Team Colorado jumped out to an early lead and never let a hungry New England team back in the game to advance to the finals again. Colorado rode a strong performance from their long poles and goalies to shut down a potent New England attack to win 15-11.

New England had seen the strength of the Colorado midfield early in the tournament and decided to match up with short sticks against the Colorado attack.

Coach Chris Parsons of Team Colorado commented on his attack's ability to exploit the short stick match up. "They wanted to put their long poles on our middies, so we thought we could initiate from the attack."

Attackmen Brett Koll (Fort Collins HS, Jr.), Will Martin (Cherry Creek HS, Sr. Middlebury), and David Barocas (East HS, Sr. Hofstra) controlled the tempo of the game from behind the net. Barocas ended the game with 3 goals and 3 assists and Koll added 2 goals as eight different Colorado players dented the net in the game.

"They beat us between the box lines," said New England coach Jim Wilson, who was impressed with the Colorado squad. "We had to play a lot of defense because they won almost every ground ball."

New England's second half goalie, Miles Kass (Hotchkiss HS, Jr.) was exceptional in the nets. Kass recorded eight second half saves to keep New England in the game, but the Colorado offensive pressure eventually was too much.

"He is a great goalie," Wilson said about Kass. "He has good field presence and athletic ability. He absolutely won the game with Tri-State for us yesterday." Kass has been the most impressive goalie in the U-19 division over the three days thus far.

Despite the strong goaltending of Kass, Colorado seemed the more disciplined team throughout as they rolled out three solid lines of midfield. Defensemen Craig Sniveley (Cherry Creek HS, Sr. Lafayette) and Dustin Palmer (Cherry Creek HS, Sr. Syracuse) played very well against Trip Cowin (Hotchkiss HS, Jr.) and Tyler Casertano (Loomis Chaffee, Jr.) and kept New England's open looks to a minimum.

Midfielders Eric Webber (Mullen HS, Sr. Villanova) and John Ryberg (Air Academy, Sr. Ohio State) were able to put a lot of pressure on the New England defense, which created a lot of opportunities for Barocas and Koll to finish.

"We are very confident in our attack and middies," said Parsons. "If a team wants to take away either unit, we expect the other to step up."

Colorado advances to the finals of the U-19 tournament where they will meet a familiar opponent in the final game. Team Ohio defeated Delaware to claim the other spot in the championship game.

"I feel like we have some better athletes (than Ohio) and we are excited about the match up," said Parsons.

Ohio Over Delaware

Delaware's Cinderella run through the U-19 tournament came to an abrupt end as defending champion Ohio opened up a 4-4 halftime score to win 15-7. Sam Hong (Worthington Kilbourne HS, Sr.) scored 6 goals and 2 assists to lead all scorers and the monsters in front of Ohio's net prevented any sort of a comeback for Delaware.

Hong was a machine for Ohio as he controlled the ball all over the field. Not a particularly big attackman, Hong was flawless handling and finishing and formed a strong connection with Pat Hurto (Dublin Scioto HS, Sr.) to do in Team Delaware.

Delaware showed a lot of heart, especially in net. Ted Cattle, who is a first year goalie, played very well during the semis and the quarterfinals. Defenseman Matt Malloy was also a standout on the Delaware squad.

Team Ohio had trouble early getting into a defensive rhythm, which was unfortunate, because thanks to many missed ground balls, Delaware spent a lot of time on Ohio's half of the field early. The key to the game was tempo and which team could control it.

Delaware wanted to slow the ball down, while the athletic Ohio squad wanted to run up and down the field.

"We didn't play well early," said Ohio head coach Chris Gallagher. "(Delaware) moved the ball well early and didn't let us get running."

At the half, Delaware was controlling the game and would have held the lead if not for a late Ohio goal to tie it. The marquee match up of the game was Cam Howard (Tatnall HS, Sr. Delaware), Delaware's standout attackman, against Ohio High School Player of the Year Jeff Schneider (Dublin Scioto, Sr. Ohio State).

Schneider was all over the field, playing close defense, man-down, and the wing on face-offs.

"Their defense is the best part of their team," said Delaware coach Brad DuPont. "They are big, physical defensemen and they play strong team defense."

Ohio exploded for seven third quarter goals to open up an insurmountable lead going into the fourth. The biggest factor in the game was the sheer number of athletes on Team Ohio. Delaware simply wore down in the end.

Ohio will now advance to play Team Colorado in the U-19 finals. The teams are very evenly matched and they should put on a show for the fans in Avon. Both teams have very strong midfields and defenses. The key to the game will lie with the attack units and their ability to score goals against a physical defense. Neither team's goalies have had to be exceptional yet, but both teams will put pressure on the net on Tuesday.

Hurricanes 7, Gateway 2
The game started rather slow with only three first quarter goals. The teams were evenly matched, but the difference was that the 'Canes were able to finish on their opportunities.

Tri-State 11, NorCal 4
After a slow start in the early morning game, Tri-State controlled the action in the NorCal end for much of the rest of the game. Tri-State scored six goals in the second and four goals in the third to pull away.

Boys Division II Bracket:

Edmonton 14, Utah 13
Edmonton led 10-4 at the half, but Utah exploded for nine second half goals. Unfortunately for Team Utah, Edmonton ended up by one as time expired. Edmonton will advance to the Division II finals on Monday.

Calgary 8, Southeast 6
Calgary got up early and never relinquished the lead as they won by two against a good Southeast team. Calgary outshot Southeast 14-3 in the fourth quarter to advance in Division II. They will have a rematch with Edmonton in the finals.

Orange County 7, San Diego 2
Orange County dominated the entire game against an unmotivated San Diego team. San Diego was held scoreless in the second and fourth quarters and never seemed in the game.

Division I Bracket:
Colorado vs. Ohio (Championship game)
New England vs. Delaware (3rd place)
Hurricanes vs. Tri-State (5th place)
Gateway vs. NorCal (7th place)

Division II Bracket:
Edmonton vs. Calgary (Championship game)
Orange County, San Diego, Southeast, and Utah will pair up with the team they have not previously played.