Angel Lifts St. Mary's Ryken

It didn't matter how many players were on Zach Angel, or how tight the spots he ran himself into were, he always looked wide open.

Angel, a junior on the St. Mary's Ryken boys' lacrosse team, doesn't stand out when you first spot him on the field -- especially since he's 5 feet 9 inches tall. But when he gets going, people notice. It's the same on a basketball court -- forget about his height, he can dunk.

Angel stood out in St. Mary's Ryken's 17-8 home rout of DeMatha yesterday, notching five goals and five assists as the Knights clinched the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference regular season title. He assisted on two consecutive goals and scored the next two during a four-goal run in the second quarter that gave the Knights a stranglehold on the game.

The win gave No. 5 Ryken (10-2, 7-0) its second consecutive WCAC regular season title; last year the Knights edged out DeMatha and Gonzaga for the top spot on tiebreakers. DeMatha, which is tied for second in the conference with one game left, fell to 11-4, 6-2.

"You saw Zach Angel, he's special," Ryken Coach John Sothoron said. "I haven't seen anyone like that before."

Sothoron wouldn't name Angel as the best player he has coached in his 20 years, but he is the best passer, Sothoron said. Angel drew so much attention from the defense that whenever he had the ball, someone else always seemed to be wide open. And Angel's passes almost always found those teammates perfectly in stride for easy goals.

When he kept the ball for himself, his stutter-step (adapted from basketball) and his spin moves kept defenders guessing. Angel has 24 goals and 38 assists (62 points) this season; he had 76 points as a freshman but missed half of last year with a broken hand and rib.

"He's one of those kids where he could play anything and be the best at it," assistant coach Jay Sothoron said. "He could probably play tennis for the first time right now and beat our team."

Jay Sothoron coached Angel, who is looking to play at Duke or Georgetown, for one year of junior varsity soccer. Angel hadn't played soccer since fifth grade but was the best player on the team, Sothoron said. Angel started playing lacrosse in fifth grade at the suggestion of current teammate Brett Schmidt (three goals, two assists yesterday) and was Ryken's starting point guard before turning his attention solely toward lacrosse.

"He unbelievable," Schmidt said. "We knew he was athletic, so we said, 'Why don't you play lacrosse?' Now . . . "

As his voice trailed off, Schmidt just shook his head.

No. 5 St. Mary's Ryken 17 DeMatha 8 Lock Down: Ryken's defense spotted DeMatha a 3-2 lead midway through the first quarter but clamped down in the third, allowing just two shots and one goal in the period. Jump-start: DeMatha started stronger than Ryken, but Knights senior midfielder Taylor Cook had back-to-back unassisted goals in the first quarter to keep his team in the game early.