April 7, 4008 - JEROME NEXT AFTER MOELLER WIN

The 15th ranked Upper Arlington Golden Bears conclude their season-opening three game homestand Wednesday night against Dublin Jerome at 7:30 pm.

The Celtics are 4-1 and bring four Div. I signees to Marv Moorehead Stadium including two players on the Sports
Illustrated Takkle Top 100 list. Midfielder Marshall Burkhart is rated 26th and defenseman Tyler Mordecai is ranked 90th. Both are bound for defending national champion Johns Hopkins next season. The Golden Bears have two players on that list; defensemen Grant Oliver and Jon Vande Werken.

"Jerome has some very good athletes returning," UA Head Coach Ted Wolford said. Jerome won three games in Arizona to start the season before losing to Worthington Kilbourne, 16-3 though the Celtics played without the injured Burkhart. Jerome bounced back with a 15-3 win over Westerville South Saturday night.

UA beat Jerome for the 2006 Ohio High School Lacrosse Assocation title. Now two years removed from that game, the Golden Bears are off to a 2-0 start thanks to wins over Hilliard Darby and Saturday night over Archbishop Moeller, 18-9.

The Bears were led by Eric Hanover and Cal Case who scored four goals apiece. "Offensively, we started very hot and had a 5-1 lead," Wolford said. "Defensively we fell asleep and gave up some soft goals. They took advantage of those mistakes we made. But we cleared the ball well and rode hard and got some points off turnovers as well."

The Bears built a 9-5 halftime lead in the game. "Moeller was very athletic with good ballplayers and played their starters the entire game," according to Wolford. Senior captain Alex Benedick had eight saves against Moeller. Junior Teddy Dugger also saw time against the Fighting Crusaders.

Wednesday's game is designated as UALA night, honoring the young kids playing for the Upper Arlington Lacrosse Association. They will form a tunnel for the varsity team introductions against Jerome and two of the third and fourth grade teams will play an exhibition at halftime. The Junior Varsity game is set for 5:30 pm.