Illinois State High School Boys Championship -Loyola Academy over New Trier High SchoolStory and Photos by Tom Paulius6/14/2002 |
(Libertyville, Ill. May 31) Loyola Academy and New Trier High School met Friday, May 31, to decide the Illinois state Championship for lacrosse. Loyola had lost in the championship game the year before to Barrington High School, and the Monday following that loss, the team met for their first (and hard) workout in preparation for the 2002 season. In that practice, the incoming seniors and juniors were clearly focused on one thing: winning the 2002 Illinois State Lacrosse Championship. They maintained their focus as evidenced by Loyola's 7-0 shutout of the New Trier Trevians.
Its unusual to pitch a shutout in a lacrosse game, but that is exactly what goalie Rich Mortell did for Loyola. Giving New Trier the big goosegg was a collaborative effort between Mortell, a pair of steel pipes and Loyola's close and mid-defense. Loyola's defense kept the Trevians from coming close, and the few times that New Trier managed to get close, Mortell faced them down like a cold-blooded "Terminator". The times that Mortell was slightly out of position, the pipes stepped up to make the save (and three of them that night). "My defense played a solid effort tonight, they saved up their energy to give their best in the last game of the year" commented Mortell after the game. "Our goal was to keep their big players out of the game and the defense did exactly that."
New Trier played the first quarter in an uncharacteristically sloppy manner, ringing up two technical penalties in the first 5 minutes of the opening quarter. When they did have the ball, the Trevians were kept high up and telegraphed their shots from the 15-18 yard mark. Such shots were easy prey for Mortell and he stuffed them as if he were preparing a turkey for Thanksgiving. Kevin Lakhani lit up the scoreboard first for Loyola with a solo goal as he came up the left and took a right on the GLE to the cage, where he hit the inside of the left pipe hard and Chris Elipas in the net for New Trier had no time to react. Loyola Ramblers 1, New Trier Trevians 0.
During its possessions, the Ramblers, coached by Mike Feuer, acted like a college team. The Ramblers were very patient in their attack. They controlled the ball, passing it back and forth up top, working it around, passing it back and forth, and working it around again. This style of play forced New Trier to gamble with their defense, bringing two longsticks up top, leaving only one or two close to the crease. Feuer was pleasantly surprised by the result, "We didn't expect this (shutout) to happen against a high-powered offense like New Trier's but we were successful in trying to find matchups with short sticks on our attackers." That strategy paid off for Loyola, which rang up the 200th win for the program.
At 1:28, Mike Scolaro was fed by Matt Robbins off of a quick clear. Robbins brought the ball in from the midline and popped a quick feed to Scolaro to give him the first of four goals on the night and put Loyola up 2-0. A technical holding call on Loyola gave New Trier an extra man offense that was carried into the second quarter. Another penalty on New Trier (one of seven on the night) set the stage for another Scolaro goal as the Trevians were harried in fending off a Loyola press. When the teams were even, New Trier was clearing and Robbins caught a clear pass across the midline, flipped a quick pass to Scolaro who fired a laser from 10 yards out to make it 3-0 at 6:54. New Trier won the face and mounted their first decent possession of the night, but they fired two misses and wired their last shot into Mortell's pocket. They came away again empty-handed. An extra man opportunity for New Trier was also squandered at 4:00 and New Trier was nailed for another technical foul at 2:45, but succeeded on their man down defense effort. At 0:40, Brian Farly took the ball straight on a clear down the middle and hit Mark Strobel on the right side, who let loose a hard-angled shot that bounced into the goal, leaving the score Loyola 4, New Trier 0 at the half.
The Trevians won the faceoff, but their first shot of the second half was wide and out, turning the ball back to Loyola. Scolaro again stepped up and was standing at the right of the crease, when fed by Strobel from the left. Scolaro turned and pushed the ball between Elipas' legs to put Loyola up 5-0. New Trier won the faceoff, brought it down and Mortell stuffed a far shot. At 9:30, Mortell tried to clear to the center was broken up and the ball rebounded to the center of the box. Mortell came out to grab the ground ball and missed the ball. The ball was picked up by a Trevian who took three steps toward the empty net. Anticipation of a score set it and a hard shot, too hard was launched. The ball bounced off the ground up and over the net from left to right. No Mortell stuff, no pipe on the save, just a bad case of attackman jitters made the save to preserve the shutout at this point. Another penalty put New Trier back on its heels and kept them getting their offense in gear. At 0:10 of the third quarter, New Trier was presented with yet another scoring opportunity when one of their shots was stopped by Mortell's ankle, and then his clearing pass went astray and was picked up by Jeff Osmond of New Trier, who ran up to within 5 yards, juked to his right, shot left right into Mortell's pocket to end the quarter at 5-0.
The fourth quarter began with a Loyola possession and a quick set up to Matt Robbins, who tried a lunging shot that was stuffed by Elipas. For the next three minutes, the teams exchanged possessions, wit Loyola taking forever to get their kind of shot off, and New Trier forcing their side of the issue. At 8:14 Marks was fed by Strobel for his first goal of the night and put the Ramblers up 6-0 and a minute and a half later at 6:46. Marks, hungry for his second point, fed Scolaro. Marks had taken the ball in around the net, and had come out on the right side. Elipas moved to cover and Marks fired a pass to Scolaro on the left, who nailed the inside of the left pipe to put Loyola up a commanding 7-0. New Trier went on EMO on a reckless slashing penalty, but took wild shots, turning the ball back to the Ramblers. Another penalty on Loyola at 2:16 gave New Trier a man-up offense, but again Mortell and his defense stonewalled them. The game ended with Loyola running out the clock.
