Sunday afternoon at Carroll High School Freshman Max Bushaw recorded 5 goals and 1 assist as the #3 Southlake Dragons defeated the previously #1 ranked Westlake Chaps by a score of 11-9 in inter district Class A action.
Sundays match-up represented a clash of arguably two of the top public programs in Texas, with serious State Championship aspirations.
While Bushaw certainly did his part to finish, he was set up in a big way by many of the upperclassmen including Quinn Tyler who contributed two goals and two assists, while seniors Luke Sganga, and Jack Manero each provided two goals and an assist to their credit.
Sunday’s game was outstanding. Both Southlake and Westlake are incredibly impressive from both a skill and athleticism standpoint. The physicality on the field has certainly been raised as both of the teams play hard, tough, and athletic styles. Each program is operating at a high level and we’ll be super interested to see if these programs can find their way through the regular season to the State Championships Mothers Day weekend!
In a losing effort upperclass attackmen Bradley Mays and Patrick Foley each registered three goals and an assist, while sophomore Grady Bartlett had two goals and an assist. Senior Jarrett Bassett tallied the final bucket for Westlake while Frickenschmidt, Fournier, and Frank all registered an assist.
Southlake led this one from start to finish up 4-0 at the end of the 1st, 8-3 at the half, and 9-6 heading into the final period.
This was such an exciting game to watch as it had all the ups and downs of a heavy weight contest. Westlake was coming off of a tough loss the day prior to ESD 9-6, also covered by us, while Southlake dropped a tough one to St. Albans School out of Washington DC 14-11.
Southlake came out of the gates on fire, really pumped up to get this one and it showed. Westlake came out with something to prove after their initial loss, they just couldn't get things rolling early. They just simply couldn’t convert, as the Chaps were settling and not finishing. While they had some quality opportunities their inability to finish ultimately became turnovers, which went the other way. The Dragons were able to convert, and this pushed the Dragon lead out to 6-0 at one point. The Chaps weren’t able to score until 6:58 left in the 2nd.
While you haven’t heard us say this in awhile, Lacrosse is a game of runs, and if you’ve been reading the StickStarReport for over 12 years you would definitely know this. Westlake is never out of it. They have absolute monsters running around out there and once they finally settled in they started mounting their comeback bringing it all the way back to 9-8, it just wasn't enough.
This is the best Southlake team arguably ever as this groups best have stayed in Southlake. There aren’t many programs with 2 Senior D1 Offensive Midfielders. Sganga and Manero apply so much pressure that it really allows the remaining players the freedom to convert quality opportunities. The attack unit of Quinn Tyler, Christian Coniglio, and Max Bushaw is skilled and selfless, and when they get plays, they make them. They also do a great job of taking care of the ball as possession in these games is crucial.
I’m not sure there is enough room for us to write all the nice things we’d like to say about these two teams (so we will probably talk about it on our next PODCAST!), but they are teams that could definitely make a run at it. Southake picks up another huge win after defeating ESD earlier in the year while Westlake is still in a great spot. Going undefeated the entire year isn’t exactly the best path. This allows Westlake to understand where they need to improve, where to focus, and you know Coach Burke will get them dialed in. There was no quit in this team as they played hard all the way up until the final whistle. The Chaps left a lot of buckets on the field, and after this trip up to Dallas they know the next steps they must take to prepare for their next trip to Dallas in mid May.
Coming up for Westlake they now play Jesuit Oregon this week while Southlake has Coppell, Woodlands, and Highland Park up next. StickStarReport is just getting warmed up. Tons of content coming at you as we also release the Tuesday Top 5 later today. Plenty of shake up there as well!
StickStar is looking to “Lead the Discussion” on Texas Lacrosse. This years StickStarReport content is presented by MHMLiving.com. Stay dialed into our new site, www.StickStarLacrosse.com, our socials on twitter / instagram @StickStarLax, @StickStarReport., and our podcast the StickStar Report available on YouTube. We will have tons of highlights available on our socials!
