Brady's Bunch Wins 2010 Adrenaline Shootout
July 17th, 2010
By Nathan Max
WSL Executive Editor
ROHNERT PARK, Calif. -- The third time was the charm for the Brady’s Bunch club lacrosse team.
After losing in the Adrenaline Shootout championship game the last two years, Brady’s Bunch used a seven-goal run to overcome an early second-half deficit and beat the Las Vegas Starz, 9-5, to win the 2010 title at Sonoma State University.
The victory gave Brady’s Bunch its first-ever Adrenaline Shootout championship and second Adrenaline tournament title. The team that was formerly known as the Wild Card Starz won the 2008 Adrenaline Challenge.
“I think I’ve been to six of these and lost in the finals four times,” said Vermont-bound middie Andrew Muscara, who sparked the turnaround by winning one face-off after another after another.
“For me to finally win one, it’s just indescribable. I feel so good right now. I’m just really happy for everyone on the team. We’ve gotten really close over these last few days.”
Brady’s Bunch always brings together some of the top talent in the West under the stewardship of head coach Mike Wein, who renamed the club two years ago to honor his Leukemia-stricken son. This year’s group consisted mostly of top players from Southern California, Northern California, Arizona and Utah.
“We’re all just happy to do it for Coach Wein,” said Bryant-bound middie Sean Mullin, who was an offensive sparkplug for the second straight game.
“We’re all a family. He’s the leader, and we did it for him. He’s over there, giving us his all. We’re giving him our all as well. We’re just happy it paid off.”
Mullin registered a team-high four points on a goal and three assists, attackman Gabe Garcia scored three goals and middie Mitch Flaherty had two goals and an assist to lead the offense for Brady’s Bunch, which finished the tournament with a perfect 8-0 record.
Middie Tyler Ekeroth added a goal and an assist, and middies Shane O’Neill and Jon Franco had a goal to round out the scoring for the champs.
In defeat, middie Jet Harding finished with a game-high five points on two goals and three assists, and attackman Kieran Eissler, attackman Grant Gravitt and attackman Blake Krowicki all scored once for Las Vegas (6-2), which was making its first-ever appearance in an Adrenaline tournament championship game.
Las Vegas went 0-2 vs. Brady’s Bunch at the three-day tournament and 6-0 against everyone else.
“Honestly, they just out-hustled us,” Harding said. “They have good players. We played our best.”
Las Vegas jumped out to a quick lead when Eissler scored off a feed from Harding three minutes in, and the Starz maintained their advantage for about 25 minutes. Las Vegas opened a two-goal advantage on three occasions in the first half, at 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2.
But behind the face-off play of Muscara, who went 13-2, Brady’s Bunch began to dominate possession and wear Las Vegas down. When Garcia scored off a feed from Flaherty with one minute to play in the first half, it brought Brady’s Bunch within 4-3 and sparked a decisive seven-goal run.
“Our team chemistry was really good,” Muscara said. “Once we had the momentum, you couldn’t stop us.”
Garcia scored back-to-back goals to start the second half to put Brady’s Bunch ahead to stay, the second of which was assisted by Mullin with 22 minutes remaining.
By the time Mullin set up Flaherty for a goal with 14 minutes to play, Brady’s Bunch had opened up its biggest lead, 9-4.
“We always say on the bench that goals come in bunches,” Mullin said. “Once we start executing and getting those goals, we call up ‘Uncle Mo,’ which is momentum, and we keep him in the house. We go on it. We feed off each other. We’re a tight-knit group. We’re a family.”
Brady’s Bunch (8-0) 3 6 -- 9
Las Vegas Starz A (6-2) 4 1 -- 5
Goals: BB: Gabe Garcia 3, Mitch Flaherty 2, Tyler Ekeroth, Sean Mullin, Shane O’Neill, Jon Franco; LV: Jet Harding 2, Kieran Eissler, Grant Gravitt, Blake Krowicki.
Assists: BB: Mullin 3, Flaherty, Ekeroth, Chris Pereira; LV: Harding 3, Joey Bustamante.
Saves: BB: Zach Weaver 1; LV: Connor DeVane 4, Matt Smith 4.
Shots: BB 25, LV 14.
Face-Offs Won: BB 13, LV 2.
Man-Up Opportunities: BB: 1-2, LV 0-1.
Honoring the game
I was watching one of the games in the championship bracket and thought I recognized a graduated senior on one of the teams, who I named out loud. The kid standing next to me, from, I think, one of the OC clubs, said, "Yeah, he's a graduate. We only lost two games, and both were to teams with guys who aren't in high school any more."
team should be comprised of players who are still in high school. Besides, it's a recruiting tournament. Boys who have completed the 12th grade and graduated, and who have already committed to play lacrosse in college, who play in a high school tournament, are taking a place that could go to a player who might still need a look.
I think that's too bad. I know guys want to play in one last tournament, but here's what Adrenaline says on its web site about the players who are eligible to play in the Elite Shoot Out:
GENDER & GRADES:
ELITE High School Boys who have completed 9th - 11th grade
To me, saying that the tournament is for "High School Boys" who have "completed 9th through 11th grade" means that to compete fairly, your
And, by the way, it's not fair to use graduates in a tournament that says it's for high school boys who have completed 9th through 11th grades.
If we are raising our boys to honor the game, and to play by the rules, we need to help them follow them. Winning isn't more important than that. Honor's more important.
My $0.02.