STAGE
PRESENCE Five breakout stars of the NCAA tournament
Christian Burgdorf Denver The lightly recruited 6-foot-4 freshman emerged as the Pioneers’ top stopper on a defense that limited North Carolina to fi ve goals in the quarterfi nals and made Drexel look overmatched in the semifi nals.
Sergio Perkovic Notre Dame The big bopper from Michigan scored the game-tying goal in a comeback win over Albany and ran roughshod over Duke with fi ve goals in the championship game. “He’s going to be one of the absolute stars in college lacrosse for the next three years,” coach Kevin Corrigan said.
Blaze Riorden Albany
The Danes played run-and-gun, which at times left their goalie fl apping in the breeze. Riorden stood tall with 13 saves in a fi rst-round win over Loyola and 14 saves in the quarterfi nal loss to Notre Dame.
Nick Saputo Drexel Saputo swung the momentum of
the Dragons’ 16-11 fi rst-round upset of Penn, scoring two goals in six seconds off faceoffs he won as part of a 21- for-31 performance and turning a late fi rst half 6-5 defi cit into a 7-6 halftime lead. He also scored off a faceoff with 0:01 left in the fi rst quarter.
Gunnar Waldt Bryant It’s one thing to pad your stats against the Northeast Conference. It’s an entirely different matter to beat Syracuse in the Carrier Dome with 13 saves and rob sharpshooting Dylan Donahue in the fi nal seconds to preserve the win.
Jones, who overmatched defenders running by them or through them as a shot creator, evolved as a passer and two- handed fi nisher and nearly caught Class statistically with a 21-point burst in the NCAA tournament. With 37 goals and 26 assists, Jones ended up as a second-team All-American. Walsh, the converted attackman and caretaker of the unit, had his old nose for the goal (26 goals on 30.6 percent shooting). But it was Walsh’s passing (26 assists) and presence in the midfi eld that made Class and Jones better and made him something of an unsung hero in this championship journey. “[Walsh] is the one who stirs the drink. He’s the one with the most coach-like mind,” Duke assistant Ron Caputo said. “He takes great pride in making ‘invisible plays.’ He’s the guy setting the pick, getting run over and allowing his teammate to score. He’s the one slipping off- ball, creating miscommunication in the [opposing] defense and causing the play that ends with somebody else getting patted on the back [for scoring].” Assistant Matt Danowski called Walsh “the glue guy” of the Blue Devils offense. “It really began and ended with Christian and the way he helped the young guys get through the growing pains we expected,” he said. “Without Christian keeping the other two guys level-headed and playing the right way, [Jones and Class] don’t have the years they’ve had and we don’t win a championship.” Walsh was a top-three scorer at Duke in his fi rst two seasons before taking on a
“After those two losses, we
[midfi elders] looked at each other and decided the reason we aren’t winning is that we aren’t producing,” Jones said. “Once we found some confi dence, we felt like there was nothing we couldn’t do.” Class, the fi rst-year starting lefty who missed 27 of his fi rst 30 shots and remains obsessed with honing his technique, recovered nicely. He became the fi rst Blue Devils midfi elder to produce 60 points (38 goals, 27 assists) in a fi rst-team All-American season.
36 LACROSSE MAGAZINE July 2014>>
more pronounced supporting role. “Coming in and starting on attack for two years then being switched to midfi eld [early in 2013] was an adjustment. But I relish any opportunity I get to be on the fi eld,” Walsh said. “My role this year was to keep everybody together and getting better. I’d do whatever it took for [Class and Jones]. They’re mature beyond their years. I can’t wait to see them play in the ACC for the next two years.” Class and Jones will form an interesting backbone for Duke in 2015.
At 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, Class is the guy with a plan. As an All-American lacrosse player during his last two years at Loyola Blakefi eld in Baltimore, Class had long possessed the type of accurate, high-velocity shot that put him on a Division I trajectory. His father, Bill, said Class was consumed with the idea of becoming a great player well before he committed to Duke in the fall of his junior year of high school. “Deemer started dreaming big years ago. He was writing down goals in middle school. He did not want to be a regular player,” Bill Class said. “In ninth grade, he made Loyola’s JV. They had a great year, and all he talked about was making varsity. I’ve never had to suggest to him to take another hour to practice on his own. He’s always pushed himself.” For Jones, who grew up in the Long Island town of Huntington, N.Y., the path to Division I lacrosse was more circuitous. As a 5-foot-10 middle schooler, he excelled in football and basketball as a quarterback and point guard. No stranger to “playing up” on older basketball teams, Jones joined the Walt Whitman High program while still in middle school. He didn’t even know what lacrosse was until someone suggested he try the sport in sixth grade. “I love lacrosse more than any other
sport I’ve ever played,” Jones said. “It was awkward being taller than everybody else and weird seeing over the tops of people. I relied on swim moves too much. I started learning how to use my body to shield my stick and how to use my shoulder to lean in and create space for myself.”
Between eighth and 10th grade, Jones went through an unusual growth spurt of six inches, rising to 6-foot-4. The fact that his size and athleticism translated well to the lacrosse fi eld eventually led Reggie Jones to redirect his son’s future on the playing fi eld. Football presented too much of an
injury risk. And although Myles Jones earned league MVP honors and scored more than 1,000 career points with Walt Whitman’s basketball team and turned heads on the AAU circuit, Reggie Jones liked his son’s odds of standing out on the lacrosse fi eld. Not even a scholarship offer by Syracuse that included an invitation to play football and lacrosse could sway Myles Jones, who wanted to move farther from home. “It was easier for [Myles] to stand out in lacrosse than the other two sports. He was raw, but that kept him coachable and excited,” said Reggie Jones.
A Publication of US Lacrosse
©BILL DANIELEWSKI (CB); ©KEVIN P. TUCKER (SP, RD); ©JOHN STROHSACKER (BR, NS, CK); ©LEE WEISSMAN (GW, CC)
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