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D1 Fall Ball Photos: Loyola, Cornell, Penn State

D1 Fall Ball Photos are coming in hot!

Craig Chase took in the Loyola vs Cornell and Loyola vs Penn State fall scrimmages, and sent over some amazing (as usual!) photos from the D1 fall action. Lots of players saw time for all three teams, and game reports (if we did them for fall scrimmages) would look something like this:

All three teams tried out some new faces, and different combinations of players. The guys on the field played hard, trying to prove their worth to their coaches and teammates. Official scores were not kept, and every team’s record is still 0-0 for 2016. No one has been eliminated from the NCAA tourney, and a vast majority of options are still open for each program.

Ok, that’s a little tongue in cheek, but it helps make the point that Fall Ball is FAR from the end all, be all of college lacrosse. Teams got out and played some good, fun lacrosse on a beautiful day in the fall, and hopefully got better. Instead of reading way too deeply into any “results”, I’ll just leave it at that, and celebrate a productive day out on the field by all 3 programs.

Photo Credits: Craig Chase

D1 Fall Ball Photos – Loyola Vs Cornell

D1 Fall Ball Photos – Loyola Vs Penn State

While I say I LOVE fall ball, why am I so down on Fall Ball scrimmage reports, you may ask? Fair question!

Last year, Denver beat Colorado State 9-4 in a fall ball game. They also beat BYU by a score of 10-2. If I’m a D1 lacrosse fanatic (and I am), those are NOT the scores of a future D1 champ. But what did Denver do last year? They won the NCAA D1 title. If you take fall ball seriously, an MCLA team came within 5 goals of the D1 champ. Think about that. If you don’t take fall ball too seriously, don’t think about it. You’re good to go already.

In 2014 and 2013, Duke won titles both years. Over those two years, they scrimmaged ONE opponent during the fall, and that was a brand new program in Furman, more as a favor to Coach Meade, than as an important game. No fall ball results to report on? That team must be terrible. Oh wait, they won back-to-back titles.

Or maybe you remember 2012 when Loyola won the national title, much to the surprise of many? How well did fall ball results predict that happening? NOT AT ALL, you say? They were even with Siena for much of a fall game? Amazing! No one saw that coming, and a big part of that reason is that fall ball games are more or less meaningless. Teams change greatly between October and April/May. Isn’t that obvious by now?

So instead of breaking down fall ball games like they are real games, we’re just going to show you some pretty pictures, and allow you to get all excited for the actual Spring season, where the games mean something more than just another great day of lacrosse. Reading too much into fall ball will get you in trouble, so I firmly believe it’s better to stop wasting everyone’s time, and just enjoy the wonderful visuals!

Thanks again to Craig Chase for an amazing set of visuals from these two quality scrimmages! Can’t wait to see these three programs play for real in the Spring! We’ll post more photos and fall scrimmage videos as they come in, not because they are predictive, but because they are fun, and we love lacrosse.