OT: NCAA Lacrosse Week 1
I know lacrosse doesn't get a lot of love around here but being from NY and a big lacrosse fan I thought there could be a pretty good discussion about a really great sport, NCAA lacrosse.
No notable upsets this week except #15 tOSU upsetting then #11 North Carolina 13-8 and #9 Notre Dame upsetting then #6 Duke 12-7. tOSU had a 9-1 run in the 2nd and 3rd quarters to go ahead of UNC. Top teams Syracuse, Virginia, Maryland, Hofstra, Stony Brook all won easily.
Zach Howell from Duke had 9 points (7g,2a) in there 20-6 opening day win over Siena.
Michigan opened the season with a 26-6 win over Florida.
February 22nd, 2011 at 8:58 AM ^
I am absolutely clueless about college lacrosse, but I did hear WTKA's morning guys talking about Michigan's "club varsity" program being the best non-varsity program, and I visited Michigan's website http://mgobluelacrosse.com/ as well as Florida's website http://gatorlacrosse.com/
(OK, so I am no longer TOTALLY ignorant) Anyway, my question is: do "Virtual Varsity" programs ever get to scrimmage varsity programs? On TKA they mentioned the possibility that Michigan Lacrosse could go varsity in the near future. Anyone know offhand how difficult this would be to get approved? Or is this not a reasonable/worthwhile goal?
February 22nd, 2011 at 10:22 AM ^
A couple years ago, Michigan scrimmaged Johnny Hopkins and another high level D1 school (can't remember who though). It was a fun event, and a lot of people came out for it.
Dave Brandon says he plans on making it a varsity sport though, which is a great idea. I hope it happens in the next 2 years while I'm still here to watch.
February 22nd, 2011 at 10:34 AM ^
The other team was Army.
February 22nd, 2011 at 10:50 AM ^
Cannot remeber when, but i think in a Fall season they scrimmaged Ohio State D1 team. The game was close for the first half while OSU was playing their lower end talents, but in the second half OSU really opened it up.
February 22nd, 2011 at 11:27 AM ^
We played Bellarmine this year in a scrimmage, and we just barely lost.
EDIT: After checking, Bellarmine is 2-0 so far, getting wins against rather bad teams in Detroit and Mercer, however they smoked Mercer 20-6. We played them closer than either D1 teams they've played so far. It will be interesting to see how Bellarmine does this year as a gauge for our squad.
February 22nd, 2011 at 2:03 PM ^
Mercer is in their first year of D-I lacrosse - U-M could probably beat them and honestly that wouldn't even mean anything we don't already know.
February 22nd, 2011 at 2:30 PM ^
February 22nd, 2011 at 9:06 AM ^
Any day Michigan crushes an SEC school is a good day.
February 22nd, 2011 at 9:17 AM ^
Saw the Duke - ND game. I know next to 0 about lacross other than it appears to be a hybrid between field hockey and soccer but it was still a pretty interesting game to watch.
February 22nd, 2011 at 10:26 AM ^
You didn't call it a hybrid between field hockey and soccer did you?
Is more like hockey. They call it the fastest sport on two feet.
It's a shame more people don't know about the sport. I started playing in 7th grade when my school got a team, then in high school, and have coached middle school and high school level now. It's growing faster than any other sport. Some middle schools are cutting baseball programs because everyone is playing lacrosse instead.
February 22nd, 2011 at 10:46 AM ^
Don't think soccer, think basketball. The rules and flow of the game are most similar to basketball. It's basketball with the physical element and scoring mechanism of ice hockey, played on grass. The field is the only remote resemblence to soccer.
February 22nd, 2011 at 10:51 AM ^
I would argue that lax is more like basketball than hockey. At least over the past 5+ years the game has slowed down and become long possession oriented including making full scale changes between o-mids and d-mids. I feel a lot of the half field play maps directly to basketball: running set plays, setting picks, pulling the ball back out if you don't have an open look, defenses running man or zone. Hockey is a considerably faster game and unless there is a power play opportunity or right off a face-off set plays really don't happen in the same way.
February 22nd, 2011 at 11:13 AM ^
OSU over UNC and ND over Duke means lacrosse in the Midwest is very competitive with the east coast. It will be a while before they are equal, but the gap is closing.
February 22nd, 2011 at 11:26 AM ^
Lacrosse is definitely more like basketball than any other sport, as douggoblue said. Tactically very similar. Much more physical of course. (AeonBlue, I'm a little insulted you called it a cross between field hockey and soccer. I'll get over it, but it may take awhile.) The indoor version of the game (think arena football) is much more like hockey, and is also the more popular version in Canada, while the American field version is played around the world (38 countries in the world championships last summer, won by USA over Canada). Women's lacrosse is very, very different than men's lacrosse. No helmets. Different rules and equipment. Less physical. More differences than baseball and softball, by comparison.
It is a shame lacrosse isn't more appreciated in the midwest given it's growth. 110 high school teams in Michigan now, and more every year. The same story in most of the country. It's relatively high scoring, physical and creative. I think it can become a major sport at Michigan, similar to hockey, given the time to build up a varsity tradition.
Lacrosse is a spring sport. Most of the top lacrosse players in the country were also very good high school football players in the fall (some played soccer, but football is a better match), and many play hockey or basketball in the winter. Jim Brown is the most famous football/lacrosse player. Evan Royster at Penn State was a great high school lacrosse player. Former UM football players who were good high school lacrosse players include Jumbo Elliot, Steve Morrison, Gannon Dudlar, among others.
As the sport grows and more high schools add it, you're defintely starting to see an impact on baseball, as its main spring competition for athletes. The two sports couldn't be more different. You can see its appeal to kids who want a fast-paced contact sport in the spring. Fortunately, baseball has plenty of athletes to spare since it has pretty much monopolized spring high school sports for 100+ years. (I like baseball. Not hating.)
February 22nd, 2011 at 11:33 AM ^
I think you'll see lax grow in the midwest once the kids who are in HS now grow up. A lot of people my age are less familiar because when I was in HS in Michigan (2002 grad) there were far fewer high school teams so very few people followed it. Now most good sized high schools field lacrosse teams.
I actually think the spring sport that will see the most impact from lacrosse is track and field. Most football and soccer players who don't have another spring sport run track, and many of those will start playing lacrosse as their spring sport.
February 22nd, 2011 at 11:35 AM ^
And let's not forget the greatest program of all time.
February 22nd, 2011 at 11:39 AM ^
Seriously, nobody cares about Syracuse.
February 22nd, 2011 at 11:56 AM ^
One of these years they might even beat UVA.
February 22nd, 2011 at 12:31 PM ^
Can Lacrosse be played indoors? I could see much of the same energy for hockey at a Lacrosee match.
February 22nd, 2011 at 12:38 PM ^
Certainly it can, and is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indoor_lacrosse
However, it is to the outdoor game as Arena Football is to football, and I don't much care for Arena Football.
February 22nd, 2011 at 1:31 PM ^
It's like Arena football to us in the States. In Canada, though, indoor lacrosse is much more popular than outdoor. It's often called "Box Lacrosse", and it's the second national sport behind hockey as far as I know.
They treat it much like a hockey game, and the arena is almost the same. Box lacrosse is actually very much like hockey, unlike the field version. I don't really care for it either... to me it seems like a cartoony caricature of fighting and a manufactured type of sport (like arena football. or pro wrestling)
February 22nd, 2011 at 1:33 PM ^
Remember the last time UVa beat SU in a meaningful postseason game... I don't.
I do remember beating you on the way to our 2008 and first of back-to-back national titles #10 and #11...
February 22nd, 2011 at 2:01 PM ^
Then you don't remember 2006. Selective memory FTW. So we're 1-1 in the postseason. How's the regular season gone for you guys against UVA? Now there, I truly don't remember the last time Cuse won. 2002? 2004? You'll have to tell me. I guess that would make you guys something like 1-9 in the last ten meetings.
February 22nd, 2011 at 3:23 PM ^
As long as we keep bringing in national titles, I couldn't care less.
Keep holding on to your regular season wins. Only 6 more titles for you to tie us.
February 22nd, 2011 at 3:26 PM ^
I never thought I'd see the day people on mgoblog would be arguing about Virginia and Syracuse lacrosse results. This makes me happy.
Now hopefully we can get Michigan lacrosse in a serious discussion about competing with Cuse and UVA in the not-too-distant future.
February 22nd, 2011 at 7:05 PM ^
As long our players never wear orange we're way ahead of both in my book. God I hate that color.
February 22nd, 2011 at 1:02 PM ^
I will first disagree that no one cares about Lacrosse here. Tim started a lax blog, actually. I'm a player and coach, and I care immensely.
Anyway, I agree with the sentiment that it's a lot like basketball. People first say "Hockey" and "Soccer" upon seeing it, but that's definitely just appearances, since it's on grass and uses sticks. Think basketball without a shot clock (unless you're in the pros, where there is a shot clock, and also if you take your time too long the refs make you keep the ball in the restraining box around the offensive zone).
I would actually say the play is more like basketball than a mix between any two sports at all. I guess if I had to decide, it'd be basketball and hockey just because of the hitting and sticks, but maybe even rugby would be a better example because of the importance of ground ball scrums and ball movement (and hitting)
As an anecdotal example, I played hockey before lacrosse, and when I decided to take on a second sport, I was always trying to push the tempo too much. I crashed the net and shot the ball on a fast break every time, and had NO idea how to slow the ball down. I was trained as a hockey player to be moving at all times, but in lacrosse you almost never want to force the action unless you have greater numbers on your opponent.
I won't bore you any more since the other posters have covered it pretty well, but I will say that though I grew up as an offensive player, as a coach I have taken a great interest in defense. I absolutely love coaching a good defense, and getting a stop after a perfect defensive possession is more gratifying than scoring (maybe since scoring comes so often in lax).
Edit: can't wait til the day D-1 lacrosse isn't "OT"
February 22nd, 2011 at 2:21 PM ^
I will first disagree that no one cares about Lacrosse here. Tim started a lax blog, actually. I'm a player and coach, and I care immensely.Shameless self promotion: http://michiganlax.blogspot.com.