This article appears in the December edition of US Lacrosse Magazine. Don’t get the mag? Join US Lacrosse today to start your subscription.

Three of our photographers — Rich Barnes, a former NCAA Division III championship-winning coach at Cortland and now a sought-after sports photographer; Greg Wall, Barnes’ photography mentor and a long-time lacrosse shooter; and Kevin Tucker, a US Lacrosse photographer for 30 years — share some of their favorite shots and moments from 2018.

HOYA SAXA
by Kevin P. Tucker

I’ve photographed quite a few games in 30 years, few of which I could say were “complete” games. Complete in the way a team conducted itself and hustled from pre-game warm-ups until the final whistle.

Georgetown’s upset of Denver in the Big East final was a complete game. Searching for their first NCAA bid since 2007, the Hoyas had a solid chance of breaking that drought. Georgetown played Denver tough on the road in a 6-5 regular season loss.

Denver’s Trevor Baptiste won the opening faceoff, but Georgetown was immediately up to the challenge. Ryan Hursey locked on to Ethan Walker (12 shots, one post, no goals, three turnovers) and didn’t give him a moment to rest on or off ball.

Hoyas goalie Nick Marrocco’s first save became two saves, then four saves, then eight saves and finally 14 en route to Big East championship MVP honors.

It was clear every player knew his role and what was expected of him. Georgetown played as a team. No penalties, no selfish play, no loss of focus.

Games like this can be difficult to photograph, because the moments are fewer than in a raucous, high-scoring tilt. You have to focus on the little moments and hope you are able to capture the story.

Denver coach Bill Tierney took extra time with Marrocco (pictured), Lucas Wittenberg and an emotional Georgetown coach Kevin Warne during the post-game handshakes — definitely a sign of respect from a man that has seen his fair share of lacrosse played at a high level.

Games like this remind me of how amazing team sports can be when players and coaches set their sights on a common goal and will stop at nothing until it is achieved. A complete effort by all.

PERSONAL CONNECTIONS
by Rich Barnes

Over the past two seasons, I’ve been fortunate to watch two close friends win their first NCAA championship — John Tillman in 2017 and Andy Shay in 2018. Andy and I went to high school together. To see the joy on his face moved me to tears.  

PHOTO BY RICH BARNES

Ben Gaebel, my guy! The goalie on my 2006 Cortland championship team was back in Cortland as the head coach of the Clarkson women’s team. During pre-game, Ben was walking across the field, and I waited to hopefully get him lined up under our championship banner. Not only did he walk right under the banner, but he looked back my way as he did. Ben saved his best game as a player on the biggest stage in lacrosse and was the main reason, in my very biased opinion, we pulled off the biggest upset in NCAA championship game history at any level.

PHOTO BY RICH BARNES

My most unique and powerful image of 2018 goes to coach Kelly Orr at Cortland. I noticed from across the field she was holding something, but had no idea what. I moved to the bench side to find Orr was holding her son, Christian James. CJ was born premature Feb. 15 and attended his first collegiate lacrosse game March 2.   

PHOTO BY RICH BARNES

Joe and Danny Varello went head-to-head facing off in the Carrier Dome for Navy and Syracuse, respectively. Navy went up on a late goal by Joe Varello. I set up in a spot to capture the brothers amid any post-game celebration. They hugged at midfield to make for a pretty special moment.

PHOTO BY RICH BARNES

ECSTASY AND AGONY
by Greg Wall

Bryanna Fazio scored a goal against Adelphi during the NCAA Division II women’s lacrosse quarterfinals and pointed her finger at her teammate. It was at that moment I thought Le Moyne was going to win the game and go the distance. 

PHOTO BY GREG WALL

This was an unfortunate ending to a great career. I personally could feel Connor Fields’ pain, since I blew out both my left and right ACL playing lacrosse. What’s amazing is this kid played through that pain and risked even more damage to his knee.

PHOTO BY GREG WALL