While SU was on offense it was clear that they were well prepared to exploit Tufts “slide and recover D”. They were waiting for the Tufts slide and then SU was moving the ball inside very well. Most of the early goals were from inside 5 yards. If you’re reading this and saying “isn’t that the point of offense?” then you haven’t seen Tufts D this year; they slide almost every time whether it’s necessary or not.  If the initial look wasn’t there SU would continue to dummy dodge and wait for a matchup (like a SSDM on Bradman, who had a great game), and then exploit that.

Unfortunately, a lot of the position players for Tufts also had a hard time getting in the groove. Not sure if you give the credit for that to the gulls play or nerves or whatever but these were not great performances out of the typically oustanding players.

I’d also say that unfortunately faceoffs and goalie play (which have been a strong point all year for tufts) were severely lacking. Bad games happens sometimes and it’s unfortunate that it all played out the way it did in the biggest game of the year. Neither goalie was seeing the ball particularly well and while Tufts dominated faceoffs at RIT they were having a hard time on Sunday.

On a related note, the refing was particularly bad for a championship game. I don’t mean to make it sound like a reason or excuse why Tufts lost (they got outplayed) but I was surprised how many seemingly obvious calls were missed. It was probably on both sides but as a Tufts fan I noticed more bad or missed calls against Tufts. At one stretch (I believe in the 3rd) SU was offsides for about 13 or 14 seconds and the ref didn’t even turn his head around to look (despite him being in front of the Tufts bench and everyone screaming). If memory serves they went offsides again on the very next Tufts possession and it was not called. I think they finally got called offsides on the 3rd time they went off in a span of about 2-3 mintues (though it may have been the second time, and if so, I applogize for the misinformation). Another obvious missed call I remember was during a faceoff when the players were fighting for the draw (and therefore no other players can make contact) a SU player was lifting the stick of the Tufts faceoff guy in order to disrupt the draw. I know that refs miss calls and make mistakes but my measuring stick for reffing is usually my “common sense rule”; I try to be objective throughout and if at the end of the game the reffing sticks out to me as much as the play then I believe they did a bad job.

Congrats to the Seagulls on another NC.

What was more impressive though was the Gull Defense.  Disciplined but aggressive and they were excellent in transition, where Tufts usually flourishes.  A VERY impressive team at Salisbury this year.  Fast, talented, creative, and all that within a Berkman system. Dominant.