[Off-topic] Lacrosse

[jeh25]

Very true. Although, if WV and VT club teams went D1 down the road, I could see Syracuse being pressured to join a Big East Lax conference if BC, Georgetown, Providence, Villanova, Rutgers, etc decided to go that route.

Given the marketing power of the Big East, this could be very good step towards getting a TV deal for lacrosse. Adding a 3rd revenue sport could be just what SU needs to help its' Title IX woes.

[Hillel]

Half-way through the season (calendarwise), and I'm delighted. I admit I was cranky after the 2001 season. Low, low, low expectations. When I learned about Egan's unexplained departure and Scott Lee's broken foot, I began to prepare for something ugly. Butt ugly. Then, as I stood in the rain at halftime of the Georgetown game and pondered the Hoyas numbing shot advantage, I realized that there is something uglier than butt ugly. That first half in Baltimore, brothers and sisters, was the worst half of Cornell lacrosse since Princeton's epic thwacking of Cornell at Schoellkopf back in 1991 (1992?), at the dawn of the Tierney Era. Yeah, yeah, I should've reminded myself that Cynar had been awesome enough in the first half to keep Cornell in the game, and that Cynar's apparent return to form after a mediocre 2001 was a sign of good things to come. But in my head, I had flushed the season down the toilet. There was no hope.

But then I saw something I hadn't seen too much under Tambroni. I saw Cornell come back in the second half to tie the game at 3-3. Yeah, we eventually lost. And it was a whuppin'. But after all the second half collapses of 2001,  this felt ... not bad. Even after the near disaster at Colgate, one began to sense that there was something different about 2002.

Here's a mid-season review.

* An apology to the sophomores. I've dissed last year's freshman class repeatedly. Cornell got almost no production from Tambroni's first crop of recruits in 2001--it seemed like a dud salmon run. Gentlemen of ought-four, I apologize. A bunch of 'em have emerged from near invisibility to become 2002's anchors. My personal favorites: Andrew Collins from Yorktown, a well-rounded attackman; close defender Tim DeBlois from F-M, a polished guy in ground ball situations (something Cornell defenseman other than McClay haven't shown in years). I also like lefty EMO shooting specialist Spoonhower, second line offensive midfielder Rosenberger, and short-stick defense middie Boiardi (see below).

* Ryan McClay is God. What else can you say? It's such a pleasure watching him erase the men he marks. Penn's Scott Solow is one of the most crafty, underrated attackers in the country, but McClay neutralized him like an alkaline bath (don't be fooled by Solow's two assists). And I hate to think about clears in a world without McClay.

* Yoots. You gotta love how young this team is. The freshmen look good. Combine 'em with the sophs listed above, and you get 60 percent of Cornell's goals. Greenhalgh is so composed when he gets the ball near the crease. A fantastic finisher. And I thought Nelson would be the guy to emerge from the Gilman clutch (his time will come), but it's Redd. A smooth, deadly middie.

* Defensive mids. By now most Cornell lax fans have grown to appreciate All-American senior long-stick middie Josh Heller. More great play from him, of course. But I've been really impressed with the play of the short-stick defensive midfielders. They've been huge contributors to the waterfastness of Cornell's team D. George Boiardi deserves props for making the difficult transition from defenseman to the short stick.

* Senior Billy Fort is like a young John Randle. He's a small man, but he revs high and plays the with ferocity of a hungry shrew. It's contagious. Fort must lead the Ivies in rug burns. His early goal against Penn, when he stole the ball from Kelly and fired it into the net from about 30 yards away, reminded me of the late Eamon McEneaney (I hope they've created an award named after the Demon--Fort should get it). It set the tone for the game. Like Boiardi, Fort also has made a seamless position change.

Throw in a great face off percentage thanks to another solid year from Sollogg (relieved on occasion by Nelson), and you get optimism accelerating from 0 to 60 in about three weeks. Not bad at all. This is a most enjoyable team, and they deserve bigger crowds. I can't make it, but I hope everybody will show up for the Syracuse game, and then continue coming for the rest of they year.

So what now? I'm so cowed by last year that I can't get myself to believe that Cornell could qualify for the playoffs in this cruel 12-team-tournament world. I just don't think it's realistic. I'm still concerned about some weak second half performances. I still fear Brown. And Princeton's thumping of Penn should remind everybody that they're still the best team in the league. I think Cornell will finish with at least three losses and miss the tourney by a hair or two. But this feels right, doesn't it? Tambroni seems to be landing some good CNY talent (West Genny's Conklin and maybe Henninger's D'Arrigo), and I'm looking forward to a better world to come when they let 16 teams into the NCAAs. Bring it on.

[Al DeFlorio]

Thank you, Hillel, for an amazingly thorough assessment.  I'll get my first view of this year's team Saturday at Harvard, barring a monsoon.

Someone posted earlier today on LaxPower Forum that, in the case of a three-way tie for the Ivy League title, the NCAA tournament berth is determined by drawing one of the three from a hat! ::uhoh::  Said this was mentioned in the Trenton newspaper's account of the Princeton-Penn game.

[jason]

Al,
I saw that draw from the hat comment in the following writeup of the game (which may be the newspaper article you mentioned copied to the web). That would be awful. I don't care what sort of minutia you use as a tiebreaker criteria (goal differential? total goals against teams tied? etc.), as long as you have a few somewhat rational ones before resorting to rock-paper-scissors.

www.360lacrosse.com/Lacrosse360.cfm?pid=2&ct=game_display1.cfm&game_id=7749&display_yr=2002

[littleredfan]

what is this...the e-Schoellkopf forum? but no serious i am loving the lax coverage...but let me say again what everyone is thinking....the hockey offseason SUCKS

[jtwcornell91]

Clearly, they should take a lead from Ivy basketball and have a knockout tournament among the co-champions, to be held at the Carrier Dome. :-)

[KeithK]

All tiebreakers based on stats and minutia are terrible.  Things should be decided on the field.  If you don't play a tiebreaking game then everything is equally bad.

Note: Tiebreakers in the NFL can make it a coin toss...

[DeltaOne81]

what is this...the e-Schoellkopf forum? but no serious i am loving the lax coverage...but let me say again what everyone is thinking....the hockey offseason SUCKS

Technically, it's not the off-season yet :-D
or should that be a :`( ?

[Dave \'02]

Technically Cornell doesn't play any more hockey games this season, so it IS the off-season, unfortunately it just started earlier than at 4 other schools.

[jtwcornell91]

Just about every tiebreaking scheme ends with "coin toss", but in most systems it's statistically implausible to get to that stage.  (For instance, the last version of the NFL tiebreakers I've seen requires that two different "net points" tiebreakers and "strength of schedule" (which I think is average opponents' winning percentage) be tied before it gets to a coin toss.)  The ECAC doesn't admit that the last step is a coin toss, presumably because no one expects all three net goals tiebreakers to be tied.

[Al DeFlorio]

The old Big Ten Rose Bowl tiebreaker was interesting:  the team that had been to the Rose Bowl more recently stayed home. ::yark::

Might be better than a coin toss.

[CowbellGuy]

Well, with the ice having been melted last night, it's as hockey-off-season as it gets around here :-/

[jtwcornell91]

Al DeFlorio wrote:

The old Big Ten Rose Bowl tiebreaker was interesting:  the team that had been to the Rose Bowl more recently stayed home. ::yark::

Actually, I kinda liked that one.  Unambiguous, and it shares the wealth around the conference.  Of course, any tiebreaker is dubious in the Big 11, where some teams don't play each other, so you could go undefeated in the conference and still not reap the rewards of the conference champion.  (So some teams do not control their own destiny at the start of the season.)

[Al DeFlorio]

Agree on all counts.  Beats a coin flip.

[Lowell '99]

...or the lack thereof, is one of many reasons why baseball is the greatest sport.  Point me towards the e-Shea forum  :-D

I don't mean that last part.  If there was a a forum that discussed baseball half as intelligently as this one discusses hockey, I'd be all over it.  Alas, I have not found it.

Let's Go Mets!