TopLaxRecruits.com, Posted 4/8/15
Staff Report

St. Ignatius College Prep (CA) coach Chris Packard said three weeks ago on TopLaxRecruits.com that he would not have scheduled his team to come East and play national powers Landon School (MD) and Gonzaga (D.C.) if he did not think his team could win.

Well, on Tuesday Packard’s Wildcats made a statement for the West Coast as his team claimed a stunning 10-8 upset victory over Landon School (MD), the No. 2 team in the Epoch Lacrosse North America Rankings.

St. Ignatius, ranked No. 20, improved to 9-0. All but seven of its previous wins were against California teams and the ‘Cats also had downed the top Texas team, Highland Park – but this victory made waves since the Bears were 11-0 and have defeated such powers as No. 7 Gonzaga, Gilman School (MD) and Paul VI (VA).

Ben Knaus led St. Ignatius with three goals and Finn Barry had a pair while Tommy Fleming, Patrick Brosnan, Peter Alimam, Matt Klein (game-winner), and Nick Stinn added one apiece.

What’s more amazing is that Packard did not make the trip since his wife is 9 months pregnant.

The Bears were up, 4-3, at halftime and then led, 8-6 before the Wildcats staged a comeback in the final five minutes. Fleming tied the game with 1:56 to play and Klein made it 9-8 with :58 left. Thirteen seconds later, Alimam won the face-off and went down for the insurance tally.

“We tried to play as disciplined as we could,” said assistant coach Michael Abou Jaoude, who helped take over the head coaching duties. “We were trying to not have any unforced turnovers and we minimized them in the second half. We had to play mistake-free lacrosse to beat a great team like Landon.

“We also knew we were in much better shape than they were and if if pushed the ball would be more successful. We got our last four goals in transition and we still had gas in the tank.”

Abou Jaoude said he knew the Wildcats could compete with top teams from the East. A 2002 St. Ignatius grad who played at Bucknell, he said the program has long had the ability to win in a national setting. Two years ago St. Ignatius made headlines for defeating Seton Hall Prep (NJ) and nearly knocking off Long Island power Chaminade when it was ranked among the top teams.

“We’ve known we had the ability to do this for about 15 years,” Abou Jaoude said. “We were close to beating Chaminade two years ago. We didn’t do as well last year when we came East and the kids wanted to redeem themselves.

“We wanted to make sure we were playing for everyone that has ever worn a (St. Ignatius Prep) uniform. This is the culmination of years of hard work for a program that has continued to develop.”

The Wildcats play Thursday at Gonzaga at Catholic University at 2:30 p.m.

Abou Jaoude is in his ninth year as an assistant to Packard, who also coached Abour Jaoude and fellow assistant Scott Brittain (eighth year).

“We both played for coach Packard in his first year so it’s like a family to us,” Abou Jaoude said. “That gave us more inspiration to knock off a really good team like Landon.”

The Wildcats had other stars. Freshman goalie Mac Gates made 11 saves and LSM and captain Stinn (Notre Dame) scooped six groundballs. Also, defenseman Hall Peters stood out.

Nate Buller led Landon with six goals and Colton Rupp scored twice.