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Coach Cibe: February Italy Lacrosse Update

Editor’s Note: Please welcome Giacomo Bonizzoni, aka Coach Cibe, back to LaxAllStars.com! Coach Cibe knows as much about Italian Lacrosse as anyone, and is fully dedicated to seeing the popularity of lacrosse explode in Italy. He’ll be updating the LAS nation on Italy’s Lacrosse progress with monthly posts!

Make sure you also check out Coach Cibe’s website – CoachCibe.it! It’s a great read and full of information!

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The Italian field lacrosse championship have begun with the first matches, which will determine access to the semi-finals. The games took place on February 10th and 17th and here are the results and some additional commentary:

In the southern group, Roma Leones defeated San Marino Titans (16 to 0) and Bologna Sharks (7 to 0), while the Titans defeated Sharks with the “soccer” result of 2 to 1.italy_lacrosse

If the 2 victories by Roma were expected, the victory of the rookies from San Marino over the Bologna Sharks was a surprise. Bologna Sharks have been together for two years and have gained a reasonable level of experience and their defeat against ten players attending their first official match was totally unforeseen.

After the match we spoke with Emanuele Govoni, founder and golie of the Bologna Sharks:

After a good match against Roma (even if we know that Leones are definitely stronger than us) everything has been thrown away, with a defeat against an opponent that was absolutely within our range. The Titans 2 goals werer avoidable, we just needed a little bit more of focus by our teams defense. Now, we have to restart, build on what we have created in the past, work hard, and wait for the return of players who were unavailable for this match.

On February the 17th, for the second day of southern division, Phoenix Perugia has faced Roma Leones in very exciting and tight match, won by Leones 7 goals to 6.

We spoke with Fabio Mannarino, Phoenix Perugia president and with Matteo Magugliani, defender and member of the Italian National Team:

It was a very tense and nervous match. The winning goal of Leones was scored in the dying seconds of the match in a moment of “empasse” by Perugia.

It was a very tight match, as you can see by the result. On the field there were two teams playing at a similar level. This is very positive for Phoenix because we had many rookies on the field. I’m very satisfied with my team.

In the northern group snow forced the teams to postpone the first match between Red Hawks Merate and Pellicani Bocconi Milano. This match could be the most interesting of the regular season; in fact it was the final of the Italian championship 2011/2012 (Bocconi came out winners) and the final of 2012 Italian cup (Red Hawks having some revenge). This match has been rescheduled for March.

In the meantime, the organization of the first Italian field lacrosse international tournaments goes on.

NETTUNOPEN

On 23-24 March 2013, Roma Leones will organize in Nettuno (60 km from Rome, by the seaside) the first NettunOpen, an international tournament opened to 4 male and 4 female teams. The matches will be played at Stadio Santa Barbara, where 2 fields will be available. At the moment whilst I’m writing, there are three teams registered for each tournament; the male teams Roma Leones (hosts), Wettingen Wild and Staffordshire University 1; and the female teams of Roma Leones Women, Staffordshire University 1, and a pick-up team.

If you want more info you can contact nettunopen@romaleoneslacrosse.it or FB page

nettuno - open - logo-01-gradoseiNext month we will update you all with the results of this tournament.

MEDIOLANUM CUP

In June, the first “Mediolanum Cup” will be held. It is an international tournament opened to 6 male and 6 female teams. Things are still developing it but we will talk again about this event. Next month we will see how the Italian male championship is going on and how is developing the female lacrosse in Italy.

For more, check out Coach Cibe’s Italian Lacrosse Blog. Just click the image below!

Giacomo “Coach Cibe” Bonizzoni
NettunOpen logo by gradosei.com
Photo Credit: Muriel Geroli