The craziness continues! This has been another fantastic week of lacrosse. We have never seen such parity, nor have we seen so many teams in the mix.
Jupiter vs. Tampa Jesuit – Photo courtesy of Laxpic.com
St. Andrew’s got every vote for the top spot for the first time this season. St. Andrew’s was 3-0 on the week with a victory over Boca 11-2, a narrow escape from Tampa Jesuit 10-9, and 19-6 over Episcopal Jax. They have played a brutal schedule and remain undefeated against Florida teams.
Jupiter was voted to the second spot by all but two of our voters. The top two are solid. For now. Jupiter began the week getting upset by Vero Beach 10-8 then upset St. TA 12-8 and got a big win over Tampa Jesuit 18-3. I guess the voters felt they had played a tough enough schedule and bounced back with a big win. They upset loss did not hurt them in the poll.
St. Thomas Aquinas remains at number three despite the loss to Jupiter. But since the vote they have lost a second straight game. We’ll have to wait until next week to see how that factors in to the mix.
Lake Highland Prep moves up a spot, passing Jupiter. Lake Highland won the O-Town showdown by beating Winter Park 17-3, Timber Creek 18-6 and they beat Bishop Moore earlier in the week 17-4.
Benjamin crushed Suncoast and won a close one over Langley (VA) 8-7 but it wasn’t enough to keep from getting jumped by Lake Highland. Benjamin drops to the number five spot.
Lake Brantley remains undefeated with wins over Apopka 19-1 and Hagerty 14-5. They have only had one close game this season with the 7-5 win over Winter Park. Strength of schedule is hurting them in this poll. How will it affect them come playoff time? Will they be rested or untested? We’ll have to wait and see. The Patriots have Lake Mary on Friday. That will give us a bit of an indication how good this team is.
Ponte Vedra beat Oviedo 10-5, Bolles 12-2, and Cannon School (NC) 12-7 to remain in the number seven spot on the poll.
Lake Mary stays at number eight this week. They beat Winter Springs 17-5 and Seminole 13-3. They have Lake Brantley on Friday which should give them a big opportunity to move up in the poll.
Bartram Trail is now back on the list. They came in at number nine this week with wins over Bolles 13-6 and Nease 16-8. They are now 8-1.
Tampa Jesuit beat Tampa Catholic 20-4, lost to St. Andrew’s in a close one 10-9, and lost to Jupiter 18-3. The great game against St. Andrew’s mattered more than the tough loss to Jupiter on the rebound and they moved up into the top ten with a two-loss week. Our voters love teams who play tough schedules.
Hagerty and Boca both dropped off the list this week, replaced by Bartram Trail and Tampa Jesuit. Hagerty has lost three straight and now stand at 10-3. They try to bounce back tonight at Bishop Moore.
Boca lost to St. Andrew’s 11-2 and beat Calvary Christian 15-5. The lost to St. Andrew’s marks their fourth of the year. All losses have come against teams on our top ten list. They have another tough game this week against Vero Beach.
Vero Beach got some votes this week after upsetting Jupiter. Then they went and lost to Creekside. With Boca dropping off the top ten this week they don’t have another chance to play a top ten team during the regular season. The Boca vs. Vero game tonight could put one of them on the list if they are impressive and one of our top ten teams stumbles.
However, we bet that Columbus makes it into the list next week after beating Creekside 9-7. They are 9-2 and both losses came against teams in the top five (Benjamin and St. Thomas Aquinas.) They don’t have any huge, tough games left but decisive wins over rivals Gulliver Prep and Ransom Everglades could get them some respect.
Games to watch this week? St. Andrew’s RJ Dawson says, “Vero and Boca will be a good matchup on Wednesday night. Two tough teams. Vero making some waves this year and Boca playing well under the new coaching regime.” How about Central Florida? Bishop Moore’s Gary Hendrzak, “Lake Mary vs. Lake Brantley on Friday to see who the best in Seminole County is.”
Coach Riordan Cheatham for Benjamin is looking forward to a game a little closer to home. “Benji vs Jupiter on Wednesday-It’s going to be a matchup of two of the top 5 teams in the state who know each other well.”
Enjoy the great games this week and look for the FloridaLacrosseNews.com coaches poll again next Wednesday.
