Rain hit the Vail Valley hard on Friday afternoon, delaying men’s and women’s games alike.  The men’s side established its semifinal teams at the end of a long day as Last Call, Merrill Lynch/Lacrossewear, Lacrossewear’s Jammin’ Salmon and Team 21 made it through to tomorrow’s 11:00 am and 1:00 pm games at Ford Field.

The women made it through Day 2 of their Pool Play and will play both the quarterfinals and semifinals on Saturday.  Gang Green and CRSlax.com continue to lead the pack and will hope to move through to the finals tomorrow.

Both the Men’s and Women’s Elite tournaments started on Thursday with excitement and drama in both brackets.  Rain and lightning delayed action briefly in the afternoon, but the cloudy skies were a nice change of pace from the heat of the previous few days.

The best game of the day on the men’s side saw the Conifer Water/Rocky Mountain Oysters team take down the dangerous, but young, Baltimore Crabs team 15-13.  The rest of the quarterfinal field was set as well.  On the women’s side, the teams completed the first day of pool play.  They will do it again tomorrow before setting up their final tournament bracket.

It was all about Baltimore today as the Baltimore Crabs and M&D Lax took home U-19 championships for the Boys and Girls divisions.  M&D was first up, easily handling PA Express and then the Crabs played well for a 12-9 victory over Team Colorado.  It was Baltimore’s fourth consecutive U-19 title, a record in Vail.  With the conclusion of the high school comes the close of the first phase of the tournament.  The Toronto Renegades won Division II with a 12-7 victory over fellow Canadian squad Winnipeg.  The Girls Silver Division was won by a group of rising high-school freshmen, the Stars Silver.

Tomorrow, the Men’s and Women’s Elite kick off with some very exciting games on tap.  Can Team 21 start right on the road to a repeat?  Or will Lacrossewear’s Merrill Lynch finally break through to the top?

The first phase of the Vail Lacrosse Shootout is winding down as we crowned a champion in the Supermasters division and sorted through the second to last day of the Boys and Girls U-19 divisions.  Millennium/Team Rock-it Pocket’s exciting 12-11 victory over the Elder Statesmen was the highlight of the day while the Baltimore Crabs narrowly escaped the Boys U-19 semifinals with a tight 15-14 win over the East Coast Kings.

Tomorrow’s Baltimore vs. Team Colorado championship game should be a great one.  While the hometown team hasn’t been tested to the extent that the Crabs were today, their offensive prowess has netted them 18 goals in each of the past two games.  It will be interesting to see who can lock down on defense to win the championship tomorrow.

Monday morning started tragically in the Vail Valley as one of our long-time vending partners lost his two year-old son in a drowning accident last night in Gore Creek.  It was a day filled with mournful hearts as everyone around the tournament gave pause to consider what’s really important.  Just about every person involved as a player, coach or staff in the Vail Lacrosse Shootout is considered family and this tragedy hit home for a lot of people.  The Vail Lacrosse Shootout extends its deepest condolences to the family during this extremely difficult time. 

On the lacrosse side of things, Monday was one of the busiest days of the tournament.  The Grandmasters and Masters divisions crowned champions Monday afternoon with the Polar Statesmen and Jagermeister taking home titles fairly comfortably.  The Polar Statesmen were dominant all week long in Grandmasters, piling up an impressive 47 goals and only allowing 12 over three games.  Jagermiester was similarly strong, winning their three games by a combined score of 37-15.

The Boys U-19 division completed quarterfinal play while the Girls U-19 finished up Pool Play and sorted into three divisions.  In the Supermasters division, Millennium/Team Rock-it Pocket will join the Elder Statesmen in the championship game tomorrow at 1:00 on Ford Field.

The Masters and Grandmasters divisions are all set to crown champions on Monday as the first section of the tournament is already drawing to a close.  The Supermasters division completed quarterfinal play while the U-19 Boys and Girls tournaments kicked off their events with pool play. 

Read the 6/28 reports for each division for further info: Masters, Supermasters, Grandmasters, HS Boys, HS Girls

Report for Saturday, June 27th

There were 20 games in three divisions on four fields and a full Chumash schedule during a busy first day at the 2009 Vail Lacrosse Shootout. The teams, officials and staff enjoyed a beautiful Vail day that greeted the beginning of the XXXVII Shootout. The Masters, Supermasters and Grand Masters started their tournaments with quality play at each level.

There have been a few slight changes this year, the Masters age requirement was lowered to 30+. This means that each division now has a nice round age limit with the Supermaster at 40+ and the Grandmaster at 50+. In addition we have added a forum to the vaillacrosse.com website for all you questions, thoughts or comments about all things related to the Vail Lacrosse Shootout.

Tomorrow will see the beginning of the always popular Boys and Girls High School Tournaments.

Read the 6/27 reports for each division for further info: Masters, Supermasters, Grandmasters.

The website staff does our best to cover this huge event, nestled into the 13 mile stretch of the Vail Valley, with the manpower we've got. That said, we frequently accept help from our website visitors and welcome your constructive comments or corrections.