This Fourth of July weekend is host to one of the biggest recruiting events of the summer, the Under Armour All America Tournaments, hosted by Corrigan Sports. The entire event takes place June 30-July 3 and has tournaments for underclass, uncommitted and of course the senior allstar game; for both boys and girls. All games take place at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland.
Yesterday the underclass Command Boys division entered their first day of play. All 11 teams in the Command division play four games of pool/division play. Each of these teams is fighting for one of the seven playoff seeds.
The championship game is Sunday July 3 at 2:15 p.m. eastern. Pool play consists of three pools with one containing five teams and the other two containing three. The first pool contains Baltimore, Upstate New York, New England, South and West; which is the current order for the standings after Day 1. However West does not play their first game until tomorrow. Baltimore came out with a 9-7 thriller over New England. This gives the Maryland boys a sigh of relief after getting a huge win over a very tough New England squad, who they will not have to play again until the tournament.
Upstate New York got the win over South 12-9. This pool is very evenly matched and will be sure to contain a few teams who will go far in tournament play. Long Island, Midwest and New Jersey make up the second pool, also the current standings. Long Island demolished my fellow Midwesterners 12-4. Truly a big statement from the Islanders as we head into the next day of play tomorrow. Midwest will need to regroup after a savage loss and regain some momentum today against Southwest.
New Jersey fell to the hands of the Capital boys, Washington, DC, 12-3. Jersey takes on Long Island tomorrow and a win there could wrap up their place over the Midwest in this particular pool. Our final pool is comprised of Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Southwest (still current standings). As mentioned before, DC obtained the 12-3 victory over Jersey, establishing themselves at the top of the pool. Philly and Southwest went head-to-head with the City of Brotherly Love escaping 10-9. Southwest will have a chance to move ahead in the standings against the Midwest tomorrow; a must win game for both teams if they are to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Command Tournament Day 1 is all wrapped up but with 11 games on the docket for today, we are in for a fun filled weekend of lacrosse featuring the best underclass high school players. The nonstop action starts off at 8:30 a.m. eastern with New England taking on Upstate New York. For a full list of all the games, bracket and schedule you can visit underarmourlacrosse.com. Being a Missouri boy I will be following the 12:15 p.m. eastern game vs Southwest quite closely. Which region will be crowned victorious?
Stay tuned right here on ILTW for all Command boys details.
