Re: Lax

Maryland State of Lacrosse Games this weekend

2009-07-09T14:14:19Z

This weekend the Maryland State of Lacrosse Games will be held in Howard County. The tournament, held at Patterson Park in previous years, will host men's and woman's elite teams, men's masters and grand masters teams. Even though it's a Maryland tournament, teams from as far as New York and Charlottesville will be playing. The level of play is typically very high with former college All-Americans dotting the landscape along with many all-club and all-pros, as well. Games will be played at Cedar Lane East grass fields, Cedar Lane West field turf stadiums, Western Regional field turf stadiums and Rockburn Park field turf complex. Saturday will feature round-robin play and Sunday will culminate with afternoon championships. The event is sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield and CareFirst of Maryland and DC. There will be a lacrosse village at Cedar Lane West, featuring food venders, lax vendors, hardest shot contests and a tournament bull roast. The champions and MVPs will be presented Saturday evening at the lacrosse village. The tournament has been run for years by Jim Huelskamp, a friend of mine and author of the 1992 book Indoor Lacrosse, The Story of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League -- a great history of the professional indoor game. He played in the league after starring at Salisbury. For more information and directions to all the fields go to LaxClassic.com.

Many college refs not paid in 2009

2009-06-30T18:46:42Z

When the firm that assigns and pays referees for a large portion of college lacrosse games defaulted on payments to the officials this spring, it wasn’t an issue that reached the fans or the media. In early June, the season was over, but John Powers of the Boston Globe broke the story, directly affecting about a dozen schools in the paper’s coverage area. I started calling around to see if the refs were paid and which schools were affected locally. The company that owns the AssignByWeb service is called PaymentsFirst. They are in Philadelphia and serviced many schools and conferences in many sports for five years before 2008. Some of their reported customers are/were Quinnipiac, MIT, Mount St. Mary's, York, Johns Hopkins, Amherst, Colby, Army and Navy. They had a contract with conferences like the ECAC and even the college lacrosse oversight body, the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. More than 50 lacrosse-playing schools had paid in advance but were, in fact, not paying the referees that called the games. The USILA has used the AssignByWeb service for a few years. As you can see in this excerpt below from the USILA Web site, the proposed services were valuable and less expensive that previous methods of assigning and paying lacrosse’s college referees. Section II. On-Line Services - The USILA has contracted with assignbyweb.com to provide online services. 1. Services include: A) Posting all game assignments by date and school B) Posting all post game officials evaluations C) Posting all costs associated with officials fees and travel 2. This replaces the ECAC Program used in 2004 & 2005, at savings of over $15, 000 per year. 3. This new system will allow DAA's to precisely judge officials' travel to allow scheduling to be done with school expenses in mind. The system was working. AssignByWeb was paid in advance by the schools to administer and pay the referees who officiated their lacrosse games. By the way the story goes, the company was paying out to each season with the fees from the next season. When they hit the summer season with no college sports going on, they ran out of money and the spring referees did not get paid. In fact, referees in winter sports stopped getting paid in January when the problem was reported to the ECAC and the USILA along with the individual colleges in many cases. Powers reported that the USILA “alerted the Athletic Directors of its member schools in mid-April, telling them that it was clear they couldn't expect payment from the company and asking them to pay the officials directly.” College referees make between $150 and 250 per game plus mileage. And many of them did. Many of the schools were horrified that the refs were not paid and felt swindled by the company that had their money and would not release it to the referees. Many of the schools started paying the referees the wages they were owed and then manually for the games remaining in 2009. They were back to cutting checks and assigning refs and out the $5,000 or more they each had to deposit with AssignByWeb for the services they did not receive. Roy Condon, USILA's district assigner for New England told Powers that "at least a third [of the schools] have already paid. Another third are sending out W-9s [tax forms]. And probably another third are awaiting a legal response." As it turns out, PaymentsFirst was not authorized by the state of Pennsylvania to transmit money and has been prohibited from operating until it receives a license, according to Powers. I have copies of some of the e-mails flowing back and forth between schools and referees and have seen evidence of schools attempting to pay the referees promptly, but others have claimed that payment would be forthcoming but they do not know when. They have mentioned possible litigation against PaymentsFirst and have noted the inconvenience this has caused all of the parties. The only problem with the wait-and-see approach is that the referees don’t work for PaymentsFirst and should have been paid immediately after the situation was brought to the attention of the schools. In some cases, the schools kept requesting referees after the problem surfaced and still did not promptly pay them. If the school knows at some point that the ref is not being paid and still assigns the ref without making some other arrangement for payment, then they are somewhat complicit in the offense against the referee, regardless of their initial victim status. I should have to explain this to institutions of higher learning? I won’t name the schools that I’ve been told have not made payments even now, as we end the month of June, but fully expect them to do the right thing.

Team USA dethrones Australia

2009-06-27T20:38:17Z

I really enjoyed watching the women’s World Cup championship Saturday morning on the webcast from Prague in the Czech Republic. I spoke to a few college coaches who were watching the same way this week. The U.S. women held the Aussies to a low scoring output with a dominant defense, anchored by Devon Wills in the goal. Colorado’s Caroline Cryer exploded on offense with three goals in the 8-7 win. I am not one to boast but I once said, in this blog, that for the U.S. to win Cryer would have to be the MVP. She was edged out by Wills for the honor. I am also not one to dwell on my lesser moments, but I also wrote, just last week, that the Aussies would be too much for the Americans in the final, even after the U.S. “upset” the Australians in the round robin game. I really thought the Aussies had another year in their “dynasty”, while, with the loss, they have no dynasty at all, just a great win in 2005. In fact, I think what we witnessed in the earlier matchup between these finalists, was the shift from Australian domination, up 9-4 at halftime, to the youthful and talent-rich Americans, who won that game patiently 10-9, completely stopping the Australian juggernaut. The U.S. just finished the Aussies off today in the final with patient offense, great coaching, perfect defense and special performances by Wills, Cryer, Kristen Kjellman -- who may be the best player in the world -- and Michele Dejuliis, the leader of Sue Heether’s American squad. Team USA led throughout the second half after a 3-3 intermission. The Australians attempted a comeback with three straight goals, but Wills stopped the tying shot with less than a minute left. The U.S. was the better team, both days. We likely also witnessed the end of the career of Sarah Forbes, and the end of domination by the world’s previously number one player, Jen Adams, who, could not, as I asserted the other day, score a goal at will, or at least not on Wills. Congratulations to Team USA, the Czech hosts and the FIL for what looked like another set of great games!

U.S. Women upset Australia

2009-06-23T21:00:13Z

I root for the U.S. whenever they play other countries in other sports. I have been covering lacrosse as a journalist for so long that I don’t ever root for any team under any circumstance. I sometimes root for outcomes that may help the game grow or get a particular coach a milestone victory or other human circumstances that transcend the field of play. But I have no favorite teams, even the U.S. in the World Games or Women’s World Cup, which is being played this week in Prague. In fact, just yesterday the U.S. upset the world champion Australians 10-9 after trailing at the half 9-4. There was such a stark difference in the play of both teams from the first to the second half of this game that my skepticism rose for a moment, thinking perhaps that all was not as it seemed in Prague. In the first half the U.S. was obviously outgunned and overwhelmed by the Aussie barrage. Stacey Morlang led off the scoring, but two-time Tewaaraton winner Hannah Nielson was effortlessly quarterbacking the Aussies to a slow and steady crushing of the U.S. team. She fed Jen Adams, perhaps the best player in the world (if it’s not Nielson) twice for scores in the first. Morlang, Nielson, Adams, Sonia LaMonica, Sarah Mollison, Alicia Moodie, Courtney Inge, Sarah Forbes and Loyola recruit Tegan Brown make up an offense that I thought, even before the games began, would be unstoppable. The defensive unit of Megan Barnet, Tess McLeod and goalie Sue McSolvin were shutting down the Americans. This same unit scored not a single goal in the second half. Not one. They led 9-4 at half and lost 10-9. They let long periods of time pass while the U.S. worked the ball around without ever playing defense with close to the level of intensity employed in the first half. There was no desperation or even urgency in the play of the Australians, even at the end. Jen Adams took a few shots but did not really try to win the game the way I might have expected and was not even in the game at some critical times. She can score one goal at will, last time I checked. This was, at the very least, an acceptable loss for the ladies from down under. Methinks they like the underdog role 100 percent more than the huge favorite role they had to bear until this game’s end. I'm not suggesting anything of a conspiratorial nature occurred, but now the pressure is firmly on the Americans. I am not saying the Aussies threw the half, although after watching, I can’t help but at least entertain the notion. It may have been that I witnessed the result of the worst coach’s halftime speech ever, or that all of the sudden, the best team in the world just forgot how to win, or even how to really play. I have watched quite a few men’s teams at international events play a 3/4-speed round-robin game against their likely championship game foe. They narrowly lose the first matchup and yet they never panic or really try to win the game. Not like they would in an elimination game. They aren’t really that upset afterward. That’s the way this seemed in Prague -- IN THE SCOND HALF. In 2005, Australia tied the United States 7-7 in the round-robin game, before throttling them in the final. I’m not taking away anything from the Americans who obviously played with intensity throughout and really did pull off a comeback win. They have come back to win against England and Canada in these games, as well, which is a good sign and a bad sign at the same time. But they are now the only 4-0 team at the Games and enter the medal round as the new favorite and No. 1 seed. They have some great players. Attacker Caroline Cryer is very, very good. The midfield is the strongest unit with Caitlyn McFadden, Lindsey Munday, Acacia Walker, Tewaaraton winner Katie Chrest, Sarah Bullard, Sarah Albrecht and two-time Tewaaraton winner Kristen Kjellman. And the 'D' is solid with Amber Falcone, Michi Ellers and Regina Oliver. In the U.S. cage, Devon Wills was the first-half victim and Megan Huether was the second-half hero. I must say that for whatever reason Amy Appelt is not on this squad, I personally am disappointed that she is not on the field representing the U.S. for a second time and think we are a lesser team without her, just as we were in Annapolis in 2005. This is a very good U.S. team, but so was the 2005 squad. The 2005 Australia squad may have been the best team I ever saw. Any team with each of the headline stars from the University of Maryland championship dynasty, Sascha Newmarch, Sarah Forbes, Jen Adams, Courtney Hobbs and Sonia Judd (LaMonica now) had a good chance in 2005 to take that honor without up-and-coming stars Sarah Mollison, Stacy Morlang, Kate McHarg and Hannah Nielson and the incredible unknown Sarah Falcione. This 2009 team has a mature Morlang, Mollison and Nielson. Jen Adams and Sonia LaMonica are at their prime and might be better now than last year. They looked that way yesterday for a half. I talked to one of the top coaches in the land today and they said, after watching the game on the internet as I did, that the U.S. comeback looked legitimate to them and that the Aussies just lost their focus. I am sure that my very knowledgeable friend was right, but I would think twice about putting any money on the U.S. in the final based on the outcome of the last game. Like anyone bets on women’s lax. Click here to see the game.

OC summer ball

2009-06-11T13:11:19Z

If you are "down the ocean" for the summer and want to play some lacrosse, the summer pickup games start again on Wednesday (June 17). It will be a little different this year. They will be playing in Ocean City at the Third Street fields next to the bay and there is a cost to rent the field. There will be a fee of $30 for the summer (six sessions) or $5 per night. The games will be each Wednesday night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. See you there next week!

Tierney to Denver not just another coaching change

2009-06-09T16:30:01Z

This is not just another coaching change. Can you imagine how many times a school has asked Princeton’s Bill Tierney to leave the Tigers and lead their program? Johns Hopkins, Maryland, North Carolina, Duke and a few others are among the programs rumored to have approached Tierney in the past. Tierney said yesterday that this opportunity at Denver was one “that I never thought would come my way." That makes me assume he’s had Denver on his mind for a while and it was just a matter of waiting out Jamie Munro, a much younger man who had the job for the last 11 years. Whether it was Munro or the university that made the decision, Jamie resigned on May 7 after posting a 91-70 mark at Denver. I am not trying to fuel speculation, but did the school know of Tierney’s interest before Munro’s departure? I’d fire any coach in the land to get Tierney. This is not just another coaching change. Bill Tierney is not just another coach. He’s the best. This will change the game and he knows it. In his statement yesterday he said, "The expansion of the game to the West is exciting. If we are truly going to make lacrosse a nationwide sport, we need for some programs out there to become great. I think I can help Colorado lacrosse become the launching pad for that movement." He’s exactly right and he’s the only one who can do that in my eyes. If Petro or Zimmerman or Desko were headed to Denver, I would say they sold out for the money, and that the money was likely wasted. But Tierney will have Denver in the final four in three years. A national championship will be won within five years. I have no doubt at all. The others would do as well as Munro out there, which was admirable, in my opinion. This is not just another coaching change. My guess is that Tierney is now the highest paid coach in college lacrosse history, if he wasn’t already that at Princeton. Denver is coming as close to buying a championship as you can come. With it they finance the expansion of the game’s geographic center. Denver was a hotspot already with great pro crowds and huge growth on the youth level, but Tierney will exponentially improve the area in a few years. The Denver summer camps will become a must for blue-chip players. He will draw some of the finest high school players in the land immediately, albeit, perhaps not of the academic caliber he is used to. But that will be a new twist, too. Imagine Tierney being able to recruit kids with less than a 1400 on their SATs. Princeton's academic standards were always a barrier for most kids that would have played for Tierney if they could have. This is not just another coaching change. Tierney will make the state of Colorado a rival to New York and Maryland as a lacrosse hotbed in short order. He will expand the attendance of Denver lacrosse games from an average of 1,300 fans (2,000 for the Notre Dame game) to over 10,000 in a year’s time. He should be able to capture much of the 15,000-person crowds that attend Colorado Mammoth (NLL) and Denver Outlaws (MLL) games. College lacrosse at the top level has usually done better than any other levels of the game in lacrosse hotbeds. This increased attendance, especially by kids, will exponentially grow the game in Denver, eventually. This is not just another coaching change. It will limit a Denver recruit’s access to local Division I lacrosse for a while. That is the short-term downside to such rapid change in an area like Denver, at least for some of the kids there. In 2009, the Denver team included 12 players from Colorado while the Princeton team had none. The whole field of NCAA tournament participants included seven players from Colorado. Under the Tierney era, it will take some improvement in the local high school lacrosse for Colorado kids to make the Denver team in the near term. But in a few years, the make-up of the Denver roster may look more like Princeton or other big NCAA teams than the local team it is now. Eventually it will help Denver kids, but the immediate impact will be a negative one, I would think. Every great coach who takes over a program utilizes what he has while he brings in who he wants. That usually means that each class is exponentially better than the last and that kids who start as freshman each year might not start again after their first season. I saw it happen at Georgetown as they went from being an obscure team of Northern Virginia and Montgomery County kids to a national powerhouse with mostly New York and Baltimore kids. The building blocks of these rising teams are often very temporary and it can get awkward as every year freshmen replace the starters. This is not just another coaching change. This is a change to the game that will benefit our sport greatly. I’ve always moaned about the exclusivity of champions at the Div. I level and suggested that it would take a conspiracy of players to choose a school like Denver or some other outlier to grow the game, but I overlooked this method, thinking Tierney would live out his years at the Ivy League institution where he is an institution. But this will do the trick nicely. Believe me, with yesterday’s news the conspiracies just started. Great high school juniors and sophomores are thinking “Go west young man” as of today! The best kids at Gilman and West Genny and Wilton and Malvern and Georgetown Prep have widened their horizons in a day. The geographic borders of potential greatness just expanded five-fold. This is not just another coaching change. The applications for the new opening at Princeton will likely set a record. It is the best job opening in years. I can’t imagine someone other than David Metzbower getting the job. Tierney’s longtime assistant is the top assistant in the game and he could provide a seamless transition. He is the recruiter and a strategic mastermind who Tierney always shared credit with when they won championships. The national job search may just be a formality. This is not just another coaching change. This is Tierney’s last job. He’s looking to be near family and find a spot to live out his post-collegiate coaching life, too, and what place better than Colorado. His old friend Fred Acee was the coach for years at Air Force and Tierney understands the great quality of life awaiting him. I have always envied the coaches that have a niche in some community that is comforting. Hank Janczyk stands out to me in a small town like Gettysburg. What a life he has up there! I am sure Princeton was a comfort to the Tierneys, but it’s not exactly a retirement mecca, despite the slow pace that the pretty Main Street facade evokes. I am surprised a little that Tierney did not go to Jacksonville, but he must be a mountain guy instead of a beach guy and the hotspot for that type of living is just where he’s headed. He is also headed into lacrosse immortality. He’s already legendary for his coaching. Now he’s attempting to achieve something far more important, something so rare, perhaps only he could do it. Good luck, coach!

Notes from Foxborough

2009-05-31T19:40:43Z

What a final! So, after all the complaining I always do before the playoffs about the monopoly on the title by a few schools, I am always so impressed by how these teams pull it off year in and year out that I forget to complain. This year, either the Syracuse kids pulled off the win of the young century or the lacrosse gods were just playing with our heads. I mean, this comeback was not just unlikely -- it was unnatural. Cornell had just played perfect defense for 2.9 games against the best teams in the nation. They held Princeton to four goals, Virginia to six goals and then Syracuse to seven goals before it all fell apart. Or did it? Is there a better defensive feat than deflecting a critical pass to an open attacker with five seconds left in a national championship game? The Big Red had the game won with 27 seconds left and possession of the ball, but after a behind-the-back desperation pass by Stephen Keogh on a ground ball followed by a backhanded, tipped pass from a double-covered Matt Abbott -- which is now called the "Immaculate Deflection" -- was caught by a falling Kenny Nims who landed at his man’s ankles while shooting and scoring the equalizer with 4.5 seconds left. It was truly a miracle in Foxborough. While the faithful never faltered, everyone I was with knew it was over the minute it went to overtime. We kept it to ourselves because Richie Moran, the legendary coach of those Cornell champions in the 1970s, sat only a few seats away and we knew how much he wanted it. He deserved it, really, as did Jeff Tambroni, Max Seibald, John Glynn and Jake Myers, but like so many others in the short history of the college game, it was yanked from their grasp at the last moment by those lax gods I mentioned. It was hard to see Richie after the Jamieson goal. As the Orange stormed the field, I turned away from his direction. I did not want to invade his very public private moment of despair. He wanted it so bad for all those guys. They’re still his guys, decades after his retirement from coaching. Roy Simmons, the legendary retired coach of the victorious Syracuse team, referred to the players as “his boys” in a discussion with us at the Syracuse tailgate after the game. He was as happy as Richie was sad, I imagine. The game of lacrosse is not without its growing pains from the rapid popularity, geographic growth and advancement into the mainstream. Each year more and more news organizations join the throng covering the final four weekend. And each year, members of the media with no real lacrosse knowledge increase in numbers. Ever since I’ve covered the NCAA tournament, the members of the media have selected the tournament MVP and the All-Tournament team. There have always been disagreements in the process, but over the last five or six years only the flashy make the cut, while the subtle goes unappreciated in the voting. One defenseman makes this year’s team, after each team held an explosive offense to small numbers and then played a defensive classic against each other. The blaring absence of Syracuse defensman Sid Smith is stunning. He held Duke’s Ned Crotty, who led the nation with 76 points, to two assists and then Sunday held Cornell’s Ryan Hurley to one goal and two assists while lending a big hand in keeping Max Seibald to only two goals. He made the check that stole the initial and crucial overtime possession from Cornell, which led to Cody Jamieson’s winning goal. If you watch that last Cornell possession, Smith just stalks Hurley with his feet, playing perfect position and only laying one check to take the ball. Then he gobbled the ground ball and started the immediate clear. That’s the type of play that is totally missed by the “new media”. All the guys on the list below are quite deserving, though. I wouldn’t take it away from anyone, but Smith was very possibly the tournament MVP and did not even make the team. Here’s this year’s All-Tournament team: Matt Abbott, Syracuse, Senior, Midfield John Glynn, Cornell, Senior, Midfield Ryan Hurley, Cornell, Junior, Attack Cody Jamieson, Syracuse, Junior, Attack Matt Moyer, Cornell, Senior, Defense Kenny Nims, Syracuse, Senior, Attack Rob Pannell, Cornell, Freshman, Attack Pat Perritt, Syracuse, Senior, Midfield Max Seibald, Cornell, Senior, Midfield Joel White, Syracuse, Sophomore, Longstick Midfield Speaking of Jamieson and Smith, in the blog I recently wrote, noting the geographical origins of the NCAA Division I field of players, I noted that there were only two Native Americans in the whole group and implored coaches to do more to recruit the descendants of the game’s fathers. Well, those same two Native Americans made the two most critical plays in the 2009 National Championship overtime. And they are great friends. As soon as Cody knew his final goal had gone in he immediately located Smith, some 80 yards away and ran right to him without stopping for any of the celebrations in between. He knew who he needed to celebrate with. Bureaucratic red tape pertaining to the transfer and acceptance of grades from a community college almost had Jamieson missing this postseason like he missed most of the season. His presence deepened the already potent Syracuse offense. Both potential opponents in the final, Virginia and Cornell, had played Syracuse already this season, but not with Jamieson in the lineup. On a funny note, when Virginia beat Johns Hopkins by 11 in the quarterfinals, the sports information department at UVa. sent a release with this heading: "Virginia Men's Lacrosse Romps Past Johns Hopkins 19-8", but when they were beaten by Cornell by nine, they sent the following: "Cavaliers Fall to Cornell 15-6 in National Semifinal". Good thing they didn't lose by two more goals. They just barely avoided a romping, I guess. I thought Syracuse wouId win by one in overtime but over Virginia. In the semi I predicted a halftime score of Virginia 8, Cornell 2. The halftime score was Cornell 9, Virginia 2. A local win in the Foxborough final. You might have noticed that both Cornell and Syracuse are STX teams. STX is the lacrosse manufacturer from Baltimore and they supply some of the best teams in the game with all their gear. In this case, while the game was out of town and the teams were from upstate New York, all of the gear on the field on Memorial Day was from right here in Charm City!

Between final fours

2009-05-21T22:12:50Z

I just got back from the MCLA Tournament in Denver. For the second year in a row, Michigan and Chapman battled in the final with the Wolverines taking the title. The final was a great game. Chapman, having lost in the final last year, had only one goal this year and that was to win the championship. It was a tremendous heartbreak losing to the same team again. But Chapman played Michigan better than anyone all year. The Wolverines finished a second 20-game undefeated season with the win and now stand at 40-0 in the last two years. In the Division II tournament, St. Thomas defeated Dayton in the final. On the final day, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions event was held at the complex. Some 200 youth teams played all day long on 20 or more fields. I saw teams from Utah, California, Texas and lots of Colorado kids. The whole state is getting good at the youth level quickly. Denver is a hotbed in the making. And they support their pro teams better than any other town, so they are already a top lacrosse community. They hosted a great event and the facility was first rate with plenty of parking and perfect fields under clear skies. While I was gone Gilman won the MIAA A Conference championship as I thought they might. Congratulations to them and to Calvert Hall, which would have been a fine champion also. The Bayhawks lost in the opener to Toronto. If you missed it, Toronto comes back in a week or so for another game in Annapolis. But the big news while I was at the “other college championships”, was the NCAA quarterfinals where Johns Hopkins and Maryland were eliminated while Duke and Cornell found their way in against likely finalists Virginia and Syracuse. I was stunned that UNC lost three to Duke in a year. I was stunned that Cornell held Princeton to four goals. I am encouraged that we could see a Duke-Cornell final. That would be my hope. I have nothing against Virginia and Syracuse, but I’d just like to see the group of recent champions expand. There are some very interesting games Saturday and possible match-ups for Monday in Foxborough, Mass. The first is the Duke-Syracuse game. These teams have never played and that makes it very interesting to me. I would imagine we’ll see an offensive affair with any real defensive standout performance being the difference. If any of the Orange or Blue Devil stars are shut down, that would be the difference. Virginia already beat Cornell 14-10 in Charlottesville in early March. Both are better teams now. I love the play of Max Seibald and Rocco Romero. I saw them play together years ago on a team in Vail and knew then that both were special players. Coincidentally, Rocco is from the Denver area but graduated from Boys’ Latin in Baltimore before going to Cornell. Virginia has the tools to limit or surpass both of the Cornell stars but so did Princeton, on paper. I was so ready for a Princeton-Virginia semifinal that Cornell-Virginia seems like a good game to me. But then I look at the Hopkins-Virginia game and see that Virginia is hitting on all cylinders now. This one may not be close after all. But we can hope for a good game. A Cornell win would be a huge upset. But if they won, the matchups for the final would be sweet either way. Cornell always plays Syracuse tough and they have a tradition of upsetting the Orange. They lost a 2007 semifinal thriller to Duke, which was one of the most exciting games I’ve seen. A rematch of that game is appealing to me, especially for the national title. If Virginia wins the semifinal they could face Syracuse in a battle of traditional contenders. The game, which has a 70 percent likelihood of occurring, in my opinion, would be well played, hard fought, and exciting to watch. But the result would just add a notch to a crowded gun handle either way and blend in well with the history of the game. Should Virginia face Duke in the final, the fun begins, because the best team in the nation and the most touted team in years would have to beat a team they just can’t beat statistically. The Blue Devils have beaten the Cavs seven times in a row, winning every game since 2005. The last time they played was the semifinal of the ACC tournament. Duke beat the top-ranked team 16-5. Virginia lost the first meeting of 2009, 15-10. But a Duke win would mean they beat two conference teams three times each in the same season. That is a massive achievement in any sport. It may be too much to ask for should the Blue Devils survive the battle with Syracuse, which should take a lot out of them. If Virginia cruises in their semifinal they could have an advantage they would need to pull out a trend-breaking win against their conference nemesis. Again, the fact that they would be playing for a title makes that game very attractive. A Cornell-Duke final would mean that a new champion would be crowned and would join the group of modern-era winners, a most elusive feat, but in this case, a sure thing for one of the two teams and all of us. Cornell beat Duke in Durham earlier this year by a score of 10-6. I love this matchup and would already be happy that the game’s glass ceiling had been cracked. That said, dreaming of this final Monday matchup is as close as I will get. It is far less likely that Cornell will play Duke in the final then it is that the 2009 final between Syracuse and Virginia be called one of the greatest games ever played. Either way it will be great for the fans in attendance. See you up there!

Stranglehold on NCAA lacrosse; weekend picks

2009-05-15T22:25:51Z

I hate it when I’m right. Well, that is, only when it comes to picking NCAA tournament lacrosse games each year. But if you’re sick of my cynical rants about college lacrosse’s glass ceiling, stop reading now. In the words of Midnight Oil’s Peter Garrett, “The rich get richer, the poor get the picture.” The title monopoly is just a never-ending cycle of the best players picking the same four or five schools that win the title and so on and so on. Once again this past weekend, that rusty nail was driven home. As you know by now, all but one of the first-round games were won by the higher seed. The one upset was Maryland over Notre Dame, and was that even considered an upset? In the interests of real growth in the game and Notre Dame’s last two first-round losses -- to Johns Hopkins in 2007 and Syracuse in 2008 -- anything that gets the Irish deeper into the tournament would be an upset. In the traditional sense of lacrosse, Maryland beats Notre Dame every time. But on that same note, the Terps also lose in the next round to Syracuse every time. Notre Dame is one of the programs I am counting on in my lifetime to break the stranglehold on the NCAA hardware. Duke is another team who has a chance. But these teams, when they have strong years, ultimately lose when expected in the bracket -- and often by a goal in overtime, like the outcome was fixed. It’s not, which is a shame, because we could do something about that. But it’s just the cycle of self-interest that is known as human nature. Why do people always choose the restaurants with the longest waiting lines? The game suffers from free will, common sense and the desire to win. We don't want to change those things. It will have to work itself out in time. Maybe at some elite camp somewhere this summer, the top five or 10 recruits for the class of 2012 will initiate a conspiracy to all go to Notre Dame or maybe Jacksonville. Unfortunately, that’s what it may take to pull off a real insurgence in lacrosse -- one that gives us real change at the top, not just Notre Dame becoming seeded in the tournament, or Delaware making it to the final four, or Maryland losing in the championship. We’ve seen those things before, and they just tease us. With that said, here are my picks for this weekend: Syracuse beats Maryland Virginia beats Johns Hopkins Princeton beats Cornell UNC beats Duke You may think UNC over Duke is an upset, but it's not in the long-term perspective. If, by some strange circumstances, Maryland, Johns Hopkins, Cornell and Duke made the final four, I’d bet the house on the Blue Jays. I can't even imagine Maryland vs. Cornell or Duke in the final. Johns Hopkins beats Cornell, or the Blue Jays beat Duke just sounds much more probable. Again, I hope I am wrong. I hate it when I’m right.

Big weekend for local lacrosse teams

2009-05-15T22:03:01Z

This will be huge weekend for lacrosse teams -- both at the college level and in the pros -- from the state of Maryland. In Major League Lacrosse, the Bayhawks open their season at 7:30 tonight at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. They host the Toronto Nationals, which are coached by Dave Huntley. His son, Kevin, plays for the Bayhawks. The Bayhawks are loaded this year with attackmen Andrew “Buggs” Combs, Jake Byrne, Spencer Ford, Huntley, and Scott Urick. The midfielders are Kyle Dixon, Kevin Buchanan, Hunter Lochte, Jed Prossner, Ben Rubeor, Justin Smith and Brian Vetter. On defensive midfield, they just traded for Benson Irwin who joins Billy Glading and Loyola assistant Dan Chemotti. On close defense, Shawn Nadelen returns for his ninth MLL season. He is flanked by Ronnie Staines, Greg Vetter, Zack Burke and Kyle Sweeney. In the cage, they feature Chris Garrity and Chris Collins. Alex Smith gets things started at the faceoff X. That's quite a squad! For tickets, contact the Bayhawks box office at 1-866-99-HAWKS (42957), or go to the team's Web site at http://www.washingtonbayhawks.com. At the college level, Maryland has the unenviable matchup against defending national champion Syracuse at Hofstra at noon Saturday. The Terps are coming off the upset of undefeated Notre Dame, but the road likely ends in Long Island this weekend. They sure could use some fan support up there. It's only a six-hour drive for the faithful. The first game Sunday at the Naval Academy is between Johns Hopkins and No. 1 Virginia at noon. This should be a classic with the Blue Jays as the underdog -- like they are ever really the underdog. I am thinking this game will end in an overtime victory for Virginia, but don't count out Johns Hopkins. These teams know each other well and excellent preparation will be evident on both sides. The Duke Blue Devils will take on ACC rival North Carolina for the third time this season in Game 2 on Sunday at Navy. They will faceoff around 2 p.m. Can Duke beat the Tar Heels three times in one season? Billy Bitters is on a tear, and Duke is in destiny-overdue mode. This will be a wonderful game and perhaps a second overtime contest between the two teams. I think UNC will pull this one out to deliver a long-awaited return to the final four. To purchase tickets for these games, call the Navy ticket office at 1-800-US4-NAVY. Also Sunday at 1 p.m. in Baltimore, Stevenson will host Gettysburg in the Division III final four. Paul Cantabene's Mustangs pulled out the win over Salisbury Wednesday and face the Bullets, who they pounded early in the season. It's Stevenson's first final four, and they look like they can go to Foxborough if they don't blow up. Cortland or Middlebury will be waiting for Stevenson in the championship if it wins Sunday.

The NCAA teams by the numbers: A recruiting perspective

2009-05-05T20:40:43Z

Just out of curiosity, I looked at the rosters of all the teams that made this year’s tournament from a recruiting and geographical perspective. It surprised me in a few ways and, while not a full look at the Division I recruiting scene, it is quite telling. Here are some of the results.: Of the 16 postseason teams, 146 players are from Maryland, while 201 are from New York. No wonder, Syracuse has 28 New Yorkers and 1 kid from Maryland, while Siena has 40 from their home state and none from ours. Not surprisingly, Maryland has the most from Maryland with 32, while UMBC is second with 26. Both have some New Yorkers though with 11 and seven respectively. UMass has 11 kids from Massachusetts, Brown has eight and Maryland has four. Undefeated Notre Dame has an even number of players from Maryland and New York with 10 apiece. The Irish have no one from Indiana on the squad. Indiana has lacrosse, but no players in the field this year. That will change rapidly if Notre Dame wins a championship in 2009. Lacrosse is the national sport of Canada and Canada is the reigning indoor and outdoor world champion, but only 14 Canucks are found on these teams and nine are at Cornell. Cornell has more New Yorkers, though, with 15. The team with the fewest amount of states represented is Siena with six and the one with the most is Princeton with 13 states plus Canada in the mix. Syracuse, Maryland and Cornell are tied for second with 12 states and some Canadians. Some other interesting numbers are also found in the data. Duke relies heavily on the state of Connecticut for recruiting with 9 kids from the state, which has 36 players in the 16-team field. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts have a few more with 39. New Jersey has 55. California surprised me with 18. Who has more kids from Ohio than anyone? Maryland with six. How about Nevada kids? Maryland again with two. Who has the most kids from Virginia? Yep. The Terps with seven. The University of Virginia has only five. How about North Carolina recruits? Um ... the Tar Heels with seven. Duke has only two. Hopkins has a good mix of blue-chippers with 15 from Maryland and 10 from New York. But Hopkins also has the only recruit from Arizona. Only seven Coloradans and seven Illini are in the field. There are 12 from North Carolina, 11 from Ohio, nine from Michigan, five from Rhode Island. There are three players apiece from Washington D.C., New Hampshire, Texas and Georgia. There are two each from Tennessee, Delaware, Maine and Nevada. There’s only one Australian. He’s at Maryland. Cornell has the only Minnesotan. Princeton has the only Montanan. Siena has the only Oregonian. Syracuse has two members of the Iroquois Nation. The whole field has two members of the Iroquois Nation. That is sad. More coaches need to attend the Nation’s Cup in the fall and see the talent that exists at the all-aboriginal tournament.

Tewaaraton Award finalists announced

2009-05-05T19:13:29Z

The Tewaaraton Award finalists were announced this week. The nominees for top collegiate men's and women's players are: 2009 men's finalists: Matt Abbott, Syracuse Ned Crotty, Duke Danny Glading, Virginia Zack Greer, Bryant Max Seibald, Cornell 2009 women's finalists Jillian Byers, Notre Dame Carolyn Davis, Duke Amber Falcone, North Carolina Caitlyn McFadden, Maryland Hannah Nielsen, Northwestern I am very happy that Zach Greer made the list. Seibald should win the award once, but Crotty may take this year’s trophy. Now that Matt Abbott is in a smaller group, he looks more attractive as a potential winner as well. Still, none of these guys is the best in the land. The best player, in my opinion, is really Virginia’s Danny Glading. I think he is the most talented lacrosse player in this group. This may be his last chance to beat Crotty at something. Of course, some of these guys have a few more games to play on the big stage and how they do will have an impact. On the women’s side, what a job it was to pick five players. Nielsen should have this one locked up, in my opinion. Maryland’s Caitlyn McFadden could pull off the upset, on the field or at the Tewaaraton awards. Jillian Byers is such an exciting player with a joy for the game. I’d love to see her sneak in. I was stunned to see my dark-horse favorite, Duke’s Caroline Cryer, not make the final list. She is so good. Cryer has 40 goals and 32 assists while Carolyn Davis has 59 goals and 15 assists just as a comparison with her teammate. Both are amazing. I thought both would make the final list. I have seen Cryer play for years now and if women’s lacrosse was the NBA, she would win three or four of the next 10 MVP awards. Her potential is that strong. But there is no women’s pro league so athletes like Cryer and Hannah just play club ball if they continue at all after college. Some play World Cup, but that’s only held every four years. It’s a shame that there is no platform for athletes like these to continue developing as great lacrosse players for all to see.

First-round NCAA predictions

2009-05-04T04:25:28Z

I like the field this year. No teams left out got totally robbed. Maybe Loyola has an argument but they had a couple of chances to state their case in close games against this field and did not. Bucknell and Colgate proved they could play with this field but not consistently. Georgetown had no chance after losing to Penn State. So here are my picks for the first round. Also, be sure to check out the Lacrosse Pool Contest at E-Lacrosse this week! Villanova @ Virginia I’ve seen a Villanova-type team beat a Virginia-type team. It was the Drexel at Virginia upset a few seasons ago. I don’t think I will ever see such an upset again, much less in the playoffs. Virginia is just too strong in this matchup. They are the legit No. 1 seed in my opinion. This one's a ten-point win. Brown @ Johns Hopkins Hopkins is a team with character, because of their failings. They have had to overcome all year long. And they are better than their record. Their losses are close ones to good teams. Close losses and close wins build character. They will need all of it to beat this Brown team, perhaps the best I’ve ever seen. Brown is coming off a loss to Princeton where they really never got out of the gate. They were embarrassed. Hopkins is coming off an emotional victory over a Loyola team they had beaten, and then let back in the door and had to go to overtime to close out. This is going to be a close game and I have no pick. They are even. Both would lose to Virginia in the second round. Hofstra @ Cornell These are two teams with chips on their shoulders. They want to be included among the top programs, but usually fall short. This will be the most fiercely contested game because both need respect, though the result doesn’t prove anything. Each of these teams needs to go to the final four to consider their seasons a success. I like Cornell by three. UMass @ Princeton Princeton is all that. I like this team. UMass will have to play better than they have all year to win and Princeton will have to crumble. But when’s the last time you saw a Bill Tierney team crumble? They will be prepared and know they belong in the final four. Princeton by six. Navy @ Duke The big upset potential in the first round is most likely right here. I like the matchup of Navy’s physical play and discipline against Duke’s strong offense. This will be a fun game to watch. I think Duke will pull it out but it may take overtime. UMBC @ North Carolina I like these teams equally. They are coached by two of my favorites in Joe Breschi and Don Zimmerman. This will be another great game and I really can’t pick the winner. Both can beat Duke or Navy in the next round. Another Duke-UNC game would be very interesting. But UMBC can be a final four team, too. They have the most exciting offense this year and the best keeper in the land in Jeremy Blevins. Maryland @ Notre Dame Because we don’t know enough about Notre Dame through comparative scores, you could sum up their chances against Maryland this way: If Irish transfer Will Yeatman would have been their best player this year, then they will lose to Maryland, because he’s not Maryland’s best player. But if I know Kevin Corrigan teams well, they would insist that there are no stars on the Irish squad and that they use teamwork to do things that individuals cannot do. That may be enough to beat Maryland in South Bend. In the Terps’ games I’ve seen this year, cohesive offensive teamwork has been their shortcoming. Remember, I picked the Terps to be in the final four before the season. On paper they are still that good to me. Travis Reed is a wildcard they don’t play enough. I thought he would be the star of their offense this year. He’s done very well despite his more limited role, but I saw something different unfolding for the Terps this year with him in the middle of it all. I was wrong. I’ll take Notre Dame in a two-point game. Siena @ Syracuse This would be the largest upset in lacrosse history if Siena beat the Orange in the dome. Siena has a well-deserved sense of accomplishment just getting into the tournament and Syracuse would be devastated with a loss here. But it’s really about the players. If Siena was up 10 at the half, John Desko could pull every starter, put in a whole team of guys who haven’t played much this year and still win the game. The toughest contest Syracuse will play this week will be in practice against these same second-teamers. I’ll take Syracuse, a little to a lot.

Kessenich declares a new age of lacrosse

2009-05-03T16:33:33Z

I got home rather late from covering the UMBC-Stony Brook America East championship game Saturday night. I turned on the TV and the last few minutes of the Johns Hopkins-Loyola contest were being played out. Hopkins was up by two with a minute or so left and, of course, we all know what happened if we’ve seen the score of that one. Loyola scored two goals in desperation to tie the game and go to overtime with their nemesis. The Greyhounds have only won three games against the Hop, which they revile. Hopkins, of course, won in overtime, but that’s not surprising. I had just come from watching the favorite win two different season finales -- two games with serious NCAA implications at Princeton and UMBC. I missed the Villanova upset of Towson, if you can call it that. In any case, all was normal in the lacrosse world. That is until I heard the words uttered by the color commentator for ESPN’s coverage of the Hopkins-Loyola game, Quint Kessenich. Without quoting him directly, which would just feed his massive ego, the Q-tip said that there were ten teams that could win the title in 2009. These were either the most disingenuous words ever uttered in lacrosse or the most ignorant. In a game where only five teams have won a title in the last 30 years, Quint was either promoting ESPNU's monopoly coverage of the forthcoming NCAA tournament with a marketing ploy that makes the Sham Wow guy seem like Honest Abe, or he has lost his mind. This ain’t the Kentucky Derby. The statement could be true, if we think of it this way: There are maybe four teams that have a shot in DI men’s lacrosse, three in DIII men’s, two in DII men’s, and two in the MCLA college club championships. If we join those four entities together we arrive at eleven teams that could win a national championship. Otherwise, the comment would be intensely wrong. In fact, Quasimotomouth was so wrong that we have re-instituted the rule in our house that when an ESPNU lacrosse game is on, the volume must be muted. The comment showed such a lack of comprehension of our game that I was forced to write this. If I could stand to talk to “Q” for even a moment, I’d bet him a thousand dollars that he was wrong and would even give him odds. I’d donate my winnings to charity, perhaps for the diminutive and tragically arrogant, so that in some way I might help those like Quint. I’ll take Virginia, Syracuse, Duke, Hopkins and Princeton and he would have every other team in the field. I’d give 5-1 odds at least and I’d walk away with the money easily. The worst thing that could happen is that Quint is proven right and our game finally emerges from the incestuous, entitled dark ages that imprison it. I’d pay $5,000 for that to happen anyway. It would be the answer to my prayers and the jolt our game needs to actually build a spectator base outside of the playing community and the accompaniment of parents. It’s a no-lose situation for me. I win money or get everything I ever wanted for the sport I love. The only downside would be acknowledging that Quint made the hardest call in the history of the game and made it right. That considered, make it 10-1 odds.

Predictions for the NCAA tournament

2009-04-30T19:24:08Z

It's time for NCAA tournament predictions. We all have our ideas of who is in and who will be left out, so let's have all of your predictions before Sunday when we all have to reshuffle and predict who will win using the actual brackets. Hofstra really hurt its chances by losing to Villanova in the Colonial Athletic Association semifinal. The field for the NCAA tournament is tight, and I think UMass, Hofstra, Maryland and Georgetown are all bubble teams now. If Notre Dame or UMBC do not win their tournaments, more than one of the teams above will not get in. Here's my prediction for the pairings if Notre Dame wins the Great Western Lacrosse League tournament, UMBC wins the America East title and Towson is victorious in the CAA: (1) Syracuse vs. Siena (8) Johns Hopkins vs. UMBC (5) Princeton vs. Maryland (4) Virginia vs. Brown (3) Notre Dame vs. Loyola/UMass (6) Cornell vs. Hofstra (7) UNC vs. Navy (2) Duke vs. Towson/Villanova If Notre Dame and/or UMBC loses this weekend, then Maryland -- or maybe even Hofstra, Loyola or UMass -- also will be out. UMBC and Notre Dame are going to be in the tournament even with a loss in their conference tourneys. Loyola would be in with a win over Johns Hopkins, regardless of how UMass does against Rutgers. You can join the prediction discussion on The Baltimore Sun's lacrosse forum.