College Lacrosse Thread

[BishopMVP]

Even with a wind chill of about 6 degrees, UMass started their season on Saturday with a convincing 11-7 home win over Hofstra. Should move up to #8 in the polls with Georgetown getting doubled up against Maryland. Almost all the other top teams held serve, with Johns Hopkins getting tested by Albany (10-8 final) - not too surprising considering what Hopkins lost to graduation and had injured and some of Albany's players (Merrick Thompson is probably the most underrated attackman in D1.)

I think UMass has its best team since 2003. Morris at attack, Reid on D and the scoring depth from the midfield in particular are strengths. Unfortunately UMass won't play anyone higher than 15th or so (Albany/Loyola/Penn St) until late March/April, but this weekend is setting up some nice matchups. Hopkins-Princeton, Duke-Maryland and Syracuse-Virginia. Anyone on the forum gonna be following those games?

[QuikSand]

I may not get out to see a game live until the final four, but I'll be folllowing.

[Klinglerware]

I'll be following the alma mater's season, per usual. But probably won't go to any games until it gets warmer...

[Chubby]

Go 'Cuse and Go Canisius!

[Buccaneer]

Go SU. Any chance JHopkins or UVA will eliminate their minor sports? ;)

[Young Drachma]

It's fun to watch this on TV. Mainly because it makes me wanna go play toccer. But still. It's a good game.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm considering going to a lacrosse game for the first time this year. Unfortunately, it would be to see the school at which my wife teaches. They've only had a lacrosse program for two or three years now. I guess it'd be better than seeing their football team. Last season was their first ever, and they only won once (but I was there to see it!).

Anyway, uh, yeah, I might go see some lacrosse since there's no Arena Football around here.

[Young Drachma]

Maybe Indoor Lacrosse?

lol...at least it'll be better than a bad college team.

[Klinglerware]

Brown/UMass this saturday. Brown seems to be playing a softer schedule this year compared to seasons past and haven't acquitted themselves well when playing anybody of note. Who knows though, a surprising result does happen from time to time with this series (though there is less drama now that this game is no longer the regular season-ender for either team)...

[BishopMVP]

Woot!

UMass takes the rematch with Hofstra 11-10 in Overtime to advance to the first Final Four in school history! Down 10-5 with 8 minutes to go, scores 5 straight to take it to OT and after a save by our freshman goalie gets the win. Jake Deane, the "Terminator" at the X, wins 20 of 25 faceoffs with the help of the wings and another freshman, Jimmy Connolly, scores 5 goals to lead the team.

Play the winner of Maryland-Princeton (tomorrow @12) next Saturday in Philly. Other semifinal will match the winners of Johns Hopkins-Syracuse (starting now, on ESPNU, probably some local FSN/Comcast channels) and Georgetown-#1 and undefeated Virginia.

[Buccaneer]

Told you John Hopkins and UVA should have elimintated their minor sports.

[sovereignstar]

Somewhat unrelated, but lacrosse just became a varsity HS sport in Minnesota this past week. Thought it was pretty cool.

[BishopMVP]

Told you John Hopkins and UVA should have elimintated their minor sports.I believe you mean The Johns Hopkins University, who Syracuse dispatched 13-12 in quarterfinal #2. Most likely on to UVa for them.

[QuikSand]

If the high seeds hold, and UVa and Maryland make it in... this will be the first final four I can remember where there weren't teams I will be rooting *aggressivley* against. I don't care one way or the other about UMass, but I root for Syracuse, Virginia, and Maryland in that order, more or less.

[Buccaneer]

I believe you mean The Johns Hopkins University, who Syracuse dispatched 13-12 in quarterfinal #2. Most likely on to UVa for them.

Yeah, I usually say John instead of Johns. It rolls off the tongue better even though I have to keep from snarling when I say either way.

[Klinglerware]

A rough tournament for the Ivy League. 4 bids to the men's tournament (though the Harvard selection was a near travesty), only Princeton remains.

The Cornell upset over Duke doesn't look nearly as impressive as it did a couple of months ago. But then again, in hindsight, Duke hadn't really proved it could beat a winning team before their season ended...

[BishopMVP]

Yeah, I usually say John instead of Johns. It rolls off the tongue better even though I have to keep from snarling when I say either way.Oh, I was just kinda joking because I find it just as annoying as when people talk about The Ohio State University... but unlike more popular sports, in the lacrosse world you actually run into Hopkins people.

I'm really rooting for Maryland tomorrow, partly because they've always been my favorite team other than UMass, but also because I hate Princeton's style/tempo and think it would cause more problems for UMass than a matchup with Maryland. The UVa/G'Town game I'm fairly agnostic about, but I think I'll root for G'Town just for the underdog factor.

Maryland/Princeton @ 12 with UVa/G'Town to follow at Towson's campus. If you don't get ESPNU, hxxp://www.laxpower.com/graphics/espn_qf.gif has a list of other TV outlets covering the games.

[BishopMVP]

A rough tournament for the Ivy League. 4 bids to the men's tournament (though the Harvard selection was a near travesty), only Princeton remains.

The Cornell upset over Duke doesn't look nearly as impressive as it did a couple of months ago. But then again, in hindsight, Duke hadn't really proved it could beat a winning team before their season ended...I still think Cornell was the 2nd or 3rd best team in the country this year... UMass is too inconsistent, but when they come to play, they can beat anyone except maybe UVA. Cornell definitely got screwed on that seeding (again). As for Harvard, they probably didn't deserve to be in, but you have to have another team to replace them, and none of the Loyola/Towson/Penn St/Delaware grouping presented a strong argument.

[BishopMVP]

Maryland builds a lead and stalls out the game to beat Princeton 11-6 and Virginia turns it on in the 3rd quarter and beats Georgetown 20-8.

Official order hasn't been announced, but the smart money is on UMass-Maryland at 11:30 AM next Saturday followed by Syracuse-Virginia at about 2.

[QuikSand]

I'll be there.

[terpkristin]

YAY!

I was just talking to somebody about this, that MD was doing well in the NCAA lax tourney, glad to see they didn't disappoint. :)

/tk

[QuikSand]

Just got back from today... UVa looked really, really good in just dismantling Syracuse. 17-10 and it wasn't really that close. Ouch.

UVa - UMass on Monday. I'll take the 'hoos.

[BishopMVP]

Just got back from today... UVa looked really, really good in just dismantling Syracuse. 17-10 and it wasn't really that close. Ouch.Yes, yes they did. 2nd half vs. G'Town and opening 16 minutes today is the best offensive lacrosse possibly since the 1990 Syracuse team.UVa - UMass on Monday. I'll take the 'hoos.That's where the smart money is, but we've just beaten the #2,3 and 4 teams in a row, so let's see if the Cinderella story can continue. After the first 16 minutes today UVa started playing waaayyyyy too aggressively on defense, getting fancy on offense and let Syracuse back into it. If Syracuse's EMO was working, they could have gotten back within 2-3 goals after 3 quarters, so basically I'm hoping Virginia plays like that for a whole game and maybe we can sneak out a win late.

[Klinglerware]

Noticed that Brown beat UMass this past weekend. I'm not sure if Brown is for real this year, but were people expecting UMass to drop off this much from last year?

[BishopMVP]

Noticed that Brown beat UMass this past weekend. I'm not sure if Brown is for real this year, but were people expecting UMass to drop off this much from last year?UMass only lost 3 seniors, but they were possibly the best attackman (Morris) defenseman (Reid) and Faceoff guy (Deane) in the country. The defense has done well, but no one has stepped up on offense (note the 4 goals scored vs. Brown, although the weather certainly didn't help) and we've struggled mightily on faceoffs (we've since moved a freshman in there and he's doing better, a little less than 50/50). Have to figure out who the alpha players are on offense and basically win the ECAC to make the tournament this year. And the 3 losses prior to Brown were @Hofstra, @Albany (#2 in the country :eek: ) and vs. Yale by a combined 4 goals, so it's not like the drop-off has been huge, we're just losing 1 goal games instead of winning them this year.

With Brown I don't know yet. They've got the wins over UMass and Hofstra, but only beat Bellarmine by a goal. They play a number of decent teams in the coming weeks, but the only 2 top 10 teams are Princeton and Cornell who they get the last two weekends.

[Klinglerware]

Yeah, it does look like UMass' losses have been close.

Brown's defense has been pretty stingy as well, but as you say, they'll definitely be tested as they start playing the Ivy schedule. But so far, this is more than I expected--Brown's definitely in rebuilding mode with a new HC after falling on hard times the past few years.

In other news, Brown is recruiting Reade Seligmann (I've read that he's also being recruited by Harvard for football). I kind of have mixed feelings about it--there's definitely baggage, but ultimately I think he could be a potentially good get for Brown (usually someone with Seligmann's academic/athletic potential ends up at Princeton or south of the Mason-Dixon line). It really depends if Seligmann thinks he can fit in with (or at least stomach) the culture at Brown. Also Seligmann doesn't have any priors--I would have greater issue if they were recruiting some of the other guys that have convictions for things more serious than alcohol...

[Dekanth]

annual bump

Very entertaining first Semifinal between Syracuse and Virginia. Nice comeback by Syracuse. I was very impressed with the Virginia goaltender though.

[BishopMVP]

Nice comeback there, and a great OT period once the timeouts were out of the way early.

Now on to see Duke's semi-pro team roll Hopkins. (For those that don't follow lacrosse closely, all the Duke players got an extra year of eligibility after that scandal, and they have like 6 starters playing their 5th year, including returning Tewaaraton winner Danowski.)

The Duke attack trio of Danowski, Zach Greer (all-time NCAA goal scoring leader, and he has another year left) and Max Quinzani (Massachusetts kid I played with back when he was like 12 and I was in HS) might be the best ever. Hopkins does have the 2 1-goal victories in the last 3 Final Four's.

[BishopMVP]

Another great game going on. Quinzani just hit the post on a shot that would have tied the game at 9, Hopkins comes right down and takes the 10-8 lead. 4 minutes to go.

[BishopMVP]

Duke shot saved in the last 2 seconds again, Hopkins wins by 1. Pietramala shows why he's the best defensive coach in the game (I put him above Tierney) and Hopkins goalie had 17 saves and the game of his life.

[Young Drachma]

Watched that Virginia-Syracuse game when we were out at lunch. What a finish.

[Young Drachma]

Duke shot saved in the last 2 seconds again, Hopkins wins by 1. Pietramala shows why he's the best defensive coach in the game (I put him above Tierney) and Hopkins goalie had 17 saves and the game of his life.

Always fun to see Duke lose.

[QuikSand]

The Hopkins keeper is our pediatrician's son - seems like a good kid. Nice to see him have a huge game at a good time.

[BishopMVP]

The Hopkins keeper is our pediatrician's son - seems like a good kid. Nice to see him have a huge game at a good time.Reminds me of watching the best goaltending performance I'd ever seen (by Tillman Johnson of UVA), then having my mom go "Oh, by the way, you know that kid. He lived down the street from you on Shipwright, and you used to play street hockey against him all the time." Really, couldn't have mentioned that earlier?

Gvozden really did have a great game. People might focus on the late saves he had, but IMO it was really the 3-4 he made in the opening minutes. None were spectacular, but any one of those early goals go in and JHU is on its heels from the start, fresh off the 17-6 memory.

[Chubby]

Go 'Cuse and Go Canisius!

Got to see them play at the dome in NCAAs this year. Had my SU hat and Canisius practice shirt on :)

[Buccaneer]

How many times has it been SU and Hopkins?

[QuikSand]

How many times has it been SU and Hopkins?

This is the 5th, but it's been quite a while. Three in a row in the late 80s.

[Chubby]

Yeah, this is why I was cheering Hopkins on since I don't like Duke, I want to see a classic SU/Hopkins title match and Hopkins was the underdog.

It should be another great game of contrasting styles tho I think SU is more used to slowdown than Duke was.

I'll be happily watching it in HD tomorrow :)

[Schmidty]

I've always liked lacrosse. I remember watching the Detroit Turbo games back in the early 90's. Of course, that was indoor lacrosse, but it was still really fun to watch.

[Chubby]

If SU can stop shooting into the goalie's chest they could start pulling away...

[QuikSand]

Excellent win for Syracuse, and quite a story after the last few years and 2007 in particular. I've never seen this from SU before... patient, disciplined, hustling, winning faceoffs, strong on defense... it's refreshing, really. Great win today, they honestly looked much the better team out there.

[Buccaneer]

Woohoo@@!!!!@@

[BishopMVP]

Gvozden and Syracuse's poor shooting combined to keep Hopkins in the game 1st half, but other then Rabil they had no one on offense and Syracuse started finishing.

Kind of annoying it was 4 of the same elite again, but those were 3 well-played, exciting games. Always good for the sport. See you guys in the thread next Memorial Day weekend.

[VPI97]

F THE CUSE

Go anyone else!

[Buccaneer]

Ya'll have to excuse VIPPY when he's loaded up on that vile crap he calls beer.

[VPI97]

Staropramen = the bomb, kind sir

The Cuse still = the suck

[Buccaneer]

Staropramen = the bomb, kind sir

The Cuse still = the suck

That's right, I forgot where you were. :)

[VPI97]

That's right, I forgot where you were. :)
You can take the hillbilly out of the hills, but you can't take the the hills out of the hillbilly.

[Groundhog]

I watched the last half of a pro league lacrosse game on ESPN of all places on the weekend. It was the first time I'd ever seen the sport played, and I found it pretty enjoyable (was Boston vs somebody). Sorta like a mix between ice hockey and soccer - sockey, as I'd like to call it.

Would certainly rather watch lacrosse than baseball, anyhow.

What's with the name though, French?

[Chubby]

Gvozden and Syracuse's poor shooting combined to keep Hopkins in the game 1st half, but other then Rabil they had no one on offense and Syracuse started finishing.

Kind of annoying it was 4 of the same elite again, but those were 3 well-played, exciting games. Always good for the sport. See you guys in the thread next Memorial Day weekend.

The 1st half is certainly correct. SU outplayed Hopkins the whole game and Hopkins could neevr get any sort of offense out of anyone not named Rabil.

It's going to take a long time before the final four isn't some mix of the "same elite", it's just the way it is with lacrosse still being regional. The same high schools produce the talent in the same area of certain states and they all want to go to the same schools.

Nice to hear my HS alma mater get some love during the game :)

[QuikSand]

F THE CUSE

Go anyone else!

Suck it, turkey boy.

[Young Drachma]

Yeah, bumping this one because there wasn't a point in creating a new one.

Watching this Hopkins-Maryland QF briefly and I have to say, that it was immediately apparently how badly college lacrosse needs a shot clock. Man, just the few minutes I watched were brutal.

[BishopMVP]

Start of a new season. UVa and especially Syracuse are a little lower than normal, but mostly the usual suspects up in the top 10... except for defending champion Loyola.

They did add a version of a shot clock this offseason. After a stall warning, instead of keeping it in the box, teams have a 30 second shot clock (that can be eliminated with a shot on goal.) I like it more than a pure shot clock, but it really depends on the ref being man enough to make the call with Petro or Tierney dropping 20 F-Bombs in his ear that get picked up by the TV mics. They also added a few more rules to help push transition and tried to crack down on sticks a little.

The other recent news that's probably a bigger story is that after years of limited growth, blamed largely on Title IX (and we can argue over the merits of that), a number of teams have jumped in recently, including Michigan, Marquette, Richmond, Furman, BU and now UMass-Lowell.It's going to take a long time before the final four isn't some mix of the "same elite", it's just the way it is with lacrosse still being regional. The same high schools produce the talent in the same area of certain states and they all want to go to the same schools.Ehh... I think it's more the academics and demographics than a regional thing, and Syracuse is the one traditional elite team being hurt the most by that. Lacrosse has exploded in recent years at the HS level. Philly and Boston have caught up to Upstate, LI, and Baltimore in terms of D1 guys produced, and there are very good teams (not a ton of them, but a few) in places as far flung as the suburbs of Orlando, Dallas, San Fran, San Diego, Seattle and Denver. And the elite kids I know almost all have some combination of the following 10 schools in their sights - the 4 ACC schools, Hopkins, G'Town, ND, Princeton, Harvard and Yale. (For some reason Penn and Cornell rarely come up, but I assume they're in there too.) The upstate and 6 Nations kids that Syracuse relied on just aren't that much better than players from other parts of the country, and the summer club scene is exposing them - the "Next Big" Iroquis player just committed to UVa.

[Klinglerware]

Yeah, HYP should also probably continue to be competitive because of the generous financial aid packages they can provide. With the athletic scholarship equivalencies allowed being relatively small in lacrosse, necessitating the widespread use of partial scholarships, some of the more deep-pocketed Ivies will have a bit of an advantage in being able to pick up the slack with non-merit aid...

[BishopMVP]

True... things get a little nebulous there. It's also interesting to see how the really, really early recruiting plays out with regards to Ivy League schools. UVa/UNC/Hopkins really started the trend two years ago, and now rising 9th graders are given committable offers before they step foot on a HS campus. The Ivies hold off a little longer, but they accept verbals from Sophomores, and then ask them to hold off on announcing it until their Junior year begins (and preferably a semester's worth of JR year grades are in.) (Some other schools/coaches, like UMass and Cannella, hate this trend and tried not to participate, but when everyone else is doing it...)

UMass went down and pulled out a late 12-11 victory over UNC. Even more impressive considering they were missing a Tewaaraton finalist from last year at Attack and our other MLL drafted middie.

[BishopMVP]

Anyone else following the regular season? The rule changes really seem to have added transition back to the game, and between that and the increased parity brought about by the explosion in HS athletes playing there have been a lot of "upsets" by start-ups over the name programs - for example, just today Mount St. Mary's beat Georgetown 14-6.

[Klinglerware]

I don't really follow the regular season all that closely, but I do keep tabs on Brown.

Looking at the roster and recruit lists, I am surprised with the higher proportions of recruited athletes coming from places west of the Mississippi...

[BishopMVP]

I don't really follow the regular season all that closely, but I do keep tabs on Brown.

Looking at the roster and recruit lists, I am surprised with the higher proportions of recruited athletes coming from places west of the Mississippi...Brown picked up that nice comeback win at UMass - down 3 goals in the 4th to an OT win. We threw in a different offensive set without Manny and Fleming and were able to reel off 3 wins to open the year, but starting with the Brown game teams figured it out and we really need those guys healthy. Brown's actually doing really well according to the computers right now, but still no love from the polls. If you can win the next 2, your schedule gets really interesting, with UNC/Princeton/Penn/Yale/Providence/Cornell.

There's definitely a few hotbeds out west, around Dallas, Denver, San Fran, San Diego and Seattle, and the sport is exploding. It'll be interesting to see when the first Cali college jumps in - so far it's just Denver and Air Force west of the Mississippi. The south is also seeing an increase, although that's been matched or driven by colleges (Jacksonville, Bellarmine, Mercer, High Point, etc). We'll see if any big-time warm-weather school overcomes the Title IX hurdle and jumps in - Florida started a women's team that was in the title game within like 3 years. With the college season starting in February that gives a lot of incentive for kids to play further south/west.

(It's also been an increase in players and the elevation of the Philly and Boston suburbs from places where occasional good players came from to legitimate hotbeds that rival Baltimore/LI/Upstate - up until 5 years ago there were 15-20 kids going D1 from Mass on average, now there are over 80 committed for 2013 alone, and 2014/15 look to be even bigger.)

[Klinglerware]

Yeah, it's hard to tell how to interpret Brown's season so far. It doesn't surprise me that they're still unranked. Brown's been all over the map performance-wise the past couple of years: they've had opportunities to get some signature wins against top teams, but haven't closed more often than not. They've also had their share of beat downs. I'm guessing that Brown will have to show more before the polls start to take notice.

[Young Drachma]

Big Ten to add lacrosse, Johns Hopkins as affiliate - ESPN (http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/9337596/big-ten-add-lacrosse-johns-hopkins-affiliate)

Blue Jays joining the B1G as an affiliate member in lax. huge move for the B1G.

[terpkristin]

Big Ten to add lacrosse, Johns Hopkins as affiliate - ESPN (http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/9337596/big-ten-add-lacrosse-johns-hopkins-affiliate)

Blue Jays joining the B1G as an affiliate member in lax. huge move for the B1G.

They had to, with Rutgers and Maryland coming in. When I think B1G, I think of hockey not lax. ;)

/tk

[Young Drachma]

They had to, with Rutgers and Maryland coming in. When I think B1G, I think of hockey not lax. ;)

/tk

Hockey? I'm guessing you're joking or something.

lax league will be decent. The hockey league won't be very useful from the outset since most of the programs are going to be upstarts initially. Though it might signal the decline of some of the traditional hockey powers if those schools in the B1G do figure out how to get down with the stick and puck.

[terpkristin]

Hockey? I'm guessing you're joking or something.

lax league will be decent. The hockey league won't be very useful from the outset since most of the programs are going to be upstarts initially. Though it might signal the decline of some of the traditional hockey powers if those schools in the B1G do figure out how to get down with the stick and puck.

Yes, it was somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I don't think of lax when I think of Big Ten. I do seem to remember Michigan in a hockey...semifinal? Final? Some bigger game. Of course, I meant "when I think of Big Ten" I wasn't talking football/basketball. I was trying to think of other sports outside of those typical biggies.

/tk

[BillyNYC]

Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and MSU are traditional hockey powers (the 4 are among 10 teams with 3 or more NCAA titles), so not like the whole conference is new to hockey.

Getting back to lacrosse, seems like Hopkins felt they needed to be in a conference, and getting a marquis program into the B1G is a definite win for them too. Win, win.

(And quick comment on the just past season: as a Cornell alum, it's depressing to watch their close calls the past decade. I guess it's better to be contenders most years...but ouch.)

[BillyNYC]

Dola....random trivia I just discovered due to the hockey/lax tangent:

Cornell is only school to have won both NCAA D-1 men's lacrosse and men's ice hockey championships. Of course, the last of those 5 combined titles happened in 1977, but that's just details...

[terpkristin]

Yeah, when I think of lacrosse, I think of the NY, NJ, MD, VA, and NC. And no other states. I didn't think most states knew what it was. ;)

/tk

[Klinglerware]

Dola....random trivia I just discovered due to the hockey/lax tangent:

Cornell is only school to have won both NCAA D-1 men's lacrosse and men's ice hockey championships. Of course, the last of those 5 combined titles happened in 1977, but that's just details...

That said, Men's Ice Hockey and Men's Lacrosse are one of the few sports where Ivy League school's can legitimately compete for a D-1 national championship. (Yale did win it all this year in Ice Hockey.)

Ironically, Ivy League women's teams are less competitive now in these sports, especially Ice Hockey: because of Title IX balancing requirements, more athletic scholarship opportunities are now available to elite female recruits now compared to even 15 years ago.

[BishopMVP]

Time for the annual bump, if for no other reason than to urge any fan of lacrosse to find a way to watch an Albany game (or two) this season for the Thompson brothers from Onondaga (they do have a televised one on ESPNU against Hopkins April 4th). UMass was 4-0, top 10 in the country, coming off a 15-2 spanking of a solid Brown team (sorry Klingerware!)... and got run off Garber Field. 6-1 after 6 minutes, 16-4 at halftime, 25-10 final. They don't run anything complicated, just a lot of 2-man pick game leading to a guy carrying the ball righty across the face, but their strength carrying through traffic is just unbelievable - the brothers had 10 and 8 and sat the 4th quarter (cousin Ty added 5 goals). The younger one, Lyle, had 113 points last year, 2 off the NCAA record, and has 29 through 4 games this season.

Funny thing is their team is 2-2. Albany is such a run and gun team they've lost 2 1-goal games in the high teens to Syracuse and Drexel. Albany goalie had by far his best game of the year yesterday, otherwise UMass could've easily put up 20+ too (32 shots on goal).

[CraigSca]

Time for the annual bump, if for no other reason than to urge any fan of lacrosse to find a way to watch an Albany game (or two) this season for the Thompson brothers from Onondaga (they do have a televised one on ESPNU against Hopkins April 4th). UMass was 4-0, top 10 in the country, coming off a 15-2 spanking of a solid Brown team (sorry Klingerware!)... and got run off Garber Field. 6-1 after 6 minutes, 16-4 at halftime, 25-10 final. They don't run anything complicated, just a lot of 2-man pick game leading to a guy carrying the ball righty across the face, but their strength carrying through traffic is just unbelievable - the brothers had 10 and 8 and sat the 4th quarter (cousin Ty added 5 goals). The younger one, Lyle, had 113 points last year, 2 off the NCAA record, and has 29 through 4 games this season.

Funny thing is their team is 2-2. Albany is such a run and gun team they've lost 2 1-goal games in the high teens to Syracuse and Drexel. Albany goalie had by far his best game of the year yesterday, otherwise UMass could've easily put up 20+ too (32 shots on goal).

Wow - so they're the Loyola Marymount of lacrosse!

[BishopMVP]

Wow - so they're the Loyola Marymount of lacrosse!A decent comparison - if Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble were contenders for the Naismith award and projected top 5 picks in the pro draft. Albany's been 55th or worse in scoring defense (out of ~65-70 D1 teams) each of the last 5 years, with the #1 scoring offense last year and this year. NYT did an article on the two today - Log In - The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/sports/college-lacrosse-upended-by-albanys-native-american-stars.html?hp&_r=0) - and how Syracuse is no longer the default choice for Haudonesee players.

[Klinglerware]

Yes, only 2 goals--talk about dominating. Based on what happened at UMass-Albany, what does that say about Brown?

But, it is fun to see (with Albany and elsewhere) the parity in Div I Lacrosse, especially with regards to the competitiveness of teams outside the traditional power conferences.

[BishopMVP]

Yes, only 2 goals--talk about dominating. Based on what happened at UMass-Albany, what does that say about Brown?As much "Any Given Sunday" as anything else - in addition to the 2 for Brown that UMass D gave up 4 goals to Harvard and 5 to Army, both on the fringes of the top 20. Cornell got taken to OT by 3rd year (and 2-26 coming into the season) Michigan last week, then turned around and gave #2 UVa its 1st loss. That UVa team beat #3 Loyola to start the season, beat top 10 Cuse by 5 goals last week, and in between beat Richmond by a goal - in Richmond's 1st ever varsity game. Brown's still 3-1 - I don't think they are a favorite in a loaded Ivy, but all 6 teams there (other than Dartmouth) can beat each other on a given day.

[Marmel]

That's a nice feel good article and the Thompsons are excellent players, but Syracuse did not just take them for granted. I am no lacrosse expert, but I keep up with it and Syracuse has 50 years of offering Onandogans scholarships, however in this case they didn't so much as take them for granted as fail to give in to their demands that we take 3 for the price of 1. The others were not high recruits and their play in high school probably didn't merit the schollies.

Also, the article didn't note that their older brother was academically ineligable for 2 seasons, but the school stuck by him.

Finally, Syracuse has 11 titles, not 10. :)

[BillyNYC]

After recently moving back to NYC, am excited to attend some Cornell lacrosse games.

Looks like @Hofstra in mid-April and then 2 weeks later at "Battle at Bethpage" vs Princeton at Bethpage HS on Long Island. Not sure how many seats the latter has, but looks like tix available at the HS in a few weeks.

Cornell was supposed to be in a rebuilding year, but a win over UVA last weekend raises expectations a bit.

[BishopMVP]

Hopkins/Albany 7pm tonight on ESPNU. Hopkins could dominate possession and win 12-7, or Albany could put up 20.

[Marmel]

Tournament bracket is revealed:

Duke Earns Top Seed for NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament: Matchups, TV and Bracket | Inside Lacrosse (http://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/duke-earns-top-seed-for-ncaa-men-s-lacrosse-tournament-matchups-tv-and-bracket/28490)

[Klinglerware]

Tournament bracket is revealed:

Duke Earns Top Seed for NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament: Matchups, TV and Bracket | Inside Lacrosse (http://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/duke-earns-top-seed-for-ncaa-men-s-lacrosse-tournament-matchups-tv-and-bracket/28490)

Based on the power ratings and records, it makes sense--but it still is somewhat interesting to see that even with six teams in the league, the entire ACC is in the tournament this year.

[BishopMVP]

Based on the power ratings and records, it makes sense--but it still is somewhat interesting to see that even with six teams in the league, the entire ACC is in the tournament this year.And as someone who hates the constant ACC hype and roots for "underdogs"... I couldn't argue against it. All 6 easily deserved it.

Fun first round with the 2/3/4 seeds all losing. Drexel won the battle of West Philly over Penn, Albany beat Loyola, and Bryant went to the Carrier Dome and knocked off Cuse. D3 tournament's also fun to watch; teams are attacking like crazy since the new rules came in - 8 teams put up between 19 and 25 goals in their first game.

[BishopMVP]

Albany lost yesterday in the epitome of their program. The Thompson trio scored 8 goals, they had a 5 goal lead in the 4th quarter, and Notre Dame came back for the W.

Duke/Hopkins and Denver/Drexel today. Wish the pairings were switched so I could root for the underdog in both.

[BishopMVP]

Duke/Denver and ND/Maryland semifinals. I probably should root for the non-ACC team, but I hate Tierney's sideline demeanor (and Petro's). I'll root for Maryland since I like Tillman and we have a kid going there next year.

[BishopMVP]

If anyones still up, this Canada/Iroquois game on ESPN3 is awesome.

[Desnudo]

I predict by 2016 UT and A&M begin participating and dominating this traditionally east coast sport. It's getting bigger in texas now, only a matter of time.

[BishopMVP]

I predict by 2016 UT and A&M begin participating and dominating this traditionally east coast sport. It's getting bigger in texas now, only a matter of time.I do love the explosion of the sport at the youth/HS level's (2nd fastest growing HS sport after bowling!) - we actually ran a club tournament at Ft. Devens last week with teams from 18 states and Canada - but unfortunately that's not leading straight to growth at the college level. As a coach in the Northeast we've been laughing about/terrified about that very possibility for years, but it doesn't appear to be happening. U Florida jumped in the women's game and became a top 5 team within 3 years, and U Michigan added a men's team and proved a school with D1 football could add a team despite Title IX concerns, but the only way any big school will add it is if a donor pays the start-up costs.

[Desnudo]

How much growth do you think is restricted by title 9?

[BishopMVP]

How much growth do you think is restricted by title 9?Very little. It is true that most of the recent D1 growth is from teams without D1 football (BU, Marquette, UMass-Lowell, Richmond), but Title IX is just a convenient excuse/scapegoat administrators can hint at. Michigan added a fully funded men's team, UMass jumped from FCS to FBS football (which added double the scholarships of a fully funded lacrosse team), and in both cases it just took private donors pledging enough money to make it a profitable choice for the school.

I do wish that football scholarships were excepted from Title IX consideration, or that some college president actually had the balls to challenge Title IX on the proportionality part (a higher percentage of male students want to play a sport in college), but I also don't recall the government actually suing any schools over this. It's just the bogeyman AD's can point to when cutting a non-revenue sport like wrestling or water polo or baseball, or not adding lacrosse.

[Marmel]

Cuse men and women both won their ACC tournaments this weekend. Selection Sunday is next week at 9pm on The U.