By Mark Ayad This weekend at Brown University during the Trilogy Providence Tournament, the blue and white jerseys from the four Team Florida squads were spectacular to watch. With the 2019 Carolina squad earning runner-up and the 2020 Navy winning it all, Team Florida definitely made its presence felt.  They were the only club to have two teams competing in each age group, and have a team in both the 2019 and 2020 championship games.

Maybe the best part of the weekend was the overall camaraderie amongst the four teams.  When one of the teams wasn’t playing, players and parents were always on the sideline supporting the other Team Florida squads.  This was very evident as the two 2020 teams, Navy and Carolina, faced off against each other Sunday in an extremely fun semi-final game. Almost all the 2019s were there to watch one of the Team FLO teams head into the championship game. The two teams played a great game, but the Navy team pulled away with help from Carter Parlette. Chris Polanski, Director and Coach of the 2020 Carolina Team, states, “All our teams played great, but on Sunday the (2020) Navy team was really playing in a class of their own. They were moving the ball like a high school varsity team, with stingy defense and rock solid goal keeping. With a dominant performance at the face off X, it was of no surprise they won it all.” The 2019 Carolina team definitely had the most exciting game of the weekend with the 4-5 loss in the championship game Sunday afternoon.  Although they didn’t win it all, they certainly had an impressive weekend with their only loss being in that championship game to a team they had previously beaten by 1 goal.  They were incredibly fun to watch offensively, playing an unselfish brand of lacrosse finding whoever was open all weekend long.  Devin Hoffman shined during the championship game with a hat-trick. Defensively, Carolina played  an aggressive and stout defense lead by Maximus Schalit.  Coach Polanski states in reference to Maximus, “You know a defender is dominating a game when it is only a 2 day tournament and coaches are game planning around him and know his name.” Teams from all over the country had a front row seat to see what the future of Florida lacrosse has to offer. What a phenomenal showing by Team Florida. Expect to see some potential All-Americans in this group in the next 4-5 years.