Making Sense: An Olympic-sized Gap
by Jac Coyne |
Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Coyne Archive |
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The Making Sense notebook is a look back on the
weekend in small school - men's and women's NCAA Division III and
the MCLA - action. It will run every Monday during the season.
Some schools have a break for exams. Others take a hiatus for
a reading period. The members of the Simon Fraser men's lacrosse
team will be taking the rarely utilized Olympic break starting on
Friday.
In addition to the school's academic break, which is a two-week gap
coinciding exactly with the 21st Winter Olympiad, Simon
Fraser's lacrosse team, located in Burnaby, B.C., just outside of
Vancouver, will tack on another fortnight for a month-long
hibernation between its game this past Saturday - an 18-3 rout of
Division II Western Washington - and it's next game on March 5 at
Colorado State.
It's not the optimum scheduling design, but non-varsity lacrosse -
along with just about everything else - tends to take a back seat
to a billion-dollar enterprise.
"We had to take buses and the border into consideration, and if it
was an out-of-conference game we had to take into consideration
flights in and out of Vancouver," said Brent Hoskins, the SFU
co-coach along with Jeff Cathrea. "It looked like it was going to
be pretty challenging for us to go in and out of town in that
timeframe and teams that could come in and play us it would also be
logistically challenged."
So the Clansmen will be practicing just about every day, although
making sure it does not clash with Team Canada's men's ice hockey
games, preparing for a March gauntlet that will be one of the most
challenging in the country. Following No. 9 Colorado State will be
dates at No. 8 Colorado (March 7), at No. 1 Michigan (March 12), at
No. 19 Michigan State (March 14), No. 2 BYU (March 20), No. 14 Cal
Poly (March 27), No. 3 Chapman (April 3) and No. 5 Arizona State
(April 4).
Will Simon Fraser be able to handle it?
"It will be crucial to set a level of competition amongst our
players whether it's in scrimmages or in drills," said Hoskins.
"We'll design drills to have the guys competing hard against each
other. Regardless, I'm sure guys will be pretty eager to play
different colored jerseys once March hits, but hopefully we can use
that as a bit of building block for us and get the season off to
the right start."
Despite the potential to atrophy during February, SFU has a lot
going for it. In addition to the overwhelmingly talented team, led
by the likes of Adam Foss, Russell Thomas and player of the year
candidate Ben Towner, the strength of schedule will allow the
Clansmen to take a handful of losses and still be easily in the
hunt for Denver.
Perhaps most importantly, Hoskins feels this year's team is "the
most competitive group of athletes we've ever had," which,
blended with the contentious way the '09 season ended, should spell
trouble for the rest of the MCLA.
Regardless of the final record, the schedule will allow Canada's
Team to enter nationals with a good idea of what to expect.
"Hopefully, if at the end of the season things go as planned and we
get to Denver, there shouldn't be many opponents that we'll see
that we haven't already seen during the regular season," said
Hoskins. "You can't substitute playing a quality opponent, win or
lose."
As far as Hoskins sees it, there is only one potential drawback to
the Clansmen taking their Olympic break, and that is the program
might be missing out on the best weather of the season.
"During the Western Washington game I was on the sidelines with a
polo shirt and dress pants, no jacket," laughed Hoskins. "I think
it was probably about 13 degrees [55 Fahrenheit], sunny and blue
skies. It was great field lacrosse weather, but not your typical
Winter Olympics weather."
That's okay. Simon Fraser will be looking for its gold medal in
May.
Weekend Game Balls
Forrest
Cheney, California, Goalie
The junior posted 13 saves and allowed just six goals in the
season-opening victory against No. 11 UC Santa Barbara. With the
Gauchos within two goals in the fourth quarter, Cheney and the
Golden Bear defense closed the door.
Madison Fiore, Chapman,
Attack
Not a bad Chaptown debut for the Maryland transfer. Fiore
netted six goals and set up a seventh, helping the Panthers rout
San Diego, 15-2, in their season opener.
Sam Jura, Nebraska, Midfield
In the Cornhuskers opener against Carleton (Minn.), Jura led
the way in a 12-5 victory with four goals and two assists, while
also chipping in with five ground balls.
What's on Tap?
The men's and women's portions of NCAA Division III don't
start up for another two weeks, so it's still an MCLA world here at
Making Sense. Here are a couple of games to keep an eye on
during this week. Admittedly slim pickings, but the midweek games
will be more plentiful and gain in importance in the coming
weeks.
Thursday, Feb. 11 -
Brigham Young at San Diego State - 6:30 p.m. PST
At first glance, this is a perfect opportunity for the
second-ranked Cougars - they get to shake the rust off before their
Saturday evening clash with No. 3 Chapman, but not have to exert
themselves too much. Could State pull the upset? The Aztecs are
coming off an 8-7 victory over a highly-regarded Loyola Marymount
team, so this one could make the Cougs sweat a little more than
they thought.
Friday, Feb. 12 -
Mississippi vs. Georgia (at Ga. Tech), 7:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs fell off the grid last year after their
impressive 2008 campaign that finished with Georgia almost
upsetting Michigan in the quarterfinals of the MCLA tourney in
Dallas. We'll get our first indication whether the Dawgs are back
or still a year away in the SELC in this contest. UGA should beat
Ole Miss, but the question is in what manner will they do it? A
clean, start-to-finish triumph would impress.
The Power Five
Men's Division
III
1. Cortland
(0-0)
2. Gettysburg
(0-0)
3. Stevenson
(0-0)
4. Middlebury
(0-0)
5. Salisbury
(0-0)
Women's Division III
1. Franklin
& Marshall (0-0)
2. Gettysburg
(0-0)
3. Salisbury
(0-0)
4. Hamilton
(0-0)
5. TCNJ
(0-0)
MCLA D-I
1. Michigan
(0-0)
2. Chapman
(1-0)
3. Brigham
Young (0-0)
4. Simon
Fraser (1-0)
5. Colorado
(0-0)
MCLA D-II
1. St.
Thomas (0-0)
2. Dayton
(0-0)
3. St.
John's (0-0)
4. Davenport
(0-0)
5. Grove
City (1-0)
Slides & Rides
- Chapman loves the limelight. And evidently it has the
scratch to pull it off. Saturday's BYU-Chapman game will be
broadcast live on Fox College Sports starting at 10 p.m. ET. Last
year, the Panthers and Michigan anted up to have their game
televised on a tape-delay basis, so there's definitely a trend
forming in Chaptown. As was noted by one astute fan, the first live
televised collegiate game of the 2010 season? It's in the MCLA.
Quick side note: if you've never seen the MCLA, I seriously suggest
you stay up and watch this game. You won't be disappointed.
- I think the Pac-10 Shootout is one of the great events - and one
with the biggest potential - the MCLA undertakes, and this year's
version will commence this coming weekend. Oregon vs. California,
Washington vs. Stanford, Southern Cal vs. Oregon State, Oregon vs.
Stanford and Cal vs. Oregon State will all go off on Saturday and
Sunday at the University of Washington.
The only sour note to this year's Shootout is the demise of
Washington State, which was supposed to participate. Due to various
factors, including an apparent lack of interest, the Cougars have
folded for the second time in the last five years. The
setback hopefully won't cast too much of a pall on the
event, which will be highlighted by the Cal-Oregon game on Saturday
at 4 p.m. PT.
- Speaking of the PNCLL, when I talked with Brent Hoskins, the
Simon Fraser co-head coach, the topic of I-AA came up. Hoskins
referenced a story I
wrote for MCLA the Mag a while back, and as much as I don't
like the concept of I-AA, there's no question it makes it a lot of
sense for SFU and the PNCLL. Simon Fraser and, to some degree,
Oregon will be able to fully realize their potential by segregating
the "developing" teams into a sub-division.
Hoskins, who is the vice president of the PNCLL executive board,
makes it a little easier to stomach the format because he genuinely
seems interested in using the I-AA as springboard instead of an ash
heap. The MCLA is a living entity, so we'll see what direction it
takes.
- There are only four seniors listed on the Cal roster...Hoskins
said one of the most important parts of the Western Washington win
was getting action for all three of the team's goalies...after
losing its opener, UC Santa Barbara managed to salvage a weekend
split with a 12-5 win over Stanford...Northern Michigan has raced
out to a 3-0 start and could be 8-0 entering the final two games of
the season against CCLA rivals Davenport and Grand Valley State. If
the Wildcats finish 9-1 with a win over one of the last two, they
could be headed to Denver. Something to watch...speaking of D-II
contenders, keep an eye on SCAD the next two weeks. Grove City,
Dayton, Davenport and Missouri State are on the docket in that
time.
