Alyssa Cranska was hot, tired and sweating profusely under 100-degree heat last Friday at Kent Island High School in Stevensville.
And, she couldn?t have been more excited.
The Broadneck senior had just finished playing the fifth of nine scheduled lacrosse games over two days as a part of All Star Express, considered by many to be the nation?s top recruiting tournament for women?s college lacrosse.
Cranska knows that one of her best chances to get noticed is by performing well at the tournament, which attracted 300 select teams with girls ages 11-17, along with representatives from practically every Division I, II and III college program. Her belief is backed up with the success of her select team, CC Lax, which sent all 24 of its seniors from last year?s team to Division I schools.
“Everyone out here wants to be recruited,” Cranska said. “You just hope a coach sees you when you are on your game.”
All Star Express came about in 1993 with two teams as Annapolis resident and longtime women?s lacrosse activist Cathy Samaras looked for a venue to showcase local talent. Today, All-Star Express is a four-day lacrosse festival filled with games, music, displays and the Versus game, an exhibition with the top college and post-collegiate players in the country.
“The community has been great here, but this is the last year of growth we can accommodate here,” Samaras said.
Many of the players who participated in All-Star Express said the grueling schedule is the easiest part of the event. The hard part comes beforehand with players having to tryout for a select team.
Next comes the practices and sending the dozens of emails to coaches letting them know when and where they are playing.
“It can be very a very stressful process,” said CC Lax player and Severna Park senior Ruby Devine.
Michael McLaughlin, who runs the Baltimore County-based Skywalkers program, said college coaches look for a lot more than which player wins and who scored the most goals.
“Coaches want to see how players respond after making a mistake,” he said. “They want to see whether a player drops her head, looks to the sideline or races down the field when faced with adversity.”
Skywalkers player Abby Buresh echoed the sentiment of many participants who agreed that summer tournaments like All-Star Express, and similar events in other sports, play a greater role in recruiting college athletes compared to the high school season.
“Coaches won?t see you play in high school because their season overlaps with ours,” said Buresh, a senior at Towson. “That?s especially true for those who play in public schools.”
Coaches trekking from game to game with scouting reports in hand didn?t dispel that belief, especially those from out-of-state schools.
“This is where we do most of our recruiting, because there is no way we can see these players while we are in Nashville,” said Vanderbilt assistant coach Megan Riley.
