midweek review - why not?

Lots of games were played on Wed in Division 3 and a few big Division 1 contests were decided on Tuesday. Duke lost to Cornell 10-6 on Tuesday but the story of the day had to be Lehigh coming back when they were down 11-3 to beat Army 13-12 in OT. Cassesse is doing well with the Mountain Hawks and I expect them to be a legit top 20 team within 2-3 more seasons. Making the transition from mid-level team to top 20 is difficult at the D1 level, especially when you play in a conference like the Patriot league which does not allow athletic scholarships and you have to compete against history-laden top 20 teams like Army or Hobart.

On the Division 3 side of things, Bowdoin beat St. Lawrence 10-6. Endicott continued to roll with a solid 11-9 win over Stevens. Stevens is a dangerous team that can beat anyone on any given day. Endicott did well to put 11 by the SIT keeper and the EC Defense really stepped up as they limited pre-season attackman of the year, JR Oreskovich to 2 goals and an assist. The "Northern Gulls" of Endicott aren't blowing people out like the "Southern Gulls" of Salisbury but don't be surprised to see the two match up head to head in the NC game. Dube had a big day for Endicott putting up 2 goals and helping on 4 others for 6 points on the day.

Wesleyan easily beat Farmingdale State on LI Wednesday afternoon 16-7. The game was never in question but it is interesting to note that the game began on Russ Follansbee's [#15, pictured] hat trick for a 3-0 Wesleyan lead. Farmingdale then scored a goal which was followed up by Jason Ben-Eliyahu's [#27, pictured] hat trick to make the score 6-1. you don't see that every day.

Gettysburg has rebounded nicely with a home win over Cabrini. Gburg is undefeated at home this season but hasn't won a big game on the road yet. That is no way to make it deep into ANY tournament.

In big time MCLA action, my personal favorite team, Chapman out in Cali, beat Colorado State 15-5. Both of these teams are top-level club programs that can and do compete with some of the best programs at the Division 3 level. On Sunday, Michigan beat up on Minnesota pretty badly. I believe the championship game will be a rematch of Michigan-Chapman from earlier in the year. Who will win is anyone's guess.