The Inaugural Breakout Lacrosse DC Classic was held on Saturday, May 16, at St. Albans School. The event featured all seven boys’ varsity lacrosse teams in the Nation’s Capital—St. Albans, Gonzaga, Sidwell Friends, St. John’s, Georgetown Day, Maret, and Archbishop Carroll—along with invited guest Eleanor Roosevelt High School from Greenbelt, Maryland.
There was spirited lacrosse action throughout the day, which showcased some of the top players in the metro DC area. More than 1,000 fans made their way to Satterlee-Henderson Field during the day for the free event, including Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who conducted the coin toss before the final game.
The game results from the Inaugural Breakout Lacrosse DC Classic are listed below:
Roosevelt 15, Maret 11
Georgetown Day 20, Archbishop Carroll 4
St. John’s 10, Sidwell Friends 9
St. Albans 12, Gonzaga 7
At the conclusion of each game, Breakout directors Matt Breslin, Matt Durkin and Jamie Breslin presented new sticks provided by Brine/Warrior to the MVPs for each team. The MVPs were:
Roosevelt: Riley Fink
Maret: Nick Wimmer
GDS: Ben Hoffman
Carroll: Dionte Holland
St. John’s: Justin Rosenberg
Sidwell: Ian Johnson
St. Albans: Charlie Townshend
Gonzaga: Taylor Hanley
Between the first two games, sponsor Breakout Lacrosse conducted a free lacrosse clinic for boys ages 6 to 15. Washington, D.C.’s own Jesse Hubbard—a 1994 St. Albans graduate, three time All-American at Princeton, U.S. team member, all time leading scorer in Major League Lacrosse history, and Potomac Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee—headlined the clinic as the featured coach. Many of the attendees were from the Capitol Hill youth lacrosse program, as well as Winners Lacrosse. Participants received giveaways provided by Breakout and Brine/Warrior.
The DC Lacrosse Classic was the brainchild of St. Albans head coach Malcolm Lester and Gonzaga head coach Casey O’Neill, who served as event directors, along with Breakout’s Matt Breslin, former Duke captain and All-American goalie.
“I first ran the idea of the DC Lacrosse Classic by Casey O’Neill, who ran with it and provided tireless support and advocacy,” said Lester, the founder of the DC Lacrosse Association. “Then, as we got closer to the event, Matt Breslin and Breakout took it over and turned it into a first-class event. We are thrilled that Breakout has signed on as title sponsor for 2010, and hopefully well beyond that. It was a great event for the city and area, and we could not be more pleased with how the Inaugural Classic went. We can’t wait for next year.”
St. Albans starting goalie Bo Johns (Lehigh) served as DC Classic deejay, playing music up until he had to begin warm-ups prior to his game. In addition, St. Albans senior midfielder Nick Devane (Wesleyan) designed the DC Lacrosse Classic logo, which adorned the t-shirts and game program. St. Albans junior goalie Ben Leiken created and maintained the event Website, www.dclacrosseclassic.com.
Proceeds from tee-shirt and program sales at the DC Lacrosse Classic benefitted The Washington Inner City Lacrosse Foundation (Winners Lacrosse) and the Bishop John T. Walker School. Winners Lacrosse is a nonprofit organization designed to provide youth from historically underserved neighborhoods in the greater Washington metropolitan area the opportunity to learn the game of lacrosse. The Bishop John T. Walker School, named after the late Bishop of Washington, is a tuition-free Episcopal School in Anacostia for children of low-income families.
www.winnerslacrosse.org and www.bishopwalkerschool.org has more information about these exemplary DC Lacrosse Classic beneficiaries.
Plans for next year’s event are already underway, and 2010 Breakout Lacrosse DC Classic director Matt Breslin says that the addition of Wilson High School as a District team with boys’ varsity lacrosse is not far off (Wilson currently has a girls’ varsity team). “I’ve had a number of conversations and meetings with the Wilson administration,” said Breslin, “And I would not be surprised if they introduce boys’ lacrosse soon. If so, we would love to have them as our 8th DC team in the DC Lacrosse Classic. They are also eager to host the event, which would be great, and we will certainly give strong consideration to that before we make a final site decision for next year.” The tentative date for the 2010 Breakout Lacrosse DC Classic is Saturday, May 22, 2010.
