By Angela Watts
Assistant GM, Washington D.C. Metro Area
Boys’ lacrosse teams from across the Northern and Northwest Regions and the Dulles District gathered at West Springfield this week for the Spartans’ 2nd annual Spring Break Invitational.
And while West Springfield Coach Scott Settar said he hopes to add even more teams in years to come, this year’s field boasted plenty of talent — and the local event brought plenty of other added benefits as well.
“We had four teams last year and we expanded this year to eight,” Settar said. “We really wanted to get representation from all four Northern Region district and then bring in some other teams from around the region.
“We’re trying to continue expanding and bringing in some more great teams so that the guys have an opportunity to see talented teams from across the region that they don’t normally play.
“And hey, it’s cost effective, too. Teams don’t have to pay the travel expenses out-of-state. We can play as good of teams here as you can paying $15,000 to go to Disney World.
“So assuming we get better weather — we’re hoping for 70 degrees next year — we’ll do it again.”
Leading the eight-team field in this year’s more frigid temperatures was Langley, the only squad to go unbeaten through the round-robin event. The Saxons picked up victories against Broad Run, Potomac and Loudoun Valley to improve to 8-0 overall this season for the first time in school history.
Langley’s hard-fought, 6-5 victory over Loudoun Valley Wednesday morning was one the best-played games of the tournament, and was sparked by the play of senior middie Matt Cronin, senior goal keeper Galen Kuney and junior attackman Jack Lundeen (team-high three goals).
“We think we have a special group of guys and we wanted to play as many games as possible,” Langley Coach Earl Brewer said. “And with this format we’re actually able to play one more game this year. We’re playing 12 games instead of 11. And Scott Settar has done a great job of setting this up. My guys really looked forward to it. I mean, what’s better? You get to sleep in and then come play lacrosse. We all enjoyed it.”
As soon as the final horn sounded, however, the smiles began to creep across the faces of the Saxon players. Some of them were surely savoring their eighth victory of the year. But more than a few were also ready to start their real spring “break” with a trip to the Bahamas.
“I told them before, ‘I know you guys are going to go and have a nice little four-day break here, but let’s get our work done first,’ ” Brewer said. “And they did. They understood the magnitude of playing well here and continuing what we’ve started.
“And the best thing about this team? We can still get better. We’re talented now, but we can get even better. And that will be our focus after the break ends.”
* Click HERE to access a full photo gallery from Langley’s victory over Loudoun Valley on Wednesday.
* Click HERE to access video highlights from only the Loudoun Valley-Langley game.
* Click HERE to access a full photo gallery from West Springfield’s victory over Mount Vernon on Wednesday.
* Click HERE to access video highlights from only the Mount Vernon-West Springfield game.
COMPLETE TOURNAMENT RESULTS
Monday, April 6
Herndon 15, McLean 4
Loudoun Valley 11, West Springfield 7
Herndon 11, Mount Vernon 4
Langley 12, Broad Run 7
Tuesday, April 7
McLean 8, Mount Vernon 7
Loudoun Valley 7, Herndon 4
West Springfield 11, Broad Run 8
Langley 13, Potomac 3
Wednesday, April 8
West Springfield 11, Mount Vernon 2
Langley 6, Loudoun Valley 5
Herndon 5, West Springfield 4 (OT)
Potomac 14, McLean 6
Email: awatts@digitalsports.com
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