5A Boys All-State Lacrosse Team
Congratulations to following Varsity Boys players for being selected to the 5A Boys All-State Lacrosse Team
1st Team Offense:
Andrew King
2nd Team Defense:
Sam Rubin Griffin Sinclair
5A Boys All-State Lacrosse TeamCongratulations to following Varsity Boys players for being selected to the 5A Boys All-State Lacrosse Team 1st Team Offense: Andrew King 2nd Team Defense: Sam Rubin Griffin Sinclair | Girls Looking For Chance To ShineGirls looking for their chance to shine in lacrosse
March 07, 2012 01:04 AM
After winning three of their first four games, the Lady Eagles are prepared to earn that respect the same way any other team does — by beating everyone else. |
by Adam Carrington This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. May 09, 2012 01:24 AM
Etowah’s Connor Smith guards Roswell’s Mason Travis in Tuesday’s first-round Class AAAAA state playoff game at Eagle Stadium.
Tribune photo by Lindsay Fendt
WOODSTOCK — Etowah’s boys lacrosse team has got to be feeling good right about now. Playing in just their third state playoff game, and hosting their first, the Eagles notched their first playoff win Tuesday with a 9-5 victory over Roswell in the first round of the Class AAAAA tournament at Eagle Stadium.
The No. 2 seed of Area 2AAAAA, Etowah (16-1) will travel to Area 1AAAAA champion Harrison for Friday’s quarterfinal, and the Eagles wouldn’t mind getting another shot at last year’s state runner-up. Harrison eliminated Etowah in the first round of last year’s state tournament, by a comfortable 13-2 decision.
The Eagles appear to be playing their best lacrosse right now. They haven’t lost since falling by a goal to area rival Lassiter on March 10, winning 12 consecutive games since.
Etowah’s game Tuesday wasn’t as close as the score indicated. Once the Eagles got their transition game going in the latter half of the first quarter, the Hornets struggled to keep up. Etowah built a 6-0 halftime lead, and three of Roswell’s five goals came in the final 3 minutes of the game, when the Eagles made substitutions.
“A lot of people didn’t give us the credit we deserved going into this round, thinking some of the lower seeds were going to take out the higher seeds,” Etowah coach Michael Tuley said. “That was the fuel for us. We came out against Roswell doing what we wanted to do.”
Connor Smith was the only player with multiple goals for Etowah, finishing with four. Andrew King, Blake Charitot, Matt Glazier, Eli Goodman and Chris Orr each had one. The first 6 minutes of the game was a defensive battle on both sides before Etowah’s defense began setting up fast-break opportunities. The Eagles’ first two goals came a minute apart, and Smith was the one who got it started at 5:52 when he charged the goal and bounced it in. Charitot scored 50 seconds later from the left side of the crease on an assist by Glazier. Once the Eagles took a two-goal lead, they started controlling the game offensively until the opening quarter expired on Goodman’s goal from a Charitot feed.
“We knew that Roswell was weak against transition,” King said, “so we ran the ball, placed it and executed it.” Roswell took away Etowah’s possessions in the second quarter, but the Eagles denied the Hornets from scoring. The Eagles did take advantage of opportunities, tacking on three more goals in the second quarter.
Every time Roswell scored in the second half, Etowah would answer back to maintain its six-goal lead. A crucial turning point came in the waning seconds of the third, when Etowah took advantage of Roswell being two men down. Etowah got the separation it needed 5 minutes into the fourth when Smith scored an unassisted goal. Read more: Cherokee Tribune - Eagles score inaugural state playoff victory
by Adam Carrington This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
May 05, 2012 10:45 PM Etowah’s boys lacrosse program may be for real this season after spending the last five seasons building its reputation as a contending team.
The Eagles (15-1) will host a state playoff game for the first time in their short history Tuesday as the Area 2AAAAA runner-up welcomes Roswell (10-6), the No. 3 seed of Area 3AAAAA, to Eagle Stadium.
Had it not been for a one-goal loss to Lassiter during area play, Etowah would have found itself the area champion. Instead, that ended up being the Eagles’ only loss.
Etowah opened the season on the right foot with a 12-11 overtime win over defending state champion Walton, and its final area win was a 10-9 double-overtime win against Town Lake rival Woodstock last week.
Etowah’s defense, behind Sam Rubin and Griffin Sinclair and goalkeepers Matt McCarthy and Will Sheridan, has been one of the cornerstones to its success. Leading scorer Andrew King has delivered in clutch situations, providing game-winning goals against Walton and in the double-overtime win over Woodstock.
Now the Eagles will have to defend their turf against Roswell, which is seeking retribution after losing 9-5 to the Eagles during the regular season.
“We have to play our style of lacrosse,” Etowah coach Michael Tuley said. “If we play solid lacrosse, we can beat anybody. We took care of Roswell earlier in the season, and they will definitely want to get revenge and knock us out. That’s always a big motivation.
” Woodstock (6-11) also qualified for the state tournament as a No. 4 seed after bouncing back from a 1-10 start to the regular season. The Wolverines will get a test Tuesday at top-ranked Alpharetta (14-3).
Woodstock became a different team March 28, when it rallied from eight goals down to beat North Cobb, securing just its second win of the year. That sparked a five-game winning streak that vaulted the Wolverines into playoff contention.
Woodstock is young with a sophomore-heavy midfield. Dalton Clark led the attack late in the season, scoring four goals against Etowah. The performances of attacker Brock Hensen and sophomore midfielder Hunter Forbes also were crucial late in the year.
“We have to play with confidence, and, if we do, good things can happen,” Woodstock coach Josh Sailers said. “We’re a young team, and our main goal at the beginning of the year was that we wanted to bet better.”
The Etowah girls qualified for the state tournament as well, but they will have to travel to top-ranked Milton (14-4) on Wednesday. Milton’s wins this season came by an average of 13 goals, and its losses all came to out-of-state opponents.
“Everyone can have a bad day. If we walk in there, thinking we’re going to lose, what’s the point in going?” Etowah girls coach Guilherme Strougo said of facing the six-time state champion. “I know how tough Milton is, but if we go in there to win, I have confidence we will play with a lot of heart.”
Like the counterparts on the boys team, the Lady Eagles (8-8) are known for their defense and can play three different kinds of zone. Led by Catherine Prabu, Etowah will rely on the mixture of zone defenses to throw Milton off-balance.
Knotted at nine apiece with rival Woodstock, Etowah Head Coach Michael Tuley kept it simple during his timeout with 1:14 remaining in the second sudden-death overtime — put the ball in stick of senior captain Andrew King.
The plan worked to perfection.
Quickly breaking out of the timeout, King streaked from left to right across the cage and fired home the game-winner just 6 seconds later, leading his Eagles to a 10-9 victory over the cross-road rival Wolverines on April 25, at Woodstock.
“We wanted the ball in King’s hands,” Tuley said. “We just told him to go out and make a move, and he did what he needed to and took care of business. We just should have done it earlier.”
(LEFT: While it was not easy, Griffin Sinclair and the Etowah Eagles downed rival Woodstock, 10-9, in double overtime on April 25 at the Wolverine Den. Photo by Brandon Michea | Ledger-News)
The win secured a runner-up finish in the Area 2AAAAA standings for No. 4 state-ranked Etowah (15-1).
“The win was huge,” said Tuley. “Not just because it was Woodstock, but because a loss would have pushed us down from a two to a three seed (for state).”
After Woodstock drew first-blood with a goal by Christian Starling 39 seconds into the bout, the Eagles rolled off four-straight scores to end the quarter, as King found the net twice and Matt Taylor and Connor Smith pitched in one goal each.
The Wolverines, however, responded in the second frame, keeping Etowah off the board while Dalton Clark threw in three scores, including the last coming with 3 seconds remaining in the half to even the count at 4-all.
The rivals battled back-and-forth throughout the second half, exchanging the lead five times, and the Wolverines led 9-8 when Brock Henson scored with 4:11 left to go.
But relentless on the attack until the end, the Eagles’ tied it up with 50 seconds remaining on a goal by Matt Glazier from the top of the circle.
That forced overtime, with both squads missing out on opportunities until King worked his magic for the hat-trick.
“It’s Etowah-Woodstock so it doesn’t matter what anybody’s record is or how they’ve been playing,” Tuley said of the rivalry. “With any team in any sport, when Etowah and Woodstock play one another, anything can happen.
“I don’t feel like we played well at all. We didn’t handle the ball and made too many mistakes. But to Woodstock’s credit, they played a hard-fought match.”
“I thought our guys played with all their hearts, and we couldn’t be more proud of them,” said Wolverines’ Head Coach Josh Sailers, whose team has qualified for state as Area 2’s No. 4 seed. “We’ve come a long way this season, and it’s hard to believe at one point we were 1-10. Since, we went on a five-game winning streak that got us back into the state playoffs, and we just took the No. 4 team, who’s 15-1 and very talented, into double overtime. That’s nothing for us to hold our heads about.”
Complementing King, Blake Charitat, Smith, Taylor, Eli Goodman, Chris Orr, Glazier and Jay Crook added one goal apiece.
Clark and Henson scored four and three goals, respectively, for Woodstock (6-11), and Starling and Tony Bell had one each.
Lacrosse: Eagles unable to hold off Lassiter
By: Brandon Michea
Published: 13 March 2012
Despite maintaining control throughout the first half and into the third quarter, fifth-ranked Etowah could not hold off a second-half surge by No. 3 Lassiter, as the Trojans rallied past the homestanding Eagles for a 8-7 victory, Saturday, in Woodstock.
“Just too many turnovers,” Eagles’ Head Coach Michael Tuley said of his team’s loss. “This is what lacrosse is and what it’s all about. We gave them a great crowd and a great game. But, we just gave them too many turnovers. A dropped ball or a missed pass here or there and it changes the game. But that’s just the way it goes sometimes.
“My hat’s off to them. They were the better team [Saturday], but, hopefully, we’ll see them again in the playoffs.”
Behind four first-half goals by junior Connor Smith, the Eagles led 3-1 after the first quarter and 6-4 by intermission.

(LEFT: Etowah’s Andrew King fires off a shot attempt while a Lassiter defender gets out of the way, Saturday afternoon at Etowah. Photo by Brandon Michea | Ledger-News)
The scoring pace slowed in the second half, with neither squad finding the net for the first 7 minutes of the third. But taking advantage of some Etowah miscues, Lassiter came to life late in the frame, netting four-straight goals over a 2-minute and 27-second span to grab an 8-6 advantage.