Rough Riders

The Roughriders U-13 team finished another successful summer with an overall record of 10-7-1. Playing one U-13 A tournament, one rising 8^th and 9^th grade tournament (we are mostly rising 7^th and 8^th) and two in the U-13 B division. Our only losses in the U-13 B division came in the semi finals of Hogan’s Hershey and the Championship of Mad Lax Finale.

Three of Our Biggest Wins were:

A Braveheart victory in the quarterfinals of Hogan’s Hershey against the Delaware Dragons in which Michael Romefelt had a big save and Matt Leone netted the game wining goal. It was almost too much stress for the parents and coaches to handle at 8am on a Sunday but the whole team stepped up and willed us to the Braveheart so that Mike and Matt could finish the job. Derek Isaac was able to win face-offs, Joel Thomas had some big ground balls and Ben Chodnicki rode like a mad man to help us to keep possession in the final minutes. Not to mention the defense by Connor Lawrence, Casey Allwein, Braxton Stone, Zach Lyons and Matt Leone that stopped the Dragons from getting the lead.

On a side note Hogan’s Hershey was a tournament of Highlights for us. Casey Allwein and Matt Leone proved that our poles could score goals. Graham Poole had a break out multi-goal performance against Ridge Futures. The Isaac brothers proved to be a dynamic duo on faceoffs with Derek at the X and Danny flying in from the wing. Lastly, we were able to execute Carolina well enough that we able to take advantage of most EMO opportunities.

Another great win was our 9-4 defeat of Mad Lax at the Mad Lax Finale. This game featured stellar saves by Sean Lanier; a beautiful assist from Zach Lyons to Austin Robertson; several caused turnovers turned into fast breaks by Danny Isaac; and a no angle goal by John Sanford (only he knows how it got to the back of the net). Pat Regan and Zack Price hustled for ground balls during long midfield runs and Jack Sessler’s “lets go rough!” war cry no doubt gave us the emotional and mental edge leading into the contest.

We kept rolling into the tournament semi’s after the win. In our semi final Matt Retzbach and Luke Tharpe had to step up, put down their short stick and pick up a long pole for us as we were low on numbers. Both did amazing job for us. Playing shut down defense and clearing the ball successfully.

Quite possibly our most impressive victory of the summer came against Alexandria Travel Grey (rising 8^th and 9^th graders, we were rising 7^th and 8^th) we over came the size differential and pulled out a 7-4 victory. Kyle Watts scored 4 goals, Brandon Harry ran circles around his seeming 6ft tall defenseman creating offense from X. Including a nice feed to Luke Tharpe who finished from six yards in a sea of grey jerseys. The best finish of the day however went to Logan Byas who handled and stuck a feed from Joel Thomas right on the crease with a defenseman on his back.

The 2011 Roughrider U-13 team followed the example set by the elder players in Roughrider Nation and worked hard to out hustle and out ground ball the teams we played. We scored big time goals (even our longpoles had a few!) and our goalies had big time saves. We left everything we had on the field during every game so that when the final whistle blew, we could be proud of our effort and go have fun at our tailgate until the next game. It is the opinion of the Coaches that we had the best tailgate at every tournament, our parents came up big!

Despite not winning a championship, we achieved our goals of having fun, becoming better lacrosse players and having a winning record. We are looking forward to continuing to develop and enjoy each others company at upcoming fall tournaments. The 2011 Roughrider U-13 team is a great group of kids with a lot of talent!

2010 Honors and Awards:

Greg Edmonds(Johns Hopkins), Coach Corrigan, Jimmy Marlatt(Notre Dame), Rustin Bryant(Maryland)

 Alex Taylor(Salisbury), Justin Ward(Loyola), Matt Dusek(Drexel), Coach Corrigan

The 2010 Roughrider Elite team had some big shoes to fill from the 2009 team and almost pulled it off. They played in 6 outstanding events that were packed with the very best teams in the country during the Summer and finished 21-9.

The highlight of the summer was the Top 16 tournament where the Roughriders came back in the first game of the tournament and stunned the Philly Dukes in OT. Down by 3 with about 8 Minutes to go, the boys would just not give up. Our young stingy defense was holding water with our Goalies, Christian Koch and Drew Tyrell turning back several good opportunities Tyler Dimes led the way on the attack and Greg Limon Scored the game tying goal with 2 seconds on the clock with a gun off of a beautiful Roughrider transition play. Alex Daley finished them off in OT. That win was one of the best in Roughrider History.

Next up we play the LI Sting Gold – Another barn burner that we win in Overtime. Later that day we take on the Canadian Krunch, we dominate them, Alex Daley and Bobby Bigelow got the best of one of the Famous Thompson kids (Yes the same kid on the cover of Inside Lacrosse) and we got a full team effort and shocked the Krunch.

We then lose a heartbreaker to the LI Sting in the Semi-Finals. We finish up the Event by winning the Consolation game, you guessed it in OT against Headstrong out of Philly. Alex Daly, Austin Kemp, Christian Koch, CJ Stafford, Tyler Dimes, Johnny Gallaway all make the All-Star game and the Tournament Director tells me that the College Coaches nominated 10 of our guys for the Game. By far the most nominations.

We had a great showing at Coach Cottle’s Bay Bridge Brawl in the pouring rain. We demolish our first 4 Opponents and strangely enough have a great day catching and throwing. Unfortunately we succumb to a very good Connecticut Hurricane’s team in the Championship, a game that we could have easily won, we had many chances and their goalie played out of his mind.

Our last tournament was the newly formed NSCLA Tournament, the NSCLA, which we are a member of is a group of Elite Club programs from all over the country and Canada. It is a honor just to be considered good enough to be a part of that group of Teams. Unfortunately for us we got the toughest drawl. Unbelievable! We get the Baltimore Crabs, the #1 Club Lacrosse Program in the intergalactic Universe, in the first game. We are ready for them, a little chalk talk at the Hotel goes a long way. We jump out on them 4-2 at Halftime. Alex Daley dominates them at the Face-off X and we rider very well and our defense and Goalie Christian play great in the first half. Unfortunately for us we miss on several great opportunities, we could have easily been up by 4 at half The game goes back and forth and eventually the Crabs with their 13 High DI players take the lead and stall the remaining 5 minutes of the game and end up beating us 7-6.

Next up was the Canadian edge another very well respected program, one that is always in IL’s Top 5 Club Teams. We give’em hell, the game goes back and forth and unfortunately we come up short 5-4.

The last day of the NSCLA tournament turns out to be much better for the Roughriders. We ‘Roughrider’ them to death and share the heck out of the ball. We put it to The Patriots (An All-start team from NJ) and True North. Tyler Dimes, Greg Limon, Zach Hansell, Cory Dobyns, Kevin Wise, Johnny Galloway, AD, CJ, Grabes, Gleb Gavin Harrison and Bobby Bigelow all light it up. And our Defense and Goalies stay very strong and steady – Nick Bitnner, Justin Cosentino, Austin Kemp, Joey Pfister and Danny Amacher play great in front of 2 very solid Goalies in Christian Koch and Drew Tyrell.

Over all the 2010 Elite Roughrider team plays great Lacrosse and has a very good season especially when you consider the competition. We end up losing 6 of the 9 games by 1 goal, so we were very, very close to being a great.

The U13 RoughRiders enjoyed a very successful summer season, posting a record of 11-8-1. They meshed together very well and showed significant improvement on an individual and team basis from game to game and tournament to tournament. The team was competitive in every game losing by a total of 13 goals in their 8 loses, and making the playoffs in 3 of the 4 tournaments. The team was backed by a solid defense and great goalie play, only giving up 3.4 goals per game. The highlight of the season came when the RoughRiders made it to the Championship at the Hershey Cup, where they unfortunately lost in a 1on1 Braveheart. The RoughRider program has a bright future with this group of players.  

The 2010 summer started off slow for the U16 RoughRiders, but as the season went on the team started to mesh together. After one practice the team jumped right into action at the UPLax tournament in Anne Arundel County and the Summer Getaway tournament in Northern Virginia. With a combined record of 3-6, the coaching staff had to go back to the drawing board.

Through the next three weekends the team came together and found the 'W' column posting a combined record of 11-6 at the Dicks Sporting Goods Atlantic Cup, Summer Sizzle, and at the MadLax Finale, where the team made it to the Final Four. The team finished strong and completed the summer going 14-12. 

Fighting through injuries, family vacations, and the brutal summer heat, this squad left it all on the field, scrapping for loose balls and playing ‘RoughRider’ lacrosse. This group of kids pushed themselves and their teammates to get better each week. Look for these players to make big strides as they gear up for the spring season at their local High Schools and with the RoughRiders next summer.

The U18 Roughrider Select Team showed why the Roughrider program is one of the best clubs in the country. They started off the summer playing in the Lehigh Laxfest playing in the Elite division and posting a respectable 2-2 record. They then went on to win the Rockfish Cup in Anne Arundel County with a dominating performance beating up on their opponents and cruising into the playoffs with a combined score of 23-4 (in just two games) and earning the #1 seed. Once in the playoffs, they were down at halftime of both the semifinals and championship game to come out like animals in the second half and show why they deserved to win playing suffocating defense and lighting goalies up to post a score of 9-4 in both games. The Roughriders outscored their opponents in this tournament 41-12.

The U18 Select Team then played very well in the UPLax Tournament posting a record of 4-0 in the Varsity Division. The Select Team was riding high and entered the next two tournaments into the Elite Division to really give itself a challenge and a great opportunity to display talents in front of college coaches. The Bay Bridge Brawl was a very competitive tournament with the Select Team finishing up 2-2.

The Summer Sizzle was not as kind to the Select Team as they were dealing with injuries and missing some key players for the tournament. After winning the first game 7-5, they struggled with the heat and matching up against older, more physically gifted teams and finishing the Sizzle 1-4. It was a tough way to end the summer after the Select Team fought hard and had played great lacrosse all season finishing up with a 13-8 overall record. This team had a mix of public school and MIAA players gelling to put a good product on the field each tournament. The Roughrider program is excited about future play as some players will jump right to the Roughrider Elite team and be key contributors next summer.

2009

Roughriders Dominate on the National Club Lacrosse Scene

In just its second year, the Roughrider Elite team was able to compile a 46-4 record. The Roughriders traveled throughout the region playing and beating some of the best club teams in the country. In the very hot fall recruiting season the Roughriders were able to post an impressive 13-1 record. During their Summer and Fall the Roughriders beat 7 out of the Top 10 Teams in the Country. That success caught the attention of several high profile college coaches.