Secret Agent Man
I had a busy weekend as I was at West Point on Friday for NY Tech-Pace and in Yale on Sunday for their game against Quinnipiac. I ran down the NYT-Pace lineups on the message boards, and I'll list them here as well as those for the Bulldogs and Bobcats. I'll also go through Virginia's lineup, as I promised in my last column, and add some comments about all these teams.
In that column I also semi-jokingly asked who was going to list the lineups for some of the top D1 teams that I won't see this year unless I catch them in the playoffs, like Navy, Loyola, and Georgetown. I'd also like to hear who's playing so well for Rutgers, but I will definitely get to at least one of their games to see for myself.
I saw the Maryland Terps for myself this weekend too, as I was in Stony Brook on Saturday, but not before I received a report on the Terps from Secret Agent Matnum P.I., who attended their game against Bucknell. I'll start off with Matnum's story, then add the rest of the Terps' lineup as I saw their entire depth chart on the field when they had a comfortable lead on Saturday. Here's what Matnum had to say about the Terps (PS - Matnum, we need Navy's lineup):
Despite Bucknell being tied at 6 after the first quarter, down by 1 at the half, and down by 2 at the end of the third quarter, the Bisons were never really in the game. The only way I can describe the tone of the game is to explain how excited the Bisons were at the end of the third quarter when they were only down by 2. They were literally jumping on top of each other. They seemed happy to not be embarrassed. As a consequence, the Terps played some pretty lackluster lacrosse.
The Terps defense was pretty impressive. Sloppy at times, but impressive. The corps of Dan McCormick in goal and Chris Passavia, Lee Zink, and Mike Howley is solid. And, of this impressive group, the stand-out player has to be Passavia. He well deserved his First Team pre-season All-America selection and should give Cornell's Ryan McClay a nice challenge for the best D-man in the NCAA. Brett Harper with a long pole, Paul Gillette with a short, and a plethora of other players played the three defensive midfield positions. Harper and Gillette are solid, and the third spot is very much up-for-grabs.
A large percentage of Bucknell's goals came from taking advantage of this weak link in the Terps defensive chain. The Terps transition game is solid, and they seem to have their face-off situation relatively under control. It does bear mentioning that after the first middie line, the Terps midfield gets "shaky." And, at times, even the first line with names like Mike Mollot, Willy Passavia, and Ryan Moran seemed less than solid.
The second midfield is slow, while the third midfield, which is an all-freshman line, looks like ... an all-freshman line. Coach Cottle was trying different combinations, and I would imagine by mid-season or earlier, the lines will be more stable. Freshman middie and 2003 US Men's Under-19 player, Bill McGlone, ran with pretty much every line from the first through the third and looked like he'll "find a spot" pretty soon.
The attack combination of Brian Hunt, Joe Walters, and Dan LaMonica is solid, yet there is very little depth on attack if any of these players get injured. Matt Urlock is a senior attack-man who gets playing time with the man-up unit. Also, Moran played some attack, but considering he's also a first line middie and the Terps face-off man, this is not such a strong option. Quite frankly, without Yale-transfer Hunt and freshman Walters, the Terps would be in huge trouble. But Cottle does have Hunt and Walters, and they are both very nice players. Do not be surprised if second team pre-season All-American, LaMonica, is "outshone" by the two newcomers. Here's the lineup:
MarylandA --- 2 Brian Hunt , 15 Joe Walters , 11 Dan LaMonica
M --- 1 Mike Mollot , 28 Willy Passavia, 34 Ryan Moran
M2 -- 4 Ian Healy , 22 Justin Smith , 33 Jamie Daue
M3 -- 39 Bill McGlone , 10 Brendan Healy , 27 Matt Brock
D --- 29 Lee Zink , 44 Chris Passavia, 42 Mike Howley
G --- 3 Danny McCormick
F --- 34 Ryan Moran , 30 Jim Sbarra , 35 Jeremy Pastula
LSM - 31 Brett Harper , 8 Frank Luciano , 6 Drew Virk
DM -- 18 Paul Gillette, 14 Alex Melzer , 32 Joe Parker
A2 -- 5 J.R. Bordley , 38 Andrew Schwartzman
M4 -- 25 Sean Leary , 32 Joe Parker , 12 Peter Ellis
D2 -- 8 Frank Luciano , 24 Dave Wagner
F/O ---- Consistently it was Harper with a long stick and Gillette with a short on the wings. Moran, Sbarra, and Pastula split the face-off duties. Today, Moran won 10 of 12 face-offs while the rest of the guys were hovering in the .500 range or less. With this said, thus far this season, Pastula has been dominating the face-offs.Capt's - Harper, Howley, McCormick, Mollot, Moran
Man Up - Walters side left, LaMonica back center, Urlock side right
W. Passavia top left, Mollot Crease , Moran top right
They switched around a few times as any top team would do, but this was their main formation.
Man Down - Zink, Passavia, Howley, Luciano, and Gillette. Wagner shifted in when one of these D-men had the penalty.
So that's what Matnum had to say. Here's the lineup I saw on Saturday against the Seawolves:
MarylandA --- 2 Brian Hunt , 11 Dan LaMonica , 15 Joe Walters
M --- 1 Mike Mollot , 28 Willy Passavia , 34 Ryan Moran
D --- 29 Lee Zink , 42 Mike Howley , 44 Chris Passavia,
G --- 3 Dan McCormick , 7 T.C. Behm , 37 Teddy Murphy
F/O - 34 Ryan Moran , 35 Jeremy Pastula , 30 Jim Sbarra
LSM - 31 Brett Harper , 45 Tyler Hereth - a lefty
DM -- 18 Paul Gillette , 14 Alex Melzer
A2 -- 5 J.R. Bordley , 17 Matt Urlock , 38 Andrew Schwartzman
A3 -- 16 Mike Hartofilis, 23 Bret Caretsky , 41 Dave Matz
M2 -- 4 Ian Healy , 22 Justin Smith , 33 Jamie Daue , 27 Matt Brock
M3 -- 10 Brendan Healy , 27 Matt Brock , 39 Bill McGlone, 25 Sean Leary
M4 -- 12 Peter Ellis , 25 Sean Leary , 32 Joe Parker , 41 Dave Matz
DM2 - 6 Drew Virk , 32 Joe Parker
DM3 - 30 Jim Sbarra , 40 Ryan Lang , 12 Peter Ellis
D2 -- 8 Frank Luciano , 9 Gavin Webb , 24 Dave Wagner
FO2 - 6 Drew Virk , 20 David Tamberrino
Harper and Gillette were on the F/O wings until the reserves went in. Gillette and Melzer also played when they cleared with 4 middies. Brock ran a few times on the second mid, Leary a few times on the third, Matz once or twice on the 4th.
The Terps went through 3 EMO's; here they are:Man Up - W. Passavia top left, Mollot crease , Moran top right
Walters side left, LaMonica back center, Urlock side right
Second ---- McGlone top left, Brock crease , Daue top right
Schwartzman side left, Hunt back center, Smith side right
Third ------ Leary top left, B Healy top center, Matz top right
Caretsky side left, Bordley crease , Ellis side right
Caretsky & Bordley switched back & forth from the hole to side left
Man Down - Zink, Passavia, Howley, Luciano, Gillette
Wagner came in when Zink got a penalty and Harper when Passavia did
ManDown2 - Luciano, Webb , Wagner, Hereth , Melzer
The Terps showed me pretty much everything I expected.
Maryland
They are a very strong team with a lot of depth and great athletes who absolutely belong ranked in the Top 5 in the nation. They are capable of beating any team in the country as long as their first stringers stay healthy. The reserves are good players but not quite the caliber of the first stringers of Syracuse, Virginia, Johns Hopkins, and Princeton.
Moran and Passavia were standouts for the time they played, as Maryland ran the score to 15-1 less than two minutes into the second half. Stony Brook looked like they were wisely trying to stay away from the Terps' close D, but the DMid of Harper, Gillette, and Melzer were outstanding also. Mollot likes to sneak feeds from up top to Hunt in the crease. They scored twice that way in the first quarter, and Mollot had 1-4 in the first half.
The reserve middies chipped in well also, as each of the top 3 members of the second mid (I Healy, Smith, and Brock) had two goals as did 3rd/4th middie Leary and reserve attackman Schwartzman. I didn't see a weakness in the Terps lineup; they'll be making some big noise in the playoffs and are plenty mad that they missed out last year because of four 1-goal losses.
Now to Virginia. Here's the lineup:
VirginiaA --- 2 John Christmas, 14 Matt Ward , 42 Joe Yevoli
M --- 8 A.J. Shannon , 11 Kyle Dixon , 25 Chris Rotelli, 21 Foster Gilbert
Gilbert replaced Dixon 3 or 4 times
D --- 3 David Burman , 6 Brett Hughes , 18 Ned Bowen , 40 Patrick Buchanan
Buchanan came in late in the game
G --- 9 Tillman Johnson
F --- 20 Jack deVilliers, 16 Calvin Sullivan
LSM - 15 Trey Whitty , 36 Mike Culver
DM -- 12 Billy Glading , 44 Nathan Kenney , 29 J.J. Morrissey, Rotelli
M2 -- 5 Derrick Preuss , 12 Billy Glading, 24 Andrew Faraone, 33 Matt Poskay
M3 -- 12 Billy Glading , 33 Matt Poskay , 44 Nathan Kenney
F/O ---- Whitty & 32 Zach Heffner ; Culver & Glading
Wings
Capt's - Shannon, Whitty, Bowen, Rotelli
Man Up - Shannon top left, Rotelli top center, Dixon top right
Yevoli side left, Ward in the hole , XMas side right
ManDown Burman, Hughes, Bowen, Whitty, Glading - no surprises
Morrissey went when Glading got a penalty
4 A/M Jared Little did not play, nor did a number of
UVa's talented reserves and freshmen.
Matchups (Princeton first) :
Damien Davis - John Christmas - even, Davis did a good job, but XMas had 2-1
Brian Lieberman - Matt Ward ------ Ward wins, 2G - 1A
Ricky Schultz - Joe Yevoli ---- even, Yevoli - no goals, but 3 assists
Joe Rosenbaum - Chris Rotelli --- Rotelli wins big,4G,beat Rosenbaum several times
All Middies - Trey Whitty ---- Whitty wins big
Sean Hartofilis - David Burman ---- slight win for Burman, Hartofilis had 2-0
Jason Doneger - Ned Bowen ----- Bowen wins, Doneger had just 1G
Matt Trevenen/ - Brett Hughes ---- Hughes wins big, just 1G by MacColl
Will MacColl Princeton's Ryan Boyle was serving a disciplinary suspension
Virginia is a very, very strong team, definitely worthy of their current number one ranking. Hughes, looked HUGE. As a frosh and soph, he showed his speed and stick skills. He has added mucho muscle to his repertoire. Rotelli has an awesome outside righty shot. Princeton overplayed him a few times, and he used his speed to get into the open and made them pay the price.
deVilliers is dominant on faceoffs, but he scooped one in the second quarter that got stuck in his baked, pinched throat stick, and Princeton called for a stick check before his next faceoff and were rewarded with a 3-minute EMO, which Virginia scored first on (Rotelli). Then Princeton got their only EMG on eight tries.
Trey Whitty was a dominant force at LSM. Tillman Johnson had a good game, but not great, although he made a move that I've never seen before on a Drew Casino shot. He made a tremendous fake like the shot had whizzed by his left foot and feigned that it went out-of-bounds, when in actuality, the shot had been blocked in front and a UVa player was leading a fast break the other way that finished with a Rotelli goal from Christmas. He had me fooled as I was looking to my right and just caught a glimpse of the finish of the play.
I complimented him on that fake as the players came off the field. The thing I like most about Princeton's Class of 1952 Stadium is that the players exit the field in the same place as the fans, and you can say a few words to them if you want to. For the record, the thing I DON'T like about Class of 1952 is the volume of the PA system. It's so loud I think my head is going to explode. I don't think they need to hear it at the Rutgers game.
Enough ranting; back to lax. Billy Glading is Mr. Everything on Virginia. They took him off the first mid so he could pile up minutes playing defense, 2nd mid, 3rd mid, F/O wing and Man Down. The much anticipated matchup between Christmas and Damien Davis wasn't a showcase of the game, as Virginia played a team-oriented offense as opposed to a lot of 1-on-1.
Nathan Kenney had a great game for the Cavs. Freshman Matt Ward fit in well on the attack unit. He's a solid all-around player who doesn't seem to have a major weakness. In this game he liked to feed left-handed from back left to way up top and shoot right-handed from up top. This was a much more exciting game for the fans than the Johns Hopkins-Princeton game, as Dom Starsia lets his team play, while Dave Pietramala and Bill Tierney play a similar and deliberate style.
On to the Yale-Quinnipiac matchup:
YaleA --- 2 Mike Scaglione, 14 Seth Goldberg, 21 Ryan Floyd
M --- 8 David Schecter , 15 Ned Britt , 17 Pat Moylan
D --- 11 Brad Liff , 27 Noah Glass , 24 Todd Montgomery, 43 Brian Mulholland
G --- 36 Roy Skeen
F --- 13 Dan Kallaugher,28 Ryan Capilupi
LSM - 31 Ned Smith ----- a lefty
DM -- 4 D.J. Barry , 26 Greg Naso , 1 Matt Ippolito
M2 -- 10 Marc Perry , 20 Marcus Ruopp , 28 Ryan Capilupi
A2 -- 5 Van Sternbergh, 9 Daniel Brillman
Capt --- Scaglione
F/O ---- Glass, Moylan, Britt, Capilupi, Schecter
Wings
Man Up - Sternbergh top left, Moylan top center, Britt top right
Floyd side left, Goldberg back center, Scaglione side right
ManDown Liff, Glass, Montgomery, Smith, Naso or Barry
Some notable did-not-plays : 12 A/M Scott Kenworthy, 16 A/M Dan Sale,
25 M Christian Jensen, and of course 45 GK Eric Wenzel, hope he's doing well.
QuinnipiacA --- 6 John Giordano , 22 Andy Pelletier,26 Eric Trama
M --- 16 Jon Heller , 24 Josh Murray , 28 Mike Stottler
D --- 32 John Donnellan , 35 Kevin Browne , 40 Walt Celenski, 10 Matt Lindberg
G --- 38 Joe Prota - starter T.J. Barnett must have been injured, he was in uniform
but not wearing his helmet, Prota had an outstanding game.
F --- 42 Chris Ort , 44 John Delaney , 2 Chip Schmidt
LSM - 14 Whitney Reynolds, 43 Matt Fratello
DM -- 10 Matt Lindberg , 44 John Delaney , 33 Ty Roman
M2 -- 2 Chip Schmidt , 3 Leigh DiPace , 23 Colin Thompson
A2 -- 17 Sean McBride , 21 Brian Vaccaro
F/O ---- Reynolds, Murray, Donnellan
Wings
Capt's - Giordano, 9 Dan Kerrigan - did not play, 25 T.J. Barnett, Ort
Man Up - Pelletier top left, Schmidt top center, DiPace top right
Murray in the hole, Trama back center, Giordano side right
ManDown Browne, Celenski, Lindberg, Reynolds, Roman
Matchups (Yale first) :
Mike Scaglione -- John Donnellan --- Scaglione (3-1) wins slightly
Donnellan played well
Seth Goldberg --- Walt Celenski ---- even, Goldberg 1-2
Ryan Floyd ------ Kevin Browne ------ Browne wins - wasn't a standout, but held
Floyd without a point
Yale Middies ---- Q'Pac DMids ------- Yale wins, Britt 4G (3MU, 4th - 1 sec after MU)
Schecter 2-1, Capilupi 2G
Liff/Mulholland - John Giordano ---- Yale wins, Mulholland played more & well
Todd Montgomery - Pelletier/Vaccaro - Yale wins big, Montgomery had a strong game
4GB, 2 strips, 2 steals, 7 Clears
Noah Glass ------ Trama/McBride ----- Yale wins big, Glass was outstanding, 1 pipeshot
big bodychecks, 4GB, 4 strips, 1 steal, 7 Clears
Yale started slowly, falling behind 5-2 two minutes into the second quarter, then caught fire, scoring the 10 straight goals over the next 32 minutes. This game was literally the men against the boys, as Q'Pac has 1 freshman at attack, both reserve attackmen, 3 on the first mid, all 3 close DMen and 2 LSM's, 2 of the 3 DM's, and 2 of the 3 faceoff men. All of these players are freshmen, and the 2nd mid consists of a frosh and 2 sophs. And they had a few notable freshmen that didn't play - 12 G James Nastro, 18 A Greg Pelatti, 19 M Liam Cerveny, 27 M Jimmy Montana.
This is a team with a great future, as they have a solid class coming in for next season also. But they were not yet ready for the level of athletes that Yale boasts. Yale dominated the game, even when they fell behind, outshooting the Bobcats 67-20, forcing Joe Prota to make 25 saves — and he was very close to a bunch more and could have had 30, or even 40, if Yale didn't fire so many wide.
They also grabbed 49 GBs to Quinnipiac's 34. Yale looked solid from top to bottom, although Skeen in goal could have had a better game - 9 saves. Glass and Montgomery were standouts on defense as was Kallaugher on faceoffs (15-7, 8GB) and Britt (15 shots) and Scaglione (10 shots, 9GB). Smith, Naso, and Barry also played well on DMid.
But the name to write down is David Schecter. The freshman middie from Florida, who probably nobody has heard of, is an outstanding athlete, big and strong, with good lacrosse instincts. He has a tremendous outside shot, good speed, and can dodge. He can also make plays, for example a beautiful draw and dump pass to Scaglione for a late goal. It says here that this kid is a future All- American.
Here's the scoop on NY Tech-Pace:
NY TechA --- 4 Paul Montali , 14 Sean Meagher , 17 Brian Boyle
M --- 2 Frank Lawrence , 9 Tom Zummo , 25 Matt Miller
M2 -- 7 Nick Krunkkala, 19 Joe Gabrysiak , 32 William O'Hare
D --- 8 Richard Holland, 29 Frank D'Agostino, 42 Chris Vitucci
G --- 1 Matt Hunter - lefty, as is D'Agostino
F --- 25 Matt Miller , 16 Joe Vasold
LSM - 6 Jared Cullin
DM -- 44 Colin McGuire , 16 Joe Vasold
F/O ---- Cullin, Zummo, Gabrysiak, Krunkkala
Wings
Capt's - Hunter, Holland, Boyle
Man Up - Gabrysiak top left, Montali in the hole, Zummo top right
Meagher side left, Boyle back center, Lawrence side right
ManDown - Holland, D'Agostino, Vitucci, Cullin, McGuire
Pace
A --- 20 Liam Scully , 28 Jeremy Jablonski, 32 Colin Achenbach
M --- 12 Tim Paulson, 22 Joe Dlabola , 30 Robert Neff
M2 -- 21 James Watson , 23 Matt Duchnowski , 37 John Hemsley
D --- 18 Matt Crummey, 46 Dave Cordano , 48 Larry Petraglia
Cordano is a lefty
G --- 1 Lawrence Petriccione
F --- 37 John Hemsley, 19 Michael Considine
LSM - 16 Steve Kaylor , 44 James Ralph - both lefties
DM -- 17 Lou Gerlach, 19 M Considine, 21 J Watson, 30 R Neff
F/O ---- Cordano, Considine, Watson, Paulson
Wings
Capt's - 2 Matt Paventy - dressed but did not play Gerlach,
Duchnowski, Neff
I'm surprised that Dlabola and Scully are not captains and
Dlabola is not on the EMO.
Man Up - Neff top left, Achenbach in the hole, Hemsley top center
Scully side left, Jablonski back center, Duchnowski side right
ManDown - Crummey, Cordano, Petraglia, Kaylor, Considine
Here are the stats for the game:
Goals : NY Tech 6 3 2 2 - 1 - 14
Pace......3 5 2 3 - 0 - 13
Shots : NY Tech 10 8 6 15 - 1 - 40
Pace......8 14 13 11 - 2 - 48
Saves : NY Tech 4 7 6 5 - 0 - 22
Pace......3 4 3 5 - 0 - 15
GB : NY Tech 15 10 7 10 - 3 - 45
Pace.....12 7 13 6 - 3 - 41
F/O : NY Tech 5 3 0 3 - 0 - 11
Pace.....4 6 5 3 - 1 - 19
I must have missed one in the first quarter
Strips : NY Tech 1 2 2 2 - 2 -- 9
Pace.....5 6 8 4 - 1 - 24
Clears : NY Tech 6/7 6/7 7/9 4/4 - 0/1 - 23/28
Pace....4/9 4/4 4/6 3/4 - 0/1 - 15/24
Man Up : NY Tech 1/1 0/1 1/2 0/1 - 0/0 - 2/5
Pace....0/1 3/3 0/1 0/1 - 0/0 - 3/6
Steals : NY Tech 0 2 4 0 - 0 -- 6 (the first 3 by DMan Vitucci)
Pace.....2 0 0 0 - 0 -- 2
Scoring :
NY Tech - Tom Zummo 4-0, Brian Boyle 2-2, Joe Gabrysiak 2-2
Paul Montali 3-0, Sean Meagher 1-1, Frank Lawrence 0-2
Matt Miller 0-2, Joe Vasold 1-0
Pace - Joe Dlabola 3-0, Jeremy Jablonski 3-0, Colin Achenbach 2-1
John Hemsley 2-0, James Watson 2-0
Matt Duchnowski 1-0, Liam Scully 0-1
Individual Faceoffs
(differ from team totals; these are who won the individual battles):
NY Tech : Matt Miller 4-2 1-1 0-2 2-1 - 0-1 - 7-7
Joe Vasold 2-1 2-3 0-2 2-1 - 0-0 - 6-7
Pace.....John Hemsley 3-3 3-2 0-0 0-0 - 0-0 - 6-5
Michael Considine 0-2 1-1 4-0 2-4 - 1-0 - 8-7
At icy cold Shea Stadium at West Point, with its great view of the Hudson River and its plethora of floating ice, Brian Boyle and NY Tech took advantage of a bad clear by Pace - and a good ride by his teammates. He took a pass from Frank Lawrence and raced in unmolested to score the game winner in OT after making multiple fakes on all-alone Pace goalie Lerry Petriccione to raise the Bears record to 4-0 and drop Pace to 0-1.
This was the best game I've seen so far this year, and I've seen Syracuse-Army, Johns Hopkins-Princeton, and Virginia-Princeton. There were no losers in this game, and it could have gone either way, two very evenly matched teams. I even thought Pace had a 48-player roster as opposed to NYT's 31.
It was a see-saw battle. Pace scored twice in the first 2 minutes and then led 3-0 on goals by Joe Dlabola, John Hemsley and Colin Achenbach. Then NYT scored the next six goals by William O'Hare, Joe Gabrysiak, Tom Zummo from Matt Miller, Joe Vasold off the next faceoff, Sean Meagher from Gabrysiak, and Paul Montali from Gabrysiak. The last five in this run came in 2:13 from 9:11 to 11:24 and the first quarter ended with Tech ahead 6-3.
Pace then scored five goals in the first 4:16 of the 2nd quarter to take an 8-6 lead. Three of those goals came on a 3-minute EMO after NYTech was called for a 3-minute non-release illegal stick penalty to start the quarter. Jeremy Jablonski, Jablonski from Achenbach - Jablonski floated it in after being leveled by NYT goalie Matt Hunter, plus a defenseman got a piece of the shot, Achenbach from Liam Scully, Matt Duchnowski and Hemsley got the five Pace goals. Hemsley's came just 8 seconds after the end of the illegal stick penalty.
NYT then scored the final three goals of the half to take a 9-8 lead - Montali on a rebound, Gabrysiak from Boyle - nice dodging behind the net by Boyle - and Zummo from Frank Lawrence. Pace scored twice in the first 4 minutes of the second half, James Watson and Dlabola on a multiple split dodge through the middle, to lead 10-9. Tech came right back with two of their own in less than 2 minutes, Montali on a rebound of a Gabrysiak pipe shot at 13:18 and Zummo from Boyle on a Man Up at 14:39 and the third quarter ended with NY Tech ahead 11-10.
Zummo made it 12-10 at 1:27 from Miller, then Pace scored 3 in a row, taking a 13-12 lead with 4:27 to go. Dlabola made it 12-11, when he unloaded a tremendous elevator shot as the defense gave him a little room, 5 and a half minutes later, Jablonski tied it up on a rebound after a tremendous save by Hunter on Robert Neff. Then Watson gave Pace the lead with a nice shot to the far pipe after running from top right to top left.
Boyle tied it up at 12:04 when Pace's defense returned the favor that NYT's D had given Dlabola a few minutes earlier. They left him alone for a few seconds, and he blasted a hard overhander from up top. This goal came just a few seconds after a Pace penalty had ended, so the defense was re-adjusting. Both teams had opportunities and timeouts in the final moments, but the Pace D held off NYT at the buzzer.
Pace's Michael Considine won the OT faceoff, and Pace called a timeout. They got a couple of shots on Hunter on which he made nice saves. When NYT finally got possession and a clear, they called their timeout. When play resumed, Pace's defense made a strip, got the GB, and tried to head up the sideline. The NYT ride was too much for them, leading to the final shot by Boyle. This was Pace's biggest problem in the game. They did well on clears after a whistle, but they lost five or six possessions because of bad unsettled clears throughout the game.
Hunter was outstanding in goal. I counted 22 saves for him and 15 for Petriccione. Each goalie had some dazzlers. Actually Hunter had 5 or 6. I was impressed by Pace's long stickmen. Dave Cordano had at least four strips and held Boyle to just 2G - both in unsettled situations, and none in the first 57 minutes. Give credit to Boyle for coming through in the clutch. Pace's Steve Kaylor also had a strong game - at least six strips.
Faceoffs see-sawed just like the goals did. Both teams won some in streaks, and the totals ended even. Pace benefited from NYT's anxiousness as their wingmen jumped too soon several times.
I'm hoping for another triple game weekend, Hofstra-Notre Dame on Friday, Cornell-Yale on Saturday, and Hofstra-UMass on Sunday. And I'm also hoping that Mother Nature won't drench me, as there's rain in the forecast.
Got some news on a great web site that the one and only Bob Vlahakis has put together for the Fairfield Stags and the entire Great Western Lacrosse League. Bob says it has all the game results and links to every story from those games, plus statistics links, standings, etc. Plus he's adding videos. He's even hoping to put up a tailgate food page on the web site, with different recipes on it! And I can tell you that the Vlahakis/Army/Fairfield tailgates are top-notch.
A big howyadoin' to #6 Devon Kinnard and all the Clark Univ. players up in Worcester, Mass. Good Luck against Curry on Saturday. Go Cougars!
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