Lambert vs. Northview Highlights

Opening Week Wrap-up & Today's Games

The 2012 season got off to an interesting start last week, and there definitely were some surprising results:

-- Defending 5A champs Walton had a tough week, starting with a tough OT loss to Etowah and ending with losses to Louisville Trinity (KY) and Westminster. The Raiders definitely lost some talent from last year, so it will be interesting to see if they are one-and-done as contenders.

-- Etowah certainly looks to be a team on the rise. They followed up their win over Walton with solid wins over Hillgrove and Roswell. It's a bit early to anoint them as contenders, but they certainly bear watching as the season progresses. Friday they face a Harrison team that got out of the blocks slow.

-- Northview dropped a pair of games to very strong teams in Milton and Lambert, but they have a pretty manageable schedule until they face Lassiter at the AJO4 tourney in March.

-- Milton got by Northview and will face Pope tonight, which will be an interesting barometer for 4A vs. 5A strength. Milton's schedule this year is strong... verging on brutal... with only a few games against lower tier teams. So they will certainly be battle-tested by the playoffs.

-- Other 5A contenders have had mixed results early on. Alpharetta has started with a pair of wins, including a 13-1 dismantling of Harrison. Lassiter beat Peachtree Ridge in their opener, and they face a pretty solid schedule for the 1st month of the season. Ridge also lost to Pope in their opener, so they will look to right the ship tomorrow against Decatur, who has gotten off to a good start. The Roswell @ Harrison game tomorrow will tell us a bit more about both of those programs.

-- In 4A, there is breaking news... Lambert is still good. Their 16-3 payback win over Northview served notice that they are eager to show their dominance again. The Longhorns will face Milton on Monday in a great early season tilt.

-- After beating Peachtree Ridge 11-4 in their opener, the Pope Greyhounds face a pair of former 5A rivals in Milton and Alpharetta this week. With a stretch of winnable games afterward, their next big test will be against Lovett at AJO4 LaxFest.

-- Speaking of Lovett, the Lions have been untested in their first 3 games. But that will change in two weeks when they travel to UNC to face St. Annes-Belfield (VA) and Calvert Hall (MD). The GLB is anxious to see how a strong GA team will handle very tough out-of-state competition.

-- Westminster had a strong opening week with wins over St. Pius and Walton. Like both of those teams, the Wildcats lost a bunch of talent to graduation, so it will be interesting to see how Coach Souza's team progresses this year. This week they face an Allatoona team that looks to be improved and then have a string of 5 games against very strong competition.

-- It's too early to make much of the results for some second-tier 4A teams, but Decatur got off to a nice start with wins over Riverwood and Baylor (TN). Riverwood's win over Holy Innocents, a program that really seems to have dropped off, didn't reveal much... it will be interesting to see how Coach Lou builds on last season's gains. Johns Creek seems to be another 4A team on the rise and their tilt with Alpha today will be a good test. McIntosh beat Wesleyan and will be similarly tested today against Lassiter.

Here are the games to watch today:

-- St. Pius @ Collins Hill
-- Alpharetta @ Johns Creek
-- Greater Atlanta Christian @ Pace Academy
-- McIntosh @ Lassiter
-- Milton @ Pope

Mark Your Calendar - AJO4 LaxFest in March

A great event for a great cause that should be embraced by the GA lax community! From the press release:

Roswell, GA – Five games, one field, and just one price of admission supporting a worthy cause – it all adds up to one unforgettable day of lacrosse. On March 17th, the Pope High School Stadium turf field will be the site of the 6th annual AJO4LAX Fest – the largest GHSA sanctioned varsity lacrosse event of the season. This year’s match-ups feature ten highly rated area teams:

Game 1 – 9 AM – Pace Academy vs. Wheeler HS
Game 2 – 11 AM – Decatur HS vs. The Westminster School
Game 3 – 1 PM – Roswell HS vs. Lambert HS
Game 4 – 3 PM – Northview HS vs. Lassiter HS
Game 5 – 5 PM – The Lovett School vs. Pope HS

Tickets are being sold at the door: $7 for adults and $3 for children, under 12. One ticket is good for admission to all five games. Proceeds benefit the Andrew Oswald Memorial Fund, LTD. Oswald played attack for the Pope HS Greyhounds from 2002-2004. He wore jersey #4 and lacrosse was his passion.

The Memorial fund was created in 2005 after Andrew was tragically killed in a single-car accident in Marietta. To date more than $100,000 has been raised and donated to provide scholarships, support the growth of local high school and youth lacrosse, and fund teen safe-driving initiatives in memory of Oswald and his love for the game.

“We have expanded our mission this year to also include helping teens make the right ‘life’ decisions”, said Bruce Oswald, Andrew’s father and President of the Andrew J. Oswald Memorial Fund, Ltd. “We have lost too many lacrosse players over the last eight years to accidents, suicide, fraternity hazing and other incidents. Our goal is to work with area players, coaches and parents to help improve decision making and communication.”

Additional information on the AJO4LAX Foundation, the upcoming AJO4LAX Fest, scholarship applications, making a tax-deductible donation, as well as a full history of the Fund’s donations and grants can be found at http://www.ajo4lax.com/.

Today's Games On Tap

There are some great matchups in both classifications today:

-- Decatur's ITP Tourney wraps up with another pair of games. Riverwood defeated Holy Innocents 15-10 last night and will meet Decatur in the main event today. Decatur topped Baylor (TN) 9-2. Holy Innocents and Baylor square off in the first game today at Decatur Stadium.

-- An inter-class clash between historically strong programs will see Walton @ Westminster today. The defending 5A champ Raiders have gotten off to a rocky start with an OT loss to Etowah in their opener and a loss to Louisville Trinity (KY) yesterday. The Wildcats are coming off a 7-4 win in their opener over St. Pius.

-- 5A contenders will tilt today with Alpharetta @ Harrison. Both teams won their openers, with Alpha taking down N. Forsyth 10-5, and Harrison topping Kennesaw Mountain 9-3.

-- Another good 5A matchup features Roswell @ Etowah. Roswell won 7-6 over Johns Creek in their opener, and Etowah has gotten off to a strong start with wins over Walton 12-11 in OT and 9-3 over Hillgrove.

Friday's Best Games

-- Northview @ Lambert - Lambert will be looking to avenge their only loss last season with a win tonight. This should be a great game!

-- McIntosh @ Wesleyan - A tilt between 4A teams that made the playoffs last year.

-- Decatur plays host to their annual ITP Tourney with Riverwood facing Holy Innocents and the host plays Baylor (TN) tonight.

-- Lassiter @ Peachtree Ridge - This should be an interesting game to see if Ridge can bounce back from loss to Pope this week, and we'll see what the Trojans are bringing this season.

Game Recap: Westminster @ St. Pius X

Traditional 4A powers and rivals Westminster Wildcats and the St. Pius X Golden Lions met Thursday night in an early season tilt at Pius. These two teams usually meet closer to mid-season and have had some closely contested games over the last few years.

The Wildcats have knocked the Lions out of the playoffs the last two post-seasons, so there is always an abundance of competitive energy with this matchup. Both teams lost big talent from last year's squads to graduation: SPX lost All-American Rick Lewis (Ohio State), among others, and Westminster lost multi-year starters at both ends of the field. So there were plenty of new faces on the field as both coaches looked to re-tool and rebuild.

It was the warmest night yet of the early season, and a good crowd was ready to get the season started. The teams traded possessions early on in the opening quarter, and both squads started with crisp play for an opener. Westminster got on the scoreboard first at the 8:19 mark when senior middie Blake Ashley scored an unassisted goal as he worked his way across the middle and unleashed a hard lefty shot to the lower right corner. Just over a minute later the Wildcats went up 2-0 as frosh attackman Trip Wray rolled from X and buried another lefty shot. Senior attackman Shelton Collier, a D-1 commit to Air Force, staked Westminster to a 3-0 lead as he picked up a GB after a shot rebound and converted for an unassisted goal that capped the 1st quarter.

Wildcat junior middie Fletcher Cox won the opening face of the 2nd quarter and quickly found Shelton Collier for another goal to put the Cats up 4-0. The defenses settled in over the next several minutes, but Westminster extended their lead to 5-0 at the 7:53 mark when Trip Wray found soph attackman Read Ziegler streaking to the crease for a bang-bang goal. The Westminster defense, led by seniors Ned Zakas in goal and Danny Catan and Wilson Powell at D-pole, kept the Lions offensive attack at bay. But St. Pius was finally able to get on the board with 1:36 left in the 2nd, as senior attackman Curtis Doelling ended a fastbreak with a nice feed to senior Paul Belle Isle, who turned and buried a close-range shot from top of the crease. Westminster killed off a penalty in the final minute of the quarter and quickly answered as Collier scored his 3rd goal to put the Wildcats up 6-1 at the half.

The 3rd quarter was a defensive statement by Westminster as they continued to shut down the St. Pius offense. The lone goal of the quarter saw the Wildcats increase their lead to 7-1 when Wilson Powell carried a fastbreak across midfield and fed Shelton Collier from the right for his 4th and final goal of the game. St. Pius was unable to get anything going again until midway through the final stanza when Curtis Doelling dodged from behind the cage to score an unassisted goal. Senior Donovan Kuhstoss tallied a pair of unassisted goals in the final minute for the Lions, but it was too little, too late as Westminster held on for a 7-4 victory.

Westminster's defense really dominated this game with great stick checking and a strong clearing game led by Ned Zakas between the pipes. His counterpart for St. Pius, senior Kyle Larkin, had a strong game and did everything he could to keep his team in the game. But until near the end, when Kuhstoss seemed to be able to beat some men on the dodge, the Lions just couldn't solve the Westy defense. Obviously, Shelton Collier had a very good game with 4 goals, and his combination of size, speed and skill should bode well for the Wildcat attack. Both teams played more underclassmen than we are accustomed to seeing for these squads, so it will be interesting to see how both of these programs progress in 4A competition.

Thanks to Steve Powell for the photos. All photos copyrighted by Steve Powell. All rights reserved.

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Great 4A Matchup Today!

An early season matchup of traditional 4A powers takes place later today when Westminster travels to St. Pius. This is always a great tilt, and SPX will be eager to pay back Westy for knocking them out of the playoffs the last two years.

Both teams lost some great players to graduation, so it will be interesting to see how they've rebuilt and who can make an early statement in 4A. The GLB will have a full recap on this game, so be sure to check in tonight for the result.

Week 1 Is Underway!

The first week of the regular season is here, and your faithful GLB reporter is playing catch-up after some early week schedule conflicts.

The first few days have already seen some notable results:

- Opening Day saw a couple of interesting 5A tilts starting with a somewhat close result with Alpharetta 10-5 over N. Forsyth. But the shocker of the day was an upset of defending 5A Champs Walton, who fell 11-12 to Etowah in OT. Etowah's Coach Michael Tuley sent the following brief recap:

Etowah defeated the defending State Champion Walton Raiders @Walton 12-11 in OT. Etowah lead at the half by 3 (7-4), Walton tied it up at the end of the 3rd (8-8) Walton went up by 2 (11-9) with 3 minutes left in the game on a man up situation. Etowah's long pole charged up field and scored with a minute and half remaining. Etowah tied it up with a shot from up top with 20 seconds left. Etowah won the face in OT passed to the right wing and then reversed it right back to the midfield who face dodged left, came back right and ripped the game winning goal! Incredible game!

- Another great 5A tilt saw Milton take down Northview 9-6 on the road. The Eagles certainly look to be a contender again in 5A.

- There was a great out-of-state win for GA as 4A Starr's Mill beat Bolles (FL) 13-12. Starr's had lost previously to 2 other FL schools this week.

- Marist notched a minor upset in 4A with a 8-3 win over Holy Innocents.

- Pope came out strong 11-4 over Peachtree Ridge at home.