Marty Gordon
This is the first varsity lacrosse season at Christiansburg High School and already one of its players has grabbed some attention with his one-game performance two weeks ago against William Fleming. Matt Davison set a new Virginia High School record with 10 goals in one game. Monday, he called it a shock that he had scored multiple goals and set a new record.
“On the last goal, Mac Padgett gave me a great pass. None of the other team’s defenders came out and played me do I had my hands free to shoot and put it in the bottom left corner,” he said.
On the club level leading up to this first varsity one, Davidson has had some success. His best year was when he was a seventh grader when he had 47 total goals and 25 assists. He also had one game with eight goals.
Davidson started playing lacrosse in the second grade and was attracted to the sports because how it was a combination of all sports.
“It has the physicality of football, the pace of soccer, the two-man pick and roll game of basketball, and the stick and ball or puck aspect of hockey. It’s all these great sports mixed up into one,” he said.
Also, there was some family influence. His uncle played in college. His dad played, and his original coach lived up the street so he saw it at a young age.
The program is just starting to be built at the high school level, but Davidson said the Blue Demons will surprise a few opponents this season.
“We’re a very young team, and this is a real growing year, but I think we’re a good team that can surprise a lot of people this season.”
Davidson would love to play in college and always been a dream of his since he was a kid.
Now, if you go out to a local game this season, you might need to learn what’s going on during contest. There is a difference in both the boys and girls game. So today, I will give you “Lacrosse 101 Cheat Sheet for Dummies”.
One of the main differences between the boys and girls game is physical contact. It’s encouraged on the male side with body checking. For girls, it is not. Thus, there is a lot less protective equipment in the girls’ game.
Boys wear helmets, mouth guards, gloves and shoulder pads. Girls stick to mouth pieces and eye protection with no padding.
Boys have 10 players on the field—three attackmen, three midfielders, three defensemen and a goaltender. Girls have 12 players with five on offense, six on offense and a goalie.
The sticks the used are also different, and “stick handling” and “shooting” require a little more skill in the girls game.
The length for men’s sticks are 40-42 inches for offensive players and 52-72 inches for defensive players. The goalie has a stick of 40-72 inches.
For girls, sticks measure 35-43 inches with the goalie’s stick being 35-48 inches in length.
