In Western Australia, East Fremantle has long been regarded as the top club side for men’s lacrosse. Before East Freo’s rise to prominence, Wembley Lacrosse Club was probably the top side in the WALA (Western Australia Lacrosse Assoc.) so anytime these two clubs get together for a game, the intensity and importance is guaranteed to be at the absolute highest level.
Wembley, which is located in the suburbs of Perth, travelled down to Fremantle for the game. Fremantle is right on the water and is a HUGE shipping port worldwide. It is also the starting point for Fremantle Media, a very large media conglomerate. While most Americans have only heard of Perth in Western Australia, Fremantle is a vibrant little city with a great night life, some fantastic breweries and a cool, laid back attitude whereas Perth also has those things there is also the lure of a real downtown city center. Fremantle is the home of Matt Schomburg, the Delfs brothers and a bunch of other Aussies that have come stateside for college. Wembley, on the other hand, kept most of their talent at home over the years with the notable exception of Adam Sear who is currenlty on the University of Maryland roster under Dave Cottle. Adam is a middie and will be a Senior Terp next year. I expect to see great things from Adam next year because he is an athlete, a leader and has great character. I coached Adam a bit when he was only 13 or 14 and he was a very good player then, the best in his age group. Under the tutelage of players like Nathan Rainey and coaches like John Denic, Adam only got better.
The game started out pretty evenly in the first half with Wayne “Bucky” Curran, Matt Devoy and Justin Previte scoring goals in the 2nd quarter. Previte had also scored E. Freo’s lone 1st quarter goal. Wembley dumped in 6 goals in the first half to counter and took a slight 6-4 lead into the intermission behind solid play from Ben Reiger on D, Sam Williams in goal, Chris D’Annunzio, Nathan Rainey, Matt Driver, Sam Ramsay and Adam Sear.
The second half was ALL Wembley as the Wolves added on another 10 goals to East Freo’s 2.