Interesting article on the Air Force Academy's Dan Gnazzo. He's been an all GWLL LSM, now he is the starting goalie for the AFA. Just goes to show you: work hard, be open to challenges and greatness can still find you!
Showing posts with label colorado. Show all posts
Showing posts with label colorado. Show all posts
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Week review, Weekend Preview all in one!
UNC, Notre Dame and Georgetown all won this week. Bucknell put up a decent fight against ND after getting dominated by Hobart. The Statesmen clearly have some talent but will need to keep winning for their stock to improve further. Vermont rebounded to beat Bellarmine after losing to UVA and they didn't even have to change their mascot's name!
Mel McKee and Assumption picked up their first win of their career and season respectively over Division 3 MIT. MIT offers more varsity NCAA sports than any other college in the country which is an interesting tidbit considering their top flight academic standing. The brains at MIT put NESCAC, Centennial and ODAC brains to shame.
Ithaca lost to MCLA Chapman, barely beat Whittier and now barely beat Drew. I expect the Bombers to get BLOWN OUT by Cortland when they meet. It could get ugly in this rivalry game.
Bates stuck with Middlebury last weekend til the end and then went on to lose to WNEC 6-4 this week. They won't win the NESCAC; heck, they might not even win a game in the NESCAC but it shows that the talent from top to bottom in that conference is very even and no win comes easy.
Colorado State beat Florida handily in MCLA action without Coach Flip Naumberg who has taken what is believed to be a temporary leave from the team. Are the Rams getting back to their top level form? The easy home win over UF leads me to believe they are.
Some games to look out for this weekend are: Kenyon v. Stevens and Conn College v. McDaniel. Both of these games will be played at neutral sites. Dickinson v. Noke could be a good game, as could Cabrini v. Hampden-Sydney. Cortland Clarkson could be good although I bet Cortland wins by at least 6. Wesleyan v. Middlebury should be a GREAT NESCAC match-up. The birds really need this one even though it is early. W&L plays F&M in the ampersand tilt of the week. If the Generals win big, they could be a top 10 team.
On the Division 1/2 side of things: Hobart v. Georgetown will be huge for whoever takes that one. My gut says Georgetown but it seems like that program is always ready to lose just when you start to believe in them. Princeton looks to keep rolling against Hofstra, Umass takes on Brown for a public-private, Mass-RI brawl. UMD v. UMBC should be a great intrastate-school game with both teams looking to impress. Another match-up within the same state is UNC-Duke. Any game between these two NC schools is guaranteed to get heated and UNC is clearly on the upswing as Duke tries to find some stability and direction. UNC has not done well in the ACC for the past couple of years and you just know they would love to get a win over the Dukies to prove they have arrived back on the contender scene.
Monday, March 9, 2009
NLL all star weekend
The NLL all-star game took place over the weekend in Denver.
The players were introduced to the roar of some motorcycles and flame throwers, a geared out Dan Dawson jumped into a hot tub with some scantily clad blondes during the 3rd period, Mark Steenhuis had 13 points [7g, 6a] to capture his 3rd all-star MVP and supposedly a lacrosse game was played.
The players were introduced to the roar of some motorcycles and flame throwers, a geared out Dan Dawson jumped into a hot tub with some scantily clad blondes during the 3rd period, Mark Steenhuis had 13 points [7g, 6a] to capture his 3rd all-star MVP and supposedly a lacrosse game was played.
Monday, March 2, 2009
weekend review
What a weekend! Princeton beat the Hop liked I said they would. Cornell bested Army in the final minute on a Max Siebald goal. He doesn't get as much hype as some others in the college game but he is as good as or better than any middie in the college game right now. His swim move is evocative of Rabil, just a couple inches lower. UMd looked solid against Duke but their offense is a little stagnant for a team that is supposedly loaded with talent. Both Catalino and Yeatman tend to hold the ball a lot and post up which really slows the game down. None of the Terp first line middies are that impressive although they are all fast and play well together. This team needs something additional if they are going to be contenders. Gtown lost to St. John's in Queens and it was the first major win for this 5 year old iteration of the SJU program.
There weren't any major upsets in the D3 or D2 ranks and my call that Colorado College would beat Lynchburg was embarassingly wrong considering CC lost by 15! All of the typical players kept rolling although the NESCAC teams won't really start playing real games for another week. Montclair State came back from a 6-4 deficit in the 4th to beat Hartwick 7-6 in Jersey. Big win for the MSU squad. Merrimack scrimmaged Weselyan and Merrimack could really be the surprise team of D2 this year. They have an experienced bunch of kids, the coach believes in them and they were able to solve Wesleyan's zone which speaks to their ball movement and unselfishness. Look for Merrimack to do well this year. RIT beat Adelphi by one showing the difference between the 2 divisions is, as usual, not that much.
On a side note, I played in my alumni game on Saturday in 3 inches of snow and had a great time out there. We lost 9-7 with only 16 players to a bunch of kids who are actually in shape. If there is one thing I learned, it is that I simply do not recover the way I used to... ah, getting old!
Photo of Wick-MSU game.
There weren't any major upsets in the D3 or D2 ranks and my call that Colorado College would beat Lynchburg was embarassingly wrong considering CC lost by 15! All of the typical players kept rolling although the NESCAC teams won't really start playing real games for another week. Montclair State came back from a 6-4 deficit in the 4th to beat Hartwick 7-6 in Jersey. Big win for the MSU squad. Merrimack scrimmaged Weselyan and Merrimack could really be the surprise team of D2 this year. They have an experienced bunch of kids, the coach believes in them and they were able to solve Wesleyan's zone which speaks to their ball movement and unselfishness. Look for Merrimack to do well this year. RIT beat Adelphi by one showing the difference between the 2 divisions is, as usual, not that much.
On a side note, I played in my alumni game on Saturday in 3 inches of snow and had a great time out there. We lost 9-7 with only 16 players to a bunch of kids who are actually in shape. If there is one thing I learned, it is that I simply do not recover the way I used to... ah, getting old!
Photo of Wick-MSU game.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Weekend UPSET predictions!
So, here goes nothing! I'm going to pick one Division 1 game and one Division 2 or 3 game as my upset special of the week and this week I've picked...
Princeton over Hopkins, 9-7. I like Princeton's D, they have a new goalie with a limited amount of scouting available on him, have a healthy midfield and still have Coach Tierney prowling the sidelines. Hopkins is still very good and could easily make a NC run this season but it is early and they are replacing some serious firepower on offense in Rabil, Peyser and Huntley.
On the Division three side of things I'm going out on a real limb with a Sunday tilt between Colorado College and Lynchburg. Lburg is still highly rated but I think this may be the season Where CC really makes an impact... plus they have fantastic helmets. It is a real risk considering CC play Washington & Lee the day before but maybe that will just get them ready to roll even more so... like I said, I'm out on a limb here.
Friday, February 13, 2009
MLL Craziness! Part III
follow the link below to a more detailed explanation of the MLL's impending contraction:
http://www.examiner.com/x-1475-Boston-Lacrosse-Examiner~y2009m2d13-Major-League-Lacrosse-reportedly-contracting-teams-Boston-Cannons-safe-for-now
I like the move to Toronto. Rochester was given their shot and couldn't make it work. Toronto did well with the NLL's Toronto Rock franchise so I sincerely hope the MLL team sees the same successes.
Seems like Boston, LI and the Bayhawks will all be fine. Chicago seems to be sticking it out but the fortunes of the Chicago Shamrox do not bode well for the Machine's future, nor do the Machine's past attendance numbers.
http://www.examiner.com/x-1475-Boston-Lacrosse-Examiner~y2009m2d13-Major-League-Lacrosse-reportedly-contracting-teams-Boston-Cannons-safe-for-now
I like the move to Toronto. Rochester was given their shot and couldn't make it work. Toronto did well with the NLL's Toronto Rock franchise so I sincerely hope the MLL team sees the same successes.
Seems like Boston, LI and the Bayhawks will all be fine. Chicago seems to be sticking it out but the fortunes of the Chicago Shamrox do not bode well for the Machine's future, nor do the Machine's past attendance numbers.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Colorado Lax
So MCLA Colorado State beat NCAA Division 3 Colorado College 10-9 in a scrimmage this February. Unfortunately, it is most likely that this will only add to the raging debate regarding how good Club ball at the College level really is. My take on the situation is... as long as the lax is good, who really cares?
All I want to see is good lacrosse and if it means that Division 1 Denver has to play MCLA BYU to get a good game in without travelling on a plane then I'm all for it. They are not representing their entire conference or division, they are representing themselves, their team and their institution, that is all.
The lacrosse world deserves much better than to succumb to these silly chest thumping competitions and should focus less on which division is the real deal. I have seen debates regarding this very topic on laxpower.com quickly spiral out of control. The truth is, you would not be able to find a college scrimmage of this caliber very often in Colorado ten years ago but now we see great games of lacrosse being played all over the country in places like Colorado, Idaho, Detroit and South Florida just to name a few. If nothing else, this shows great strides made by the game of Lacrosse that show dramatic and sustainable growth. So to all the guys out there arguing about Club ball vs. Division 3 or Division 3 vs. Division 2 lacrosse, you need to get over yourselves and focus on the positive!
Tip of the hat to IL for not making this into the Div 3/MCLA showdown that others try to make it out to be from time to time: http://insidelacrosse.com/page.cfm?pagerid=2&news=fdetail&storyid=197212
All I want to see is good lacrosse and if it means that Division 1 Denver has to play MCLA BYU to get a good game in without travelling on a plane then I'm all for it. They are not representing their entire conference or division, they are representing themselves, their team and their institution, that is all.
The lacrosse world deserves much better than to succumb to these silly chest thumping competitions and should focus less on which division is the real deal. I have seen debates regarding this very topic on laxpower.com quickly spiral out of control. The truth is, you would not be able to find a college scrimmage of this caliber very often in Colorado ten years ago but now we see great games of lacrosse being played all over the country in places like Colorado, Idaho, Detroit and South Florida just to name a few. If nothing else, this shows great strides made by the game of Lacrosse that show dramatic and sustainable growth. So to all the guys out there arguing about Club ball vs. Division 3 or Division 3 vs. Division 2 lacrosse, you need to get over yourselves and focus on the positive!
Tip of the hat to IL for not making this into the Div 3/MCLA showdown that others try to make it out to be from time to time: http://insidelacrosse.com/page.cfm?pagerid=2&news=fdetail&storyid=197212
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