[Lax] Brown home finale

[Hillel]

I've dreaded this game for months. I've been hoping it wouldn't matter. But it does. Pretty simple: We lose, we're out. Add to that the usual butterflies of senior day (more below). Then throw in the post-game retirement of 9/11 victim Eamon McEneaney's number 10. Presto, you get the most emotionally intense regular season home game since... since... the bleepin' eighties? No, maybe ever. And I'm not exaggerating.

Don't be fooled by Brown's .500 record, their youth, or their odd habit of choking in the fourth quarter (as many of you know, they've lost late leads in nearly two-thirds of their games this season). And don't be fooled by the fact that they lead the nation in guys called "Chas" either (snort!). This team is dangerous. They're deep, and they're loaded with accurate shooters. And they're as desparate to win as we'll be. Unlike Cornell, they control their own destiny--if they win out, they earn the Ivy League's AQ.

IMO, the guy who could be the key to this game is senior long-stick middie Josh Heller. I wouldn't be surprised if he often ends up matched up with Brown's brilliant and volatile senior middie/attackman Jimmy Mormile. In Brown's only bad loss of the season, a 16-6 pasting at Georgetown, the Hoya's fab LSM Kyle Sweeney--perhaps the only LSM in the nation better than Heller--manhandled Mormile early, and Mormile lost it. Bonkers. Brown never seemed to regroup after their co-captain's meltdown. The other key, of course, is preying on their psychological fragility in the 4th quarter. If Cornell goes on a run late, it's gotta get in Bruno's head.

Even if we beat Brown, Hobart scares me too. Want to see lax pushed to the edge of sanity? Check out their freshman Nate Hill.

I won't be there to holler, so here are a few words of praise to this year's seniors. I like this class. No golden boys or HS All-Americans here. All they did was lead Cornell to their first NCAA playoff appearance in a mess of years back in 2000. A bunch of 'em played hurt for most of '02: Fort, Sollogg, and Lee, to name a few. I have no idea how Fort and Sollogg have held it together. I am a card-carrying member of the Cult of Fort. He is True Grit. Blue-collar defenseman, co-captain, and Xth-year senior Brandon Hall came back after two years off for his Mormom mission. Attackman Colin Crawford works like a dog, gets few minutes, but has improved every year. Galen Beers makes me crazy--he's Cornell's equivalent of World B. Free--but even Beers has adjusted his game and stepped out of the spotlight (now and then) for the benefit of the team. Josh Heller is one of the best in the nation. And then there's Justin Cynar. It's hard to play in your big brother's league. It's even harder to do so when you're always cleaning up your own team's messes, as Justin did as an underclassman. But the hardest thing of all is living up to high expectations. I would hate to be a pre-season first-team All-American. Nope, '01 and '02 haven't been the smoothest years for Cynar, but he might still save this team. Even if he doesn't, I think he goes down as one of Cornell's best ever. Thank you, gentlemen.

[Al DeFlorio]

Well said, Hillel.

While Brown may be guilty of a number of fourth quarter meltdowns this year, let's not forget they rallied from a 6-2 halftime deficit last year to beat Cornell in OT and wipe out any slim chance we had of a dance ticket.  So "meltdown" may be in the back of both teams' minds Saturday.

Big game.  We'd better come ready to play.

[Ben Doyle 03]

Hey guys, I can tell you from personal experience that any lacrosse team coached by Scott Nelson is a dangerous one (I played for him @ Nazareth for a year before coming to Cornell) . He is a master of getting the most out of his talent and let me tell ya, he doesn't just find talent, he makes it! This guy is in the second year of building this program into a national power. . .laugh now if you must (not people here but in general), mark my words, Brown will be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come. Heck, they are RIGHT NOW! Losses to Umass by 1, Loyola by 2, and Syracuse by 1 in OT. . .when this team starts making the bounces go their way, they will be THAT good!!! They have a goalie who, again, I have played against in high school and he is as good as Justin (probably better). . .the rest of the team is just a bunch of "blue collar" workers like the RED and we know those teams cause trouble ;-). We must take this Brown squad very, very seriously!!! Gone are the days of "Round the bowl...down the hole...if it's Brown...flush it down." The boys have to be up for this game, as high as they were for the Syracuse game earlier in the year, possibly higher, b/c now an at-large is our only shot into the NCAA's and we HAVE to win out for that to happen.

Let's go boys. . .time to beat the brown stuff out of the Bears!!!
LGR!!!!!

[jtwcornell91]

Ben '03 wrote:

Gone are the days of "Round the bowl...down the hole...if it's Brown...flush it down."

Good, because that's actually a combination of two cheers: "Around the bowl, down the hole, go, Brown, go!" and "If it's Brown, flush it down!"  It annoys me that people have mixed those two up.

now an at-large is our only shot into the NCAA's and we HAVE to win out for that to happen.

Not necessarily.  We can still win the Ivy AQ if we beat Brown and Brown or Dartmouth beat Princeton.  Unfortunately, for that to happen, we have to take away most of Brown's incentive to beat Princeton...

[Beeeej]

Hardly!  We only have to look to last season to see Brown enjoying the role of Spoiler.

Beeeej

[Adam \'04]

Notice the big IF!!! IF is not only limited to Cornell, but three other teams. I think one should try to control his destiny. IF one depends on others misfortune they are bound for disappointment. Let us not anticipate the IF .::rolleyes::

[Adam \'04]

Sorry Beeeej. You posted just before I did. JTW, that was directed at you.

[jtwcornell91]

I wasn't saying we should bank on an Ivy title, I was just pointing out that the statment that an at-large bid was our only shot was not true.  At any rate, we need to beat Brown to have any shot at the Ivy AQ, and conventional wisdom seems to be that the only way we can get an at-large bid is by winning out, so no matter how you look at it, Saturday's is a "must win" game.

[Ben Doyle 03]

Yes, JTW you are right. . .I was merely saying that we have control of our own destiny and we need not let that opportunity slip away. I am aware that an Ivy AQ is still a possibility (unlikely but possible) but in reality we cannot be dependent upon the outcomes of other games. It's simple, we win out and we should get in (either an AQ or an at-large). . .if we don't we're stayin' home.

LGR!!!!

[zg88]

Game notes:

http://cornellbigred.fansonly.com/sports/m-lacros/spec-rel/042602aaa.html

[jtwcornell91]

Ben '03 wrote:

It's simple, we win out and we should get in (either an AQ or an at-large). . .if we don't we're stayin' home.

Again, not strictly true.  If we lose to Brown we're probably stayin' home, although I'm not prepared to make any firm predictions about lacrosse tournament selections.  If we beat Brown and Princeton falters, we get the AQ regardless of the outcome of the Hobart game.

[Ben Doyle 03]

JTW. . .quotes have contexts, please stop taking mine out them:

"I was merely saying that we have control of our own destiny and we need not let that opportunity slip away. I am aware that an Ivy AQ is still a possibility (unlikely but possible) but in reality we cannot be dependent upon the outcomes of other games."

 I was not talking about who wins/loses OTHER games. B/c honestly we CANNOT worry about those games (PERIOD).

to summarize. . .WE WIN OUT, WE GO TO THE TOURNAMENT. . .WE LOSE, WE PROBABLY STAY HOME

[ugarte]

You said "an at-large bid is our only shot."  That isn't necessarily true.  You said "if we don't [win out] we're stayin' home" That isn't necessarily true either.  Both times JTW corrected you; both times he was right.  It's a free country, so you can get pissy if you want to, but JTW didn't take your quotes out of context.  From what I can tell, the "context" you think he keeps missing is "it is important to keep winning". True enough, but that doesn't make the statements you make in service of that point accurate.

Maybe JTW is being excessively pedantic, but rah rah bullshit about how we shouldn't rely on games beyond our control is hardly the point.  JTW wants Cornell to win out and I'm sure that he agrees that Cornell should win out to remove all doubt about qualifying. He merely pointed out that it isn't necessary that Cornell do so to qualify for the NCAA's. Get off his back.

[Ben Doyle 03]

Cranky bastard '71, I mean big red apple,

 ::uhoh::  ::uhoh:: rah rah bullshit, rah rah bullshit, rah rah bullshit, rah rah bullshit, rah rah bullshit, rah rah bullshit, rah rah bullshit, rah rah bullshit, rah rah bullshit, rah rah bullshit, rah rah bullshit, rah rah bullshit. . .oh I'm sorry I'm going to the game now. ::uhoh::  ::uhoh::

:-)Have a wonderful day fine fellow. . .:-)

[jtwcornell91]

You'll have to forgive us scientists (and lawyers) for placing so much emphasis on precision in writing.  Pedantry is something of an occupational hazard.