North Shines in Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Classic

By: Keith Mills

Western Reserve Academy in Ohio, Lake Brantley High in Florida, Ignatius High in California and Brophy College Prep in Arizona. Not exactly powerhouse programs on the lacrosse landscape over the years but more proof that the game is exploding nationally.

Those four schools didn't just feature players in last Saturday's Under Armour All-America senior boys game at Johnny Unitas Stadium, they featured players who proved they can play with anyone in the country.

The North beat the South, 13-12, in the game as goaltender Steve Rastivo of Ward Melville in New York stopped a shot by Joe Cummings of Loyola Blakefield with less than 30 seconds left to play. Rastivo is headed to Penn State and Cummings to Maryland, though it was the play of Colby Wilson, Jake Bernhardt, Roy Lang and Hunter Rogers, who again proved to a crowd of more than 3,000 fans that the game is played well in places other than Baltimore, Long Island and upstate New York.

Wilson, Bernhardt, Lang and Rogers each scored two goals for South and are each going to major Division I schools rich in lacrosse history. Wilson plays for Western Reserve of Hudson, Ohio, and is headed to Georgetown. Bernhardt attends Lake Brantley High, outside of Orlando, and is headed to Maryland. Lang goes to St. Ignatius in San Francisco and will play at Cornell, while Rogers goes to Brophy Prep in Phoenix and will join the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays next year. Add to that Greyson Konkel of Regis Jesuit in Aurora, Col., who is headed to the University of Denver, and Wyatt Melzer of St. Andrew's Academy in Davie, Fla., who will play next year at Virginia, and the Under Armour game is truly becoming a national event.

Still, there was the usual heavy dose of Maryland area players. Seven of the 11 Maryland players on the South team attended Baltimore area schools: Cummings and Steele Stanwick of Loyola Blakefield, Joey Ehrmann of Gilman, Tyler Fiorito of McDonogh, Charlie McComas of Boys' Latin, Mark Staines of Severn and Andrew Wascavage of St. Mary's Ryken.

Wascavage, who is headed to Towson, came up big with 10 saves, while Staines, a long-pole defenseman headed to North Carolina, scored a goal for the South. Stanwick, Ehrmann and Fiorito did not play. Stanwick is still nursing a broken hand, Ehrmann was involved in football workouts at Wake Forest, and Fiorito was playing for the Under-19 U.S. National team, which beat Canada, 19-12, last Saturday for its seventh straight U-19 World championship.

The senior girls game was also won by the North, 13-12. The South team, coached by John Carroll's Krystin Porcella, featured 14 Baltimore area players, including three from Porcella's back-to-back Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland champs (Grace Gaeng, Casey Ancarrow and Ally Carey) and two from Roland Park (Liz Hamilton and Courtney Kirk). Kirk scored three goals with two assists to lead the South while Broadneck's Karri Ellen Johnson added two goals and an assist, Josie Owen of Severn one goal and two assists and Ancarrow two goals. Carey and Julie Gardner of Severna Park each added a goal and an assist.

Mercy's Dana Cahill stopped four shots in goal for the South. Mount Hebron's Alicia Krause, McDonogh's Rachel Serio, Westminster's Jen Hardesty, Glenelg's Kristy Black and Caroline Cochran of St. Mary's also played for the South.

Issue 3.29: July 17, 2008