All members of defensive unit of Malvern Prep’s 2006 state title team have become captains at college level

By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/14/10

All four members of the starting defensive unit of the Malvern Prep team that won the 2006 Keystone Cup state championship have been named co-captains at their respective Division I colleges.

The four players – Tim Barrar (Holy Cross), Mike Creighton (Notre Dame), Steve Layne (Loyola) and Matt McCormick (Drexel) – are key returnees at their schools. In addition. Creighton, Layne and McCormick were named Honorable Mention Pre-Season All-Americans by Inside Lacrosse.

Malvern Prep went 23-5 in 2006 and earned a 15-5 victory over Manheim Township in the state championship game. The Friars had a tough road to the Eastern Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association crown, defeating a tough Ridley team, 6-4, in the quarterfinals, and then edging La Salle, 7-6, in the semifinals and rival Haverford School, 6-5, in a memorable overtime championship game.

Creighton and Layne were named All-Americans that year.

Amazingly, the Malvern Prep backline of 2006 also included another player who has gone on to become a senior captain at the college level – goalie Matt Brazitis, who plays Division I club lacrosse for Wake Forest of the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association.

In 2009, Barrar, a two-year starter, scooped 18 groundballs at Holy Cross. Creighton helped the Fighting Irish go 15-1 last year while scooping 34 groundballs. Layne was named to the All-ECAC Second Team after collecting 48 groundballs and 24 caused turnovers at Loyola. McCormick, a First Team Colonial Athletic Association pick in 2009, had a team-high 54 groundballs last year while adding 16 caused turnovers….

“The captaincy is the testament to the kind of kids they are,” said John McEvoy, the coach at Malvern Prep that year. “Layne never played lacrosse until 8th grade and Creighton was an attackman who we moved to middle.

“Tim Barrar was the only kid who was born and raised a defenseman, and Matt McCormick – I remember – had days when he would ask to play attack. It was a great bunch; they played a couple times together as sophomores and played together as juniors. They had real good chemistry and success in high school.

“Their biggest attributes at the college levels has been their competitiveness. I am proud of all of them.”