212 Lacrosse Brings Home Legends National Cup Trophy in SoCal

Players from 212 Lacrosse left the snow-capped mountains of Utah for the shores of Southern California to compete at Legends National Cup in Del Mar on Dec. 14–15, 2019 and brought home the hardware to win their 31st tournament championship.

Coached by 212 Lacrosse Founder Mike Acee (University of North Carolina), and Christian Pompoco (Westminster), the 2022 players battled it out in the Ravens Elite Division, against 2021 teams.

“212 dedicates tournament play to my former UNC teammate Graham Harden," said Acee. Graham is battling ALS."

With temps in the mid-60s and clouds looming, the first day of pool play started with 212 besting True MN 2021 8–5. Faceoff specialist Coleman Kraske made his presence known early, dominating at the X. Attackman Luke Lemus scored three goals in the first half to give 212 the lead. Midfielder Mason Quick showed his skills on both sides of the ball, scoring on the run and causing turnovers.

Next up was Flying Pigs Elite, a Legends team, followed by Evolve Elite Orange. These matchups ended with 212 notching 14–5 and 11–4 wins respectively. 212 defense showed up strong in both matchups, with Chris Caldwell demonstrating finesse at stripping the ball from the opposition time and again. Although they faced older competition all day, 212 ended pool play as the 1st seed.

Sunday’s bracket play pitted 212 against 8th seed Vegas Starz Open and 212 won handily 11–2 with defensemen Trace White, Justin Egan, Jacob Anderson, Mason Esplin and goalies Ayden Santi and Drew Tyson, preventing the Starz offense from gelling.

The semi-final provided a rematch against Flying Pigs Elite, but 212’s stingy defense and calculated passing by offensive standouts Jon King, Thomas Vandenburg, Makai Todd, Briggs Ballard, David Wright, Dillon Bush, Jackson Archibald, Ethan Hartsfield, Blaze Degracie and Ace Nichols proved too much. The score ended similarly to Saturday, 13–4, sending 212 Lacrosse to the championship game.

The opponent for the title game would be SoCal Bulls 2021, touted as the “team to beat” due to having many Division 1-committed players on its roster.

The Bulls started out aggressively, and 212 found itself down 0–2 early in the first half. Ball possession would help 212 climb back into the game, but they were still down 4–5 at the half. Kraske took control of X against a High Point-committed FOGO from the Bulls, and 212 took the lead at 6–5 with 12 minutes left. The Bulls would close to within 2, but a late goal to make it 9–6 with two minutes left put the game out of reach.

In true David v. Goliath fashion, the smaller, younger team prevailed 9–7 and hoisted the trophy as champions of Legends National Cup 2019.

"I’m very proud of all the 2022 boys for their gritty performance in Del Mar," Acee said. "I’d also like to thank the 212 parents, their support over the years has been tremendous. Big thanks to Christian Pompoco for his tireless work and Legends Lacrosse for a quality event.”

At 212, Acee and his staff have a cumulative record of 297 wins 72 losses, and 31 tournament championships with 65 players committing to play college lacrosse. The staff focus is for players to experience personal growth, make new friends, enjoy the outdoors, and become a better lacrosse player. 212 tournament teams play in honor of Mike Acee’s University of North Carolina teammates whose families have endured hardship.