Northern California has seen its fair share of talent come through the area in recent years, but never has it had a team comprised of future stars like the Team NorCal U15 Blue. Featuring players from some of the newest hot beds of Bay Area lacrosse, the NorCal U15 Blues rolled into Texas in early June ready to take on the country's best and poised to achieve their goal of earning a chance to compete for the US Lacrosse Champion Sporting Goods National Championship. A week later, they would then scale to the tops of the Rockies to compete in the Warrior Vail Shootout and achieve something no other NorCal team had ever achieved before.

With players from every corner of the Bay Area, this high octane and somewhat cavalier group of talent jumped right in to the hot dry Dallas heat. First up was Missouri's best. The Blues came out of the gates early and never let up. Led by top scoring attackman Ryan Clark and NorCal's own BIG 3 of Tovrea, Waller and Whims, the Blues went on to show the "Show Me State" what Northern California lacrosse was all about. On Saturday the Blues arrived bright and early to the Arlington Sports Complex to take on Texas' own Houston Hula's. In what would turn out to be an early morning slug-fest, the Blues would find themselves down 3 at the half, but would come back to tie the game with the high school heavy Hula's. With under a minute remaining, the Hula's would take a 1 goal lead and would go on to knock off the young Blues. After a short regrouping and some much needed shooting practice, the Blues had a high noon Texas duel with the Blue Horns of Dallas. From the first face off to the last whistle, the Blues took it to the Blue Horns. With 9 players contributing with goals and a spectacular performance coming from a defense that sounds much like a law firm (Arneson, Callahan, Evans and Lau) the Blues would go on to roll over the Dallas Blue Horns 15 to 1 and punch their ticket to the National Championship. The Blues would go onto to play their next 2 games against the C2C programs Dallas regional teams, and finish the Dallas Regional Qualifier 3 and 2, but achieved their goal of earning a chance to compete for the US Lacrosse National Championship.

On Sunday June 19th the Blues arrived in a very different and somewhat Siberian Vail, Colorado. For a group of California boys a cold snap and snow showers would most certainly spell a cause for concern, but for these California boys it was as natural as fish to water. After enduring a series of tryouts in early January and an entire club season that was rain soaked and cold, the Blues opened up the Vail Warrior Shootout against 3 opponents from all over the country. On Day 1 the fireworks started in the their first game against the Ohio Scorpions. Jumping out to an early 3 - 0 lead the Blues would allow the Scorpions to crawl back in, but would soon close the door and go on to win 6 to 3. Next came Colorado Select and so did the rain/cold. The Blue would jump out to an early 5 to 0 lead and then the fireworks came! Goalie Dylan Slack found his defense shutoff by the Selects attack, and would elect to take the clear on his own. Rifling through midfielders and defenders, Slack would find himself 10 yards from the goal and let the ball rip! An eruption roared from both the players and parents sidelines, and even the coaches had to be restrained by chaperones Mike Rudy and Tony Levitan because of their excitement. The Blues would go on to add 6 more goals and cruise past Colorado Select 12 to 0. The final game of the day saw the weather slightly break, but the Blues offense didn't. Again fireworks would erupt as long stick midfielder Daniel Cava found himself yards away from the LA Thunderbolts goal and would let a shot fly! The shot found itself at the back of the net, and the Blues sidelines once again found themselves in a frenzy. They would go on to 11 to 1 and win Group 4 for the first day of the tournament.

On Tuesday morning the Blues would face Monday Group 5 winner Next Level Maryland. Next Level is the feeder program for Georgetown Prep, one of Maryland's perennial east coast and National powers. The Blues would jump out to an early 3 to 1 lead to end the first half. Next Level would start the second half strong and tie the score at 4 with about 12 minutes remaining in the second half, but the Blues defense tightened and their big scorers would come through. They would take the lead once again under 6 minutes and not look back. The final score was NorCal Blues 7 - Next Level 5 and would mark the first time ever that a NorCal team defeated a team from Maryland. Next up would be the Utah Starz and a chance to solidify a top 6 seed in the tournaments elimination rounds. The Blues and Starz would get their opportunities in the first half, but neither could put their shots on cage or past the opposing goalies. The goal drought would soon end though shortly after the start of the second half. Utah would put 2 quick goals in and would not look back. They would go on to stun the Blues 4 to 2. The chance to wrap up the top seed evaded the Blues, but a top 4 seed and a bye was still in the cards. The Blues could only let the loss to Utah stew in side each of them for an hour before they had to take on California in state rival San Diego Lawless. From the beginning the Blues wouldn't let the loss to Utah get in the way of a top 4 seed. They would hand the San Diego based team their worst loss of the tournament 11 to 1 and head home to their condos with butterflies in their stomach awaiting their tournament seed.

At 1007pm Tuesday night the news reached the Blues main house. They would receive the #4 seed overall in the A division bracket, a bye in the first round, and fresh new haircuts! Wednesday morning came and the Blues arrived to the fields and learned that they would be facing a new rival they made at the Dallas Regional Qualifier, Dallas C2C. The Blues would come firing out of the gates and at the end of the first half would lead C2C 4 to 1. The second half became a seesaw battle and the two teams would exchange goals and body blows. With 17 seconds left and few questionable calls, the Blues would end up being man down. With 6 seconds remaining, a C2C midfielder would take a shot from about 15 yards off crease, skip off the ground and hit the lower left pipe, OVERTIME. By now, the crowd that was once parents from the two teams, would turn into about 300 spectators. Cheers and jeers echoed the field throughout the first OT. Each team would get shots off, but neither could put it past the net minders. The second overtime would come and the crowd would grow even more. Again shots and opportunities for the two teams came, but the goals just would not fall. At the start of the third overtime the Blues would hold off a C2C rush and counter with a barrage of their own shots. With 17 seconds left a turnover occurred at the midfield. A C2C player picked up the ground ball, scampered down the field and hit a cutting attack-man. With a defender on his hip and one moving toward him like a freight train, the attack-man would let the shot go and see it squeak by the right calf of the Blues goalie. Heart ache for the Blues once again and jubilation for C2C. The Blues would go on to play 2 more games over the course of the next 24hrs and finish 6th out of 24 teams.

The maturity, growth, efforts and achievements of the Blues over the course of the Dallas Regional Qualifier and the Warrior Vail Shootout is a true testament to the players, the parents and the Bay Area. Now the boys focus turns to their next goal, The US Lacrosse National Championship. A test that many never thought would come, but a goal they had set for themselves from the beginning. Rested, willing, and able the Blues embark on this test starting Sunday July 10th, when they head to Palo Alto once again for practice and preparation for the the US Lacrosse National Championship!!!!

A special thanks goes out to all parents and chaperones that made this all possible (Jonathan Bunce, Kevin Noonan, Bob Burnett, Steve Chandless, Jay Burnham, Ken Brickman, Tony Levitan and Mike Rudy). Without you the parents none of this would ever happen. A big thank you goes out to you from the Team NorCal Administration and Coaching staff!