Sheehan Stanwick Burch on Why Local Lacrosse Culture Matters

The height of Paul Rabil’s college lacrosse career just happened to coincide with the greatest attendance numbers the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament has ever seen. In 2007, a record 48,443 fans packed M&T Bank Stadium on Memorial Day to watch Rabil, the brute Johns Hopkins’ All-American midfielder, and the hometown Blue Jays compete for a national title against Duke, the team a year removed from the alleged rape scandal that captured the nation’s attention.

The result, a 12-11 Hopkins win and Rabil’s starring role with one goal and a career-high five assists, catapulted the college junior, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound swim-dodging dynamo into face-of-the-game status. And he parlayed the buzz, and a twenty-something’s early understanding of a thing called social media, into a full-fledged adult lacrosse life. That meant, for the last decade, playing part-time in the sport’s outdoor and indoor pro leagues, promoting himself and his associated brands, crossing the country to teach youth camps and clinics, and suiting up for Team USA.

It was a career, one which landed Rabil the label of “Lacrosse’s Million-Dollar Man,” given his cumulative endorsement deals at age 27, unmatched by anyone else in the growing yet still niche sport. But the glitz and glamour and big contracts of the NBA, MLB, or NFL this was not.

Major League Lacrosse, or MLL—the outdoor pro league that started in 2000 and in which Rabil became a two-time MVP—paid most players less than a typical entry-level job salary, not enough to live on. And, over the last few years, the league gradually received less exposure from major television broadcasters, a trend that didn’t sit well with the media-savvy Rabil, who boasted his own self-made internet footprint.

He’s got a YouTube channel and a podcast (“Suiting Up”) that’s featured guests like lacrosse aficionado Bill Belichick, tennis legend Venus Williams, investor and media executive Gary Vaynerchuk, and even Tony Robbins. Frustrated, Rabil and his older brother, Mike, an entrepreneur who’s started several successful businesses, sought to buy the existing outdoor pro league, but couldn’t reach a deal. (It would have been almost the equivalent of Johnny Unitas buying the NFL as a young man.)

And so here we are, all these years later, right back home where it all began—but with one big twist. This weekend Rabil, now 33, brings to town—and specifically to Johns Hopkins’ historic Homewood Field—his own professional lacrosse league. Yes, he’s the co-founder, along with his brother, of the nascent Premier Lacrosse League, a pioneering first-year outfit unlike anything the sport has seen before. Rabil’s former college teammate, Kyle Harrison, whom we profiled in Baltimore earlier this year, was also a key figure in the formation of the league.

In a dynamic reminiscent of the USFL’s competition with the NFL in the mid-1980s, the Rabils raised capital and wooed players to their league with higher salaries (players are paid a reported average of $28,000), health benefits, and, unconventionally, an equity stake in the league. Investors include people like billionaire Joe Tsai, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba (the Chinese equivalent of Amazon) and a former lacrosse player at Yale.

The games are broadcast across NBC’s family of networks, and the league is breaking team sports ground with its tour-based model, meaning rosters aren’t rooted to a specific city and instead travel like a roadshow (or like the pro tennis and golf tours) and play in places like New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Denver, and Atlanta.

Saturday marks the league’s first stop in Baltimore, and the first pro men’s lacrosse game in the city since the MLL’s Bayhawks moved in 2006 to Washington, D.C. (and eventually to Annapolis). Johns Hopkins will host three men’s games and two pro women’s games this weekend, with the main event coming at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Under the lights, Rabil and the Blue Jays-themed Atlas Lacrosse Club (featuring seven Hopkins alums on the roster) will face off against the University of Maryland-heavy (as in 20 Terps on the team) Whipsnakes Lacrosse Club in a rekindling of sorts of college lacrosse’s most epic rivalry, dating to 1895. “Now that we’re out of college,” says former Johns Hopkins and Calvert Hall attackman Ryan Brown, Rabil’s Atlas teammate, “we still hate them, and they still hate us.”

Also notable is the amount of access the league has provided NBC during game broadcasts. Sideline interviews? That’s old hat. How about interviews with players on the field during the game? That new idea, and the execution, has grabbed national attention . . . (Skip ahead to the 35-second mark of this video to hear another Baltimore guy, Gilman alum and NBC analyst Ryan Boyle, ask a live question of a player who just scored a goal.)

This is to say that if you’re not going to make it to Homewood Field to watch in person this weekend, at least tune in on the television or your smartphone, even if you’re somewhere on the beach. If, for nothing else, to see at least one guy live out a dream, on the same field where the seeds were planted for it as a college kid.

“Homewood Field is not only the most historic venue in lacrosse, home to 44 national championships, first-team All-Americans and Hall-of-Famers, but it’s where I learned how to play the game at the highest level,” Rabil says. “My four years at Hopkins will continue to guide me over the next 40 years of my life. And I couldn’t be more excited to rewind this Saturday and play on the ’Wood again.”

It was a rare sight to see last Friday evening, around 7:30 p.m., when the great Pat Spencer exited the Loyola University men’s lacrosse locker room and sat before a small group of reporters at Ridley Athletic Complex, visibly frustrated by the outcome of what just happened on the lacrosse field.

His coach, former Loyola goalie Charley Toomey, and teammate, current goalie Jacob Stover (former Ravens kicker Matt’s son), spoke about the disappointment of a surprising 7-5 loss to Army on their home field in the Patriot League semifinals, and the hope and expectation that the NCAA tournament selection committee would still grant them an at-large berth. Meanwhile, Spencer—Baltimore-raised and one of the greatest college lacrosse players of all-time—alternated between running his hands through his sweaty hair in disgust, and closing his eyes and appearing to try to calm himself down.

For only the fourth time in a sparkling four-year career at Loyola—where he’s dazzled observers, teammates, coaches, and opponents (see this diving, back-handed goal) since the first game of his freshman year—Spencer recorded less than two points in a game, with one assist and no goals.

For a college senior who is third all-time in points scored by a NCAA Division I lacrosse player (360), is six assists shy of that all-time record, and owns a list of other league and program scoring bests, it was the equivalent of Michael Jordan or LeBron James being held to a couple points on the basketball court.

And now people were asking the only questions they could: how eager Spencer and the Greyhounds might be to get another chance to play this week when college lacrosse’s NCAA tournaments begin. He couldn’t end such a great playing career with a goose-egg in the goal-scoring column, right?

“We all want another opportunity,” Spencer said. “We really didn’t put our best foot forward today. But we got a really good team and we know what we’re capable of doing coning down the stretch. Yeah, we want to get back out there.”

Fortunately for them, and anyone who wants to catch a final glimpse of Spencer in person locally, Loyola indeed heard its name called on ESPN’s Selection Sunday broadcast, as the tournament’s eighth-seed, and will host traditional lacrosse power Syracuse at noon Saturday. The game will air on ESPNU. Another local figure, former Johns Hopkins goalie Quint Kessenich, will provide color commentary.

Win or lose, it will be the last home game for Spencer and 11 other Loyola seniors. The rest of the tournament is played at neutral sites, with the championship on Memorial Day up I-95 at the home of the Philadelphia Eagles.

As is typically the norm around these parts, the Loyola men’s team joins a handful of other local programs in the lacrosse postseason, which include women’s and men’s teams from Towson, Johns Hopkins, UMBC, Navy, and University of Maryland.

Spencer, however, is the headliner. And, time being what it is, is inching closer to the culmination of a remarkable college lacrosse career. His resume: a three-time finalist for the Tewaaraton Award, the equivalent of football’s Heisman Trophy; three-time All-American (so far, only because this year’s picks haven’t been announced yet); four-time Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year; five points shy of moving into sole possession of second-place on the NCAA all-time scoring list; and helping Loyola reach the national semifinals as a freshman in 2016.

But it all started relatively off-the-radar. In a sport where college recruiting can often happen at an uncomfortable and unreasonable early age, Spencer was passed over by top-tier Division I programs because he didn’t fit the prototypical mold and profile as an early high-schooler.

He was a late-bloomer, going from a skinny, 5-foot-6 sophomore, and playing on Boys’ Latin’s junior varsity team, to a 6-foot-2, two-year varsity sensation who led the Lakers to an undefeated season and a No. 1 national ranking in 2014. By that point, he’d already decided to stay in the neighborhood and play in college at Loyola. He caught the coaching staff’s attention with performances with the Baltimore Crabs summer club team.

Four years later, the local boy is readying for one last NCAA tournament ride, and we’re hoping for at least one more spectacular dive show tomorrow, like this one . . .

But his college athletics career might not be done, even when the lacrosse story ends.

Spencer was also a Sun All-Metro basketball player in high school, as guard, and he’s got realistic hoop dreams. His younger brother, Cam, will play basketball at Loyola next year, and older brother has stated his desire to use an extra year of NCAA eligibility to play somewhere next winter. In fact, Spencer has played in the competitive Annapolis Summer Basketball League the last four summers, and was MVP in 2017. (And there he impressed semi-famous street-ball legend “White Chocolate,” former Bowie State point guard Randy Gill.) There’s a lot of concepts from the lacrosse field that apply to the basketball court, and vice versa. And he can dunk.

Plus, Spencer graduates from Loyola this month with a degree in finance. In short, the guy has options. He was also the No. 1 overall pick in the recent Premier Lacrosse League pro draft, meaning he could show off his stick-and-ball wares to national audiences on NBC this summer while earning a salary and benefits.

That’s all discussion for another day, though. For at least one more 60-minute lacrosse game on Saturday, No. 7 in the Loyola green, cool gray, and white uniform will look to make the most of his shot at career-closing redemption (a national title would be storybook and ideal), and try to enjoy the present. It will be a show for the rest of us.

This time last year, Kyle Harrison came home and stepped onto something familiar—a lacrosse field in Baltimore—but saw a scene he didn’t expect: hundreds of school-aged black boys and girls running around with sticks and helmets and pads being exposed to the game that has touched nearly every part of his own life since he began playing at age 3. That was way back before he was cognizant of the implications of a black kid merely trying, then thriving, as he has, in an overwhelmingly white sport.

Harrison, a two-time Team USA member, 13-year professional, three-time All-American, and former collegiate player of the year at Johns Hopkins, had seen pictures and long heard stories about these free Saturday sessions. They’ve run for two hours each spring weekend since former Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, who played lacrosse at Yale, founded Charm City Youth Lacrosse League, or CCYLL, in 2009. Harrison was also well aware of the organization’s recreation and club teams and other year-round initiatives—he’d spent two years on the nonprofit’s board of directors.

But he was still shocked at the scope of what he now watched through his own eyes at Carroll Park in the southwest part of the city. Nearly 700 boys and girls—even if many were just learning to catch and throw—who looked like him were playing the beloved Maryland sport, one that’s pervasive in well-to-do communities all over the area but holds little sway in the minority-dominant neighborhoods of Baltimore.

“Where are these damn kids coming from?” Harrison said to himself. “And how are there so many of them?”

That’s a story unto itself, one the charismatic Harrison has been part of from afar, given his marketable reputation and reach as the game’s most recognizable black player over the past two decades. Since winning a national lacrosse title and graduating from Hopkins in 2005, Harrison has managed to make a living in the sport by cultivating partnerships with brands such as Baltimore-based sports equipment company STX, Nike, and LeBron James’ digital content network, Uninterrupted. He has also become an active player in the development of the new professional Premier Lacrosse League that is slated to debut in June.

While crisscrossing the country to host youth camps and clinics and play in pro games—he was Major League Lacrosse’s No. 1 draft pick out of college and helped lead the Ohio Machine to an MLL title in 2017—he has attracted more than 100,000 combined Instagram and Twitter followers along the way.

So now, Harrison’s footprint and backstory make him the almost singularly qualified and the seemingly inevitable choice to lead Charm City Youth Lacrosse. After spending almost a decade living in California and two years in North Carolina, Harrison, 36 this month, recently moved back home to Maryland with his wife, Meredith, and his two children, Brooke, 3, and Smith, 1, to be closer to his immediate and extended family. And that’s when he decided to add another title to his long list of commitments: Charm City Youth Lacrosse President/CEO. You could call it a full circle move.

“I look like you look. These are the opportunities lacrosse opened up for me.”

Harrison’s father, Dr. Miles Harrison—a successful surgeon who had been a member of Morgan State’s legendary Ten Bears team, the groundbreaking all-black college lacrosse squad that competed against NCAA Division I programs in the 1970s—introduced his son to the game early and sent him to Friends School, where he played lacrosse, basketball, and soccer. And while Harrison was often the only black kid on his youth teams there and in the Lutherville rec lacrosse program, he wasn’t thwarted from progressing in the sport, because the only thing he knew was that his father had always played and that probably meant black people everywhere did. It wasn’t until fans and peers started to recognize Harrison in college that he began to understand his uniqueness and stature and grew into his role as a potential change agent. “[I realized] that maybe they are looking up to me,” he says.

His return home is something akin to if Serena Williams returned to Compton, California, to head a nonprofit that encourages youth tennis participation.

“He adds star power to the leadership of the program, and he also leads by example,” Gansler says. “The vast majority of the players that are playing high school and college lacrosse don’t look like the players that are in our program. When Kyle Harrison comes and says, ‘I look like you look. These are the opportunities that lacrosse opened up for me,’ the message is that much more powerful and poignant.”

A decade ago, Gansler—who later ran for governor—started the league after watching his son play in a summer college recruiting club tournament in the suburbs with more than 5,000 participants.

“It occurred to me, sitting there on a hill, that these were all white kids, and there were no kids from Baltimore City,” Gansler says. “Everybody in the area either plays lacrosse, their neighbor played lacrosse, or their kids play, but in Baltimore City, there’s a donut hole. We needed to fill that in. Lacrosse has been an avenue for a lot Marylanders to go to colleges that they might not otherwise get to go to. It should be for the kids in Baltimore City as well.”

Gansler launched the CCYLL with 83 kids and a $50,000 budget from corporate donations. The Verizon Circuits, Cordish Blue Jays, and Comcast Comets were among the names of the first 10 teams that year, and students from private high schools such as McDonogh, Calvert Hall, Boys’ Latin, Gilman, and St. Paul’s volunteered as coaches for community-service credits. The Weinberg Foundation donated $10,000 for equipment.

Each year since, the organization has slowly grown and added programs. Its board includes people like Kendra Ausby, a Baltimore judge and former player at UMBC who has helped grow the league’s women’s teams. Last year, CCYLL’s operating budget was $300,000, and its programs included competitive teams in the Maryland Youth Lacrosse Association, indoor lacrosse games at the Under Armour House and Myers Pavilion, elementary and middle-school gym classes, academic and college admissions mentoring, and inspirational guest speakers such as congressman Elijah Cummings. In a handful of cases, if a player from the CCYLL program is accepted to an area private school, the organization will help cover part of the tuition.

But CCYLL is still a very grassroots operation, and it has just one full-time employee, executive director Artie West, a former women’s player at Towson. West, 33 this month, reaches out to volunteers via email and social media. News and information gets around town by word of mouth, and donations are always welcome.

Harrison’s presence and connections provide an opportunity for the organization to grow its profile. And, for a new generation of players, he embodies a link—via his father—to the greatest historical piece of minority involvement in the sport, save for football and lacrosse Hall-of-Famer Jim Brown, who famously starred in both sports at Syracuse University. Today, CCYLL jerseys feature 10 stars on them in honor of Miles Harrison and the rest of Morgan State’s trailblazing Bears, who upset the No. 1 ranked team in the country in 1975. “He brings so much weight and value to our program,” West says of the younger Harrison. “I can’t wait to really see where he takes this thing and where he propels the organization to go.”

His impact is already being felt. In October, Harrison announced a new CCYLL partnership with Nation United, an elite national club initiative that connects players of diverse backgrounds to college programs. According to NCAA statistics from 2018, 85 percent of men’s college lacrosse players and 84 percent of women’s players are white, compared with 4 percent and 3 percent black representation, respectively. And that’s actually an improvement from the 2 percent black participation in men’s and women’s lacrosse a decade ago.

Harrison has publicly addressed such [racial] incidents over the past year.

Ultimately, Harrison envisions CCYLL’s high-school level and burgeoning elite team, Charm Nation, becoming a feeder program for Nation United and serving as a gateway for city kids to play in college like he did. Fifty kids from the high school classes of 2020 and 2021 tried out last summer for this year’s Charm Nation team, which played in a major youth tournament for the first time in San Diego. Seventeen black kids and two white kids made up the roster.

“The overall struggle for these kids is to have the ability to progress in the sport,” says Bryce Spruill, a former player at Stevenson University, who is Artie West’s brother and Charm Nation’s coach. “Some kids are from the city, and there are some from the county that don’t want to play for these expensive club teams, or can’t afford it.”

Charles Pitt Jr. is one of those now aspiring collegiate players who heard and got Harrison’s message. The Park Heights native, a 17-year-old senior at Mervo High and MVP of the city high school boys’ lacrosse championship game a year ago, started playing the sport as a freshman after a friend recommended it. And, having followed him on social media and watched his instructional videos, Pitt was already well aware of Harrison before he first arrived at a CCYLL high school team practice last year.

“Picking up the sport, I was watching a few pros,” says Pitt, who was in love with basketball before lacrosse, “but I never thought that I would actually meet one, especially a legend like him. We were practicing one weekend and he just walked on the field. The whole atmosphere just changed. He makes everything better. Everybody is more involved. He brings us together as a whole group.”

In the fall, Pitt verbally committed to play at Virginia’s Ferrum College, a Division III school where he’ll study computer engineering. Erwin Johnson, who plays at Douglass High, was the team’s MVP last year, and a couple of other CCYLL players have made local private school rosters. But for every success story, there are also setbacks: Black players, including Harrison’s own nephew, being called the N-word on the field. The uncomfortable situation when white teammates blast similar profanity-laced songs in the locker room, which Harrison has experienced. Social media posts with direct or indirect racism.

The pushback Harrison got when he and fellow pro Chazz Woodson organized an all-black touring team that also put on youth clinics. More comfortable as an ambassador for black players, Harrison has addressed such incidents—on Twitter and elsewhere—over the past year, and he accepts the broader societal challenges at hand.

And then there’s the deep-rooted, systemic struggles of the city. On the eve of last year’s city Division A championship game, a gunman murdered 17-year-old City College captain Ray Glasgow III in what police say was a case of mistaken identity. Two days later, in the title game, Pitt, on the opposing team, wore his close friend’s jersey No. 10 in remembrance and scored four goals.

Several years ago, Gansler recalls watching a young player effortlessly run around the competition at Carroll Park “like they were trees” and talking to a coach from a local private school who was interested in his potential. “We had him tested,” Gansler says. “The kid was in fourth grade and couldn’t read. You can’t take that child who can’t read and put them into a private school in Baltimore and hope they’re going to succeed. So the promise is often sort of never realized.”

Examples like these lead Harrison to say that diversifying the sport he loves, and in Baltimore, will take time. “It’s going to be a slow, gradual change,” he says. “It’s baby steps . . . years ago, it’s almost like folks felt like there’d be a switch flipped. Like everything would be perfect, minorities everywhere. That’s just not the reality.”

What’s real is what happens moment by moment, interaction by interaction, on lacrosse fields like the one Harrison arrived at on that Saturday morning last year—when all the players of color that he witnessed amazed him. That’s right where he’ll be again this spring, hopefully watching more kids that look like him, excited to be part of what happens next.

The P.A. announcer called Ray Glasgow III’s name and number during pregame introductions, but his black, orange, and white No. 10 jersey rested over the back of the metal bench at the Poly-Western High instead.  

It was Monday night, almost exactly 48 hours since the 17-year-old City College boys’ lacrosse team captain was shot and killed a few miles away in what police are calling a case of mistaken identity. And it was time for the city title game that he’d been looking forward to so much. “He was ready for this championship,” teammate and City College sophomore Makai Cummings said. “That’s all he ever talked about.”
 

He should have been there, leading his teammates with his gregarious personality on the sideline and on the field like he’d done all spring, but around 6 p.m. Saturday an unknown gunman stepped out of what police believe was a white Nissan Altima on the 100 block of S. Eden St. and opened fire with a rifle on four friends sitting inside a parked car.  

An 18-year-old was injured, and Glasgow was killed, the city’s 95th murder this year, a week after the well-liked junior football and lacrosse player (“He was the most genuine person you’d ever meet,” said senior Malik Hamm) had just attended prom in a light blue suit. He also recently toured historically black Hampton University in Virginia with his father, where he hoped to play lacrosse for Baltimore native and former Morgan State player Lloyd Carter.  

“It’s just too much,” Mayor Catherine Pugh said. “We spoke to the family and they are grieving. So are the children, and so is this city.”

In their grief, Glasgow’s teammates decided via group text that they would still play in Monday’s championship game against Mervo, whom they’d faced for the title the previous two seasons. “It was hard,” Hamm said. “At first, you want to play because you know Ray would have wanted to win this game, but then throughout the game, it gets on a lot of people’s minds and they want to do too much.”  

City started a symbolic man down on defense, Glasgow’s position, the emotion clearly raw, and jumped to a 2-0 lead, but Mervo scored nine of the game’s next 12 goals to take a 9-5 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Glasgow’s friend Charles Pitt Jr., who switched his own jersey to No. 10 in tribute, scored four times and had two assists, and Mervo won 9-7.  

“It took a lot of guts for you guys just to come out here,” City coach Anthony “Merc” Ryan told the 12 distraught players gathered around him afterward, and then began talking to local reporters about gun violence in the city, and another young man gone because of it. Memorial services will be held this weekend.  

“Just his presence,” Ryan said of what he missed about Glasgow. “Forget about the fact that this guy is an outstanding lacrosse player. His presence when we’re down and need a push and need that leader on the sideline and the field that’s going to ignite the team, Ray is that guy.”  

After arriving toward the end of the first quarter, Glasgow’s father wore his son’s jersey on the sideline, next to his mourning mother and determined yet distracted teammates. A poster present on Monday signed by City College students included messages of love and support with #LongLiveRay and one of his nicknames, “RGIII.”    

Earlier in the day, students at City Springs Elementary School, where Glasgow attended and near where he was killed, held a ceremony in his honor that Pugh and police commissioner Darryl De Sousa attended. The pair also spoke to local media at halftime of Monday’s game, with the commissioner saying he believed none of the people in the car were intended targets, that detectives found seven .233 rifle casings at the scene, and asked for anyone with information on the shooting to come forward.  

“This is a redball case for us,” De Sousa said, which is maybe why City junior defenseman Tim Dunnock said this to a friend before leaving Poly’s field for the night: “Stay safe out there.”

Black & White Party
Jan. 27. The Assembly Room, 316-318 Guilford Ave. 8 p.m. $150. 410-396-5430. The Pratt Contemporaries’ annual Black and White Party always falls in the dead of winter, but this year, enjoy a brief reprieve from the cold weather with a night in Old Havana. With a fresh Cuban theme and a nod to the 1950s paradise heralded by Ernest Hemingway, this library benefit will feature live music, local eats, and a hefty dose of handmade cocktails (daiquiri, anyone?). Tickets go fast, as this do-good party has become a can’t-miss event of the year.

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Cyrus Chestnut Meets Warren Wolf
Jan. 12-13. An Die Musik, 409 N. Charles St., 8 p.m., 9:30 p.m. $10-27. 410-385-2638. Baltimore sons Cyrus Chestnut and Warren Wolf have not let the light fade on the city’s rich jazz scene. The pianist and vibraphonist, respectively, have brought their homegrown talents into the national spotlight, with the former being dubbed “the best jazz pianist of his generation” by Time magazine, and the latter touring and recording with the likes of New York City’s Wynton Marsalis. The two musicians will team up and return home, bringing their swinging sound to the intimate, 90-seat venue of An die Musik. At one or all four shows in Mt. Vernon, fall under the spell of Chestnut’s blues-tinged keys and Wolf’s swift, skilled vibes. 

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Lexington Market Catacombs
Jan. 13. Lexington Market, 400 W. Lexington St. 10:30 a.m. Free. 410-332-9992. They say Baltimore is a city built on tunnels, both heavily used and long-abandoned. The latter gets a little less mysterious this January with Baltimore Heritage’s guided tour of Lexington Market. Swing through the centuries-old marketplace and stop by its famous vendors, such as crab cake king Faidley’s Seafood and sweet-treat titan Berger Cookies, before journeying beneath the bustle for one of the city’s best-kept secrets. With the help of local historians, prepare to be awed by the city’s age-old catacombs, rumored to even have housed Prohibition-era distilleries.

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Martin Luther King Day Celebration
Jan. 15. Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 830 E. Pratt St. 12 p.m. $5. 443-263-1800. Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 89th birthday with live performances, community talks, and arts and crafts at the African-American history and culture museum, including a step salute and freedom-square quilting party.

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LaxCon 
Jan. 19-21. Baltimore Convention Center, 1 W. Pratt St. Fri. 7 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat. 7 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.-12 p.m. $10-200. It’s no secret that Maryland’s favorite sport is lacrosse, with grown-ups still rocking their high-school pinnies and local universities coming out on top in the NCAAs. For the fourth consecutive year, whether you’re an active athlete or retired benchsitter, join your fellow laxers for this all-lax-everything event, where you can grab some gear, network with players, or hone your skills at one of the weekend’s many workshops.

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Baltimore Restaurant Week
Jan. 12-21. Locations & times vary. $20-35. 410-244-1030. As Baltimore’s food scene continues to boom, it’s hard to keep up with the ever-growing array of dining options around town. This month, make it your resolution to sample your way through the city, with more than 100 old favorites (Gertrude’s) and trendy newbies (Gunther & Co., pictured) offering discounted brunch, lunch, and dinner for 10 days.

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Polar Bear Plunge
Jan. 25-27. Sandy Point State Park, 1100 E. College Pkwy., Annapolis. Thu. 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. $75. 410-242-1515. At the end of each January, thousands of shivering souls brave the Chesapeake Bay’s frigid waters to benefit the Special Olympics of Maryland. Muster the courage to dip your toes in the icy waves, and warm your heart thinking about the 7,549 local athletes that your chilly dunk will benefit. 

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Shen Yun
Jan. 26-28. Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. Fri. 7:30 p.m., Sat. 2 & 7:30 p.m., Sun. 1 p.m. $91-194. 410-837-7400. For one weekend, the hallowed Hippodrome stage will transform into Ancient China, also known as the Land of the Divine, as Shen Yun brings some 5,000 years of Chinese culture to life in modern-day Baltimore. Be sure to see this world-famous performance troupe, whose ancient dances, bright costumes, and mesmerizing movements have grown into a global phenomenon.

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Orioles FanFest
Jan. 27. Baltimore Convention Center, 1 W. Pratt St. Times & prices vary. 410-649-7008. mlb.com. Baseball has always been America’s great uniter—even in crazy and turbulent times—and this year proves no different. Thousands of fans will crowd the convention center for the annual Orioles FanFest. Bring the kids to chat with players, snag coveted signatures, and play games for prizes. It might be a few months until we’re back in Camden Yards, but this beloved event should hold you over until the spring. 

The Good, The Bad, and The Adorable: O’s edition
The Good: Despite the O’s latest slump, Manny Machado continues to shine. ESPN the Magazine’s Tim Keown has christened Manny as “the face of MLB’s new identity.”  

“Machado moves with a sprawling looseness that flirts with elegance,” Keown writes in the profile. “His endless limbs and their unusual liquidity have spawned tales — possibly apocryphal—about their composition.”

A perfect example of the “sprawling looseness” and “liquidity” were showcased during last Saturday’s win against the St. Louis Cardinals. Machado seemed to defy the laws of gravity and strength with an insane throw from foul territory to Davis at first base. 

The Bad: After Thursday’s 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians, the O’s have now allowed five or more runs in 19 consecutive games, placing them one game away from tying the MLB record set by the 1924 Phillies. Ouch!

The Adorable: Buck Showalter missed Thursday’s game to be with his daughter, Allie, in Dallas and witness the birth of his first grandchild, Winston. Hopefully he will be the good luck charm the O’s so desperately need. Let’s hope he starts practicing his wind-up once he’s home.

Ravens football is back.
Training camp officially begins on July 26, so that means football season will be here before we know it. If minicamp highlight videos are any indication of what the season will look like, we are so ready.

Speaking of the Ravens, tight end Benjamin Watson has been spending his time in the offseason advocating for human rights. Watson traveled to Lebanon in April where he saw first-hand the Middle East’s refugee crisis and now plans to travel to the Dominican Republic later this month with the International Justice Mission to fight for rights against sex trafficking.

Shootout for soldiers
For the past six years, volunteers have signed up to play 24 games of lacrosse for 24 hours straight to raise money to support American veterans. In order to participate, teams must raise a minimum of  $750 to secure a one-hour game slot. This year’s event, June 20-21 in Elkridge, raised more than $200,000. 

Sure, we love our Ravens and never tire of cheering on the O’s, but let’s not forget that signature sport that is as Maryland as crabs, Bergers cookies, and the Chesapeake Bay—that would be lacrosse, naturally. And on high school playing fields across the region, the season roars in like a lion every March, with the top teams getting yet another chance to best their historic rival.

With the ball flying at more than 100 miles per hour, lacrosse is one of the fastest-moving sports, and the fastest-growing one in America. Thousands of Baltimore-area families live and breathe lacrosse all season. For them, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is to see their star player make varsity in high school and watch his or her team win the state championship. Better still? A scholarship to some Division I college.

Of course, you can look at the league standings from last year and pretty much guess who most of the top high school teams will be. But we looked closer, trying to pinpoint the individual players who make those teams a worthy opponent. And in the process, we discovered a few fun sides to the sport, which influences its fans in lots of ways, from food to fashion, and even philanthropy.

Joey Wenzl

Face-off Middie, Dulaney High School

Complete this sentence: “The biggest misconception about lacrosse players is . . . ” That they are all knuckleheads who don’t try academically and just party. I try to be the opposite of this stereotype, with a 3.6 GPA, and try to be a role model for my younger brother and my teammates. What are you most proud of on the field? Being named First Team all-county my junior year as a face-off middie. I also scored the game-tying goal in a very competitive game against John Carroll School last year that we eventually won. Who’s your toughest opponent? Hereford High and Towson High.

Wade Oursler

Midfield, Gilman School

What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? Being named All-MIAA (Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association) in the 2016 season. What college will you be attending, and will you play there? The University of Maryland, and, yes, I will. What other sports are you into? I also play football—it’s one of the best sports you can play to become a better lacrosse player. Do you think you’d make a good lacrosse coach someday? Yes, I have the same passion for the game as my mentor and coach Brooks Matthews. I think I could pass this knowledge on to the next generation.

Alex Rode

Goalie, St. Paul’s School

You’re highly ranked among high school goalies in the region and nation. Can you tell us how you got that ranking? (Did we hear something about 258 saves?) I was lucky that the right people saw me at the right times and thought that I played well. When did you start playing lacrosse? At the age of 5, I played rec lacrosse. Did we hear you’re a three-sport athlete? Yes, I play football, ice hockey, and lacrosse. What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? When St. Paul’s beat Calvert Hall on alumni day at St. Paul’s. Who’s your toughest opponent? Boys’ Latin.

Ashlyn McGovern

Midfield, St. Paul’s School for Girls

What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? My best game was seven goals and three assists against Maryvale.When did you start playing lacrosse? When I was 6 years old. What do you love about the sport? The competitiveness—and I’m always happy when I’m playing. What’s your main goal this season? Winning a championship, although that will be hard against reigning champion McDonogh. Do you think you’d make a good lacrosse coach someday? I would, because I have a strong understanding and love for the game. What are the most important physical attributes of a good lacrosse player? Speed, skill, and strength.

Kylie Davis

Midfield, Century High School

Okay, so how did you hurt yourself? I injured my knee playing in a tournament. What’s your best accomplishment on the field? Tying a game to save us from losing. There were 15 seconds left and I had the ball. My first instinct, when the whistle blew, was to sprint. I ran through basically their whole team and scored with 3 seconds left to bring our team into overtime. What’s your main goal this season? To overcome my injury and come back to the sport stronger than ever. What’s the biggest misconception about lacrosse players? Everyone has a scholarship waiting for them after high school.

Olivia Rubin

Midfield, Bryn Mawr School

What’s your best moment on the field? When you come in as an underdog and no one’s expecting you to win, but you do. How do you handle losing? It can be tough sometimes, but everyone has to be able to come together and pick each other up. Teams shine in the face of adversity. If you could take one celebrity on a date to a lacrosse game, who would it be? Zac Efron. How do you see lacrosse translating to the workplace? Skills I’ve learned like leadership and being able to rely on other people will serve me really well when I go into the real world.

Jake Glatz

Face-off, Boys’ Latin School

Do you think you’d make a good lacrosse coach someday? Maybe I would because my father was my lacrosse coach most of my career, so I live with a coach! What other sports are you into? I love football and wrestling. Complete this sentence: More people would love lacrosse if . . . If the rules stopped changing every so often. What are the most important physical attributes of a good lacrosse player? Being conditioned and tough, while keeping a cool composure. And, obviously, having the techniques down. Who’s your toughest opponent? For the past couple of years, it’s been McDonogh.

Samantha Fiedler

Midfield, Garrison Forest School

If you couldn’t play lacrosse, which sport do you think you’d be best in? Basketball. I’ve played since I was in kindergarten. I play point guard. What famous athlete do you think would make a great lacrosse player? Grayson Allen, a Duke basketball player, is a really great athlete. I think he’d make a good lacrosse player too. What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? Last year, we won our first playoff game in overtime. I scored the winning goal. What’s the biggest misconception about lacrosse players? For girls lacrosse, especially, that there’s not too much contact. There’s a fair amount.

Scott Middleton

Defense, Hereford High School

What’s your main goal this season? To help bring the state championship title back to Hereford. What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? Making the Maryland Free-state Top 22 team as a freshman and making it to State Semis the past two years. What’s the biggest misconception about lacrosse players? That they’re bad and struggle academically. Many of my teammates are enrolled in honors and AP-level classes and love to give back to the community. How do you see your lacrosse experience translating to the workplace or helping your career? Time requirements of school, practice, and games have helped me learn to improve time management.

Annie Milwicz

Midfield, Maryvale Preparatory School

What do you like about the sport? It’s so popular in the Baltimore area that it kind of turns into a showcase for individual players. If you couldn’t play lacrosse, which sport do you think you’d be best in? I started playing field hockey sophomore year and I love it. What’s your main goal this season? Our past couple seasons haven’t been strong. If we have a positive attitude and team mentality, then we’ll have a good season. What lessons has lacrosse taught you for the workplace? Playing in such a competitive league has shown me I really have to work to earn my spot.

Ben Ellrich

Defense, Marriotts Ridge High School

What are the attributes of a good player? Being agile, fast, and strong always helps. A mustache or some intimidating eye black never hurts, either. What’s the biggest misconception about lacrosse players? Not every lacrosse player has a mullet and models for Vineyard Vines in their free time. When did you start playing? At age 6, after I realized I disliked baseball because of its slow pace. What do you love about the sport? Being active all 60 minutes of the game. Also, there aren’t many times you can hit someone with a metal pipe and it’s okay. Would you date a lacrosse player? Of course! You already have something to talk about on that awkward first date.

Brandon Shure

Defense, McDonogh High School

If you could change one thing about the game, what would it be? I wish defensemen got more opportunities to score. What famous athlete do you think would make a great lacrosse player? Ed Reed in his prime, because of the way he sees the field and how athletic he is. What’s your main goal this season? To go undefeated, win another championship. How do you handle losing? Not very well. But it motivates me to work harder. What celebrity would you take on a date to a game? A young Jennifer Lopez. Who’s your toughest opponent? It’s always Boys Latin. They’re very well-coached. Their offense always clicks.

Moriah Snyder

Midfield/Defense, C. Milton Wright High School

What’s the biggest misconception about lacrosse players? A lot of people think we actually enjoy running. I don’t think so—it’s just something we have to do! What’s your biggest accomplishment on the field so far? Helping my team advance to state semifinals by calling a stick-check on a girl in double overtime! We came back to win the game in triple overtime. College you’ll be attending? The United States Naval Academy, where I’ll be playing lacrosse. Who’s your toughest opponent? Glenelg High School. Complete this sentence: More people would love lacrosse if . . . Some people say they don’t understand the rules, and therefore, don’t like watching it.

Garrett Volley

Junior Defense, Our Lady of Good Counsel High School

How badly does it hurt to be hit by the ball? As a close defenseman, it’s not uncommon to get hit by the ball and it hurts pretty badly. I’ve had a ton of bruises and have actually broken my hand from being hit by a shot. What do you love about the sport? I love that no matter what size you are, if you put in the time and work every day you can be a great player. What other sports are you into? I love football, basketball, skiing, and golf. Would you ever date a lacrosse player? Yes, my girlfriend plays lacrosse at Good Counsel, too.

Omari DeBerry

MidField, Calvert Hall

What other sports do you like playing? I played basketball through the eighth grade, and played football in high school my freshman and junior year. Both have helped me on the lacrosse field. Kids shouldn’t try to start specializing in one sport too early. Complete this sentence: More people would love lacrosse if . . . It was introduced into populations that did not have it. Also, the game is expensive, between gear and tournaments. Would you ever date a lacrosse player? Yes. Girls that play the same sport as you understand your schedule, how you have practice all the time and workouts.

Michael Lamon

Attack, Severn School

How do you see lacrosse translating to the workplace? Although lacrosse is the fastest-growing sport, it is still a very close-knit community, which allows a great network of opportunities. What’s your biggest accomplishment on the field so far? I was 2016 Anne Arundel County Player of the Year, Inside Lacrosse’s #60 Junior, and I was in the MIAA semifinals in 2016. What college will you be attending? University of Pennsylvania, where I’ll be playing lacrosse. What’s the biggest misconception about lacrosse players? People think lacrosse is only popular on the East Coast, but there is recently a ton of talent coming out of the West.

Jacob Kelly

Attack, Calvert Hall

Would you make a good lacrosse coach? My dad being a coach, I’ve been able to watch him do his thing over the years and I feel like I have a pretty decent lacrosse IQ. What are your biggest accomplishments on the field? Tournaments I’ve won with my club team and the MIAA games we’ve won as a team at Calvert Hall. What are the most important attributes for the sport? It depends on the position: Attack men typically have to be pretty quick and explosive, while defensemen have to be strong.

Koby Smith

Defense, Loyola Blakefield

What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? It was getting cut from JV and playing freshman lacrosse that year to starting on varsity the following year. What college will you be attending? I am committed to the United States Naval Academy, where I’ll be playing lacrosse. What’s the biggest misconception about lacrosse players? It’s that players pick up a stick at age 4, as I did, and only play that sport. But a lot of us play many other sports. I really like basketball, football, and water polo. Who is your toughest opponent? McDonogh. This team works very well with moving the ball.

Kaitlyn Kozlowski

Midfield, Mercy High School

What famous athlete do you think would make a great lacrosse player? Ray Lewis, because of his mentality. He’s a really great leader. He can probably do anything he puts his mind to. What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? Last year I was all-conference. Where do you not want to get hit, aside from the obvious? I assume the head. Other than that you deal with bruises and you go on. What’s your main goal this season? We’re winning the conference this year one way or another. Who’s your toughest opponent? This year it will probably be Park or Friends.

Riley Schmidt

Midfield, Glenelg Country School

What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? I was named scholar-athlete of the spring season last year at my school. Do you think you’d make a good lacrosse coach someday? I hope so. My dad has been my coach since I was 5. It really helps to have your dad know the game so well. If you couldn’t play lacrosse, which sport do you think you’d be best in? Probably soccer. I played defense this year. What famous athlete do you think would make a great lacrosse player? Randy Moss would be good. He’s really tall and really athletic.

Steven Villacorta

Face-off specialist, Park School

What famous athlete do you think would make a great lacrosse player? I’d want to see LeBron James as a lacrosse player. The endurance he has in basketball, the kind of mentality he has, I think he could dominate in lacrosse. If you could change one thing about the sport, what would it be? Because I’m a face-off specialist, I feel like there’s always something being changed with the face-off rules. I’d like to see a little less regulation. What are the most important physical attributes of a good lacrosse player? You definitely need to have endurance and stamina—mentally, and physically.

Owen McManus

Defense, Friends School of Baltimore

If you could take one celebrity on a date to a lacrosse game, who would it be? Jennifer Aniston. Who’s your toughest opponent? John Carroll School. They have a lot of depth and speed. When did you start playing lacrosse? When I was about 5 or 6. If you couldn’t play lacrosse, which sport do you think you’d excel in? Soccer. What’s your main goal this season? To win the championship. How do you see your lacrosse experience helping in the workplace? We put in a lot of hard work. That will really translate into the workplace because working hard will help you be successful.

Whenever 16-year-old JoJo Bright has a few free minutes, you can probably find him outside with his lacrosse stick in hand, cradling a ball, then firing it at a goal. Again and again.

Bright is not a small kid. A ninth-grader at Severna Park High School, he’s just shy of 6 feet, weighing in at 250 pounds. If his body type sounds more suited to football, well, he did play linebacker and a little running back for the Falcons varsity team this season. But it’s lacrosse—a sport he knew next to nothing about just three years ago—that’s captured his imagination.

“People think, ‘He’s big, he can’t do certain things,’” Bright says. “It does take time and effort to be great at lacrosse. I [appreciate] all the finesse skills it takes.”

Like hundreds of kids who grew up in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Baltimore, Bright was introduced to the game through Charm City Youth Lacrosse, a nonprofit dedicated to growing the game in the city. Five-hundred children ages 4 to 14 take part in the organization’s free programming, and 85 percent of them, including Bright, are African-American.

Susie Chase once sat on Charm City’s board. Now vice president of philanthropy and partnerships at US Lacrosse, she believes the sport can transform young people’s lives.

“It can lead to academic improvement and reduction of behavioral incidents in the classroom,” she says.

In 2016, US Lacrosse provided grants and continued support for 128 teams through its First Stick program.

Bright is exactly the kind of kid those programs are trying to reach. Through Charm City Youth Lacrosse he met Paul Intlekofer, a member of that organization’s board of directors, with whom he now lives.

“I was used to growing up in poverty and seeing a lot of tough things,” Bright says. “I have been blessed with an opportunity to get away from that environment.”

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J. Douglas Radebaugh

This Calvert Hall grad was a three-time All-American at the University of Maryland who won the Lt. Donald McLaughlin Jr. Award in 1975 as the nation’s outstanding midfielder.

Austin Schmidt

A graduate of St. Paul’s School and then The Johns Hopkins University, he coached Hobart College to three NCAA Division II and III national championships in 1972, 1976, and 1977.

James Webster

Known as “Mickey,” he attended The Boys’ Latin School before becoming a three-time All-American at Johns Hopkins and co-captain of the university’s 1959 national championship team.

Benjamin Kaestner

A three-time All-American as a defenseman at Johns Hopkins who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985, his father, Hank, who played for Hopkins in the late 1960s, is also in the Hall of Fame, as is Hank’s father, Bud.

Theodore Bauer

Longtime proprietor of the beloved Mount Washington Tavern, he attended the Gilman School before the 1974 grad of Washington and Lee College became a three-time All-American there.

Michael Federico

This Boys’ Latin and Johns Hopkins grad was a three-time All-American goalie in 1978, ’79, and ’80.

Harry “Mac” Ford

A Gilman grad who went south to play collegiately at The University of North Carolina (class of ’85), he was three-time USCLA Player of the Year.

Ryan Wade

The 1993 and 1994 ACC Player of the Year graduated from The Severn School.

Jen Adams

Now the head coach at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, this Australian native won four-straight NCAA national championships at the University of Maryland and was the first winner of the women’s Tewaaraton Award in 2001.

Howard Krongard

Nicknamed “Cookie,” Krongard attended Princeton and was the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association’s Man of the Year in 1983.

Kelly Amonte Hiller

“She took women’s lacrosse to a new level,” says Finn of the longtime U.S. national team goalie and offense player, who won the Atlantic Coast Conference Female Athlete of the Year award in 1996 while playing for the University of Maryland.

Mike Morrill

The youngest of three generations of Morrills in the Hall of Fame—he was inducted in 2016—this St. Paul’s School and Johns Hopkins grad was a collegiate All-American.

William Morrill

A graduate of Friends School Baltimore, this three-time All-American attackman lost only one game at Johns Hopkins. He was inducted in 1978.

William Morrill

A professor of mathematics at Johns Hopkins who was inducted in 1962, he also coached the lacrosse team to five national championships.

The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum, located at 2 Loveton Circle in Sparks, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Admission is free.

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The last time lacrosse was a medal sport in the Olympics, The Johns Hopkins University was asked to send its team to represent the United States. It was unable to do so, and Canada ultimately won gold at the 1908 competition in London. (Great Britain was the only other country that fielded a team.)

Aside from three instances in which it was an Olympic demonstration event—1928 and ’32, when Hopkins did show, and 1948, when Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute represented the U.S.—lacrosse has been absent from the world’s biggest sporting stage.

Its advocates are hoping to change that. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is currently reviewing an application that would grant the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) provisional recognition, the first step on a long and winding road to returning the sport to the Olympic Games.

“Inclusion in the Olympics is the apex achievement for any sport,” says Steve Stenersen, president and CEO of U.S. Lacrosse and vice president of the FIL. “When the IOC includes a sport, it instantly creates the credibility that we need, not only in nations where the sport is already being played, but in other nations where we’re trying to seed the sport.”

In the Byzantine world of the IOC, granting provisional recognition to a sport’s governing body is just the opening faceoff in a game that could take years, or even decades, to finish. If the FIL’s application is approved, then the organization’s goal becomes full recognition.

“Once that happens, then the question is about achieving inclusion in the Olympic program,” Stenersen says. “That’s a very different conversation. It’s very political and very business-focused. The IOC wants to maximize the monetization of its Olympic asset, so the question is going to be, how can we make money on lacrosse?”

One answer may be pushing new versions of the sport, altering the number of participants or reducing the time it takes to play a game into a tidy, one-hour TV window. (It usually takes about two hours now.) In October, four top international teams will visit the U.S. Lacrosse facility for training and games, and Stenersen says the group plans to experiment with the number of players on each side, the size of the field, and the length of the game to “see what we can learn.”

The earliest possible year we could see Olympic lacrosse—in some form—is 2024. If the games are held in Los Angeles, one of three cities competing for them, that may be the break the sport needs. The host country has flexibility in staging demonstration events.

“If L.A. gets that Olympic games,” Stenersen says, “we’ll work diligently to try to get the organizing committee to consider the sport native to the North American continent, rooted in native American religion for centuries.”

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After years of watching on the sidelines as her two boys played lacrosse, Glen Arm mom Jennifer Vick had plenty of time to make a fashion observation that would lead to a business venture: branded lax wear not just for teen boys, but for the whole family.

“I noticed more and more girls playing the sport, but they often played games and practices wearing boys’ lacrosse clothing,” says the 40-something Vick. “And it wasn’t just the girls with ill-fitting gear, but parents and young siblings wearing boy’s jerseys.”

Armed with a business administration degree from the University of Baltimore and 20 years of sales experience, but with no background in the sportswear industry, she took a crash course in fabric and design. Then, in 2012, she founded Lax So Hard, which offers all manner of lacrosse clothing and accessories to everyone from small children to adults of both sexes.

“We were looking at how we could incorporate the brand into a sport that’s growing so fast.” And since quality was important, she moved initial manufacturing from Florida back to Maryland to keep a close eye on things. Now the company, named after her family’s game-day rally cry, sells its branded offerings online, on amazon.com, and at smaller clothing stores in the Baltimore area. They also sell the products at lacrosse tournaments and events, where Vick sets up tented “stores” on the same sidelines where she first got the idea.

Vick has talked about expanding the line to attract fans of other sports. But she says she won’t abandon the company’s lacrosse roots.

“Lacrosse will always be first,” she says. “The players are loyal. The families are loyal. They always want to represent their sport.”

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So, you might ask, if the region has so many great lacrosse players, which coaches deserve the most credit for that?

Of course, making a judgment on who’s the “best” coach is a minefield of egos and subjective judgments, but we imagine that such a choice would look something like Chris Robinson, a guy with a record of wins that’s almost beyond belief.

Robinson, head coach at McDonogh School for the past 12 years, has compiled a 235-9 record, with his teams winning nine IAAM championships. So, with a record like that, maybe it’s not surprising that, for the past eight years, his McDonogh teams were number one in the country, racking up a 155-game winning streak.

He didn’t cut his coaching teeth at McDonogh, though. Before that, he was head coach at Howard County’s Mt. Hebron High School, winning five state championships, two number-one national rankings, and a 106-9-1 overall record.

Pretty hard to beat—as are his teams.

Chris Tillman is bright light in series against his former team.
We admit that this week wasn’t the best for the Orioles, who lost the series to the Seattle Mariners. But the good news is that we’re still tied for first place in the division and that the three-game series had some shining moments.

One was Joey Rickard’s amazing defensive skills. And certainly another was Chris Tillman’s outing on Wednesday night against his former team. Tillman held the Mariners to two runs for 6 1/3 innings, making this his sixth quality start and holding his ERA steady at 2.61. Whether it’s a coincidence or not, Tillman remains undefeated against his former team. With characteristic modesty, the pitcher told The Sun that the win had very little to do with him. “We just seem to swing the bats well every time I pitch against these guys,” Tillman said. “A big defense night for us tonight, too . . . We took some really good swings off a really good pitcher.”

Towson and Loyola’s lacrosse teams will duke it out in NCAA quarterfinal.
Coming off of an upset over the No. 2 Denver Pioneers on Sunday, the Towson Tigers lacrosse team heads to Ohio to take on regional rivals Loyola. Just a few short years ago, the Loyola Greyhounds were considered the fierce and persistent underdogs in the Maryland lacrosse world, but now Towson is reminding us of a team with that same tenacity.

“To go out and beat the No. 2 see really showed the kind of team that we are,” Towson redshirt senior midfielder Ben McCarty told The Sun. “We were really happy to get that win.” The Tigers better keep that fire going when they meet the Greyhounds (13-3) in an NCAA quarterfinal Sunday at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The two teams have already met earlier this year, when Towson defeated Loyola for the first time since 2007.

“Playing Towson is awesome because they’re close to home,” sophomore long-stick midfielder Zac Davliakos told The Sun. “We know they beat us last time. It really gets you fired up to go out there and try to put your best foot forward.” Watch it all go down on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. on ESPNU.

Ravens’ draft pick Chris Moore plans to give out footballs to fans.
ESPN’s Jamison Hensley had a great story on its website this week about Ravens fourth-round draft pick Chris Moore. Last Christmas Eve, the University of Cincinnati wide receiver got flagged for a unsportsmanlike penalty after he gave away the ball from a 47-yard pass to a young fan at the Hawaii Bowl.

“I was more upset that they took the ball from the kid,” Moore told ESPN. “After the game, I gave him all my stuff and all the gear I could. I felt bad.”

So it’s music to Moore’s ears that, unlike in college football, there is no penalty when players give out a football to the crowd. But, his first touchdown catch won’t be going to a fan. “Every other one after that, they can have them,” he said. “I’m not going to lie about that. The first one has to go to mom.”

After that, though, expect Moore to be handing out footballs Cam Newton-style. Moore is known for going deep—his 21.8 yards per reception in 2015 was ranked eighth in the nation, and he finished with 26 career touchdowns. “When I got the phone call on draft day, I got real excited. I know Joe Flacco has that cannon,” Moore told ESPN. “I love to go deep and I love to make the big plays and get the fans into the game.”

We like this guy already!

If it’s March, then it must be time for what should be Maryland’s state sport (could they really pack 40,000 fans into Camden Yards to watch…jousting?)—and that sport, of course, is lacrosse. It’s one of the fastest—and the fastest-growing—sports in America, but that comes as no surprise to the thousands of Baltimore-area families who live and breathe lacrosse every season, all season. For those families, their only goal in life is to see Junior or Sis make varsity in high school, win the state championship, then get the grades to win a scholarship to some lacrosse-loving Division I college like the University of Virginia, Duke University, The Johns Hopkins University, or the University of Notre Dame. After that, there are adult leagues for the unrecovered grownups, and then, for the über-stars, Major League Lacrosse or an LXM Pro team. What next? They can dream of coming full circle and ending up in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame (on The Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus).

So who are Baltimore’s rising stars on the high-school level for 2014? We interviewed coaches of all the top-ranked school teams and came up with a handful of young lax masters to watch. And with the help of aficionados like Baltimorean, national lacrosse star, and STX athlete Kyle Harrison, we also dug up lots of fun facts about the lacrosse crowd (i.e., a “yard sale” is not where they buy used lax gear).

And for you lucky laxites who made our list? No pressure, kids.

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Why Lacrosse?

Right now, somewhere in Baltimore, a boy is throwing a lacrosse ball to himself off a brick wall—over and over—hoping to become the next Rob Pannell.

Who? Exactly. The leading scorer in NCAA Division I history is hardly a household name. But in lacrosse circles, the former Cornell University star is a legend. Unlike other major sports in this country, lacrosse does not promise a career of fame and fortune. Even earning a college scholarship for lacrosse is difficult: Major college teams can have rosters as large as 45, with only 12 scholarships to dish out among all players every year.

So why do kids in this region continue to choose a sport with such a seemingly low ceiling?

Shack Stanwick, a senior at The Boys’ Latin School of Maryland, is the youngest of eight kids, all of whom played collegiate lacrosse. And a backyard lacrosse game is to the Stanwicks what football was to the Kennedys. “Lacrosse gives me so many things in return,” says Stanwick, 18, who plans to play at The Johns Hopkins University next year. “I’ve made so many friends through the sport who
I’m still close with today. It’s allowed me to share a special connection with my siblings, and it has also helped me and my dad strengthen our relationship.”

“Some parents are understanding that while there’s not a whole lot of athletic scholarship dollars at the end of the rainbow, lacrosse can help in terms of admission,” says Steve Stenersen, president and CEO of US Lacrosse. “If a child’s academic standing isn’t quite good enough, lacrosse could be a determining factor.”

“It’s just fun,” says Bob Shriver, coach of Boys’ Latin. “It’s a great game to practice; it’s not the drudgery of football. It has more scoring than soccer, more people than basketball. It just gets in your soul.”

Devotees of the game say the lessons learned on the lacrosse field stay with you for a lifetime. To look into that, we tracked down a Baltimore veteran of the sport, Richard Mollett, who was something of a local lacrosse star in his day, playing first at Boys’ Latin, then at Towson State University, where, as a senior, his team won the 1974 college-division national championship. He played or coached club lacrosse for 20 years after that, but is best known as the founder and owner, along with wife Dort, of Antrim 1844, Taneytown’s award-winning historic country inn (and five-star restaurant).

“In business, I’d say lacrosse gave me the ability to know not to ever give up, and to never stop trying to get to the next level,” says Mollett. “And it ingrained in me that once you reach that next level, you can’t be satisfied with that. After you face challenges on the field for so many years, you know you can face challenges in business.”

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HISTORY LESSON

Native Roots

Flash back to the New World, dateline 1636: That’s when a Jesuit missionary first documented the Native American, all-male game of lacrosse. It got its modern name from a French word referring to “a curved stick,” but was known to most Native Americans as “little brother of war.” The first white men to adopt the game were English-speaking Montrealers, who wrote a set of rules, which led to the formation of lacrosse clubs.

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Face Off!

Did somebody say rivalries? Here are the teams to watch in the new season:

GIRLS:

Maryvale vs. Notre Dame Prep

When they meet up, forget the nice-Catholic-girl thing.

Bryn Mawr vs. Roland Park Country

They’re within spitting distance of each other (so to speak).

Anybody vs. McDonogh

They’re the team to beat!

BOYS:

Gilman vs. Boys’ Latin

Both of these teams have deep benches.

Calvert Hall vs. Loyola

Calvert Hall Coach Bryan Kelly: “A healthy rivalry dating way back, but good friends on both teams.”

St. Paul’s vs. Boys’ Latin

“They’re similar in size and compete at the same level in every sport, so it’s a natural rivalry”, says the BL coach.

McDonogh vs. Gilman

There are plenty of Division I candidates on both sides

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LOCAL LEGEND

For local lax intel, we consulted with Kyle Harrison, one of the most recognizable names in the sport. The Baltimore native graduated from Friends School and The Johns Hopkins University, earning just about every lacrosse accolade possible, then played in Major League Lacrosse before co-founding the LXM Pro League. Harrison, 30, also just launched his third-generation STX equipment line called K18.

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OFFICIAL LAXICON

LEARNING THE LINGO ON AND OFF THE FIELD

This sport, like any, has its own slang, and the faithful will find ways to work lacrosse metaphors into ordinary conversation. So, go ahead: Try to make a sentence using all of these.

Illustrations by Peter Mac

Around the world: Taking the stick around your far shoulder and behind your back on a pass or shot.

BTB: Passing or shooting the ball behind your back.

Flow: A term for boy lacrosse players who have hair coming out of their helmet—it is their flow.

Lax bro: Think lacrosse thug, with no other discernible interests or skills.

Phantom check: When a player drops the ball without being touched by a defender.

Popcorn: When a goalie makes an easy save on a high shot.

Put on skates: When a defender gets outwitted and looks like he or she is slipping on ice skates.

Top shelf: When someone scores anywhere in the top portion of the goal.

Turf monster: Usually yelled out when a player trips or stumbles without being touched.

Twig: It would be easier to just call a thing by its real name, right? Wrong—it’s slang for the stick.

Upper 90: When you shoot the ball and it hits the top corners of the goal

Yard sale: When a player’s stick gets checked out of his or her hands.

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INJURY REPORT

The most common mishaps in lacrosse*

1. Separated Shoulders

Common from a sideways fall directly on the tip of the shoulder, injuring the acromioclavicular joint.

2. Broken Wrists

The natural reflex to break a fall is to stretch out your arm so you don’t fall on your head. If the force is too great, the wrist breaks.

About 40% of lacrosse injuries are non-contact.

3. Concussions

Contact sports always include blunt-force injuries to the headthat can cause concussions.

4. Broken Thumbs

Whacks on the hand from a stick can break the thumb and is one of the most common injuries for goalies.

A broken thumb can take up to 3-4 months to heal.

5. Sprained Ankles

Rapid cuts while changing directions and dodging movements commonly cause ankle sprains.

* Courtesy of Baltimore orthopedist Dr. Spiro Antonaides.

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HANGOUTS

Where do the stick kids of Charm City gather to talk shop?

Photography by Amanda White-Iseli

Towson Hot Bagels

Starbucks

Hopkins Game Days

Rita’s Ice

Smoothie King

Orioles (or Ravens) Games

Chipotle

Bill Bateman’s Bistro

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DRAFT

Which Ravens or Orioles would excel in lacrosse?

We asked area high-school coaches to speculate on which pro ballers would tear up the turf——some interesting answers, and one name came up more than any other!

TORREY SMITH
Baltimore Ravens Wide Receiver

“Torrey Smith, with his speed and elusiveness and his ability to control his body, would make a pretty good lacrosse player,” says Brent Ritz, coach of the C. Milton Wright girls’ team.

LARDARIUS WEBB
Baltimore Ravens Cornerback

“Lardarius Webb would be just incredible because of his speed and his ability to break down opponents,” says Calvert Hall coach Bryan Kelly. “The more powerful, explosive speed you have, the better.”

RAY RICE
Baltimore Ravens Running Back

“Ray Rice is pretty shifty,” says Jessica Vitrano Randisi, coach of Maryvale Prep. “Speed is number one, because you can’t teach speed,” says Becky Groves, coach of the Century High girls’ team.

MATT WIETERS
Baltimore Orioles Catcher

“Matt Wieters has unbelievable hands and a cannon for an arm,” Ritz says. “He seems to react and read things quickly, so I think he would be a
great feeder on the team.”

ADAM JONES
Baltimore Orioles Outfielder

Traded to the Orioles from the Seattle Mariners for the 2008 season, outfielder Jones was one of the coaches’ picks as a potential lax star.

CHRIS DAVIS
Baltimore Orioles First Baseman

His 130 career home runs (he surpassed Brady Anderson for the O’s record of most home runs in a single season) would translate well to the lacrosse field, say coaches.

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TEAMS TO WATCH

2014 IT’S THEIRS TO LOSE

Here are some of the teams that did especially well in the past season in various leagues*

GIRLS

• McDonogh School
• Marriotts Ridge High School
• Good Counsel School
• Mt. Hebron High School
• St. Paul’s School
• C. Milton Wright High School
• Broadneck High School
• Century High School
• The Bryn Mawr School
• Maryvale Preparatory School
• North Harford High School

BOYS

• The Boys’ Latin School of Maryland
• Westminster High School
• Gilman School
• Loyola Blakefield
• Hereford High School
• McDonogh School
• St. Paul’s School
• Calvert Hall High School
• Severn School

* According to Baltimore-based US Lacrosse.

Maggie Kane

17, senior, goalie, The Bryn Mawr School

When did you start playing lacrosse? When I was four. I played attack until ninth grade, then transitioned to goalie.

What do you love about the sport? The competitiveness and speed. It is a game that never gets boring because the possession is always changing and shots are always being taken.

Complete this sentence: More people would love lacrosse if… they weren’t intimidated by other players’ advanced skills. Most players begin at a very young age, but I think more people would start playing in their middle-school years if they didn’t feel so outmatched by the already advanced and club-level players. It is okay to begin lacrosse in the middle-school years—it is a pretty easy sport to pick up, learn, and love.

What are the most important physical attributes of a good lacrosse player? Well, I’m not going to say size, because I’m only 5’2”. Hand-eye coordination is crucial, and confidence in your skills, ability, and agility is essential.

What team or player do you aspire to emulate? I look up to my Bryn Mawr lacrosse coaches, Wendy Kridel and Kim Simons, along with my goalie coach, Megan Huether. They each have some of the highest lacrosse IQs and understanding of this sport’s strategies. Meg Huether also had an outstanding career at Duke University and went on to become part of Team USA.

College you’ll be attending: University of Richmond.

Will you play lacrosse there? Yes.

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Chase Campbell

18, senior, defense, Gilman School

Why do you play the game? My entire family plays lacrosse, and it is pretty special to know that my grandfather and great-uncle played for the same school and on the same field that I do now. Most of my friends play lacrosse as well, and there is no stronger camaraderie than teammates and brothers playing together each day.

When did you start playing? My first year of organized lacrosse was a Kelly Post soft stick league when I was five years old.

What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? Going undefeated for our entire high school careers for the Baltimore Crabs in summer lacrosse was pretty cool.

Complete this sentence: More people would love lacrosse if… more high-profile universities added Division 1 lacrosse to their intercollegiate sports, as Michigan recently did. If schools such as Stanford, Florida, Texas, Oregon, or Northwestern, just to name a few, had Division 1, the sport’s popularity would take off.

What’s the biggest misconception about lacrosse players? That we don’t like baseball. Many of my friends are big Orioles fans.

What team or player do you aspire to emulate? I was on the team with Robby Haus [Gilman class of 2012] sophomore year, where he was a captain and a phenomenal defenseman. He now is at Ohio State and doing great. Not only was Robby an excellent player, he was just a really good teammate who always would help you out if you needed it and came to practice every day ready to work.

Who’s your toughest opponent? Every game in the MIAA [Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association] is extremely tough, but I would say that Loyola has been particularly difficult to beat the past couple years. Individually, La Salle’s Matt Rambo [now a freshman at the University of Maryland] was probably the most challenging person I have ever covered.

College you’ll be attending: University of Virginia.

Do you plan to play lacrosse there? Yes.

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Acie Newton

16, junior, goalie, Loyola Blakefield



What’s the best practical joke you’ve ever played on a teammate, or they’ve played on you? We don’t play a lot of jokes on each other, but probably the funniest thing we do at Loyola is when all of the rookies have to sing and dance to a song during our annual spring-break trip up to West Point, NY.

Why do you play the game? My goal with lacrosse is to help me get into a great college and make some even better friends along the way.

When did you start playing lacrosse? I was a midfielder when I started at 10. I didn’t play goalie until I was in sixth grade at Loyola when I was 12.



What do you love about the sport? The intensity. Lacrosse is a constantly moving game that  involves always being ready because anything could happen in a matter of seconds.

What’s your favorite drill? I love defensive and offensive one-on-ones. The shots are almost always in close so I’m not expected to make the save, but when I do, it looks awesome.



Do you think you’d make a good lacrosse coach someday? Absolutely. I feel like I’ve grown up with some awesome coaches so I’d definitely be able to apply what they’ve taught me to the next generation.



If you weren’t a lacrosse player, what sport would you play? Volleyball: It has got to be the coolest-looking sport I’ve ever watched at Loyola Blakefield. 


What team or player do you aspire to emulate? The recent Duke Blue Devils have been ridiculously impressive. It seems that every year they are back into the championship picture. This is what I want my remaining high school and college seasons to be like no matter what the team is projected to do.



College you’ll be attending: Brown University, in 2015

.

Do you plan to play lacrosse there? Yes.

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Shack Stanwick

18, senior, attack, Boys’ Latin School of Maryland

How long have you been playing lacrosse? Ever since I can remember. All my siblings were doing it so it just seemed pretty natural to start playing.

What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? It would be when I scored the overtime goal against St. Paul’s School my freshman year. That was a really special feeling.

Why do you play the game? It’s definitely a good way to make friends and I like the competition. I love the sport.

How badly does it hurt to be hit by the ball? It hurts a lot. Since I play behind the goal primarily, I have to be aware.

Have you ever suffered an injury playing the game? I’ve broken my thumb a couple times, but nothing too serious.

What’s your favorite drill? Pretty much anything where the offense has more guys than the defense.

Complete this sentence: more people would love lacrosse if… the summer circuit wasn’t as serious as it is now. It’s supposed to be fun. I think it’s a little too serious at too young of an age during the fall and summer.

What are the most important physical attributes of a good lacrosse player? Good hand-eye coordination.

If you weren’t a lacrosse player, what sport would you play? I wish I played hockey. I have a lot of respect for hockey players even though I’m probably not tough enough to play.

What team or player do you aspire to emulate? I’ve always been a big Ravens fan, so it was cool seeing Ray Lewis make one last run for the Super Bowl as the underdog.

Who’s your toughest opponent? The MIAA is a really tough conference, so pretty much every team can fill that category.

College you’ll be attending: TheJohnsHopkins University.

Do you plan to play lacrosse there? Yes.

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Timmy Kelly

17, junior, attack, Calvert Hall College High School

What do you love about the sport? It’s a combination of so many great sports. It has the up-and-down, fast-paced tempo of basketball, the hitting and roughness of football, and it involves speed and strategy like soccer. I love playing a lot of sports and to get a sport that combines it all really suits me.

What is your primary motivation for playing the game? I play because I have a lot of fun and get to know so many new guys from different schools. Through lacrosse, I am also given a lot of opportunities that otherwise I may not have been able to obtain.

Who’s your toughest opponent? My brother Patrick is always my toughest opponent. He somehow always beats me in lacrosse no matter how poorly he’s playing or how well I’m playing.  

When did you start playing lacrosse? When I was four.

What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? Winning the MIAA championship.

What aspect of your game do you need to improve? I need to work on my outside shooting power and accuracy. I also can improve my decision making with and without the ball.

What are the most important physical attributes of a good lacrosse player? It’s crucial to have good stick work. Without stick work, all the physical attributes of an athlete are useless.

College you’ll be attending: University of North Carolina.

Do you plan to play lacrosse there? Yes.

What team or player do you aspire to emulate? I love the Baltimore Ravens. They always play hard, strong, and never give up.

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Kristen Yanchoris

17, junior, defense, Century High School

What’s the biggest misconception about lacrosse players? That we are all dumb jocks. There are many lacrosse players who are very intelligent and driven, not only on the field, but in other aspects of life, including academics and community service.

When did you start playing? Twelve years ago, when I was five.

What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? Winning the state championship my freshman year was by far my best accomplishment. Some people never get the opportunity to play in a state championship in their lifetime, so winning my first year of high school seemed unreal.

Do you think you’d make a good lacrosse coach someday? I would love to be a lacrosse coach someday, and I think I would make a good one because of my love for the game and my energy.

Who’s your toughest opponent? I’m my own hardest critic. I am fortunate to play on a really good team. My teammates push me to work hard every day at practice, which has helped me to become the player I am today.

How do you see your lacrosse experience translating to the workplace? I’m still unsure of what I want to do when I graduate. I think that the relationships I have made throughout my lacrosse experience will help me in the future. I also know that my hard work and dedication on the field will translate to my career later in life.

College you’ll be attending: Loyola University Maryland.

Do you plan to play lacrosse there? Yes.

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Miranda Ibello

16, junior, midfield, Maryvale Preparatory School

What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? Winning the Under-15 Nationals in Florida with Sky Walkers. We were short several players, and our team had to bring everything we had to the field in the blazing heat to make it to the championship.  

What’s the biggest misconception about lacrosse players? I’ve heard a lot of people say lacrosse is easy, but it’s not. The training every player puts into their game off the field to improve is extensive. Injury prevention, nutrition, and practice will all bring your game up and each of these things take time and energy. 

What are the most important physical attributes of a good lacrosse player? Speed is really important in this game. The ability to get down the field before your opponent is critical. The strength to hold onto the ball and stand your ground is also very important. 

What team or player do you aspire to emulate? I would love to play like any member of Team USA. My cousin, Kristen Carr, is on that team, and I watched how much hard work and dedication she put into training.

Who’s your toughest opponent? McDonogh is very tough. Every one of their players is so talented, and they have such a deep bench it is tough to stay with them. 

How do you see your lacrosse experience translating to the workplace? Lacrosse has taught me time management and teamwork. You have to juggle your time between training, practice, and homework. The ability to be a team player in the workplace is equally as important. 

College you’ll be attending: The Johns Hopkins University.

Do you plan to play lacrosse there? Yes. My sister played for Hopkins, and I always dreamed maybe I would play there, too.

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Maggie Gallagher

18, senior, midfield, C. Milton Wright High School


What are the most important physical attributes of a good lacrosse player? Endurance, quickness, and speed.


When did you start playing lacrosse? When I was about six. My two older sisters were playing lacrosse and it looked fun.


How badly does it hurt to be hit by the ball? It doesn’t hurt too badly. It’s nothing you can’t shake off.


Complete this sentence: more people would love lacrosse if…there weren’t as many whistles.



What aspect of your game do you need to improve? Better shot placement, moving goalies, and working on my dodges.


Who’s your toughest opponent? Our toughest opponent in high school would be McDonogh.  
 


College you’ll be attending: Pennsylvania State University.

Do you plan to play lacrosse there? Yes, we have a great recruiting class coming to Penn State next year.

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Patrick Clipp

Junior, midfield, Marriotts Ridge High School

What’s your main goal this season? To win the [Howard] county championship.

What’s the biggest misconception about lacrosse players? That all lacrosse players are “lax bros,” have long hair, and all they care about is lacrosse.

Why do you play the game? I played baseball up until seventh grade, but my dad, who played lacrosse at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, influenced me to try lacrosse.

How badly does it hurt to be hit by the ball? It can hurt a lot, especially if you get hit in a bony spot like the shin.

Complete this sentence: more people would love lacrosse if… lacrosse got a little more publicity on major sports networks, like ESPN. People would see how fast and intense the game is.

What are the most important physical attributes of a good lacrosse player? For me, since I play midfield, the most important thing is my endurance, being able to get up and down the field easily. Also, hand-eye coordination is huge when playing lacrosse.

Who’s your toughest opponent? Glenelg High School.

College you’ll be attending: University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Do you plan to play lacrosse there? Yes, I have given my verbal commitment.

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Taylor Hensh

18, senior, midfield, Marriotts Ridge High School

Do you think you’d make a good lacrosse coach someday? I think I could because I know the game and I’ve been taught so much by very good coaches. I just need someone to teach me some patience and then I am good to go.

When did you start playing lacrosse? In third grade.

What do you love about the sport? I love everything about the sport, especially how fast the game is.

Why do you play? Because I love it. I enjoy having a team of girls that is like a family to me.

What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? Winning a Brave-heart in a summer lacrosse tournament to win a championship. I play for the 2014 M&D Black team.

How badly does it hurt to be hit by the ball? It hurts pretty badly. That’s why I don’t stand behind the goal too often. But getting cross-checked in the arm every time I drive to goal gives me some nasty bruises.

What’s your main goal this season? To have just as good team chemistry as last year and hopefully win another state championship.

Complete this sentence: more people would love lacrosse if… it was televised more. 

What team or player do you aspire to emulate? Ever since I was young, Jen Adams [women’s lacrosse coach, Loyola University Maryland] was my idol. In recent years, I’ve aspired to emulate [University of Maryland lacrosse star] Katie Schwarzmann.

Who’s your toughest opponent? Mt. Hebron High School (Battle of Route 99).

College you’ll be attending: University of Maryland.

Do you plan to play lacrosse there? Yes.

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Alex Gipe

16, junior, goalie, Century High School

When did you start playing lacrosse? Kindergarten.

How do you see your lacrosse experience translating to the workplace? Well, being a goalie, I’m used to directing my teammates and being a leader, so this could translate to a job in a big way if I ever work in a group project.

What do you love about the sport? It’s the fastest game on two feet and it’s such a unique game compared to many other sports.

How badly does it hurt to be hit by the ball? After playing goalie for so long, you start to get used to it, and once you’re in the game, your adrenaline is too high to feel anything.

What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? Making the Baltimore Under Armour All-American Underclassmen Team and making the Maryland RoughRiders elite team.

What’s the biggest misconception about lacrosse players? That we’re all the typical lax bros and all have long hair and say “bro.”

Do you think you’d make a good lacrosse coach someday? I believe I would make a good coach someday because being a goalie, you already are a coach on the field directing your defense. It wouldn’t be a big adjustment.

What aspect of your game do you need to improve? Being more of a leader and more vocal.

Who’s your toughest opponent? Westminster High School. They always have very talented players and always give us a challenge every time we face them.

College you’ll be attending: Hofstra University.

Do you plan to play lacrosse there? Yes.

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Brinton Valis

18, senior, midfield, McDonogh School

How badly does it hurt to be hit by the ball? If it’s my McDonogh teammate Robby Black shooting, not very bad, but any other time, you’ll be walking away with a nice bruise. 

What team or player do you aspire to emulate? I try and be myself on the field, and play the game I know how to play. 

When did you start playing lacrosse? When I moved to Baltimore. I was five.

Why do you play the game? I’ve always been a competitive person in all sports and I finally found my niche on the lacrosse field. It’s never been about earning a scholarship for the next level, it’s been about loving the sport. I am very fortunate that lacrosse has given me so many opportunities off the field, as well as on. 

What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? So far, it’s probably winning the Under Armour Underclassmen Tournament with Team Baltimore. It was such a great feeling finally bringing the trophy back to Baltimore after a long drought, but the MIAA crown is on the table for this spring, and that’s the ultimate goal. 

Complete this sentence: more people would love lacrosse if…more people had access to watching games. I feel like so many people have just never heard of the sport. Lacrosse publicity has been on the rise recently, though.

What’s the biggest misconception about lacrosse players? That lacrosse players don’t work hard. Lacrosse players work harder than anyone else. 

What aspect of your game do you need to improve? All parts of my game can be improved. I’m far from perfect! 

Who’s your toughest opponent? All the teams in the MIAA are very talented, but Boys’ Latin and Gilman are always very well-coached and tough teams to beat.

College you’ll be attending: The Johns Hopkins University.

Do you plan to play lacrosse there? Yes.

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Megan Whittle

17, senior, attack, McDonogh School

Who’s your toughest opponent? I play the toughest defense in practice every day at McDonogh. 

When did you start playing lacrosse? When I was six years old.

Why do you play the game? It’s the sport that best combines my speed, skill, and strength.

What’s your main goal this season? To remain undefeated, keep our title as the No. 1 team in the nation, and continue to perform as the best high school player in the country.

Do you think you’d make a good lacrosse coach someday? Yes, because I play the game at the highest level in high school and will continue playing at that level in college.

What are the most important physical attributes of a good lacrosse player? Speed: You can’t teach speed.

If you weren’t a lacrosse player, what sport would you play? I would’ve played field hockey or run track in college. 

College you’ll be attending: University of Maryland.

Do you plan to play lacrosse there? Yes.

How do you see your lacrosse experience translating to the workplace? After the University of Maryland, I’m hoping to stay involved with lacrosse in any way that I can.

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Jason Ashwood

18, senior, attack, Hereford High School

Who’s your toughest opponent? I’d say this year it’ll be Boys’ Latin.

What team or player do you aspire to emulate? Probably Mikey Powell, who played for Syracuse University a few years back.

What’s your best accomplishment on the field so far? Making the Baltimore Under Armour All-American Underclassmen Team last year (Jason is being modest by not mentioning his three state championships in lacrosse and one in soccer).

If you weren’t a lacrosse player, what sport would you play? Probably soccer is my next favorite sport.

Complete this sentence: more people would love lacrosse if. . .  it wasn’t thought of as such as a class-specific sport.

College you’ll be attending: High Point University.

Will you play lacrosse there? Yes.

On the final day of 2011’s fall practice for Loyola University Maryland’s men’s lacrosse team, the players figured the coaches might go easy on them. It was a chilly Friday in November, right before break, and Inside Lacrosse’s pre-season polls had just come out. Loyola—consistently ranked in the Top 10—was slotted at a measly number 21.

“I thought it was maybe going to be an easier practice,” says senior long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff. “But, it turned into the hardest conditioning day of the fall.”

Loyola’s assistant coaches had devised a list of 21 types of sprints—long, short, different directions, you name it—a pattern for each team ranked above them. Before each run, the coaches would yell a team name: “Hopkins!” “UVA!” “Syracuse!”

As the teams’ names were rattled off, thoughts swirled through the mind of each player grinding his way up and down the field of the Ridley Athletic Complex.

“You’re thinking about the players on the teams you know from high school, what will happen when we play,” says junior attackman Justin Ward. “It was such a mental grind.”

Coach Charley Toomey, who was in meetings that day, said the 21 sprints were all in the hands of his assistant coaches. But maybe it was a good strategic move.

“That became a calling card for us,” Toomey says. “We challenged our guys. We’re not used to being on the outside looking in.”

Loyola didn’t remain on the outside for long. Their Cinderella season would have them going 18-1, beating almost all of those 21 teams, and being crowned the first Division I NCAA champions in university history.

But, how did they do it? How did a team with only a handful of seniors, who didn’t even qualify for the tournament in 2011, go on to win the coveted trophy? With a revolutionary coaching strategy, the right athletes at the right time, and that motivating chip on their shoulder, Loyola found the keys to success.

“Those rankings were in the back of our head all season long,” Ratliff says. “We felt like we never got the respect we deserved until it was all over.”

To start with, this squad couldn’t have asked for a more ideal head coach than Toomey, who has been leading the team since 2006. Toomey also played for Loyola as a goalkeeper.

“I started playing when I was 8, when most people’s fathers had never heard of the sport,” says Toomey, now 45. “But I fell in love with the ability to run around and beat on someone else. It was fun.”

Toomey was recruited from The Boys’ Latin School of Maryland late in his senior year by Loyola coach Dave Cottle. That team grew exponentially, and in Toomey’s senior year, they reached the NCAA championship game (the last time prior to 2012), but fell to Syracuse.

“Even back in those days, we were a program going against these huge schools,” says Brian Kroneberger, a wealth manager and former midfielder on Toomey’s team. “For the most part, the program has always been an underdog.”

After he was done playing, Toomey never strayed far from the idea of coaching, volunteering for Loyola and, eventually, becoming head coach.

“I saw the coaching side not just for the X’s and O’s, but also from a recruiting and scouting standpoint,” Toomey says. “Plus, I just love that locker-room environment. That’s where kids meet their best man and your best friends.”

However, since Toomey took the helm in 2006, Loyola hadn’t seen much success. Starting with last season, he decided to make some changes.

“Every player realizes Toomey’s the guy he wants to play for,” says ESPN lacrosse analyst Paul Carcaterra. “But in 2012, he changed the team’s identity. He wanted them to play fast. When I talked to him, he would scratch his head and say, ‘Are we really playing this fast?’ Because it’s a risk. But he said the pros will outweigh the cons. A fantastic observation.”

Indeed, in the off-season, Toomey and his coaching staff attended conventions and watched Division III games, focusing on tempo and transition offense (when the midfield moves the ball quickly, giving the offense opportunities to take shots).

“It was really different from day one,” Ratliff says. “Two years ago, we were young and played a slowed down pace. But we started running transition drills, and it was a blast. It was much less structured, and they just let us play. It brought a new life and energy to the team.”

Another huge reason for optimism was Eric Lusby, a fifth-year attackman coming off a torn ACL injury, who was practicing without a knee brace and felt pretty much back to normal.

“Coach changed our offensive philosophy,” says Lusby, who now plays professionally for the Charlotte Hounds. “He wanted 40 shots a game, almost double the typical amount, which is what [attackman Mike] Sawyer and I like to hear.”

The team also had face-off master senior J.P. Dalton, the long-stick skills of Ratliff, disciplined defenseman Dylan Grimm, the cerebral studier Ward, athletic midfielder Davis Butts, and shooters Sawyer and Lusby, to name a few.

“We had all of the players we needed in each role,” Butts says. “Eric came back from an injury, we had two transfers, and other players matured. All of the right pieces just kind of came together.”

Loyola had perennially played in the shadows of local titans The Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, so it took viewers a while to notice the team’s under-the-radar talent.

“They were more than underdogs,” says alumna Kroneberger. “They weren’t even being talked about.”

But the Greyhound players were much more aware of their potential—even as early as fall ball in October.

“We scrimmaged Siena, which is a very good D-I team,” says Ward. “We had 21 shots in the first quarter.” That’s a lot. “We peppered the cage. It seemed so easy. That was my first clue, ‘Wow we could be pretty good.’”

Loyola continued to beat up on higher ranked teams like Maryland and Harvard, but still, it wasn’t until the fifth game of the season that heads were turned.

“I started to think they were for real when they beat Duke,” says analyst Carcaterra. “I spoke to Duke’s coaches after the game and they said it wasn’t a fluke.”

“Loyola took care of business. You saw the energy of a team that’s never really been there before.”

Loyola cruised through the season, going undefeated for 12 games, until they faced their final regular-season game against Hopkins, aka “The Battle of Charles Street.” Though Loyola fell in overtime, players admitted the team felt different, even in defeat.

“We only lost by one goal,” says midfielder Butts. “But we were going to the tournament. We were excited because we knew we were going to get a bid either way.”

Reflecting on the regular season, Coach Toomey said the team philosophy was to take it one day at a time.

“We didn’t talk specifically about Hopkins or playing Hobart or playing Denver a third time,” he says. “For us, it was always about the next match-up, the next ground ball.”

By the time May rolled around, Loyola had earned a regular season record of 12-1 and entered the NCAA tournament.

“The beauty of this sport is, when you get to play some of the best teams in the nation, you’re going to move up the polls fast,” says Carcaterra. “Loyola took care of business, and you saw the energy and excitement of a team that’s never really been there before.”

Championship weekend took place in Foxborough, MA, at Gillette Stadium (a good luck charm for local teams these days). The four remaining teams were Duke, Maryland, Notre Dame, and Loyola. Most sports analysts believed that it would be Notre Dame and Duke in the final.

But, on May 26, Loyola surprised everyone, yet again, beating Notre Dame 7-5.

“You’d think at that point, we couldn’t play the disrespect card, but everyone except one writer picked Notre Dame to beat us,” Ratliff says. “I remember walking back to the locker room seeing some Inside Lacrosse writers. I said, ‘Keep picking against us boys!’”

So, now it was time for the big show: Maryland versus Loyola in the finals. The last time the Greyhounds were here was when Coach Toomey was a 22-year-old goalie.

“I felt awful nervous,” Toomey admits. “I saw Maryland play Duke two days before, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for them. Their head coach is one of my closest friends. The conversation we had in the locker room was, ‘We’re number one right now and Maryland has to come to us.’”

By now, Loyola’s strategy was no secret and Maryland knew that, in order to win, they had to slow the Greyhounds down and create a more traditional six-on-six game.

“Loyola played great defense and goal-tending,” Carcaterra says. “The defensive midfielders allowed the offense to play to their strengths. It was a double whammy. Loyola showed they could win two ways, fast or slow. They were able to adapt.”

The Greyhounds put nine shots in the net, including four from Lusby, whose 17 goals were the most in a single NCAA tournament, and who was named the most outstanding player of the tournament.

As the final whistle blew, Greyhound players flooded the field, heaving their pads, helmets, and sticks into the air like it was a commencement ceremony.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Coach Toomey says. “I never saw a head coach run and jump onto the pile, so didn’t think I could do that. But our trainer’s son jumped into my arms, and that’s when I released my first smile.”

The stands at Gillette were packed with forest green that day, proving that even a tiny Jesuit university, an eighth of the size of Maryland, can be just as loud.

“People always think of Hopkins or Syracuse,” Lusby says. “A team like Loyola winning, you dream about it, but you never think it can happen.”

So the question becomes, what now? Many coaches, like Alabama football coach Nick Saban, argue that being a champion may be even more challenging than an underestimated team.

“It’s much more difficult to win the second one,” says Toomey. “There can be complacency in the locker room, and now you have a target on our back.”

Besides losing key players like Lusby and Dalton, Loyola’s offensive coordinator Dan Chemotti was named the head coach at the University of Richmond. On the other hand, with their large junior class last season, the playing philosophy will remain the same.

“They almost virtually have their same team back,” Carcaterra says. “I think Coach Toomey is going to handle it really well. The message now can be, ‘People didn’t think you could do it then, and no one thinks you can now.’ Lots of good fuel.”

Rankings have placed Loyola at No. 1, and most of those skeptical sports reporters now see them as a certain final four team. In other words, Loyola has some swagger now.

In fact, when the players were celebrating back at Ridley after the championship win, they remembered those painful sprints back in the fall and, this time, only ran one. But Coach Toomey isn’t letting it go to their heads.

“We really need to embrace the now,” he says. “This is a brand new trophy, and we’re chasing a new dream.”