The Gainesville Stealth didn’t win a game in their first two outing this summer.  They weren’t worried about that when they went down to Sarasota to play in the Rippin’ at the Ranch tournament at Lakewood Ranch’s Premier Sports Complex.

We spoke with the Stealth (and Buchholz HS) head coach Wayne “Mac” Macuirzynski before the game and he could not be happier with the progress his guys have made this summer.  He admitted that they didn’t begin the summer looking for hardware.  It’s just important to him that the family bond amongst his players continue to grow and they keep improving.  Rising junior Charlie Coons said the improvement has been pretty simple, “we’ve been able to clear the ball and possess a lot more than we were in the beginning.” Clearing and holding onto the ball.  The recipe for success in this game hasn’t changed much at all.  Possession was also emphasized by starting attackman Jackson McKaig.  “In our first tournament we just couldn’t hold onto the ball..but now we are working it around pretty good.” The guys of the Stealth know that it is their time to step up.  This team, made up mostly of Buchholz players, understand that Gainesville is wide open right now.  Buchholz graduated 16 seniors.  District rival Oak Hall graduated a ton of talent and scoring.  The team that gets they young guys to step up first will be in a great position.  Kyle Horner, a tough middie who is a rising senior is someone who the team is looking to for those increased possessions and higher clearing success.  He knows it comes down to simple math.  “More possesions means more shots for us and less shots for the other guys.”  It’s clear to see that the focus this summer as been on fundamentals. Standout senior attackman, Kyle Hunziker, is perfectly happy with the way their summer has gone.  Since they graduated 16 seniors the club team is made up mostly of guys who had not played varsity lacrosse before.  “When you play the best you become the best.  The competition was very high in the first couple of tournaments and we have adapted.” While the summer has certainly gone the way Coach Mac and his seniors needed it to, the Championship game did not go there  way.  They face off against a very deep LB 3 Atlanta team and could just not get in control of the game.  The fast LB3 offense was very good and feeding inside and finding the open man if the second slide was just a little bit late.  Stealth stayed in it, never getting down by more than two or three goals but just could not close the gap. But a great runner up performance has got to feel good to a group that really needed to find their footing this summer.  With District 2 truly up for grabs next year it’s clear that these guys have been making the most of their off season time.