While LaxRecords.com was started as a place to house the history of boys’ high school lacrosse, there are a lot of performances that do not make the lists. But those performances deserved to be highlighted. The Around the Crease weekly notebook will attempt to spotlight the top players and performances that did not make it into the daily recaps.
Each Monday, I’ll highlight players, teams, coaches and games that caught my attention.
Want to alert me to a story I missed? Reach out to me via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or just good ‘ol email at mloveday@laxrecords.com.
Hitting the Corners
Upper Dublin (Fort Washington, Pa.) senior Michael Mullen is approaching the best known goal scoring record in Pennsylvania boys’ lacrosse history. Mullen scored six goals in a 20-2 win over Springfield-Montco (Pa.) on April 8, giving him 221 for his career. Former La Salle College High School star Matt Rambo has the current record with 276.
With just 55 goals to go, Mullen needs to finish this year with 83 goals to tie the record. As a junior, he scored 85. As a sophomore he scored 80. The Cardinals have 13 regular season games left and Mullen would need to average just over four goals per game to tie the record. Upper Dublin likely has at least a few playoff games in its future this season, giving Mullen a few more games to either tie, break or add to the record.
Who Will It Be?
Samuel Harnisch
There are a pair of California seniors scoring in bunches this season and appear to be jockeying to see who will be more prolific by the end of their careers.
Last week, Coronado (Calif.) senior Anthony DeMaio scored the 202nd of his career. Then, St. Margaret’s Episcopal (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) senior Samuel Harnisch scored four goals against Fort Collins (Colo.) on April 8 to give him 205 for his career.
Who finishes with more could come down to how many games they have in their high school careers. The Islanders have eight games remaining on their regular season schedule, while the Tartans have four games left on their regular season schedule.
Both players have already earned a spot on the all-time goals list by reaching 200, so all that is left now is to see where they finish. They’ve already passed legendary players like Mikey Powell.
Big Stat Guy
Nicky Solomon
Centennial (Roswell, Ga.) sophomore attackman Nicky Solomon posted the biggest game of the week, a 15 point game against Matanzas (Fla.) on April 2. Solomon, a UNC commit, dished out 10 assists and scored five goals in the 23-8 win. Both Solomon’s point and assist totals are good for second place on the 2016 Best Known Performances list.
Shut Down Performer
Junior Tom Lingner from St. Anthony’s (South Huntington, N.Y.) helped the Friars to a 5-4 win over rivals Chaminade (N.Y.) on April 5. Linger shut out the Flyers in the first and fourth quarters en route to a 16 save night. St. Anthony’s improved to 3-0 with the win and beat the Flyers for the first time since their May 7 meeting last season.
Linger followed the rivalry game up with back-to-back seven save games against Iona Prep (N.Y.) and Episcopal Academy (Pa.). On the year, Linger has 44 saves in five games.
Spotlight
Bullis (Md.) junior Alex Trippi is quietly putting together a stellar season for the Bulldogs. The North Carolina commit is tied for the team lead with 28 goals and leads the team with 23 assists. He scored five goals in the 16-10 win over Boys’ Latin (Md.) on April 1 and followed that up with an eight point performances against Corner Canyon (Utah) on April 6 and Episcopal (Va.) on April 8. He scored five goals and had three assists against Corner Canyon and three goals and five assists against Episcopal.
Trip committed to the Tarheels since his freshman year and has been a Jake Reed’s Blue Chip selection, earned Fab 40 All-Star honors at the Philly Freshman Showcase Invitational.
When It Counts
Reid Smith from Ponte Vedra (Fla.) opened the playoffs with nine goals, all in the first half, against Fleming Island (Fla.). The Sharks won the first round 20-5 to extend their winning streak to 18 games. Smith had one assist to finish the night with 10 points. Reid is a University of Delaware commit.
Smith followed up his opening-round performance with a five goal, three assist game against Nease (Fla.) in the District 6 title game.
Overlooked
It might not have been the biggest game of the week nationally, but Bellevue (Wash.) traveled East to take on Massapequa (N.Y.) on April 5. Massapequa took the game 13-10, but Augustus Fratt had five goals for Bellevue against one of the top teams in the nation. Fratt’s performance is notable as it came against a team that was ranking at No. 17 in the Nike/US Lacrosse High School Boys Top 25 and No. 20 in the USA Today Super 25.
Not Just A Freshman
Freshman Mason Leet scored four goals to lead all scorers as Woodinville (Wash.) blanked Inglemoor (Wash.) 19 – 0 in boys lacrosse action, Wednesday at Inglemoor High School in Kenmore. Leet, a 9th grader at Timbercrest Junior High School, has been making an impact for the Falcon’s this season averaging just over three goals per game with 19 goals and four assists along with 11 ground balls.