2026 Championship Weekend

INtro

SPEAKER_07 0:32

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of Intel Greeks with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of B2 Mental Frost. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stenstrom. And with me, as always, is the People's Choice, Danny Moran. Hey, Danny.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Kevin, how are you, my man in Northern Virginia? What a weekend you had. You went down to Charlottesville.

SPEAKER_07 0:55

Yeah, a lot of fun. I'm we missed you. The people's choice, people were asking for you. They're saying I said, hey, he's got a gig. He's like, tell him to put his damn sticks down and come tell him, put lacrosse sticks up, drumsticks down.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Come on down here. Lacrosse sticks enough of my life up, that's for sure. But that was cool. How cool for you, man. You hobnobbing with some uh Yeah, it was fun.

SPEAKER_07 1:16

So during early on before these and stuff like that. Coach Novotny, Coach Barrett, Dan McCabe, the AD of Delphi, Joe Reich, the AD of Wingate during the Saturday practices for each team. They were so gracious with their time and giving me their perspective. I was asking them questions, and it was just great. It was just great to talk to him.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Joe Reich. Joe Reich's a nice guy. I spoke with him three years ago when he first got the AD spot at Wingate. He was at the SAC Championships for the lacrosse. And you know, you know, his brother's Frank Reich, the football coach. Oh, yeah. So there's a lot of a lot of NFL and good stuff there with Coach Reich. So yeah, you had a good time. You had hobnobbing with all the big shots.

SPEAKER_07 2:00

And then you go to Sunday, and I have to tell you, first of all, I apologize to all the Adelphi fans are there. I I was trying to find your tailgate. They actually messaged me on one of the when I was said that on my story. One of them messaged me, I got a beer waiting for you. I could never find their tailgate. I did run in to 2024 Captain Matt Greaves and his dad, Gene. They were sitting there waiting. I then was able to meet a lot of the Adelphi fans as they greeted the bus and the team.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_07 2:32

And then then Tampa came down. There was a little switch. Tampa came down, they greeted their bus. And as I was walking back, one of the parents, one of the moms, like, are you in the crease? Kevin Seth? I'm like, oh, come North Tailgate. So I go to their tailgate, and I'm telling you, Dan, they treated me like a king. And I I can't even tell you the number of parents. I'll probably get them wrong. The Bashaws, the Friends, Gordy Gombold's mom, the Returas, the Schmidt's, the Hoppers, MP Thomas's parents, and his granddad, who is a former H-53 pilot. We talked naval aviation.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Really? Wow. See?

SPEAKER_07 3:07

Stones, the Kessel Rings, two former players' dads, Michael Flora's dad, Rollo, and AJ Pascarella's dad, Gino. So they were, I mean, I'm telling you, they were so gracious and so nice to me. Like I didn't really deserve it, but I'll take it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

That's good. Well, half of them we had on our show. They're most of the kids. You know, we've had them all. Gordy, we had on this year. His mom must have been very nice and thankful about that.

SPEAKER_07 3:36

Yeah, it was so it was uh it was a lot of fun. Got to meet uh Coach Sully's parents again, who I actually met in 2022. They wanted to come and find me, so I got to talk to them for a while. It was a lot of fun. Yes, it was it was a lot of fun. I really appreciate the time.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Now I'm mad I didn't go. Now I'm mad. It's Philly next year, bud. You gotta have a new car next year. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_07 4:00

I was telling people that they're that they were a little bit afraid that your car may make it down, but may not make it back.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

That's right. It's got over 200,000 miles. It owes me absolutely nothing. Do you know how many lacrosse tournaments that ban has over the last 18 years or so?

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Yeah, I hear you. I hear you.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

It still runs, it still runs great. You know, it's getting a little old looking. That's all. It's time for a new one for Danny Boy. But next year, if it's at Philly, I'm going. But this

Champio nship Game Recap

SPEAKER_01 4:28

year, how about that game, huh, Kev? Spartan fight song, kid. It is. I bet you Gruden don't know this. All Spartans. What a great game. What a great game. Happy for the for the Tampa Spartans. Really am.

SPEAKER_07 4:51

Once again, Danny. Most exciting game of the weekend. Oh, hands down. Hands down.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Hands down, 100%. It was a great game, Kevin. It was a great game. I looked at the stats and I was like, wow, how close that. I mean, a couple of numbers. It's very different it's so close to stats. The game was great, man. What a great game. It was definitely the best game of the weekend. Epic. Epic game. And I watched all three, believe it or not. I watched the D3 Championship, and of course I watched the D1 because my Irish. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_07 5:26

I watched the semifinals, and then I watched the final, and I watched, I did watch a D3. This game, the D2 final, was exactly what we thought what you said. A barn burner. 100%. Yeah, man. It was great. Second year in a row, this game went to overtime. And what's even funnier is the winning team was the one with one loss, while the losing team was the one that was undefeated.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Both years. Yeah, and what's really crazy about this game is that both teams had goals disallowed at the end of the game that would have tied it or gave him the lead. Both would have given the lead, yes. And how crazy is that? And then it goes to overtime. Like Kennedy's secretary was Lincoln, and Lincoln's secretary was Kennedy. That's why I was like, how crazy is that?

SPEAKER_07 6:19

There's so much symmetry, or we were talking yesterday about this, almost irony. There was just so much that was like, even if you look at some of the scores, there were some scores that Kyle Lewis made with another with uh Vinny McDermott, like a pass, and then you see the same exact thing that Tampa does, two players, you know, with us, and that and it was right in the same amount of the same sort of part of the field. There were so many similarities from last year to this year, and even during this year in the game, it was unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yeah, and I was totally, you know, I spoke about it last podcast. The matchups that were going to be out there were gonna be great. I felt that that matchup at at face off was epic. It was great. Those two split them. It was close. I mean, MP had a few a few more, a three, four, maybe more, maybe five more, not a lot.

SPEAKER_07 7:15

Yeah, the final, the final tally for face-offs were 15 to 12. Tampa had 15 to 12. That is close. And if you look at it, you you almost have to look at quarter by quarter sometimes how it happened. Yep. And I think if you look at, so you know, Tampa wins us out in overtime, 12-11. And if you look at that first quarter and how this game started, Danny, yeah, it was not what we originally predicted. It ended up that way. It was close. We said probably that 9-8 game, maybe not getting over double digits, just over double digits. But there was like three or four scores in the first couple minutes, and you're like, what's happening?

SPEAKER_01 7:56

MP Thomas won the opening face-off. Bash off, bang, 30 seconds later, we had a score. I was like, wow, one shot, one score, Tampa's on the board. And then a Delphi, a Delphi rattled four in a row. The first three shots of the game, Kev, the first three shots of the game were goals. Yeah. And I wrote that note. I'm like, this isn't what we predicted. I was like, wow, man, everybody's on fire out of the gate. And a Delphi went on that four-goal run in the first quarter there, with Kyle Lewis scoring two in that frame. Yeah. And uh kind of helped the Adelphi off to a fast start against Tampa, even though Tampa, you know, drew first blood.

SPEAKER_07 8:40

Totally agree. You know, it was 5-2 after one. Tampa, I mean, a Delphi, like you said, went on that run. And what I saw, and it kind of bears out in the stats in the first quarter, ground balls. A Delphi had more ground balls. They had 12 ground balls to Tampa's nine. Some of those ground balls, it wasn't like a 50-50 ground ball. The ground ball came to them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

And then they were able to really there was some good playing going on, like right out of the gate. There was no sloppiness. Everything was moving quick for both teams, both defenses. Even Demekus had like an incredible cause turnover in that first quarter to get the ball back for Delphi. Um, like you said, 5'2 with Delphi after one. Um Aaron Cho scored for Tampa to start the start the quarter, and then for Sened right back, and then Kesselring on a beautiful move and what he split the double team. You remember that move?

SPEAKER_07 9:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Dude, he split that double team and he he got inside. I mean, Kesselring had a really good game, and uh he scored. I mean, this just went back and forth after that. I mean, after that first quarter, like Delphi went out 5'2. Tampa never got panicky, never never got itchy, never pressed, just kind of business as usual. Let's get the offense rolling once we get the ball, you know.

SPEAKER_07 10:10

Yeah, that's it. You've you hit the nail on the head. Two things I would say a Delphi out to that fast start. We saw them with Malloy. I saw the sort of the same thing in that first quarter where they wanted to really move the ball quickly in transition if they could. If that opening was there, they were doing it. They scored. Kyle Lewis scored on a transition goal. But Tampa was, I think, very happy to set up the settled offense, play six v6 or five v five, yeah, and and just chip away. And yeah, they it was six five at half. They had flipped the ground balls uh in the in the second quarter to make it very even, and you just saw how now it was it basically was a dogfight. These two were gonna keep matching. It always seemed like though Tampa would A Delphi would get up by a few, Tampa would answer, would get closer, and then a Delphi would always have the answer.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Yeah. We talked about some of these matchups before, you know, um Reese Bowers guarding Aaron Show, and then Gumbold was on Kyle Lewis, and then Bolin was on Noah Green. So there was a chess match going on with the coaches, and and both coaching staffs doing making adjustments in game. Tampa put the polls up top, dropped the shortties down to attack, and it really worked. It worked because after that 5'2 start, once Tampa put made that little defensive adjustment, they held a Delphi scoreless for 15 minutes, Kev. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_07 11:54

And then on the flip side, a Delphi's D would be switching between man and zone.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Yeah, it would go out of bounds, they'd come out in a zone, and then they would switch back to the man. So, you know what? Smart move on on coaches' part, give you know, shows Tampa a new look. They got to take a second to figure it out. I don't know if they were expecting it because Delphi really doesn't go into zone too often. You know, they really don't because they can match up one-on-one usually. So um again, uh Tampa, you know, went to five on five a little bit, put one attackman over to the side and let opened up that whole spot, and it worked, you know. Yeah, Tampa was always able to knock on the door and bang another one in. I thought both goalies played well, they were making saves. There was not a whole lot of shots on goal. I mean, I think Tampa had 20 shots on goal, and and a Delphi didn't have maybe 18 shots on goal. Like, there wasn't a whole lot of shots on goal because the defenses were playing so well. Yeah. And Kevin, I I'm gonna say it once. I'll say it again. That was a D1 game, man. That the coaching, the players, the IQ, the ball movement, the size, the speed of the game, the lack of bad play.

SPEAKER_07 13:18

That's not very few penalties, only four penalties, and they were getting after it. It was very scrappy in the middle of the field. They were and the stick checks, balls, like you said, sticks in lanes. And you all said on the offensive side, ball movement and off-ball movement, and then the dodging and the passing, pinpoint passing for some of these goals was just amazing.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Yeah. That second quarter was all defense, you know. Yeah, it was all defense. Schmidt made some nice saves in that, and I really like the adjustments that the two teams made to like offset each other. It kind of worked for both teams, you know. It really did. It held them held each other back again. Not a lot of shots on goal, Kev. It wasn't, you know, Tampa's gonna shoot the ball, and you know what I mean? And I, you know, the the matchup again between Greaves and MP, it was going back and forth. I mean, Greaves would win one or two, MP would come back and win one or two. And then in that third quarter, MP won like two in a row, and Tampa scored on both of them. And I felt at that point there might be a little bit of a momentum shift going on because I felt that they were feeding off MP winning those couple in a row.

SPEAKER_07 14:37

Yeah, but was that the time what I found interesting was it was eight to five. They scored twice to make it eight, six. Tampa scores twice. Jackson Bashaw has a uh gets a dump on the crease with a great feed from Rex Kesselring, but then Will Grease wins the face-off, yeah. And scores to and that's what I and so it was nine-six. And then Burbank came right back and scored. Right. And what you're th saying is like I'm thinking in my mind, like, oh my god, they just cannot close that gap, but they're they keep on being patient.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

So after third, it was nine-seven. Adelphi, again, it's it was like it was just it was exciting to me.

SPEAKER_07 15:22

And then Tampa gets it within one, Adelphi answers until it was 11-9, and then Adelphi is on defense.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

So I'm saying to myself, okay, we're we're in fourth quarter, right? And I'm like, all right, at this juncture, between these two teams, the way they're playing, at that right now, this fourth quarter, the first couple of minutes are really big. Who's gonna win these face-offs? How is it gonna start out, you know? Because the you want to you want to win the beginning and the end of quarters. You know what I mean? You want to come out strong in the fourth quarter. Greaves wins the face-off. And Tampa got held for a called for a hole, hold. Adelphi gets the ball back, comes down, beautiful shot. Schmidt makes the save. I'm like, oh my god, this is crazy. And what happens? Rex Kessel ring on a wraparound from X. Yeah. When Tampa was in one of those five-on-fives that you spoke spoke about, and they brought it to within one, nine, eight, twelve minutes left. And this is where I start to feel the momentum shifting a little bit now. All of a sudden, the Carter Link letter is limped off the field, he's cramping up. Pull him off the field, he comes out for a play or two. MP Thomas wins the ensuing face-off. But couldn't do nothing with the ball. Couldn't get it, couldn't get shot clock violation. What happens? Kyle Lewis comes back and scores on a sweep from left to right to extend the lead to two again. Tommy Ortega buries the biscuit on a sweep from right to left and and and and got by to May, and and it brings it to within one again. It was just crazy. Then Tito scored on a beautiful dish from Kyle Lewis, puts him up by two.

SPEAKER_07 17:23

And that's another one of those, he came down the middle, off ball cut, great feed. Yeah. And you and that's what I'm saying. They get within one and they couldn't do it. And that this is exactly when it the tide turned a little bit because of how long Tampa's offense kept Adelphi's defense on the field.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Now, if you noticed a couple of times when guys were getting, they were getting in, Adelphi's guys were getting into the middle. McDermott got in, he got crushed on a play.

SPEAKER_04 17:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Dunellen got crushed on a play. Even Tito on the play he scored, he got crushed. These guys were getting beat up. Yeah. When they got in near the crease, Gumbold was coming shoulders down, man. He was coming shoulders down. He was looking to take people out. You're not coming into that crease. And that's the way the game should be played. This is my home. You ain't coming in here without finding your butt full of dirt. And I really felt that I was seeing a difference in a Delphi on defense. You just mentioned they were playing a lot of defense at this point. Link Letter goes out cramping. What happens a couple of minutes later? Reese Bauer goes out on a cramp. These guys were getting tired, Kev. Yeah. These guys were getting tired. What happens? Purdy calls timeout. There's six minutes left in the game. And he ran. He ran into the middle of the field. What's Purdy calling the timeout for? Why would he call a timeout now? And I'm like, I think these guys are tired.

SPEAKER_04 19:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

They're starting to cramp up. They're starting to get tired. Hey, you know what? That's a good coach. Hey guys, stop. Grab a breath. Go get some water, get some Gatorade. We're doing fine. Just take a second and grab your breath. We're doing fine. No coaching going on. I'm just stopping you so you guys can catch your breath. You know, just on the heels a little bit, guys cramping up, and I felt it was a great timeout. Um Ortega tied it at 11 on a fake shot. That was awesome. Every defender in front of him turned their head and he went I turned. I thought he shot it. And he ran right. He ran right by the guys because as soon as they turned their head on that fake shot. Ortega, man, he played good. Kessel Ring really played good. It was just a really well-played game. Uh I thought Thomas, you know, I thought he played good. He won some big face-offs in that fourth quarter for them.

SPEAKER_07 20:03

Yeah, but you said Tommy Ortega, you're you're exactly right. Tommy Ortega ties at 11. There's 534 left. I'm watching the I'm in the press box. I can see right across the two teams and their fans. Tampa, obviously, going wild. And then Mikey Dernan shoots on the crease. They uh from a feed from Danellan, gets it past the goalie with 127 left. It looks like they go up, but that goes to a review. And like you said, Danny, and it was true. I saw it on before they even announced it. They showed it on the screen, the replay. I'm like, his arm is down. His arm is down before the ball is crossed.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Yeah, his hand hit in the crease and hit the ground before the ball went in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 20:53

And so no goal. 127 left. What happens? It's like last year, it goes to overtime. And I and I thought, and I thought I wrote a note. I think whoever wins the faceoff wins the game. And I was wrong.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

I wrote, head it to OT for the second consecutive year. Oh boy. That was my note. Like, oh boy.

SPEAKER_07 21:20

You know, because uh uh Adelphi won the face-off, they call a timeout. Yep, they have a good play. They get it to Dernan, you know, in the middle just off the crease, and he shoots high because you're talking about that. A massive hit by Harry Bowling made him go high. And then there was no backup. So now Tampa has a chance.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 21:42

And then what happens? Tommy Ortega beats Steve D. Diamikas with a dodge. Reese Bauer is a little bit late to in a slide. Way late.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Way late. He he hits it, you know, top right. Dude, over. Hand lefty on the run down the alley. It was a textbook thing of beauty. That rock it was a rocket ship that came out of his stick. And you know what? I loved more about anything was his face and his smile. Yeah. In the videos when he ran around and like just the helmet came off. He was just like, oh my God, I just won the national champion. He was thrilled to death. The look on his face was priceless, man. It was great. Great, great, great, great game, Kevin.

SPEAKER_07 22:35

It was it was phenomenal. It was it was so much fun to watch. And once again, I said this last year, and I'll say it again this year. It's funny, I was talking to some Tampa fans afterwards. I go, that's the kind of game you hate to see anyone lose. They're like, no, you don't. Which I would be the same way if I if I was a Delphi or a Tampa fan. No, I want to win. But that's how good the game was. Like each team played so damn well. It was so clean. They were scrappy. They were hitting hard. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

They were they left it all out on the field. They definitely did. Kevin, it was a really, really good game. It could have gone either way. It could have gone either way. Again, the only time I felt that Tampa was starting to get a little bit of a surge was in that fourth quarter when MP won a couple in a row and they were able to bang two and get with a win one and then tie it up. You could just see Tampa's sails getting more filled with wind, man. You could just kind of see it coming, and you could kind of see a dead fight. Like I said, I felt like their defense got a little tired. That's my opinion. I don't know. That's just what it looked like to me.

SPEAKER_07 23:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Because Demikas got burned. I mean, he had no legs left. He couldn't hang with Ortega at that time. And you know what? Was surprising because Ortega was in that game all game. And there's the fact that he could still run at that point after the energy that was in that game, the speed, and the it just doesn't get better than that. It doesn't. And if you I'm telling you, all three championship games, you know, congratulations to Princeton. They looked amazing. But that was the best game.

SPEAKER_07 24:17

That was the best. It was the best game. And not just because once again, I said it, we said it last year, we'll say it again. Not just because of the end score and it went to overtime, but the level of play.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Level of play. And what happened and what didn't happen and the way and the coaching and the little chest X's and O's and the chess match between the coaching staffs and just you know the five on five, back back to the zone, back to the man. Let's bring the polls up top. And and you know, and it worked. You know, McDermott had a rough day. Even Noah Gibson had a rough day. They they couldn't get shots off, you know.

SPEAKER_07 24:51

And that's what's yeah, that's what's interesting. You look at it, you look at a Delphi, they had nine different scores. And usually when you have nine different scores, something good comes out. Usually a W. Kyle Lewis had three goals, three assists. Vinny McDermott and Braden Donnell and both had a goal and assist, and then six other players, Danny Fasen, Mikey Dernan, Brett Oppenheim, Noah Gibson, Alex Tito, and Will Greaves all had one goal. On Tampa side, Ortega with three goals, Rex Kesselring, four goals, one assist, six ground balls, one cause turnover.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

It's a game right there. That's a day.

SPEAKER_07 25:27

Zach Friend with one goal, two assists, Jackson Bashaw, two goals, and then Aaron Cho and Eric Bergbank both had a goal and an assist. But it it's interesting on the Adelphi side, a lot of scores, but not some of those guys you usually see with multiple.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Like Dan Ellen, like McDermott, yeah, like Gibson. Telling you, McDermott got crushed in one of those plays. He got he was slow getting up.

unknown 25:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

He's a kind of smaller, you know, midfielder, you know what I mean? He's shifty and quick like a rabbit. But if you can get a body on him, he's gonna go down quick. And that's what they did, man. He he came in the middle, they they they beat him up a little bit. And you know what? I just thought it was a great game and could have gone either way. Either team could have won that game. It was that close. I thought the matchups were great between Gumbold and Lewis, and just, you know, just it was just good. I loved MP Thomas and Greaves going at it. Greaves is only a sophomore, man. Yeah. He was going again, he was getting after it against a graduate student. You know what I mean? Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 26:35

It's it was just phenomenal matchups, a phenomenal game. Nothing else we can really say.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

Yeah. Except why don't we get the guys, the champions, to come in? What do you think?

SPEAKER_07 26:48

I think that's a great

Tampa Spartans

SPEAKER_07 26:50

idea. Time to bring on the champions, the Tampa Spartans, and let them tell us about the game. We just kind of did it for 30 minutes, but these are the guys that were in the trenches. So with us tonight are head coach JB Clark, associate head coach Ryan Sullivan, Tommy Ortega, Rex Kesselring, Jackson Bashaw, and Conley Stone. Congrats, fellas, and welcome.

SPEAKER_06 27:15

Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_07 27:18

Yeah, it's great to have you on. It's just awesome. And it was such a great game. Danny and I were just talking about. But let me start with you, coach. What did you think of this game? That was another total thriller like last year and like deja vu all over again.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

I did not enjoy the game as much as most people. At least you're honest. Yeah. No, you know, looking back on it, I still haven't watched it. Um, but looking back on it, going down 5-1, as everyone knows, uh I was so impressed with our guys' lack of uh panic in that moment. Um, it's you know, as coaches, we tried to remain calm um so that our guys didn't feel any anxiety or panic from us. Um, but I it it was almost the other way around. It was almost, Kevin, it was almost like they were so calm and so confident in themselves that uh it calmed us as a staff down. I mean, I can only speak for myself, but I think Sully only threw his hat and uh Scanner report one time um during the game. So that's that's pretty good. That means that the guys had control over it and we didn't.

SPEAKER_07 28:30

It's interesting you say that, coach, because that was kind of like my next question. The thing I noticed throughout the whole game was it never seemed like on offense that the offense was pressing to score. Stayed patient the whole time, like to be in settled offense, like almost like, yeah, we can do this in settled offense. We've got the players, it it they threw you some wrinkles, but it always seemed like you had an answer. And I was gonna ask you, is that something from what you were trying to keep to your players? But it seems like what you said, and maybe Coach Sully, you can answer in on this. It was more the players that said, no, we they stayed calm. Is that really what it was?

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Well, 100%. Early in the year, we had to uh we had to, you know, literally have an audible call to try and have our guys slow down a little bit. And what I mean by that is, you know, we play such good defense, we win a lot of faceoffs, we were clearing the ball well at this point point in the year, and we just needed to have longer possessions. Um, that's what I mean by slowdown. I don't I don't mean play slower or try to push transition, but just have longer possessions. And uh after, I don't know, a couple weeks of that, these guys really started to just do it on their own. And and we knew, especially after the Anderson game where we had a lot of success doing that, the longer our possessions, the higher our efficiency would go.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

And then these guys came it got to a point where we didn't have to tell them. We didn't have to make any more audible calls to uh to slow the pace down a little bit, um, to have longer possessions. Um, and even at 5-1, they they kept doing that. They they believed in that and they had confidence in themselves to uh to do that. I think it was a huge reason why we made the comeback we did and eventually won the game.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Yeah, again, no panic. I just I said I felt I Kevin and I spoke about it. Just they didn't panic, they just kept the course, you know, brought it within two, they would score again. They just kept the course, kept the course, kept the course. But I did start start to see some differences like in the fourth quarter. MP started winning a couple in a row. Guys were going deep into the clock, started wearing them down on defense a little bit. I think those longer offensive possessions were wearing that defense down. What do you think, coach?

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Yeah, and and it got a little warmer, um, you know, which is something that you know, playing in the South like we do, we we have to play a lot of players, and we start doing that very early in the year. Um, because once you get to May in in Florida, as you can imagine, it gets very, very hot. And we try to use that to our advantage. Last year I noticed watching our championship up in Boston where it was it was very cool. They played a lot fewer guys than we did. Their best guys were going out there every run. Um I almost think that we played, I played too many guys in the game a year ago. So our best players weren't getting as many touches as their best players. Going into this game, we knew it was going to be cooler. We didn't know how cool. Um, so our our game plan changed a little bit with how many guys we were gonna play. Hurt it, losing Grant Green, you know, made us a little bit more shallow, if you will, in the midfield. Um, but I think that paid off because then kind of midpoint of the second quarter, the sun came out.

SPEAKER_04 31:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Uh, and there was so much moisture in that grass field that it started to get humid and it started to get hot. And we noticed that some of their players were coming out and and getting their their legs rolled and whatnot, looked like they were cramping a little bit. In fact, at one point I called a timeout, and I saw one of their best defensive players kind of hobbling over to the sideline. I said, We we made that a quick timeout. We didn't even talk to our guys, we said just get back out there and let's see what happens. And uh I think I think that helped us. But you definitely, you know, the guys can answer that better than I can.

SPEAKER_07 32:30

Well, let me ask you, Conley, something. What was that first quarter like? Because there were seven goals scored, five by Delphi. That was not what I was expecting. Danny and I, when we talked about this game, said it's gonna be low scoring, probably right around what was last year. And when you saw that many, I saw that many goals going out, and it was and that run that coach talked about that a Delphi had, what were you guys thinking on the defensive side? Because you guys definitely settled in after that first quarter. You settled in. So, what were you guys talking about? What were you guys thinking after that quarter?

SPEAKER_06 33:04

Uh, yeah, well, I would really want to shout out at the beginning of the season, we lost to Anderson, and during that time, I feel like myself as a captain, I was very nervous, and like my face, you could see it on my face.

SPEAKER_08 33:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 33:17

And then coming into this championship game, uh, we just knew that whatever happened, we would always get back to the fundamentals. So we always talk about like having our hot slide ready, uh, who's his fill, which is like our two slide, and then our rack, which would be, I guess, the third slide. So just really focusing on those fundamentals no matter what happened, like we knew we would be fine. Uh, I know last year, I think we lost three or four guys that played in the national championship game last year. So going into this game, uh just kind of had a feeling that these new guys would be a little nervous. I just knew we had to settle in, and as we've done all year, uh we were battle tested and we were ready, and we just knew we had to play our game and just wait until we settled down.

SPEAKER_07 34:01

Yeah, I that's that's great. And you can't tell throughout the rest of the game how you guys settled in. Let me turn to you, Jackson. You started the scoring off after a nice cut and a feed from Zach Friend. You actually made it look really easy. I was like, you know, 40 seconds in. We're like, oh my gosh, that they just sliced and diced up a Delphi defense, but then the Delphi kept switching, they were going from man to zone. But you guys just kept on grinding, and then you scored a second goal. Uh and then Will Greaves, their face-off guy, scored right after that. You got it within two, they score. Like, what was that emotion like? Or was it was it more like we were talking about before? You just stayed patient because if it was me and you scored that goal, and you're like, all right, we're then two, and then you know, five ten seconds later, they score off the face-off, I'd be like pretty pissed off. What was you what were you guys thinking about on the offensive side when you're trying to catch up and they always seem to have an answer for a while until that fourth quarter?

SPEAKER_05 35:02

Uh yeah, you know, um, we always talk about one goal at a time. Um, and we we the offense trusts our defense so much. So even if they make a mistake and the guys score, um we have so much trust and MP to get the next face-off on the faceoff X. Um and just slower possessions and uh yeah, hit the hit the hit the net when we get our opportunities.

SPEAKER_07 35:28

So yeah, well, and you you did, and Tommy, what what a way to finish. You had a time goal with like five 34 left, and then you have the score to win in an overtime. How did that feel?

SPEAKER_04 35:44

I mean, that was pretty surreal, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Dude, that was unbelievable. That was a beautiful overtime shot down the alley, overhand, lefty on the run, snipe, right corner. Dude, that was a shot. Helmet off, running around behind X, smile from ear to ear. Tell us, tell us about that moment, man.

SPEAKER_00 36:09

Well, Danny, I I gotta step in here. It took us all it took us 22 games to get Tommy to go to his left hand. Really?

SPEAKER_05 36:24

Shooter.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

Dog, man, because that was like a thing of beauty. It was like natural. Just textbook over the top, man. You didn't try to slide sling it or do anything fancy, just over the top, old school, right, coach? That was rip right corner. So now that goes in, helmet goes off. Tell me what's going through your mind.

SPEAKER_04 36:45

I mean, I feel like the whole moment was kind of a blur, you know, it kind of went off so fast, but there was like an unusual calm, calmness to that whole play. I feel like even after we uh kind of got that defensive stop and then going on offense, there was just an unusual like calmness to it. We didn't really try to rush anything. Um we did like a I kind of dodged at first, kind of rolled it back, through uh threw it back to Aaron show, and there was just no really rush, so it kind of just calmed in. Um then I was gonna go set a pick for Aaron, and he was kind of like, no, no, no, like bounce out, bounce out. So then he kind of threw it to me. I knew I had the matchup, and I was kind of like, oh, it all comes down to this.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Burns them.

SPEAKER_07 37:20

Did you know, did you know it was going in after you made that dodge and you beat uh the short stick D Medi? Because you were open then, that slide was late.

SPEAKER_04 37:30

Yeah, I mean, one of the scout was to shoot off stick on that that goalie. And I feel like if you watch most of the goals, off stick went pretty well. So took a shot and trusted would go in. And I didn't really even see it going. I kind of just heard the noise and kind of knew right.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

That's awesome. It was awesome. That's awesome. Now let me ask you this. Oh, go ahead, Danny. Any player wants to answer this did it matter that it was a Delphi? Or or did it not matter who you were playing, or or yeah, you wanted a Delphi. Rex is shaking his head, yeah, Conley's shaking his head. What about you, Tommy?

SPEAKER_04 38:07

You you guys didn't matter like necessarily who we played. We're kind of playing for each and every one of our teammates and our coaches. So if it was a Delphi, if it was Malloy or whoever it was, we still wanted to win just as much. But it was definitely pretty cool to be able to meet them again uh due to what happened last year. But we just kind of wanted to win no matter what.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Well said, young man. Well said. Okay, Rex.

SPEAKER_07 38:28

You had a day. Four goals, one assist, six ground balls, one cause turnover. You seem to be everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

That's a quality bell day. That's right. Anytime we have a quality day, we hit the bell, coach. That's a quality game right there, kid.

SPEAKER_07 38:47

I like the bell. Thank you. So tell us about that. What what was your mindset? What did you think of that matchup? How did you, you know, we it was it just we talked about this last week.

SPEAKER_03 38:58

Once you start playing the game, is it just like you're just you're in the it's you're just in your own mindset or like yeah, um, I mean, going into it, obviously everyone, every player will say you overthink, you think about the what ifs. Um, and I think throughout the season, uh just knowing the six guys that are gonna be out there with me has given me a lot of peace, knowing that you know, I'm not responsible for everything. Like I'm not on my own out there. I got guys to my right and left that can make plays at any given moment. And uh I give Sully Sully texts me a couple times throughout the year, just kind of reminding me that I don't have to be a hero on every play, and I just can know my role, get to where I want to go, but not force anything. And uh I like to get to the lefty hash, and that's what was going on on Sunday. So it it worked out in my favor, but it really was just my teammates getting me the ball when they thought I could win my matchup, and Joe making a no-look man up feed to me wide open that was sweet. I struggled scoring those in practice throughout the entire year. Um, I really was not good at it at all. It was pretty rare that I did score those in practice and even in games, in prior games, and he still has the confidence to throw it to me on the biggest stage um to get our team winning two or whatever it was. So it really just fell down to the confidence that they all had in me and that I had in them. Uh, I got to feed smash a ball that I literally did not even have to look at him because I knew it was gonna go in the net if I just put it at a stick, and he did it because that's what Jackson does. And that's like the that's testimony of our offense is just we all know what our strengths are, and I think we're just so good at getting each other in those situations to be successful.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

I'm gonna be honest with you. I think that this game was the best offensively that I saw you guys play. Just efficiency, moving the ball, shooting the ball at the right time, taking high percentage shots, not crazy shitty shots that should, you know, everything that there wasn't a whole lot of shots in the game. You had 40 in the game, 21 on goal, but just the way you guys were moving the ball, I I hadn't seen that from Tampa this year. And was it just a little bit more energy in you think, or was it a Delphi, or was it just the way the ebb and the flow of the game was going? Anyone who wants to think.

SPEAKER_03 41:13

I think it was I think us going down 5'1 was the best thing that could have happened in that game because we literally had no other choice but to just trust in trust in the plan and trust in what we can do. Um, you know, I think if we went up early, we could have gotten comfortable and we could have started playing uh not to ourselves, but when we go down 5'1, and you know, it almost feels like damn, we're we're out of it. Like you have no other choice but to just fall back on what you've practiced every day and fall back on you know what we know what to do, um, and just see where it can take us and took us pretty far.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

So yeah, yeah, sure did.

SPEAKER_03 41:47

Sure did, young.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

Yeah, but I I think that was one of the most impressive things about the day was you know, you go down five-one, a lot of teams will just start pressing and taking bad shots and uh going early in the possession and whatnot. And uh I think it's a testament to these guys and and their uh their maturity as the season went on. Early in the year, uh, we definitely would have pressed and taken some bad shots, but you you hit it on the head. We did not take many bad shots. And against a goalie like that and a team like that, you start taking a lot of bad shots, you're gonna start playing a lot of defense. Right. Last year they had one more possession than us, and this year we had one more possession than them. And the efficiency you have to have in games like that where you have fewer possessions than you do throughout the year.

SPEAKER_01 42:34

Right.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

It really does come down to the maturity of the of the players, and uh and they showed it even down 5'1.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

Yeah. Jackson, let me ask you this. Was Adelphi the best defense you you faced all year? Uh you can be honest. You can be honest, bro. Tough you're graduating, kid.

SPEAKER_05 42:55

Um, Adelphi is a very good team. Uh, we scouted them all week. They have a great defense, great coach. Um, nothing but respect for those guys.

SPEAKER_01 43:04

So there you go. What about you, Tommy? Did you think they were the best defense you played, or somebody else have a good defense that you thought was better?

SPEAKER_04 43:14

Um I think they definitely had one of the best defense we played. I think that was bet our also our best offensive game, so it's kind of hard to tell if it was if they were really that good or if we were just clicking on that day. But they for sure had some dudes. Um they had a bunch of good polls. Their D mids were pretty good, so they were a good defense for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:30

And what about you, Rex?

SPEAKER_03 43:32

Yeah, I think I I do think they were very good. I would say probably top two, if not the best. Um yeah, I mean, all their polls are what first team all Americans player of the year is for the North. So you know, you can say the athletes.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

Their whole team is like player of the year.

SPEAKER_03 43:47

You can't really fight that. They're a bunch of dogs, but they are. I think Tampa's got a bunch of dogs as well. So just matched up.

SPEAKER_07 43:55

Hey, Coach Sully, I have to ask you this what was your emotions and nerves going on? Over team overtime, especially after a Delphi won the face-off, were your knees shaking?

SPEAKER_02 44:08

Confident as hell.

SPEAKER_01 44:10

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 44:12

Confident as hell. You know, uh, it's funny. Um, obviously, you're pretty confident when you have a defense like like we do, and the talent that we have, um whether it be a Delphi and led by Kyle Lewis or or any other team, um you're you're you're probably gonna win those more times than you're not. Uh, I think the only reason why obviously there were nerves was because of what the potential outcome could be. Uh so nervous in that moment? No, not really. Um you know, I had a feeling there were two things that I thought Adelphi would probably try and do again. Uh if put in the same situation or a similar situation uh as last year and one uh number six, Kyle Lewis. Last year he scored a hung goal. It was him in '99 where we were hung and they made a hell of a play where the kid slipped the goal line extended pick and scored. Um great play. That was in the second quarter. And then the second one was probably what they were gonna run in a last second or a short time or overtime possession. And obviously, everyone in the arena knew that number six was gonna get the ball. So um uh so I'm not really stating the uh I'm pretty much stating the obvious, but uh our kids, they they battled all game and uh they had number 21 open for a slight second, and uh he barely got the shot off, and we we roughed him up pretty good, cleanly, uh legally without fouling, and uh we got the ball and cleared it safely. Thank you. Yeah, it's great.

SPEAKER_07 46:02

Yeah. Well, the first thing was you played Kyle Lewis perfectly. I mean, he came swept across the middle, and your defense picked him up and and and he didn't have anything like he did in overtime last year. And then that that hit on 21 that made him shoot high and they had no backup was just great defense. Period end of story. I mean, you played it perfectly and and got the ball back, and I was and I thought that there would be I I wrote a note like I bet whoever wins the face-off overtime wins, just because that's the way it was going for a lot of the game. Whoever had that possession, I shouldn't say a lot of the game, because the score was otherwise the score would have been 20 to 19, right? Your defense has played really well, but I thought your defense in that overtime just played perfectly on what they were set Adelphi was trying to set up because that set your set Tommy up for the the goal. Tommy owes Conley Stone and the rest of the defense a steak dinner for setting them up.

SPEAKER_02 47:05

Oh, I don't know what is that. I don't know. I don't know. No, they they bailed us. I tell you what, those these offensive guys and that and the rest of the crew, along with Coach Goldsmith and Coach Clark, they they were fantastic. They showed true toughness and um loyalty and togetherness, and it was really good to see their skills be spotlighted um that day, and obviously on this on this podcast. And uh, I think the defensive guys we owe we owe the offense and company, Tommy and company, uh a little bit more than a couple steak dinners.

SPEAKER_07 47:46

Well, well, I'll tell you Dan and I talked about this last week that both teams had no weaknesses and no gaps. So, yeah, the offense was great, your defense is great, your special teams is awesome. I mean, there's just no weaknesses, and neither team, and that showed in this game on both sides. It was so such a good game to watch. But I have to ask, anyone can answer this question? What about your fans support and what was it like to celebrate with your fans as they stormed the field and stayed there? I mean, the announcers probably said, if not once, at least 20 times, will the Tampa fans please get off the field? What was that like?

SPEAKER_06 48:29

Uh yeah, I can go ahead. I will say that was probably the most hectic 20 to 30 minutes of my life. And throughout the entire game, like a lot of the alumni and our players who unfortunately couldn't dress, they were right behind us. So like a play would happen and I would walk off, talk to my teammates, and I'd maybe glance up and I would just see make eye contact with some random alumni or like one of my teammates. And so then after the game, like the first people I celebrated with, crazily enough, weren't our teammates. It was just some alumni because I'd never been there before, I never won a national championship. I was just running around, and then like I saw them, we tackle each other, and just like that support, it felt like it wasn't just our team that won it, but like the past three years of teams I've been on, like they were there with us, which was such a cool feeling.

SPEAKER_01 49:20

That's that's great. I love it. See, that's what this game does, man. It brings so many different feelings and emotions, and it brings families. This game look of lacrosse is different from any other game. I played basketball, I was a football guy, coached football for a long time. Philosophies are the same, but there's something different about lacrosse. Again, I never played the game, and I I just love everything about it. And when I watch two really, really good teams, guys, you guys are Division I teams in Division II clothing. That's you and that's what you are. You're that good. I mean, you guys can handle your business against many Division I teams. I think you could be very competitive against some mid-level Division I teams and Delphi as well. Um, I just think uh lacrosse in the South has gone just exploded, and it's just getting better and better. I think the Sunshine State Conference is an amazing conference. That's getting better and better. Palm Beach PBA starting to, you know, they're starting to put a team together. St. Leo last couple of years is, you know, they're these guys are good. Guys are better, but they're good. You know, you can't take that away from them. And I just think everything that's going on in Division II, just the explosion of everything, and and we get to see guys play a high-level game like that. Uh it was just a fun game to watch. And it's been two years in a row, coach. By far the best two, the best games of the of the weekend were Division II for the last two years and on championship weekend. I I I I'd have to say.

SPEAKER_00 50:59

I've heard that a lot, and uh I'd have to agree with you. You know, if you just look at the scores and whatnot, um, you know, some of those D1 guys are bigger and faster and stronger and do things faster and stronger than we do. But uh the quality of lacrosse has grown and improved so much. Um it it's great that it's it's improving as the the quantity of lacrosse at the collegiate level increases, uh, so has the quality. And I think that's that's part of the reason. You know, last year there were 25,000 people, the Division II Lacrosse Championship. This year there were uh a little, you know, some fewer than that uh on the weekend, um, being you know not in an NFL stadium or whatnot, but to have that many people interested and the number of people that have that have watched lacrosse and watched this game. Uh I got the stats from one of our uh one of our alums who does media, and uh we had over 10 million views of of our social media in the last two months, um, which is just phenomenal. Incredible for uh over 700,000 unique viewers. So um the sport's growing. Uh a lot of you know, kudos to the guys in our program who have increased the level of lacrosse over the last four or five years, and uh guys like Coach Sullivan that that helped them become the players that they are. It's it's a lot of fun to watch.

SPEAKER_07 52:23

Sure is. Yeah, so with that, I want to thank all of you for coming on. It was great to spend this time with you. Once again, congratulations on a great season. And winning the natty, that is phenomenal. We really appreciate you coming on, and we wish you all the best this summer, and we hope to see you next year, Coach Clark and Coach Sullivan.

SPEAKER_06 52:47

Thank you guys so much. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 52:50

Congrats one more time. And coach, last time we spoke, you said to us we hope that this becomes a long-standing tradition. And I think we I think it's gonna be a long-standing tradition, and I for one hope it continues.

SPEAKER_00 53:04

Well, thank you uh uh getting athletes like this. Well, this this uh team uh only trailed at halftime twice this year, and uh that's a that's testament to these guys.

SPEAKER_02 53:17

Defense defense travels, right, Sully? Once. We only trailed once. Once. Defense travels, right, Connolly?

SPEAKER_06 53:28

Oh, yeah, we do. That's right, baby. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 53:31

Uh thanks so much, fellas. Congratulations. Enjoy. We'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_06 53:36

Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_07 53:38

Thank you.

Final THoughts

SPEAKER_07 53:39

Uh, that was a lot of fun, Danny, having the Tampa Spartans on. Two coaches, a bunch of the players.

SPEAKER_01 53:44

Bunch of happy faces, bunch of happy guys. Yeah. Hey, you know what? They're good, good coaching staff, great team. You know, yeah. I might have put a couple of bulletin board things up for them a little bit. But you know what? I just call it like I see it. And I I tell you, I really thought that that was their best game offensively this year. They just they were really sharp, man. They were moving the ball, they just really look good. They're a great group of guys. I love Coach Sullivan and Coach Clark. They take the time to come on with two knuckleheads like us, Kevin. Yeah, we're not worthy. We're not where are they? We're just not. And it I again, it humbles me every time that these guys take the time. And you know what? To get to talk to guys like Rex and Jackson and those guys and I've watched them play for four years, you know, and I've marveled at their play. You know, I my own son played against this Tampa team, some of these kids two years ago at the crown and went into overtime. You know, like it's just great to be around Tampa because when you're around them, you're around the elite. It's like the limestone now. You know what I mean? They're they're kind of taking over what limestone has has done in the south. So between Lenore Ryan and and and Tampa last couple of years, those guys have been the big dogs in Division II. 100%. And uh it's just fun to be around them. And I just like I said with Coach, I hope it gets to be a long-standing tradition because thoroughly, I really, honestly, I enjoy having him on. He's good guys.

SPEAKER_07 55:17

Well, they're they're not moving much farther from that top of that totem pole, I don't think. Someone's gonna have to knock him off that mountain. That's two different metaphors put together, so my English teacher will have to get me later for that. But um, yeah, I totally agree. But now, Danny, it's time for our final shout out of the year. And this is becoming a tradition because it comes out right at this time every year, and it's to talk about the USILA All-Americans. Yeah. Do you want to start us off with the award winners this year?

SPEAKER_01 55:57

Yeah, I could start off with the award winners. I'll start off with the outstanding player of the year, none other than a Delphi's Kyle Lewis.

SPEAKER_07 56:08

Yeah, and then outstanding attackman, another Adelphi player, Braden Danellin.

SPEAKER_01 56:15

Yeah. And outstanding midfielder of the year, none other than Adelphi's Kyle Lewis. Rolling, rolling, rolling.

SPEAKER_07 56:24

I was just about to do that because we're moving on to the defensive player of the year, and that's Reese Bauer. Where's the Delphin?

SPEAKER_01 56:32

He's from Adelphi? Oh my lord. Well, guess what? We also have the outstanding goalie of the year. Guess where he's from, Kev? Uh, Adelphi? Adelphi, Mr. Christian Tomei. So Adelphi gets player of the year, attackman of the year, outstanding midfielder, defensive of the player of the year, outstanding goalie.

SPEAKER_07 56:53

And they get long pole midfielder of the year, Carter Link letter. From Adelphi.

SPEAKER_01 57:02

Unbelievable. Short stick D midi of the year. Harry Bolin from Tampa. Tampa Spartans.

SPEAKER_07 57:11

They break it up. He breaks it up. He broke up the trifecta. Well, it's more than a trifecta. I don't know how many it was, but it was a lot. Finally, face-off player of the year. We've talked about this guy since he was basically a freshman, Jacob Chiz, Florida Southern.

SPEAKER_01 57:27

Well done. And those are your players of the year, fellas. Good job. Congratulations. You want to start with the first team All-American goalies? Kev, go ahead.

SPEAKER_07 57:37

Yeah, let's go down by positioning because it makes it easier. We'll start with the goalies. First team All-American goalie is Christian Tomey. Makes sense. On the second team for the goalies, Jax Francisco of Florida Tech, Alex Gorshan of Montevallo are the two second teamers. And on third team, we have Brock Olala, I got it right this time from Rockhurst, Will Cody of Seton Hill, and John Basile of Malloy. And for honorable mention for goalie, Weston Schmidt, Tampa, Caden Donahue, Lewis, Shane Corcoran, Assumption, Daniel Flynn, Wilmington, and Adam Dooley, Chestnut Hill.

SPEAKER_01 58:19

All right. On the defensive side, first team, Reese Bauer, Adelphi, Gordy Gumbold, Tampa. Michael Delessandro, Delhi, my man, from Adelphi, first team. Graham Tillett, Wingate Bulldogs, first team. On your second team, defense, Chris Butler from Pace, good player. Ryan Morrison from Newberry, second team. Aiden Dennigan from Malloy. He's only a sophomore, Kev. Second team, All-American. Steven Orcs from Florida Tech. Second team. Third team All-American defense. Cullen Green from Seton Hill. Jack Demert from Tampa. Alex Score from U Indy. He's only a sophomore too, Kev. Unbelievable. Tyler Davis, third team All-American from Lewis. And on defense, our honorable mentions. Johnny Lucas from St. A's. Michael Festi from Lander. Ty Secondback. Sheckinback from Flagler. Austin Day from Seton Hill. And John McMurphy from Lenore Ryan. Brian Brennan from Pace. Trent Sargent from Assumption. Zach Johnson from Maryville. Owen Conway from Cotabba. Sean McCabe from Alloy. Good player right there. Kyle Piersak, Bentley, Ryder Walter from Frostburg State. Those are your defensemen. Honorable mentions.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:04

Alright, let's move on to midfield. First team, Kyle Lewis, Adelphi, Raiden Badron, Anderson, Aaron Cho from Tampa, and then on second team for midfield, Carter Kazinski, Lewis, Brian Green from Malloy, Tommy Ortega from Tampa, and Boomer Staunton from Assumption. Once again, one of those sophomores, Danny. Those were the second team middies. He's good, man. Yeah. Watch out for him in the coming years. Third team. Liam Volins, Newberry, Danny Fissen, Adelphi, Carter Green, Seaton Hill, Joey Moran, that's a familiar name, Wingate. Like that kid. And then for honorable mention, Vince McDermott from Adelphi, Thomas Strong from Florida Tech, Nicole Wesner from Lewis, Tommy Corcoran, Malloy, Colin Reese from Pace, Tim Keefe, Emory Riddle, Griffin Moore from Flagger, Flaggler, Aaron Williams, Rollins, and Andrew Rogers from Northwood. Good pick.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:17

Yeah. Alright, your face-off guys, first team, All-American, Jacob Chiz. Your second team, All American, AJ Rush from Anderson, Quinn Gannon, also second team from CNA's. Third team, William Greaves from Adelphi, and our honorable mention um face-off guys, Aiden Dixon from Anderson, Carson Bradshaw from Rockhurst, Matthew Mancini from Lenore Ryan, Brandon Pazienza from Alloy, and Connor Whidmer from Wilmington.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:53

Okay, short stick D. Midi. Great position. Harry Bolan from Tampa. Gavin Herzog from Adelphi. Brooks Van Esselston, Florida Tech, Trevor Lamero, Pace, Nash Perry from Anderson, Avery Moody, Rockhurst, Carter Beese from Merryville, Brendan Crowley, St. A's, Taylor Quinn. Oh, I missed to say what team they were. Gosh darn it. Oh well, I'll just keep going. This is the honorable mention we're in right now. I apologize for that. Rocco Hogan from Malloy. Brendan Watson, Flagler, Keir McKnight, Kataba, Ryan McCann, Seton Hill, Stephen Diamikas, Adelphi, James Davis from St. Leo, Mason McGivern from Wingate, and John Valletto from Belmont Abbey.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:49

Our All-American LSMs, first team, Carter Linkletter from Adelphi. Conley Stone from Tampa. Second team All-American LSM. John Charlton from Maryville, very good player. Third team All-American, Thomas Kofod from Alloy, another great player. One of my favorite players in Division II. Brian Lake from Newberry, another very good player. Ose Adoma from Pace is honorable mention LSM. Owen Wills from St. Leo. John Mink from Lenore Ryan. And Tyre Wachinsky from Taylor Wachinsky, I'm sorry, from St. Mike's. Those are your honorable mention LSMs.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:32

Okay, and now finally, but not last at all, attack. First team, Braden Dunellan from Adelphi, Vinny Batrico from Wingate, Donnie Powell from Lenore Rhine. Second team attack, Will Donowski from Pace, Kyle Spence from Wingate, Michael Dernan from Adelphi, Matt LeMay from St. A's. And now moving on to third team, Trace McDonald, Flagler, Maddox Walton, Florida Southern, Wyatt Robertson, Maryville, Paul Roskowski, Lewis, and Noah Hammond from Adelphi. I mean Adelphi from Malloy. I'm sorry, Noah Hammond from Malloy. Honorable mention, Noah Gibson from Adelphi, Andrew Zubak, Milmington, Caden Onagi, Leez McCray, Jonah McConnell, Rockhurst, Ryan Bitterman from Anderson, Greg Palmer, St. Leo, Ben Turpin from St. A's, Matthew Bose, Monavalo, Matt Baldino, Pace, Brendan Bushy, Belmont Abbey, Cole Sparks from Anderson, Rex Kesselring from Tampa, and Jackson Bashaw from Tampa, Aiden Nogen, St. Leo, and Ben McHugh from Assumption. And those, Danny, are all your USILA All-Americans for 2026.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:02

Congratulations, fellas. Well deserved, well earned. I'm going to miss some of these players, Kev. We've been watching all of these players, a lot of seniors on this team on this uh All-American list that we've been watching. And a lot of them have been ballers since freshmen. A lot of them got, you know, were on the field of freshmen. So these are special players. These guys are good. So congratulations, fellas. Well earned and well deserved.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:27

Yeah, now, Danny, all we've got left is to close out this last episode of this season, our sixth season. What a season it was. Can't believe it's over.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:41

I can't believe it's over either, Kev. I don't know what to say. Like I said, it seemed like yesterday we were just doing conference previews and doing our homework for that. And here we are. It's been championship weekend. We have a new champion this year in the Tampa Spartans. And it's just been a hell of a year. Sir, I want to thank you for all the work that you do. Emails that you send out and all of that stuff. You do a lot of work behind the scenes that a lot of people don't see. I don't do half the crap that you do.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:16

Crap is probably the right word.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:18

I don't do half of it. So I appreciate all the work that you do, my friend. I really do.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:23

I appreciate you saying that. This is always a lot of fun every year doing this. It's a it really is kind of a it keeps me off the streets. I say that all the time, but it is really kind of a something I love doing with you, especially. And you know, we get a lot of thanks from our fans for what we do. But like I said, we it's just something that we've I don't see us giving it up for for a while. It's just so much fun doing it. And if if our fans really want to thank us, I think there's two ways to do it. This uh some some people I met this weekend thought this was our full gig, and it isn't. We do this on the side, it comes out of our pockets.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:03

So anytime regular jobs.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:05

Yeah. Uh anytime you can buy us a cup of coffee on our website, www.indecrease lacrossepod.com, buy some merch, that helps defray the cost. That's the bottom line there. That's all we're trying to do. Right. We don't want to, we're not out here gonna make money on this because we're gonna keep it going. But anyway you can do to help defray the costs. The other thing, and probably even more important, is to spread the word about this podcast, especially to parents, coaches, and players in high school and middle school. Because if they understand how good D2 lacrosse is, and that is an option for them, besides always thinking D1, that's one of the main messages I think we always want to get out on this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:47

Yeah, and the amount of money they can maybe get in scholarship-wise, yeah. So definitely something to think about.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:58

Yeah, so everyone, all your all the fans that are listening, keep a lookout for maybe an episode or two this summer. I've got some ideas. We've got some ideas that we're doing to talk to some other people, but then get ready for fall because we're gonna start cranking it up again, and it'll be a lot of fun. So, Danny, with that, that's a wrap for season six.

SPEAKER_09 1:08:39

Tearing up Danny seems we just get started. And before you know, guess it's time.