SAINT EDWARD'S
BOYS LACROSSE
2022 Varsity Review and All-Awards (Updated July 12, 2022)
2022 Saint Edward's Boys Lacrosse Season Highlights, created by Captain Liam Murphy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcGl6bzbV-E
Good evening,
When I first got to Saint Edward's School, the Pirates' Lacrosse team, including me, would have been thrilled to finish 1st in the regular season in our District, settle for a 2nd place finish in our District Tournament and an invitation to the Regional Tournament, and an one win, one loss in that Tournament to an eventual state runner-up.
I'm happy to announce that is no longer settles well with our players, team or our coaches. However, that is one of our accomplishments as a team over the years! WE wanted to be at this spot in our program, meaning to become relevant on a state-wide basis, no matter our roster, no matter the injuries, no matter any excuses. Find a way to be as competitive as possible, develop a pride in our team, the school's mission and eventually "if we build it, they will come" to Saint Edward's!
This year we built our schedule with a bunch of 'champions" on our schedule, and some pretty good also rans to hopefully get us ready to take on the Saint Andrew's once again in the finals if we got lucky enough to make it back there with the ability to beat them. After last year's success making it to the State Finals, with even with some significant roster losses, i thought we had enough if we stayed healthy to at the very least give it a good go!
Starting with the Preseason, we took on two teams that could challenge us, Oxbridge Academy and Holy Trinity, waiting for our SE Basketball players to become eligible to play (Oscar, Liam, Sam). Those scrimmages helped us prepare for our opening with Viera, Vero Beach, South Fork and Melbourne Central Catholic. Notables during this time frame, were the appearance of the Colgan Boys teaming up as SSDMs, Marlon and Augie getting some varsity level game time, as well as Chris "the Sniper" Porter getting his first goal varsity lacrosse goal! Ray Taft and Kieran getting some playtime in the net, and Sam Thomas rising to a lacrosse player to count on! Now you know sometimes the best times in a coaches career isn't just winning, but seeing his players having their own big wins!
Then the schedule ramped up with huge match-ups with Creekside, Benjamin, Pinecrest and Episcopal of Dallas. We were spotting these excellent teams 3 goals leads in the beginning of these games, but our team demonstrated resiliency, perseverance and resolve, closing out each game with strong second halves and team play. The one issue we were having at that time during this stretch was "closing the game out without giving our opponent an opportunity to get back into the game.' So we were playing well overall, but maybe getting away with to many mistakes that our opponents just didn't take enough advantage of during this stretch.
A few things stuck out during this stretch:
1. Beckley and Ethan were beginning to translate their practice reps into decent game reps, and their confidence was growing, and their effectiveness starting to make a difference in our depth and more importantly, our up and coming match-ups!
2. Our offense was unstoppable. In fact the only thing causing us problems was our unstoppable offense, and maybe some excess penalties. But we were very physical and the fact was, I wasn't going to "turn off" that aspect of our play. Lacrosse is a physical sport and it is not for people who don't like contact. And believe it or not, our best defense was our man-down unit! So in my mind, if anyone tries to come through the middle of our defense, we were to bring the heat!
3. And of course, we like to shoot anytime, any place and without regard to making sure we have backup. The price of having 6 guys who love to shoot! None them ever let an opportunity to rip the back of our opponent's net.
4. We got lucky with Benjamin in our first game. Their face-off kid was the real deal and frankly we did not have a counter that could match his ability. We got lucky that Benjamin turned the ball over just enough to give us opportunities to turn this game around.
5. We got behind ESD like 3-1, and then slowly caught our stride. It was a very good team we stood up to, and currently they are ranked 6th in the entire South, just above Benjamin. At the time, I defined it as our best game I had ever seen a Saint Edward's team play. ESD was a deep and very good lacrosse team, and when we decided to punch them in the mouth they wanted no part of our physicality, and they were not prepared for our ability to move the ball!
Then came IMG, and IMG was able to overcome all our mistakes and make us pay for them. In a last ditch effort we made it a one goal game with a huge comeback in fourth quarter, but we learned a valuable lesson; we might need to get back to the drawing board. We played a lot of defense, not much offense and we relied way too much on the least experienced on our team stopping the other team's strength's. And this was telling in film study. What was also apparent was we had had the ability to beat IMG if we would have played a decent offensive ball game. We took a step back from what we are capable of.
We ended up taking on a good but not great Jupiter squad, and as usual we spotted them quite a lead, and then whittled our way back, and get a great win over the defending 2A Champs! And whether we won or lost the next few games, that was a continual thorn in our side...ie, not finding a way to get off to a great start!
Florida Lacrosse News on March 31 declared Saint Edward's #1 in the state of Florida. With Saint Andrew's coming up, and they being ranked #1 the entire season to that point, I texted Lee Roddenberg from FLN to thank him sarcastically for giving Saint Andrew's bulletin board material! "Those Boca people just stick together!"
And when we entertained Saint Andrew's, we were unable to make a game of it, and frankly there are many valid reasons for that, but I don't want to entertain excuses. Needless to say, we weren't #1, and as I mentioned to our coaches and Greg Zugrave, they haven't seen our film! Well the big boys were scouring our film and they were beginning to take advantage of our weaknesses.
We played Lake Mary in the last game of the season, and unexpectedly, we got off to a great start, winning the first quarter 4-1, but ending up losing the game 13-6 to a peaking Lake Mary team who figured out that our bench and kept our offensive players on the defensive side of the field. That was Liam's last game as a Saint Edward's player, and Kieran's introduction to leading us through our playoff run.
The rest is history, and we never did figure out the Benjamin FO kid (who by the way is an excellent young man, very personable), and they were able to keep the ball out of our offenses' hands, our Kryptonite! The bad news is no one really did, except that Saint Andrew's was able to cause just enough disruption to his FO win column to complete their second straight Florida Lacrosse Championship!
Florida Class 1A https://laxnumbers.com/ratings.php?y=2022&v=3706
USA South (NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, TN, MS, LA, AR, OK, TX) https://laxnumbers.com/ratings.php?y=2022&v=3003
And since I'm 61 and older than many of you, some words of wisdom for every player, parent, coach, senior and student-under or upperclassman on here...
I remember & recall every teacher, coach & mentor I ever had, including my own parents and grandparents. None perfect (except my grandparents), but all of them taught me lessons in life that stick with me even today.
Some of them legendary, all of them uniquely extraordinary! As I advise all I’ve mentored, be yourself, never stop learning...
You were born and raised to find ways to do good and not forget the people or the lessons they have and will instill in your life!
Well, all the things you learned in kindergarten! That's right, it truly is as simple as
1. Eat Right(proper nutrition/you are what you eat!),
2. Exercise(be active)daily,
3. get Plenty of Rest(sleep well, think well),
4. and live each day with a Spiritual PurposeBuildingPositive Relationships(be a good soul).
5. Learn (be curious and explore the lessons in life and in the classroom, while listening carefully to the wisdom of elders, and frankly don't believe all what you see or hear; be somewhat skeptical),
After our last game, Asst Coach Bill Keating announced his retirement plans to me. So in my speech today I'm going off cuff to speak about this "Hall of Fame" coach.
Our captains: Liam, Oscar, Riker and Gavin!
Our Team Moms: Not even close, they are our Greatest Of All Time!
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Saint Edward's Boys 2022 Lacrosse Awards:
US Lacrosse All-America Award Nominees and Florida Lacrosse Coaches Association All-State Class 1A Selections:
Attack: Oscar Lindenthal.
1. Selected to the FSLCA All-State Team;
2. Oscar was also awarded 2022 US Lacrosse Academic All-America by the US; Lacrosse- South Florida Chapter;
3. Named to the 2022 US Lacrosse All-Florida South team.
Midfield: Ricky Savage.
1. Selected to the FSLCA All-State Team;
2. Named to the 2022 US Lacrosse All-Florida South team.
FHSAA Team Awards: 2022 Class 1A District 8 Runner-up
2022 Captains: Riker Pratt, Gavin Rooney, Liam Murphy, and Oscar Lindenthal
2022 Pirate MVP: Offense: Ricky Savage; Defense: Beckley Waldrop
2022 Pirate Most improved: Offense: Eli Barin; Defense: Ethan Ball
3D Award Pirate (Desire, Determination and Dedication): Marshall Heim
2022 Season Results: https://www.maxpreps.com/fl/vero-beach/st-edwards-pirates/lacrosse/schedule
2022 Roster: https://www.maxpreps.com/fl/vero-beach/st-edwards-pirates/lacrosse/roster/
2022 Stats: https://www.maxpreps.com/fl/vero-beach/st-edwards-pirates/lacrosse/stats/
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Nominated for Florida Lacrosse Coaches Association All-State:
Attack:
Oscar Lindenthal, Sr; 39g, 38a, 77pts.
Ford Norris, Jr; 37g, 17a, 54 pts
Midfield:
Ricky Savage, Jr; 62g, 14a, 72pts
Riker Pratt, Sr; 40g, 24a, 64pts
Eli Barin, Jr; 24g, 26a, 50pts, 67gbs, 11 takeaways
SSDM:
Reed Sternberg 10g,11a, 21pts, 34gbs, 11 takeaways
Underclassmen Watch List for 2025s with FCLA:
Beckley Waldrop
Ethan Ball
Underclassmen Watch List for 2024s with FCLA:
Reed Sternberg
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Class 1A, All-District 8
1st Team:
Attack: Oscar Lindenthal Mid: Ricky Savage, Riker Pratt, Eli Barin Def: Beckley Waldrop. Goalie: Liam Murphy
2nd Team:
Attack: Ford Norris Midfield: Reed Sternberg
Honorable Mention:
Attack: Will Russell Defense: Cooper Naughtin, Ethan Ball
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Final 2022 FLN Boys 1A Top 15!
One theme that will likely run through these final polls is how I analyze the entire resume, outside of an automatic #1/#2 ranking for the finalists. Quality wins are very important (as measured by relative positioning) and quality losses vs bad losses are also including in my thinking. The higher the ranking, the likely there are quality wins, and you will see that schools that are in the ‘Also Considered’ tend to not have the signature win that gets them ranked.
As usual, there are a lot of A beats B, who then beats C, and when C upsets B it causes deeper analysis. Put on top of that, you have plenty of instances of teams in the Top 15 playing each other three times, due to the method of District ranking and Regional ranking, where a #1/#5 matchup of district rivals happened a few times in the Regional semifinal, as no #4 seed won a home game in the 1st round.
That also required some more thinking!
And one other key note is that I ONLY looked at Florida teams playing each other, not their out of state games, nor their IMG games. There’s too much variance among out of state schedules (and who those schools will play) to include them in my thinking. This allows more of an apples-to-apples comparison.
So, let’s get the easy part out of the way . . . SA #1 and Benjamin #2
Now, let’s look at the other resumes.
Bolles – Semifinalist – Best wins are Bishop Moore, Nease, at Winter Park (the best win easily), Oak Hall 2x and Episcopal School 3X. Losses were to Montverde and Benjamin in the semifinal.
Jesuit of Tampa – Semifinalist – Wins over Cardinal Mooney, Canterbury 2x, Oak Hall, Mitchell and Community School. Losses are to SA in the semifinal, at Lake Mary and at Plant in very competitive games.
St. Edward’s – Wins over Creekside, Benjamin, Pine Crest and Jupiter. Losses to SA, Lake Mary and Benjamin 2x
Oxbridge – Wins over Jupiter, Belen, Canterbury and SJP 3x, with losses to SA 2x, Benjamin and Pine Crest
Pine Crest – wins over Oxbridge, AH-Plantation, SJP and Gulliver, losses to SA 3x, Benjamin and St. Edward’s
Montverde – wins over LHP 2x, Bishop Moore, Bolles and Holy Trinity, with losses to LHP, Ponte Vedra, Winter Park and Benjamin
Oak Hall – wins over Episcopal School, Berkeley Prep and Maclay 3x, with losses to Creekside, Nease, Jesuit, Ponte Vedra and Bolles 2x
SJP – wins over Cardinal Mooney, Gulf Coast, Belen and Gulliver, with losses to Jupiter (OT), Benjamin, Pine Crest, Western and Oxbridge 3x
Cardinal Mooney – wins over Newsome, Community School, Canterbury and Berkeley Prep, with losses to Winter Park, Jesuit, SJP, Gulf Coast, LHP, Community and a one-goal loss to Plant, which is maybe their best game
Lake Highland – wins over Bishop Moore 2x, Cardinal Mooney and Montverde, with losses top Lake Mary, Benjamin, St. Thomas by one goal (their best game), Ponte Vedra, Winter Park, Creekside and Montverde 2x
Holy Trinity – wins over Vero Beach and Cocoa Beach 2x, with losses to Martin County and Montverde
Community School – wins over Western, Bishop Verot 2x, Cardinal Mooney, Gulf Coast, Canterbury, Belen and AH-Plantation and had an 11-game winning streak until the regional final, with losses to St. Thomas, Cardinal Mooney, Canterbury and Jesuit. They avenged two early season losses.
Canterbury – wins over Berkeley Prep, Community, Gulf Coast, Columbus and Bishop Verot, with losses to Jesuit 2x, Benjamin, Oxbridge, Gulf Coast, CM and Community
Episcopal School – win over Ransom, losses to Bolles 3x, Oak Hall, Ponte Vedra and St. Thomas
Belen – wins over Westminster Christian, Gulf Coast and AH-Plantation, with losses to SJP, Community, Western, AH-Plantation and Oxbridge
The Also Considereds from the last poll are Bishop Moore, Gulliver Prep, AH-Plantation, Jensen Beach, St. Stephen’s and Westminster Christian and none of them did enough to leap any of the 17 teams above them.
A few things to note here. A few schools that looked better on paper entering the year did not perform well, whether from injuries or being assumed to be better. Schools like Maclay and Berkeley Prep are examples of that. So, wins against them are not as impressive as they would have been in the first few weeks. Oak Hall’s wins look less impressive now than in the preseason thinking.
While I talk about the entire resume, clearly a late season winning streak against solid teams is worth more than an early winning streak where the team then fell off. Community got hot late, and St. Edward’s fell off after rising to #1 after injuries hit.
There are plenty of tough schedules, but in my opinion, you have to win some of them, or I just rank you based on the record. For example, Laxnumbers has LHP very high, but I will not. They over-emphasize Strength of Schedule in my opinion, particularly if you don’t win more of those games. Montverde also has a similar resume, as I don’t see them at #5 like they do. Montverde does have one of the best wins, over Bolles (and Bolles has arguably the best win over Winter Park) of the teams below SA and Benjamin.
Okay, without going too far into the weeds, here’s the Poll . . .
FLN Final 2022 Top 15 for Boys 1A
1) St. Andrew’s – great season and a title
2) Benjamin – finalist who was red hot down the stretch and almost made things exciting in the last few minutes
3) St. Edward’s – a few late injuries dampened the end of the season, but the big wins are as good as any resume here
4) Bolles – the Winter Park win is very impressive and gives them the edge
5) Jesuit of Tampa – frankly, if I didn’t see them in person at the Final Four, they might be lower, but add that to a 2-goal loss at Lake Mary and a 4-goal loss at Plant and they showed a lot all season
6) Pine Crest – gets the edge over Oxbridge due to the head-to-head road win
7) Oxbridge – a goal shy of possibly being in the finals, but also a goal away from losing the first round, with SJP possibly scoring the winner in OT
8) Montverde Academy – the Bolles win counts a lot, but the rest of the wins are not as impressive as those above them
9) Community School – smoked the second half of the year, losing only to Jesuit by 3 in the regional final
10) SJP II – what hurts them the most with me was the Western loss
11) Lake Highland – I can’t go higher when you lose 9 games, no matter how tough the schedule was, and it was!
12) Cardinal Mooney – Newsome win helped, and one-goal Plant loss too. But after the Plant game there was no quality win.
13) Oak Hall – the quality wins are just not impressive enough to be higher, lost all the tougher games
14) Holy Trinity – very nice year but the schedule substantially needs upgrading. Vero Beach can’t be the best win next year.
15) Canterbury – gets the last spot due to their much better schedule than Belen, which is the first team out.
Also Considered:
Belen Jesuit and Episcopal School
Overall Fielding Stats by Player
SEASON TOTALS
19
346
18.2
204
131
0
GOALTENDING STATS
Overall Scoring Stats by Player
SEASON TOTALS
19
263
13.8
153
8.1
416
21.9
649
1
0.405