Highland Park’s Blue Lacrosse Team Comes Home with the State Champion Trophy
Champions came home from the Texas High School Lacrosse League’s state championship tournament held in Coppell, Texas at the Buddy Echol’s field. Highland Park’s men’s Blue team defeated ESD in Saturday’s semi-final game. The final score was 11-10 after going into sudden death overtime. The Scots showed up Sunday for their AA championship matchup against The Woodlands along with a lot of rain. The Scots sealed their championship title with a 14-10 score against the Highlanders from The Woodlands near Houston, Texas.
Saturday the Scots had a healthy lead of 10-2 in the third quarter against ESD. An HP win appeared to be a done deal but with lacrosse you never know for sure until time runs out. ESD started scoring and did not let up until they had tied the Scots with eight unanswered goals leaving the scoreboard to read 10-10.
ESD had possession of the ball with under a minute left to play. The Scots defense kept them out of the goal taking the game into overtime.
Overtime was a sudden death system, basically the first to score during overtime wins. The Scots’ own Frank Mousa won the faceoff giving the Scots possession. They took multiple shots on the ESD goal but it wasn’t until Duncan Zielke took a shot and scored the winning goal giving the Scots an 11-10 overtime score. The Scots advanced the Championship game Sunday against The Woodlands.
Mother’s day in Highland Park lacrosse can be synonymous with the Championship game day. That’s the goal for every season. The D1 or today’s Blue Scots have won seven State Championships, with the last championship year in 2015. This year it appeared the mom’s didn’t mind spending mother’s day in the rain.
The program hired Mike Pressler to take over the Blue team coaching duties summer of 2022. Pressler has an impressive coaching history, including head coach at Virginia Military Institute, Ohio Wesleyan and Duke, where he coached for 16 years before moving to Bryant University. Moving to Dallas allows him to spend more time with his family that live in the area.
Pressler was quoted in an article for USA Lacrosse Magazine, his move to coach at Highland Park, was motivated by “The chance to coach high school and lead a program like Highland Park is a great privilege and an opportunity to give back to a game that has meant so much to me. I look forward to developing not only lacrosse players, but also young men who can be leaders on and off the field.” He came in last summer and within less than a year coached the storied program to their first State Championship since 2015. There was no tournament in 2020.
Sundays clouds gave way to rain for the championship game between Highland Park and The Woodlands. The Scots trailed The Woodlands most of the first half. Having a seasoned coach at the helm paid off as the Scots who came out in the second half and started scoring. In the third quarter, Frank Mousa, Quinnipiac University commit, took the face off straight to the goal, which he has done throughout the season. The Scots never stepped off of the gas continuing to tie up the game and eventually take the lead.
Duncan Zielke scored five goals along with teammates also scoring, Quinn Gordon scored one of the Scots’ first goals while teammates Parker Addison, Harris Sands and Wesley Iversen and Dalton Harris. Once in the lead, the Scots never relinquished it. Fellow students showed up in full force to cheer on the Scots on during the constant rain.
As time ticked off the clock, Scots goalie Ben Abel, Loyola Maryland commit, held the ball running behind the goal until he made a long pass down field with no time on the clock. Abel removed his helmet, heaved it high into the sky in celebration of their 2023 AA State Championship win. His teammates all surrounded him and they celebrated. It didn’t take long for the Scots, soaking wet to run over to the stands to celebrate with their friends, also soaking wet. The drought of Highland Park Lacrosse championship titles is over with the rain soaked convincing 14-10 win over The Woodlands.
