Best men's lax team of all time?

Vote here:

[www.dailyorange.com]

EDIT: It's now a "past poll," and voting is closed, but not before we managed to tie 2006 Virginia at 12%:

[www.dailyorange.com]

Cornell currently fourth among 10 entries. Outside of the two Syracuse entries on the poll, only 2006 Virginia tops 1977 Big Red.

1976 Cornell was best. 1976 Maryland may be second best.

Mike French and Eamon McEneaney (RIP) were a thing of beauty racing downfield on a breakaway against Maryland. You don't see many three-goal overtime victories anymore in college lacreosse. <g> Not to mention a defense that had the only shutout in NCAA playoffs - one record that's going to hold up for a long, long time. And not to mention a coach who had his act completely together. Okay, enough of memory lane. LGR 2007!

Al DeFlorio
1976 Cornell was best. 1976 Maryland may be second best.

Amen.

Hard to argue that one. Although, 1977's ripping off a 9-0 lead on Hopkins in the final has to rank it up there as well.

Killer
Hard to argue that one. Although, 1977's ripping off a 9-0 lead on Hopkins in the final has to rank it up there as well.

No question. But that was a monster Maryland team Cornell beat in 1976, and Hopkins was nowhere close to those Terps.

Was fortunate to have seen both those championship games. One was the greatest game I've ever seen, the other the greatest performance by one team in an important game I've ever seen.

And so sad you have to go back 30 years for that happy event(s). Even for people alive then, even for those who made the game, that is a looong time ago. It was even before Andy Noel's time.

Sorry, but just how good was the 1976 Cornell lacrosse team? Was that team comparable to the 1970 ice hockey team?

Al DeFlorio
But that was a monster Maryland team Cornell beat in 1976, and Hopkins was nowhere close to those Terps. Was fortunate to have seen both those championship games.

Yes, the Maryland teams of 1974-76 would have shredded the 1977 Hopkins team. Seemed almost unfair that Maryland had to be matched up with Cornell that year (sort of like the 1974 Maryland basketball team). It's hard to separate the 1974-76 Terp teams. As great as the '76 team was -- Urso's senior year, his fourth as a first-team All America -- they didn't have the one player who might have pushed them over the hump against Cornell in Providence, midfielder and face-off genius Doug Radebaugh '75. I don't know what his lifetime face-off win percentage was, but I bet it was around 75 percent.

My experience watching the 1976 championship game was intense and surreal, and I didn't even watch it live. Coach Moran brought the game film back to Cornell and played it on the big screen (with his miked narration) in Uris Hall to a packed house, which cheered and chanted and sang as if it was live. As loud as Lynah, as I recall.

I was at the 1976 game in person (my first trip to Brown, and I remember getting lost in Providence). The game was televised on ABC's Wide World of Sports, and I remember hearing the Frank Gifford called it one of the most exciting sporting events he had ever seen.
It would be nice to see crowds turn out again for lacrosse. Back in the late 70s, we routinely got crowds of 10,000 or more for big home games against teams like Hartwick and Hopkins and in the NCAA tournament.
I was having a discussion about Cornell lacrosse at the Yale game last weekend with the parent of one of this year's players, and she was trying to tell me that those glory teams of the 70s wouldn't do as well now because the game has changed so much. But anyone who saw French and McEneaney in their prime, knows they were all-time greats, just like Jim Brown was at Syracuse back in the 1950s (no, I didn't see him play!).

dbilmes
I was at the 1976 game in person (my first trip to Brown, and I remember getting lost in Providence). The game was televised on ABC's Wide World of Sports, and I remember hearing the Frank Gifford called it one of the most exciting sporting events he had ever seen.
It would be nice to see crowds turn out again for lacrosse. Back in the late 70s, we routinely got crowds of 10,000 or more for big home games against teams like Hartwick and Hopkins and in the NCAA tournament.
I was having a discussion about Cornell lacrosse at the Yale game last weekend with the parent of one of this year's players, and she was trying to tell me that those glory teams of the 70s wouldn't do as well now because the game has changed so much. But anyone who saw French and McEneaney in their prime, knows they were all-time greats, just like Jim Brown was at Syracuse back in the 1950s (no, I didn't see him play!).

The player's parent may be right: Athletes have improved dramamatically in a generation. It's incontrovertible in sports where you can measure with a stopwatch or measuring tape, so it's most likely also the case with other sports such as lacrosse and hockey. But you don't just put Mike French on ice for 30 years and then stick him in a game this Saturday using 1970s gear, training, and diet.

The fair comparison is how a player performed relative to others of his era. (Think of how Ed Marinaro improved the season rushing record from 175 yards per game to 209 and also blew by the then record for total yards in a season and career.)

If Mike French or Eamon McEneneaney were players now, probably they'd be lifting more weights and eating better diets to keep up with their peers. And they'd have better sticks and lighter pads. I like to think if French or McEneneaney were playing last year, no disrespect to the other attackmen on the field, it wouldn't have been UMass walking off Schoellkopf en route to the next round.