LAX: Cornell-Duke NCAA postmortem

[billhoward]

Cornell forgot to show up for the third period, Duke's magnificent attack was magnificent, and that's all she wrote: 11-8 Duke over Cornell and a trip to the semis for the Dookies that has now eluded Cornell all three times it made the round of eight the last four years.

If, if, if:

- Cornell had tied it a 4 going into halftime rather than being down 4-3 ...

- If we'd done a little better knocking the wind out of attackman Matt Danowski's sails

- The Duke Q3 blowout was 5 goals to 0, not 7 to 0 ...

- Cornell had gone to emergency war status with about five minutes to play in the third quarter, not with the fourth quarter faceoff.

Cornell in the fourth quarter was awesome to behold. Cornell apparently realized if you couldn't get the human cannons open (Boulukos) for a powerful shot, take the shot anyway when you are kind of sort of open. And damn, the puck -- sorry, wrong sport -- ball went in. We couldn't get the perfect shot often enough in the first three quarters, but the good enough shot went in just about every time in the fourth. It wasn't textbook lacrosse, but it did net us five goals in 15 minutes. I think just about everybody realized an eight-goal deficit was too much to overcome, but Cornell had Duke a little panicky as the margin dropped and dropped again.

Miscellany: Cornell band was way better than the Duke band (what Duke band) ... huge Cornell turnout and many of the fans wearing "21 BOIARDI" shirts ... can it be more Cornell fans attend away lax games? ... [edit adding:] Princeton Stadium looked so full because all the fans were made to sit on one side, the side facing into the sun but also into the TV cameras. (Nobody on the other side, or in the base of the U.)

Not a happy ending to the season, but a lot more upbeat than you'd think considering the narrow victory over Notre Dame and the losses to Army and UNC that started off 2005. Too bad the senior class is moving on. The incoming freshmen have a lot to do. With luck it won't be like Princeton's 2004 to 2005 falloff.

[dadeo]

Yea - just got back from the game.  Two interesting things.  Cornell didn't score in periods 1 or 3.  Duke scored one goal in period 2 and none?? in period 4.  

So as it turned out 18 of the 19 goals scored during the match were in one end of the stadium.  Very wierd.

Everything was wierd.  Especially that 3 minute penalty against Maryland at the end of regulation.  (did anyone catch what was wrong with teh guy's stick anyway?)

Dave '02

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

I think the basket in the stick was too deep.  What I didn't understand was why the stick penalty in the case of Maryland was 3 minute non-releasable, while the Duke stick penalty was 1 minute releasable.

My impression of our game.  Duke is FAST!  We had to play the control game, but had real problems on the clear, which caught up to us in the third.  Plus Duke's goalie had a real fast stick and our deliberate attack gave him plenty of time to get set.

Duke caught an early break or two - like on that first goal where the ball bounced out of McMonagle's crosse right into the Duke guys stick.  Then we settled down into our ball control game, and came back to get within one.  But it was clear that Duke was faster and always seemed to be in the way of our passes.  We couldn't get anything into the slot.  Even so, I though of the first half as a moral victory.

Second half comes, Duke scores two quick ones, and we get sloppy.   A couple of unnecessary roughness calls go against us.   Duke scores a couple more, and we start to panic.  We start throwing the ball downfield instead of carrying it.  This makes us even sloppier.  Our defense gets out of position, McMonagle is left at the mercy of the Duke offense and he gets hammered.  All of a sudden it's 11-3.  The crowd is out of it.

Fourth quarter comes, McMonagle makes a couple key saves and we get back to our game.  We also win a few face-offs.  Problem is, we are still slower than Duke and can't make the fast break game work well.  So we have to play a deliberate attack game, which is clearly productive, but it takes too long to score.  One stop by Duke's goalie and they burn 1:30 off the clock and that kills the rally.

The officiating in our game was much tighter than in the early game.  I also think the officiating in the early game was much better than in our game.  The officials in our game missed a couple of offsides, and didn't allow nearly as much hitting, which favored Duke and their speed.  

Overall, Duke was clearly the superior team, but other than the third quarter, we held our own.  I think if we had opened up the offense a bit more, Duke's gaolie might not have had as much time to get set, and the result might have been different, but that's 20-20 hindsight.

[Jim Hyla]

[Q]Jeff Hopkins '82 Wrote: I think the basket in the stick was too deep.  What I didn't understand was why the stick penalty in the case of Maryland was 3 minute non-releasable, while the Duke stick penalty was 1 minute releasable.[/q]I think because the ball would not fall out, they ruled tampering with the stick (deliberate) as opposed to the strings loosening.

[ugarte]

[Q]Jim Hyla Wrote:

 [Q2]Jeff Hopkins '82 Wrote: I think the basket in the stick was too deep.  What I didn't understand was why the stick penalty in the case of Maryland was 3 minute non-releasable, while the Duke stick penalty was 1 minute releasable.[/Q]
I think because the ball would not fall out, they ruled tampering with the stick (deliberate) as opposed to the strings loosening.[/q]Thanks. I was wondering that also. Minor nitpick on the question. The Duke penalty was a one minute non-releasable.

[DeltaOne81]

[Q]Jeff Hopkins '82 Wrote:

 I think the basket in the stick was too deep.[/q]
This may be 6 of one, half a dozen of another, but according to the TV guys and what was clearly going on the field, it didn't have to do with depth per say, but when the stick was turned upside down, the ball just stayed in it. The ball must "flow freely from the pocket" when turned over.

The ref took a minute to measure the length, width, depth, and seem to have no concerns, he was about to let the guy off, turned the stick upside down for his last test... and the ball didn't go anywhere. He laughed cause I'm sure he felt bad, but there's nothing he could do. Plain as day, the ball just stuck in an upside down stick.

[ben03]

all stick penalties, whether one minute or three, are non-releasable.

[Hillel Hoffmann]

I hate it when lacrosse season ends. For people like me who aren't baseball fans, the end of lax means the beginning of the Time of Gray Nothingness until fall.

It's even sadder this spring, because we won't be seeing this group of seniors in Cornell uniforms again.

Wasn't Duke impressive? The complete package. Their defense took Cornell's attack and offensive middies out of their game, and their riding was superb. McDevitt, one of the growing bunch of Delaware Valley guys who are kicking butt on the national scene, was nearly flawless. Danowski is so assertive, and Greer finishes everything that ends up near him. You put a good FO guy like Georgetown's Andy Corno on that team, and they'd be invincible.

So the first half answered the "will CU take the air out of the ball?" question. Take away a few of the stupid early turnovers, and it worked pretty well: Spread the field waaaaaay out, milk every possession, take advantage of whatever few fast-break opportunities you get, keep it close at halftime.

But then the refs had to go out and blow the whistle to start the third quarter.

The comeback in the fourth quarter was wonderful to see, but it shouldn't obscure the fact that many of Cornell's veterans lost their cool at least once during this game. I had hoped that Cornell's experience might be a decisive factor. Nope. In this game, it was the mental toughness of Duke's underclassmen that made the difference. Example: Even when Cornell was slowing the game down in the first half (as Maryland did in the ACC championship), not once did I see any obvious signs of frustration from Duke's freshmen or sophomores. Contrast that with, say, Boulukos' body language in the third quarter -- or his unnecessary roughness penalty at the near sideline.

A big thank you to the seniors, the coaching staff, the parents, the band, and all the alumni who showed up (including a horde of former players ... I even met a childhood hero, Mike French). I hope the team took some comfort in the embrace of that crowd. They deserved it.

It was also nice to meet a few iconic eLynah folks, including John Whelan and Josh Herman.

L'shanah haba'ah biPhiladelphia. Next year at the Linc!

[Hillel Hoffmann]

[Q]dadeo Wrote: what was wrong with teh guy's stick anyway?) [/q]
When you see the ball stuck in the head like that, it's usually the attenuated plastic sidewalls more than the depth of the pocket. The heads on contemporary crosses are so pinched as they approach the neck -- it's a wonder the ball ever falls out.

That was high drama, wasn't it? The ref really made a show of holding the stick upside down. It was wild to see the players react.

[ugarte]

[Q]billhoward Wrote:
If, if, if:

- Cornell had tied it a 4 going into halftime rather than being down 4-3 ... [/q]This and the other "ifs" - and particularly when combined with them - are like "if everything about the game were different." We might as well just start with "if we were better than Duke."

Our offense was a bit of an illusion. In the second period two of our three goals were on the power play (why don't they just call it that?) and we gave up a transition shorty in the middle. The scoring in the 4th was closing the barn door after the horse was gone. I don't think Duke was at all worried about blowing an 8 goal lead and powered down to avoid injury. We were beaten by a superior team; I'm not ashamed of the result or lamenting anything that might have been.

As opposed to the Minnesota game.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

[Q]ugarte Wrote:

 [Q2]Jim Hyla Wrote:

 [Q2]Jeff Hopkins '82 Wrote: I think the basket in the stick was too deep.  What I didn't understand was why the stick penalty in the case of Maryland was 3 minute non-releasable, while the Duke stick penalty was 1 minute releasable.[/Q]
I think because the ball would not fall out, they ruled tampering with the stick (deliberate) as opposed to the strings loosening.[/Q]
Thanks. I was wondering that also. Minor nitpick on the question. The Duke penalty was a one minute non-releasable.[/q]

Yes, you're correct.  Typing error on my part (I forgot to type "non-"  ::rolleyes::

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

I was kind of disappointed in our offense.  I'd been reading so much about Nee and Greenhalgh, and they really weren't nearly as dominant as I expected them to be.  But as Senor Ugarte said, nothing to be ashamed of.

One other thing.  I went to the game with a friend of mine (unfortunately a Duke fan).  She was very impressed with the class of the team, especially when our guys took their helmets off and saluted the fans, and the class of the fans, sticking around until the end and not leaving after the third quarter.

[FRED\'83]

Did anyone watch the Saturday games on TV? The color commentator was none other than Cornell All- American goalie Brian Heyward. I thought he did a really good job and was hoping he’d do the Cornell game but I’m a little biased. He was a really good box lax player in his day.

[ugarte]

[Q]Jeff Hopkins '82 Wrote: I was kind of disappointed in our offense.  I'd been reading so much about Nee and Greenhalgh, and they really weren't nearly as dominant as I expected them to be. [/q]I'm comfortable crediting this to Duke. Their D was smothering and kept us way out of range. Their goalie - until the fourth - was amazing.

(Edited becuase I realized how awkwardly my post read when Hillel quoted it.)

[Hillel Hoffmann]

[Q]ugarte Wrote:

 [Q2]Jeff Hopkins '82 Wrote: I was kind of disappointed in our offense.  I'd been reading so much about Nee and Greenhalgh, and they really weren't nearly as dominant as I expected them to be. [/Q]
I'm comfortable crediting this to Duke. Their D was smothering and kept us way out of range their goalie - until the fourth - was amazing.[/q]
Yeah, I think ugarte is right. Until yesterday, no team had been able to contain all four of Cornell's big offensive weapons (Greenhalgh, Nee, Boulukos, Redd). Normally, you'd hope that one of the other guys who ends up with a short stick defender on him -- like maybe Clayton -- can take advantage and do enough damage so that the long poles need to make adjustments that free up the big guns. But Clayton was stymied by Duke's excellent SSDMs.