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© 2024 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.
© 2024 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.
FRISCO, Texas — After making a save, goalie Anderson Moore passed the ball away and started to work outside the cage. His slight jog turned into a full-blown sprint. It was early in the boys’ 2023 Adrenaline All-American game when Moore took off down the field at the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Texas.
What the Georgetown commit did would stick out as the game-defining moment.
Fellow North team member Jack Kiefer (Duke) saw Moore on the run and delivered a pass, allowing Moore to wind up from 15 yards out and sling a shot into the back of the net. Moore celebrated by riding his stick like a horse.
“I like pushing the ball, pushing in transition,” Moore said. “So, I figured when I saw my defender back up, I might as well just try to play, see what happens, do whatever, as long as I don't turn it over. And then no one picked me up, so I just closed my eyes and shot as best as I can. I guess it worked out pretty well.”
The fun never stopped during the game, as the North beat the South 13-7. Moore’s goal — along with a 10-save performance — earned him MVP honors. The boys’ game featured a diverse score sheet and plenty of celebrations.
“It was a lot of fun,” Moore said. “I like being able to play with a lot of kids that don't generally come from hotbed areas. It was definitely different. The venue is really nice; you can’t really beat this. Just getting to play lacrosse, it's always just such a pleasure.”
As the best college-bound boys’ lacrosse players in the West gathered for their showcase, it became clear early on that everyone was going to get involved in the scoring and the festivities.
Caio Stephens (High Point) was the first to find the back of the net. After receiving a pass from Luke Sganga (Utah), Stephens throttled a shot from distance — when, suddenly, the North bench cleared, as did the field.
Every player donned in red rushed off the field and back down the tunnel from where they entered.
“That was so awesome. Because I went, I scored, I shot top-left,” Stephens said. “And I'm looking at all the guys, and then I'm like, ‘Let's go, let's go!’ and I look up and the whole bench is already all the way there.”
It was all North in the first quarter. It outscored the South 6-1 behind the aforementioned goals from Stephens and Moore, along with tallies by Jacob Mendez (Westminster) and Brett Koopman (North Carolina).
Henry Boykin (Bucknell) got things going for the South in an improved second quarter with a bouncer that skipped past Moore. Carson Krammer also got in on the fun, doing his best Cristiano Ronaldo impression by hitting his signature jumping celebration.
Krammer was the only player to record multiple goals in the first half, scoring a pair for the South, which salvaged an 8-4 deficit at the midway point. All eight of the North’s goals were scored by different players.
Out of the halftime break — during which Cooper Keesee (Drexel) of the South won the fastest shot competition by hitting 113 miles per hour twice — the South came out hot with goals from Berkley Horoba (Towson), Beau Westphal (Marquette) and Jack Porter (Drexel).
As the deficit shrunk to one, it looked like the ending would be a nail-biter. The North had other plans.
The North nabbed six unanswered goals en route to victory. Koopman scored his second in the third quarter, and Sganga found the net twice in the fourth, giving him a game-high three points.
After Sganga’s first goal, Moore ran back onto the field one last time, having made way between the sticks in the second half. It wasn’t to play more lacrosse, but to play duck, duck, goose with his teammates in celebration.
“When I play lacrosse, I play lacrosse to have fun, so I thought coming out here, the best part of the All-Star Game is just getting to have a ton of fun with new people,” Moore said. “And celebrations are probably my favorite part. We were in the locker room planning out what we were gonna do.”
