The first Superior Outdoor Lacrosse League (SOLL) 7 v. 7 Championship Sunday included some close games
and exciting lacrosse play. Games were played at Park Point in Duluth, MN. With every team
in the league having at least 2 losses, the championship was up for grabs.
In game 1, the #3 seed Honey Badgers took on the #6 seed
Free Agents. The young Honey Badgers
team, with their two elder statesmen, were looking to warm up against the Free
Agents in anticipation of a match up against the #2 seed Brojans in the next
round. The Free Agents however, had
other things in mind.
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| SOLL regular season scoring leader Scott Wishart #17 |
The game was close throughout with the score being tied for
the majority of the game. Young James
Holak, a 6th grader and new player to the Free Agent team helped to
keep the game close by leading the team with 3 goals. Jack O’ Connell, also a 6th grader
and new to the Free Agent team helped to control the high scoring Honey Badgers
team on defense. The Free Agents held
the Honey Badgers to 8 goals and the game ended with the Honey Badgers eking out an 8-6 win in the first
round of the playoffs.
Iziah Schramm, playing lacrosse for the first time ever this
summer also scored 2 goals for the Free Agents along with Treven Smalley with 2 goals.
The Honey Badgers were led on offense by Dan O’Connell, Bryce Holak and
Jesse Larson who each scored 2 goals.
Holak and O’Connell also added an assist each. Aaron Kilpo added a goal and an assist and
Andy Holak scored one goal.
The second game of the night featured #4 Fighting Aye-Aye’s
against #5 Broseidon. The score was
knotted up for much of the game before the Aye-Aye’s pulled away behind the
prolific scoring of Frank Napoli and Cooper Carlson to win 20-13. Napoli poured in 8 goals and added 2 assists
while Carlson scorched the net for 6 goals and 1 assist. Tyler Kolquist added 3 goals, Steve Halver
added 2 and Mac Johnson pitched in one goal.
Zack Zierden led the way for Broseidon with 5 goals while Zach Galo and
Kevin Marshall added 3 goals apiece and Luke Hannan tallied 2 goals. TJ Vallie saved Broseidon from even more
scoring by standing tall between the pipes with 14 saves.
The first final four game featured the #1 seed Thunder Ducks
against first round winner Fighting Aye-Aye’s.
This game was close until the final minutes of the game when the Thunder
Ducks pulled away to win 14-11. Scott
Wishart, the regular season scoring leader, led the Thunder Ducks with 5 goals
and 5 assists while Mike Hillman scored 3 goals, Alex Rogers scored two goals
and added one assist, Frank Rush added one goal and one assist, and Nick
Teresi, Beau Hughes and Tanner Fritsinger each pitched in with one goal. The Aye-Aye’s were led by Frank Napoli with 5
goals and Cooper Carlson with 3 goals.
Steve Halver added two goals and Tyler Kolquist scored one goal.
The next game proved to be one of the most exciting games of
the season with the score knotted up nearly the entire game and ended with a
controversial call. The #2 seed Brojans
took on the #3 seed Honey Badgers for the right to play in the first SOLL
Championship game. The game see-sawed
back and forth with no team ever leading by more than 3 goals. The Brojans led by 3 goals late in the game
and it looked like it would be a #1 versus #2 championship game before the
Honey Badgers stormed back to tie the game.
The Brojans would then take a one goal lead right up until the end
before a late goal by the Honey Badgers would tie the game again and send it
into overtime.
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| BRAVEHEART! |
The final overtime period would be decided by
Braveheart. Bryce Holak came out for the
Honey Badgers and Doug Jensen would take the face off for the Brojans. Holak won the opening faceoff and took the
ball down the field before solid defense by Jensen and good goalie play would
force Holak’s shot to go wide. Jensen
then took possession and made a contested shot on goal that was saved by the 2012
SOLL saves leader Pat O’ Connell, with another fearless play in the net. On the ensuing loose ball, Holak would pick
up the ground ball while Jensen’s head would come off his shaft. Holak’s shot on goal would be saved by goalie
Tyler Altringer making a tremendous play on the ball. With a new stick Jensen would take the ball
upfield again. Amazingly, on another ground
ball, Jensen’s head would come off his back up stick! This time Holak, with Jackson Schwartz
rushing on the field to cover for Jensen, would come down the field and bury
the ball in the back of the net for a 16-15 Braveheart win for the Honey Badgers. There was some confusion on the final play
and a questioning of whether or not to continue play after a player’s head
comes off his stick in Braveheart. An
explanation of the ruling based on a conversation with head lacrosse referee
Dan Heldt can be found HERE
Doug Jensen led the Brojans and all scorers with 7
goals. Joey Keating scored 3 goals,
Graham Gallop and Brad Sandeen each added 2 goals and Ben Dunnell scored one
goal for the Brojans. Bryce Holak led the
Honey Badgers with 6 goals while Jeff Wright would add 3 goals, Jesse Larson
and Jack Norlen chipped in with 2 goals each and Dan O’ Connell and Aaron Kilpo
each scored one goal. Both Tyler
Altringer and Pat O’ Connell were strong in the net.
The Honey Badgers would continue their strong play into the
final Championship game with the #1 seeded Thunder Ducks. The Honey Badgers played well, hanging with
the Thunder Ducks goal for goal until the second half. The Thunder Ducks would pull away from the
Honey Badgers to take the first SOLL Championship with a 15-12 win.
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| 2012 SOLL Champions - Thunder Ducks |
Alex Rogers led the Thunder Ducks with 6 goals and one
assist while Scott Wishart had 3 goals and an assist, Beau Hughes and Nick
Teresi added two goals and Mike Hillman and Nevada Shelton each added a
goal. Frank Rush added an assist. The Honey Badgers were led by Jesse Larson with
4 goals, while Aaron Kilpo, Bryce Holak and Dan O’ Connell each had 2 goals and
one assist and Andy Holak added 2 goals.
Jeff Wright added one assist.
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| 2012 SOLL Runners Up - Honey Badgers |
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