SALT LAKE CITY — Early in the season, creating a championship season seemed unattainable for the Judge Memorial Catholic High School boys lacrosse team, but then expectations turned around for Braeden Daly’s team.
Daly started the season with 29 players on his roster, but through injury, they were close to 10 players down at one point.
“It’s pretty difficult to fill both teams, JV and varsity, that way,” Daly said.
It ended up being a roller coaster of a season for Judge.
“We kind of went in streaks; we’d win a few, go on little losing streaks, then win some more,” Daly said. “It shows me as a coach the ability of this team to stick together and fight through tough times.”
After the up-and-down season, the Bulldogs were placed in Division C for state play – the lowest of the three divisions, which each has 16 teams that are ranked by their scores throughout the season.
“When we got knocked into C division, the team could have decided to give up and just wait until next year, but they didn’t,” Daly said. “They came back strong and finished out the season ending in a win, which very rarely teams get to do.”
That win was a 9-7 victory against Waterford May 18 at Corner Canyon High School, which was all the more sweet because Waterford had trounced Judge 9-0 in a regular season game.
“I was beyond excited,” Daly said of the state victory. “This was purely the team. For them to come back and beat Waterford—that was all heart and really showed the attitude of the team to completely turn things around.”
Daly had high praise for his players, singling out several in particular.
Johnny Walz, one of the team’s captains, was “a beast on the field,” Daly said. “He was a leader on and off the field.”
Goalie Alex Snarr was “one of the most dedicated kids on the field,” he said.
Chavo Salazar, who got a concussion early in the season, effectively ending his lacrosse career, nevertheless became one of the coaches for the team and contributed to its success, Daly said.
Max Koszinowski “was a stud on both sides of the field; offense and defense,” he said. “He kept the team motivated most of the time.”
Dominic Malouf was a great player and was there at the end with his teammates even though he suffered a compact fracture in one of his fingers in the last few minutes of the final game, Daly said.
Walz, Koszinowski, Malouf and Snarr were all named first team 2019 UHSLL All-State - Class C. Andrew Turner, Timothy Jerome and Nathan Hill received honorable mention.
Malouf and Jerome were recently unanimously chosen to be the team’s captains for 2019-20 by their teammates, something Daly said he has never seen before.
Daly said he is optimistic for the team for next season.
I’m excited for next year,” he said. “We have a lot of talent and leadership from this year for next season.”
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