun to watch? Oh hell yes. Here's my thoughts:

Names of the Games (Gotta give the Great Name Hall of Fame some kudos here): I thought that Cuse's Pat Perritt and Duke's Parker McKee were awesome names from Game 1. But Game 2 really took the cake on this one, as Virginia's Steele Stanwick and Cornell's Rocco Romero apparently took a time machine from their 1970's Buddy Cop Movie name roots to play in the game. Not only did they play, but they also played well (2 goals a piece), proving that you can have an awesome name and some talent (sorry Earthwind Moreland).


Player(s) of the Game(s): For the Cuse/Duke game, it's a toss up. I really loved the inspired goaltending of Cuse Goalie Joey John Galloway, but I think I have to give the award to Cuse Attackman Kenny Mims Nims. 4 goals on 4 shots with an assist and 2 groundballs added in is pretty impressive.

As for the Cornell/Virginia game, my pick is 100% Cornell goaltender Jake Myers. Only 8 saves versus 6 goals allowed, but he had some amazing saves among those eight. These included a point blank rejection late in the first half after the ref blew the whistle/started the play unexpectedly, as well as an amazing rejection near the start of the third quarter. Cornell was playing great anyways, but Myers made sure Virginia never got back in it, and you have to love that.


Shot(s) of the Game(s): In game one, the second Cuse goal was scored by long pole defender Joel White. He faked like he was going to pass it up to someone who played offense for a living and then fired a shot at the cage, scoring a huge goal.

As for game two, I actually was most impressed by a goal by Virginia's Steele Stanwick. He came out from behind X, faked a pass across the crease, and then tucked the ball inside the close side bottom post of the goal. Jake Myers had a read on it and almost got to it, but the shot was executed to perfection, and so it became one of the few goals Myers gave up all day.


Fan of the Games: The Cuse fan in the middle of this picture, whose shirt read "Real Moms Wear Orange" (though to be honest there was a very intense Cornell fan in a straw hat, bright red corduroys, and a nifty belt that was better, I just didn't get his picture). --->

I had a lot of fun at the games today. Tomorrow are the D2 and D3 finals, and I'll try to post a little something about them when I get back from Gilette Stadium.

Read More