Two members of our SFC Men’s Lacrosse team - Preston Graubart and Sam Cooper - were identified as San Diego “top performers” and “players to watch” by the San Diego Union Tribune last week. The article specifically mentions Sam Cooper in a list of the top 6 goalies in San Diego and some of those other goalies are heading to top D-1 NCAA lacrosse programs, including Virginia (last year’s NCAA champion) and Dartmouth.
2020 PLAYERS TO WATCH
Hunter Binney (La Costa Canyon), Miles Botkiss (Torrey Pines), Tyler Buchner (Bishop’s), Teagan Bultman (Torrey Pines), Sam Cooper (Santa Fe Christian), Ryan Crews (Grossmont), Conrad Delgado (Torrey Pines), Griffin Dooley (Bishop’s), Brennan Dreath (Del Norte), Dewey Egan (Torrey Pines), Blake Erlbeck (Torrey Pines), Christian Evans (Cathedral Catholic), Bobby Gavin (Torrey Pines), Preston Graubart (Santa Fe Christian), Conor Guiltinan (Cathedral Catholic), Joshua Howery (Grossmont), Ziggy Iannessa (Grossmont), Taylor Keller (Carlsbad), Trey Kockler (La Costa Canyon), Mitch Likins (La Costa Canyon), Henry Little (La Jolla Country Day), Ben Looges (Poway), Heath Nilsen (La Costa Canyon), Jack Paige (St. Augustine), Christian Rasmussen (Torrey Pines), Devin Schulte (Coronado), Isaac Schultz (La Jolla), Bryce Scurlock (Grossmont), Colman Smith (Cathedral Catholic), Jacob Tauss (La Costa Canyon), Tynan Walsh (La Jolla), James Witthoft (Coronado), Cooper Wygant (Granite Hills), Marquez White (Poway), Daniel Yang (Scripps Ranch).
SEASON STORYLINES
Schedule: With schools closing because of coronavirus, resumption of the spring sports schedule remains uncertain.
Can Torrey Pines threepeat? Only three programs have won the Open Division since it was created in 2013 — Torrey Pines (three titles), La Costa Canyon (twice) and Poway (twice). It’s doubtful anyone else will crash that ball in 2020. The Falcons will try to become the first Open Division team to win the title three years in a row. Torrey and rival LCC are considered to be a big step ahead of the rest of the section.
Who makes Open Division climb? A young Grossmont team was the No. 1 seed in Division I last year before getting upset in the quarterfinals by Bishop’s. Del Norte went on to win the D-I title in convincing fashion, beating La Jolla Country Day 11-5 in the title match. St. Augustine and Rancho Bernardo might also make the Open leap.
Goalies, goalies and more goalies: The section is loaded with talented players between the pipes. La Costa Canyon, in fact, has two excellent goalies in Hunter Binney, who has committed to Dartmouth, and Mitch Likins. Then you’ve got Torrey Pines’ Bobby Gavin (Virginia), Santa Fe Christian’s Sam Cooper (a Division I talent), plus Poway’s Ben Looges (Lynn University) and Scripps Ranch’s Daniel Yang.
RANKINGS
1. Torrey Pines
2. La Costa Canyon
3. Grossmont
4. Cathedral Catholic
5. Santa Fe Christian
6. Coronado
7. Poway
8. Bishop’s
9. San Marcos
10. La Jolla
Norcross is a freelance writer.