The time Mike Haight, the girls lacrosse coach at Good Counsel High School, spent on the sideline on Saturday was maybe the only time he was in one place for any extended period. As the head coach of the Jackals 2009 Elite lacrosse team, a club team within the Champions of Tomorrow organization, which helped organize the first-ever Evolution Games Club Lacrosse National Championship, held over the weekend at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Haight wore multiple hats. He was co-host, coach and sometimes, chauffeur.
‘‘It’s a whole different world,” Haight said. ‘‘I have been driving [college] coaches around to all the different fields so they can see different players, I have been schmoozing with the other coaches and teams, I have been checking on vendors. It is a lot easier just to be on the field.”
On the field, the players took the time to showcase their skills. After losing earlier in the afternoon to the Lenape (Pa.) Teal, 5-4, the Jackals took on another Pennsylvania team in the main stadium, SEPA Lacrosse Club. For a team made up predominantly of Montgomery County’s public school players, it was an eye-opening experience.
‘‘This is a different level of play for 90 percent of the girls on my team,” Haight said. ‘‘The passing, the plays that people run, you don’t see this in a regular county game.”
Yet, some of Montgomery County’s best public-school league players were able to hold their own on Saturday for the Jackals against SEPA. Quince Orchard’s Alissa Peterson, an All-Gazette first-team selection as a junior in the spring, scored a pair of goals, and Mimmy Wenzel, of Bethesda-Chevy Chase, added another goal. Though the Jackals eventually lost, 10-8, to SEPA in their final tournament appearance of the year, they went 2-3, including a 9-8 win over the FS Lax 2009 team, based out of Frederick.
‘‘It has been a hell of a summer for us,” Haight said. ‘‘So many of these players have improved, and that will be good for lacrosse in the county.”
This tournament may also be something that will be good for the county. According to Haight, 122 college programs sent representatives to Boyds to watch players from up and down the East Coast, and that spurred an excitement among the players. In addition, the pool play and playoff format of the tournament — teams played five pool games on Friday and Saturday, and then were seeded for a single-elimination playoff on Sunday — added an edge to the proceedings that is not often seen in club tournaments, which are generally exhibitions.
‘‘Lacrosse club teams aren’t really used to pool play,” Jenna Ries, founder of Champions of Tomorrow, said. Ries was the driving force behind the formation of the Club National Championship. ‘‘Once the playoffs were underway, the coaches and players were so happy. It was like the high school playoffs in one day. When NEMS [the 11-12 grade age division champion] won the title, their players actually cried, which was amazing.”
Ries said she hoped the competitive atmosphere will entice even more club programs to bring their teams to the tournament in the next few years. Severna Park’s club program, SP Lax, whose coach, Carin Petersen, has won 40 consecutive games at Severna Park High School, has already said it will return.
‘‘Everybody loved the facility — people were raving about the fields — and there was an incredible energy,” Ries said. ‘‘The best compliment was that the [college] coaches were enthusiastic. We provided them the opportunity to see kids in pressure situations, and that can be something that pushes a player to the next level. This was a format that encouraged players to make smart decisions, and that can make a difference.”
The club season and the tournament have made a difference for two players who hail from a part of Montgomery County not known for lacrosse. Susie Branson and Katelyn Luker play at Blair, a team that went over the .500 mark for the first time in 10 years in the spring on the way to the regional semifinals. That little taste of success spurred the duo to try out for the club team this summer.
‘‘At tryouts everybody thought we were from Blake, and we had to correct them,” Branson said. ‘‘Then, when we made the team, it was a shock. The level of play was just so much faster.”
But, Luker, who started in goal against SEPA, and Branson, who saw time in the midfield, raised their level of play, and saw the corresponding attention for college coaches.
‘‘You don’t have the connections really to get the attention of college coaches when you are playing downcounty,” Luker said. ‘‘Most of them never have heard of Blair. But this summer, I have started getting coaches e-mailing me, and I’ve started sending tapes. I feel like in a year, I’m going to be a completely different player.”
Branson and Luker joked that, unlike many of the players they were competing against, they did not grow up with lacrosse. But now, things have changed.
‘‘Sometimes we’ll look at each other and laugh,” Branson said. ‘‘I didn’t pick up a stick until I was a freshman, and some of these girls have played for so long its unreal. But, it is exciting to see lacrosse as an option for college.”
