Coppell Boys Lacrosse participated in the Jesuit Dallas Lacrosse Invitational this past weekend, which is a pre-season warm up event that allows teams to face some competition while getting ready for the spring high school season. Due to another successful playoff run by the Coppell football team, this was the first time Coppell lacrosse has had its full complement of players on hand, including the incoming freshman class.

Coppell Boys lacrosse program played in eight games during the event (four JV games and four varsity games), and they went a combined 7-1. The JV team went 4-0 on the weekend, winning each of their games in comfortable fashion.

The first varsity game was against Keller D2, and due to a fast start by Coppell and a 15-0 lead at halftime, the underclassmen played the majority of the game, and the varsity starters only played the first quarter. Ten total players scored goals for Coppell, and six players logged at least one assist, with Freshman Dylan Colon scoring four goals and 2 assists.

In the second varsity game, Coppell faced Jesuit of New Orleans (LA). The Cowboy offense was efficient and active, jumping out to an early lead on their way to a 15-2 win, fueled by Junior Reese Reynolds posting over 85% win percentage at face off, and Reece Walker leading all scorers with 5 goals and 3 assists on the contest. Other multi-goal scorers were attackmen Walker Cain and Gavin Osteen with 2 goals each. Brandon Point led the defensive efforts with three forced turnovers and 1 groundball win, and Walker Cain and Hayden Lowrance added 2 forced turnovers each.

In their next game, Coppell Varsity faced off with defending Division 2 State Champions Rockwall. Senior attackman Zach Bartolacci paced all scorers with 4 goals in the game, and Reece Walker led in points with 2 goals and 3 assists. Brandon Point and Mark Webb each added 2 goals each as the Coppell offense unleashed almost 40 total shots on their way to a 14-3 win. Senior Harper DeLoach led all defenders with 3 forced turnovers, and goalie Hayden MacArthur made 9 saves and posted a 75% save percentage.

In their final game of the day, Coppell faced the two-time defending Division 1 Texas State Champions, Jesuit Dallas. Coppell kept pace early on goals by Zach Eckley and Brandon Point, but Jesuit was able to slow down the Coppell offense with aggressive defense, and Jesuit controlled possession of the ball for the majority of the first half. Michigan commit Jacob Jackson led the scoring for Jesuit with 6 goals on the day.

For Coppell, Zach Eckley finished the day with 2 goals, Brandon Point posted 1 goal and 2 assists, and Zach Bartolacci added 1 goal and 1 assist. Jesuit won the game 15-4.

The Coppell boys will return to the practice fields and continue to prepare for their season opening games at Lesley Field in Coppell on February 13 against Rockwall.

The featured Texas high school lacrosse game of the week, which was live streamed on the THSLL web site, took place this past Saturday at 12 Noon at Dragon Stadium in Southlake. Both teams needed the win to keep their hopes alive of grabbing the final available playoff spot in Division 1 North District.

It was a tightly contested game throughout, with plenty of exciting plays and swings in momentum. Southlake opened the scoring with one of their two first quarter goals. The early offense for Coppell came from a couple of common contributors, with team scoring leader Reese Walker making a great steal, scoop and open-net score, followed by two unassisted goals from Senior Ben Goyne, to give Coppell a 3-2 lead after one quarter of play.

In the second quarter, the defenses tightened up and it looked like the half would end with that same score, when Coppell’s Ben Goyne got possession behind the net with under five seconds remaining, fired a pass to Reese Walker, who buried a laser shot into the back of the net as time expired, giving Coppell a 4-2 advantage at the half.

Southlake controlled the action for much of the 3^rd quarter, scoring twice and holding Coppell scoreless, to make it a 4-4 tie game going into the final quarter. But that is when Coppell had a couple of players step up and deliver clutch goals at just the right time. First, Sophomore Ethan Bivens, who had been playing heavy shifts as a defensive short stick middie all day, dodged down the right alley and fired a perfectly placed shot over the Southlake goalie to give Coppell the lead once again. A few minutes later, Junior Zach Eckley, who just looked faster than his opponents all day, took the ball behind the net, crossed up his defender, then sprinted to the front of the net for a critical insurance goal, and also drew a dead-ball penalty that allowed Coppell to take even more time off the clock after that.

The defense for Coppell featured some great individual and team efforts, fueled by defensemen Harper DeLoach, Dylan Thompson and Ryan Gordon, LSM Connor Choate, and short-stick defenders Ethan Bivens, Tommy Donaldson, and Joe Fex, among others. Goalie Hayden MacArthur was strong with 7 saves and 3 ground balls on the game. Senior Ryan Gordon was key to the defensive team effort, as he drew the assignment of covering Southlake’s top offensive player on the year, and held him to no goals and no assists.

Despite Southlake cutting the lead to one goal in the final minutes, and some tense moments running out the final seconds of the game, Coppell came away with a 6-5 win and their playoff hopes still in tact. They will now prepare for their final regular season game on Tuesday, April 25, against Allen, where a win should gain them a post-season spot.

The strong play by Coppell continued as the JV teams squared off in the afternoon match. Coppell was able to get out to a quick lead with Peyton Barron hitting Daniel Gonzalez for the first goal of the game. Coppell was able to control possession for much of the game and worked some long offensive possessions to keep Southlake from getting any type of momentum. Ethan Bivens and Peyton Barron each scored unassisted goals to give Coppell a 3-1 lead at the half.

The defensive effort was led by goalie Lee Martin, who had 7 saves and 3 ground balls while allowing only 3 goals scored, while Luke Bivens and Reed Robbins each grabbed 3 ground balls.

The second half featured more of the same, with Marc Webb adding an unassisted goal. That was followed by a great catch of a fast break pass by Griffen Hess, who was able to flip the ball back for an assist to Daniel Gonzalez for his 2nd goal of the game, allowing Coppell a comfortable three-goal lead. The Cowboys were able to melt the remaining time off the clock and come away with the 5-3 win. The Coppell JV team will play their final game of the season on Tuesday night as well.

Coppell Boys Lacrosse faced off last night against the top-ranked team in Texas, and one of the best teams in the Western United States, and it showed in the results. ESD’s Varsity team boasts numerous Division 1 college commits and some of the top players in the nation at their positions, and their Junior Varsity team shows no signs of a drop off in talent or skills coming in the next few years, as they were all very impressive Tuesday night.

In the varsity game, it quickly became apparent why ESD Senior Nakeie Montgomery, who is committed to play lacrosse next year at Duke, is considered one of the top midfielders in the country, proven by his selection this week to participate in the prestigious Under Armor All American game. After Coppell won the opening face off resulting in a quick shot and save by ESD, Montgomery took the pass, ran through the Coppell ride for a full-field clear, ran to his preferred shooting spot, then drilled a shot into the net for the goal. Junior Pat Skalniak, committed to Navy, followed that up with an unassisted goal, and after 36 seconds, the score was 2-0 ESD, and that trend continued through most of the game. Montgomery piled up an impressive 4 goals and 2 assists on the game, while leading an ESD offensive assault that attempted a total of 47 shots, with 31 of those being on cage, compared to Coppell’s 14 attempted shots with 8 of those on cage.

The offense for Coppell was supplied by Tommy Donaldson, who scored an unassisted goal in the 1^st quarter, followed by 2^nd quarter goals by Zach Bartolacci, Reese Walker, and Ben Goyne, who also had an assist, but that was the extent of the scoring for Coppell in the game, which ended with a 19-4 final score in favor of top-ranked ESD.

In the JV game, ESD showed off similar size and skill advantage over Coppell to what was seen in the varsity game. ESD dominated the first quarter in possession and score, staking a 5-0 lead on 5 unassisted goals. Zach Eckly posted to back-to-back goals for Coppell in the 2^nd quarter to close the gap to 5-2 at half, but ESD added 3 more goals in the 3^rd quarter to grow their lead again.

Junior Lee Martin had 7 saves on the game, including some tough stops in the second half, and Junior Nick Thurman found Sophomore Reece Reynolds on the crease with a nice pass to add another goal for Coppell, but the game ended with ESD running out the clock and taking the 8-4 win.

Coppell, despite dropping their past five games, is still in position to make the Division 1 Varsity playoffs if they are able to win their final three games of the year, with all of those games being played in the next six days. The first test will come this Thursday night at 8 PM as the Cowboys varsity team will travel to take on 3-6 Keller, then they play another road game against 3-6 Southlake on Saturday, and finished up back at home next Tuesday against Allen, who is currently 0-7 in District play.

Note: The pictures included with this article are from Coppell's Senior night last week since they are now available, and feature the 12 graduating Seniors on this year's team.

Friday night marked the third straight district game for the Coppell Boys lacrosse program, this time against the defending Texas State Champion and currently 4^th ranked Dallas Jesuit Rangers.

The varsity match was a tight game throughout, and the Cowboys struck first on an unassisted goal by Junior Reese Walker (committed to play at Lynn University). Jesuit answered back with a close range laser shot by Junior Grayson Hassell (committed to play at Naval Academy) to tie it up at 1-1. The Jesuit offense worked several methodical possessions, adding two more goals and looked ready to carry a 3-1 lead into halftime, when Reese Walker scored his second goal of the game, followed by a loose ball grab and score by Junior Zach Bartolacci, and all of the sudden, it was tied at the half.

The third quarter was a continued strong effort by the Coppell defense, with Seniors Ryan Gordon and Connor Choate forcing multiple turnovers and grabbing multiple ground balls. Senior Joe Fex turned in an excellent effort all game, with some full-field clears and playing great defense on some tough one-on-one assignments all night.

As Coppell’s man-down unit killed off a penalty late in the 3^rd quarter, Cowboy’s LSM Connor Choate led a fast break clear and found Senior Attackman Spencer Haddock, who scored to give Coppell a 4-3 lead. Freshman goalie Hayden MacArthur was strong in net for Coppell, posting 9 saves on the game and helping the defense hold Jesuit scoreless for almost 23 minutes of play leading up to the 4^th quarter.

Jesuit was able to corral loose ball scramble off of the 4th quarter opening face off and hit an open David Barnum to tie the game up at 4-4. Jesuit was then able to dominate possession time in the 4^th quarter and added two more goals to build a 6-4 lead. As Jesuit worked to kill off the remaining few minutes, Coppell sparked their final scoring threat off a defensive trap and forced turnover by Ryan Gordon, who cleared to Ethan Bivens, allowing Coppell to call time out and set up a chance to make it a 1-goal game in the final minutes. Jesuit was able to make a steal and run the remainder of the clock out for the 6-4 win. It was a great effort by the Cowboys against the defending state champions, and one they will build off of as they head into their final four district games in April.

Earlier Friday night, the JV teams for Jesuit and Coppell faced off, with Jesuit taking an early lead and Coppell never really getting into an offensive groove. Coppell was forced to play a thin at some positions and move some players around due to a couple of injuries to key contributors. The only scoring for Coppell on the night came from Junior Nick Thurmond as the buzzer sounded to end the 2^nd quarter, and on a 4^th quarter goal from Brandon point, assist from Ethan Bivens.

But the Jesuit JV squad came ready to play and looked sharp all game long. Sophomore Zach Rilley led the scoring efforts for the Rangers with 2 goals and an assist, and the Ranger defense prevented Coppell from getting any easy looks at the goal. Jesuit Sophomore goalie William Moran (committed to play at Hofstra) was just as impressive in the JV game as he was in the varsity game, making eight or more saves in each game.

Coppell Boys Varsity Lacrosse is making its way through one of the more difficult stretches of their schedule, as they take on three district opponents, all ranked in the top 6 teams in the state in Division 1, during an 8-day stretch that began last Friday.

The first test came last week as the Cowboys took on the then 6^th-ranked Plano West Wolves. Plano West jumped out to the early lead on almost identical plays of Freshman Wilson Murphree finding Junior Thomas Aniol open on the crease for a pair of goals. But Coppell answered back with two goals of their own by Spencer Haddock (1 goal, 1 assist in the game) and Walker Cain (2 goals in the game), making it a 2-2 score to end the 1^st quarter. The teams then traded goals throughout the 2^nd quarter with Reese Walker (2 goals on the night) and Ripken Reynolds scoring for Coppell.

The 3^rd quarter belonged to the defenses, with a total of 10 saves and only 1 goal scored between the two teams. Coppell held Plano West scoreless in the quarter, and Plano West goalie Ryan Darby showed why he is an Under Armor All-American and Johns Hopkins commit, adding several stops on his way to a 15+ save game for the Wolves. The lone goal in the quarter came on an impressive running shot by Coppell’s Reese Walker into the top right corner of the net, to tie the game at 5-5 heading into the final quarter.

Plano West pulled away in the 4^th quarter as Senior Cody Foster (committed to play at D-1 Jacksonville) simply powered his way to his 2^nd and 3^rd goals of the game. Plano West grew the lead to 9-6 before adding an open-net goal in the final seconds for a 10-6 final score.

On Tuesday, the Coppell boys headed down to Highland Park to take on the #1-ranked Scots, who had just lost their first in-state game of the season this weekend to The Woodlands. The skills and experience of Highland Park became apparent quickly, as they worked their face off wins and fast transition offense into an early 4-0 lead. Junior Cooper Kneese scored 4 of Highland Park’s first 7 goals on his way to a 5-goal performance. The Cowboy defense settled a bit in the 2^nd quarter and slowed the scoring, but HP still had a comfortable 8-3 lead at the mid-way point.

The offense for Coppell was spread evenly with 7 players scoring goals. Walker Cain had 2 goals and Zach Bartolacci and Spencer Haddock each posted one goal and one assist. Ryan Gordon was the top contributor from the defense, winning 3 ground balls, forcing 3 turnovers, and getting 1 assist. Goalie Hayden MacArthur had a busy night making a season-high 14 saves, but the Scots offense was too much as they powered their way to a 16-8 victory over the Cowboys.

Coppell will head back home for their next game on just three days of rest, when they take on Dallas Jesuit Prep on Friday, April 7, at 7:30 PM at Lesley Field. It will be another tough opponent for the Cowboys, as Jesuit is ranked 4^th in the state of Texas.