Four Selected to Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Tournament

“It’s a national tournament,” explained Mike Marich P’23 ’24, Athletic Director and Head Boys Lacrosse Coach. “Each region has a tryout. The tryouts have 200 students or more competing for about 20 spots per region. Each of the regions then send their teams to play against each other in Maryland at the end of July. College coaches are there. It’s one of the biggest showcases on the summer lacrosse circuit. To have four students represent our school, it’s incredible. They were playing against the best players in the country.”

Players are selected into two divisions. Hoffman, Laatsch and Bella made the Command teams for their respective regions, which include rising high school sophomores and freshmen, and Rayhill made his region’s Highlight team, for rising seniors and juniors.

From his Upstate New York division, Rayhill, a defender who also plays soccer and ice hockey, was named to the 2021 Under Armour Boys Division All-Tournament Team. “It’s a great honor to be selected to the all-star team at the end of the tournament,” Marich said. In addition to that, Rayhill and Hoffman were named to the Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Senior Watchlist from the tournament.

“I am so proud of all of our students for all they have accomplished. It’s great for our programs and it’s great for the students. They have all put in a tremendous amount of effort, both prior to coming here and during their time here.” Marich said. “It takes a lot of commitment and it’s a credit to their parents for supporting them through these events. It was the first time we’ve ever had four players at the same time at that event. I’m super proud of them and everything that they’ve accomplished, and super proud of the way that they represented Frederick Gunn.”

Bella has been playing lacrosse since she was four years old. In 2020, she went to the Under Armour Underclass Tournament tryouts and got called back, but did not make All-American. “This year, my goal was definitely to make the team because I was one of the older girls this time. You know you made the team because everyone else that didn’t make it has to leave, and they basically get eliminated. This year, I did get called back and I made it, so it was pretty cool.”

Getting ready for tournament play took some effort following the global pandemic. “It definitely took a lot more practice to get back into the groove of things, especially playing with girls I’d never played with before from New York and other towns and cities in Connecticut,” Bella said. “There were girls from California and Oregon, from all the way across the country, flying in just to play against us, because we were one of the best teams. It was pretty cool knowing that they came just to try to beat us.”

Her dad and grandparents were there to cheer her on through games that were played in the heat, humidity and rain, but Bella, who plays defense, said she was well prepared. “I was with some of the girls who play on my club team. When it’s hot, we have to do a lot of conditioning so we can get prepared for the heat. We were prepared to be able to run two miles in a game. We were all ready to run in 100-degree weather,” she said.

A three-season athlete, Bella rows crew and plays Girls Varsity Ice Hockey, and this spring, she hopes to play midfield and defense for the Girls Varsity Lacrosse team, a move that would help her score the 20 goals she is aiming for, to compete with a player from her old school, who scored 100 goals in her high school career.

In the upcoming season, Bella will play for the first time under the direction of the school’s new Head Coach for Girls Varsity Lacrosse, Rachel Hedden, who joined the Admissions Office this fall. “My goals are to establish a healthy team culture, an environment where girls can try new things and explore the lacrosse world for themselves, and see themselves as lacrosse players, even if that isn’t their first sport. I played soccer and it took a lot not to see myself as a soccer player who played lacrosse. There are a lot of girls that feel that way,” Hedden said, adding that Bella brings a high level of exposure to the team, having experienced a style of play from each region of the country, and the overall fast pace of the game, “which is what we want to bring here.”

“I’m excited to have Rachel step in as the head coach knowing this is what the program has deserved and needed for so many years,” said Assistant Coach Emily Abelson. “Like all of our girls, Julia brings such a dynamic force to the defensive line that we’re really excited about. Her lacrosse IQ, stick skills, and the way she moves her feet — it’s going to be awesome to watch her play.”

For Rayhill, who has been playing lacrosse since kindergarten, being named to the all-tournament team was a great honor. “It’s not really something that I aim for. My coaches encouraged me to try out for the team and I decided to do it and I feel very honored to be selected for that team, but it’s not the reason I like playing the game or why I do it. It was just a nice kind of accomplishment that came with playing the game.”

His goals for this year? “To have a lot of fun, to get better and prepare for the next level,” said Rayhill, who is committed to the admissions process at Cornell University.

Like Rayhill, Hoffman has been playing lacrosse since kindergarten and hopes to be recruited to a DI team. His coaches also recommended that he try out for the All-America tournament. “There were seven teams at the tryout and there was a callback game after you played every team. There were two teams at the callback game, and they would choose the full team out of the callback game, so it was pretty stressful,” explained Hoffman, who also plays varsity soccer and basketball for the school, and was cheered on by his dad at the tournament. His parents, he added, “were pretty happy that I made it because it was a pretty big deal.”

Mid-fielder Laatsch, who also plays football and basketball, said he spent about eight months during the pandemic practicing lacrosse in his backyard in Montana. Last summer he was able to practice in person with the Salt Lake City Lacrosse Club. “I drive down there every week from Montana and practice with them. That was the only in-person practice I had until this summer. I was really nervous going into the tryout,” he said, “and once I got there, I just played as hard as I could and it worked out.”

When he learned he had made the All-America team, he said: “It was awesome. I just felt great. That was the first big team I’ve made. I’ve made a bunch of little teams and I’ve always had that on my shoulder and this was the first big thing on my shoulder.”

His goals for the upcoming season: “To just keep working hard, keep playing, and just getting better.”