Video by Brandon Helgeson, Bishop Kelly High School ’13

To enter our final giveaway of the 2013 college lacrosse season, all you have to do is become a member of LaxAllStars.com. Boom, that’s it! You’ll be entered to win the coolest carbon fiber lacrosse shaft in the world from our friends and advertising partner, C-12 Lacrosse. Plus, 5 second prize winners win a C-12 Prize Pack!

Not an LAS Member yet? Signing up is easy! Just fill out the form below. Already an LAS Member? You’re name is already in the hat!

Here’s a quick look at some of perks that come with a C-12 Lacrosse shaft:

Note: The video states most carbon fiber lacrosse shafts are not hollow. This is incorrect. Most carbon fiber shafts are hollow in the center, but the shaft’s shell is made up of hundreds of thin layers of carbon fiber. The solid state of the C-12 shafts are what make them the strongest and most advanced carbon fiber lacrosse shafts on the market.

TO ENTER, BECOME A MEMBER OF LAXALLSTARS.COM:

Just fill out the form below!

* = RP picked correctly

Denver 19, Albany 14
*Cornell 16, Maryland 8
*Le Moyne 9, LIU Post 8
*Limestone 16, Seton Hill 13
*Tufts 14, Stevens 9
*Stevenson 17, WAC 13
*OCC 18, Essex 7
Nassau 16, Genesee 6
Regis Jesuit 7, Mullen 6
*Brighton 16, Olympus 7

RP’s Score: 7/10

Only TWO members beat RP this week.

• Matthew Hawkins (8/10)
  
• Krieg Shaw (8/10)

LAS strikes again, nice job Krieg!

Stay tuned for another round of Rhino Pick ‘Em!

—

Originally published on May 9th, 2013

Hey LAS nation, you ready for round 6? Lots of good games to choose from this week, and I think I’ve got you beat!

If you’re new to Rhino Pick ‘Em, make sure you watch this video. Each week I’ll select 10 games to highlight. I’ll predict the winners and tell you why I think they’ll win the game. Then, you get a chance to go straight up against me in a one-on-one pick ‘em battle. Get more right than I do, and my company, Rhino Lacrosse, will hit you up with a free sticker pack in the mail.
*Week 5 results can be found here.

Alright, you ready for this? Hit me with your best shot.

NCAA D1

Denver vs. Albany

The battle of slick sticks and box moves has arrived. Each team has plenty of fans and believers, but who has the horses? Really like how Albany is playing the game right now! Danes 14-12.

Maryland vs. Cornell

UMD vs Cornell is the battle of #1 Poll teams. For much of the season the Terps and Big Red were the easy #1s, now they play each other early in a lower seeded game. Who wins this parity fest game? Cornell 12-11 (OT).

NCAA D2

Le Moyne vs. LIU Post

Upstate Vs Long Island? One State……… UpState! Dolphins 13-11.

Limestone vs. Seton Hill

Limestone is the sole true Southern team left. Seton Hill is looking to go to uncharted territory. Who wins, the newbie, or the veteran squad? Limestone wins 15-8.

NCAA D3

Tufts vs. Stevens Inst.

A rematch of the March decision that went in favor of Tufts 18-14. These two high powered offenses will square off in the second round of the NCAA D3 Tournament. Tufts wins 12-9.

WAC vs. Stevenson

Washington College has shown it can hang with the top teams this year, beating Salisbury 7-6 and Washington & Lee 8-4. Will the Shoremen be able to upset another big name though? Not so fast… Stevenson wins 13-9.

NJCAA

OCC vs. Essex

These two played a tight game, can Essex take it to the next level and actually knock off OCC? Again, One State……… UpState! OCC 16-13.

Genesee vs. Nassau

This could be the JuCo game of the year! Up and comer in Genesee against an established dynasty. Who’s trending higher? I do think that Nassau is the better team, however, each week I need to have an upset pick and this is mine this week. Genesee wins 10-9.

High School

Regis Jesuit vs. Mullen (CO)

Regis took the earlier game 9-8 in OT, will they pull it out again or will Mullen come back with a vengeance? I can’t guess Regis when I spent a season at the helm for Mullen. Mullen wins 10-8 this time around.

Olympus vs. Brighton (UT)

12-3 Brighton takes on 12-6 Olympus. Brighton took a comfortable 9-5 win earlier this month but Olympus is on a three game winning streak, averaging 12.6 goals for and only 6.3 against. Brighton will prove to be a bit too much again, 12-10 final.

Now it’s your turn. Think you can beat me? Submit your picks below. But remember, you have sign in as an LAS member first.

Hey there, before you can enter the contest, you need to sign up or log in. Becoming an LAS Member is 100% free. Just click that blue button above to sign up or the blue button at the top right to log in.

Maybe this gear infatuation doesn’t go as far as we thought though…

Back on April 29th, we showcased some game photos from the Cornell vs. Princeton match-up, how many of you noticed Cornell’s goalie was sporting brand new STX gloves?

STX tweeted out some teasers about watching for some new gear. Would you have noticed the different Cornell gloves if they hadn’t? Do you care anymore?

I saw them, but only after STX tweeted about it…

Bryan Bendig was wearing some sick new Under Armour gloves in Prague, did you see those?

I’ve always been a proponent of the phrase, “Look good, feel good, play good”, and I love new gear just as much as the next guy, but is that what should be blasted all over the headlines? In the past, teams have given exclusive gear rights to certain media outlets, but is this really helping them now that everyone is showing off their gear? Should a lacrosse team be known for what they wear? Or what they do on the field?

Maryland was set to get new gloves this year from Under Armour, but got knocked out of the tournament before they even received them. Hopkins had a very similar thing happen to them in the past when they got some flashy new helmet wraps. Syracuse sported faded volt and orange gear and lost the quarterfinals to Maryland a few years back.

We get gear thrown in our faces each and every day, which makes some sense. But that we see it about as much as we get ads shown to us makes less sense. When it comes down to tournament time, how important is it really that your team is wearing the coolest gear on the market?

Would you rather be remembered as the Alabama team, who have won three out of the last four BCS Title games and have two uniform combinations? Or the Oregon team, who have zero Titles but thousands of uniform combinations? (Oregon uniform combos on Wired.com).

Now it’s your turn. You tell us, has lacrosse become oversaturated with the newest piece of equipment? Do people need to start worrying about HOW they are playing instead of WHAT they are wearing?

We know a simple poll won’t do your answers justice either, so after you vote, hit up the LAS forums and let us know what you really think. We’ve made a post in the forums exclusively for this article!

This week, lax nation is all about discussing the 2013 MCLA Championships – both good and bad:

Editor’s Note: This forum post started out a little differently, but we like the direction where this user as taken it. Constructive discussion on what is going on in Greenville. SoCalLax2 is making great points and offering some real solutions.

SoCalLax2 posted the following:

I am going to play devil’s advocate here for a minute and respond to some things.

A: With all due respect to the nice facilities that have been used in the past, given the nature of the MCLA (and the niceness of the fields used in the first round games) I don’t think Greenville is a problem. A city welcomed our league in, for free, and really was/is it so bad? Do we need to pay 100k or whatever for a nice stadium full of empty seats? That just makes us look like a joke. I watched St Thomas vs Liberty with a buddy of mine at my house and his first response was “dude why are the stands so empty?” We had that at Greenville too, why pay for a nice park when the fan turnout is going to be what it is?

B: I once had an argument about the TV stuff with JP and he actually said that it was really too expensive to be putting the games on cable and when I talked about the advertising revenue etc. he explained how negligible those really are and how much money the league loses for airing the games. Why not increase your website’s traffic while saving money? For that matter why not get LAS and the other online venues involved to push traffic to the MCLA site for the streams? Do a liveblog during the games like we used to do in the past. Get everybody involved.

C: Agree the social media wasn’t used well enough to garner more fanfare but to be honest given all of the glitches in the matrix with what the MCLA had for the streams and stuff, probably better not to spam FB/twitter/etc only for those people to bitch about the feeds and what not. I had my laptop set up with an HDMI cord into my big screen HDTV and my brother walked into the room wondering which tournament this was (he played lax in HS and likes to watch the NCAA stuff) and when I told him he goes “Oh no wonder the quality sucks and it sounds like shit. Let me know when the NCAA games are on.”

I don’t think that its necessarily the venue or the decisions made that are the problem but rather the execution of it that should be harped on. What the MCLA should do is take some of that money, and do a “game of the week” every few weeks, with the staff responsible for the games at nationals as the crew, and use that as a means to get the glitches out of the way with streams and tournament facilities type stuff if their plan is to staff and stream the games themselves instead of outsourcing. (not to mention it gives us pollsters some actual video content to use in our deliberations rather than just going on resumes and banter, am I right guys?) Do the SELC tournament at Greenville, have the MCLA host it, stream the games, and use that as a test run for everything, or have the MCLA guys at the conference championships of a few conferences and do it there, whatever is most convenient for the league without shelling out too much dough and still having a chance to make sure everything is a go before just doing the tournament blind. There is plenty of time leading up to the next tournament, no need to use the DII morning games as the test pig for it.

Also, since we have live video coverage and what not, we should be doing all of these games live on the MCLA site (whats the point of even having that available if nobody uses it) with the stats and stuff so there is a fallback in the event any video cuts out. Between live video, blogging options, and the live mcla.us backend option, we have so many ways to attack this with innovation and instead we get less than standard content.

What do YOU think? Is it really as bad as everyone is making it out to be? Want to add something to the conversation? Click here.

Have something to say? Join the Lax All Stars Forums today and let your voice be heard!

Not happening.

That’s it, blow the team up. Trade everybody. And just like that, we’ve got a full-fledged meltdown on our hands. Is this rational? Not in the least. Reasonable? It sure ain’t… But we’re sports fans, and that’s just how we roll.

Photo Credit: 24 Seven Lax

Charlotte Hounds (1-2) vs. Hamilton Nationals (2-0)

Note: This game takes place today at 11:00 a.m., so there’s a chance you may be reading this preview after this particular section is relevant. If that’s the case, feel free to assume everything I wrote was dead-on and just move ahead to the next game, thanks.

After starting their season 2-0 (by beating two of last year’s playoff teams), the Nationals now welcome Joe Walters (team-high 28 assists in 2012), Stephen Keogh (team-high 26 goals in 2012), and Cody Jamieson (good at lacrosse as well) back to their squad.

Re-introducing talent like that to your roster will either make the team much better or much worse, and it all depends on team chemistry. They’ll need to get used to working with new contributors such as Roy Lang and Martin Cahill, but if they can, Hamilton’s offense could make the leap from “impressive” to “scary,” just like that. Add in that Jammer, Keough, and Walters ALL played for Rochester in the NLL, and this is the way you have to lean.

Meanwhile, the (probably exhausted) Charlotte Hounds are playing their third game in 13 days. Only this one is at 11:00 in the morning, and in a different country, and none of that helps them out one bit. Unless this team thrives on total chaos. It might.

Aside from potential fatigue, the big story from Charlotte is the arrival of Loyola’s Mike Sawyer this weekend. Eric Lusby plays on the opposite side, and Ryan Young scored seven goals last week, so where does this leave Sawyer? According to head coach Mike Cerino, there’s a chance we’ll see him coming out of the box as a midfielder. Depending on his transition to the pro game, Sawyer could be a big offensive presence for a midfield that combined to score only one point last weekend.

In other news, the Nationals announced that they activated defensemen Reid Acton (Loyola) and Tucker Durkin (Hopkins), just in time for the latter to get payback on a) the Charlotte Hounds for trading him and b) Mike Sawyer for dropping three goals and beating him at Homewood last month. I can’t say for sure which, if either, will play in today’s game, but chances are good that at least one of them will since week 4 starter Solomon Bliss has been assigned to the practice squad.

Chesapeake Bayhawks (3-0) vs. Boston Cannons (0-3)

The Cannons are 0-2 at home this season (which already ties their 2012 and 2011 home-loss totals), and although it’s still early, the term “must-win” is being thrown around quite a bit. Of course, they don’t have to win this game, but look at it this way: last season, the Lizards earned the fourth playoff seed with an 8-6 record. If that’s the case this year, and the Cannons drop this one, they’d need to win eight of their final ten games to even make it to championship weekend. Maybe it is a must win?

As we discussed in last week’s recap, the Bayhawks absolutely love opponents who slide early. I’m not sure how they feel about teams that don’t slide at all, but I’m guessing they’re cool with that too. Unless the Cannons made some defensive adjustments in the past week, guys like Matt Mackrides and Kyle Dixon are going to be a serious problem if they get a step or space. On the other hand, John Grant Jr absolutely bullied his Cannons defenders in their matchups last season, so it may be Junior’s turn to run the offense.

The Cannons face a defense that a) has held their past two opponents to single-digit scoring, and b) held Ryan Boyle without a point in their last meeting, which means they could really go for some power plays. Nothing sparks a stagnant offense like an EMO, and nobody knows that better than the Cannons, your back-to-back league leader in man-up opportunities.

In their last regular-season contest (a 16-13 Cannons victory), Chesapeake racked up a grand total of 11 penalty minutes. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing against, you can’t give someone that many chances and expect to win, especially if you’re playing a team with Boyle, Poskay, and Rabil. If the Bayhawks stay out of the box, they’ll have a much better shot at keeping Boston winless.

New York Lizards (1-2) vs. Ohio Machine (0-2)

I know you started your season against Denver and Chesapeake, and I know you only got to play three quarters of a game against the Bayhawks, but still: 6.5 goals per game isn’t going to cut it, Ohio Machine. Someone needs to generate their own shot there. The question, of course, is who, especially from the midfield, will start to get this done?

Steele Stanwick can always seem to find Joe Cummings for a goal or two, and Kevin Kaminski (nine goals in eight games last season for Charlotte) was just picked up from the player pool, but Connor Martin’s been placed on the IR for at least two games. Unless Kyle Hartzell starts coming down and chucking twos from 20 yards out again (and I really hope he does, because that was great), Ohio’s rookie midfielders have to step up and prove they can carry their share of the offense.

The Lizards are coming off of an absolute heartbreaker to Hamilton, but Matt Gibson and Mark Matthews were extremely impressive in their first game together. So impressive, in fact, that they’re already second and third, respectively, on the team in scoring, a stat that means the LI midfield probably needs to step up as well. Head coach Joe Spallina has said that he’d like to see David Earl be more assertive when he gets the ball, which is particularly important since Stephen Berger’s currently shooting 2-26 (.077%).

You wouldn’t expect it, but look for a good battle to take place at the faceoff x. While it’s a battle between 2013’s best (Greg Gurenlian – 67%) and worst (Eric O’Brien – 37%) faceoff percentages, these two won 19 draws each when they went head-to-head last season. It’s a match up thing.

Rochester Rattlers (1-2) vs. Denver Outlaws (3-0)

The Denver Outlaws haven’t played a home game since July 14, 2012, which amounts to a total of nine games since their last game at Invesco field. They won eight of those games (that ninth, of course, being a loss in last year’s championship game), but if you believe in home-field advantage, getting back to thousands of lacrosse-starved fans after a delay like that is bound to help the team.

This game already marks the second time this season where the reigning offensive and defensive players of the week (in this case Ned Crotty and Jesse Schwartzman, respectively) square off against each other. Granted he was dealing with injuries, but Crotty was held to a total of two points (both assists) in Rochester and Denver’s two matchups last season (Lee Zink tends to have that effect on people, no matter if they’re healthy or not). Crotty will need backup if he runs into a problem like that again, and unfortunately, Mike Leveille won’t be making the trip. Look for both Mark Millon and Stephen Boyle to take those other attack spots.

Chris Bocklet and Jeremy Boltus must have enjoyed watching Ryan Young go off last week, because now it’s their turn to face Rochester’s second and third-best defenders. Boltus hasn’t shown signs of rust after this injury-shortened 2012 season, and has been great off-ball in the Denver offense. Since Zack Greer’s out of the lineup this week, look for Boltus to cash in often if Brendan Mundorf consistently draws a double team.

Week 4 is a big one, and it gets started extremely early. Can the Bayhawks help crush the Cannons’ postseason dreams? Will the Lizards get back to even ground or will the Machine get their first win? Enjoy the games this weekend and be sure to check back next week for the recap.

David literally only has one hand, his right, but that has not stopped him from becoming a pretty incredible lacrosse player. And no, I don’t mean he’s become an incredible lacrosse player considering he only has one hand, I just mean that he’s become an incredible lacrosse player.

Via that video you can see what I mean! He may only have a right, but he’ll dodge to his left as well. He is great at finessing the ball into the net in tight, finishes lefty AND righty, and delivers crisp and accurate passes. What’s not to love about David’s play on the field?

HUGE props go out to David, and his teammates at Mandeville. Awesome stuff from The Sportsman’s Paradise!

Photo Credit goes to Jonathan Rossi, and you can see more of his work here, at www.JonathanRossi.com. Here are three shots of David tearing it up this past year.

For another truly inspiring lacrosse story, check out Miles Moscato’s Playing the Hand You’re Dealt.

Billy Bitter is DJing the event, and professional players like Max Seibald will be in attendance, and looking to mingle a bit. Want to get up close and personal with some stars? Tell Max how to beat Denver? Well, here’s your chance!

There will also be some giveaways, prizes (lacrosse related and not), and a very good time had by all. You could win a gift certificate to a top NYC restaurant, a duffel bag from Hudson Sutler, or a number of other memorabilia pieces. In the end, this event serves to connect the NYC lacrosse community, and will help fund future efforts by CityLax to Grow The Game in the five boroughs.

Tickets are still available for purchase, and if you’re looking to have a great Wednesday night in the City, this could be your key to kicking it off right! If you’re a first time UBER user, you can also get a $20 discount. Not too shabby!

It’s going to be a great night of lacrosse in NYC, so get involved and help out CityLax, all while treating yourself just a bit.

If 2014 is anything like 2013, we can expect the Lazers to add to that already impressive total.

First up in this final JuCo Report…

Interview with OCC’s Chuck Wilbur

I’m sure you hate to “rank” your past teams against one another, so instead of asking where this team stacks up, I’d love to hear about what made this team different, and successful in their own way?

We were injured all season. Rodd Squire (one of our top mids) didnt play until the last few weeks, and even then he was only playing on one foot. We lost a starter at attack (all world) Seth Oakes. We lost the best face off guy in JuCo, and one of our better offensive mids, in Vaughn Harris. It never fazed these guys, the next guy in line stepped up, and we played on without losing a beat.

We never had our best team out on the field all season, but these guys kept things rolling. If healthy all season, this team could have been up there as one of our all-time elite teams.

You have kids on your team that will be on Division 1 rosters next year who did not step on the field much in the NJCAA title game. Does that say anything about the quality of play in the NJCAA?

We have several back ups who will go on to play at Division 1 and 2 schools. There are several guys who were back ups last season for us, that are starting at top D2 schools currently, and some are leading scorers for their teams. JuCo lacrosse is overlooked a lot when you consider how much talent is actually here, and with the teams we play against. We have also scrimmaged several D2 and D3 schools over the years… and the top teams in Juco have more talent on their rosters than many of the 4 year schools that we see on the field.

Herkimer won 5 straight titles (but you know all about that!), and now OCC has won 5 straight. Are you starting to look ahead to next year at all? Does that next goal of “six straight” change anything for you?

You always start looking ahead as a coach to the next season. We are just trying to reload to keep this thing rolling.

Define simple success for OCC. Is it about titles, moving players on to NCAA schools, or something else? Underneath it all, what is the driving force behind OCC lacrosse?

Team success will bring individuals those individual accomplishments. That is what we live by here. Our kids go on to very good 4 year schools because of our team success. The kids come here to help get a door open for them at the 4 year level, and it is my job to assist them in getting there.

For more on OCC’s title win in 2013, check out the highlight video we made, game photos, and the full game broadcast online

NJCAA 2013 Hall Of Fame Class – Lacrosse

The following people have been inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame. According to the NJCAA website, “the selections below were made by the NJCAA Men’s Lacrosse Coaches Association hall of fame selection committee, made up current inductees, past coaches association presidents, and administrators.

Charles Hardy – Two-time AA at Nassau where he led the team in scoring, Hardy was also a member of the first ever official NJCAA championship team in 1970. Nassau went 31-1 in his time there with 28 consecutive wins. Hardy scored 174 points, with 117 of those being assists. He went on to UMass where he led the team in scoring twice, amassing 146 points, and 60 assists in his Sr. year. Hardy also started the HS program in Reading MA and was named the Massachusetts HS Coach of the Year a few years back.

Terry Wallace – Wallace was on the same team as Hardy, and where Hardy was the set up man, Wallace was the finished. He scored 60 goals his first year, and 57 his second from the crease attack position, but what makes Wallace special is not only what he did on the field. It’s also what he did before Nassau. Wallace fought in Vietnam for three years before enrolling at NCC. He won three purple hearts and Cross of Gallantry during his service. Bullet wounds in his legs did not stop him becoming a dominant force at NCC, and he went on to be a 2-time AA again when he went to Adelphi.

Arthur Seekamp – Seekamp is yet another NCC guy, and he played for the team the two years after Wallace and Hardy had departed. Seekamp was a dominant defenseman who went on to play at Maryland, where he was an AA in 1974 after being a two time NJCAA AA.

Harold McVey – McVey played one year with Seekamp, and then had another at Nassau before transferring to UMass and then Adelphi, where he was an All-American at each school. McVey still referees lacrosse in Suffolk County, NY.

Dave Klarman – Another NCC guy. What a shocker! Klarman was a beast at NCC, won two titles as a defender, and then went to UNC where he was an AA in 1975. He coached UNC from 1991 to 2000 and won a D1 title in 1991, his first year with the program.

Mickey Menna – Menna is another NCC guy, who also went to UMass where he was an All-American. Menna also coached at Suffolk CC in the NJCAA ranks.

Kevin Cook – In 1982, Kevin Cook led NCC to yet another title. He then went on to Cornell where he was a two time AA in 1983 and 1984. Cook stuck with the game in a major way and represented Team USA in 1990, and 1994.

Tom Rotantz – Rotantz was a two time All-American at Suffolk in 1978 and 1979, and he helped lead Suffolk to a NJCAA title in 1979 as a defenseman. Rotantz was also an All-American at Adelphi, where won another title in 1981.

2013 NJCAA All Americans

First Team

Warren Hill – OCC – Goalie – Fr
Calvin Bollar – Nassau – Defense – So
Logan Tousaw – OCC – Defense – So
Ryan Vella – OCC – Defense – So
Matthew Ward – Harford – Defense – Fr
Brandon Goodwin – ASA – Midfield – So
Tony Rossie – Essex – Midfield – So
Vaughn Harris – OCC – Midfield – Fr
Michael Iacono – Nassau – Midfield – So
Casey Jackson – ASA – Attack – So
Richard DeMicco – Harford – Attack – So
Jordan Saunderson – OCC – Attack – So
Randy Staats – OCC – Attack – So

Randy Staats for OCC against Nassau.

Second Team

Brady Lawrence – Genessee – Goalie – So
Thomas Yancheski – Harfford – Goalie – So
Jordan Carlock – Suffolk – Defense – So
Josh Rufolo – Essex – Defense – So
Joe Balestrieri – Essex – Midfield – Fr
Tim Barber – OCC – Midfield – Fr
Brett Williams – OCC – Midfield – So
Nicholas Manning – OCC – Midfield – So
Kenneth Meinsen – Suffolk – Midfield – So
Marcus Palvino – Genessee – Midfield – So
Christian Reiller – Genessee – Attack – So
John Brandofine – Nassau – Attack – So
Kevin Teresky – Nassau – Attack – Fr

I have thoroughly enjoyed covering the NJCAA Men’s Lacrosse action this year. I have TWO more big JuCo stories to drop in June, so stay tuned for that. Should be some BIG stuff. Thanks for reading, and for allowing me to cover this wonderful corner of the college game. Next year will be bigger, brighter, and better. I can feel it already.

By the end of today, we will have both our D1 and D2 Championship set. We’ll quickly showcase both D1 and D2 Semifinals, then let you vote on who will win the D1 Tournament this year.

In the MCLA D1 quarterfinals, there was not an upset to be seen. A valiant effort was given by Oregon as they never gave up despite a short bench and a 4 OT game the night before, but it just wasn’t enough to take down a powerful BYU team. The other three teams cruised to wins and proved their seeding in the tournament was dead-on.

MCLA D1 Semifinals

• #1 Colorado State vs. #4 Brigham Young University

Two very familiar foes in the first semifinal game. Both teams have gone back and forth over the past several years, but BYU leads the series 10-6. Colorado State took the match-up earlier this season to the tune of 16-5. If BYU wants any chance at beating the top-seeded Rams, their defense will need to find a way to slow down this very powerful team. The Cougars have given up 22 goals so far in this tournament, as compared to 7 by the Rams, 9 by Colorado and 10 by Arizona State (thanks to Lax Country for that stat!).

• #2 Colorado vs. #3 Arizona State

This is easily the most anticipated semifinal match-up, featuring one of the best and deepest offenses in Arizona State, against the smothering defense of the Red Hot Buffs. Arizona State has replaced the Westfall brothers with a slew of talent. Freshman goalie Preston Anderson has put up a 62% save percentage on the season and will look to slow down the Buffs on the other end of the field.

These teams have met six times before and are dead-locked at 3-3 in the series with Colorado taking the last match-up 6-5 in 2012. As we’ve seen with the CU/MSU game, you can’t put too much worth on past games.

MCLA D2 Semifinals

• #1 St. Thomas vs. #4 Liberty

These two teams have never played before so this should be a really fun game to watch. Tournament favorites St. Thomas have just overpowered their opponents in the tournament, taking down #16 DePaul 11-3 and Coast Guard 18-8. Liberty has done just the opposite, grinding out their way to the semifinals with victories over NDSU 12-11 in OT and Grove City 10-9. Liberty will have to slow down a very deep St. Thomas bench if they want to advance to Saturday.

• #2 Westminster vs. #3 St. John’s

Westminster is currently up 6-2 over St. John’s at halftime. It really has been an all-Westminster game thus far and their discipline and tenacity has proven to be very advantageous in this game. Coach Goodhand has been stressing fundamental defense hard this year and it is clearly evident so far today.

I learned that Lance strings his pockets around the pocket stretcher, and I think that’s a great move. It allows for perfect pocket placement, but creates a wider area than a ball and butter knife would. You should give that a shot too. I might the next time I string up a wand.

Check out the Traditional Thursday archives. Want to share your work with the world? Hit us up on the Tipline!

Photo Credit: Craig Chase

Let’s look at the match ups…

Syracuse Vs Yale – Cuse is a King amongst title holding princes. Yale has now won their first NCAA tournament game since 1992. Technically, Yale won a title in 1883, but we’re talking modern era here.

UNC Vs Denver – UNC won three titles in the 90s, but haven’t seen the same success since. Denver went D1 in 1999, and has not won a title in that time. Is 2013 the year?

Cornell Vs Ohio State – Cornell was the place for titles back in the day and recently, and their legendary list of players like Webster, French, McEneaney, Schimoler, McClay, and Seibald can stand with anyone. Now Logan Schuss and crew want to make OSU the new home to titles and start their own run. Should be a great game!

Duke Vs Notre Dame – If the Irish want to win their first title, they need to take down the team that beat them in the finals in 2010. Sure, the teams are very different, but institutional memory carries over. Duke is a recent addition to the title club, and Notre Dame wants to join up. Who takes this awesome rematch?

Here is a crazy scenario…

If Notre Dame, Ohio State, Denver, and Yale ALL win, then we are guaranteed to have a new national champion in 2013. The Final Four would be comprised of four teams that had never won titles.

Here is a less crazy scenario…

If Syracuse, UNC, Cornell, and Duke win, we are guaranteed to have a repeat champion, and a final four made up completely of past winners.

Now, do I think that either of these scenarios is going to play out perfectly? Honestly, I have no idea. If we assume that each team has a 50% chance of winning their game (that seems fair), then there are 16 different possible A-B-A-B combinations. Two of those A-A-A-A, and B-B-B-B, would result in the above crazy scenarios. The other 14 outcomes would provide some sort of mix.

While 1/8th doesn’t seem like a staggering likelihood, it is neat to consider that is it is, at the very least, possible.

While I like UNC, Cornell, Syracuse, and Duke, the underdog/newcomer lover in me wants Yale, Ohio State, Denver, and Notre Dame to pull out the Ws, and guarantee us a brand new men’s lacrosse champion.

Will it happen? We’ll have to wait a couple more days to see.

The big question for me is, what does Casey do next?

At 37, Powell still seems to have a lot of life left in his pro career. His NLL play demonstrates his incredible toughness, stick skills, and high lacrosse IQ. Think he’s getting to be “too old” to play high level box? Well, he’s in great shape, and John Tavares is still at it, 42 years old and all. I could see Casey filling the role of a shooter and distributor for every team in the league save Buffalo, and maybe the Bandits would want him if Tavares ever decides to give it up.

His return to the MLL this Summer will be fueled by the fact that he will be in a constant all-time leading points producer race with Boston’s Ryan Boyle. If you were wondering why we didn’t do a “CP retires from the MLL” story last year, this was why. It’s like Jordan retiring. You don’t want to believe it, and at the end of the day, you probably shouldn’t. He’s coming back.

So there is the pro thing. That’s always nice. But guys need other jobs too. So what else is in store for Casey Powell?

Will he coach again, or direct a program?

Coaching full-time still seems like a near impossibility for Casey Powell. Between all the playing he does, and commitments to family, it doesn’t leave a ton of time to run a highly successful program as a HC. But could he pick up a new Director of Lacrosse position at some other private school, or with a travel team? No doubt there. I think the question has to be, is this what Powell wants right now?

Will he work for a lacrosse company again?

Powell is still an Easton Lacrosse guy, as far as we know, and we saw him using an Easton stick in training camp this year, so it looks like that hasn’t changed. Is it possible that we see Easton promoting Powell a whole lot more? You can’t rule it out! He is their marquee guy right now, and with his return to the MLL, I think he will continue to be a face we are familiar with.

If Casey evers leaves Easton, you can bet someone else will snatch him up. His name still carries some serious weight.

Will he start his own thing?

Ryan, Casey’s younger brother, is a serious businessman. He’s got Rhino Lacrosse up and running, and the venture is seriously competing with some of the established training companies out there. Could Casey develop his own platform for skill and player development? He certainly has some nice familial relationships to make that happen.

Or perhaps Casey will join the broadcasting ranks? I know there are tons of people out there who would love to see him give it a shot, and then we could have Ryan and Casey do games together! That could be a treat.

Will Powell disappear a bit?

Perhaps Casey is just going to play the game for a couple more years, and do something else entirely. It’s hard to image CP leaving lacrosse altogether,

So what WILL Casey do?

It’s hard to say! One thing is clear: Powell has plenty of options, and whatever he chooses to do, we’ll probably follow right along.

I had heard about people traveling around and coaching teams, or even just playing for teams around the globe, and while that sounded amazing, I just couldn’t pull the trigger. I always wanted to be working toward something…

When I finally sat down to help develop what Lacrosse The Pond would be, and what we could provide for students, it turned out to be a simple homerun.

We offer a great service to get kids a chance to continue to play lacrosse in a new setting, help grow the sport in a place that is lax crazy, and all the while, it sets up a launching pad for European travel, and plenty of adventure.

At the end of your year with new friends, amazing experiences, the knowledge that you are pushing the sport forward, and a Masters degree to top it off, you will know that it was worth it, and an amazing experience.

I am working to develop and offer LTP to everyone simply because I wish more than anything I could have done it, and I am positive I was not, and am not, the only one.

While I love seeing lacrosse make its way onto the mainstream Wall Street Journal, I do have a couple of bones to pick with Mr. Gardner’s take on the situation. I love that he admits he lacks a true connection to the game, but his article was lacking in a couple of ways, and the misinformation could be a little dangerous.

The problem that I have with the article is that it paints lacrosse as a golden place where scholarships are easier to come by, than say football, or basketball, and it glosses over all the hard work, and investment of time and money, one often has to make just to get noticed. Greg Gurenlian is involved and interviewed, and he notes the hard work required many times, but the author doesn’t seem to really align himself with that view. It seems to be much more about endless opportunity than hard work.

Here is an example: Rob Pannell is one of, if not THE, top players in college right now. When he was in high school, he didn’t get a ton of looks. He had to PG at Deerfield to get to Cornell… and I’m talking about one of the BEST in the college game right now. So are scholarships really out there and available to kids in bunches? Is that the message you want to send to parents about lacrosse? It is certainly the message that the headline conveys, which impacts the story. To be fair, it is unlikely that Mr. Gardner wrote that headline.

The correct message here is that true scholarships for lacrosse are rare. A lot of lacrosse players do end up receiving scholarship money, but more often than not, it is for being a scholar, and not just a lacrosse player. After all, each D1 lacrosse team only gets 12.6 athletic scholarships, and schools like the Ivies don’t even offer athletic scholarships! Does that color how we look at this conversation? I should think so. Unfortunately, Mr. Gardner doesn’t look at any of that.

Maybe Mr. Gardner wrote something similar to what I wrote above, but canned it because it got away from the crux of his story; that lacrosse gets kids into college. I can’t say for sure.

But I can say that he almost nailed the true story here, and for a guy who doesn’t know lacrosse very well, that is an accomplishment worth noting.

The most basic and true story line is that lacrosse, when coupled with other activities and academic success, can open doors for any child. Perhaps it will open admission to a kid who would have been otherwise denied, and then that student will receive financial aid. Perhaps lacrosse got them to a school like Duke, but their skills on the saxophone paid their way. Maybe they worked incredibly hard for three years, and then got half of a scholarship as a Senior to lessen their families’ financial load. Maybe, just maybe, they were that one kid in the nation per year who maybe gets offered a full ride.

One thing I don’t see in all of the above? A lot of lacrosse scholarships being tossed around willy nilly.

Lacrosse, like many other sports, offers kids the chance to test themselves, and invest in something bigger than themselves. It teaches valuable lessons on the importance of hard work, individual skill development, playing together, and fighting through adversity. It is a game with no excuses, and if kids fall in love with the roots of the game, it can also teach them spirituality and history. THESE are the skills and lessons that will get kids into college, and possibly earn them scholarships.

The fact that you can be any size and still be a great player just means the opportunity to play is there for more people, and also that it is more competitive. Will you play lacrosse and expect a scholarship? Or will you play lacrosse, and be a good person, and see what you can make happen with all of that?

The latter will get you much further in life, and will increase your chances of getting a scholarship, even if it’s not directly for lacrosse.

Additional Nitpicking:

“Lacrosse is bigger than football at some schools—Johns Hopkins, for example; well, maybe only at Johns Hopkins—but it’s also played in the Ivy League.”

Lacrosse is also bigger than football at Hobart (where it is also D1 on a D3 campus), and UVM, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Boston University, UMBC, Hartford, Detroit, Fairfield, Manhattan, Canisius, Loyola, and Denver. This list is off the top of my head, but these schools do not even offer football within their athletics programs, so lacrosse, by default, is bigger than football.

Some very basic research could have cleared that up.

I also didn’t love that Mr. Gardner began his piece with the assertion that you can be too old to learn lacrosse. This is not all that dangerous of an assertion, but it is pure poppycock.

A friend of mine, Dan Bennett, picked up the game at 50, I met him when he was 56, and he still plays today in New York City at 59. Another friend of mine, a former boxer from Canada, Marco Hill, started playing the game a year ago. He’s 42. I played against him in New Orleans and Prague. Too old to learn lacrosse? That’s simply not a thing unless you say decide it is! And even then it’s not true.

The last small issue I’ll raise comes up when Mr. Gardner describes the sport, and yes, this is super nit-picky. Like Mr. Gardner, I’m not perfect!

People love to compare lacrosse to other games, and while I don’t love the idea of sport-to-sport comparison in general, if I were going to make a connection here, I’d probably compare it to hockey, but off the ice, and in the air. I can certainly see how standing around, and playing catch, would remind Mr. Gardner of baseball, but standing around is not really part of our actual game. And yes, there is running in soccer and lacrosse, but that is a rather reductionist view on things, isn’t it?

Overall, it’s heartening to see lacrosse getting some attention from the big guys, like the Wall Street Journal. I just wish they would do a little more research before publishing a story laden with this much easily researched misinformation about a truly wonderful game.

Next week, I will follow up with a story on the first year team that I was coaching in Brooklyn this Spring… but this series can’t end with Mary and me!

So I’m putting the call out there to new programs from across the country, and around the world, to submit stories about their first year (or their first years) out on the field.

I don’t expect every story to be a story of pure success, and it is almost never about the wins and losses. I’m looking for real stories, not just Disney movie type tales, and I want to help you share it all with the world.

What went right? What went wrong? What did you learn?

If you played on, coached, reffed, or watched a first year team in 2013, I want to hear about it. Check out Mary’s post from yesterday, and use it to get started. Check out my post next week, and give it another shot. You just might surprise yourself.

Please submit your First Season Stories to LAS via out Tipline!