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Florida National Elite Team Finishes Unbeaten at the Baltimore Summer Kick Off Recruiting Tournament

Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in .

Above – Bo Garrison-Gulf Coast, Ross Patrick-Newsome show off FNL uniforms

Mick Upchurch vs. Champion Select
Mick Upchurch vs. Champion Select

The Baltimore Summer Kick Off, Session II, is held at the St. Paul’s School in Baltimore.  Literally every Division I program was represented along with a strong number of Division II and III program from across the country.  It was in this setting that the Florida National Lacrosse Elite team put on a very strong showing by finishing with a 4-0-1 performance.  The event is designed purely for recruiting purposes and does not have a championship format.  The highlight of the event took place on Sunday when the FNL team defeated two previously undefeated squads from Buffalo, New York and New Canaan/Darien, Connecticut respectively.

The Florida National team was picked through coaching nominations this past Fall and the team prepared with a training camp in December.  Players from a total of fifteen schools from across Florida were on the squad. Represented schools included Tampa Jesuit, Wharton, Newsome, Plant, Lake Mary, Seminole, Dr. Phillips, Bishop Moore, Gainesville Bucholtz, Bolles, Jacksonville Episcopal, Gulf Coast, Holy Trinity Episcopal, Cardinal Mooney, University HS-Ft. Lauderdale.
The team started off a bit slow versus Bullis Prep of Washington, D.C., and was behind by three goals but rallied to take the lead by one only to see the game tied just at the end. The second game versus GBL of Michigan went back and forth with FNL taking control in the last ten minutes to earn a solid two goal victory. 
The Minnesota Elite team came in with a strong reputation and placed several players on the all star team.  However, Florida National, let everyone know that warm weather training is not such a bad thing with a resounding 15-3 triumph that saw the entire team playing a much higher level than earlier that day. 

The stage was set for the next day as the squad knew its toughest competition was ahead of them.  Champion Select from Buffalo featured a high scoring midfield unit that had college recruiters in tow throughout the weekend.  FNL had difficulty matching up early in the game and fell behind by three goals.  However, after a few adjustments and a wake up call the team rallied quickly to tie the game at six at half time.  The second half was all FNL as the team went on to win 11 to 7 by controlling possession much of the half. 

FINN SWANSON - Bucholz HS goes to cage vs. Michigan
Finn Swanson – Bucholz HS goes to cage vs. Michigan

In progressive order the Eclipse 2015 team was undefeated and represented the best team FNL would face all weekend.  Eclipse featured several Division I commits and had been handling the competition all weekend.  It is difficult to single out individual players as the entire team played their best game all weekend but the effort of Anthony Teixeira was remarkable in this game.  A fired up FNL dominated early and was up 7-2 going into the last ten minutes when Eclipsed started a furious rally fueled by several extra man opportunities.  FNL weather several shots in the last 30 seconds to earn the 7-6 victory and the respect of the those in attendance.

Teixeira from Jacksonville Bolles, committed to Cornell, put on an offensive display as a play maker in all areas and combined with Evan Kachris, Nate Bleckley, Stephano Mastro (Mt St. Marys), and Regan Griffith at attack to both create and finish for the squad.   Bo Garrison, Gulf Coast, was a force both as a face off man and scorer for the team.  He was joined by Alex Proly, Ryan Kirchoff, Alex Mostovych, Ross Patrick, Julian Taylor, and Finn Swanson.

The defense was strong the entire weekend and featured Bennett Taylor of Plant HS, (Army), along with emotional leader Raul Mendy, Mick Upchurch, and Ben Lindsey down low.  Matt Gittleman and Edwin Wiley manned the LSM position. Goalies Chandler Harrison and Matt Scott split time in the goal and both played well both as stoppers and clearing the ball.  The coaches were Brian Duncan, former Bolles coach, who is going back to the college level at Belmont Abbey next year and Gary Robinson from Lake Mary.
Gittleman (University), Teixeira (Bolles,) and Kachris (Bishop Moore) were all named to the All Star game where Kachris recorded three assists in the 2015 game.
FNL is back in action this weekend with the 2018 team playing at UP Lax in Annapolis and the 2017 and 2016 teams playing at UP Lax and then the Crabfeast and Crab City Challenge in Baltimore.   Go to www.floridanationallacrosse.com for more information on the FNL program.
 
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