The 36th annual Vail Lacrosse Shootout finals were held all week and for the third straight year, the Baltimore Crabs won the national high school showcase. The final was on Wednesday afternoon. The Crabs held a 9-6 lead at the end of three periods in the Wednesday final, and then stopped the Colorado Favorites for a 13-6 victory. The High School division of the Vail tournament is called the Dr. Tom Watts Memorial Boys U-19 Tournament.

Chase Calkin faced off for Colorado, winning 11 of the first 18 draws, but Justin Radebaugh turned it around in the fourth quarter for Baltimore, winning 4 of 5 in the end. Tournament organizer and media guru Alex Smith said, “Possessions were key in this game and in the end, the Crabs simply took better care of the ball”.

Baltimore was led by attackmen Joe Cummings and Alex Capretta, who scored 2 goals and 2 assists each.

High School Girls

In the Girls High School Showcase’s Gold Division, Heros topped M&D Lax 6 in the Championship 7-6. M&D Lax and Heros are both from the Baltimore area. In the Silver division the Lady Blue Knights defeated Team Capital 12-7 in the Championship game. Team Capital was this year’s youngest team and many of the girls were using traditional wooden sticks. The Lady Blue Knights are from Ontario, Canada.

Elite Divisions

The Men’s and Women’s Elite division championships were held on Sunday and won by Team 21 and Dos Brisas Lax. Team 21, a Cornell squad with alumni, named after and commemorating Mario St. George Boiardi -- a Cornell/Landon lacrosse player who passed away while playing Binghamton in 2004. Team 21 upset Reebok 12-7 in the Men’s Elite final and Dos Brisas Lax beat Revolution 5 to win the Women’s Elite division.

Here’s a report on the action in the finals from Alex Smith, who’s a super goalie and helps run the Vail tournament for my good friend and his college coach at Colorado State, Flip Naumburg.

Men's Elite

Team 21 12, Reebok 7

Team 21 trailed Reebok 3-2 at the end of one quarter of play, but won every quarter thereafter, outscoring the defending champions 10-4 over the final three stanzas to win their first Vail Lacrosse Shootout Men’s Elite Championship by a score of 12-7. 21’s goaltending and defense was stellar, especially in the second half, as they held the high-scoring Reebok team to only two second-half goals.

The Cornell-based Team 21 got a huge effort from All-Tournament members David Mitchell and John Glynn, both of whom were on top of their games throughout the tournament. Jake Meyers recorded 17 saves for the victorious Team 21.

Glynn was exceptional throughout the tournament, using his shifty, elusive style of play to get to the goal and break down defenses. For his efforts, he was named the tournament’s Offensive Most Valuable Player. Meyers, who recorded more saves in each game as the tournament progressed, was named the Shootout’s Defensive MVP.

Team 21 did a great job shutting down Reebok’s Adam Donegar, who netted five goals in the semifinals. Donegar didn’t record a point in the Championship Game. Reebok had four players with two points in the game, including midfielders John Carrozza, Dan Fanelli and Anthony Muscarella and attackman Ryan Zordani. Team 21’s leading point-getter was Glynn, who had three goals and one assist, and Christian Pastirik, who ripped home a two-pointer to give him three total points on the day.

Reebok was certainly the favorite coming into the game, but Team 21 left little doubt as to who the better team was on this day.

Merrill Lynch/Lacrossewear defeated AIG-LIVESTRONG for 3rd place by a score of 8-4. The Lofers completed an eight-goal comeback to defeat LaxGrip in overtime in the fifth-place game, while Brine Elite rode the efforts of All-Tournament faceoff man John Rotolani to win the Consolation Championship over Rock-it Pocket 10-3.

Results:

3rd Place – Merrill Lynch/Lacrossewear 8, AIG-LIVESTRONG 4
5th Place – The Lofers 13, LaxGrip 12 (ot)
7th Place – Arizona Mermen 9, Club All-Stars 5

Consolation Championship – Brine Elite 10, Rock-it Pocket 3
11th Place – Rocky Mountain Oysters 12, Team Valhalla 4
13th Place – The Generals 9, 5280/Tap Room 2
15th Place – Team Gutman beat Team Rubi Rey
17th Place – Team Black Seal 5, Footclan/Team California 1

Men’s Elite All-Tournament Team

Attack
#16 Cooper MacDonnell – Merrill Lynch/Lacrossewear
#3 Mitch McMichael – LaxGrip
#16 Peter Milliman – AIG-LIVESTRONG
#4 Adam Stifel – Reebok

Midfield
#24 Matt Shearer – LaxGrip
#25 Adam Donegar – Reebok
#10 Max Ritz – Merrill Lynch/Lacrossewear
#26 Anthony Muscarella – Reebok

Defense
#19 Brian Kelly – Merrill Lynch/Lacrossewear
#32 Sean McCarthy – Reebok
#5 Pierce Derkac – Team 21

Face-off
#3 John Rotolani – Brine Elite

Long Stick Midfielder
#11 Justin Tay – LaxGrip

Goaltender
#23 Doc Schneider – Reebok

Offensive MVP
#20 John Glynn – Midfield – Team 21

Defensive MVP
#14 Jake Meyers – Goalie – Team 21

Women's Elite

Dos Brisas 14, Revolution 5

Led by Colorado native Carolyn Cryer, Dos Brisas breezed through the championship game, leaving little doubt to the outcome from the opening draw. Cryer, named offensive MVP, scored six first-half goals, while tournament MVP, Lindsay Gilbride, scored twice as Dos Brisas took a 9-2 first-half lead. There was no quit in Revolution, but they were clearly overmatched by the ladies from Dos Brisas. With the outcome no longer in doubt, Dos Brisas and Revolution played a fast-paced up-and-down second half, as Cryer finished the game with nine goals. Revolution was led with two goals apiece from Kate Dewey and Sarah Bullard as well as getting solid goalie play from Mollie Mackler, who finished the game with eight saves, many from point-blank range. In the end, the speed and finesse of Dos Brisas carried them to the 2008 championship.

In the closest game of the day, CRSLAX out lasted Lax Hut in this well-played third-place game. Gang Green had a relatively easy time with AOB in the first half, ending the half with a 5-2 lead. In the second, AOB could not quite catch Gang Green, which walked away victorious. Despite the efforts of the three sister combos, Team Xtreme fell to the young guns of Team 180 16-7 for 7th place.

All-Tournament Team

Sarah Bullard -- Revolution
Greta Meyer -- Gang Green
Kriti Dave -- Revolution
Beth Calder -- Team Xtreme
Nikki Kucharski -- Team 180
Jess Adam -- Dos Brisas
Lauren Uhr -- AOB
Stacey Saggesse -- Team Xtreme
Amanda Hughes -- CRSLAX
Aimee Dixon -- Revolution
Julie Wadland (Goalie) -- Gang Green

Offensive MVP: Caroline Cryer -- Dos Brisas
Defensive MVP: Rowas Smith -- Gang Green
Tournament MVP: Lindsay Gilbride -- Dos Brisas

Coach: Janet Holdsworth -- Minnesota

THE OLD GUYS:

The Vail Lacrosse Shootout host all ages. In the Masters Division (33+), or side, Jagermeister held off Middlebury 8-6 for the Championship while Mr. Boh/Nacho Mamas defeated another Middlebury group 13-6 in the Grandmasters (50+) title tilt. The Supermasters (40+) Division ended on Tuesday with an impressive performance by the Adidas Magic Wands, who defeated the FROGS 14-9 to win the Championship. E-Lacrosse friend Chris Mitzel, from the Adidas Magic Wands, was the MVP.

Don’t forget to check out the tournament blog on the home page of www.vaillacrosse.com and our daily batches of photos at www.vaillacrosse.com/2008/pictures.