Team Spirti played Team Freedom in the consolation game at the Champion All American Showcase.  St. Thomas Aquinas’ Fernando Milanes (JU) had a great game and appeared to be

everywhere on the field.  He played solid defense, cleared the ball well, and worked the ball on offense.  He even got a mention as one of the top five non-hotbed players in the event by ESPN’s Quint Kessenich (along with fellow JU recruit EJ Thurmond)! Tim Ghelbach scored twice and Devon Lewis played with his normal explosiveness.  They both looked like the belonged out there with some of the nations best players.  Ponte Vedra’s Evan Weiner had a great game and even got in on some offense getting a couple of shots.  Treyson Pierce got a ton of playing time and played solid defense. Team Liberty battled Team Pride for the Champion All American Lacrosse Showcase title in a game televised live on ESPNU. Matt Ihm started on attack for Liberty and handled the ball quite a bit.  It was not a typical all star game, the first quarter was all defense. There was only one goal scored in the first quarter and it was an unsigned D-pole from Lousiana who scored it.  Luke Posner, a 2014 LSM out of Madisonville, LA (St. Paul’s) showed some crazy speed and a nice stick as he followed up his own shot off of a fast break, tip toed the crease, grabbed the rebound, and rang it up.

Barron Collier’s Matt Ihm (PG-Trinity Pawling) scored the second goal of the game for Team Liberty.  A nifty roll off of a transition play gave him a nice look and her buried the low shot to the far side.  It was great to see another Florida kid, Joey Dorn (St. Thomas/Providence) come out to take the ensuing face off for Team Pride. Team Liberty took a 3-0 lead on a goal by AJ Fish.  Fish, out of Illinois, is headed to Virginia and is an incredible talent, he also assisted Team Liberty’s next goal to give them a 4-0 lead, then scored again with 11 seconds left in the half to lift Liberty to 5-0 half time lead. The time of possesion in the first half was domnated by Team Liberty, due in a large part to the defense.  Zach Gerry (Episcopal Jax) and his teammates just smothered the Pride attack and created quick turnovers on most Pride finally got on the board early in the second half as another D-pole scored.  James Hall took a pass from AJ Lucchese off of a busted clear and got the time and room shot past goalie Brain Davies. Jake Kiernan picked off a Matt Ihm EMO pass and ran the fast break to AJ Lucchese for the second Pride goal and narrowed the margin to 3. Then Episcopal Jacksonville’s John Grube, who played great defense all day on the Pride midfield, picked up a loose ball on the crease and pushed the transition.  The possesion resulted in the Pride’s third goal, cutting the lead to just two. AJ Fish scored his hat trick on an inside roll to get the lead back to three for Liberty. Joey Dorn got the ball for Team Pride to open the fourth quarter.  Two minutes in Tim Truesdell scored for Pride, cutting the lead to two once again.  Kyle Borbi followed that up with another to cut the lead to one. Liberty got the next goal on an inside roll by New Jersey’s Anthony Marini, who also drew a flag on the play.  They scored again on the EMO play with a huge shot by Nick Desisto (Loyola) from The Rivers School in Mass. Episcopal Jax’s own John Grube (Colorado College) came back with a beautiful over-hand bounce shot from just inside the restraining line to pull Pride back to within two.  Nick Valentino (Drexel) scored on a nice underhand shot to cut the lead to one. Joey Dorn then won the ensuing face off to his LSM, Lito Flanagan.  Flanagan pushed the ball down to his attackman who fired one off the pipe.  The ball ricocheted right back to Flanagan who was in the right spot to keep the run going and tie the game at eight. Matt Ihm came back and scored his second of the game to give the lead back to Liberty.  Joey Dorn won the next face off.  Another great moment for Florida lacrosse! Desisto scored on a little back handed scoop shot to give Team Liberty a two goal margin once again.  But, it was not over.  Pride scored again with a minute left to cut the lead to one.  AJ Lucchese (Brown) scored with :01 left int he game to force O.T.! Overtime was quick as the Pride’s Blake Bodreau (Marist) won the face off and scored 6 seconds in to cap a wild comeback by Team Pride. We at FLN are very proud of all of our Florida participants in the Champion All American Showcase!