2013 NCAA Lacrosse Open Thread

[irishrb]

For some reason we couldn't get the game downloaded...we had to watch gametracker...Crazy game though. Kavanagh is having a crazy good start to his career at ND. These kinds of wins are going to pay dividends for ND down the road!

 

[IrishLax]

For some reason we couldn't get the game downloaded...we had to watch gametracker...Crazy game though. Kavanagh is having a crazy good start to his career at ND. These kinds of wins are going to pay dividends for ND down the road!

Yeah, the video player had all kinds of issues. Here's a video of the game winner:

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Basically, UNC longpole picks up the GB off the faceoff and gets jumped... thinks he lost the ball because he absorbed so many checks... but actually still has it. Marlatt checks it out of his stick, picks it up and the rest is in the video.

Here's some spotty video of the game tying goal. Realllllllllly great vision on the backside pass from Doyle... I expected him to take a shot coming the goal with that full head of steam. The pass surprised the defenseman who was ball watching and Kavanagh had a great catch and finish from a poor angle:

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[IrishLax]

Other interesting scores around the country....

PSU stormed out to an 8-2 lead at halftime over Ohio State. Just utterly dominating them. Then I don't know what happened but. Ohio State scored 7 unanswered goals to open the second half before PSU tied it up late in the 4th. In OT Ohio State pulled out the victory 10-9 on a goal with 0.2 seconds remaining.

This is possibly the biggest choke job I have ever seen in lacrosse. From reading the tweets, some of them appear to have been total cheapies before Penn State realized "oh crap we might lose this game"... Ohio State scored 5 goals in the first 8.5 minutes of the 3rd quarter.

Just can't understand this happening from a Tambroni coached team and especially against a team with as little offensive talent as Ohio State.

 

[irishrb]

Thanks for the videos LAX. I'm still annoyed we couldn't watch that classic. That was an amazing pass to get the game into OT.
What a feeling Kavanagh has to be having. I know I talked to him after the game last week and he was just totally stoked...now to do it again...Wow.

 

[irishrb]

So...Is ND really a #2 team right now LAX?

 

[IrishLax]

So...Is ND really a #2 team right now LAX?

Tough question. But probably the best question to ask is who would you put over ND?

Loyola has looked frankly AWFUL this year. Despite their Ws, they got smacked in their one game against a good team and have been really unimpressive in their other games. Last second squeaker against Delaware? 2 goal victory over Bellarmine? That's crap. Those are teams that a top team should win comfortably.

Hopkins? Played one good team, and got beat solidly by them.

What about the undefeated teams? UMASS played UNC to a very similar result. Cornell has the talent but hasn't played anyone yet. Princeton you can make a case for actually...Colgate has Baum but has been unimpressive against bad teams so far. Ohio State? Similar victory over Penn State, 4-0, other wins over doormats.

So right now, almost by default, Notre Dame has to be #2. The only other team you can make a case for is really Princeton who has 3 goal victories over a very solid Hofstra team and Hopkins.

EDIT: I should note that Cornell is blasting Colgate 8-0 after 1Q right now. The Ivy League is looking very strong this year. Right now, the top 4 teams seem to be Maryland, ND, Cornell, and Princeton.

 

[IrishLax]

Brown takes down UMASS in OT.... wow.... Ivy League looking ridiculously good early this season.

The crazy thing? Brown dominated them. Despite UMASS winning a whopping 17 of 20 (85%!!!! 14 extra possessions!!!) faceoffs, Brown outshot UMASS 46-30 and the only reason the game was close was UMASS's goalie making 15 saves while Brown's goalie only made 8. You even out the possessions or the saves and Brown wins by ~8-10 goals.

So that's one more unbeaten down. Remaining unbeatens are Maryland, Notre Dame, Princeton, Cornell, Ohio State, Penn, and Marist(!!!) who is in action right now and hasn't played any top 20ish teams yet.

ND has 3 more really tough games on tap... Hofstra at home (playing incredible D right now and only loss to Princeton), Denver in Denver (will be very lucky to win this one... the altitude is killer), and Ohio State at home. If we can get through those games 2-1 we should be in position to likely run the table in Big East play and grab a top seed in the tournament.

Denver vs. Penn starting now in a really big game for ND. Need Denver to win to keep them a top rated team.

 

[IrishLax]

And congrats to Marquette on their first victory in program history... 8-6 over a pretty solid Air Force team.

 

[irishrb]

Great updates LAX. After Marquette pretty much made ND Basketball look silly my boys said, "At least Notre Dame will beat their lacrosse team by 21." I guess that might not happen huh?
Notre Dame's front part of their schedule really is a killer this year.

 

[FDNYIrish1]

Congrats on todays win Lax, just a ton of close games being played early in the year. I honestly thought this was a 3 goal win before hand. Oh well, gets them a little battle tested for the tournament.
What has happened to Duke early on? Shocking the way teams are abusing that defense. Like you said, looks like Maryland the clear number 1 with ND, Princeton, and Big Red just outside right now. They may be untested so far, but that Cornell offense is just sick. Pannell is just amazing to watch play the game.
Also surprised by Marquette taking down Air Force. I'm happy to see the growth of the game. Thanks for the updates Irishlax and Irishrb, nice to have some fellow stickheads on these forums!

 

[irishrb]

I've just gotten into lacrosse the last couple of years and I am totally hooked. I have two boys who want to play but the closest thing is basically an hour drive to and from practice and then 2-4 hour drives on the weekends for games....My boys are both young...in elementary school...so we're not quite ready for that kind of commitment yet. I teach so I'm going to start an after school lacrosse intramural and see how that goes....IT NEEDS TO EXPAND MORE!

 

[Wolverine1997]

Michigan went down in a 12-1 loss against army down at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. Probably the worst showing so far I've seen. And it's the least amount of goals scored so far in program history. They were outshot, get ready for this, 52-18.

Hopefully they can steal one at high point on Wednesday.

ECAC Scores-

#4 Loyola beat bellarmine 8-6 in ECAC action
#13 ohio upsets #8 penn state in OT, 10-9. They're now in the drivers seat for the Creators Trophy.
#10 denver beat #15 penn 15-12
marquette takes down air force 8-6 in their first-ever win
fairfield beat UMBC 14-9
hobart lost 6-2 at binghamton.

 

[Downinthebend]

The ND game was nice, the stands were pretty full, it was kinda on the cold side though. Nice clutch last 5 minutes of the 4th and all of overtime!

 

[rtrn2glory]

ND commitment hopes to hear from Irish

little tidbit on hubbard

 

[IrishLax]

ND commitment hopes to hear from Irish

little tidbit on hubbard

Can't read it... anyone got a summary?

ND holding strong at #2 this week still receiving some first place votes. Next week's opponent Hofstra checking in at #15/16... which I think is quite low for their talent/performance. Ohio State cracks the top 10 at #8 in the media poll but the coaches are less convinced and have them at #11. Princeton moves into top 5 with win over Hopkins. Whoever is still voting for Duke needs their ballot revoked.

Nike Division I Top 20 Poll - 03/04/2013 | InsideLacrosse.com
USILA Division I Coaches Poll - 03/04/2013 | InsideLacrosse.com

Next 3 opponents: #15/16 Hostra, #7/7 Denver @ Denver (probably not winning this one... f*cking altitude), #8/11 Ohio State. We need to figure out how to crack a zone defense before we play Ohio State. I finally got to see some tape from the PSU vs. Ohio State game and after PSU dominated them in the first half and jumped out to a 8-2 lead Ohio State went to a zone and completely shut down Penn State. You used to not be able to play a zone when trailing... because you couldn't get the ball back... so not many people even practiced it. Now, teams are using it as a staple defense because of the "timer on" stall warning rule which can get you the ball back if you turtle up. This is a bad trend as ND's offensive personnel (with the exception of Marlatt and Kavanagh) are ill-suited to attack a zone. UNC employed a zone defense in the second half and we had no answer for it in the 3rd quarter.

Highlights of the UNC win. Kavanagh's ride for goal #7 is a ridiculous individual effort. Steals a clearing pass with a one handed stab and then takes it all the way in for a goal. We need to clone at least another half dozen of him:

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[Wolverine1997]

3 ECAC teams in the Top-10 this week in the coaches poll (#4 Loyola, #7 Denver and #8 OHIO(!)

Crazy to think that ohio vs denver this weekend is a Top-10 matchup.

Michigan gets high point on the road on Wednesday night, and hobart on the road Saturday.

 

[PANDFAN]

Irish Illustrated ‏@NDatRivals
Cincinnati (Ohio) Moeller LB Sam Hubbard is committed to #NotreDame in one sport, hopes to play football too ($): http://bit.ly/ZiiSbl

 

[Kaneyoufeelit]

Mount Saint Mary's is playing Hopkins on ESPNU right now. 1-1 early

 

[IrishLax]

Albany is an enigma this year. Just smacked UMASS. A couple days ago they got blown out by Yale. If they ever get consistent D, watch out.

UVA currently losing to Vermont......

 

[irishroo]

Can't read it... anyone got a summary?

ND holding strong at #2 this week still receiving some first place votes. Next week's opponent Hofstra checking in at #15/16... which I think is quite low for their talent/performance. Ohio State cracks the top 10 at #8 in the media poll but the coaches are less convinced and have them at #11. Princeton moves into top 5 with win over Hopkins. Whoever is still voting for Duke needs their ballot revoked.

Nike Division I Top 20 Poll - 03/04/2013 | InsideLacrosse.com
USILA Division I Coaches Poll - 03/04/2013 | InsideLacrosse.com

Next 3 opponents: #15/16 Hostra, #7/7 Denver @ Denver (probably not winning this one... f*cking altitude), #8/11 Ohio State. We need to figure out how to crack a zone defense before we play Ohio State. I finally got to see some tape from the PSU vs. Ohio State game and after PSU dominated them in the first half and jumped out to a 8-2 lead Ohio State went to a zone and completely shut down Penn State. You used to not be able to play a zone when trailing... because you couldn't get the ball back... so not many people even practiced it. Now, teams are using it as a staple defense because of the "timer on" stall warning rule which can get you the ball back if you turtle up. This is a bad trend as ND's offensive personnel (with the exception of Marlatt and Kavanagh) are ill-suited to attack a zone. UNC employed a zone defense in the second half and we had no answer for it in the 3rd quarter.

Highlights of the UNC win. Kavanagh's ride for goal #7 is a ridiculous individual effort. Steals a clearing pass with a one handed stab and then takes it all the way in for a goal. We need to clone at least another half dozen of him:

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Hubbard, 6'6" 220 pound UA All-American (in lax, not football) middie also plays football for Moeller in Cincinnati, and plays it very well. Would love an opportunity to play both sports at a high level. Played safety in HS last year, moving to OLB this year. Has offers for football from Illinois, Boston College, Ohio, and Miami of Ohio. Loves both sports equally, remains adamantly committed to ND for lax, but says "I haven't seen the perfect situation yet (regarding playing both sports). I'm looking for great academics, a great history. It's going to be a tough decision I'm going to have to make soon."

 

[irishrb]

ESPNU is playing every Hopkins game this year....Why couldn't they do this for ND????

 

[GoIrish399]

ND Women's lax beat Detroit 22-1 today. Yes, 22-1.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>And the Irish win it! Final score ND 22 Detroit 1. This ties the school record for most points in a home game! <a href="http://t.co/afP6O5Pfm7" title="http://twitter.com/NDWomensLax/status/309099659111043074/photo/1">twitter.com/NDWomensLax/st…</a></p>— Notre Dame W Lax (@NDWomensLax) <a href="https://twitter.com/NDWomensLax/status/309099659111043074">March 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


IrishLax, when are the men's games against Hofstra, Denver, and OSU? Thanks

 

[Wolverine1997]

Michigan lost to high point last night, 13-10. They fought really hard and should have won this game IMO.

At least it was better than what I saw down in Miami.

The haves and have nots are really starting to separate on this team. Michigan's Kyle Jackson and Mike Hernandez are gonna be stars here.

Hernandez tied a school record for goals, Jackson with assists and both are tied for first in shots on goal. All single game records. Gerald Logan was named ECAC Rookie of the Week and has the most saves in the ECAC as well as the NCAA.

Next up is hobart who shockingly knocked off #15 colgate in OT a couple days ago.

 

[IrishLax]

Michigan lost to high point last night, 13-10. They fought really hard and should have won this game IMO.

At least it was better than what I saw down in Miami.

The haves and have nots are really starting to separate on this team. Michigan's Kyle Jackson and Mike Hernandez are gonna be stars here.

Hernandez tied a school record for goals, Jackson with assists and both are tied for first in shots on goal. All single game records. Gerald Logan was named ECAC Rookie of the Week and has the most saves in the ECAC as well as the NCAA.

Next up is hobart who shockingly knocked off #15 colgate in OT a couple days ago.

Like I said in post #38 weeks ago... Hobart is legit. Colgate was also quite overrated. One truly amazing player + porous defense.

Michigan could keep a lot of these games closer by simply switching to a mundane 3-3 zone for their defense. Your goalie is good enough to eat up most outside shots.

 

[IrishLax]

ESPNU is playing every Hopkins game this year....Why couldn't they do this for ND????

Hopkins has a deal with them to televise a number of games. Sadly, most of them are totally crappy matchups.

ESPNU starts carrying most of the other teams once conference play starts in earnest and for special events. It's quite annoying, because in the beginning of the season you get a lot of GREAT out of conference games (Duke vs. ND, UVA vs. Syracuse, etc.) and many of them don't make it on TV.

@GoIrish399 Hostra is this Saturday at noon (webcast), Denver is the Saturday after that at 6:30 PM (and nationally televised on ESPN), and Ohio State is Wednesday (3/20) at 4 PM (webcast). Those three games could be ugly depending on how much zone we see.

 

[irishrb]

Hopkins has a deal with them to televise a number of games. Sadly, most of them are totally crappy matchups.

ESPNU starts carrying most of the other teams once conference play starts in earnest and for special events. It's quite annoying, because in the beginning of the season you get a lot of GREAT out of conference games (Duke vs. ND, UVA vs. Syracuse, etc.) and many of them don't make it on TV.

@GoIrish399 Hostra is this Saturday at noon (webcast), Denver is the Saturday after that at 6:30 PM (and nationally televised on ESPN), and Ohio State is Wednesday (3/20) at 4 PM (webcast). Those three games could be ugly depending on how much zone we see.

Webcast....Do you mean Gametraker or is there a way I can actually get the game on the internet? The Denver game...are you sure it's on ESPN or is it ESPN3....which I can't get..

 

[NDinL.A.]

The ND game was nice, the stands were pretty full, it was kinda on the cold side though. Nice clutch last 5 minutes of the 4th and all of overtime!

That was my first ever lacrosse game, and I have to admit, I had a great time! (Sure, i went by myself LOL, but still!) I worked out at the Rolfe and then walked over to the stadium, and promptly froze my arse off the entire first half because I stupidly thought I didn't need my winter coat. Got a coffee and my coat at the half and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the game. Some thoughts:

* I know NOTHING about lacrosse!

* Thanks to a quick message from LAX before the game (seriously, the dude can write a thesis on lacrosse) I knew what to look for from both teams, even though I still had no idea what i was looking at LOL.

* #19 from the Irish totally stood out to me as a baller on the offensive end. Great moves and great speed. Shows you what i know - he's a senior who plays part time.

* Fans were out in full force! Plenty of students in attendance, even though most were into their own conversations more than the actual on-field action for most of the game. Still, nice showing.

* When his players screw up, ND coach makes Brian Kelly look tame by comparison (edit: little bit of hyperbole, but the point remains). Dude gets after his players and gets in their faces. One midfielder foolishly went for a steal at midfield and whiffed, allowing a fast break and a goal, and the coach chewed him good, and kept after it for awhile.

* Damn there's a lot of players on a lacrosse team! Tons of players never saw any action. I just thought the teams were smaller for some reason.

* Lacrosse is a cool sport, especially when you have a team to root for who is very good. I enjoyed myself and look forward to going to more games.

 

[IrishLax]

That was my first ever lacrosse game, and I have to admit, I had a great time! (Sure, i went by myself LOL, but still!) I worked out at the Rolfe and then walked over to the stadium, and promptly froze my arse off the entire first half because I stupidly thought I didn't need my winter coat. Got a coffee and my coat at the half and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the game. Some thoughts:

* I know NOTHING about lacrosse!

* Thanks to a quick message from LAX before the game (seriously, the dude can write a thesis on lacrosse) I knew what to look for from both teams, even though I still had no idea what i was looking at LOL.

* #19 from the Irish totally stood out to me as a baller on the offensive end. Great moves and great speed. Shows you what i know - he's a senior who plays part time.

Yeah, Arlotta can be a freaking wind tunnel second only to South Quad. It gets freaking cold on that field sometimes. #19, Ty Kimball, should be so much better than he is. He's been a contributor for four years... was highly recruited... has all of the physical tools including a big time shot... but his accuracy has just always been an Achilles' Heel for him. If he was a more accurate finisher he could be an All-American.

* Fans were out in full force! Plenty of students in attendance, even though most were into their own conversations more than the actual on-field action for most of the game. Still, nice showing.

* When his players screw up, ND coach makes Brian Kelly look tame by comparison (edit: little bit of hyperbole, but the point remains). Dude gets after his players and gets in their faces. One midfielder foolishly went for a steal at midfield and whiffed, allowing a fast break and a goal, and the coach chewed him good, and kept after it for awhile.

Hahaha I don't think it's that much hyperbole... check out this post from two years ago: http://www.irishenvy.com/forums/not...press-conference-9-6-2011-a-3.html#post537112

Corrigan will give you credit for making plays and verbally destroy you for making mental errors. One of the main reasons why his teams have so consistently over-performed their talent/expectations. Details matter and add up.

* Damn there's a lot of players on a lacrosse team! Tons of players never saw any action. I just thought the teams were smaller for some reason.

* Lacrosse is a cool sport, especially when you have a team to root for who is very good. I enjoyed myself and look forward to going to more games.

The irony is that with a large roster (and one where a LOT of players see game time... typically about 11/12 midfielders, 3/4 attack, 1 G, 4/5 D = ~20-25 people playing in a game) the NCAA has scholarships capped at around a dozen. That would be like trying to field a football team with 30 scholarships. It's utterly ridiculous. Thanks Title IX......

I'm glad you enjoyed the game. It was sure an exciting finish LOL. What I personally love about lacrosse (and why I think it appeals to casual fans) is that it's a really good blend of the best aspect of hockey and basketball... with a little bit of football too. It's physical and it has action but you don't need to be a freak of nature/destroy your body like in football to be successful. And you get just enough more scoring to make it more entertaining than soccer (and hockey to a degree... although there is something to be said for the constant flow of action in hockey).

 

[IrishLax]

Webcast....Do you mean Gametraker or is there a way I can actually get the game on the internet? The Denver game...are you sure it's on ESPN or is it ESPN3....which I can't get..

It's supposed to be a live webcast on UND.com (which will redirect to NBC Sports). I talked to the guys today after work and I think it should be fixed from the issues last week. Going to be a very tough one against underrated Hofstra.

The Denver game is supposed to be on ESPN3... along with all of the other games from the even in Colorado. ESPNU is carrying Hopkins vs. Syracuse that day at same time.

 

[irishrb]

It is showing up now on their website...It only showed gametracker before...Hopefully it is fixed as I am anxious to see them again.