ualbany mlax MLAX Game 5 - OOC Game 5 vs Hobart Statesman, Tom & Mary Casey Stadium, Albany, NY, Saturday, March 9, 2024, 1:00 PM

[cwdickens]

Second home game, second new visitor to Casey Stadium:

 

Mar 9 (Sat) 1:00 PM

 

vs 

Hobart

Albany, N.Y. Bob Ford Field at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium

• Live Stats
•  
• Tickets
•  
• History

Edited March 7 by cwdickens

[cwdickens]

The NWS Forecast for: 

• Saturday: Rain likely, mainly after 5pm. Cloudy, with a high near 45. Southeast wind 16 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Edited March 9 by cwdickens
update

[cwdickens]

The updated NWS forecast for: 

• Today: Rain, mainly after 2pm. High near 44. Breezy, with a southeast wind 11 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Rain gear suggested. 

[cwdickens]

From today's Times-Union:

UALBANY LACROSSE

 

UAlbany teams shrug off poor records

 

By Mark Singelais

UALBANY LACROSSE

MEN VS. HOBART

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

Where: Bob Ford Field, Albany

Stream: ESPN+

WOMEN AT NORTHWESTERN

When: 2 p.m. Sunday

Where: Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium, Evanston, Ill.

Jim Franco/Times Union

UAlbany head coach Scott Marr’s team is 0-4 with three one-goal losses heading into Saturday's match vs. Hobart.

ALBANY — The University at Albany lacrosse teams have reasons to believe they’re better than their records suggest.

For the UAlbany men (0-4), it’s how they’ve played. For the UAlbany women (1-5), it’s also whom they’ve faced.

 

The men have three one-goal defeats heading into Saturday afternoon’s match against Hobart at Casey Stadium. On Sunday, the women play at top-ranked and defending national champion Northwestern, meaning the Great Danes will have faced the No. 1, No. 2 (Boston College) and No. 3 (James Madison) programs in the country already this season.

“We want to get that first win and get the train going,” UAlbany graduate midfielder Jake Piseno said. “But, like you said, one-goal losses, we know we’re right there. We know it’s just cleaning up a few things and I think that Saturday, we’ll get a W.”

The UAlbany women earned their first victory last Saturday with a 15-7 triumph at Colgate. It was a significant drop in competition after the Great Danes lost 15-7 at Boston College Feb. 14 and 21-12 at James Madison Feb. 25. UAlbany also played No. 14 Johns Hopkins in the season opener and lost 14-10 at John Fallon Field.

“I’m just trying to not really think about that record, especially playing these top-five teams in the country in JMU, BC, we’re going to see Syracuse later (March 19), Northwestern this week,” senior midfielder Katie Pascale said. “Just kind of evaluating how we did against them because playing really well against a top-five team might not produce the closest of games, but as long as we’re not getting blown out, there’s a lot of positives to take from those games.”

UAlbany men’s coach Scott Marr and women’s coach Katie Thomson have shared similar scheduling philosophies, willing to play just about anyone. Marr will bring his team to seven-time national champion Virginia on March 19 and has played Syracuse and Maryland regularly in addition to a regular diet of tough Ivy League foes.

Being tested against bigger schools paid off for the UAlbany women last season when they upset Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“I think from our past experiences as players and coaches, knowing that to be the best, you have to play against the best,” said Thomson, a former Syracuse great. “It’s just showing our team our confidence in ourselves and that belief that we can play with anyone and we’ve proven it.”

On Saturday, the Great Dane men turn their focus to their first meeting with Hobart, a Division III school in other sports that plays in the Atlantic 10 in lacrosse.

“We are who we are,” Marr said. “You are your record, but at the same time, I don’t believe we’re an 0-4 team. We’ve played probably to a like B, 85 average. We’ve just got to get above 90… We’re not playing great yet. We’re not playing poorly, either. We’re playing good lacrosse. We just have to tighten up a few things.”

The UAlbany men open America East play at UMass Lowell March 16, the same day the women begin league play at home against Binghamton.

[jimbo]

Remember the days when a team like Hobart would be a speed bump on the way to another great season? 

[jimbo]

Thankfully Hogg came alive…got a brutal hit after the last one. 

[cwdickens]

17 hours ago, jimbo said:

Remember the days when a team like Hobart would be a speed bump on the way to another great season? 

However, nothing in life stays the same and College Lacrosse is no exception. The transfer portal, the increase of teams playing D1 Lacrosse and the influence of the ACC, BIG10 and the Ivy Conference on recruiting makes schools like UAlbany efforts to land two or three top 100 recruits ever so difficult.  AE Lacrosse team has a difficult time standing out. 

[nysteve661]

If you look back over the past 15-20 years, UA Lax were ranked in the top 10 when we had Tewaratten finalists, Frank Resitaris, Lyle and Miles Thompson, and Connor Fields.  Without them we were an average team.  Their creativity and scoring prowess made the whole team better.  That is just not seen without a player of that caliber.  Who knows when we get our next top 5 national player.  Till then, we are average at best.

[cwdickens]

Interesting graph from Inside Lacrosse on the state of the 2024 non-conference results to date:

Conferenc	Wins	Losses	Win %
Big Ten	27	7	79.41
ACC	20	7	74.07
Ivy League	18	13	58.06
Patriot	22	18	55
Big East	19	16	54.29
Atlantic 10	14	16	46.67
CAA	19	23	45.24
America East	16	24	40
MAAC	20	31	39.22
ASUN	13	31	29.55

Edited March 10 by cwdickens
clarify

[cwdickens]

The best observation about yesterday's game:

16 likes

grayed_danes_nil

My favorite matchup of the day hands down was Max Neeson against number 99 for Hobart attackman Troy Barthelme. Barthelme is listed in the program at 6'7" / 240 pounds...just a behemoth of a man who by the way is also a heck of a player. Max went toe to toe with this tree the whole game, but as I rewatched the game the thing that impressed me is how he still manages to play outstanding team defense.

Look, we all know Piseno is the alpha (and deservedly so) - you just gotta take the shackles off him and let him run around that the insane madman he is and he's going to do special things. But to me, Max is the quiet leader running things behind the scenes that allows Jake to be Jake. Comparables would be guys like Garrett Pedley (2009) and Stone Sims (2018) who stepped in as freshman and drew the tough assignments - in Max's first game he was matched up against Joey Spallina from Syracuse which tells you all you need to know about the confidence the coaching staff has in his abilities.

[dslyank]

21 hours ago, jimbo said:

Remember the days when a team like Hobart would be a speed bump on the way to another great season? 

Hobart has always been a quality and competitive program over the years. Not top 20 often but in the receiving votes category. Maybe only non-ivy NYS team (other than UA) to have beaten Syracuse more than one time.

IMHO they are more than a speed bump. In most years they would be top half AmEast

[cwdickens]

Hogg Named America East Men’s Lacrosse Offensive Player of the Week