Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/20/10

Since 1992 there has been an Abington Play Day for girls in grades three through eight.

Many teams from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware meet in early May to play, make friends, and run in the sun.

For the younger grades, it is an opportunity to play teams from other clubs. The older girls use this experience to hone skills and check out the competition they might meet in their approaching high school career.

But that wasn’t enough for one of America’s fastest growing sports.

This year Abington Girls Lacrosse Club, the host team for the event, added a competitive bracket tournament for the 7th/8th grade level. Eight teams – Abington (two), Hatboro Horsham, Crooked Cross, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Lower Bucks, Middle Bucks, and Council Rock – met at the infamous Abington Wall for real bragging rights and gold and silver medals. And this time there wasn’t going to be questioning. The winners name was going to be chalked on the wall for all to see.

The format was 13-minute round robins games which set the seeding for the single-elimination bracket of 25-minute games. The play was a bit more competitive than the traditional play day games still available at the other end of the campus. Coaches had to coach more intently and the referees were expected to make the close calls.

At the end of a grueling afternoon Council Rock prevailed over its arch rival, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, to take the gold. The Rock team has had a very successful tenure together, winning numerous tournaments throughout the 2007 fall season.

Coach Dave Hurwitz said about his team: “Marie [Doyle] and I were very proud of this team’s accomplishments both on and off the field and look forward to carrying on CRLA’s tradition of fielding a competitive team at the 7th/8th grade level in 2009.”