Summer tournament: Duke’s L.C. (PA) topples Leading Edge (N.J.) in Champ Camp finals

TopLaxRecruits.com, Posted 7/20/13

The Duke’s Lacrosse Club (PA) rallied from a 4-2 first-half deficit and claimed a 7-6 victory today over Leading Edge (N.J.), to claim the championship at Champ Camp at Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood Field.

The Dukes won their second straight title and seventh in eight years.

The Dukes used strong goaltending by Will Schreiner (Avon Grove, 2014 G, Penn State) and face-off work by Charles Kelly (Malvern Prep, 2015, North Carolina) and balanced offense to gain the win.

The Dukes rebounded from a pool play loss to SweetLax (N.Y.) and reached the finals with a 7-4 triumph over Tri-State Gold in the semifinals. Leading Edge toppled highly-regarded Got Skillz, 6-4, in the semifinals.

Scoring for Dukes L.C. were Chase Young (St. Joseph’s), Ryan Hilburn (Malvern Prep), Hunter Jones (Abington), Will Friedman (Great Valley), Mikey Zadroga (Upper Merion), Peter Blynn (Haverford School) and Drew Supinski (Haverford School).

Duke’s coach Ebe Helm noted that his squad has a 100-6 record in the past 12 years at Champ Camp, recognized as one of the top summer tourneys for years. In that span, the Dukes have reached the Final Four all 12 times and made the finals 10 times.

“There was a lot of parity and no standout guy like a (Matt) Rambo on the team,” he said. “I felt these guys had to do something special to earn this – and they did.”

Schreiner said the loss to SweetLax helped the team refocus.

“I think after that loss it was either we go and blame each other or come back together,” he said. “I think everyone still had high spirits after that loss and that helped us.

“It’s amazing. When you join Dukes you learn the goal is always to win Champ Camp. This is the best feeling as a player.”

Schreiner said the Dukes defense pulled together after the early deficit against Leading Edge.

“It took us a little while to fgure it out,” he said “They were strong at midfield and had good outside shooters.

“There also was a lot of hype for the championship game. We were anxious and nervous, but after the first half we felt that this was the last time playing for Dukes. why not go out for a big win?”

Also on Saturday, Team Washington Cohos 2016 defeated Jr. Black Rhinos, 6-4, to claim the first-ever Champ Camp Challenge Championships.