Vail Lacrosse Shootout concludes 51st tournament; Mohawk Tile brings men’s elite championship title back to Philadelphia

John LaConte/Vail Daily
The Klinges brothers were hungry for the Vail Lacrosse Shootout championship title in 2023, perhaps more than ever before.
But to win the men’s elite championship — which represents the highest level of lacrosse at the 51st annual event — they needed to assemble a team tough enough to win six matchups in four days in Vail.
The Klinges brothers’ team is called “Mohawk Tile,” named after their family business, which was started by their great-grandfather more than 100 years ago in Philadelphia. Matt Klinges first dreamed of putting together a Mohawk Tile dream team in 2015, when he arrived at Drexel University in Philadelphia and met his roommate, Matt Soran, son of Vail Lacrosse Shootout Tournament Director Jim Soran.

“I always knew about the Vail Shootout as a lacrosse player,” Matt Klinges said. “Back in the ’90s, it was pretty much a pro game in Vail, and there was an all-star team called MAB Paints that would come out to Vail and represent Philadelphia.”
Klinges said after getting to know Soran at Drexel, he decided to get involved in the Vail Lacrosse Shootout in an effort to try to replicate what MAB Paints had done in the 1990s.

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But it got off to a rough start.
“That first year, we were terrible,” Klinges said. “We went 0-4.”
Sticking together
Over the years, though, Mohawk Tile assembled better teams, and in 2019 they had worked their way up to a third-place finish. Following the 2020 off year, Mohawk Tile returned in 2021 and won the tournament.
“We finally got to first and then had a setback last year,” Klinges said.
In returning in 2023, it would be a last hurrah of sorts for several players on the Mohawk Tile team.
Drew Schantz, who played professional lacrosse for the Dallas Rattlers and the Atlanta Blaze, confirmed the 2023 Vail Lacrosse Shootout would be his last tournament. Schantz was forced to medically retire from Major League Lacrosse due to an injury in 2020, and after getting a hip replacement, he said he’s not sure how much lacrosse he has in him.
“Coming out here, I knew it might be my last time chopping it up, so I wanted to leave it all out here on the field,” Schantz said.
The journey to victory began on Saturday, with Mohawk Tile winning two matches in a double-header, defeating More Dudes 11-7 and Nut Chasers 14-11. The next day, another double-header was on tap, and Mohawk Tile defeated the Silver Bullets and the Northside Boogeymen for four wins in two days.
The matchup against Silver Bullets on Sunday proved to be their closest of the tournament; Mohawk Tile won by only one goal in a low-scoring contest, 5-4.

On Monday, Mohawk Tile beat team Rogue 15-10 to advance to the elite championship finals, and learned later that day that their matchup in finals would be against the team they barely defeated on Sunday, the Silver Bullets.
Timmy Kelly, who also played Major League Lacrosse for the Denver Outlaws, scored six goals to lead Mohawk Tile to victory on Tuesday.
Kelly said the team Mohawk Tile was able to assemble in 2023 played especially well together.
“We had a few guys from UNC who played on the same attack line, and a few guys from Philly coming back together,” Kelly said. “It was just a really good team effort.”

Kelly was later named the 2023 Vail Lacrosse Shootout MVP.
Klinges said throughout the tournament, Mohawk Tile viewed each match like it was their last.
“It never felt like we were the best team out here, even through to the semi-finals, we always thought someone could catch us,” Klinges said. “I think that helped us to not get complacent.”
Tuesday’s rematch against the Silver Bullets went much better for Mohawk Tile than their previous contest, with Mohawk Tile taking an early lead and never looking back.
“For a lot of the guys, it’s their last send off,” Klinges said. “So we all came together.”
51st event
Tournament organizer Jim Soran, of Denver, said he was a bit nervous about how this year’s event was going to shake out.
“I had been watching the weather in June, and it wasn’t looking good,” he said.
The month started off especially cold and wet — conditions not conducive to high-level lacrosse.
But by the time the tournament kicked off on June 25, the weather had turned to summer sunshine, something Soran said made a huge difference.
“Some of these older guys, you get them in the sun and they start playing like they’re kids again,” he said.
This year’s tournament was the 51st annual event, and Soran said the Zenmasters Division — players older than 60 — contained players who had been in the tournament since the 1970s.
The Los Abuelos De Tejas team was the first out-of-state team to visit the Lacrosse Shootout in 1976, at the time the tournament was being held in Aspen. The tournament moved to Vail in 1978 and Los Abuelos came with it, visiting most years since then. Dave Vollmer, who played with Los Abuelos in the 1970s, is now the team’s coach.
In addition to the 60-and-older Zenmasters, there’s also the Grandmasters (50+), the Supermasters (40+), and the Masters (30+).

Soran said one of the tournament’s best matches came on Monday in the Masters’ championship, when the Coast to Coast team faced off against the Outlaws. The Outlaws consist of an all-star cast of former professionals while Coast to Coast, true to their name, brought in players from Portland, Seattle, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and even Australia.
“The match was 7-7 at the end of the third quarter,” Soran said. “It was about as exciting as you can get.”
In the end, the Outlaws were able to prevent Coast to Coast from scoring in the final quarter, while scoring three goals themselves to win 10-7.
“That was a game,” Soran said. “Good one for spectators.”
