Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/24/17
From Press Release
Springfield-Delco head coach Tom Lemieux and Radnor athletic director and assistant coach Mike Friel have partnered to create an exciting new event on the elite high school lacrosse landscape – Philly’s Elite Invitational (http://phillyselite.heritagelacrosse.com/), featuring 20 of Pennsylvania and New Jersey’s best boys’ lacrosse high school teams, at Radnor High School on Monday and Tuesday, June 26-27.
The event is powered by Heritage Lacrosse, whose leadership includes another top HS coach in Episcopal Academy’s Chris Bates.
In a sharp contrast from the current summer club lacrosse landscape, the PEI features only high school teams and allows players from the classes of 2018-2021 to participate. The PEI’s Monday-Tuesday setup allows players to play with their high school teams without causing any club conflicts. Teams interested in learning more about the PEI should email us at phillyeliteinvitational@gmail.com. All teams are guaranteed to play five games, and a champion will be crowned.
“College coaches have indicated that they like high school tournaments in the summer because it allows them to see players with the same teams that they’ve been playing with all spring, which means that coaches get to see the kids play within their systems with players that they’ve been playing with for months,” said 2016 Phillylacrosse.com Coach of the Year Lemieux, whose Cougars were the 2016 PIAA champion and have advanced to the District 1-AA finals.
“You’ll often see players change their game for their club team in an effort to get recruited, and we want to stay away from that and allow them to play a more team-oriented game within their high school systems,” added Bates, a former Division I head coach at Princeton and Drexel.
Defending PIAA champion Springfield highlights the current 20-team field. The Cougars are joined by PA schools Academy of the New Church, Conestoga, Downingtown East, Emmaus, Episcopal Academy, Garnet Valley, Malvern Prep, Marple Newtown, Penncrest, Radnor, Ridley, Spring-Ford, Strath Haven, Upper Dublin and Wilson West Lawn as well as New Jersey’s Lawrenceville School, Lenape, Mountain Lakes, and Summit.
“We have an extremely strong field that has teams from two states and 11 different leagues,” Friel said. “The Philly Elite Invitational is going to be one of the country’s top high school summer events, where teams can play close games every game and test themselves against the best competition the area has to offer. The response from college coaches has been great, and we look forward to a really fun and competitive event.”
Full tournament information can be found at phillyselite.heritagelacrosse.com.