CMA’s Alec Stathakis
Academy Prep lacrosse takes national title
WILMINGTON, DE — CMA’s #1 Prep Lacrosse team battled the #3 Hill Academy (Ont.) for the Victory Event Series’ National Prep Lacrosse Championship.
The Eagles defeated the Pride 9-5 at Widener University to take the championship, having now defeated the Hill Academy twice this season.
Culver drew first blood in the contest, with a goal coming from senior midfielder and Delaware signee Michael Robinson 43 seconds after the opening whistle. The Hill Academy’s Dyson Williams would answer shortly thereafter, before Culver would go on a four-goal unanswered run.
Williams would answer yet again, though, putting the Pride to within three before the conclusion of the first half, 5-2.
With about 9:30 remaining in the third-quarter, Culver was given a two-man-up scenario, during which they would generate a quality shot opportunity. The Pride’s goaltender Drew McGill responded, though, making a save on the low attempt. It wasn’t until 7:00 minutes remaining in the third that second-half scoring opened up, when Culver’s senior two-way midfielder and Princeton signee Sam English found twine on an on-the-run attempt, 6-2 Culver.
The Pride quickly answer about one minute later with a skip-pass feed from Williams to teammate Adam Poitras for a step-down goal, 6-3 Culver.
Culver would find the net yet again late in the third-quarter on an extra-man opportunity, when Owen Hiltz managed to find David Anderson on a through-pass for a 12-yard bomb, 7-3 Culver with 2:07 remaining in the third.
The third quarter would come to a close when Culver managed to capitalize on a transition opportunity. Robinson found a cutting English who caught the pass, turned to brace for contact, and took a back-handed shot, managing to score in spectacular fashion with only one second remaining, 8-3 Culver.
Williams would again answer for the Pride, opening up fourth-quarter scoring and netting a low-to-low shot during an extra-man opportunity, 8-4 Culver with 8:53 remaining in regulation.
The rest of the fourth-quarter was dominated by Culver’s defense, sending quick and crisp double-teams and never allowing the Hill to generate shots from quality areas.
Anderson would scoring again on an empty-net opportunity to put Culver back up five, 9-4 with 3:30 remaining.
The Hill’s Poitras got his second goal of the game with 2:06 remaining, making it a four-goal game. It would ultimately prove to be not enough, as regulation time expired with Culver up by four.
Face-off specialist and Denver signee Alec Stathakis dominated at the face-off dot, recording only one loss on the day and going 94.5 percent on the day.
The Eagles finish the 20-1 and ranked No. 1 in the country.
