Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 7/18/15
Staff Report

The Duke’s Lacrosse Club Team 1 claimed its fourth straight Champ Camp title and ninth in 10 years today as it defeated the Black Rhinos (OR), 7-5, at Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood Field.

The Duke’s L.C. wins fourth straght Champ Camp title and ninth in 10 years

Attackman Forry Smith (Haverford School), who will be playing at Johns Hopkins, had two goals and two assists as the Dukes rallied from an early 2-0 deficit and led, 7-4, before holding on for he win.

“Coach Ebe calls this the Super Bowl weekend,” said Smith. “All tournaments lead up to this tournament. The Dukes program has been able to win nine of the last 10 which is awesome. Just to keep that rolling year after year shows why Philly lacrosse is on the map now.”

The Dukes had defeated the Rhinos, 8-4, in Pool play. But Smith said it was important to regroup today after Friday night’s thrilling 10-9 win over Tri-State Black (N.J.) in the semifinals.

“The morning is always hard to wake up for the last day after three days of getting beat up,” Smith said. “But we got to the field and rallied together and said after pulling off that last night there was no way we were losing. Last night and today were two big games for everyone that’s a part of the Dukes program.”

Duke’s champs – Left to right, Mike Drake, James Vandergrift, Brett Baskin. Austin Clibanoff, Phil Robertson

Jason Yoquinto (Bishop Shanahan) and Ian Walsh (Shipley School) split the goaltending duties today. Yoquinto played the entire game Friday against Tri-State and was a standout. Kevin Stump (St. Joseph’s Prep) added two goals and an assist and Adam Goldner (Malvern Prep) had a goal and an assist whie Kyle Long (Springfield-Delco) and long pole Pat Smyth (Springfield-Delco) each scored once. Alex Bonnett (Penncrest) added an assist.

“Going into last night we had an idea of what they had,” said Smith. “A lot of the guys on Tri-State are from Philly or Hun School or teams we have played against.

“We played well the whole weekend and we were pretty confident. We got ourselves together as the tournament progressed and we knew we had to play quick between the lines. We did a good job playing faster rather than physical. If you looked at their team every player is like 6-4, big and strong and athletic and we have some smaller quicker guys.

“We did a good job playing our game. In the long run that’s what helped us be so successful The coaches did a nice job keeping us fresh with our rotations and Jason came up with some huge saves that sealed the win.”