Cornell lacrosse 2014

[Tcl123]

http://www.uslacrosse.org/multimedia-center/press-releases-news/postid/502/us-mens-national-team-announces-30-man-roster-for-fil-world-championship.aspx

[David Harding]

http://www.uslacrosse.org/multimedia-center/press-releases-news/postid/502/us-mens-national-team-announces-30-man-roster-for-fil-world-championship.aspx

Code Select Expand


School   Total
 Johns Hopkins 5
 Maryland 5
 Cornell 3
 Syracuse 3
 Duke   2
 Penn State 2
 Army   1
 Colgate 1
 Loyola 1
 Massachusetts 1
 North Carolina 1
 Ohio State 1
 Salisbury 1
 UMBC   1
 Villanova 1
 Virginia 1



[billhoward]

http://www.uslacrosse.org/multimedia-center/press-releases-news/postid/502/us-mens-national-team-announces-30-man-roster-for-fil-world-championship.aspx

Code Select Expand


School   Total
 Johns Hopkins 5
 Maryland 5
 Cornell 3
 Syracuse 3
 Duke   2
 Penn State 2
 Army   1
 Colgate 1
 Loyola 1
 Massachusetts 1
 North Carolina 1
 Ohio State 1
 Salisbury 1
 UMBC   1
 Villanova 1
 Virginia 1



Took a moment to figure out: The 3 for Cornell is the number of NCAA championships, or players on the team. This 3 appears to be the number of Cornellians on the team. Also the number of Ivy League particpants. Not one Princeton Tiger is worthy?

[TimV]

Sunday's scheduled scrimmage with Cortland and RIT was canceled.  So we open the season against Hobart in 6 days with no fallball games and one preseason scrimmage against a partial team of out of shape non-collegiate players.::scared::

[semsox]

Word from laxpower is that the Cortland scrimmage will be tried tomorrow at 3 PM.

[dag14]

Scrimmaged Cortland this afternoon.  Final was Cornell 11-3 or 11-4.

[Johnny 5]

Scrimmaged Cortland this afternoon.  Final was Cornell 11-3 or 11-4.

Whew!
Maybe we have a chance against Hobart?!

::blush::

[TimV]

Maybe we have a chance against Hobart?!

::blush::

God, I hope so.  Siena, a punching bag outside the MAC conference, beat them 12-7.

[margolism]

Now that Cornell is four games into the 2014 season, I'm curious how people feel the team is performing vs. what was expected.

Quite frankly, I'm pleasantly surprised.  Yes, Cornell lost a boatload of talent due to graduation, but one wouldn't really know that based on the numbers thus far.

Consider this:
- The Cornell offense, through games of March 2nd, ranked 8th in the country.  Obviously this does not include the 19 goal game yesterday.  By my calculations, With last night's game, we are averaging 15 gpg, which would rank the Cornell offense #2 in the country. (!)
- Two Cornell players are in the top 10 in the country in points per game
- In two of three games played against the same opponents from last year, 2014 margin of victory was greater than 2013 margin of victory.  In both of those games, Cornell scored more goals than last year


Coming into this season, my assumption would have been that Cornell offensive output would be significantly lower than what the 2013 produced.  Is it lower through four games?  Yes, 16.75 gpg (2013) vs 15 gpg (2014).  But that's about 10%, not that huge a dropoff.  

On defense, Cornell through four games has given up 9 goals per game in 2014 vs 6.75 per game in 2013.   A bit more than last year, and heavily biased by the 14 goals they gave up against Michigan. (If you only take into account the three common opponents played thus far, the 2014 team has actually allowed fewer goals per game than the 2013 team.)

All this, in my mind, gives me significant optimism for a team that was prematurely written off by lots of people.   Perhaps this team is harder to defend against because scoring is more evenly distributed.  I don't know.  All I know is that, by the numbers thus far, this team is performing much like last year's squad.

Thoughts?

[Robb]

To my eye, we are not nearly the team we were last year regardless of the numbers.  Of course, style points are worth zero in the final score!  

I just think you're reading too much into the goal margins and offensive numbers against relatively weak teams.  Last year's squad probably could have scored 25 against these teams if they'd chosen to.   No matter how good the team is, they're always going to lay off in the 4th quarter, so not all 6-goal wins are created equal - there's a big difference between establishing an 8-goal lead in the 3rd quarter and cruising to a 6-goal victory versus letting the opponent hang around within 2-3 deep into the 4th (with starters fully in play) and just pulling away at the end.

Saturday will be a better indicator of where this team is heading than anything we have seen so far.

[dag14]

Don't forget that we have not yet played a ranked team....Cornell should have excellent numbers at this point in the season.  The true measure of this group is how they do going forward.  I think they have the character to surprise a lot of people, and quite likely the skills.  There is not a lot of depth on the team, however, so the guys need to stay healthy.

[ithacat]

This has been a weak schedule and things get interesting starting Saturday. Still the team is 4-0 and congrats on that -- also Kerwick became the 2nd coach to begin 4-0 at Cornell, so congrats to him as well. If the team can continue to win 60% of its FOs and cut down on its first half turnovers...maybe Saturday will be a pleasant surprise.

[margolism]

I know it is a weak schedule to start , but it was a weak first four game schedule last year too, right?

[mountainred]

Well, since you asked, both seasons have Hobart, Bingo and Canisius in common.  But last year's start included a 19-3 beatdown of Colgate who was coming off a National Quarterfinal appearance and had the prior season's winner of the Tewaaraton and Emmers awards returning.  This year's slate includes an OT win over a Michigan team that was 1-13 last year and just lost to High Point.  Last year we also didn't trail Hobart with 3 minutes to go.

I don't mean to sound down on this year's team, you can only beat who is on your schedule and they've done that, but they aren't nearly as good as last year's team.  I'm really anxious to see how they fare against UVA; we've had some awfully good teams that couldn't beat the 'hoos.

[Johnny 5]

Well, since you asked, both seasons have Hobart, Bingo and Canisius in common.  But last year's start included a 19-3 beatdown of Colgate who was coming off a National Quarterfinal appearance and had the prior season's winner of the Tewaaraton and Emmers awards returning.  This year's slate includes an OT win over a Michigan team that was 1-13 last year and just lost to High Point.  Last year we also didn't trail Hobart with 3 minutes to go.

I don't mean to sound down on this year's team, you can only beat who is on your schedule and they've done that, but they aren't nearly as good as last year's team.  I'm really anxious to see how they fare against UVA; we've had some awfully good teams that couldn't beat the 'hoos.

Well at the very least we'll be able to watch a Pannell play again, neh?
I have nothing against interim coach Kerwick. Well, except maybe that coaches from Hobart haven't seemed to have staying power.
What this team needs in rebuilding is a definite sense of commitment from the leadership; as we have in the hockey program.
Kids won't want to dedicate themselves to a program that doesn't have a firm base and a obvious sense of direction.

I wonder what Max Seibald is doing in his free time??

::bang::