Coyne’s Picks: The MD3 Quarterfinals
by Jac Coyne |
Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Coyne
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| After missing the first contest, Stevenson's standout goalie Geoff Hebert is back healthy for the second match-up with Roanoke on Wednesday. Do the Maroons have a chance? |
With seven out of the eight teams in the men’s Division
III quarterfinals ranked in Lacrosse
Magazine’s preseason Top 11, much of what
we’re seeing so far in the tournament is right on target.
Cortland (preseason No. 1), Stevenson (2), Haverford (4), Salisbury
(5), Roanoke (7), Middlebury (8) and Tufts (11) all were expected
to be where they are for the most part.
There is certainly a Cinderella team, and it’s RIT. The
Tigers were unranked for the first half of the season and were
breaking in a new coach, but still managed to grab the Empire 8
automatic bid out from underneath Nazareth and Ithaca.
Can they advance to the national semifinals? And who else will?
RIT (14-5) at Cortland
(16-2), 4:30 p.m.
The first time these two tangled on March 31, Chris DeLuca scored
with seven seconds left in the first overtime period to lift
Cortland, then boasting a 4-2 record, to a 12-11 victory over RIT
(5-3). Should we expect something similar?
It’s tough to say because both coaches believe a lot has
changed.
“That was in the middle of the season and we were both
different teams at the time,” said Cortland coach Steve
Beville. “I think overall we’ve gotten healthy. We had
some injuries and some guys out for various reasons and now
we’re getting everybody back at practice every day, which is
key.”
“It’s a month later, so both teams have
improved,” said RIT’s Jake Coon. “I’m not
sure if either team has changed a whole lot, I think we’re
just better at what we’re doing. Maybe some little tweaks
here and there. It’s playoff time, you know? You’ve got
to play well during the playoffs. The way I look at it, anybody can
beat anybody and our guys have to believe they can do
it.”
Giving the Red Dragons a close shave in the first meeting should
certainly give the Tigers confidence heading into the rematch, but
Coon realizes he’ll need a complete effort or his
magical run as first-year head coach at RIT will come to an
end.
“We’re going to have to mix and match a little bit on
the defensive end and finish on offense,” he said.
“They’ve got a great defense and I think they are
playing a lot better as of late. Getting our opportunities is going
to be tough, but when we get them we have to finish them on the
offensive end. Defensively, we just have to stay really disciplined
and keep to the game plan. Maybe we can throw a couple of different
looks at them and keep them off their game.”
When you’re coming off a national championship, it’s
natural to ask how this year’s team stacks up against the
’09 title squad. It can be useful insight to gauge where
exactly the team is in the maturation process, but Beville is
reticent to answer that question.
“One thing I’ve learned is that each year is a new
adventure,” he said. “Each team has its own personality
and own chemistry and own journey. I just think we’re a
system kind of a program and we try to make it so no one guy is
more important than another guy. I really don’t like
comparing teams to other teams, but we’re developing some
nice chemistry on offense and defense. Obviously, it’s a good
time of year to be feeling that.”
Beville’s sanguine attitude, along with Cortland’s
decimation of its past eight opponents, has me sold. I like this
RIT team, and I think Jake Coon was a great hire, but the ride ends
on Wednesday. It’ll be Cortland, 15-9.
Roanoke (18-2) at Stevenson
(18-1), 4 p.m.
This game is a referendum on Roanoke. Stevenson has already proved
they can handle anything that Roanoke can bring, and they did it
without their starting goalie – Geoff Hebert broke his hand
the week before the meeting with the Maroons. And it’s not
like an 18-9 loss leaves many question marks.
Still, ‘Noke coach Bill Pilat feels that was a completely
different Maroon team that made the last trip to Owings Mills.
“Our team is a better than we were then,” he said.
“We had some guys who stepped up and had great years and
maybe weren’t playing as well then as they are
now.”
We’ll probably get a feel for how this game will go in the
first 15 minutes. In the first meeting, Stevenson blitzed the
Maroons in the first quarter, leading by six goals. That was all
she wrote. Should we chalk that up to nerves?
“We didn’t seem nervous; we scored the first
goal,” said Pilat. “Unfortunately, they scored the next
seven. I just think they are a really strong team and up until that
point we hadn’t played a team as fast as they were. They are
very fast. I think the speed that they play with and the
athletes they have was really a big step up for us and we have to
be ready for that.”
There’s always a different dynamic when two teams get
together for a second time. In theory, Stevenson could have a huge
psychological advantage over Roanoke considering the Mustangs
doubled them up the first time. You can shelve that idea, according
to Stevenson head coach Paul Cantabene.
“There’s not any advantage,” he said. “We
play Salisbury and St. Mary’s multiple times in a season, so
we’re used to that.”
It’s tough not getting sucked in by Pilat’s confidence.
He talks about his revamped defense finally clicking after 20 games
and it’s tough not to believe after what the Maroons did to
Gettysburg on Saturday. Roanoke pretty much shut down the
Bullets outstanding midfield unit led by Danno Lynch and Kyle
McGrath (one goal and one assist between them).
“This is where we hoped we could be,” said Pilat.
“We wanted to be one of the last eight teams, and the last
four. We’re playing one of the best teams around and you
can’t ask for anything more.”
Well, they could ask for a win, but I think it will take a perfect
game from Roanoke and middling effort from the Mustangs. Is that a
possibility? Absolutely, anything is. And one could even argue that
Stevenson might be looking ahead to a possible third dance with
Salisbury.
I don’t see it though. The score will be closer, but
it’ll still be Stevenson in the end, 14-11.
Haverford (12-5) at Salisbury
(19-1), 7:30 p.m.
This match-up is the only one of the four that isn’t a
rematch of a regular season game. And that’s just fine with
Salisbury coach Jim Berkman.
“It’s kind of nice to be playing new guys, a new cast
of characters,” he said. “I think that’s kind of
a neat experience at this time of year instead of being the
‘Game 7, Flyers and Capitals seven-in-a-row mentality.’
I think it’s fun playing a new team.”
They didn’t square off this year, but Berkman and the Gulls
know plenty about the Black Squirrels.
“It’s pretty much the same exact team,” said
Berkman, while watching last year’s second round NCAA
game on the flat screen in his office. “I think they
might have lost a face-off guy and a middie. But the entire attack
and defense are back and the goalie was a freshman.”
It took them three-quarters of the season, but Haverford is finally
living up to the expectations of a team that had almost
everyone returning except the head coach – Colin Bathory
replaced Mike Murphy when the latter took the Penn head coaching
gig. For the most part, Bathory has kept the previous system in
place with the exception of defense, where there has been a
departure from the Murphy days.
“The offense is very similar up to this date – not that
they won’t throw something at us on Wednesday – but the
defense is really extending and getting after people versus the
match-up, quick-sliding, packed-in zone defense that they played
last year with Coach Murphy, who I think does that same thing now
at Penn,” said Berkman.
Since a 9-8 loss to Dickinson on April 3, the Squirrels have won
seven straight, including a pair of wins over Dickinson and one
over Gettysburg. So obviously the defense is paying dividends.
Will it translate to the Salisbury game? The Gulls weren’t
exactly cruising into the tournament after losing to Stevenson in
the CAC finals and then squeezing past a sub-.500 Washington
College team, 12-7. But the Gulls manhandled Springfield, which had
played close with a lot of the top teams in the North.
I think Haverford is going to scare the crap out of Salisbury in
this game, and might even have a lead late in the game, but the
Gulls will find a way to pull it out in the last five minutes of
the contest, 12-11.
Middlebury (13-5) at Tufts (17-1), 4
p.m.
It seems like a pair of NESCAC teams annually meet up for a
third time in the tournament, and this year it’s Middlebury
and Tufts (it was usually Midd and Wesleyan that tripled up in the
past). The Jumbos have won the first two meetings – the
regular season meeting was a 10-5 decision for Tufts and the NESCAC
title game bout was 13-12 – but it was this last result that
gives me an indication that this might be another classic.
These two teams are similar in that they found their optimum
offensive line-up late in the season. For Middlebury, this was
understandable. After graduating a class that accounted for over
200 points last year, including all-world midfielder Mike Stone,
head coach Dave Campbell had some tinkering to do.
“It took a while to find our identity on offense,” he
said. “We had David Hild running midfield for most of the
year and it turned out we were a better team with him at attack, so
that just took a little bit longer than usual to find our identity.
Now I feel like we are a more potent team on the offense end and we
are definitely clicking.”
Tufts was in better shape offensive simply by having D.J. Hessler
(32g, 46a) back in the fold, but a personnel decision in the middle
of the year really solidified the Jumbos front line.
“Sean Kirwan was splitting time at the beginning of the year
and then we made a decision to stay with him and he has really
stepped up and given us some stability there,” said Tufts
coach Mike Daly. Kirwan, a sophomore, leads the team in markers
(43), including a seven-goal binge in the 21-8 stomping of Endicott
in the second round.
While both Hild and Kirwan will be crucial, Campbell feels it will
be the players who can get the ball to their offense who will hold
the key to this third outing.
“The last game they did a much better job facing off than we
did,” said Campbell. “When we went on our run, we were
winning the face-offs, and when they went on their run, they were
winning the face-offs. That’s a huge factor in the game. I
think we can do better in that area.”
So who’s the pick in this game? It’s a really tough
call. Campbell almost gave me the exact same answer this year as
last year, when the Panthers lost the regular season and NESCAC
tournament game to Wesleyan and then turned around and smoked the
Cardinals in the NCAAs, 13-5.
“Personally, I feel we don’t deserve to go any further
unless we beat Tufts,” said Campbell, echoing an identical
thought from ’09. “I shared that with the team
after the game on Saturday and I think they’re all in
agreement that there is no other place we’d rather be than
Medford on Wednesday. If they beat us on, good for them and
we’ll wish them luck, but they’re going to get
everything we’ve got.”
While Daly has the confidence of a coach who has won 17 of the 18
games he’s played this year, there’s always a wild
card.
“When it comes to 18 to 22-year-olds, it’s day to
day,” laughed Daly. “We’d like to think
we’re where we need to be, but we’ll know more on
Wednesday at 4 p.m.”
Every part of me is saying go with Middlebury, but I’m taking
Tufts and the sweep, 11-10, in overtime.
