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Setbacks Give Tampa A Learning Experience

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By CHRIS ERRINGTON, Tribune correspondent

Published: January 6, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - Tom FitzSimons knew entering Saturday's first round of the Dick's Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions that his neophyte Tampa Tribe lacrosse elite team would be overmatched.

That's why he found other means of providing inspiration.

"If we had six months to train, we would play a lot better," he said, "but we've only had one night. I want the kids to understand what the level of competition is that they'll have to compete against to get to college, so this is a great way to get that experience.

"We talked about focusing on the little things and measuring our progress from there. It's a challenge, but if they continue to do the little things, they're going to be much better players."

The Tribe, matched against defending national champion Edge Senior Elite of Ontario and the team that upset it in the day's first game, Team Carolina, found little to celebrate on the scoreboard, losing 21-2 and 15-3, respectively. Still, all wasn't lost.

Daniel Moriarty scored the Tribe's first goal and added an assist on the second against Edge. Eric Anderson, Ray Rouch and Brett McCullough scored against Team Carolina.

In the end, FitzSimons saw enough positives to remain optimistic.

"Danny is a good little player," FitzSimons said. "This is all just experience for us. We're going to just go out and compete. I didn't say we were going to win, but we can still be successful anyway."

The Tribe's under-17 team, playing in the Rising Stars Division, finished 1-1-1 for the day. The Tribe topped the Miami Makos 11-10 in the day's final game, after tying the St. Louis Samurai Whitebelts 5-5 and losing 8-4 to Team Illinois West.

Last year's 25-team tournament was held at Gettysburg (Pa.) College. Because of scheduling conflicts with qualifying tournaments and the limited time teams had to prepare for the national tournament, the championships were moved to early January and, subsequently, to Wesley Chapel District Park.

Tournament officials have not confirmed a site for next year's event but said they'd enjoy the opportunity to make Pasco County its permanent home.

The tournament resumes today with single-elimination, championship-bracket play for the top 16 qualifiers beginning at 8 a.m. Championships for both the Elite and Rising Stars Divisions begin at 12:30 p.m.

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