Arizona Burn Orange Wins Adrenaline Challenge

By Glae Thien
WSL Special Correspondent

SAN DIEGO -- Even with his team holding a seven-goal lead, Arizona Burn Orange middie Brock Ghelfi wasn’t going to let up while taking a breather on the bench late in the 2010 Adrenaline Challenge championship game.

When the public-address announcer gave a two-minute warning, the sophomore proclaimed, “We haven’t won it yet!”

His teammates heard his call.

The seventh-seeded Burn maintained its intensity to the end, claiming a decisive 8-1 victory over fourth-seeded San Diego LaxDawgs Brown Elite on Sunday afternoon at Robb Field to win its first title in an Adrenaline tournament since the club that used to be named Arizona Starz won the Sonoma Shootout in July 2005.

WARRIOR ELITE: NorCAL PUPS 7, SAN DIEGO LaxDAWGS ROYAL 4
HIGH SCHOOL: ARIZONA BURN ORANGE 6, SHAMROCKS GREEN 4
GIRLS ELITE: SAN DIEGO LaxDAWGS 11, COASTAL COUGARS 6

Ghelfi and junior attackman Rockne Repp each scored two goals to lead the Burn (5-1), which scored the game’s final seven goals, including four in the second half.

“This is a good team that we played,” said Ghelfi, who plays his high school lacrosse at Brophy Prep. “We just needed to always keep our heads in the game.”

Arizona contained the locally-based LaxDawgs (5-1) after they had scored 10 or more goals in four of five previous tournament games. La Jolla’s Michael Soumekh scored the LaxDawgs’ only goal four minutes into the game.

The LaxDawgs were denied in their bid to win their first Adrenaline Challenge title after ousting top-seeded Brady’s Bunch, 10-5, in the semifinals.

The Burn was the only all-Arizona team in the top-flight Adrenaline Elite Division, and it drew from high school statewide.

“These guys have worked hard over the last couple of years, and they deserve it," second-year Arizona coach Chris Malone said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them They played their tails off. The confidence just grew as the day went on. It was a great team effort. I couldn’t have scripted it any it better.”

Adam Fishman opened the scoring for the Burn on a man-up advantage in the second minute. After the LaxDawgs pulled even, Kyle Mason scored three minutes later to put Arizona ahead to stay.

“We were trying to keep hot the whole time,” said Repp, who plays at Saguaro. “We came out strong and wanted to keep the momentum.”

Ghelfi and Nick Canivez added the other first-half goals for an Arizona team that nearly missed qualifying for the quarterfinals after going 2-1 on Saturday.

“We started playing as a team (on Sunday),” Ghelfi said. “We were kind of meshing and learning (on Saturday). Then it all came together for us. We played great.”

Repp scored back-to-back goals to open the second-half and extend the lead to 6-1 with 11 minutes remaining.

“It’s awesome,” said Repp, who was playing in his first tournament as a high schooler. “We came out hard, shooting a lot and playing as a team.”

Ghelfi subsequently added his second goal, and Jeff Petznick put the final touches on the Arizona rout.

“It is playing together as a team -- moving the ball around on offense and talking on defense,” Malone said. “I stress the little things, not shooting the ball 100 miles per hour. All those little things that make the big plays happen.”