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| 2002 Hawai'i Lacrosse Invitational |
Men's Division:
| The first day of competition in the Men's division saw few surprises. The heavily favored teams cruised to easy victories. In addition, as expected, the day's marquee match-up, Barbary Coast v. Olympic Club, was a classic. While Olympic Club has always played very well in Hawai'i (reaching the semi-finals in 2001 and falling one goal short in the 1999 championship), Barbary entered the game as the favorite having won two of their last three meetings against O'Club. Barbary jumped out to an early 2 goal lead, but O'Club fought back quickly to tie the game. After that, both teams traded shares of the lead until the final second expired with the game knotted at 7-7. Despite hard charges by both teams, the game remained tied after the first overtime period. Finally, a few minutes into the second overtime period, an Olympic Club shot found the back of the net and launched O'Club into the semi-final for the second year in a row. |
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| Photos by John Strohsacker | |||
| Sunday's competition picked up right where the O'Club - Barbary game left off. The Crease Monkey's met O'Club in semi-final #1. Crease Money's stormed out to a 6-2 halftime lead, but O'Club refused to give in, fighting tooth and nail throughout the second half before falling a little short - Crease Monkeys 9, O'Club 6. |
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| Photos by John Strohsacker | |||
| The second semi-final lined up Marin against Michelob Light, a match-up that had everyone buzzing before the event. Marin featured one of the top scoring trios in the history of lacrosse with
Casey Powell, Ryan Powell & Jesse Hubbard at attack. In addition, Marin had three other MLL players (Greg Traynor-Lizards, Todd Eichelburger-Bridgeport Barrage & Christian Cook-NJ Pride), plus Sean
Donnelly (Navy All-American '92) & Jed Raymond (Div III Defenseman of the Year '00-'01), two defenseman who have the talent & determination to compete with anyone. While some thought Marin was unbeatable,
those in the know recognized that Michelob Light had a very real chance of pulling an upset. Michelob Light's roster featured 14 MLL players, including a high powered attack with Ken Garcia & Scott
Urick, a strong midfield with Mike Bauttista & Brian Silcott, and a stingy defensive unit anchored by blistering checks from Ryan Curtis & tight play between the pipes by Nick Murtha. Adding fuel
to the fire was the fact that these two teams played a vicious semi-final in 2001 with Marin edging Michelob Light in overtime. Their 2002 match-up lived up to its billing. Marin ran out to an early lead, but Michelob Light's explosive offense caught fire soon thereafter and closed the gap to three goals at halftime. In the beginning of the second half, Michelob Light dominated play. Michelob Light maintained possession for the great majority of the time and freed themselves up for lots of good shots. But Marin's goalie, Pat Brown, got red hot making one great save after another. As a result, Marin weathered the storm and went into the last 10 minutes of play with a one goal lead. Those 10 minutes were electric with both teams trading goals until Michelob Light tied the game with 5 minutes remaining. As the clock wound down, the game remained tied with Michelob Light in possession. Michelob set up a nice isolation from X, but Marin's defenseman refused to give ground. The horn blew with both teams tied at 10. In the overtime period, Marin's defense was once again called to the test as Michelob Light won the opening face-off. Marin's defense responded with another stop and cleared the ball into their offensive end. Marin's offense then committed a quick, uncharacteristic turnover. However, they made up for the mistake moments later. Casey Powell turned up the heat on Marin's ride and freed the ball from a Michelob defender. Moments later, Vern Briggs (Penn '94), had the ball and was one on one with the Michelob's goalie. Briggs converted to give Marin the overtime win over Michelob, their second overtime victory over Michelob in two years. |
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| Photos by John Strohsacker | |||
| The men's championship was another outstanding match-up, Crease Monkey's (the 2000 & 2001 Champions), against Marin (the 1998 & 1999 Champions). The contest was made even more interesting by the
fact that in the 12 years of the Hawai'i Lacrosse Invitational, no team had every won more than two championships. At the end of the day, either Crease Monkey's or Marin would be the first team
to do so. Similar to their semi-final game, Marin exploded out of the gate and cruised to 6-2 halftime lead. But things changed in the second half as Crease Monkey's stormed back to tie the game at 9 with a few minutes remaining. Two key players in Crease Monkey's comeback were attackman Ed Fay (Rochester Rattlers) and goalie John Horrigan (Towson All-American '01). Despite being the victim of a shaft shattering check by Christian Cook, Fay kept charging and was involved in many of the Crease Monkey's 8 second half goals. Horrigan was also a big part of the comeback as he made a host of excellent saves that kept Marin within striking distance. But the Crease Monkey's weren't the only ones putting in great performances. Jesse Hubbard (NJ Pride) was in championship form throughout the game posting 2 goals and 1 assist. In addition, Marin had some defensive standouts. Pat Brown continued the red hot play in goal that he showed in the semi-final, and Sean Donnelly held John Grant, Jr. to one goal which came on a man-up situation. In the end, the Powell brothers did what they have done so many times in the past. They took control at the conclusion of the game by pumping in two unanswered goals. When the final whistle blew, Marin had made history by taking their third Hawai'i Lacrosse Invitational championship with a 11-9 victory ! |
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| Photos by John Strohsacker | ||
L A C R O S S E T H E P A C I F I C ! ! !
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