News

Coach's Corner

3/31/08 [Excerpted from Email to WHSLAX]

I am continually reinventing ways to be impressed by our guys.

Their inside game was top notch on both ends of the field last night.

Our Special Teams continued to improve. Our Skilled positions led us in both the Defensive and the Offensive Quarters. Our Midi's stepped up in between the boxes. Our Goalie was on fire Our Conditioning made a big difference

Defense: The defense acted in unison, with purpose, and authority.

All of them.

The whole long stick brigade played some pretty inspiring ball last night. Pat McGovern's helicopter check and the GB that followed, exemplifies the standard that our D rotation has set.

They played well, they played well together, and they played for each other.

Our short stick D-rotation was more than commendable; they played some inspiring ball and helped to make our transition game happen. Kyle got us over the midfield line when we really needed to stretch the field; Ty McCullough cleared the ball into the Offensive quarter of the field from a Man Down position. We saw the same kind of effort from Tyler and Leland and Nick.

Chris Case's slap check on the Maverick's top ball handler was a forced turnover that changed the way he attacked our goal from then on.

That ball didn't just go out of bounds.

Chris made it go out of bounds.

Midi's: When McNeil pressed our down low offense, the leadership and poise from our attack allowed us to distribute opportunity to Midi's like Evan, Austen, David, Shannon, Joel, Zach, Wade and Brian.

They stepped up to the challenge; the midi point contribution and unit closing percentage was better than in any other game so far this year.

Shannon McShane asserted himself with authority, and finished with style.

I need to send a thank you note to whomever decided to throw some raw meat under Wade's door. He played angry, and we appreciate that. A lot.

We are sooooo looking forward to seeing them play again; so much passion and enthusiasm. When they play like that, they sure do look like they are having a lot of fun.

Attack: Every game we get stronger. Our attack have become very determined and shark-like in their approach. They are the heartbeat of our team and they showed a lot of grit last night; they frustrated the 4 Horsemen that McNeil Coach Cohen stated for Westside Lax, "are the best in the State".

The Match ups were stellar; Jackson, McGee and Duffy drew fire and passed through fast doubles to keep our momentum. Four pipes in the fourth quarter..... another Jason McGee airborne cross crease 1:1. These guys are human highlight reels that played very selflessly last night. They didn't get the points, but they were the reason that others did. They rode well and forced opportunity.

Hat's off to their unit play, and to their leadership.

Looking Forward:

Once again.... We showed that running hard two minute bursts at 110MPH is better than trying to get tired guys to give 110%. We did not give the referees a reason to hand the game away. We frustrated the opposition to the point that they did.

We had a plan. We stuck to the plan. We planed for our success.

Bowie will be tough; I expect our gentlemen athletes to remember what it was like to underestimate an opponent.

Once we did it to Cedar Park and we took an ungraceful fall.

Once we played a team from New Hampshire named Philips Exeter that underestimated a team from Central Texas.

We must always play like We Are The Underdogs!

Warm Regards, Coach

3/24/08 [Excerpted from Email to Kirk Bohls]

As for the McCallum game, we all played like one unit; the senior captains were pulling the boat (TJ Duffy, Jason McGee, and Jake Emmert) with great help from Chris Roden, Pat McGovern, and Scott Marmillion. Chris Case was inspiring on face-offs, and we saw a stellar effort from our "no name" defensive units, from both the top and down sides. Special teams all graded high; rides, clears and man-up continue to do better, I think we scored (twice) when we were man down; one of them we were two men down.

Ever since the Phillips Exeter game (we lost 6-3 in Florida, but had 4 one on one's in the fourth quarter and their goalie came up with some amazing stuff) our boys are playing with confidence, poise, and a well developed sense of purpose.

They are representing our Westlake community in a meaningful and noteworthy way.

If we continue to improve at a fraction of the rate we have been, we should be the dark horse to watch down the stretch.

Everyone that is a role player is playing their role unselfishly and in a spirited manner. The younger players (Luxion, Jackson, Riazzi, Young, Klasson, Reed, Flynn, Agness, and Crowley) are a very proud bunch and play like it; the veterans (an armada sized boat load of juniors and seniors) are leading by example. Everyone has been running hard.

No one person pulls us into, or out of, of trouble, and play like they are in it together. I could not be prouder of the way our boys come to play, and play to win.

The team has rallied well since Cedar Park. We've got some of that revenge we would like to dish out Sunday against McNeil. I think that we will give our fans a home game that they can cheer about.

Regards, Dave

2/6/08 FYI Folks

Cedar Park was losing to McNeil last night 4-1 at the half. McNeil Lost 6-4.

Couple of lessons here to be learned:

1) Anybody that works hard can beat anyone that does not 2) We play Cedar Park on the 27th, exactly three weeks from yesterday. 3) Our division is up for grabs; success is there - but you have to go get it. 4) Tuesday night 2/12 @ 7:30PM at the WAYA fields, Austin High V will play Cedar Park V; JV will play at 6:00PM. 5) Cedar Park JV1 defeated McNeil JV handedly

-Coach Lapin

1/31/08

"It was great to see an outstanding effort by our JV team and Coaches against a DII Varsity team. It takes time for teams to find their chemistry, and to learn how to win together. Lot of the mistakes we saw in the 4th quarter can be directly attributed to lack of game experience. The more these boys play, the easier it will be for them to find the wins. It's also great to see so many athletes with so much promise coming up.

The coaches were happy with our performance in our Varsity home opener. We hope we can treat the fans to a home winning tradition for a little bit longer than one game, especially with such a great venue; the weather and the fans were both tremendous. I thought we looked strong and have found a chemistry that should help carry us this season.

The boys were patient and willing to work to find the right opportunities on offense. They didn't get frustrated or rush into lower percentage opportunities. Ball control was huge today. We had nice balance all around the ball for the whole game, and we finished well.

Its hard not be pleased by the leadership we saw in our seniors, McGee and Roden made it easy for TJ to close the opportunities he had. Coaches love to see players finish, and we did so today with a little bit of style - the offense played like they were really having fun; and that sure made it easy for our defense to stay fresh and strong. I think Katy went 0 for 4 in extra man opportunities, so you can see that fresh and strong tends to add to our percentages.

The staff loved to see our younger players contribute so well. I think we saw Reichhold, Flynn, and Case scoring their first Varsity goals, and I believe Chris had two.

We like to see our boys come out strong, stay strong, and never let up, Katy was able to do a couple of things that kept us from getting too full of ourselves. Late in the game they had their goalie come down and score on a set ride where we didn't execute the closing maneuver to catch him from behind, so its clear we have some rough edges we have to work on. The coaches were especially proud of the near historic low penalty minutes we saw; we like to think we are growing our team discipline, and our team character should follow.

It was a good day for Westlake Lacrosse."

- Coach Lapin