Photos: Northwest Invitational, Faith Lutheran (Nev.) vs. Eastlake (Wash.) April 2, 2016

By Casey Vock on Mon, 04/04/2016 - 18:59
(Photo: Casey Vock, 3d Rising)
(Photo: Casey Vock, 3d Rising)

3d Rising spent the weekend of April 1 through April 3 just outisde of Seattle, Washington, posting up for three days at Mercer Island High School, the host of the annual Northwest Invitational. Put on by former former and longtimer Mercer Island head coach Ian O'Hearn, the event brings the best teams from Washington, Oregon, Nevada, British Columbia and even Montana to the Seattle area for a weekend of competition that is really unlike anything else out there in high school lacrosse: the very best programs from a group of non-traditional hotbed regions getting together to battle it out for three days. 

We took in more than ten varsity games throughout the weekend, getting our eyes on many of these teams for the first time, which made the trip more than worth it. (We were also in Portland for a couple days -- if you missed our first and second updates from that part of the trip, get caught up.) 

One of those games was a matchup between Faither Lutheran, currently the top team in Las Vegas in the Rising State-by-State Rankings, and Eastlake, a program out of Sammamish, Washington. The Crusaders took a 12-4 win in the game, with Spencer Scarcelli standing tall in the cage. We caught up with Faith Lutheran assistant and Maryland Terrapins alum/current MLL player Max Schmidt after the game, an interview we've included below. 

Be sure to use the hashtag #NorthwestInvitational to see all of the activity on social media from the event. Be sure to follow 3d Rising on Twitter (@3dRising) and Instagram (@3drising). Be sure to check out our State-by-State Rankings each week. 

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Hailing from Upstate New York, Casey Vock is the manager of 3d Rising. Before joining 3d Rising, he spent three years at Inside Lacrosse, where he was a full-time writer for Inside Lacrosse Magazine, InsideLacrosse.com, ILIndoor.com and ILGear.com covering all facets of the game. He was named the editor of ILGear.com in November 2012 after helping launch the site a year earlier. Prior to joining Inside Lacrosse in Baltimore, Casey was a freelance writer in Upstate New York covering professional, college and high school lacrosse for Inside Lacrosse, as well as writing for the Press-Republican newspaper in Plattsburgh and other media outlets. Casey played lacrosse in high school at Indian River and went on to play at Jefferson Community College. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and business from SUNY Plattsburgh, an MBA from Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management and an MS in media management from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse. Reach him by email at cvock@3dRising.com and follow him on Twitter @cvock.