[Lax] Syracuse @ Cornell, 4/9

[Beeeej]

Audio feed seems to be working just fine.  Heading for #Lynah now.

Beeeej

[Beeeej]

Cornell is currently up 5-2 in the first quarter.

Beeeej

[Beeeej]

6-6 tie at halftime.

Beeeej

[Rich Shapiro]

15-11 CU -- Final!

[tml5]

In case anyone cares:

I'd been meaning to go to a lax game for years, and just never got around to it.  Hey, I had a sport of my own to worry about in the spring.  

Anyway, one of my students is on the team, and he emailed me about missing class last week for a road game, and told me to go check out the game.  On his assertion that "it's gonna be great," and the fact that it's #1 Syracuse, I figured I'd go watch.

I was getting ready to head out when I noticed the rain.  So I hit the audio feed.  Cornell scored.  1-0.  Syracuse tied it.  I got my act together and called a friend to see if he still wanted to go.  Cornell scored.  And scored again.  Screw this, I thought, I'm going (my friend never made it - sucker).

I managed to miss all of Cornell's first quarter goals - the sixth was scored as I was walking up to my seats under the crescent, and I got a nice complex about being the Big Red Bad Luck Charm as Syracuse erased the lead by seemingly winning all the ground balls and faceoffs, and generally controlling the ball in the offensive end (attack zone? or is that only inside the marker 20 yards away from the goal?).  Anyone who knows the game care to tell me what actually happened?

Second half was fabulous.  It seemed to me that Syracuse made some mistakes in the third and Cornell capitalized, and then Cornell made more big plays and took care of the ball better (especially on faceoffs) than the Orangemen.  Am I way wrong on that?  At this point I'll leave the real analysis to people who know something about the game.    

Lacrosse is a really cool game.  I read up on most of the rules this afternoon so I could have half a clue what was going on, but that doesn't help with strategies and defensive positioning (which seemed downright bizarre to me at times).  It also doesn't help me distinguish between good defense and dumb offense (and vice versa).  Even so, I know enough about sports to understand the importance of ball control, getting to loose balls, winning faceoffs, and working laterally across the field to set up better scoring opportunities while avoiding bad turnovers.  That, and 26 goals combined makes for quite a lot of excitement for the totally uninitiated.

Anyway, I'm glad I went, and the rain wasn't that bad.  Anyone who can make it to a game should do so.  I think the next home game is Saturday at 1 against Dartmouth - that's the way the announcer made it sound, anyway.  I'm now a lax fan.  Maybe in a few years I'll know what's going on.  

[tml5]

One question - anyone know what happened on the Cornell offsides that wasn't?  I had no idea what was going on, but all of a sudden Cornell had the ball and the Syracuse coach was going ballistic.

[Al DeFlorio]

According to the radio announcer, a Cornell player was coming onto the field behind the official who made the call, and therefore wasn't seen by him when he counted players on that half of the field.  Another official corrected him.

[Al DeFlorio]

If the radio announcers had it right, Ryan McClay held Syracuse's top goal-scorer and 2001 first-team All-American, Josh Coffman, without a goal today (and apparently just one assist).  Coffman was recently added to the US  team (where he will join McClay) which will play in the world tournament in Australia this July.

Sean Greenhalgh had six goals on seven shots.  Does he get good position or what?

Helluvan effort by both.

[Ken71]

It was WET.
It was WINDY.
It was a great win against a pretty talented team.

The wet turf caused some falls, but it's SO much better than the rainy games on Alumni Fields were, way back when...  I got soaked but took a strange satisfaction in watching how well the water drained off at the edge of the fields.

From my perspective the biggest difference in the game was the two goalies - Justin was excellent.

Let's Go RED!

Ken '71

[Jordan 04]

From my perspective the biggest difference in the game was the two goalies - Justin was excellent.

'Cuse had a goalie?  ::twitch::

[Al DeFlorio]

Well, one of our shots hit his shoe, so I guess he was there in the crease. ::help::

[Al DeFlorio]

http://www.syracuse.com/sports/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1018431960234545.xml

http://www.syracuse.com/sports/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1018431962234546.xml

[Al DeFlorio]

Virtually a play-by-play--well, for most of the game--with a pro-Orange bias, IMHO:

http://www.lax.com/stories/808

[ugarte]

I don't know if I would call it a pro-Orange bias; more of a rooting interest.  The article read as if it was written by a Syracuse fan that wanted a Syracuse W - but it gave Cornell its due throughout.  References to Cornell stalling appeared more matter-of-fact than critical.  And it clearly read as though Cornell kicked ass, not that Cornell escaped with a lucky win.

Congrats, Big Red.  Another huge win, and now, almost certainly another NCAA bid.

Between polo, women's hoops, wrestling, hockey and lacrosse, 01-02 is the best year for Cornell sports that I can remember in a long time.

[By the way, I made reference in an earlier thread to being "drilled" by Georgetown.  I had transposed [in my head] the scores of our early season wins over UMCB and Canisius with our loss to Georgetown.  We didn't get drilled, and to whoever mentioned that the loss doesn't look so bad on reflection: I agree.  And if I only started to write about getting "drilled" and never actually posted it, then this is just an embarrassing ramble.  ::nut:: ]

[jason]

Agreed. If only football had had a better season this would unquestionably be the best showing in my mind by Cornell sports since my watch began (91-92). I tuned into the web audio last night for the Syracuse while stuck at work and I was all butterflies. When Cornell scored their 15th goal I let out a quite audible "Yes!"; fortunately my floor was mostly deserted so only a few co-workers think I'm insane. :-P Here's hoping that Cornell can prevail against Dartmouth to set up a huge matchup with Princeton on the 20th (a game I hope to attend if I can reschedule a conflict). Anyone else planning on being at the Princeton game? (Except for meeting Big Red Apple once years ago I don't believe I've met anyone on this board (and I had a prime opportunity at Worcester but not knowing what anyone on this board looks like I was too bashful to go to the Cornell area and start yelling out people's name in hopes of finding someone ::help:: )).