Lax Quarterfinals vs. Princeton

[billhoward]

Postgame: Awesome defensive effort by Cornell, helped by the pipe 3 (?) times in the first half, though we hit some pipes of our own.

5-1 at halftime felt like we were on the way, probably, to the final four, except ... we missed chances in the third and early in the fourth to extend the lead and put away Princeton.

Once again we had a pretty good near-stall / deliberate offense, this time controlling the last five minutes, except when we lost the ball (again) and allowed Princeton to score and make the comeback seem maybe possible. Again I wonder about Cornell's special ability to control the majority of faceoffs why we didn't fire into an open net, and I know the statistics say it's not the thing to do.

Seibald got shut out for the first time in 49 games. He had a couple blasts just wide. It's going to reopen the question of whether Max peaked earlier in his career or, more likely, we expect too much improvement each season to make the last one look merely average. In the fourth, though, he took the ball inbounds in the corner guarded by two Tigers and I thought, Princeton's outnumbered. Max in fact broke loose easily, circled the box, stepped in, and then (I believe it was Max), lost the ball.

Fioritio, Princeton's goalie, is the real deal. He's amazing. Myers had some nice saves for us and he also muffed - it seemed, from the 50-yard-line, that the last Princeton goal was a very save-able shot.

Rob Pannell (3A) is an amazing ball-handler. He helped keep Princeton's hands off the ball those last 5 minutes.

Among the 11,000 at the game (attendance for both games in a 15,000 seat stadium at Hofstra) was Richie Moran, the Cornell coach who hoisted Cornell's first (and the NCAA's first  ever) NCAA champsionship flag here 38 years ago. It is great to see a link to Cornell's storied past.

On to Boston. LGR!

[DeltaOne81]

[quote Al DeFlorio]What is with all these penaltie?  Is this the Tierney effect, or are we really deserving all these?[/quote]

No comment on the Tierny effect, but it seemed as if the refs decide any modersately hard smacking of the stick against the body. The kinda 'rough stuff' that is usually a normal part of the game was called repeatedly. It was quite unfortunate to play a quarterfinal game under a different interpretation of the rules than the rest of the season. At least that's how it appeared to me.

[scoop85]

Kudos for a complete team effort.  Best I've ever seen Romero play, and excellent contributions from the 2nd midfield.  Moyer has been amazing with two bum knees, and Derkac is an unsung hero.  Great to see Meyers come up big in the big spot.  Amazing hustle overall to once again dominate in ground balls.

The final four will be wide open -- why not us?

[Jordan 04]

IIRC,, the same ref called nearly every penalty on Cornell, and came in far from the sideline to overturn a possession call behind the Cornell net in the 3rd period.

Vegas have a line on this game?

[Jordan 04]

[quote scoop85]Kudos for a complete team effort.  Best I've ever seen Romero play, [/quote]

And much of it after he got his bell rung pretty emphatically when he was led blindly into a defender with a pass in the midfield.

[ugarte]

[quote Jordan 04][quote scoop85]Kudos for a complete team effort.  Best I've ever seen Romero play, [/quote]

And much of it after he got his bell rung pretty emphatically when he was led blindly into a defender with a pass in the midfield.[/quote]
That was literally the last thing I saw. As I walked out of the stadium, Cornell had an awesome scramble/clear as one of the long sticks made a crazy (behind the head?) pass to Romero, who dished it off himself before getting hammered. He was still on the ground when I left the stands.

Very frustrating to hear over the PA that princeton cleared and then scored with 18 seconds left. I heard another loud cheer shortly after; I assume that was the no-goal at the end of the 3d.

I was really impressed with the passing, defense and goaltending of both teams today. I'd say the Princeton goalie actually had the better game but Meyers definitely held his own. Princeton also definitely seemed to have more speed guys who could generate instant offense but the Cornell D was stout. Hard checking, impressive persistence on forcing ground balls and then really, really impressive in scooping them up.

As for the Princton EMOs, most were bullshit, I thought. The only one that made any sense to me was after the first Princeton goal where I think the goalscorer got laid out after he put the ball in the net.

Great game. So glad I went even though I had to spend $35 on a cab out to Queens and had to leave with a minute left in the third quarter.

Chris'03, Danny is a goddamn cute kid.

[Swampy]

[quote Jordan 04][quote scoop85]Kudos for a complete team effort.  Best I've ever seen Romero play, [/quote]

And much of it after he got his bell rung pretty emphatically when he was led blindly into a defender with a pass in the midfield.[/quote]

The pass was a pretty, behind the back kind of deal, but the kind that sets up the receiving player to have his clock rung. I didn't notice who made the pass, but I bet a few teammates spoke to the guy on the way home.::twak::

[ugarte]

[quote Swampy][quote Jordan 04][quote scoop85]Kudos for a complete team effort.  Best I've ever seen Romero play, [/quote]

And much of it after he got his bell rung pretty emphatically when he was led blindly into a defender with a pass in the midfield.[/quote]

The pass was a pretty, behind the back kind of deal, but the kind that sets up the receiving player to have his clock rung. I didn't notice who made the pass, but I bet a few teammates spoke to the guy on the way home.::twak::[/quote]
It was right after a scramble for a ground ball and he had to get rid of the ball quickly. I thought the play was fantastic. Romero probably doesn't even remember it.

[Josh '99]

[quote Swampy][quote Jordan 04][quote scoop85]Kudos for a complete team effort.  Best I've ever seen Romero play, [/quote]

And much of it after he got his bell rung pretty emphatically when he was led blindly into a defender with a pass in the midfield.[/quote]

The pass was a pretty, behind the back kind of deal, but the kind that sets up the receiving player to have his clock rung. I didn't notice who made the pass, but I bet a few teammates spoke to the guy on the way home.::twak::[/quote]I want to say it might've been Moyer; I'm pretty sure it was a long stick.  And considering he's playing on two bum knees and still had a phenomenal game, I don't think anyone is giving him any shit at the moment.

[Josh '99]

[quote Jordan 04]IIRC,, the same ref called nearly every penalty on Cornell, and came in far from the sideline to overturn a possession call behind the Cornell net in the 3rd period.[/quote]That possession call was the weirdest thing IMO.  Honestly I have a hard time picking out most stick fouls in lacrosse (I cannot for the life of me figure out what the deal is with all the slashing) but that one was puzzling.  Cornell player shot, Fiorito got a piece of it (I think, or maybe it was a defender) then came out to try to back it up.  The ball didn't have a whole lot on it and it seemed like someone would catch it before the end line, Fiorito got his stick on it and it went out off him.  Is there some rule that if it's not a controlled touch (a la delayed penalties in hockey) then it's considered a continuation of the shot and therefore was backed up by Princeton?  Because it looked pretty clearly like Fiorito tried to scoop the ball and just missed and shoveled it out.

7 EMOs for Princeton, 2 for Cornell.  Was that discrepancy really merited?  I defer to people who know lax better than I do.  Although to be fair, after Kovler scored (a soft goal, but maybe the only blemish on an otherwise stellar day for Myers*), Princeton still had a shot until the refs decided to call all the penalties Princeton might have gotten away with earlier in the game all at once, and basically ended the game.

*  As the ESPNU guys pointed out, while Myers may not be the best goalie in terms of SV% (though he was fine today), he's really an asset on clears.

[Al DeFlorio]

Very brief game highlights here on ESPN.com: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4172551&categoryid=2378529

[Greenberg '97]

I think the highlights may have moved since you posted it.  They're now here: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4171971. The commentator clearly knows absolutely nothing about lacrosse, but does a decent job filling up the airtime with words.

[DeltaOne81]

[quote Josh '99][That possession call was the weirdest thing IMO.  Honestly I have a hard time picking out most stick fouls in lacrosse (I cannot for the life of me figure out what the deal is with all the slashing) but that one was puzzling.[/quote]

I agree that stick fouls in lax leave me puzzled much of the time, but here's the rulebook wording:

SECTION 7. Slashing includes the following actions:
a. Swinging a crosse at an opponent's crosse or body with deliberate
viciousness or reckless abandon, regardless of whether the opponent's
crosse or body is struck.
b. Striking an opponent in an attempt to dislodge the ball from his crosse,
unless the player in possession, in an attempt to protect his crosse, uses
some part of his body other than his head or neck to ward off the thrust of
the defensive player's crosse and, as a result, the defensive player's crosse
strikes some part of the attacking player's body other than his head or
neck.
c. Striking an opponent in any part of the face, on the neck, in the chest,
on the back, on the shoulders, in the groin or on the head with the crosse
(including its butt end), except when done by

At literally written, b) allows for a lot of things to be slashes. Usually they reserve it for a nice two-handed wound-up whack, or a shot to the head. One ref apparently decided that any of those meaty whack to the arm you usually see a dozen of a game was now a penalty.


[quote Josh '99]Cornell player shot, Fiorito got a piece of it (I think, or maybe it was a defender) then came out to try to back it up.  The ball didn't have a whole lot on it and it seemed like someone would catch it before the end line, Fiorito got his stick on it and it went out off him.  Is there some rule that if it's not a controlled touch (a la delayed penalties in hockey) then it's considered a continuation of the shot and therefore was backed up by Princeton?  Because it looked pretty clearly like Fiorito tried to scoop the ball and just missed and shoveled it out.[/quote]

Seems that was definitely the argument:

A.R. 32. Deflected shot at goal, the ball rolling toward boundary line. A1, in trying to
pick up the ball, does not gain possession, and the ball goes out of bounds. A1 is nearest
to the out-of-bounds spot. RULING: Ball awarded to Team A.
A.R. 33. A1 shoots at goal, and the ball goes over the goal toward the end line. A2 tries
to catch the ball in flight, and the ball hits his crosse and goes out of bounds. A2 is nearest
to the out-of-bounds spot. RULING: Ball awarded to Team A.

I'd have to see it again to see if Fiorito had it in his stick enough to call it possession, but I guess not.

[Josh '99]

[quote DeltaOne81]Seems that was definitely the argument:

A.R. 32. Deflected shot at goal, the ball rolling toward boundary line. A1, in trying to
pick up the ball, does not gain possession, and the ball goes out of bounds. A1 is nearest
to the out-of-bounds spot. RULING: Ball awarded to Team A.
A.R. 33. A1 shoots at goal, and the ball goes over the goal toward the end line. A2 tries
to catch the ball in flight, and the ball hits his crosse and goes out of bounds. A2 is nearest
to the out-of-bounds spot. RULING: Ball awarded to Team A.

I'd have to see it again to see if Fiorito had it in his stick enough to call it possession, but I guess not.[/quote]Huh.  Thanks for looking into that, Fred.  I don't think he had possession, and if he didn't then I guess Princeton ball was the right call.

[DeltaOne81]

Other quarterfinals update:
UVa leads JHU 12-4 at the half