The Bishop O'Connell boys’ lacrosse team played a tough schedule and finished 6-11 overall.

The Knights, coached by Dick Abood, graduated nearly 70 percent of their offense from the previous season and thus struggled at times offensively in '02.

Coach Abood (O'Connell '74) will step down at the end of this season - after 13 years of coaching - due to family and job demands.

The Knights finished the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) regular season with a 4-3 conference record - fourth-place behind DeMatha, St. John’s and Gonzaga respectively.

The "Blue and Silver" defeated Ireton, Good Counsel, Paul VI and Carroll during the regular season.

O'Connell defeated tough non-league foes Sidwell Friends and Potomac School, but also dropped non-league games to Annandale, Madison, Langley, Episcopal and St. Mary's Rykken.

The Knights opened the post-season with a 6-9 record, but dropped a 9-8 hard-fought decision to Ireton in the conference quarterfinals.

The following week, the Knights qualified to participate in the prestigious Division I T.I.L.T. tournament (which decides the Virginia Independent School Champion).

O’Connell traveled to Woodberry Forest and dropped a 19-12 decision, thus ending its 2002 season.

"It was good that we qualified for the T.I.L.T. tournament," said Abood. "We gave a strong effort, but we came up short."

Key scorers for O'Connell this season included Pat Howell (27 goals, 23 assists), Luke Dixson (27 and 11), Joe Gargiulo (26 and 2), Charlie Trowbridge 16 and 8) and Zach Huntington (15 and 6).

Dixson finished his career with 103 goals and 48 assists, good for number four on O’Connell’s all-time points list. Howell finished his career with 85 goals and 60 assists, good for fifth all-time.

Other key players this season included: Alex Sevilla, Colin Malone, Kevin Houk, Peter Farag, Chris Burrow, Peter Romm, Brian Dilley, Michael Collins, Luke Altmeyer and Adam Hinesley.

Hinesley (senior two-year starting goaltender) had a good season. "Adam was very solid. He will be missed," said Abood.

Howell received the Knights "MVP" award. Burrow received the coach’s award. Both Howell and Burrow graduate, along with 10 other players. Howell and Dixson were selected first-team All-WCAC; Burrow was selected second-team; Sevilla was selected third-team.

"It has been a quality group of kids I've been able to work with over the past 13 seasons," said Abood. "I personally benefited from the association with the lacrosse program. It's been a lot of fun."

Nearly 30 of Abood’s former players are playing or have played college lacrosse at various levels over the past decade.

The Paul VI Panther boys’ lacrosse team struggled in 2002. The Panthers were coached by Tom Hostutler (14th season), who also teaches American History at PVI.

The "Black and Gold" finished with an overall record of 2-14. Within the WCAC, PVI defeated Carroll. Outside the WCAC, PVI defeated Covenant School.

The leading scorer was Matt Lewis, with 25 goals and four assists.

Defender Dave Harrison was selected "MVP." Goaltender Drew Morgan was selected "Best Defender." Midfielder Joey Carpenter received the "lacrosse man award." Defender Zack Ennis received the "coaches award". Midfielder Jamie Kaye received the "ground ball award."

Other key players included: Pat Schweiker, Tom Miller and Mike Sheridan.

The Panthers were ranked in the Washington Post "top 10" as recently as 1998, but have not had as much success in recent seasons.

"Nobody quit on this team this season," said Hostutler. "They practiced hard. They came to the games ready to play. Everybody stuck with it all the way until the end of the season. I will definitely be back next season. With a year like the one we just had - it makes one want to come back and see some big improvement the next time around."