Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/13/13
On Sunday, March 3rd, the BucksMont Indoor Lacrosse Tournament was host to 12 teams competing in the first box lacrosse tourney run by the facility in partnership with American Indoor Lacrosse.
Greater Philly area teams, along with teams from New York and New Jersey enjoyed a day of fun and competition playing the modified NLL-style game.
“BucksMont was pleased to offer this version of the game for area youth. Our venue is perfect for the box game and we thank everyone who participated!” said Heidi Johnson, Lacrosse Director at BucksMont and tourney director.
The event was timed at the culmination of the indoor (box) season at BucksMont run by American Indoor Lacrosse Association (AIL) where youth and high school players participated in instructional programming on indoor lacrosse. Steve Holmes, AIL Regional Director and instructor, was tournament commissioner overseeing the game action and rules. Also working with AIL was Ryan Sankey, coach with Lower Merion high school JV, Rebel Elite Offensive Coordinator, and Dukes Coach.
The action began at 7:30am with the U15 division kicking off the competition. The U13 group then followed and high school division wrapped things up at the end of the tourney. A diversity of established teams, blended and house teams made up the rosters fielding players from Central Bucks, Lower Bucks, Deep Run, Quakertown, North Penn, Warrington, West Chester, Warminster, Delaware, Rochester, NY and Ridgewood, NJ.
Each team played a round of three games ending in a final playoff with the #1 and #2 seeds playing for the championship, while 3rd and 4th place teams played a consolation match.
Teams from PA and NJ proved to be formidable competition but, ultimately, yielded first place in all three divisions to the Rochester teams, who play with the Upstate Indoor Lacrosse program lead by Kevin McMaster. The UIL players just finished their season-ending tournament in NY on February 23rd as part of a newly-formed youth partnership with the Rochester Knighthawks.
More photos of the event can be found on BucksMont Indoor Sports Center’s Facebook page.
