Lacrosse

[amh63]

Caught only bits and pieces of Amherst games yesterday.  Doing my taxes .  However, several games had later staring times...delayed broadcasts??
In the women's game, the game at Gooding's field against Conn College had about 9 minutes to go in the 2nd half.  The score was 7-4, Amherst ahead and a timeout was called.  Thought it was an Amherst timeout.  In any case, in the next 4-5 minutes, Amherst went up 11-4.  Do NOT believe Conn scored another goal until the last 10 seconds of the came.
The Amherst team has experience, but it is necessary to remind players that one must play hard all the time and just showing up against lower ranked teams will end up with a lost....especially in lacrosse.
The coaches are there to take the steps required....timeouts, change of players and flow of the game, IMO.

[Bombers798891]

Ithaca cruises again, 16-5 over Fisher. The Cardinals aren't good, but it's nice to see the Bombers remain focused, because they've got to have the RIT game circled right now

[AndOne]

The North Central Cardinals of the CCIW have been mowing down their competition lately. Their record currently stands at 11-2, with both losses being by a single point. For the season they have outscored their opponents 236-76 (+160). The Cards have, to date, been led in goals by Gina Fisher (49), Claire Norfleet (43), and Madison Maas (41). Fisher is NCC's career leader in goals, assists, and just about every other statistical category. In Saturday's 22-2 win, even defensive wizard Rebecca James  slammed in a goal after being given a chance on the offensive end.

Tough competition comes to town on Wed when the Cards will host the 12-1 Augustana Vikings. Augie has outscored their opponents 208-65 (+143). The Vikngs, last season's conference champs, were picked to repeat while the Cardinals were picked for third.

[amh63]

Just reporting that the no.3 ranked Tufts men's team thrashed the no.7 ranked Amherst team in Medford/ Somerville....large crowd on hand.  Amherst' s defense could not stop the high powered Jumbos.
Meanwhile, the Amherst's women lacrosse team squeaked by the Tufts team...8-7 at Amherst.  Yes, there should be a battle in the conference tourney.
Not sure of the men's score...12-7, I believe.....Amherst trailed throughout.

[PolarCat]

My NESCAC Tournament predictions on the Women's side:

Round 1:

#1 Trinity (9-1) hosts #8 Tufts (3-7)
#2 Midd (9-1) hosts #7 Bowdoin (3-7)
#3 Bates (8-2) hosts #6 Hamilton (5-5)
#4 Amherst (7-3) hosts #5 Colby (6-4)

That's admittedly a biased pool, as I'm hoping that Bowdoin beats Tufts in their final regular season game.  With the Polar Bears' injuries, that may be too much to hope for.  If Tufts prevails, the Jumbos will be the 7 seed, and the Ephs #8, with Bowdoin, Conn and Wes missing the dance.

Round 2 will be Trinity v. Amherst, and Midd v. Bates in the Coop.  The final will be Trinity v. Midd, in a game that will come down to goalkeeping and ref's calls.

That's my story, and I am sticking to it!

[Bombers798891]

Showdown Tuesday! #11 Ithaca, arguably the hottest team in the country, taking on #2 RIT. Let's go Bombers!

[amh63]

PolarCat....Seems about right....and you should!

Bomber798891....see Ithaca has a game today with Hamliton.  Should be a "gage" type game of sorts between the conferences.  Women's lacrosse of course.

[Bombers798891]

Amh63:

Saw that, hope Ithaca does well. My general rule on Ithaca sports is that I follow football a lot, M&W basketball casually, and everyone else if it looks like they're national contenders at a team level or, failing that, conference tournament time (because hey, postseason appearances are great regardless)

Women's lax had some rough early losses which kind of killed option 1, but I'll tune in when the conference tournament rolls around. Would love to be vocally supportive of all teams, just don't have the time to do so unless we've got a postseason/national thing on the line. (I did cover WLax for the school paper as a senior, though. Funny story about that I can tell you if you want the details—pm me.)

Of course, football's the exception, as you can probably guess from my handle, but I've been going to their games for 28 of my 33 years on this planet, so they've kind of earned it.

[Bombers798891]

Bombers win 18-16!

[Vandy74]

Bombers win 18-16!

I watched the 1st half, as much as the constantly freezing up video stream allowed, before heading off to watch the Middlebury women take on Union.  7-7 in the 2nd quarter alone.  Neither team scored 7 in the entire 2nd half.  Great win for Ithaca.

[Vandy74]

The winds had picked up and the temp had dropped some from the beautiful weather enjoyed on Saturday and Sunday.  The Panthers looked like a tired team playing a third game in four days but after a very shaky 1st half settled down to handle Union to the tune of 15-7. 

I've PM'ed friends concerning the Trinity and Hamilton games and won't go into much detail here except to say the Bantams were the better team on Saturday winning 13-9.  It was Trinity's 10th consecutive decision over Middlebury going back seven seasons.  Their final tally was an open net goal with less than a minute remaining.  The potent Panther offense was shut down in the second half that began with score tied at 7 apiece.  They managed only 5 shots on goal in the final 30 minutes after firing off 16 in the first half. 

The Hamilton game started off with the two teams trading goals over the first 15+ minutes before Middlebury finally took charge.  Seven unanswered goals, four by Bridget Instrum extended the 4-3 Middlebury lead to 11-3 at the half.  Three more Panther tallies  ten minutes into the second stanza completed the Middlebury scoring.  A Hamilton goal at 8:30 made the final score 14-3.

The Panthers host Colby, another team that has dominated the series 9-4 over the last 7 seasons, on Saturday and finish up the season slate at Williams the following Wednesday.

[Vandy74]

My NESCAC Tournament predictions on the Women's side:

Round 1:

#1 Trinity (9-1) hosts #8 Tufts (3-7)
#2 Midd (9-1) hosts #7 Bowdoin (3-7)
#3 Bates (8-2) hosts #6 Hamilton (5-5)
#4 Amherst (7-3) hosts #5 Colby (6-4)

That's admittedly a biased pool, as I'm hoping that Bowdoin beats Tufts in their final regular season game.  With the Polar Bears' injuries, that may be too much to hope for.  If Tufts prevails, the Jumbos will be the 7 seed, and the Ephs #8, with Bowdoin, Conn and Wes missing the dance.

Round 2 will be Trinity v. Amherst, and Midd v. Bates in the Coop.  The final will be Trinity v. Midd, in a game that will come down to goalkeeping and ref's calls.

That's my story, and I am sticking to it!

Tufts beat Bates today Polarcat so feel free to change your story.  The Jumbos now seem a lock for the 6th seed and if Middlebury beats Colby on Saturday the Mules' match up against the Bobcats will determine which gains #4 and which settles for #5.  Then they'll have to play each other again.   Middlebury's difficulties with Colby in recent years and Trinity's final regular season game being against Amherst set up a scenario that could see four teams tied at 8-2.  I have no idea what set of tiebreakers would determine the seeding.  What I do know is that nobody wants to play Tufts in the quarterfinal round.

[amh63]

Vandy74......have been wondering where you been !  See you have been busy....like the Panthers' women team.  Do believe as the school year ends, the multi games short schedule impacts the play of players/ teams.  Amherst seniors have the pressure of wrapping up thesis work, etc.  In any case, it appears that the upcoming conference tournaments...men and women....will be most interesting and competitative.

Seems our mutual irrational irritant is still around.  Been trying to keep up. ...both ends.

[PolarCat]

Tufts beat Bates today Polarcat so feel free to change your story.  The Jumbos now seem a lock for the 6th seed and if Middlebury beats Colby on Saturday the Mules' match up against the Bobcats will determine which gains #4 and which settles for #5.  Then they'll have to play each other again.   Middlebury's difficulties with Colby in recent years and Trinity's final regular season game being against Amherst set up a scenario that could see four teams tied at 8-2.  I have no idea what set of tiebreakers would determine the seeding.  What I do know is that nobody wants to play Tufts in the quarterfinal round.

Well don't that suck eggs?  For the Bobcats and the Polar Bears. 

It would have been wonderful for the Bates Women's program to finally host a playoff game on Garcelon Field.  The odds of that happening are dwindling.  And the Bears only avenue into the playoffs (as #8 seed) is to beat the Jumbos on Wednesday.  Stranger things have happened, but barring an act of God - the entire Tufts team comes down with shingles this week? - I fear it's too big a challenge for the banged-up Bears.

What a conference, hunh?  Amazing parity on both the Men's and the Women's sides.  NESCAC is on the verge of becoming the Lake Woebegone of NCAA lacrosse, where all the teams are exceptional.  (I expect a renewed barrage of -K's from you-know-who for that, but it's true).

[PolarCat]

And while our little buddy cranks up his -K machine, I might as well make another comment.  It's unfortunate this board has turned into a NESCAC lovefest, with (Bombers and AndOne aside) so little participation from other regions.  I even miss (sort of) the Mount Union supporter, who was gloating on here last year till the NCAA tournament rolled around.

So I did a quick check of MUC's season.  They are only 10-3 this year, with losses to Dickinson, Freedonia and St. John Fisher.  Only SJF is nationally ranked, at #20 this week.  But the MUC coach is still practicing her own brand of "sportsmanship", blowing out Muskingum 22-1 and Wilmington by an inexcusable (in my mind, at least) 29-1.

Yeah, I like the way they do things in the 'CAC.