All Lax, (Almost) All American

In Maryland, where lacrosse is never out of season, a special all star event takes place over the Fourth of July weekend. The fifth annual Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Classic brought 88 top high school seniors (girls and boys) to Baltimore for a last chance to play as preps before beginning their college careers in the fall.

For these elite players, it is an opportunity to play on the same team with the rivals they played against for four years. Since the teams are determined geographically (North and South) many of the competitors have long histories as regular season opponents.

Others found the first chance to play with/against future college teammates. The ACC had a total of twenty players on the boys roster, with eight of them committed to North Carolina and six to Maryland. Georgetown did best with the girls, snagging five All Americans. Maryland and North Carolina had four each.

The Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Classic has deep Baltimore roots, with the iconic sportswear company teaming up with Corrigan Sports and Inside Lacrosse Magazine to make the selections and organize the weekend events. ESPNU (whom we’ve seen a lot of this year around M&T) broadcast the boys contest live.

For the second year, the Under Armour Classic expanded the weekend to include underclassmen in the fun, with teams organized by regions. Boys and girls teams came from Baltimore, Long Island, Midwest, New England, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Upstate New York and Washington, D.C. They participated in pool play on Saturday in the fields around Unitas Stadium, with finals scheduled for Sunday, July 4th at 3:30PM.

Both All-America games were hard-fought, high scoring contests. The North girls barely squeezed past their opponents 17-16 while the North boys were a little more dominant, winning 17-12.

While much is made of the intense rivalry between Maryland and Long Island as the hotbeds of the sport, an interesting irony played out in the boys game. Most Valuable Player, hands down, was an attackman who played midfield and scored four goals in North’s win. His name is Mark Cockerton, and he’s from Oshawa.

That’s right. The most elite All-American of 2010 is a Canadian.

But we’ll be seeing more of him, since he’s heading even farther south, to Charlottesville, where he'll join his brother Matt as a Cavalier. That means he’s a good bet to be playing around here sometime next season.

The Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Classic had 2,500 fans at Unitas yesterday. Many were F&F (friends and family) who came for the entire weekend to participate in all the festivities in and around Baltimore. After all, it is the cradle of lacrosse, where the game is always on.