May 23, 2008

Yale seniors Tyler Casertano (Millbrook, N.Y.) and Gregory DuBoff (McLean, Va.) were part of a collection of the best college lacrosse players in the nation today when they played in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's North-South All-Star Game at Harvard Stadium.

Despite being held pointless, the two Bulldogs were offensive catalysts in a 31-goal game as the North won 20-11.

Casertano was very excited about playing with and against the best players in the nation, but was concerned that the South might be too strong for his team.

"I was wrong about that, but I really thought they would be better than us" said the Eli attacker whose North squad jumped out to an early lead it never relinquished. "I was a little rusty after not playing for a couple of weeks," said Casertano, who may have been a little hard on himself after today's effort.

"After four years of lacrosse networking, it was nice to play with guys you've been playing against. Today was a great celebration of lacrosse," said Casertano, who played with an attack unit that was on the field for the first and third quarters.

DuBoff, who will attend law School in the fall across the river from the stadium, shared the North's faceoff duties (9 wins in 17 attempts) and often stayed on the field as a midfielder.

"It was an honor to be picked for this event. I had a great time. It was fun to play with different guys and in a different style," said DuBoff.

It was a glorious, sunny, 70-degree day along the banks of the Charles River. The 1,000 or so fans may have been dwarfed by the 32,000-seat venue, but there was a special feeling being inside the historic, 105-year-old stadium whose stands tightly hug the playing field and resemble a roman coliseum.

Casertano and DuBoff were two of five Ivy League participants on the 30-man North Team roster that included three Division II players. Defenseman Dan Cocoziello and goalie Alex Hewit of Princeton and Brown defenseman Reed DeLuca were the others.

None of the players from Syracuse, Virginia, Johns Hopkins and Duke could take part as they prepared for tomorrow's NCAA Championship semi-finals at nearby Gillette Stadium. The USILA event kicked off a big lacrosse weekend that included a Division III all-star contest. Both all-star games were hosted by the Major League Lacrosse Boston Cannons, who played the nightcap of the Harvard Stadium tripleheader.

The North coaches were Quinnipiac's Eric Fekete and Joe Breschi of Ohio State.

Report filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director