By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 7/18/11
Baldwin School’s Sloan Warren scored 10 goals today in two games to help Team Spirit split its two games and earn a ticket to the title game of the Champion All-American Showcase, a US Lacrosse event at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Warren had four goals for Team Spirit (2-1) in a 21-11 victory over Liberty. The losers (0-3) got a team-high four goals from Harriton’s Carli Sukonik.
Warren (signed with Virginia) also tallied a game-high six goals for Spirit in a 21-18 loss to Team Pride, which features goalie Allie Murray of Downingtown East and Hill School’s Callie Francis.
Team Freedom (2-1) – featuring Downingtown East’s Kelly Devlin and Delaware state champion Cape Henlopen’s Meg Bartley – downed Team Pride, 20-11, in the second round of games Monday to earn a berth in the championship game.
Freedom will play Team Spirit in the title game Tuesday game at 2 p.m. and can be seen live on http://www.espn3.com. Spirit downed Team Liberty, 21-11, during the afternoon.
The consolation game is set for 10 a.m. and will feature Pride (2-1) versus Liberty, which also lost to Freedom, 20-12, despite three goals by Sukonik. The four teams are comprised of 80 of the top seniors in the country.
Warren has enjoyed the experience on and off the field. After Monday’s games all 80 of the players – many of the top seniors in the country – went to the magic Kingdom.
“Because it’s an All-American event, there are All-Americans here from such a variety of places around the nation, which has been really neat,” said Warren, who competed in the Under Armour All-American game two weeks ago. “Also, similarly to Under Armour, it has been great to play both with and against such talented athletes and it’s so much fun to get used to the quick pace and intensity of the game.
“Additionally, being in the Disney area and playing in the ESPN Wide World of Sports has only added to the excitement and atmosphere of the whole event.
“I’ve really lucked out because it’s ordinarily difficult to play with players whose style of play you’re unfamiliar with, but my team has had awesome chemistry on and off the field.”
Sukonik, who led Harriton to a share of its first Central League title and earned US Lacrosse Honorable Mention All-American honors, said the players checked in Sunday morning and met each other on the field before havaing a brief practice and playing in the first round of games.
“It’s been really fun,” said Sukonik, who is headed to Lehigh University. “The competition is great and it’s fun to play when everyone is playing at such a high level.
“All the teams are great; the games just haven’t been falling our way. Hopefully, we’ll do better tomorrow.
