Top Lax Recruits
Top Lax Recruits -
By Chris Goldberg
TopLaxRecruits.com, Posted 7/8/17
FT. WASHINGTON, Pa. – Two teams that figure to contend for the 2018 A Division championship waged a classic battle in the Passport Alliance Liberty Bell Challenge at Germantown Academy.
Team Minnesota took a 6-1 lead into the second half, but Team Long Island roared back to forge a 6-6 tie that featured two overtime periods.
The game brought rare anticipation for a rising senior club matchup. Team Minnesota (2-0-1) has 13 D1 commits and won the FLG Big Ten championship last weekend on Long Island. Meanwhile, Team Long Island (2-0-1) is the two-time defending champion in this Division at the LBC – so it was not a surprise that at least 25 college coaches lined the field.
Midfielder Anthony Seymour (Miller Place, Army commit) scored twice to spark the comeback and drew Team LI within 6-5 early in the fourth period. Faceoff/middie Peter LaSalla (Rocky Point, UVA commit) later tied it; LaSalla also was strong at the X in the second half against Team Minnesota’s Thomas Washington (Blake School, Syracuse commit), who won 10 of 18 overall and both overtime draws. But Team Minnesota was unable to convert in OT against the LI defense and goalie Anthony Novellano (East Islip, Marist, 8 saves).
“I personally believe we let them back in the game a little bit,” said Team Minnesota goalie Jack Courington (Eagan, uncommitted), who stopped six of seven shots in the first half. “If we just keep playing our game and don’t give up turnovers, I feel we have a chance to win the championship. We have a really good team and we just have to come out and play our game.”
Team Long Island also got goals from Tyler Ammirato (Miller Place. Marist), Bobby Abshire (Commack, Army) and Pat Doyen (Miller Place).
“We started off it was 4-1 or 5-1 … 6-1?” said LaSalla. “Then I had a nice little streak and we battled back. We started slowly in our first game and we didn’t want to start like that again. We did, but we knew we weren’t going to let that happen again n the second half.
“I think we have a good chance of winning (the title) again; it’s our last chance together.”
Team Minnesota got two goals each from Andrew Chvatal (Eagan, Marquette), and Bjorm Holm (Blake School, Air Force) and one each from Jadon Kerry (Chanhassen, Duke) and Cole Grindberg (Chanhassen, Air Force).
Besides its obvious talent, Why is Team Minnesota so strong?
“We are unselfish,” said midfielder Dalton Seesz (Wayzata). “Our guys are not concerned about points. Guys move the ball. And our depth is strong. All our middies can play both ‘O’ and ‘D’ which is huge when you get down to the nitty gritty and guys need to step up.”
“Defensively, we have really good poles and we’re a really good sliding team,” added Courington, who helped lead Eagan to the state title. “I feel Peyton (Bixby, East Ridge, Detroit Mercy commit, 5 saves) are pretty goo between the pipes. And we have a really good dodging team.
“Personally, I think we can honestly beat any team out there on any given day.”
Team Long Island finished the day as the top seed in Pool 2 and will face Pool 1 runner-up Duke’s Elite I (2-1) at 10:15 a.m. at GA’s Field 4 in the quarterfinals. Team Minnesota will meet Pool 1 top-seed Harvest (3-0) at Field 1 at 10:15 a.m. Also undefeated in the 2018 A Division are CT Chargers (Pool 3, 3-0) and Orange Crush (Pool 4, 3-0).
The title game will be held at 1:15 p.m. on Field 2.
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