When the sport of high school lacrosse made its way to the West Coast about 10 years ago, the center of Northern California power was at St. Ignatius, a boys team that was consistently ranked among the top high school programs in the country.
Over the years, however, the town of Atherton has put itself on the lacrosse map with some of the best boys and girls players in the country playing at Menlo-Atherton, Menlo School and Sacred Heart Prep.
As such, Peninsula lacrosse athletes are increasingly being noticed at the national level and a group of Atherton-based players received All-American honors from USA Lacrosse.
“We’re fortunate in that a lot of our kids are great athletes,” said M-A head coach Steven Kryger, who was on a layover in Dallas on his way to Indianapolis to participate in the National Federation of State High School Association lacrosse rules meeting, of which he is a representative.
“The kids that get to this level tend to play club (lacrosse). That’s what really separates the great athlete from the great lacrosse player.”
High school athletes are nominated by their coaches or school administrators, which requires play in 50% or more of matches, season statistics and other honors accumulated during high school play. A committee in each area then selects four All-Americans, four Academic All-Americans, and a boys’ and girls’ special honor.
Recent M-A graduate Jeremy Koren, who was named the Daily Journal’s Boys’ Lacrosse Player of the Year, was chosen as one of three players from the California-Silicon Valley region. The Long-stick middie, who was among the team’s leading scorers despite being the Bears’ best defender, was a three-year captain and served as a de facto coach on the field this season, helping the Bears to a second-place finish in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division, behind league champ Los Gatos.
The Bears qualified for the playoffs and in the quarterfinals beat Los Gatos for the first time in program history. They fell to eventual CCS champion St. Ignatius in the semifinals.
For Koren, who will play at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, it is the second year in a row he’s been honored by USA Lacrosse. Last year, he was named the area’s Bob Scott Award, which is based on on-field success, academic success as well as being an active member of the lacrosse community.
Also earning All-American honors was Sacred Heart Prep attacker Max Sloat, who helped lead the Gators to a second-place finish in the West Catholic Athletic League — behind league champ St. Ignatius.
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Sloat, who will play at Duke University next season, scored 99 goals and assisted on 16 others to help SHP to a 21-3 mark, earning WCAL Most Valuable Player honors in the process.
“He’s tremendous,” Kryger said of Sloat. “A great leader. Very unselfish. He’s a quality individual, too. … He’s the complete package.”
Both M-A and SHP had athletes earn Academic All-American honors, as well. For the Bears, attacker Malone Lohmann was chosen for his performance on the field and in the classroom and will continue his playing career at New York University.
Lohmann, who scored 58 goals and assisted on 57 more this season, broke the school’s career points record. In less than three seasons, his 2020 sophomore season was cut short by COVID, Lohmann amassed 212 points — 114 goals and 98 assists —eclipsing the previous record total of 196, set by Duncan McGinnis, who graduated in 2014.
Lohmann’s 57 assists this season also broke the single-season assist record and the 98 in his career is also a new school record.
Kai Lockton and Eric Bollar, both attackers for the Gators, were also named to the Academic All-American squad. Lockton scored 85 goals this season, while Bollar added 49.
Finally, Los Altos’ head coach Brent Tovrea was selected as the California-Silicon Valley area Coach of the Year. Los Altos went 6-6 in De Anza Division play and were 8-6 overall.
On the girls’ side, Sacred Heart Prep had three members of the 2022 squad earn All-American honors: Ellie Noto, who was named the Daily Journal’s Girls’ Lacrosse Player of the Year, Kat Showalter and Phoebe Kim. Woodside’s Madi Escobar was also named to the California-Central Coast All-American squad.
Five Peninsula players were also given All-Academic nods, including: Burlingame’s Eleanor Bradley, M-A’s Alexandra Shaw, who was also the recipient of the area’s Jackie Pitts Award. SHP All-Academic selections included Christina Long, Emily Leschin and Kim.
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