That’s A Wrap

Friday, April 27th, 2012

The Wolves fell to the Glendale Vipers in the first round of the playoffs 6-9, concluding the 2012 season.

Senior Tyler Lagomarsino scores against Glendale in the Wolves playoff loss.

Mtn. Pointe Pride Makes Their Point!

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

The Varsity Wolves loss their 7th game of the 2012 Season to the Pride, 6-10.  The JV Wolves fall in OT, 6-7.

The final regular season games will be played Saturday, April 18 at Cataline Foothills High School in Tucson.

2012 Season – Past the Midpoint

Sunday, April 1st, 2012

The 2012 Season has the Varsity Wolves at 5-3 and the JV Wolves at 5-1.  The Varsity is working for a playoff spot, something that has been missing since 2009.  On offesense, the points leader and goal leader is senior midfielder Riley Spencer wtih 17 goals and 18 points.  Junior Tommy Shaw has 16 points with 10 goals.  The Wolves are lead on defense by junior goalie Jake Shino and senior defenseman Adam Crocker.  Crocker has a team high 60 ground balls.

The next game is Tuesday, April 2 – Senior Night in a rematch against Notre Dame Prep.  NDP is coached by the Wolves former head coach Bill Stevens.   Game time is at 7 pm.

Wolves Open the 2012 Season with Wins

Monday, March 5th, 2012

It took Riley Spencer’s goal in double overtime to get the varsity past Pinnacle in double overtime, 4-3. The defense and goalie, Jake Shino, held the Patriots to just 3 goals. Junior attack Tommy Shaw had a hat trick.

The JV squad came away with a  14-6 win.  Coach Dean Gekas said he was proud of the way the JV team came together.  The attack had a strong performance.   The JV Wolves dominated face offs and ground balls on both sides of the field.

The Formation of the Club as told to Eric Ferber

Friday, January 13th, 2012

In this edition of The Ferbs Tribune, we sat down with one of the DM Lax founders, Drew Lambert. In addition to Drew, his younger brothers Mike and Jeff were both DM lax alumni who were in attendance at the 2011 alumni game. In 1997, Drew and his friend Chris Sillari who had both moved to Arizona from Connecticut formed the club team. Both had played lacrosse in the past and looked to form a group of kids just to throw the ball around. They had no idea that the program would turn into what it is today, with a few hundred alumni and a promising group of current players. Shockingly, Drew was a part of the program even before the legend, Coach Bill Stevens.

Drew, what was it like in the early days of Desert Mountain Lacrosse?

Well, we started out with about 15 members (half of whom had never heard of lacrosse before we recruited them), a $150 grant from our parents for a net and some balls, and a wooden goal frame that Chris and I built in my backyard. We scrounged gear from Play It Again Sports, taught the people who had never heard of lax the basics, and recruited some football linemen to play defense (promising them that they would have fun hitting people with lacrosse sticks). We found a crazy ex-hockey goalie to stand in goal (and, no joke, he insisted on starting out using his hockey mitt in one hand and the goalie stick in the other), and we started playing after school pickup-type games using our one goal. We had two girls on the team (tough chicks!) playing in full pads. It was great. Chris and I ran practices and we had a lot of fun.

How did this turn into the full-fledged program it is today?

As the year progressed we started getting in touch with other club teams in the area. Saguaro had a team, Chaparral had a team, and then we found the Mustangs. At the time the Mustangs were a fledgling club team, and we met with their coach. He convinced us to join forces with his team; he had a lot of junior high kids, and we had a few ringers from the east coast. We hooked up with them, merged DMHS into the Mustangs. The Mustangs won the first Arizona State Championship against Saguaro in 1998.

What was your best memory playing lacrosse for Desert Mountain?

Championship game, score is already 12-2, I’ve scored two goals, but I am facing off and it’s toward the end of the game. There is a huge mud puddle in front of the opposing goal (makeshift field…I think it was actually a baseball diamond). I won the faceoff, dodged past one D, and get caught up in two other defensemen in front of the goal. I get tripped up, and as I’m falling (straight into the huge mud puddle) I get off a shot. It goes in. I stand up covered head-to-toe in mud, listening to the screaming crowds (by that I mean the 20 or so parents who were there). To me that was like being at the Superbowl. It was awesome.

What did playing lacrosse for Desert Mountain mean for you looking back on it almost fifteen years later?

To me it was a great way to adapt to a new place and bring a little bit of the East Coast to the West with me. I met awesome people, had a great time, and gained a sense of camaraderie and pride that I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else. Seeing my brothers go through the program, and getting to play in a few alumni games, it’s a really great feeling to have been a part of the spread of lacrosse to the West.

If you could say something to the current players what it would it be?

Stop staying the same age while I keep getting older! I can’t keep up with you on the field! Go Wolves!

2011 Alumni Game by Eric Ferber

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

December 26 is a day that every Desert Mountain Lacrosse alumni looks forward to each and every year. For the current DM players, it’s a day they dread due to the consistent domination by the alumni over the current team in years past.

2009 Graduate Jon Underwood said it best “An alumni loss to the Varsity would be more devastating than finding out Santa isn’t real.”

With this much at stake, the 2011 Alumni game was a heated battle. A lopsided score was inevitable with a fierce team of over 40 former Desert Mountain players led by legendary former coach Bill Stevens. Players from nearly every graduating class filled the sideline for the Alumni team. While the alumni team may have been a little out of shape and overweight, they brought with them years of experience and most of all memories of their time as a member of the Desert Mountain Lacrosse team.

Some of the best players in Desert Mountain history dusted off their lacrosse bags and came out to Copper Ridge to visit old teammates, get a classic hug from Coach Bill, and most importantly show the current Desert Mountain team how much the sport of lacrosse meant to them. This victory didn’t come easy as Kyle Blair ‘08 claimed the title as the first alumni to throw up.

One alumnus in attendance was Kyle Klein, who graduated in 2007 after four years of varsity lacrosse. Kyle was fortunate enough to go on and play Division 1 lacrosse at Robert Morris University. Kyle’s brothers Konnor, Tyler and Brett were also playing in this game. Many other Wolves have moved on to play a higher level of lacrosse such as Zach Mendoza, Alex Beauchamp, Jenson Cruse, Jonathan Bush, Geoff O’Kane, Taylor Mitchell and AJ Redford. We hope that every player that puts on the Wolves jersey not only strives to win a state championship, but also to continue to play lacrosse at a higher level.

What these 40 plus alumni did was build a winning tradition that was instilled in them by Coach Bill. Winning is what Desert Mountain Lacrosse is all about and fortunately, Coach Adam O’Kane has the same competitive fire that Coach Bill did during his time with DM.

This year we were fortunate enough to have a family of special guests. One of the founding players from 1997 was in attendance, as well as his two younger brothers. Despite not having picked up a lacrosse stick in nearly ten years, Drew Lambert was thrown back into the action for a shift on midfield.

On behalf of all of the alumni of Desert Mountain lacrosse, Good luck to the 2012 lacrosse team. Cherish every day- soon enough you’ll be on our end of the sidelines wishing you were five years younger, 30 pounds lighter, and still had your mother doing your laundry.

Go Wolves!

Current News from the Club President – REVISED

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

As our lacrosse season approaches I would like to communicate to you all what has been happening and what to look for in the future.  Our board has been working hard to keep costs in check without reducing the quality of our team.

• We are once again providing a means for the players to reduce or possibly eliminate all of their registration fees by selling ads for our program booklet.  This program has done well in the past and has provided many players the opportunity to reduce their costs.  This year we will again be crediting the player 80% for every ad sold for the booklet.  The remaining 20% will go towards the printing and production costs of the booklet.  The ad sales form for the 2012 booklet is now available on our website for download,  so take advantage and get out there early to sell those ads.
• A change we have made this year is that it will now be the responsibility of each player to maintain his own USL membership in order to play.  Proof of membership will need to be provided to coaches BEFORE practicing in one a weeks or any other organized practice or game.  This needs to be completed ASAP and no later than October 31st 2011.  Visit www.uslacrosse.org to complete the process.
• Team picnic, October 22st, at Rio Montana park. (Please bring recruits and RSVP to Susanne Shaw, 602-791-9656, or susanne3@cox.net).
• Registration (Date time and location TBD)
• Fall practices are planned for Saturday mornings from 10am to 12pm starting October 22nd.
• Huskies fall ball league.  We will once again be playing in the fall huskies league as a team.  Watch for details and forms to be filled out coming soon.

Again I would like to thank you all for your support of the Desert Mountain Wolves lacrosse club.  Please check our website regularly and also become a member of our face book page for updates and happenings.  Keep your boys motivated and get them involved with a training program so they show up in shape and prepared for the 2012 season.  We look forward to seeing you all at the club picnic and discussing upcoming events and our 2012 season.

Regards,

Don Shaw, President

Alumni Help ASU to MCLA Finals

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Desert Mountain Lacrosse Alumni AJ Redford (class of 2009), Zac Mendoz (2010) and Jensen Cruse (2010) helped the Arizona State University Lacrosse team reach the final game of the MCLA National Championship.  After beating the Univesity Michigan, winners of the last 3 MCLA Championships, in the semi-finals, the Sun Devils fell short against BYU for the National Championship. 

2011 Player Awards

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

2011 All Stars

Friday, May 6th, 2011

Five members of the Desert Mountain Wolves were named to the AYLL All Star Team: 

25 – Tyler Pasteur, attack
44 – Michael Ammons, attack
41 – Freddie Martori, middlefield
27 – Tyler Shaw, defense
5 – Marshall Crocker, defense/ LSM.