MLax 2016

[DanesRGood]

I watched the end of the game on my phone at a bar with a former D3 all-american lax goalie and former captain and all-american midfielder at UMass. Both are coaches now and good friends of mine. I was complaining to them about the lack of a faceoff guy at Albany for so many years. They both said just how hard it is to find a guy like Protesto or Baptiste at Denver and it's a bit of luck as well. They said most are 70-80% guys in high school but there is no way to predict how that will translate to D1. They said not to kill Marr so much for this because there are so many top coaches around the country who have the same problem. It really is one of the hardest spots to recruit for. I mentioned that is has been a problem for a long time and if we had someone good during the Thompson years we probably would've won a championship and they disagreed. Instead saying that if UA had 1-2 All-American defenders those years they would've won. Said the defenses were just not good enough. Both think UA will drop to 8-12 in the rankings and lose their chance to host but still get an at-large bid. Interesting conversation.

[UA'08]

The second half of the umbc game and last night looks like we hit a Wall. It seemed to me we were a step slow all night. On several occasions we had a reasonable chance of picking up a ground ball, only to give up on it and settling back into defense. It was almost like the defense did not want to gamble and/or make a mistake. Offensively, the same thing. They seemed much too deliberate and when they did shoot, they seemed afraid to miss and hence did so. Twice we had hartfords goalie out of the net, and instead of taking a shot into a basically empty net, we seemed content to reset the offense.

I know it is a cliché, but we played NOT TO LOSE, rather than to win; and when you play like that, well bad things happen.

 

I agree with those who say we gave up on Ornstein too early; but I DO NOT agree with those who say we no longer deserve a bid. A one goal overtime loss does NOT negate all the good things this team has done this year. Especially in one & out tournaments where a bad bounce one way or another is so magnified. {One of hartford's goals looked like the guy totally fanned on the shot and threw it straight into the ground, except it bounced high with back spin right into the goal.} Likewise, OT wins @ yale & umbc do not necessarily define our season. Like most sports, lacrosse is a game of inches and to define our season by last nights game in my OPINION is wrong and I feel/hope the ncca agrees with me and not the naysayers.

 

Lastly, playing the part of "Poly-Anna" (which I have often done on this blog), perhaps the loss turns into a blessing. Without having to play Saturday, UA can get a little rest, refocus and push through the "Wall." [Of course, I and they would have preferred to be playing tomorrow.]

Hope you are right, but this late in the season with nothing guaranteed, I can't see any sort of blessing with a loss like this. If you lose you want to lose early in the year. Stony Brook may move out of the top 20 with that bad loss as well, leaving Albany with one top 20 win. Doesn't help that Albany has been given the shaft plenty of times by the committee in the past.

[McFan]

 

Just like so many sports, you go into the stall and you lose.

If they were stalling they did a pretty bad job at it. That's the difference without Lyle. He would have kept the ball in his stick until they put the shot clock on.

 

 

I think the last possession they were definitely trying to stall. I get the idea, especially when you can't win a faceoff, but that's not our style. We lost the ball while running away from the net and during that possession never really looked towards the goal. They were pressuring (and I'm no expert believe me) and to me that's the time to attack.

[UAFAN]

Unranked Harvard just beat #2 Brown in Ivy semis. Plays Yale for championship. Dude from Harvard had 9 of their 13 goals.

This good for us, better if Yale wins.

[UA'08]

Good only if Yale beats them. Harvard could steal the AQ taking away an at large.

[DanesRGood]

 

 

Just like so many sports, you go into the stall and you lose.

If they were stalling they did a pretty bad job at it. That's the difference without Lyle. He would have kept the ball in his stick until they put the shot clock on.

 

 

I think the last possession they were definitely trying to stall. I get the idea, especially when you can't win a faceoff, but that's not our style. We lost the ball while running away from the net and during that possession never really looked towards the goal. They were pressuring (and I'm no expert believe me) and to me that's the time to attack.

 

 

There was no way they were going to let us setup anything or attack. They were going to run 2-3 players at anyone who got the ball. Needed some quick passes there but that is a tough situation. Hard to play keep away when they pressure like that and are slashing at the ball.

 

Biggest miss was at the end of regulation where there was a bit of a break away and instead of firing a shot on goal the player tried to make a pass to someone for a slam dunk goal to the left of the post and the pass was way off and Hartford got the ball with 9 second left in regulation. Hindsight is 20/20 of course but he should've ripped a shot off there. He was not far from the goal and I don't think any defenders were blocking him. I'm pretty sure it was Clancy who had the chance.

[UAFAN]

Good only if Yale beats them. Harvard could steal the AQ taking away an at large.

No way we don't get at large

[GreatDanes06]

Inside Lacrosse had us as an at-large after the loss facing Loyola and noted they could still sneak in a home game. Gotta just wait and see at this point,

[jimbo]

Probably can't hurt that Hartford went on to win it all. I didn't see it all but did see a good bit of the last 3 quarters. Very entertaining game.

[UA'08]

Does anyone know why Fairfield plays lacrosse in the CAA and not the MAAC?

[UAalum72]

Fairfield has been playing lax for a long time and it was fully funded. Originally the MAAC was a non-scholarship lacrosse league, like their football, and Fairfield didn't want to drop their schollies and play at a lower level. But I don't know why, now that the MAAC allows scholarships, the Stags don't move to their all-sports league.

 

UVM was even on faceoffs in the 1st quarter at 6-6, but Hart won for the game 22-14

[jimbo]

Nope. According to their Wikipedia page they were one of the founding members of the MAAC lax league in 1996. Then they went independent then joined the Great Western league then ECAC lax and just now the CAA. No explanation of what the CAA over rejoining the MAAC.

[UA'08]

 

Good only if Yale beats them. Harvard could steal the AQ taking away an at large.

No way we don't get at large

Marquette just took the big east.

[Phoenix]

Inside Lacrosse's projection effectively puts us as the #9 team. Best case for a home game seems to be 1) the committee gives us the home game as the #8 seed, perhaps vs. Loyola (a la last year at Cornell) or 2) Harvard beats Yale for the Ivy title, pushing Yale down a few spots and making our win over Harvard look a little bit better.

 

While I still don't think we'll get a home game..it's nice to see some projections having us play one of the lower seeded teams.

 

My ultimate guess is that we play at Cuse.

Edited May 7, 2016 by Phoenix

[UA'08]

Disappointing seeing all these top teams go down and if Albany could have just taken care of business, I wonder how night of a seed they could have been