McCormick and Billups Record Hat Tricks at All-Star Lacrosse Game

It was a fitting end to a great season of Section 1 lacrosse last night at Yorktown’s tradition-rich Charlie Murphy Field.

Led by a hat trick from Bronxville’s Charlie McCormick, the Blue/White squad defeated the Red/White team 9-6 in an exciting Section 1 Boys Lacrosse Exceptional Senior All-Star Game.

“We just picked it up in the second half,” McCormick said. “Everybody started to get into it and the shots started to fall.”

McCormick, an All-American midfielder, will play at Georgetown next year. His fellow All-American midfield Bronxville teammate Jack Near, who was also on the Blue/White roster, will play at Notre Dame.

The shots were falling in the beginning of the game for New Rochelle’s Andrew Billups. Billups recorded a hat trick during the opening half, that saw Red/White lead at the end of it 5-4.

Billups, a midfielder, will play next year at Cortland, along with another Huguenot who was also a member of the Red/White squad, defenseman Willie Rutherford.

“I was just running hard,” Billups said. “I was just trying to get open space and let it fly.”

His second of three goals landed in the upper-right corner of the net, tying the game at 3-3. Yorktown goalie Matt Sialiano then made a save afterwards on Somers rival Kieran Donohue to preserve the tie for Red/White.

Goals by Billups and Pleasantville’s Skyler Leen put the Red/White up 5-3 before Mahopac’s TJ Foley, who got a pre-game ovation from the Indians fans that were in attendance, pulled Blue/White to within one at halftime.

McCormick came alive in the second half when he tied the game at 5-5, 80 seconds into the third quarter. The two teams split the next two goals, before Blue/White took control of the game with the tie-breaking goal scored by Donohue, followed by two scores from McCormick.

“I was just playing my game,” McCormick said. “I just hustled and my game came to me.”

McCormick said that it was an honor to play in the game and was glad he had the chance to do so. So was Billups.

“It felt really good to be able to play in this game,” Billups said. “My freshman year, my team struggled. So just to be able to make this far is special.”

Having the game at Charlie Murphy Field was important to Yorktown coach Dave Marr, who was on hand to do the public address of the game.

“We have had it here the last couple of years,” Marr said. “Our district is very open to doing these types of things and helping out the section. Obviously playing at Charlie Murphy Field you would hope has a little bit of significance to kids, seeing that it is one of the earliest places where lacrosse was played here in Westchester.”

He said he thought the players, from different schools, had a good time playing lacrosse. 

“To have someone (Billups) from New Rochelle scoring three goals and a kid from Carmel (Blue/White’s Matai Blacklock) scoring a goal, it just shows the spread of the game and it’s nice to see,” Marr said.

Hendrick Hudson’s A.J. Small, Byram Hills’ Jordan Pollack and Arlington’s Connor Lindsay also scored for Blue/White while other goal scorers for Red/White were Kennedy Catholic’s Gary Kiernan and Ossining’s Brian Kaufman.