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Blue Star Box Wins Madlax Capital Box Classic, Goes Undefeated

By Bryan Hopper, 01/19/16, 10:30AM EST

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Blue Star Solidifies itself as one of the Elite Box Programs in the Country

Blue Star solidified itself as one of the premier box lacrosse programs in the country this past weekend, winning the super-elite division of the Madlax Capital Classic in Sterling, VA. Blue Star had an average margin of victory of 9 goals. With wins over Team 91, Penn-Lax All Stars, Madlax Capital North Stars and Lax Factory Elite, Blue Star went undefeated en route to winning the second box tournament of the program's history!

 

Synopsis

At 11AM Blue Star took the rink versus the Madlax Capital Northstars for their first game of the day. Blue Star jumped out to a fast lead, lead by goals from lefty Bryce Tolmie (2017, Kiski School) and Luke Prybylski (PG, The Hun School, Villanova). By halftime Blue Star held a commanding x-x lead. Defensively, Blue Star was anchored by Chris Fake (2017, Hun School, Virginia), Kyle Horihan (2016, Hun School) Tyler Gallagher (2017, Montgomery, Mt. St. Marys) and Owen Prybylski (2017, Westfield, Villanova). In cage for Blue Star all tournament long was experienced box goalie Gib Versfeld (2017, Hun School). 

Blue Star then had to turn around with short rest and play in the biggest game of the entire tournament versus a very strong and talented Team 91. In their last meeting, Blue Star lost 7-3 but with more practice and experience under their belts they were up to the task. The beginning of the game was choppy and penalty-laden, but Bryce Tolmie opened up the scoring with a beautiful one handed shot man down. He then added to the lead by scoring another goal man up from the point.  Team 91 then rallied and scored four straight unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead into halftime.

Blue Star came out strong in the second half, Jake Rothman (2017, Hun School) scored his first of the game two minutes in with a strong shot from outside. Team 91 answered quickly to go back up 2 scores with 14 minutes left. Gib Versfeld stood tall in net for the next 5 minutes holding off another Team 91 barrage but they were able to add one to make it 6-3 with 11 minutes left.  Five minutes later, Bryce Tolmie netted his third of the game to pull Blue Star within two off a nice bounce shot from a seal set by Colin Crowley (2017, Delbarton, Villanova)James Campbell (PG, Hun School, Penn) was a warrior at the faceoff x all day as well, and Jake Rothman took face-offs as well in relief and did a stellar job. With 7 minutes left, Luke Prybylski found the back of the net off a nice bounce shot to pull Blue Star within 1. Two minutes later Bryce Tolmie had his fourth of the game on the power play to tie the game at 6-6. Finally, with 4 minutes left Luke Prybylski scored the game winning seventh goal off a nice crease finish. Off the ensuing faceoff Bryce Tolmie did it again for a fifth time, picking up the ground ball and finding the back of the net to seal the victory with 2 minutes remaining. 

In their third game, Blue Star played Lax Factory Elite and Gib Versfeld pitched a shutout in net, with the final score being 16-0. Lots of players were involved with the scoring for Blue Star including Owen Black (2017, Hun School, Villanova); Dan Wigley (2017, Shawnee, Loyola), Connor Provost (2017, Allentown); Andrew Kaye (2017, Hun School, Penn State); Matt Dansecs (2018, Roxbury, Rutgers); Antoher Perhacs (2018, Roxbury); James Campbell, Owen Prybylski, Tyler Gallagher, Chris Fake and Kyle Horihan also scored.

In the Championship game, Blue Star jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back. At halftime the score was 6-1 and in the last 22 minutes they were able to add six more goals and prevail 12-3 to win the Super-Elite Division Title! 


The amount of effort hat went into this past tournament was incredible. Every single player on the team contributed to the overall success of the team. There are a lot of unsung heroes in box lacrosse. The guys who set good seals and picks so their teammates can have a good shot, the guys who have great body position on defense so they are in a position to help their teammates, the guys who hustle off so we can get their teammates on the floor faster. The personal improvement our players had in just four games was unparalleled. I have never seen anything like it. It only convinced me further that box lacrosse will become the single most useful off-season training tool for our players. Having Coach Brad MacArthur, a professional box lacrosse coach, was instrumental in the development of our boys this weekend. From the mini camp to the tournament, his coaching experience was evident as the team progressed. Coach Brad has a proven track record of turning field players into elite box lacrosse players and this weekend was further evidence of that!

- Coach Hopper