Waubonsie captures its first Lacrosse Cup

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Waubonsie Valley junior Zach Wood led the Warriors with 82 goals and 33 assists this season. | Submitted Photo

Updated: June 14, 2011 10:21PM

Waubonsie Valley’s June 8 awards banquet at White Eagle Country Club was extra special this year for a simple reason: The Warriors had the opportunity to celebrate a state championship.

The team captured its first IHSLA Lacrosse Cup in its ninth year of existence with a 16-9, come-from-behind victory over Grayslake North at Oak Park on June 4. The Warriors finished the year 15-1, with their lone loss coming at the hands of Naperville North early in the season.

“It was just a surreal moment because nothing like this had happened before,” junior Zach Wood said. “Three years in row, we’ve been to the Final Four, and we won the first time we got to the championship game this year. We really wanted this championship and that was our goal after losing in the Final Four last year, to come and win this whole thing. And we wanted nothing less than to win this championship. …It’s a thing I’m going to remember forever.”

The game was much closer than the final score would indicate. The Warriors trailed by three early in the first quarter before tying the game by halftime. A pair of quick second-half goals ignited the Waubonsie Valley offense in the eventual win.

“I think they scored in the first 54 seconds, and that was a huge blow to me,” junior Connor Mersch recalled. “My stomach and my heart just sank to the floor and I was like, ‘Oh man, this isn’t gonna be good.’ And we were down 4-0 and I was kind of losing my hope and I was getting a little edgy, then we started coming back. After halftime, we came out strong and the fourth quarter we just dominated.”

Junior goalie Scott Brown held his own in the comeback effort, holding the Knights to three second-half goals.

“It was a great experience,” Brown said. “My emotions were running high, I was really pumped the whole time.”

The Warriors aren’t taking anything for granted next season, but they hope to get even better.

“We’re going to build on the amount of hustle and things as far as running and conditioning and stick work and things of that nature that got us to be successful this year, so hopefully we can make the same run at it next year,” coach Michael Julius said. “We’re going to stay on top of that aspect of the game.”

At the team awards ceremony, Victor Trowbridge earned the Most Improved Player award. Wood and Brown were named the two Most Valuable Players, and the Warrior award was split three ways between Mersch, Blake Erwin and Brett Erwin.

Wood led with 82 goals and 33 assists. Blaze Miller’s 94 ground balls paced the Warriors and Evan LaPoe had 29 takeaways. Brown made a team-high 97 saves.

Officially, the team is a co-op between Waubonsie Valley and Metea Valley. The Warriors have about 35 parent volunteers and 100 percent of the 2010 and 2011 senior classes have gone or will go on to college.

“It was a great season,” team president John O’Sullivan said. “We had tremendous parent support, a lot of support from District 204 letting us use the fields at Metea and the fields at Scullen and Wheatland (schools) for practices. So, it was really a great effort from the parents and the school board giving us the access that we needed.”