July 1, 2003 - Boys U19 Finals - Avon Field 1 - 12:00 pm
Reported by Alex Smith

Team Colorado finally got the monkey off their back on Tuesday as they claimed their first Vail Shootout U-19 Championship in over five years. Colorado was able to outscore Ohio by four goals in the second and fourth quarters apiece to pull away from the defending champions.

In years past, Team Ohio held a decided edge in athletic ability and size, but this year's Colorado squad had more speed and size in the midfield. While Ohio's defense had been lauded all tournament, it was Colorado who was able to hold their opponent to one goal in each of the last three quarters.

Early on, Ohio looked poised to coast to another Shootout championship. After Eric O'Brien (St. Charles HS, Sr.) scored a goal to give Ohio a 2-1 lead, faceoff middie Jon Gillis (Thomas Worthington HS, Sr.) tallied again immediately after the draw to go up 3-1. At the end of the quarter, Ohio led 4-2.

After Ohio middie Brett Wanner (Dublin Scioto HS, Sr.) scored the third of his game high five goals midway through the second period, Colorado reeled off three straight goals to end the half up 7-5. The run was punctuated by a rebound put-back by Max Rauber (Regis Jesuit HS, Sr.).

"I thought (Ohio) was better than we anticipated," said winning coach Chris Parsons of Littleton High School. "I knew their defense would put some pressure on us, be we handled it fine."

Colorado's attack duo of Brett Koll (Fort Collins HS, Jr.) David Barocas (East HS, Sr.) were very solid again after strong performances in the semifinals. Koll ended the game with four goals and Barocas added two goals and two assists. In addition to Rauber's hat trick, Austin Roberts (East HS, Sr.) had two more assists for the Colorado attack.

When asked how he was able to get open, Koll said, "They were big, but we were quicker. Whenever they turned their head, we were able to move in the middle."

While Koll and the Colorado attack were taking care of business on one side of the field, the defense held up their end of the bargain against a very talented Ohio attack unit. Sam Hong (Worthington Kilbourne HS, Sr.), who tallied eight points against Delaware in the semis, could only manage one assist against the Colorado poles and Pat Hurto (Dublin Coffman HS, Sr.) netted zero points.

Dustin Palmer (Cherry Creek HS, Sr.) and Craig Snively (Cherry Creek HS, Sr.) were excellent in front of goalies Peter Moore (Kent Denver HS, Sr.) and Chris Shopneck (East HS, Sr.). Whenever Ohio would get it out of their defensive end, they never seemed comfortable in a set offense, and if they did get a good look, Palmer and Shopneck were waiting to pounce on the shot.

Colorado won the face off battle 13-10 with strong performances by David Elbot (Kent Denver HS, Sr.) and John Ryberg (Air Academy, Sr.). Ohio's Gillis, who was voted best face off man of the tournament by staff and opposing coaches, won his fair share of draws as well.

The game was the culmination of four great days of lacrosse in the Vail Valley. On Thursday, the big boys come into town as the Men's Elite get underway.

Game Stats:

Score by Quarter:

CO - 2 - 5 - 1 - 5 - 13
OH - 4 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 7

Goals:
CO - Koll (4), Rauber (3), Barocas (2), Elbot, Huelskamp, Millice, Webber
OH - Wanner (5), Gallagher, Gillis

Assists:
CO - Roberts and Barocas (2), Walker, Elbot
OH - Gillis, Hong, Gallagher

Goalies:
CO - Moore (24:00 minutes, 11 saves, 5 goals against), Shopneck (24:00 min, 4 saves, 2 goals against)
OH - Daly (24:00 min, 8 saves, 7 goals against), DeStephen (24:00 min, 6 saves, 6 goals against)

Colorado 13, Ohio 7 (1st place)
See feature article

Delaware 11, New England 9 (3rd place)
New England came out strong in the 1st and took an early lead. They controlled the ball in their offensive zone and capitalized on their opportunities. Delaware put together an amazing comeback to win 11-9.

Hurricanes 12, Tri-State 6 (5th place)
In the last game to played of the tournament, both teams showed a lot of heart in this consolation bracket game. Berkman for the Hurricanes overcame a 102 degree temperature two days ago to score four goals and two assists. A slow Tri-State team managed to score six goals despite a tremendous showing from Blevins, the Hurricane keeper.

Gateway 1, San Diego 0 fft. (7th place)
San Diego did not show up for this game as they expressed their desire to hit the white water rapids instead of play lacrosse. Bad form indeed.

Division II:

Edmonton 13, Calgary 10 (1st place)
In the battle for Alberta (and the Division II championship), the two Canadian teams battled valiantly. In the end, it was Edmonton's Howell and Shewchuck who led the way to victory by tallying four points apiece. Although the score doesn't reflect it, the stats show a very evenly and well played game by both teams.

Southeast 12, Utah 4
Most of the action in this game was focused in the Utah defensive zone. Southeast was able to control the tempo and got the victory.

Northern California 7, Orange County 6
This game was back and forth at the beginning until NorCal scored one goal at the end of the first quarter and one goal early in the second. OC only scored two combined goals in the second and third quarters combined. OC came back to take the lead in the fourth, but in the last minute of the game, NorCal scored two goals to steal the victory from their southern rivals.