Lacrosse 2022 (For the 3 of us that care)

[Smoova]

It will be interesting to see if Tufts can step it up with RIT.

I think the next 2 seasons will be pretty tough sledding for DIII programs without graduate schools or that belong to conferences with independent eligibility limitations.

[ötzi]

A funny thing indeed. My kid just passed on a few DI offers (mostly PL/Big East programs) to play at a NESCAC next year.

Good for him. I mean it's too frickin cold for lax half the season at most of the NESCAC schools but if you're not gonna be a stud at a program that has a chance to excel, D1 is just too much like a job. My kid got lucky in a way, his coach got fired after his freshman year and he didn't get along with the new guy so he only played one year. He got to study overseas, have a girlfriend, have a real college experience. It was better for him than playing there was.

[Stu Gotz]

I think the next 2 seasons will be pretty tough sledding for DIII programs without graduate schools or that belong to conferences with independent eligibility limitations.

I don't think it's really going to make that much of a difference in DIII. Maybe a few guys stick around at Salisbury or Cortland to get their masters degree in education. But I think the very good DIII players might give DI schools a go with graduate school. Two kids from my alma mater graduated and went to law school and used their covid year to play one final year. One made the all-big east team for Villanova. The other got some time, but not much.

I'm a DIII homer and I'll get push back on this, but there really isn't that much a difference between the athletic experience between the top NESCAC schools and a conference like the Patriot league. Big squads, all year lifting/conditioning, fall ball, great athletic facilities. A bus ride is a bus ride no matter what division its is.

[Smoova]

Good for him. I mean it's too frickin cold for lax half the season at most of the NESCAC schools but if you're not gonna be a stud at a program that has a chance to excel, D1 is just too much like a job. My kid got lucky in a way, his coach got fired after his freshman year and he didn't get along with the new guy so he only played one year. He got to study overseas, have a girlfriend, have a real college experience. It was better for him than playing there was.

Ha! Lacrosse is a winter sport! IIRC, your boy was at HC? That team has certainly been on a rocky road for the last several years. It's very easy for kids/parents to lose perspective (and I have definitely tip-toed along that line), so I'm glad your son wound up with a great experience.

[ötzi]

Yeah HC. They fired the best coach they've had in 20 years (Jim Morrissey) after my son's freshman year thinking they could do better and it's been all downhill for them since then. A train wreck. Avert your eyes. Good school though, the kid got a lot out of it.

As far as lax, hey he got on the field as a freshman, got some PT, and moved on. He was splitting time at FO with Ben Williams, who went on to be an All-American at Syracuse. They were competitive in league play and even won some games, a rarity since then. Mission accomplished as someone once said.

[Smoova]

I don't think it's really going to make that much of a difference in DIII. Maybe a few guys stick around at Salisbury or Cortland to get their masters degree in education. But I think the very good DIII players might give DI schools a go with graduate school. Two kids from my alma mater graduated and went to law school and used their covid year to play one final year. One made the all-big east team for Villanova. The other got some time, but not much.

Fair point. I noticed that RIT had 22 seniors/grad students on its roster this year and CNU had 18, but you're probably right that most DIII kids will go the route taken by Waldbaum, Jacoby, Versfeld, etc.

[dcpnz]

And I still don't understand the limits of defensive checks in the girls game, or most of the other rules for that matter.

Nobody does, even the refs.
IMHO the biggest problem with the girls game right now is the inconsistency in refereeing especially in what is OK vs a push, a check or a charge - varsity, high school, middle school doesn’t seem to matter.

[warthog]

Sorry to hear that about The Cross. Kept forgetting to ask what happened with all that. Seems like that was an Iceman conversation, and well...

Anyone know how St Leo's does in that world? Their coach and Assistant AD was a class ahead of me in HS and grew up on my street. He came out of Springfield I think. Lax is getting pretty big down here in club and HS with the younger kids. Girls and Boys.

[ötzi]

St. Leo's is in D2, which is kind of a mystery to me (and most people, it seems). This year they were 6-8 but I have no idea if their schedule was easy or hard or how 6-8 is against that competition. Better than 0-14, though!

https://saintleolions.com/sports/men.../schedule/2022

At HC, the new coach came in and told my kid and Ben Williams (also a freshman that year) that the NCAA rules changes made their position "obsolete" and he wouldn't have any FO specialists on his team. Ben left for Syracuse but my kid wanted to stay at HC so he just quit lax. That guy was a notable moron, and he's long since gone.

[Smoova]

^ Wow - that's a pretty special blend of stupidity and arrogance.

[ötzi]

Yeah I seem to recall some faceoffs in Monday's game, weird.

It's a little funny that the NCAA rule changes the coach was talking about came about because of Chris Hampton's success the previous year at Denver, winning FO's to the back of his stick and rolling the ball on the ground to pass it once he'd won (it worked, Denver won the championship that year) because he couldn't throw it off the back of his stick.

Well Chris Hampton and my kid went to the same high school a couple years apart and they're still good friends but the running joke has been "You cost me my college career with your wack bullshit, Chris!"

[Stu Gotz]

Yeah I seem to recall some faceoffs in Monday's game, weird.

It's a little funny that the NCAA rule changes the coach was talking about came about because of Chris Hampton's success the previous year at Denver, winning FO's to the back of his stick and rolling the ball on the ground to pass it once he'd won (it worked, Denver won the championship that year) because he couldn't throw it off the back of his stick.

Well Chris Hampton and my kid went to the same high school a couple years apart and they're still good friends but the running joke has been "You cost me my college career with your wack bullshit, Chris!"

Hampton is a prime example of how much competition there is on the high profile teams for playing time. Monster sophomore season as Ice states above, Baptiste comes in a year later and he rarely sees the field after that. Just brutally competitive. Our town high school sends a kid/year to the ACC and they are rarely heard from again. Truly special players that can differentiate themselves at that level.

[ötzi]

Hampton figured out a gimmick that worked but Trevor Baptiste was all-time. Guy was awesome.

edit: I see Baptiste's in the PLL. I'm sure he's still great.

[wkd-rdr]

Let's go Mammoth

Finals 3 game series starts tonight.

[wkd-rdr]

MAMMOTH WIN!

[ötzi]

I was watching some of that, pretty cool game to watch.

[Tri-Ungulate]

Think he’s pointing to his teammate sitting up on the locker?

[::: :::]

disappointed in the ND win over UVa, but I can’t argue with the goal that won it. UVa should never have let it get to OT in the first place.

Duke otoh…PennSt got robbed on that lack of review winner

Two good games that went to OT
Hopefully Monday’s game is equally interesting

[ötzi]

Was busy yesterday afternoon so I taped the games to watch today (I wanted to watch the Celtics last night). Turned it on this morning and something went haywire, I got about 4 minutes of the first game and that's it. D'oh!

Regardless I think ND smokes the Dookies. I hope so, but also I think so.

D3 comes on in about an hour, I hope the Jumbos crush Salisbury but I don't know enough to make an educated guess.

[Stu Gotz]

Was busy yesterday afternoon so I taped the games to watch today (I wanted to watch the Celtics last night). Turned it on this morning and something went haywire, I got about 4 minutes of the first game and that's it. D'oh!

Regardless I think ND smokes the Dookies. I hope so, but also I think so.

D3 comes on in about an hour, I hope the Jumbos crush Salisbury but I don't know enough to make an educated guess.

HC has put in some really nice athletic facilities recently at the top of the hill. Big field house with big weight complex.

The DIII game should be fun. Just an amazing amount of offensive production from both teams in 2023. (Even taking in to account that no one plays defense in the NESCAC.)

DI has big time LI feel to it this year. Chaminade & St. Anthony's. Brennan O'Neill is an absolute unit out there.

Just

[ötzi]

HC has put in some really nice athletic facilities recently at the top of the hill. Big field house with big weight complex.

The new facilities are nice, there is something seriously wrong there though. 1-13 this year, ouch. Honestly I haven't been paying enough attention to them to really know what's wrong. In I think the Michigan-Duke game I counted 11 kids from Mass., mostly from publics and catholic schools, those are kids that could be at HC but at least few years ago they were constantly trying to recruit in NE West 1 and LI and MD and those kids just aren't interested in HC if they're any good.

[waveshello]

Little bro on the Duke sideline this morning

GO DOOK