Editor’s Note: The edited story below comes to us from Lacrosse Western Australia’s Shendelle Oliver, and focuses on a Wembley LC player, Callum Robinson, who is soon on his way stateside to play for Paul Cantabene at Stevenson University in Maryland. The best thing about all this is Callum is headed to Stevenson on academic scholarship. Education and Athletics, being married the right way!
Up and coming Western Australian Lacrosse player, Callum Robinson, leaves for the USA on the 31st of August to take up an academic/merit scholarship at Stevenson University in Maryland. Robinson will also be playing lacrosse for Stevenson, which is one of the top ranked NCAA D3 lacrosse teams in the United States.
Robinson is 21 years old, from Sorrento in WA, and currently plays in the WA State League for the Wembley Lacrosse Club. He is one of very few Western Australians to be offered an academic scholarship to a US college or university, and he certainly has big shoes to fill as Australians are known to be being very high achievers in the collegiate ranks, with club-mate Sarah Forbes being inducted into the University of Maryland Hall of Fame in October of this year.
Robinson took up lacrosse at the age of eleven and has competed in many Australian National Championships for Western Australia. He has also played for Australia in the ASPAC Tournaments (Asia-Pacific Games), which was held in July 2011 in New Zealand. Callum is currently a member of the Australian Squad preparing for the 2014 World Championships in Denver. Robinson is leader on and off the field and has primarily been playing longstick midfield. In July 2012 he coached the Western Australian Under 17 Mens team to a silver medal at the Australian Youth Championships in Adelaide.
Robinson is also a surf-life saver at the Scarborough Surf Life Saving Club competing in the Surf Boat Rowing events during the surf club summer season, so maybe he’ll try to pick up some Summer work in Ocean City, MD. Robinson is a tough, fit athlete and uses surf life saving to maintain his high fitness level during the lacrosse off-season.
It can be quite unusual to see a long-stick rip a shot at the goal but Robinson seems to score goals on a weekly basis making him very appealing to scouting college coaches. His physical strength, size, maturity and overall athleticism make him a force to be reckoned with.
Head Coach at Stevenson, Paul Cantabene, has this to say about Robinson:
Callum has outstanding grades and is on an academic/merit based Scholarship, and he is planning on majoring in Chemistry at Stevenson.
It’s always good when you pick up a 6’4”,215 pound defense that can run and has a great stick. I think he might fit in well with us!!
Robinson follows in the footsteps of another former Wembley LC player, Adam Sear, who in 2007 left Perth to pursue a 4-year playing career at the University of Maryland. Sear is now the Assistant Coach at Stevenson University, and proving to the younger Aussies that the opportunities to continue with lacrosse can be endless once a college playing career is over.
Robinson said,
“I am very excited about the opportunity Stevenson University has given me. I feel very privileged to be able to represent the college both athletically and academically. I look forward to contributing to the varsity lacrosse team and embracing the University’s rich lacrosse culture.”
Callum Robinson will definitely be a player to watch in coming year and is projected to be wearing number 10 for Stevenson University in the Spring.
Jarryd Lee was playing in net for Australia’s U19 team in the National Lacrosse Classic All-Star game (which featured the Aussies and the NLC All-Stars), when this giant of a young man decided to take it down the field and put one in the net himself.
A goalie goal is rare, and a behind the back goalie goal is almost never seen. When a goalie runs the full length of the field, gets stripped on the crease, picks up the ground ball himself, then sticks one in tight, from almost no angle, AND do it behind the back, you just can’t believe your eyes.
Yup, that happened.
Word on the street is that Lee is being recruited by some ACC schools… and after seeing this clip, we can see why. Lee is big, and athletic, and that jumps out right away. But he’s also pretty composed and creative. Seems like there is some real potential there!
It would be great to see an Australian keeper come over and play college ball. Warren Brown (Bayswater LC) and Sam Williams (Wembley LC) are two Ausssie goalies I’ve either played against or seen play, and I know that either of them could have played at the D1 level. Tim Forbes (Caulfield LC) also could have played college ball. The talent is there now, and has been there for years, and it’s exciting to think Lee could be the one to break in to the US college scene.
Maryland saw success with midfielder and man-up specialist, Adam Sear (Wembley LC), and a number of other Australian players have enjoyed immense success at the D2 level (Gordon Purdie, Matt Schomburg, Kim Delfs… the list goes on and on). Dennis Juleff played in the MLL for a couple of games after a career at D3 Ithaca College.
The talent in Australia is really high. The players are tough, and they are dedicated. Here’s to hoping more of them are able to come over and play college ball in the US!
Kim Black took in the Ferrum Vs. Shenandoah Men’s NCAA Division III Lacrosse game on March 17, 2012, and she sent over some awesome photos from the game as well as a short write up on what she saw and learned:
The game was played at Ferrum College in Ferrum, Va. The final score was Ferrum over Shenandoah, 17 – 6 . Ferrum is only in it’s second season of varsity lacrosse as a program, and with it’s current coaching staff of Head Coach Mark Frey and Assistant Coach Adam Sear, they have high expectations for the future.
According to Shenandoah’s head coach, Coach Mike Kruger, their coaching staff is in it’s first year and they have brought a culture change to the program. With that change they have lost some players, so their numbers are a little down. The players they do have in the program are working hard and embracing the change. They have a great recruiting class coming in next year and should be a very competitive DIII program in a short amount of time.
The LAS family has known Australian Adam Sear for over 10 years now and we can certainly vouch for his excellence! From our conversations with Adam, it’s clear he’s really excited to be working with Coach Frey and that Ferrum is a program on the rise. It’s also good to see Shenandoah make a change. I know a couple of guys who played there, and they’re going to be excited when the program turns around.
Does Shenandoah still have a lot of work to do? You bet! They lost the shot battle 65-16 and also lost on GBs and face offs. But sometimes with change comes adversity, and it’s great to see Shenandoah embrace that. Ferrum looking up in year two!
It sure was one crazy weekend of college lacrosse action! We had high-scoring games, low-scoring games, upsets, blowouts and some really tight scores. The Syracuse – Army game was CLEARLY the game of the weekend in retrospect, and we have a TON of coverage from that killer match up (Game Photos & Recap, 412 Recap, video of Tim Desko’s one-handed goal). We also have a full recap of the Loyola – Towson game, and the Stevenson – Hampden-Sydney College penalty-fest.
Jojo Marasco doing the 22 things against Army.
In other big-time D1 action, we saw some interesting results. Penn State beat Notre Dame 4-3 in OT. Evidently, both teams dropped their stick and decided to play a game of soccer instead of lacrosse. At least it was a high-scoring soccer game. In all seriousness though, this game will be THE game people use to advocate for a shot clock, and I can’t say I disagree. When the game is 2-2 at the half, and NEITHER team scores a goal in the third period, people are going to call it a snoozefest.
UVA beat Stony Brook on Saturday, and the Cavs will stay at #1 with the win. Michigan dropped another game, this time to Air Force, by the score of 15-5. Thought that would have been closer. Brown took down Quinnipiac 12-7, and Denver beat RMU big, while UMBC took down an improving Rutgers program.
Dartmouth beat Colgate 9-6 and that’s a big win for the Big Green. Colgate was supposed to be pretty good this year. Drexel beat Albany, and I’m surprised the Danes aren’t putting up more goals on offense so far. I thought having all those Thompsons would result in goals galore. Drexel is going to be a tough team all season and could do big things in the NCAAs. UMass beat Ohio State 9-3 and proved they are definitely for real in 2012. I could see UMass making the Final Four if they keep playing like this. UNC came back to beat Navy 9-8 in a tighter game than expected. Princeton beat Hofstra 12-6 in an impressive win, and Villanova got a big win over Bucknell 13-12 in OT.
In DII, Chestnut Hill beat Mercy 7-6 but they 3 OT periods to get it done. I know that would be a great game. Two newer programs, with great coaching, and a hunger for wins. Dominican doubled up NDNU in a big reversal of fortunes in the WILA, 16-8. Dominican is now looking pretty good to make their first trip to the NCAA tournament. Seton Hill came up with a HUGE win as they beat CW Post 11-10. This is just a gigantic win for the SH program.
In DIII, Salisbury CRUSHED Roanoke in an early 1-2 match up 22-5. Ouch. Was Noke overrated, or is SU just that good? YES to the latter, maybe to the former. If SU really is as good as I think they might be, the position of #2 becomes somewhat irrelevant. It’s the Gulls right now, and then everyone else. If anyone can give them a run for their money it will have to be a Northern team like Amherst, Cortland or Endicott.
Skidmore lost to Babson 8-6 in a bit of a shocker. Denison beat W&L 15-9. Cabrini shocked the world (or me at least) by beating Haverford 9-3. That’s just Classic Carbini for you. Maybe 2012 is the year they really break through? Cortland only beat Widener 9-5, but to me Cortland is kind of like the Hopkins of D3 now in that they view a win as a win. Ferrum got an early win over Randolph 7-1. Shoutout to Asst Coach Adam Sear! RPI took down Montclair State (NJ) in convincing fashion, 10-4, and Springfield took down Nazareth 15-7, proving the Pride are definitely not to be taken lightly.
Over on the MCLA side of things, the excitement just kept on coming. A big upset on Sunday was Georgia Tech over FSU 10-7. I was pretty certain FSU would roll in that game, but GTech looks to have fixed a lot of things, and is playing good lacrosse right now. Alabama got a good win over Tennessee 12-8 and Iowa State did a nice job of taking down Nebraska 13-9. And all that was on Sunday! Oh, and did I mention that Oregon State beat Simon Fraser 13-6. An SFU team that can’t score at least 10 goals EVERY game? What is happening in Canada????
On Saturday, Cal Poly survived Cal 10-8 to remain near the top of the heap. Chico State beat Santa Clara 11-5, and I’ve now lost all faith in SC. I just can NOT figure that program out. FSU is actually another program that gives me pause, as they lost to Clemson 10-3 on Saturday. Clemson is looking good right now! FSU? Not so much. Colorado State took down Chapman 10-8, and is looking like a contender. Of course I still have faith in Chapman later this year if they can begin closing out close games soon. Chapman’s 11-9 win over Oregon on Friday night is proof that they have plenty of potential in this department.
Oklahoma beat Nebraska AND Iowa State on Saturday, and I can never get past a team that wins two good games in one day. I love seeing that kind of effort. Minnesota-Duluth took down Minnesota 11-9 and it’s great to see that in-state rivalry improving. Minny could soon be the land of 10,000 lacrosse teams, and those two club programs can do a lot for the growth of the game in that state and region. Dayton got a big win over Kennesaw State by a whopping 19-6 margin and SCAD beat Indiana Tech 13-11.
The JuCo world has kicked off now, and Army Prep is 2-0 against NJCAA teams and they have outscored their opponents 46-8. Essex started off strong beating Northern Virginia 19-4. Delaware Tech took down West Chester 9-8 and Suffolk beat Howard 12-11 in OT.
In the NCLL, Towson, Cornell and Frostburg State have all racked up a couple of wins so far. The two most impressive teams so far are probably the Navy Club teams and St. Joseph’s Club team. Both have won two games, and done so in very convincing fashion.
Did I miss any big games? Add your voice to the conversation in the comments below!
Editor’s Note: As part of our ongoing Fall Interview Series, we bring you a check-in with Adam Sear of Ferrum College Lacrosse. Ferrum is a one year old NCAA Division III lacrosse program, and Adam Sear is now the Assistant Coach there and Recruiting Coordinator. Sear played his college ball at Maryland, is originally from Perth, Australia, and played for the Aussie National Team in Manchester in 2010.
Please give us a quick history of Ferrum Lacrosse. How long have you been involved with the program?
The thing about our history is that there is almost none. Our program had its inaugural season last year (2010-11) and it was a successful year for coaches and players alike. There was a club team here in the 80’s and 90’s but the team itself never had the opportunity to achieve NCAA
status. I had the opportunity to join this program in January of 2011 and it has been a blast ever since. Coaching here is an opportunity unlike any other and we’re looking forward to building not only our history, but also a rich tradition of success here at Ferrum College.
What are Ferrum’s goal for the 2012 season? What can we expect from the team? And what are the overall goals for the program over the long haul?
Our goal is to build a successful program quickly. Now this is easier said than done but we have made great strides in the year and a half that we’ve been working together as a group. Our guys are buying in to the mindset of “hard work produces good opportunities”. No one is going to hand us respect; it is something that needs to be earned, and our guys are very hungry to prove themselves. We would like to carry our momentum from last year into this year without taking any steps backwards. I heard someone say “you’re either getting better or getting worse, you don’t stay the same”. And that is something as a coach I want our guys to be thinking. Lets build up and build off of previous lessons to progress from our 6 win season in the Spring of ’11.
In the long haul we want to be nationally ranked. We speak about a “process” here at Ferrum. Do not let the overall end goal dominate your thought process, but rather, think about the little things you need to do to get better, which will help you achieve the overall goal. That is something that we constantly remind our guys of, and it seems to be creating a positive and competitive atmosphere so far.
Have you guys established a recruiting base? Is there a certain region you focus on, or a type of school (e.g. prep, public, parochial, private)?
As a new program we haven’t really found our niche in terms of a recruiting base. That being said our team is largely from Virginia, but we do represent 8 different states, those being Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Colorado, New York, and North Carolina. We
are having some good success in certain areas but as I said, we are yet to find a single solid recruiting base that we rely on.
What kind of players are you looking for at Ferrum? And what style of play do you hope to get out of these players?
Our mindset is blue collar. That has been our mindset from day one. We want kids that will sacrifice personal accolades for the betterment of the team. Its cliché to say this but we really mean it. Egos can be toxic to a team dynamic and as a coaching staff we have no time for it. Our
situation in terms of location is a unique one and we’re looking for people who want to buy in and work to earn the respect of our peers.
What are the school facilities like? Dorms? Athletic Facilities? And where are the institutions academic strengths?
Our facilities are only getting better. The school is currently in the process of building what we have called the “Hank Norton Center” which is a 29,000 sq foot, 5.5 million dollar athletic facility devoted solely to Ferrum Athletics. This building will have a 4,000 sq ft weight room, two in ground whirl-pools and brand new locker rooms which will be available to all Ferrum athletes. In the next year we will be renovating our stadium press box which will only add to its athletic dominance.
Our academic strengths are stretched over 32 different majors and 34 different minors. Our prominent departments are Environmental Science, Criminology, as well as both Business and Health Sciences. Our Environmental Science department is actually the second oldest department of its type in the country, behind Stanford which was only founded three or four weeks before Ferrum’s. As for our dorms they are very nice. We have just built four new dorms in the last 6 years to help with our increasing enrollment. Our freshman dorms are just like any other school in the country. They are sufficient but as you move up in class you are definitely rewarded.
Can you give us a rundown of the Coaching Staff?
Our coaching staff is small. There is only the Head Coach, Mark Frey and myself. Coach Frey is a native of McLean,Viriginia, and played his college ball at Ohio State and then later transferred to Western Maryland which is now known as McDaniel (NCAA D3). Before taking
his position here at Ferrum College, he spent the last 10 years out in California where he was an Assistant Coach at Chapman University and the Head Coach at Loyola Marymount University.
Adam Sear prowling the sidelines for Ferrum College Lacrosse
Where do you fall on the gear spectrum? Are you going Oregon football, or are you keeping it classic like Penn State?
Mate, we are DEFINITELY going for the Oregon style. Our colors are black and vegas gold so the uniform combos are endless. Our guys are geared up better than some other D1 programs. We provide our guys with two helmets (home and away) with argyle stickers, 2 sets of uniforms, Nike Huarache III’s, Nike Pegasus 28 running shoes, Nike sweatsuits, STX Cell gloves and arm-pads, Nike Dri-Fit polos, custom Adrenaline socks… Okay, I think I’ve said enough. We definitely like to look good and you know what, if our guys are happy then we are too. We would also like to thank our vendors at South Swell Sports for helping us out with all our gear.
Ferrum is one of many relatively young programs out there… what can a new program do to compete right away?
I am very new to the NCAA coaching lifestyle but I think it solely falls on recruiting. Recruiting is such an important part of what we do and that’s how you build programs. Now in saying that I think the support of your athletic department and your school is very important as well. There are so many people behind the scenes that make it all possible for us coaches to do what we do.
Who is on your schedule for 2012? Any games you’re particularly looking forward to?
Our schedule next year is a very competitive one. To name a few we have Washington and Lee, Hampden-Sydney, and Randolph-Macon on our schedule for 2012. One game our squad is definitely looking forward to is our game against Christopher Newport University. Our
school has a definite rivalry with them and the lacrosse teams are no different.
Why did you choose to coach at Ferrum? What was it about the school and program that drew you in as a coach?
The reason I chose to coach at Ferrum College was the overall opportunity that the school showed. To be part of something new and creating tradition is something special. It is also a great opportunity for me as a young coach to not only get my feet in the door but to go up
against some of the best D3 programs out there. I also can’t say enough about my Head Coach, Mark Frey. He has given me the opportunity to coach the way I want to, obviously under his guidance, but it’s great to have someone who has confidence in your ability to perform.
Why did you decided to stay in the US after graduating? And do you plan on returning to live in Australia at some point?
I wanted to experience life out of college in the States. I had an unbelievable experience in College Park as a student-athlete at the University of Maryland and I wouldn’t wish anything different. But you know the saying “good things don’t last forever”? Well, I wanted to explore my passion of lacrosse through a different vantage point and it is definitely proved itsself to be a challenging decision.
Will you be staying in shape and vying for a spot on the 2014 Aussie team that will play in Denver? 2010 was a pretty solid showing!
I will definitely admit that my playing has fallen on the back burner a little because coaching has become such a passion of mine. I’m actually training for a half marathon at the moment, which is definitely keeping me in shape. 2014 is a decision that I would never take lightly but as for now its definitely up in the air.
What do you think of the new Maryland Football uniforms? You’re an alum now, so you can be honest!
Mate, I’m ALL FOR THEM! Props to them for breaking the mold and going for it. As an alum, that red, white, black and gold is very close to my heart so the more of it, the better!
Ferrum is a much smaller than UMd… by just a bit! are you enjoying the more intimate experience?
The smaller schools is definitely different. However, it is as you say, a more intimate experience. The relationships I have formed with not only our athletic department but the whole school have been awesome.
Thanks for taking some time off of the Recruiting and Coaching beat to speak with us, Adam! Best of luck to Ferrum College in 2012! Want more 2011 Fall Interviews? Make sure to check out Michigan, Wesleyan, Denver and more!
Lax.com put up a video of the Australian National League (which is made up of State sides) Final, and it featured Victoria taking on South Australia. As you can see in the video (which can also be seen below), the level of play is very high, and the Aussies love a good physical game. It got me thinking back to the 6 moths I spent in Perth, which is in Western Australia, and how it was one of the best experiences of my life. It also got me thinking that hey, maybe an LAS reader would be interested in playing Down Under! So why not provide a little info on how to do it, why to do it, and what the trip might be like!
I traveled to Perth in late June of 2001, and stayed until almost the end of December. I encountered less than 20 Americans during my six months in the Sun-Burned Country. I didn’t go abroad through my school and I took no classes. I just coached lacrosse, played lacrosse, and settled in to the country as best I could. Three months into my stay and my mom wrote me an email asking if I was ever coming back. I was that submerged in the other side of the world. And to be honest, it was easy. The Australians I met through my lacrosse club, and otherwise, were fantastic people for the most part. They welcomed me with open arms, a joke, and a beer. And then when I went out on the field, they tried to take my head off. It was an awesome experience!
I arrived on a Thursday morning, loaded my bags into the sport utility truck of my new teammate, and housemate, Luke Oliver, and I was off. We took in a women’s game in the early afternoon, and then went back to get ready for practice. I noticed there were only about 12-13 guys at practice and I was worried. I soon forgot about it though as we went to a bar, I had a beer and promptly proceeded to fall asleep on my feet. They took me home, I fell asleep and think I woke up on Saturday in time for our game against Bayswater.
When I showed up to Bayswater’s grounds, I noticed that we only had a couple more guys than we did for practice. And I noticed the same thing about the other team too. Turns out, you can only around 15 guys on your roster for a game down there. I had never been so happy to be in great shape in my entire life. The game was starting in about 5 minutes so I went to grab some water and as I was about to sit on the bench, a teammate pulled me up and simply said, “Don’t sit. Black Widow”. Yes, there was a killer spider on the bench. But no one really seemed to care. I went along with it and decided to make the mantra “when in Rome (or Perth)” mine for the duration of visit.
I played LSM, close D, short stick O mid and D mid and would sometimes run off the field with my pole after a clear only to be sent back on with my shortstick. I was put in new situations with every passing play, and it was so much fun to be that involved in the game. Being able to run up and down was a huge benefit. There was a little chippy play, or at least what I considered chippy, and some trash talking as well. They called me a “bloody Sepo”, which is meant to be offensive I think. It means Septic Tank Yank (it rhymes?), aka we’re full of crap. But it’s just not that mean, and with their accents it sounds even less formidable. I actually grew to like it.
After the game, they gave me player of the game honors (which was much more of a nice gesture than a fair selection) and that got me two free beers at the opposition’s club house. The game had been physical, and there had definitely been some anger out there, so I was shocked at how well everyone got on afterwards. It was like a US Summer tourney where everyone just hangs out and has a couple beers. I definitely knew I could get used to that. Both my club, the Wembley Lacrosse Club, and Baysie made me feel welcome. And that would keep up for the duration of my time there.
But it’s not like I just went down there for six months and then said, “well that was nice”. It’s an experience that has stuck with me for years and has also created friendships that will last for life. Glenn Morley was on the Baysie team I played against in my first game. We went to Thailand together this year to play lax. Adam Sear was a 15 year old lax prodigy back then for Wembley, when he went to Maryland, I dyed him heads, and just strung a Pita Pocket for him. Daniel Shields was a little lax rat back then, but last year he brought the Iroquois Top String to the LAS Nation and won a NC with Onondaga. Matt Schomburg used to take me out in Fremantle after we’d play his East Freo squad and now he lives here and we got to hang out at the Big City Classic last season. Like I said, it was more than just another trip.
It’s a chance to go out and see a small portion of the world, and still play a lot of great lacrosse. It’s a chance to grow as a person, and do something different. You find ways to make it work, and in the process, get to meet a great set of people, who are part of a small, but tight knit lacrosse community on the other side of the planet. You get to Grow The Game, and grow your brain at the same time. I loved my time in Australia and would highly recommend it!
Gabe later sent me a white head to dye and then string because he needed a back up. Last year, I did a couple spoons for Adam Sear of Maryland (whom I had coached when he was a 14 year old back in Perth, Australia), so I wanted to give Gabe something special to rock out on the field as well.
2010 Trifecta of awesome.
All thin lines, red and white, fading into black. Lots of black. The stick needed it to offset the brightness of the red and white. But it came out well, and is sure to strike fear into the hearts of NESCAC middies (can sticks do that? Or is it just Gabe?) if his red gamer ever breaks. It still needs a good deal of breaking in and will settle a lot more, but the foundation is there! Now I’ll send it out to the wizard and let him use the wand as he sees fit. Gotta love lax!
The MLL Supplemental Draft has been moved from the Summer to the Winter. This news has been covered by InsideLacrosseand lots of other lax news sources that just take press releases and republish them. Nothing special there.
But last night, oh last night! 412 started a much more interesting conversation revolving around who we would pick from the Supplemental Draft pool of players if we were starting a new MLL team. He limited it to ten players consisting of a 3 middies, 3 attack, 3 defensemen and 1 goalie. Keeping it simple, I like that.
I’ll run down Coach 412′s list quickly, give you mine and then talk about some of the guys who have a real shot at making a team (yes, a real team that isn’t run by 412 or myself).
Ryan Cranston (#35) back in his San Francisco Dragons days in the MLL.
412′s top ten features Matt Alrich (NLL player), Kevin Leveille (MLL stud) and Ari Sussman (Dartmouth) at attack. That’s a good group right there. He’s got a very good shooter (Alrich), finisher (Leveille) and distributor (Sussman) lined up. That’s a group that could work well together. At the midfield, 412 goes with Brian Christopher (Hopkins), Ryan Cranston (Lynchburg) and Rhys Duch (Canadian dangler). Can’t argue with any of these selections as they can all create and initiate. This combination also allows for a good balance of dodging to score and dodging to pass.
On D 412 goes all Long Island. Jerry Lambe (Georgtown), Spike Malangone (Wesleyan) and Steve Panarelli (Cuse) makes up his back line. Lambe and Panarelli are big time, physical Defenders who can play box as easily as they can play field. I love a D guy that can play with a shortie! Spike was the D3 Defender of year in 2009 and is a great guy to have picking off passes and shutting down dodgers. Panarelli can take the ball away and push transition. Sal Barcia (Robert Morris) is his keeper… he comes out of the Jesse Schwartzman school of goaltending where being a stopper is key but being the mouth and eyes of the D is even more key. Great under the radar pick there!
2009 NCAA D3 Defender of the year, Spike Malangone
My attack would also feautre Kevin Leveille as he is the best pure finished and goal scorer available. If he isn’t on your starting attack, your list is going to be a joke. No offense, he’s just that good at what he does. Chazz Woodson (LXM PRO) would be my playmaker (as long as he’s feeling “quick”) and Ryan Hurley (Cornell) would be my 3rd guy. Hurley can finish from 10 yards and in with the best of them and has a stick that is meant for the MLL. Eventually I would want to draft Rob Pannell (Cornell) as my distributing attackman down the road.
At the midfield, I would also pick up Cranston, just like 412 proposed. The kid can dodge, has great size, good speed and can absolutelty bomb the ball from outside. You need a guy who can stretch the D with his shot in the MLL and 2 point goals are more valuable than many think. My other two middies would be Parks “Glenn” Adams (Wesleyan) and his brother Owen Adams (Stony Brook). Glenn played with me at Wesleyan and has played in the MLL for a couple years, never quite getting the looks many thought he deserved. Owen is taller than Glenn, and like his older brother, Owen can absolutely fly on the field. A shortie can not defend these guys. They have too much speed. The two of them also run an unbelievable hidden ball trick that has worked in places like Hawaii, and they have done it successfully more than once in the same game.
Team USA 2010 – I'd take any of these guys!
On D I like old timers Ryan McClay and Shawn Nadelen. These guys have tons of MLL and US Team experience between them. They are proven winners and team players. I would love to put Spike out there with them but I would also consider making him or Panarelli my LSM. My third guy down low would be Ricky Schmidt (CW Post). He would need to work on his footspeed a bit but his hard-nosed style of play would be great in the MLL. Kyle Rubisch (Dowling) is another guy that I would love to have on the team. He’s got a great stick and I think he’ll definitely see some time on a box team this winter. Just wait for the injuries to kick in about halfway through the NLL season.
In goal I like Chris Sanderson. He is an older Canadian keeper. But Brian Dougherty can still play with the best of them and Sal Locasio was great well into the later years of his career. I like a guy with lots of experience on my backline leading the D and taking control. He would command immediate respect from the veterans and rookies alike. Great stopper, can push transition with outlet passes and he’s a proven winner. Might have to replace him within 2-3 years though so 2012 would be a really important draft class for my squad.
There are other guys (beyond the ones mentioned above) out there who caught my eye and they stand a decent chance to get drafted because of where they went to school, their name recognition or they are just really good players. The big question is not getting drafted though, it’s making the team late this Spring. Most of the teams already have 23 man protected rosters set. To break that line up and THEN break the game line-up of 19 players is a tall order but some of these guys can probably pull it off.
Mike Cama is a FoGo out of CW Post. He’s a huge part of the reason that Post won the last D2 National Championships. He got a little MLL run last Summer but this year could be his breakout season. Who needs a good FoGo? Denver, you say? They should pick him up.
Chad Amidon has good speed and decent size. He’s a much better midfielder than I could ever be but I don’t know that he has that next level stuff the MLL requires. He has to have a shot though and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him picked up by Rochester one bit.
Jeff Bigas played at Salisbury in D3 land and has a nasty streak a mile wide. He’s kind of Like Eric Martin in that way. He’s got a great stick, can plays SSDM with the best of them and brings toughness and experience to a position that relies on those two attributes more than anything.
I could also see guys like Craig Dowd, Scott Ditzell and Sol Bliss get drafted on pure name recognition alone. All of these guys played at big time programs, knows what it takes to win and has the size and/or speed to be attractive draft picks. Marc DiGiovanni fits in on the opposite end of the spectrum. He’s older, small (but very quick) and is virtually unknown to most in the lax world having played at D3 Eastern Connecticut State University. That being said, he’s easily the best player to ever come out of ECSU (except for maybe Shannon Sligo) and the guy just scores like it’s his day job even though he’s a middie. You need to see him play to be a true believer.
Tom Ethington would be a good pick up on the longstick side of things but he’s not really an MLL game changer like some of the other poles mentioned. Scott Kahoe (Syracuse)should find a home in the league and I’d be shocked if he didn’t end up with Rochester in the end. I have no idea how a guy like Tommy Kessler (Hofstra) or Terry Kimener (UMBC) is playing these days but they were certainly good when they played on the biggest stages in the past. Shane Koppens (Loyola), Mark Kovler (Princeton) and Grant Krebs (Notre Dame) seems like obvious pickups for teams out there. Scoring is highly valued in the MLL after all!
Cooper MacDonnel (Attack from Loyola), Joey Marra (Goalie from Stony Brook) and Anthony Muscarella (Midfielder from Hofstra) will certainly be drafted by someone but I think they will all have a hard time consistently cracking a game day roster. Muscarella may just need a year (or not. he could be ready right away) but Marra needs a team to have a hole in goal, otherwise he may sit a lot. Kid can really ball though and is a fantastic stopper.
Adam Sear unloads an underhand ripper against England.
Tom Zummo (NY Tech) has experience, speed and can still play. He’d be great for middie depth. Robert Trasolini is a complete player from the midfield and has a lethal split to shot on the run. Brandon Spillet (LeMoyne), Jeff Sonke (UNC) and Adam Sear (Australia/Maryland) could all find places on offenses as shooters and finishers but again, the existing depth in the MLL at this position makes it an uphill battle. Patrick Merrill can play with the best of them with a pole or a shortie on D and his size will help. Expect him to end up on the Hamilton Nationals. Finally, Nick O’Hara (Duke) is as talented and athletic a D-man as anyone and he will definitely play somewhere. He might be the closest thing to a lock in the entire draft. Fitting I’d mention him last. Just making sure you’re reading to the end!
Editor’s Note: Glenn Morley, Bayswater LC (Perth, WA) player and defenseman for the Australia Sharks, checks back in with LAS on how things are going for the Gold and Green. It’s a long trip to England from Australia so let’s see what the experience has been like so far! Also, a big ol’ props to Glenn for scoring a goal with the longstick against Canada and to Adam Sear for keeping the scoring going for the Aussies so far! Anson Carter also managed to score 4 of the Aussies 5 goals against the USA so he gets a big shoutout too.
It’s Game Time!
Life at the Games has been pretty cruise-y… it is great to see so many laxers walking the streets of Manchester, and even better when there are so many countries that you don’t immediately recognize. It’s a great sign for the growth of the game.
Not having the Iroquois here has put a real dampener on the proceedings so far, and when their coaches marched in the opening ceremony it was a great moment when all the players belted out a loud round of applause. The opportunity for Germany to play in the Blue Division is huge and we are all looking forward to seeing how they do.
The Aussie D huddles up during a break in the action
On the Aussie front it has been a hectic week of travel and practice. We had some of our own issues getting here with the WA players and a few of the SA being booked on a flight that ended up getting canceled BECAUSE OF A WINDSHIELD WIPER! Seriously, the lamest excuse for canceling an entire flight – however we were happy that safety was a priority.
All the guys were pretty bummed we couldn’t get on our original flight and had to grab our bags before coming back the next day.
Glenn Morley playing a little D against Ryan Boyle of Team USA.
That wasn’t the end of our drama because once we got re-booked we had to spend the night in Dubai… where we arrived late, then stood in some long lines, got to our hotel, then stood in some even longer lines and then finally ate.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get much time to walk around or learn the lingo; one of the players (who shall remain nameless) was looking forward to learning to speak some “Dubanese”. Clearly, he left disappointed.
From the overnight stay we headed back to the airport at 6:00am to find out 5 in our group of 12 had been bumped to a later flight, 4 of us got bumped back up off the waiting list, but Gareth Allen had to sit in the Dubai airport from 6:30 am till his 2:30pm flight. Luckily the airport is completely ridiculous so he hit the gym (yeah, there’s a gym in the airport) and got a workout in.
After we all finally got here the airline did the usual and forgot our bags!!! Overall around 35 hours of travel time, and a great way to start a trip!!
The Aussies and the US battle for a loose ball.
Since arriving in Manchester though it has been all go with practice and scrimmages against Scotland, Ireland and Germany. Before the real games started we were treated to a day off and headed to Manchester United Home Pitch – Old Trafford for the tour.
The first few games have been tough playing the USA and Canada, and scraping out an OT win against the Poms (England) we still have Japan and Germany on the schedule then the cross over games before a hopeful semi final match out if we win out from here.
Adam Sear unloads a cannon against England.
The weather over here has been a little depressing with very little sunshine, however it does give the campus a bit of a Harry Potter Hogwarts charm.
That’s all for now, time to get some rest before we play Japan, gonna be a tough one we need to pull out. I have the camera with me much more now so more photos to come!
GM
And here are some highlights from Day 3 including the US-Canada game:
But we’re not done yet… we also have the Scottish and New Zealand squads doing their thang-thang before their game… the Scots have bagpipes and the Kiwis have the Haka. I dyed up a wand for #6, who is leading the Haka. These guys clearly want it…
__________________________________________________________________________________________ Editor’s Note: If you want to write for LAS, provide updates or drop us a note you can send an email via [email protected]!
We’re checking in with a couple of fresh style choices of both the on and off field variety. A little later I get into a rant about the MLL and I try my hardest to not lose my cool. Read on, enjoy and feel free to argue with me in the comments.
Disclaimer: I will argue back.
Ikerson Hopper of Onondaga Community College was part of a team that won the JUCO National Championship. He also has some sweet, sweet body art on his left shin and rocks the 22. Respek. Plus those Baby Blue Lazer helmets are just beautiful.
The US Indoor Development Team has been scrimmaging left and right this past winter in preparation for the Indoor World Games in 2011. Below they can be seen taking on a US club team based in Rochester, NY, called the GreyWolves Vermont (Thanks to Ghr8034 for the heads up on that!). The US has some talent and this version of the game is taking off acrosse the world, especially in places where there are more hockey rinks than soccer fields. The next stop for boxla should be Russia. For some reason I think those guys would appreciate the sport.
Sweet, sweet indoor/boxla. 3/4 sleeves? don't mind if I do.
The Aussies are keeping it classy with matching ties and blazers for the ILF World Games in Manchester, England this summer. Looking good, fellas and best of luck against the US and Canada… you’re going to need it! These squads are just loaded with talent.
Adam Sear of recent Maryland fame (left), even shaved for the photo op.
STX recenlty released new pictures of their Assault gloves for 2011 and along with the stock options or red, black, navy and royal, they are also showing off some potential custom gloves for UNC. I like the look of the gloves but without a real marketing push, I doubt they will ever compete with the K18s. Here’s some advice: Give Joe Walters his own line and make these his gloves! If you’ve got a guy like JW1, use his starpower! Just my $.02!
STX responded via Twitter by saying that all their college teams will wear it. STX claims to have it under control so I’ll believe them! Still think the most abrasive lax character out there (Joe Walters!) should still have his own gear. Not my call though!
Did you guys know that the MLL regular season is more than halfway over? I mean, I noticed, but I was just, like, testing you. Of course, the MLL has billed itself as a summer league (and only has 12 regular season games) so it makes sense that the season would go quickly but I am surprised to see it all going by THIS quickly. MY summer league is only 4 weeks deep and many others are only starting up now.
I didn’t know that the MLL was even kicking off when it did and I try to keep abreast of all things lacrosse… but that is probably because they did so right around the time of the College Championships and I was knee deep in D1, 2 and 3 coverage. But now we’re deep into the season and I still have very little idea of what is going on and I think most lacrosse fans can relate to that. So what’s the problem with the MLL and what can they do to alleviate some of the concerns?
We draw as many fans at the Gotham League sometimes. Zing!
There are some easy fixes for the MLL and it amazes me that they have yet to grasp on to any of them at any substantial level. The first one that jumps out is the BookFace and Twittlez. The MLL’s presence on social networking sites right now is straight up laughable. And that’s just the truth. It might hurt, but lying won’t help so I’ll keep it real. Twitter is free. Facebook is free and yet the MLL has basically decided to shun both avenues. The individual teams are doing no better. I follow them all on Twitterz and NONE of them let me know what’s really going on. The content is sporadic and usually pretty crappy. Pretty pathetic effort for a league trying to bootstrap itself.
The second fix, which is also easy and cheap, has to do with sites like LAS. We get no video, no pictures and no game stories from the league that are readily usable and delivered expediently. We get decent press releases once a week but they don’t cover too much and do little to really pump up the league. This is another case of putting in time to market yourself and get the name out there and the MLL completely drops the ball in this regard as well. You can go to Laxunited.com and watch some highlights but you can’t embed the videos and the 30 second ads FOR the MLL right before a highlight of the MLL seems redundant to the point of ridiculousness. Get someone else to advertise there and create revenue… or just remove the ads of MLL guys playing and show me the videos of MLL guys playing. Seems pretty simple.
Even red chrome heads aren't enough to pack the stands? you don't say!
The final fix is more games on TV and while I know this is expensive, it must be done. I look for lax 24-7 on TV and I’ve only seen two games so far this season. One I caught by chance on ESPN56 at some God-awful time when I was home sick and the other happened to be showing randomly on some channel called UniSport (Channel 162 in NYC’s TWC provider). And even then, the feed was of awful quality.
Even with the awful feed, I still watched the game. Why? Because the players are just that good. These guys are dedicated athletes and they stay after games for hours signing autographs but the league is barely helping them promote in any real way. I know that times are tough and the MLL needs to reserve capital and keep debt down but if that is the case, why aren’t they at least following proposed fixes 1 and 2, which are basically free (or at least considerably cheaper than buying TV time)?
Maybe the MLL needs a change at the top. Maybe they need to attract better team management. Maybe they need people who won’t move a team out of Rochester only to send their travelling road show team (the Machine) RIGHT BACK TO ROCHESTER! WTF kind of thinking was that? Who came up with that idea and then who approved it? However it came to be, this kind of inside-the-box thinking is not helping the league.
The MLL has a great on the field product and I legitimately WANT to watch and support the league but unfortunately, the MLL just doesn’t seem that interested in my eyeballs or my dollars. The effort still just isn’t there. As our sport grows, this league should see a huge boost in popularity and if it doesn’t the MLL will have only itself to blame.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ About the Author: Connor is a life-long lacrosse player who doesn’t know when to give up on the game. He played and coached at Wesleyan University and now plays for the Southampton LC in NYC. Connor lives with his fiancee in Brooklyn and thanks her for allowing him to keep the dream alive.
Notre Dame midfielder Quinn Cully gets hit in the neck with the stick of Maryland midfielder Adam Sear during their NCAA quarterfinal game on May 22 at Princeton Stadium. No. 14 Notre Dame upset No. 3 Maryland 7-5.
- Denison leads the nation with three Scholar All-Americans [Denison]
- Connecticut: Cheshire, Prep to meet in SCC lacrosse final (VIDEO) [NHregister]
- New Jersey: Summit Makes Easy Work of Madison in the Sectional Final [AltPress]
- Maryland: State of perfection for Severna Park lacrosse [HometownAnnapolis]
- Virginia: Loudoun Valley hands Brooke Point its first loss in boys’ lacrosse [WashPost]
- Florida: Golden Gate goalie Cornwell headed to Division III Thiel [NaplesNews]
- Colorado: Cherry Creek continues its dominance of boys and girls lacrosse [DenverPost]
- Washington: Lynnwood boys lacrosse team reaches championship game [HeraldNet]
- Washington: Mercer Island boys lacrosse heads to state finals against Bellevue [PNWlocalnews]
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Got a question, something that deserves to be seen, or a hot tip?
Drop us a line at info@lacrosseallstars.com
Vapid: Bereft of strength, sharpness, flavour, etc.; flat. See also: this picture.
Surprise! It’s a Devious Video Recap bonus! This week I’m covering three games at once! Well, not at once, that would be lunacy. I am going to watch all three and give you come of my thoughts on the play on the field because I didn’t schedule a column for this week. So if someone else on the site did this already that’s too bad. Just don’t steal any of my material or I’ll cut you.
It’s time for better games (?), a bitter columnist (…), and foolish comments/complaints (!). This is where we stop being polite and start being more interesting than the Real World.
Side note: The newest cast of the Real World is the most despicable, annoying and irredeemable collection of human beings that has ever been on TV. I would not hesitate to set any of them on fire were they to every venture to the warzone that is the Shire. Real World DC’s dregs of society make the cast of Paradise Hotel 1 and 2 look like World War 2 Triage nurses.
Ben Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms…
Enough with the pleasantries; let’s light this Real World-er on fire. I mean, candle. Remember, the embargo on player names is over – it’s just more effective to analyze the game by referring to the player by name rather than pieces on the board.
Up first: Wrestling? Why is Wrestling on my DVR? OH! That guy just got a handful of junk! What the heck! Is this that Logo channel? Wrestling has sudden death? What the…Now I’m going to miss that last quarter of this Maryland/UMBC game.
Oh my god, am I really going to watch Maryland vs. UMBC? I hate when the label on the DVR is just “College Lacrosse”…
I try not to watch the open anymore. It just makes me angry because so many generalized comments are offered. Look, I know new people are watching these games on ESPNU. I get that. But don’t talk down to EVERYONE for the entire broadcast. We’re not idiots; we’re Americans – just tell us what is going on so we can accept it, apply our prejudices, and move on.
I’ve seen UMBC and Maryland play before and each team has a tendency to hit their gas pedal at the oddest of times. Maryland can dominate a team for three quarters and then just ease off the gas whenever they feel like it. UMBC tends to simply wreck the car.
You can see the difference in size between these teams right away. Maryland just dwarfs UMBC in all positions. Kyle Wimer’s height and weight listing have to be wrong – next to any Maryland defender he looks like a hobbit.
Kyle Wimer is wittle. (Photo courtesy of Lax.com)
I really like Maryland’s Adam Sear as a dark horse MLL player. He fills a role as a shooter on any of the 6 teams. He may not have the prettiest of skill sets, but he always powers through his shot and will get valuable experience on the Australian National team in this year’s lacrosse world cup.
Maryland’s foot is now officially off the gas; their poles are just letting UMBC dodge inside. The infamous matador defense in full effect from the turtles. It’s a good thing Maryland’s offense is bailing them out with good shots…oh wait. They’re not. Why is a team like Maryland playing slow down possession offense on a team like UMBC? I know UMBC has beaten the Terps the last three times they have played (Thank ESPNU pregame graphic that entered my periphery as I was fast forwarding!) but this is just ridiculous. If you can’t beat a team like UMBC into a pulp by the end of the first quarter you’re in trouble when you play anyone in the ACC.
Right on cue, Cottle’s boys make a three goal run all over the Retrievers face. Is there a more emasculating mascot than a Labrador/Golden Retriever? I had Golden Retrievers growing up and I wouldn’t have them represent anything other than the living embodiment of why humans are superior to animals.
Even the smartest Golden Retriever wears a helmet.
The guys in the booth for this game don’t even know the calls on the field. The referee makes the motion with his hands – if you don’t know what it means then don’t step into the booth. It’s embarrassing. Speaking of embarrassing this game is already over. Maryland: 8, Nature’s-extra-chromosomal-representation: 2 with just under five minutes left in the first half.
UMBC shows no signs of life at this point. Bad passes are playing into the hands of the Maryland defenders – who (by the way) aren’t even playing their man – they’re playing the passing lane. No one on UMBC can even get past Maryland’s worst D-middie. I think I just heard a chant of “leave the FOGO IN!”. Nope, that was me.
It’s official. Kyle Wimer is the next Drew Thompson. If you know what I mean, then consider yourself knowledgeable in all things lax. If you don’t, consider yourself a noob and quietly browse the rest of the column without making any sudden movements.
And Maryland is really turning it on. They’re not even going for shots outside of 10 feet. It’s like watching a game of knockout where the first guy misses the shot on purpose just to get his rebound and hit his lay up right after you miss.
Ugh. My DVR cut off in the third quarter when the score was 11-4 Terps. Good thing, too – if I watched another minute of that I would have to go find my gun and shoot my TV out of mercy.
Next?
Oh boy. It’s Syracuse vs. Hopkins! Woo – yeah I can’t pretend to be excited about watching this. SOMEONE texted me the score of this game right after it was over and then excitedly asked my take on it. IN THE FUTURE please refrain from texting me about division one-lacrosse games that I have yet to see because I’m on a bus with my team after a crushing loss. Thanks.
Does anyone remember when Jovan Miller was just a D middie? He’s just so smooth now. Looking off passes, unleashing furious rocket ship shots on the run – he’s a completely different player.
Oh my god! Gvozden has the Manning face! On the first goal! Rewind it! Drink the image in! HOW do you leave a player in the game after they have the Manning face? You should have known, Petro! You should have known!
The Manning Face.
Can I ask a serious question right now? Why are players allowed to fiddle with their sticks when they’re on the field? Punching the pocket in I can see, but there are player in this game that are straight up pulling their stick apart and yanking on their mesh. I know it’s a part of the game, but don’t you think it’s rather amateurish? (I am aware that these players are indeed amateurs, thank you).
Mother of god. A between the legs goal from Jamieson on the…saunter. Shades of John Grant jr. there. Cody Jamieson’s worth is infinitesimal. Is there an over/under on what the Toronto Nationals will give up to draft Jamieson? Joe Walters and ten grand? Joe Walters, his ego and ten grand?
Gvozden’s biggest problem is his need to immediately clear the ball as soon as he touches it – not his shot stopping acumen. He creates more turnovers by chucking the ball downfield than any goalie I’ve ever seen at Hopkins. He can still fulfill his promise, but that clearing game has gone nowhere in three years.
Taking 18 minutes to score your first goal at home means you probably aren’t going to win the game. Call me crazy.
I really don’t get why the Hopkin’s defense isn’t throwing checks behind the cage. Syracuse isn’t attacking from behind; they’re peppering you from the top with sweeping midfielders and quick dodges. You’re down by half a dozen goals – throw checks.
Look, Syracuse found out that Hopkins offense begins and ends with Steven Boyle.
Hey, is Michael Kimmel playing in this game? They haven’t said his name enough in the commentary considering how much he has(n’t) done. Yes, that was sarcasm.
“Letting your players improvise” is code for “not knowing what to draw up in huddles”. Good try, though.
You know what, I’m going to take back my earlier criticism of Gvozden. He can’t stop the shots that Syracuse is scoring on. They’re literally taking perfect shots. Top corner pingers from 12 feet away are not the goalies responsibility.
That and no one has the stones to take a between the legs shot in a Hopkins practice, I’m sure Gvoz was just as mesmerized as everyone else when it went in. He’s stopped every shot he could; except for that seventh goal. Stickside high? Really? Get your head on the pipe, guy.
Hopkins is starting to throw wood all over the field now. After they’re down by five goals they finally start checking sticks. And switching their slides. Are they running adjacent slides on SYRACUSE? Are you mad, sir?
“You know when you have the Canadian box background, you’re used to shooting on a 4 by 4, this net looks like a soccer goal.”
- Paul Carcaterra.
Thanks, Paul.
It’s 8-1 Orange with a quarter and half left to play which means I’m done with this game and moving on. (I would miss a furious Hopkins comeback run of a whopping four goals before Cuse would curb stomp The Blue Jays dreams with a few goals of their own.)
Even with all the calls and all the preferential media treatment, the mighty Johns Hopkins couldn’t get within a sniff of Syracuse’s superior offense, defense and transition game. Sorry Jay fans, Hop just doesn’t have it this year.
Let’s see what this game is…No. No. NO! HELL NO! UVA versus Towson? How is this game on TV? Where is Quint? I need a go to guy to get me through this! Oh well, at least I get to see Steele Stanwick play for a few quarters.
Wow, Towson scores first? Nice work, friends. (This is the only game that I didn’t know the final score for before I watched it so keep that in mind). And UVA scores on the cutting midfielder from up top. Towson is running its shorties behind the cage on defense and throwing their poles up top to defend. It’s not a terribly idea to throw that at UVA, but it’s only going to work for a few minutes until they rotate and get their match ups.
HAHAHA, MARK DIXON SAID BUGABOO TO PUNCTUATE HIS POINT! GET THE $^%& OUT OF HERE! HAHHAHA! REWIND KYLE, REWIND! My first nominee for call of the year. Guy makes Gus Johnson look pedestrian with craziness like that. Man, I’m having trouble breathing…
Holy crap, Towson is getting great shots on UVA’s defense. Gheets is saveless. He is without saves. 3-2 Towson with five minutes left in the first Q…
Towson is getting great results out of its ride. It looks like a hybrid of zone and man lock off. The attackmen are locking on the poles on the wings so the goalie doesn’t have an easy dump. The other attackman and the three midfielders are cutting off passing lanes (almost in a diamond formation) and baiting the far side pass. I’m going to steal it.
Stall warning on Towson, you know what that means…I’m proven right yet again. Goal, Towson. The stall RELAXES the defense, people.
Yes, Paul Rabil, you did mention that you shoot 111 mph. Your ricochets at Harvard stadium have struck me about the face and skull. You could roam the streets in a riot and fire shots into a crowd to disperse it.
Who was that guy that voted UNC #1 in the Media poll that last two weeks instead of UVA and got ridiculed by all of his colleagues and contemporaries? I forget his name…
Steele Stanwick might be the next Conor Gill if he can ever get some teammates that can finish his feeds. Three ‘Hoos have dropped amazing looks from The Man of Steele right on the doorstep.
The Tigers are pressuring on man up. That will not succeed. Good hustle, though. At least Towson is trying. I think Seaman might have been cantankerous enough to think his team could actually beat UVA. I like that. He’s still got the fire; he just can’t get anyone to go to school in the bowels of Towson.
Quick Towson story: A number of years back a handful of friends and I went on a road trip to the Final Four in Baltimore. I was working in the press box for whoever decided I was worth the money and they came to see the games. So the night after the semi finals, we’re out doing what red-blooded males do when they’re in Baltimore for Championship weekend.
We’re killing all comers in this game called Beirut (have you heard of it? It’s ever so engrossing) at the Greene Turtle. After the tenth consecutive destruction of intoxicated Maryland locals, I realized that my best friend [name withheld] was missing. I began a frantic search that lasted roughly 20 seconds and then went back to the hotel. I was awoken at 7:34am by a call on my cell. The following conversation transpired:
Me: [No name] is that you? Where did you go last night?
[I’m out of pseudonyms]: Kyle…you need to come get me. Now.
Me: Where are you?
[That guy]: Dude. I don’t know where my underwear is. I’m in…I’m in Towson.
I just realized that I couldn’t tell the rest of this story without looking like a debaucherous lout. Ask me about it sometime. It’s hilarious. I’ve said too much.
Whoa. It’s 7-4 with five minutes left in the second quarter. I swear I only took five minutes to type that story…
Towson really refuses to die in this game. This Pastirik kids is really something. Cornell could have definitely used him this year, it’s too bad he transferred…but then again Graduate students can’t play sports at the Ivies. He probably didn’t have a choice.
They’re showing a tour of the Towson campus for the ESPNU halftime shtick. I just keep getting proven right. About the only thing that looked less than 25 years old was the locker room. The campus looked like the exterior shots from “Judgment Night”. *Shudders*
I was all like: "Eeeemmmillliiiiooooooo!!!"
Towson just keeps plugging away. They’ll get a really nice well-worked goal and then have it wiped away by a UVA cheapie in transition. Work even harder for another goal, taken right back off of the face. There’s nothing more frustrating than working as hard as you can and playing your best game and then having your opponent score with ease.
Virginia’s man up is just pulling the rest of the team with them to this game’s finish. I really can’t overstate how hard Towson is fighting here. They just don’t have the talent to hang with UVA in this game.
One goal deficit gives way to two gives way to three. I’m definitely rooting for Towson at this point. So much heart on that team. Plus, you know a close score makes things more….interesting at the top.
Damn. Virginia has pulled away in the fourth quarter with some seriously vicious goals. Fast Breaks all over the place from the ‘Hoos. Towson just can’t keep up. How many goals does this Pastirik kid have? Three? That’s it? The kid is legit. Extra springy in his dodges and shifty with his shot selection – what’s not to like? He even takes the extra step to get the better angle and get drilled when he drives to cage.
UVA just oozes talent. It’s just so sickeningly sweet watch them key their break. If they have a weakness its their 6 on 6 defense. Towson really took them to task by passing the ball around the perimeter to get a quality shot on every possession. It just wasn’t enough.
So there you have it folks – An ascendant Maryland, a substandard Hopkins and a plucky Towson. Surprising? Only if you’re not paying attention to the devil in the details showcased here in the Devious Video Recap.
Today’s Devious Video Recap is brought to you by the fine folks at Proathletics.com. Proathletics.com – Because you can’t let your coach design your gear. He’s an idiot.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________ About the author: Kyle Devitte has written for The Boston Cannons, LaxUnited, The MLL, Inside Lacrosse, LaxNation and the New England Lacrosse Journal. He is currently head coach of the Daniel Webster College men’s lacrosse team.
Read all his Devious Video Recaps and relive the best NCAA lacrosse action from 2010.
Want to contribute to Lax All Stars? Drop us a line at [email protected].
I’ve got a lot to talk about but I’m going to start out with an intense breakdown of the Duke-Maryland game. Almost always a good game and as usual, they delivered. As they play, I’ll go though their strengths and weaknesses. Then I’ll offer my thoughts on some other games from this week including Stevenson-RIT, Princeton-Hopkins and Cortland-Gettysburg.
If you keep reading you’ll also be rewarded with a picture of some sweet Nike cleats. I’ll review those as soon as I stop playing on old school turf and move back to the good stuff. I love the 27th and 10th ave location (where Craven and I play in the Ulax league) but the carpet is kind of brutal. Whatever, the stuff up at Columbia for the spring and summer is much better but I’m not really complaining. I just love lax too much. Almost as much as I want to see a picture of Quint K with a Brian Bosworth haircut. That sounds awesome!
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Maryland vs. Duke
Photo courtesy of Lax.com
Maryland started out well with a long possession and some good looks but a great dodge against the pole and shot into the top corner by Crotty put Duke up 1-0. Phipps and Wigrizer both started making some big saves early though as the middies for both teams were creating some good looks. Catalino got the ball in close and dunked it to eventually tie it up.
Maryland was clearly focused on ball possession early as they held the ball for minutes at a time and were even given a couple of stall warnings. The Terps next goal came on a nice piece of transition that involved Brain Farrell and he showed why he’s a dangerous player on both ends of the field with the longstick. The Terps then dropped in another goal on man up as Catalino ripped an outside shot after some really good ball movement. The Maryland man up has been unstoppable this spring.
The physical play continued and even the goalies got involved as Phipps came out of the cage and laid out a Duke attackman, creating a turnover that UMd couldn’t capitalize on. The first quarter ended with the Terps up 3-1 but within 3 minutes of the 2nd quarter starting, Max Quinzani put in a low garbage goal. I give him a hard time with the who “thumbing the ball” thing but in tight, he’s simply as good as it gets in college lacrosse.
Maryland continued to move the ball well and Adam Sear continued the scoring tradition, using a sweet ConnorWilsonLAS dyed head, went low to high from 14 yards and put the Terps up 4-2. Quinzani matched that effort with a really nice low to low blast from 12 yards. Not a surprise the assist came from Crotty.
I mean all the guys on the field can ball but Crotty is clearly the most dangerous player out there in the college game. This gets him a lot of attention and really opens it up for the rest of the Duke guys. On a side note, consider the guys Quinzani has played with; Danowski, Greer, Crotty. Wow. Did Crotty just drop another assist? Oh, yeah he did. 4-4.
Duke is now up 5-4 on another Howell goal and they are now using C.J. Constabile, their LSM, to face off. Finally. If he’s going to face off he does need to learn what to do with the ball though. Possessions after face offs are different than transition in that the space is tighter and the numbers are usually higher, meaning there are more guys involved so the slides are easier. Give the ball up to a shortie and take the possession. A F/O win is huge, don’t give it up right away.
I wasn’t sold on Catalino and Yeatman and while I’m still not so sure about the latter, Catalino was great against Georgetown and he lit it up against Duke. He moves the ball pretty well during a possession and makes good passes that help create shots. These are two things Yeatman is still working on, which is probably why he’s playing more midfield.
Manley’s penalty was questionable. It was a little high but when Shakespeare spins through the D, he knows he’s going to get popped. Hitting someone is really your only option there. But I’m glad they called it because Maryland proceeded to run the hidden ball trick on the extra man from behind with Catalino and Young and then Young found Yeatman to give the Terps the 6-5 edge. Phipps comes up big to keep it that way at half time. He’s never looked much better than this.
The second half starts and that’s why you put Yeatman at midfield. Shortie, wing dodge, lots of space, lefty rip. Costabile, again pushing transition off the face off, and Duke are lucky to keep possession after he takes a no angle shot instead of giving it up. Farrell then shows how it’s done in transition but his middie couldn’t handle the pass. Quint advises Duke to dodge on Farrell. I know he’s tired but really? Duke doesn’t dodge Farrell and scores. Most Duke guys wear huge shoulder pads, by the way. Maybe they help because Duke ties it up at 7 when Crotty (oh another assist? you don’t say) finds Quinzani and Max buries it.
Costabile then wins the next F/O and gives it up. Well done. Maryland nets the next two and Catalino again looked very fluid in his catch-shoot motion for his fourth to put the Terps up by two, 9-7. Not bad considering he did it righty with his off hand. Maryland is continuing to move the ball well and play really unselfish lacrosse. Sear puts a Duke defender, Manley, to the turf to end the 3rd as Manley got off an ugly shot. Quint reaction? “Yuck”, and I couldn’t agree more but hey, you gotta try!
Speaking of yuck, botched clear, Reed scores for the Terps. It happens to everyone but it still sucks. Both teams look a little nervous to start the 4th and that makes sense in a tight rivalry game. Duke has done a better job of dumping back to the middle after an initial dodge but there hasn’t been enough re-dodging by that second man or a 3rd pass.
Duke has the shooters but they could benefit from more dynamic ball movement. When they do move the ball crisply, they create lots of good looks. Maryland, on the other hand, is being very patient and taking possession shots. The old Maryland stall, sort of. And then Yeatman throws it away under pressure from Theodoridis, who is dwarfed by the Californian A/M.
After some more back and forth, Duke finally really presses the cage and Howell caps his hat trick. When you’re down 3 with 4.5 minutes left, you have to go to the cage. Quinzani almost gets Duke within one with a tough close shot and Duke continues to press on both ends and the result is some intense action all over. This ends when Duke gets a really questionable penalty but Maryland throws it away after the melting the clock a bit. Crotty makes them pay when he finds Howell in transition for his 4th assist and Howell’s 4th goal.
Costabile and Quinzani come up huge off the next F/O and Duke calls a time out to talk it over. Some more back and forth and Duke… calls another time out. Coach Danowski lets his Seniors give some input and goes over the basics. Someone drops an F bomb, the announcers apologize and this provides yet another example of why microphones fixed on athletes in any sport, even the Olympics, is foolish.
With 13 seconds left, Crotty dodges, Turri re-dodges and he finds Will McKee who buries it. See? I told you they needed to do that. We’re headed to OT and this game has been awesome so far. Costabile does well on the face off and comes up with the ball and Duke calls another timeout. They worked it to perfection last time but they give it up and then Maryland gets a costly interference call after some physical play to give Duke a second chance. The other announcer tells us that’s why we do man-ball drills in practice. Right.
Now I don’t know if Phipps saved that last shot or not but he did something right for sure in conjunction with Holmes. Huge play. The ball goes to Farrell and he pushes it up field eventually finding Catalino who goes low to low for his 5th goal of the game and 11-10 OT win over rival Duke. For the first time in years, Maryland looks like a real contender.
Duke is giving up way too many good shots and this still surprises me because they have an excellent group of poles. Wigrizer looked better and he’s definitely going to be a good addition to that D as he settles in to the starting role. Duke’s middies need to produce more and dodge to the cage after their line mates have cleared through. Crotty is the real deal and this game is a great example of the effect he can have. If hockey assists existed in lacrosse, he might have had 9 points today.
Editor’s note: Lookout for Kyle Devitte’s next Devious Video Recap this week too. He’ll be providing his own perspective on the Duke-Maryland game.
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Princeton vs. Johns Hopkins
Photo courtesy of Lax.com
Tommy Duerr can rip the ball. Everyone talks about Wharton, and they should because he can straight up shoot, but Duerr can more than hold his own. That’s going to be a dangerous combo for Hopkins and both Kimmel and Boyle’s assist numbers will benefit from that. I still like Princeton’s helmets and gloves. I still hate their uniforms. I think that’s what the Denver Outlaws JV team wears. I wonder if 412 thinks they’re better or worse than some of the Nike U kits we’ve seen him rip apart.
Hopkins has to be happy to have Boland back. He was the leading point scorer for the Hop last year and this is the first time he’s played all year due to a suspension. Offensively, he gives them a boost and on the other side of the field, Princeton’s offense looks much more interesting than it ever has before. It almost resembles their basketball team’s famous back door offense but the difference is that the Princeton laxers are also REALLY good players. No offense to Princeton basketball, but come on.
The McBride cousins are legit and Engleke rounds out that attack really well. They have middies who can carry the ball with speed and these guys can shoot. Quint kept calling it a box-hybrid but I don’t see it. These guys are field players just playing good field lacrosse. I haven’t seen nearly enough pick and roll/2 man game action to call this a box-hybrid offense. They do quite a bit of picking but any decent offense does that.
Compared to Hopkins, the Tigers run a pretty dynamic O, whereas Hop relies on stars to produce and they don’t really push transition either. They settle the ball a lot but they have studs to rely on… how fast does Wharton shoot? Jebus. With him, Duerr and now Boland in the line up, there are shooters all over the place. Matthews and some of the other guys can really bring it with time and room as well. This will really help Boyle dodge effectively and allow some of the younger Jays, like Ranagan and Greeley, to shine.
When I played at Wesleyan we started using a zone defense and people always try to dismiss it as a gimmick or say that it won’t work at the next level. Well to them I say, Hopkins is using a zone and a relatively simple one at that and they’re doing just fine. Also, NY Tech as won multiple National Championships at the NCAA D2 level with a zone D. So don’t knock it til you know it.
To end the first, Hop went back to their man to man and gave up a goal. Anecdotal evidence? At best, but I think I made my point anyway. In the end, Princeton took the 11-10 OT win and Hopkins has to look at their offense during the week so they can find ways to get more movement out of their numerous sets. both of these teams looked really good in general and both should be pushing for the NC in May.
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Stevenson vs. RIT
e-lacrosse.com has a nice long video highlight from the recent Stevenson-RIT game, which the Stevenson Mustangs won handily, 20-9. A big concern for the ‘stangs was their midfield but they seem to have reloaded the stables and will be just fine. Defensively, they looked vulnerable and a little lost but that is where the had to fill some holes as well. Either way, you’re going to need to score 12+ to beat Stevenson. RIT looked good but I don’t think they’ll be a top 10 team this year.
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Gettysburg vs. Cortland
Photo courtesy of InsideLacrosse.com
I thought Cortland would roll in this game because they returned a lot offensively and because Gburg had lost so much defensively but evidently the Gburg D just reloaded because they only surrendered 5 goals to the Dragons, while the Bullet offense put in 7 Gs of their own. DeLuca played for Cortland and had 2 assists so there are no excuses there. After smoking WNEC 12-2, Cortland was looking good early in the season but they are no longer anyone’s clear cut number 1, that much is for sure. Stevenson plays WNEC on Sunday and if they pull out a big W, they will be the easy choice for number 1 in D3. Roanoke can also make a push as they absolutely smoked Cabrini 21-7 and Geneseo got a big win over Naz, 9-8 in OT.
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Nike Cleats
I can’t wait to rock these out on the field. I’ve seen a lot of the D1 guys wearing them and I’m pumped to try them out and then review ‘em for you all, so you know what’s up. For now, all I can say is that they look pretty sweet!
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About the Author: Connor is a pretty average lacrosse player at this point who doesn’t know when to give up on the game. He played and coached in the NESCAC and still plays for the Southampton LC in NYC. Connor lives with his fiance in Brooklyn and thanks her for allowing him to keep the dream alive.
This past week we got a TON of lax coverage on TV (well, as long as you have the right cable/dish package) and I got to see UNC-Navy, Hopkins-Siena, Maryland-Georgetown and Hofstra-Princeton.
Kyle Devitte waxed on and off poetically about the Hofstra-Princeton in his Devious Video Recap so I’ll leave that one alone save for a few quick takes: Hofstra is talented but they play like individuals. At least they’re playing that way right now. I expect them to improve in this area dramatically and they have to if they want go deep in the NCAAs. Princeton looked good offensively; they were dynamic and ran multiple sets and scored on many of them. Princeton’s uniforms are suffering from a love-hate thing: I love the gloves and helmets and hate the rest.
The helmets are much better, however the uniforms look kind of cheap
I was a little concerned with the Tiger D though. They should be working to force their opponent into bad shots because they have a great keeper but they didn’t really give Fiorito the chances to make saves from 12 yards because they were so aggressive. I’m not complaining because it made for an exciting game but I do think they will need to augment their D a bit to really push for a NC.
UMd-Gtown was probably the game of the weekend though. Marlyand’s settled offense looked really stagnant when the ball was in Yeatman or Catalino’s stick (as it did last year) but both of these guys also look a LOT better than they did last year with Catalino improving the most. He just seems to understand the game a lot better and isn’t forcing as much as he was last year.
I still think the rest of the guys on O are more of a threat to create lots of scoring chances than those 2 though and Bernhardt is a great example of this. He gets the D moving with his speed and this opens up the rest of the field and passing lanes.
UMd's Jake Bernhardt looked really solid in the Terps 2nd game
Phipps seemed to struggle at times in goal, especially early. He’s got a good D in front of him though and Brian Farrell will clearly be a difference maker. He put the ball on the ground quite a bit and is a threat in transition and to create transition at all times.
Now to those who say the new stick regulations haven’t had any effect on the game, you need to turn your TVs on! I’ve seen a lot more balls down, shallower pockets and takeaways this season than in years past. If the NCAA really wanted to shake things up, they could make offset heads illegal as well (right now kids with weak stick skills are peeing their pants) and that would really change the game. Personally, I think the wider head specs are enough for now and we should let it play out like this for a couple years before making more changes.
Hopkins and Siena both had a ton of turnovers in their game last week but I can’t blame that on stick regs, I can only blame that on a bad performance. Hopkins dropped passes they almost never drop, Siena dropped passes that Pitt wouldn’t drop on a hungover Sunday shoot around. Siena’s poles decided to throw the majority of their passes underhand, for absolutely no reason. This game was ugly and although it was really close, it’s making me too mad to even talk about it much more.
The fact is that after winning 8-7, Petro was SCREAMING at the official over a missed call and that makes things even worse. Petro could clearly play the game, he’s an excellent coach, and is one of the best recruiters, etc. He’s the man and the reason the Hop has returned to greatness but his sideline behaviour is straight up Unacceptable sometimes and screaming at some official because a kid stepped out of bounds on the last play and it didn’t get called (when the game is already over and you WON!) is classless. Win with grace, lose with grace, never blame the officials. That’s how you’re supposed to do it. Be a true leader of men and not just a winner of lacrosse games. We hold him to a higher standard only because we know he’s capable of it.
I talked about the UNC-Navy game in the last Lax Link-O-Rama post of all time on Saturday and posted some pics of UNC heads I dyed for Sean Delaney and Gavin Petracca. This weekend Adam Sear (who had 2 man up Gs against Gtown for UMd) will break out his dyed twigs for the Duke game. Be on the lookout!
In NCAA DIII action number 1 Cortland ran all over number 5-12 (depending on your poll of choice) Western New England College by a score of 12-2. If you thought Cortland’s D was going to struggle with some new faces, then you were clearly wrong. 2 goals. OK! Schneidman leads that group and the 6 foot 16 inches long pole is going to be a star this year.
One of 5 Caused TOs by Schneidman
Something to note is that Chris DeLuca, Cortland’s do-it-all midfielder, had 0 points in the game… looks like he didn’t even play. If Cortland can beat WNEC this badly with a freshman in net and without their best overall player, “look out!” to the rest of DIII. Brewster Knowlton had aroubnd 15 saves for WNEC but it’s clear that a great goalie and crease guy in Santye won’t be enough for the Golden Bears this year.
I must say though, it was nice of these fans to make it out!
In other DIII news, there has already been an upset of the highest proportions. On Tuesday, March 2nd Scranton took on 12th ranked Ithaca and didn’t just win… they dominated the game and took home a comfortable 12-5 victory in the season opener for both squads. Ithaca will drop from the Top 20 next week and Scranton is going to get some serious looks.
My alma mater, Wesleyan has scheduled a relatively weak OOC schedule to supplement their NESCAC schedule and this result should serve as a warning to all the teams out there that are playing “lesser” competition in the hopes of an easy win: bring your A-game EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. You never know who’s going to be waiting for you. Big win for Tim Marshall in his first game as Scranton’s HC… Congrats!
Chapman pulled out the 13-11 win over Cal Poly-SLO and this is huge because it keeps me at the top of the Crystal Ball Challenge over on 412Lax. In three weeks, I’ve only gotten 2 games wrong. Maybe we should be choosing harder games. Maybe I just know everything about lacrosse. I’ll go with the former.
Surprise team of the year so far in the MCLA? Tennessee. They’re 5-1 right now although the teams they have beaten have a cumulative record of 6-16. Tennessee’s schedule gets noticeably tougher as the season progresses and they will need to really keep at it to keep up with the early successes.
Another team winning games is Texas State and they sit at 6-0 right now. The teams they have played have a cumulative record of 12-15 and like Tennessee, they play better teams towards the end of the season.
Chapmam, BYU, FSU, ASU and others all look good this year but I still maintain it’s going to take something special to knock off Michigan. The Wolverines have depth, talent, good coaching and they know what it takes to win, win, win. I don’t think they will suffer a letdown and whoever wants to beat UM will need to bring their A game and probably get a little lucky. This is nothing new but I’ll keep saying it if only to motivate those close 2nd place teams to do more… if they don’t, this MCLA season is basically over, folks.
If you want parity, neither the NCAA or the MCLA can even come close to matching the NLL. Washington and Orlando are 6-3 and 4-2, respectively to lead their divisions. Buffalo and Colorado are both 2-6 at the bottom of their divisions and with each division holding at least 5 teams (the East has 6 teams), this spread is pretty solid. There are better teams and worse teams, as there should be, but there is also no way to coronate anyone now and that’s what I like to see. Every game matters, play hard til the end. That’s what a pro sports league should offer!
This has nothing to do with the NLL, just Boxla. It's the Mann Cup and a guy in a hot tub. Classic lax in Canada.
Colin Doyle is back in Toronto leading the Rock and the NLL in scoring with 61 points in 10 games. He gets the Welcome Back, Mr. Cotter! award for the week. John Grant Jr. came in a close second having scored 51 points in 9 games for Rochester. The Rock have 4 of the top 5 scorers in total points (since they’ve played 10 games) and two of those guys are rookies, Garrett Billings (UVA) and Stephan LeBlanc. Matt Vinc, playing for Orlando, is the game’s top keeper right now stopping over 80% of shots faced.
Later this week I’ll drop my DIII top 20, laxpower.com’s forum poll Top 20 and compare them to the USILA Top 20. LAS may also be bringing on a new DIII expert to keep you all up to speed. Look for another post like this on Saturday, where there will be a little less linkage but just as much laxage… and maybe a whole lot more!
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About the Author: Connor is a pretty average lacrosse player at this point who doesn’t know when to give up on the game. He played and coached in the NESCAC and still plays for the Southampton LC in NYC. Connor lives with his fiance in Brooklyn and thanks her for allowing him to keep the dream alive.
Now now, there were a whole lotta good lax links that went down this week. Connor covered a few yesterday in his “Sayonara Sucker” post as he ran off to Miami to bask in the sun, and many others were included in our new Daily Cheese installment.
That said, I do have a few more to throw down. But first I just think we all need to sit back and reflect on our lives a little. Listen to what the doctor prescribes.
Dr. Lou’s 3 Rules For Life
Brilliant stuff, eh?
Now for that linkage.
If you’re a Maverik player, you’re known as a Soldier. So with his Syracuse roots, we might as well call Dan Hardy an Orange Soldier. Yesterday Maverik released another Soldier Exposed video featuring. We can’t embed it, so we’ll link to it. Watch it and then go customize some cake Maybach gloves while you’re at it.
Speaking of Maverik athletes, there’s another new Paul Rabil/Under Armour commercial out. Seems similar to the Soldier clips, but I digress. Give it whirl:
Lately I hate Ohio State (don’t tell Brett) because of the Rose Bowl, but you gotta show respect where respect is due – here’s the Ohio State lacrosse preview written by Sean Burns at IL.
Chapman announced the addition of 4 new transfers from NCAA teams. Trouble is, we just found this article but have no clue if it happened this week or 4 months ago. There’s no date. Still, good for Chappy.
Collegelax recently interviewed Zach Burke, a midfielder from the University of Dayton. Funny thing is we interviewed him to. Scratch that. We enjoyed a Fireside Chat with him. It will post next week and no secrets here – we think it’s better. Just sayin.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I know you miss Connor, but cut me some slack. At least you had the chance to be inspired by Dr. Lou.
But seriously. Thanks for reading. Thanks for coming back to LaxAllStars.com every single day. Trust me and the entire LAS team when we say that 2010 is going to be like no other.
Right now there is a giant pig in the pig roaster at LAS HQ. We’re cooking it for you and you and you and you. There will be plenty of pork to go around. If you’re interested in giving it a taste test, email me at [email protected]. You can see if you like the flavor.
It’s mid-January and lacrosse players across the US are holed up inside, stringing sticks, staying fit and eagerly anticipating the Spring season. Professional indoor lacrosse is in its second week with a mix of new and familiar faces leading the way. The college season is just around the corner (if you consider scrimmages part of the season) and that always provides so much good material! A lot of good gear has come out so far and my favorites have to be 1) Maryland’s STX gloves and pads. hands down favorite. 2) UMBC’s Brine glove. I’ve only seen one glove for them but it’s sick. 3) Georgetown’s gloves. Good variety and the mostly grey ones are special. 4) Penn State’s classic navy and white. 5) Maverik’s UVM and Hopkins glove mockups. 5 is as high as I can go for only a mockup from UVM but the Hopkins glove (which will never be used by the Hop) looks legit. Harvard, Loyola, and others did pretty well but overall it seems like people went really conservative this year. I guess every year can’t be brighter than the next… where would we go next? European alternate soccer jersey motif? Wait, that doesn’t actually sound that bad.
And because people like custom gear and more importantly, gear in general, stuff like this can still happen. Making a living doing what you love… not too shabby. Canada really does love lax, doesn’t it? Big up to Canada.
Although Canada is our neighbor to the North, they still qualify as an excellent segue to silly International lacrosse news. Oh, yeah, you read it right. The ILF Championships need… a mascot. On a side note, mascots for events are tacky. Teams get mascots, events don’t get mascots. Well, events do get mascots but they always disappoint. Everyone knows that. But whatever, it’s not a big deal.
US Men’s Team and Bryant University head coach, Mike Pressler, has done well wherever he has been and neither Bryant nor the Men’s Team seem to be exceptions. Expectations, as always, are sky-high for the US Team and anything short of gold will be considered a failure by most onlookers. Pressler selected this team to win the small battles in games and for no other reason. Players like Schiller, Crotty and Eric Martin illustrate this fact. If they can play together, this team should dominate in Manchester. Expectations at Bryant are slightly lower even though the team went 10-5 last year in their first season at the division one level. Greer is gone but don’t expect the team to drop off too much with Pressler at the helm, although US Team responsibilities could get in the way from time to time. Expect 2011 to be better.
So Division one lacrosse is growing and it’s also growing in… Tampa. Weird. but true. Actually what’s weird is that this town basically subsists off of a small hotel tax and has basically turned the town into a giant sports complex for kids and teenagers and their sports teams. They’re selling weather. That’s kind of amazing. Work with what you’ve got, I guess.
Upstate New York has talent so they try to make do with that. The one and only number 22 has found a new back to rest on at Cuse and it seems like a good pick to me. Jammer gets the 22 and gives up 43, which will now be worn by a relative of Marshall Abrams, who wore 43 while handling the longstick at Cuse. If you don’t know who Marshall Abrams is then google him and do 100 behind the back wall ball reps as penance.
I keep heading back to box lacrosse. Maybe it’s because I saw it on SportsCenter’s Top 10 today (Billings scoring top shelf off a btb pass), maybe because in the next Fireside Chat Series, Malcolm Chase, the head coach at the University of Southern Maine extorts its virtues. By the way, Malcolm will be joining me in Miami for the Bump and Grind next week and the man runs a dirty clinic so hit me up if you have interested players in the South Florida area. So back to box lacrosse, IL also runs the NLLInsider and its a good intro to the game from sources that understand it. Worth checking out.
On a closing note, a couple of Congrats go out to Adam Sear of the University of Maryland and the Wembley Lacrosse Club who made Australia’s National Lacrosse Team. Adam interviewed with LAS earlier in the Fireside Chat Series and had some sticks shown off on LAS as well. Also a big congrats to Glenn Morley of the Bayswater Lacrosse Club, who provided LAS with a write up and pictures from the Hawai’i Tournament earlier this year. Old man made the team, good on ya! Congrats as well to the rest of the Wembley boys and all the guys in WA who made it. Best of luck in Manchester, you’ll need it!
Lacrosse head manufacturers have started releasing their heads in multiple colors again. This went on back in the days of the SAM and the first plastic heads, it went on with Brine’s M Series but then it started to die out around the same time that offset heads came into vogue.
I don’t know that the two are 100% related but it does stand to reason that as companies experimented with more and more styles of head, they would also need to simplify things (or risk making their production systems too complex… the business majors out there know that no one wants that) so the multi-color release stalled as a technique to intrigue new buyers.
Recently, Maverik, Brine, Warrior, STX and others have started releasing their heads in an assortment of bright colors and while I think that its nice to see more color on the field, I also think people are missing a big opportunity here: GET YOUR DYE ON! Basically, a neon green stick is great but a neon green, blue, red and yellow stick is better. Although the bright pink sticks that STX gave away via facebook and LAS were pretty sweet. Congrats to PJ Burrows, Luke Hamilton and Nate Weigel on finding the 3 images embedded in the LAS network of sites. They will each get a pink STX X10. I just got one of those heads myself and I must say, it is legit.
STX offers heads in 10 colors (including white)
Some seem to believe that only a lacrosse store like Lax Unlimited can dye you a sweet spoon but to those people I say, have some confidence in yourself and get creative! There are plenty of resources out there online, like www.e-lacrosse.com, which has a large stick tech section, or the LacrosseForums where 12 year old dye masters are just waiting to teach you and then put you on blast for any small mistake.
Adam Sear down at U. Maryland sent me a couple of his heads and asked me to go to town on them. His only request was that I made them Terptastic. You can check out the pictures… I think I accomplished at least that.
The process can be a long one when you do something complex but a great final product is really unbeatable and in my opinion is one of the ultimate true lax bro battle scars. For Adam, I did 2 STX 2010 Protons and an STX Professor.
One Proton is red/white with checkers and a turtle. The 2nd Proton is primarily black with red/white/yellow candy stripe accents and an attempt at tie-dye lettering. The last one is primarily yellow with a black scoop and a portion of the Maryland state flag on the scoop. There is one notable mistake there… I inverted the red and white colors but only a true Vexillologist or a 12 year old dye master would pick up on that.
I’ve included a bunch of pictures below so you can check the technique as well as the final product.
I’d throw down the gauntlet and challenge our readers to do better (even though I am still a total amateur) but honestly, I just don’t think you guys have what it takes to make me look foolish. Prove me wrong? Ha, good luck!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ About the Author: After helping to start the program at Weston HS in Massachusetts, Connor Wilson went on to play at Wesleyan University. Post-graduation, Wilson stayed on and coached at Wesleyan for 2 years. He also played in Australia and the American Lacrosse League. Currently Wilson plays for the Southampton Lacrosse Club in NYC and enjoys dyeing lacrosse sticks, eating breakfast sandwiches and having a really pretentious bio on LAS.
November 2009 is dunzo, but that doesn’t mean the stories will be forgotten. Thank God for this massive storage space known as the internet. If you’re new to LAS or you simply don’t stop by everyday (shame on you), we thought we’d start doing you a favor and take a look back at the top articles from the past month. So, you’ll see something like this again at the beginning of January after we publish all of our jingle bells features.
Best Of November: Winner Winner Turkey Dinner…
It’s Lax Against The World
A look at the high cost of lacrosse equipment and how it may be hurting the spread of the game.
The Lax All Stars Fireside Chat series gives you an opportunity to get to know the most influential people and players all lacrosse America. From coast to coast, LAS has been chatting fireside to give you an insider’s perspective on the upcoming 2010 season.
We’ve heard there are some good players over in Providence, Rhode Island. They’re known as the Brown Bears. They took a trip to the NCAA tourney last year for the first time since ’97 and things are looking up for 2010. One of the impact players Brown lacrosse fans are talking about is sophomore attackman Rob Schlesinger. According to BrownBears.com, he’s making a name for himself as one of the “most fearless, relentless, never-give-in competitors in the country.”
Schlesinger came up big as a freshman when his team needed him against Cornell and Hopkins. As a testament to his abilities we have video evidence thanks to the guys at HomeField, a couple of which are Brown Bear alums and strong supporters of the program.
Check out some of his highlights from the 2009 season:
Now let’s sit Fireside and get to know this baller…
LAS: What is your fall ball schedule like this year? Are you guys doing anything differently than in years past?
Schlesinger: The schedule this year is pretty similar to those in the past, the only thing that has been different is our trip out to San Francisco. That was a great experience for us, and it definitely brought the team closer together. Right now we are done with actual team practices because of Ivy League restrictions, so we have two hour-long skill sessions a week and a couple captain’s practices.
Skill sessions are limited to 6 players per coach and we work on the fundamentals. We are also in the weight room 3 times a week and play basketball or football on Friday mornings. It’s too cold for football now, but of course the “Masshole team,” made up of high school superstars, dominated the Baltimore area team, the New York team, and the World team.
Who are some of your teammates we should watch out for this year?
We lost a lot of impact players to graduation and a few key players are abroad, so we are looking for a lot of younger guys to step up. On attack we return two starters, but look out for sophomores Parker Brown and Danny O’Brien who have been fighting for the third spot all fall.
The midfield is where we lost the most from last year. Four of our top five middies graduated, so a lot of new guys are going to see more action this year. Williams College transfer David Hawley has looked really good so far, as has freak-athlete freshman Alex Jones.
We didn’t lose a lot in the defensive side but look out for sophomore Brennan Bailey and junior Matt Greenburg. At LSM, freshman Roger Ferguson is definitely someone to keep an eye on this spring. In goal, we definitely lost a lot in All-American Jordan Burke but junior Matt Chriss has stepped up big this fall, highlighted by his 10 saves in only one half of play against UNC.
What are the team’s goals in 2010?
First and foremost our goal is to win the Ivy League championship. After that, we really want to build on our success from last year having made the NCAA tournament for the first time since ’97. It was a great experience, but we didn’t make it out of the first round. It’s not good enough for us to just make the tournament anymore. This year we want to keep winning and get a National Championship.
We hear you’re quite the competitor. How would you describe your playing style?
I’m really not a flashy player who is going to make highlight reel plays. I pride my game on physicality and playing with a fearless attitude, whether it is picking up tough ground balls or legging out a clear. That’s really how our whole team plays, and I would bet anyone who saw us play last year would agree.
What team are you looking forward to playing the most this year? Why?
Every Ivy League game is fun to play and I really look forward to those a lot. All the games are very intense and usually come right down to the wire.
Describe your pre-game… What do you do to get ready for a big game?
Everyone on the team does their own thing before we have our team warm-ups. In high school I didn’t have any real pre-game, but I kind of developed a routine last year. I’ll usually roll out my muscles for a bit in the training room, then head out to the field to shoot around about an hour before the game. After that I’ll go find a quiet place where I listen to country music and focus on what I need to do that game. While I’m focusing, I’ll have half a nutrition bar and a banana. I then head back into the locker room and meet up with the other guys who are usually bouncing all over the place listening to whatever that week’s mix is.
What’s your favorite part of Brown Lacrosse?
Brown State. You don’t understand it unless you play here.
Best place to eat in Providence?
I have to say that I really haven’t ventured out that far from the food on Thayer Street. If I want a sit down meal, it’s definitely at Spats for some nachos and a burger. If I’m looking for something quick, I’ll go for a burrito at Gordito Burrito, but there’s a new place called Baja Tex Mex that’s actually making a run for the best burrito on Thayer.
What are your three favorite songs right now?
I’m a huge country fan and I usually get a lot of crap for that being from the Boston area, but my old man liked it so I grew up listening to it. I really like anything country, but right now I would say it’s…
What kind of stick are you using right now? Type of head, shaft? String job? Tape?
I’ve always been a Brine Cyber/Cyber Pro guy, so these new rules are really messing with me right now. I was given the Brine Gospel this summer so I’ve been trying that out a bit this fall. I did order the new Cyber though, so I’ll probably use that when the shipment comes in. For a shaft, I use the Maverick Wonderboy. I’m not big on tape, I just put a little on the bottom to hold the butt end on. Stringing wise, I string all my own sticks, but no one else seems to like them. It’s probably because the ball crushes plastic on the way out.
_________________________________________________________________________________ This has been another Lax All Stars Fireside Chat. Stay tuned to the LAS Network for more interviews.
The Fireside Chat series gives players and fans an opportunity to get to know influential people and players from around the United States. From coast to coast, LAS is interviewing players to get you an insider’s perspective on the upcoming 2010 season.
Con Bro Chill has launched a fundraising campaign to help them record new music for a FREE EP and produce their next ridiculous music video. Watch the video below for more information, then be sure to check out their Kickstarter page if you’re interested in pledging. The “Supertron Mega Boom” pledge is our personal favorite!
Are you a fan of Con Bro Chill’s music? Let us know by casting your vote below, or head to the new LAS Community Forum to sound off and share your two cents.
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