Quaker Valley middle schoolers win lacrosse national titles

Three district boys won a lacrosse national championship over Memorial Day weekend as members of The Circuit youth program.

Midfielder Will Bauersmith and close D Luke Dunda, both sixth-grade students representing the class of 2031 in the Quaker Valley School District, were members of the Red Hots team that captured The Circuit national title at Bryant University in Rhode Island.

The 2031 Red Hots were coached by Jamie Bauersmith, Will’s father, along with Erik Faust, head coach at Howard County Community College in Columbia, Md.

QV eighth-grader Ryan Bauersmith competed as a midfielder/LSM for the “older” Red Hots team, which finished first in The Circuit’s class of 2029 age division.

“I was just so happy for the boys,” coach Bauersmith said after the tournament. “They all make big sacrifices and put in a lot of time to be able to play at that high of a level. To see that effort and how much the boys enjoyed being together and playing as a team is an incredible experience.

“As I preached to the boys from day one of tryouts, it is a ‘we’ not ‘me’ game, and while all of them are all-stars on their hometown team, the only way we win the Circuit national championship is if we put that me aside and focus on the we.”

The Circuit national lacrosse tournament is a year-long event that is comprised of some of the best national teams and players in the country at every age group. The Redhots 2031 and 2029 teams both won three games that weekend to clinch national titles.

This is the third year of the tournament and the age range for participants are the high school graduating years of 2029-2032. It features 12 national select teams, which are comprised of top youth players across the country who make the teams via tryouts.

“Making the team is a challenge in its own right as there are hundreds of kids vying for a spot on any given one of these 12 teams,” coach Bauersmith said,” and only around 20 to 25 make a roster. Once chosen for the national team, you then go to mini-camps at various locations throughout the year — ours was outside of Baltimore — to practice with the team so that come tournament time, there is familiarity. And the coaches have a chance to further assess player strengths beyond what we saw at the tryouts.”

The tournament starts in October in either New Jersey or Philadelphia with four or five games over a weekend. The next session runs in February in Naples, Fla., with another four or five games over a weekend.

Based on the results, six teams qualify for the championship tournament that is held in conjunction with the NCAA Men’s Final Four.

This year’s NCAA Tournament took place in Foxborough, Mass.

As part of the experience, the players on the national teams were able to attend Final Four games, meet some of the college athletes and do a walkaround at halftime.

The 2029 Red Hots went 12-1 over the three weekends of competition, which included a 3-0 record at final weekend. The 2031 squad also went 3-0 at the finals and compiled a 10-2 tournament record.

“We had a ton of talented boys playing (on the 2031 team),” coach Bauersmith said, “but I had some limited expectations after our first weekend in October when we went 3-1 and really had to fight through some tough games to get that record.

“The team jelled quite a bit, and by the end of February, I thought we had a real shot to win the entire thing even though we came in as a four seed at the final weekend.”

The 2031 Red Hots team members consisted of Cole Berju, Jaydon Levine, Dane Buchbinder, Joseph Thomas and Oliver Brose at attack; Ryan Chun and Ryder Foltyniewicz at faceoff specialist; Bauersmith, Bowden Maynard, Charlie Ross, Reid Huebner, Jett Esterly, George Hahn, Henry Juelis, Alexander Williams, Jameson O’Toole and Parker Chiang at midfield; Hawkins Huffstutter and Topher LaCasse at LSM; Dunda, Charlie Cheatham, Tommy King, George Johnson and Bodie Shore at close D; and Mason Sadoff and Billy Bissell at the goalkeeper position.

“My other son’s 2029 team had great skill all over the field,” coach Bauersmith said, “but they had one early loss in October that showed they also needed to play more of a team game. They obviously put it all together with some dramatic wins including an OT win in the semifinal.”

The 2029 Red Hots team roster was not available.

Dunda and the Bauersmith brothers all play for the Sewickley Valley Lacrosse Club.