University Lax (ULAX) is a system of men's, women's, and high school lacrosse leagues throughout the US and Canada. They have been in operation for almost 15 years and the Raleigh Chapter of their Men's League just completed their 4th season of summer league competition.
Regular Season
The 2019 ULAX-Raleigh Summer Regular season was dominated by the Bucktown team. Going undefeated in regular season play Bucktown had two of the leagues highest scorers in brothers Mike (17) and Nick Ricucci (20) and outscored opponents by a total of 58-13.
Defending champion MEEP had a back and forth season going 2-2 and taking the 2nd seed going into the playoffs. By far the youngest team in the league they seemed to get stronger as the season went along. Strong goalie and faceoff play was the backbone of the teams success.
NCLC finished just behind MEEP in 3rd, also at 2-2. NCLC was lead by Tim Angell and Tim Craig offensively while Declan MCguire did the Yeoman's work in cage.
Team Oakley had a tough summer, failing to register a win. Team Oakley traveled the furthest of any team to compete each week and fought every minute. Tyler Talbot saw more shots, and made more saves, than any other goalie in the league.
Playoffs
In the first semi-final Bucktown squared off against Team Oakley. A full bench and a hot face-off man had Bucktown up big early as they cruised along to a 17-1 victory.
The second semi-final was a much different story. NCLC and MEEP went toe-to-toe the whole game. NCLC's Declan McGuire did his best to help his own cause when he scored a backhanded goal in transition. In the end MEEP was able to hold on for a gritty 8-7 victory and a chance to defend their title against Bucktown.
The championship game proved to be the best game of the season. Both teams were facing off by committee and offense was difficult to come by. MEEP took the strategy to take the Ricucci brother's out of the game with a double press/shutoff. Despite the extra pressure, Bucktown was able to head into half time with a 4-1 lead. The second half belongs to the MEEP goalie. Turning away at least 7 shots that would have prevented the slow clawing back to eventually tie the game at 6, sending it to overtime for the second year in a row. In overtime a Bucktown failed clear lead to an unsettled rush that eventually lead to a MEEP diving goal that seemed to have ended the game. However, since ULAX did not play US Club Lax rules [this changes moving forward], dives are not legal and the goal was disallowed.
The energy of the game picked up to a feverish pace as both teams vied for the winning goal. After a big save and clear by the MEEP goalie, it was Conor Gronbach who finally sealed the victory for MEEP and completed their championship defense.
Final Points Leaders
- Nicholas Ricucci - Bucktown - 20
- Michael Ricucci - Bucktown - 17
- Yasir Stroud - Bucktown - 17
- Tanner Kotch - MEEP - 16
- Campbell Wood - Bucktown -14
Goal-tending Leaders
- Robert Eigenrauch - Bucktown - 0.911
- Jack Gelsinger - MEEP - 0.774
- Declan McGuire - NCLC -0.760
- Riley Myer - Bucktown - 0.583
- Tyler Talbot - Team Oakley - 0.511
Full league stats available at: ULax Raleigh
League Photos: Facebook Photo Album
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