Rising High School Notebook: Oregon Trip Update

by Casey Vock  (3/31/16)

Zane Sands, Defense, Sherwood, Soph.

Sands, a player we’ve highlighted in the past, looked as impressive as we’d hoped after getting a glimpse of him before. The monster, 6-foot-4, 220-pound athlete of a defender has range, but can fly to the ball, moves his stick extremely fast and has high potential as a young defender who can get nasty and play at full speed for 60 minutes. He was matched against a very talented attackman in Nate Johnnie and showed the ability to change directions with his feet and hips to stay with the quick attackman and defend some really good looking dodges and shots. The matchup became a treat as the two were terrific. But make no mistake, in other areas of the field, Sands stood out. The righty has full field speed, he’s able to scrap in the middle of the field for the ball and he was an emotional spark for his team as he was tested repeatedly but responded with some excellent one-on-one defense.

Oceanside Hustle: Fall 2015 Standouts

by Casey Vock  (12/26/15)

Zane Sands, Defense, Sherwood (Ore.)/3d Oregon, 2018

Zane shined at the Oceanside Hustle as a hard-nosed, athletic and rugged defender who could wreak havoc on the backend thanks to his superior size and speed. He’s well over six feet tall, maybe 6-foot-3 or so, and when he gets into the open field with the ball, his legs get moving and he shows impressive speed. He’s just tough and gets involved in the play all the time and can simply out-muscle, out-reach, out-scoop and out-run a lot of his peers in the class. That was what we noted about him at Oceanside, as he created chaos through a double or on the approach to the groundball, oftentimes coming up with it and then clearing out alone. His coaches point out that he is still developing as a one-on-one defender, but he showed all kinds of promise at the SoCal event by making a lot of plays to help his team regain possession. In transition, he was indeed an impressive force with a combination of wheels, a towering presence and a big winding stick. This multi-sport athlete has high-level lacrosse potential just based on size and athleticism alone, but his hard work on seemingly every play pushes his ceiling a bit higher. He also draws high praise from coaches for his character.