I guess there are certain facts about these two teams that slipped the minds of these lax fans while the game was being played. For one, Syracuse is the number one team in the country and entered the game undefeated at 5-0. The Orangemen were also enjoying home field advantage inside the Carrier Dome, where they have only lost a few times since the dome was constructed in 1789. (Sorry, but that place is a dump). Johns Hopkins on the other hand entered this contest ranked #13 (or #9, depending on which poll you choose) and although they held a record of 5-1, they had yet to play a top ten team. In addition to their weak schedule, 8 of the Blue Jays starting 10 players are sophomores or freshman.
The way I see this, coach Petriamala had very few choices. Slowing the game down and not allowing the uber talented Orangemen to dictate the tempo in their home stadium seems like head coaching 101 to me. But you see this is 2011, and we live in the world of "entertain me with lots of action regardless of its purpose or I'll go elsewhere" kind of fans. One fan actually stated that he was so overcome with boredom that he turned the game off to watch college wrestling on another network. College wrestling instead of a prime time, nationaly televised contest between lacrosse's two most storied programs (and its a tie game late in the forth quarter)? Go ahead buddy, by all means change that channel. You are obviously not a lacrosse fan. I'd gather that you aren't much of a sports fan either. You probabaly turned the dial to "Minute to Win It" or some other mediocare prime time game show that has plenty of lights and flashy hosts that can stilumate the minimal synnapses in your tiny brain.
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| Coach Petro. Didn't want to shoot from x or outside the box. |
You see friends, unlike basketball, where at 90% of the time someone is within shooting range, lacrosse is played on a large field, and unlike basketball there is always one defensive player unobtrusively guarding the goal. That means that working for a quality shot in lacrosse can take time, especially against a superior opponent. In basketball a shot taken to avoid a clock violation has a decent chance of going in, or at the very least can be rebounded by another offensive player. A shot taken in lacrosse to avoid this same violation will most likely be caught by the goalie and will equate to an unforced turnover.
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| Dude, you're in range, shoot it! |
Want to speed up the NCAA game? Eliminate the horn. Make all substitutions on the fly. Still not fast enough for ya? Eliminate the long pole middie. Still not fast enough? Go watch college wrestling. There, I just fixed lacrosse for all of you SU fans. Now go score 32 goals on Hobart and enjoy your teams success.
Petro is a dick and needs to go.
ReplyDeleteHopkins was probably in the game as a result of their deliberate offense, but their stall tactic at the end was the equivalent of the NFL prevent. It cost them the game.
ReplyDeleteSixteen saves from their goalkeeper helps also.
ReplyDeleteHopkin's zone and a hot goalie made it tough on Cuse. Credit the game plan of the Hop for stifling the Orange's offense. I thought it was a pretty exciting game despite the score. Much like wrestling though, I knew what the outcome was going to be.
ReplyDeleteA shot clock is not necessary in lacrosse because if you have a good face off man, you can essentially keep possession. Make it, take it. Hopkins went 10-14 facing off against Syracuse. That's 10 fewer possessions for the Orange because they got owned at the face off X.
ReplyDeleteTom - Some think JHU lax is rapidly going the way of Notre Dame football - largely irrelevant and either unwilling to change or unable to compete in the "modern" game. Without a conference affiliation they are left playing a brutal schedule every year with little to no margin for error. Add in the fact that Petro has flat out missed on a couple of consecutive recruiting classes (see the upperclassmen on this team save for Boland, who came in with Kimmel and Boyle) and you have mediocrity. I do think a couple of things need to be addressed:
ReplyDelete1) They do not keep the best players in state and are almost devoid of impact MIAA players (although most other top D1 schools are as well these days except UMD - but that is another topic). Haus started the pipeline from the MIAA back to the Hop after Seaman fielded essentially all NY teams - those players - Benson, Boland, Ford, Harrison, Field, Erwin, Zerrlaut, Pinto, Huntley, Evans, Schwatzmann, Kimmel - along with other MD products in Byrne and Rabil - served as the core for multiple final 4's and 2 national championships
2) Petro is a control freak and JHU is too specialized, meaning players are more concerned about making a mistake than making a play.
-Matt
@Matt I tend to agree with you and as a MD fan, I hope that you are correct. I was a huge fan of Petro as a player, but I really can't stand his sideline antics and micromanaging coaching style. Give me Roy Simmons, Jr.
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