D-II Round 1: San Diego at St. Thomas

ST. PAUL, Minn. – How will the St. Thomas dynasty end? Or perhaps the better question is: will it ever end?

For the purposes of this virtual tournament, the question is whether San Diego can put the Tommies run to bed before it gets started?

The Toreros are now helmed by Iric Bressler, which is a name that probably doesn’t mean a whole lot in SoCal, but Bressler was a killer at RIT. He’ll have his guys ready.

The USD offense is paced by sophomore attackman Weston Priestly, who is having a career year. Sophomore Gabe Benson and rookie Brian Abrahamson have stepped into the finishing roles nicely.

D-II Round 1: San Diego at St. Thomas | https://t.co/fb0DnAOLOv #virtualmcla20
— MCLA Tournament '21 (@MCLA_Tournament) March 22, 2020

Senior John Brennan and sophomore Thomas Schrantz will be tasked with slowing down the relentless St. Thomas depth.

“If you come at the king, you best not miss. We don’t plan on missing,” said Bressler. “We’ll have to be close to perfect, but that’s why we practice.”

Slowing down St. Thomas.

It’s a great concept. Implementation has been problematic for the past decade.

And just when you think graduation might take a toll on the Tommies, they roll out rookie attackman Garett Hoch – another stud from the countless Twin City prep lacrosse factories.

That’s the new guy. Then there are returning monsters Jack Killbarda and Riley Baumgartner. And there are others.

There is once again an embarrassment of riches on the defensive end, with new coach Jason King having two goalies – senior Patrick Jackson and junior Drew Bouman – who could start at most D-II programs in the country.

“We still have plenty of room for improvement,” said King. “San Diego is going to enjoy its trip to the Cities and I’m sure we’re going to get their best effort. We have to be ready.”

[*- The coach didn’t really say this. This is all made up. It’s fake]