California Lacrosse history was made over the weekend, with the recent influx of California High School lacrosse players on Division 1 College lacrosse rosters it was only going to be a matter of time. This past Saturday in Stony Brook, NY Sophomore Ben Horn of Mill Valley, CA (Saint Ignatius College Prep) and Senior Dan Griffin of Mountain View, CA (Palo Alto Lacrosse Club) each scored their first goals of the season in a 10-6 US Naval Academy win over Stony Brook, to record the first back to back goals by California born players in a Division 1 contest.

The recent acceptance of high school lacrosse by the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body of interscholastic sports in California has led to a tremendous growth of high school teams. Adding an average of 20-30 teams a year in the countries most populated state has peaked the interest of top level NCAA coaches. With the majority of California players contributing heavily to the local USLIA college teams, the past decade has seen a steady increase in California players opting to play for NCAA teams. Most successful of the recent CA players has been Spencer Wright of Serra HS in San Diego, 2002 NCAA National Champion with Syracuse University. Showing his true colors, Spencer was photographed while proudly running a victory lap wrapped in The California State flag. He is currently playing professional indoor lacrosse for the New Jersey Storm. It’s that type of pride in your local area that fuels great competition among College players over their local high school lacrosse areas. Just last week, three California players met when #20 ranked Bucknell University took on the #6 ranked University of Maryland. Bucknell’s Michael Abou Jaoude of San Francisco’s Saint Ignatius College Prep, was ecstatic to take on the Maryland Terrapins and compete against the 1999 Saint Ignatius graduates Peter Ellis and Drew Virk, both of Ross, CA, “I never got the chance to play with them in High School, but I knew they had made it to the highest level. They were the players we wanted to be like. It was a great feeling, to see each other warming up on opposite ends of the field, playing in front of thousands of fans.” As a freshman Michael will continue to have more and more of those California experiences as the high school lacrosse migration east continues.

Who knows, several years from now the perennial “Battle of the Hotbeds” between Baltimore and Long Island may have to make room for the California kids!

Navy Lacrosse Snaps Losing Skid Saturday with a 10-6 Victory at Stony Brook

3/22/2003

· Box Score

STONY BROOK, N.Y. -- The Navy lacrosse team ended its two-game losing skid with a 10-6 triumph Saturday afternoon at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium against Stony Brook. Freshman attack Ian Dingman (Deferiet, N.Y.) continued his season-long offensive onslaught with four goals and two assists against the Seawolves.

After finding themselves down by a goal less than a minute into the contest, the Mids responded by scoring six straight over the next-18 minutes to take a 6-1 advantage before allowing a late second period goal by Stony Brook to bring the score to 6-2 at the half.

Navy's scoring began at 5:03 of the first quarter when junior attack Ben Bailey (Memphis, Tenn.) got on the board for the fifth time in six games before Dingman registered his first goal with 0:02 seconds remaining in the quarter off a Graham Gill (Medford, N.J.) assist.

In the second frame, freshman attack Jon Birsner (Levittown, N.Y.) scored at 13:31 to give the Mids a two-goal edge. Dingman stretched the lead to three at 6:43 before feeding a pass to Preseason All-America Greg Conklin (Syracuse, N.Y.) for Navy's fifth goal at 3:50. Dingman registered the hat track, as he put the sixth-straight tally on the scoreboard for Navy at 1:41.

The Seawolves opened up the third quarter with an extra-man goal at 14:30 before Bailey connected on his second goal of the game at 14:05 and Dingman scored his final goal of the game at 9:43. Stony Brook quickly responded with two goals of its own at 7:11 and 5:37 of the frame before sophomore attack Ben Horn (Mill Valley, Calif.) scored an extra-man goal for the Mids off a Dingman assist with 1:41 remaining in the quarter.

Navy scored its final goal of the game when senior midfielder Dan Griffin (Mountain View, Calif.) notched his first score of the season at 8:22. Stony Brook recorded the game's final goal at 2:28, as it once again converted an extra-man opportunity.

The Mids were able to gain the upper hand on face-offs, as they won 16-of-21 overall, including 14-of-16 from Chris Pieczonka (Hamburg, N.Y.). Pieczonka has now won 31-of-48 (.646) on the season and held the advantage today as the Seawolves were without yheir best face-off man, Dennis Nafte, who suffered a dislocated elbow against Maryland.
"Because I didn't know who I would have to face-off against, I didn't have anything to study," said Pieczonka when asked how he dealt with Nafte's absence. "I had to go in and react to what their new guys were doing. I basically went into the face-offs and did my stuff to win them."
Seth DiNola (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) made four saves in the cage for the Mids, as Navy improved to 4-2 with the victory. Stony Brook falls to 2-4 on the season.
The Mids will next play host to Air Force Tuesday, March 25, at Rip Miller Field. The game is slated to begin at 7 p.m.