Ideal playing surfaces and plenty of sunshine greeted the thirty-three teams who descended upon the Premier Sports Complex in Sarasota over Memorial Day weekend.  Teams came from as far as Kansas City, Lehigh Valley, PA, and Maryland to compete in the two day tournament.

Six team competed in the High School Division.  By the end of the day on Saturday it looked like the Pretorian Lacrosse Club was in control of the tournament.  They were 3-0 with wins over Ballistic Lacrosse – Trident (Ft. Meyers), Wellington Lacrosse Club, and Ballistic Lacrosse – Hellfire by scores of 13-2, 8-2, and 6-4.  Ballistic Lacrosse – Hellfire had defeated the Ruffians Lacrosse Club 6-2, Loggerhead Lacrosse Club (Palm Beach) 8-5, and lost to the Pretorians.  The Ruffians (East Orlando – Timber Creek) came out slow, dropping the early game to Ballistic-Hellfire but got back on track to defeat Ballistic Lacrosse -Trident 12-1 and Loggerhead Lacrosse Club 7-4. On the second day Pretorians started out with another win defeating the Loggerheads 8-5 but lost their fifth game to the Ruffians in a close, down to the wire game that ended 6-5.  The Ruffians had earlier defeated Wellington 5-3.  Ballistic – Hellfire was 2-0 on Sunday defeating Trident and Wellington by scores of 8-2 and 11-1. The Round Robbin ended with Pretorians, Ruffians, and Ballistic-Hellfire all going 4-1 while The Loggerheads, Ballistic-Trident, and Wellington finished 1-4.  Hellfire got the top seed with only 13 goals allowed, but both the Ruffians and Hellfire had allowed 19 goals so The Ruffians punched their ticked to the championship game with the close, head to head victory. In the Championship game The Ruffians jumped out to an early lead and were clearly the more conditioned, disciplined team as frustration kept the Ballistic – Hellfire team piled up in the

penalty box for much of the game, never giving them a chance to get back into it.  The game was eventually shortened by three minutes after an injury to a Ballistic Lacrosse Club player halted the game for an extended period of time while waiting on paramedics to arrive.  We have learned that, fortunately, after a trip to the hospital he was cleared and will be fine. Before the game could be resumed, lightning moved into the area and the game was called. In the U 15, U13, U11, and U9 Divisions it was all Monsters Lacrosse Club of Sarasota.   The Monsters rolled to a  5-0 record in the round robin of the U15 group en route to the Championship.  The Monsters U15 team had impressive victories over solid teams from out of town like True Lacrosse – Kansas and the Lehigh Valley Outlaws.  The Monsters Lacrosse U13, U11, and U9 teams were the talk of the tournament.  This is a program on the rise.  Our question is, “when is Manatee and Sarasota Counties going to get serious and join the rest of the world in FHSAA Lacrosse?”  These kids can play, and this program is going to churn out some real players.  If you run into a Monsters Lacrosse team this summer, we suggest that you bring your best game. The class of the 5th and 6th grade girls’ division was the Maryland Pride.  These young ladies rolled over everyone they played by double digits.  It was a learning experience for many of our

Florida clubs that are just starting to field teams for the younger girls.  The Maryland Pride are a very well coached team and sport Maryland Pride from the Maryland State flag they carry with them to the Maryland socks they wear.  Very impressive group.  Someone asked me this weekend, “What’s a girls’ team from Maryland doing all the way down here?” I said, “They’re kicking everyone’s butt…that’s what they’re doing down here.”  Not to mention spending their parent’s money in the great state of Florida.  Thank you ladies. Please enjoy some pics we took this weekend and feel free to download.  If you are a parent who got some great shots send it to us using this link – http://fln.mattplu.com/contact/ and we’ll post them up.  Thanks,        

 

 

 

 

 

 

see more photos here