Weekend Watch: Handling the Slow
Start
by Jac Coyne | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Coyne
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Eddie Bilinkas and Lynchburg have rebounded nicely from
their 0-2 start. Now they have to contend with No. 2 Stevenson to
see if they can keep the momentum rolling.
© Kevin P. Tucker
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Peering in from the outside, their seasons appeared to be on the
brink. The calendar had barely flipped into March and each of these
programs already had two losses on the schedule, quickly crushing
any of the preseason hopes and dreams that every team has leading
into the spring.
It’s a scary spot for a coach to be in; that period
between the moment a team realizes it’s not as good as
it thinks it is and its next game. The players have a chance to
start finger pointing, there is an erosion of confidence to perform
in the clutch, and even a coach’s biggest dread –
the potential for “losing” his team.
A lot of the reaction in the face of tough sledding depends on the
make-up of a team. But to ensure an avoidance of these pitfalls, it
is critical for a coach to triangulate where the problems lie and
attack them immediately.
For Lynchburg coach Steve Koudelka, it happened on the eight-hour
bus ride home from Ohio Wesleyan after the Hornets were defeated by
the Bishops, 13-10, dropping them to 0-2. He stood up in the aisle
of the bus and told his team they were going to use the loss as a
springboard to a strong finish.
“I think you can look at it two ways,” said Koudelka.
“We can just sit there with our hands shaking, saying,
‘How is this going to go?’ Or we can do something about
it. We watched some film with the guys and we showed them all of
the things we were doing well and also pointed out the things we
weren’t doing well. Every mistake we made was correctable. We
were not losing to those teams because they had better lacrosse
players and better athletes than us. We were losing because they
were executing better than we were.”
Todd Cavallaro, head coach at Franklin & Marshall, took a
similar tack after the Dips were routed by Roanoke and then were
edged by St. Mary’s to start the season. F&M was in a
slightly different spot than Lynchburg in terms of expectations
– the Dips are slowly building back to the stage of being a
perennial power – so Cavallaro wasn’t faced with the
immediacy of refocusing his team.
When he did, however, he followed Koudelka’s path of using
the poor start as an educational tool.
“We showed a lot of film from those two games, especially
with the young guys, so they could visually see where the mistakes
were made and I think we gained a lot of experience watching what
we did wrong,” said Cavallaro. “It helped us grow and
become a little bit more mature heading into the W&L
game.”
In a completely different boat was Ray Rostan,
Hampden-Sydney’s head man. With an 11-man senior class
stacked with experienced and athletic players, this was supposed to
be the year the Tigers regained their footing in the national
scene. “I’ve been looking forward to this team for a
quite a while,” admitted Rostan.
After opening the season with a win over Mary Washington, Sydney
headed to Gettysburg, ranked third at the time, and raced out to a
six-goal lead to start the game and even held a 10-9 advantage
heading into the fourth-quarter. The Bullets, however, ran off
an 8-0 fourth quarter to coast to a 17-10 victory. In the next game
against No. 13 Cabrini, the Tigers mailed it in, bowing to the
Cavs, 11-6.
Rostan wanted to do all sorts of things to correct the problem, but
he’s been through one of these rodeos before – this is
his 30th year of coaching college ball – so he
knew he had to let the team figure it out for themselves.
“For our team it’s all mental,” said Rostan.
“We play good teams and I think some of the players
don’t realize the intensity that is necessary in those big
games early. I think it takes a couple of games to learn that. I
believe this can really be one of our special teams, like the one
we had in 2003 and 1998. But if the kids think it’s Wednesday
and they’re not bringing it, you’re not going to win.
It seems like there is a learning process for our kids, although it
shouldn’t be at this point.”
Each of the coaches proved they opted for the right course.
Lynchburg has rattled off four straight wins, including a win over
then-No. 13 Stevens last weekend to improve to 4-2 and earn a No.
18 national ranking. F&M responded to their early woes by
stunning then-No. 8 Washington & Lee on Saturday, and then
evened its record at 2-2 by subduing Susquehanna on Wednesday. And
since the Cabrini debacle, Rostan’s charges have posted three
consecutive wins, including a 17-8 demolition of Washington
College.
When the light bulb went off for their team, the coaches were more
than happy to give the credit to the players.
“They played really well in the Washington College game and I
think they figured it out,” said Rostan. “They
didn’t swallow the ball. They played well with their sticks
and the defense played well, so I’m hoping they are starting
the jell because I feel like this could be a pretty good
team.”
“I give a lot of credit to the players because instead of
waiting around for us to give them things to do to get better,
they’ve been out there on their own time shooting, or getting
extra shots for the goalies, or just hitting the wall,” said
Koudelka. “It was a little bit of a humbling experience for
our guys to be 0-2 and I think the adversity was good for
us.”
“Things started to click a little bit and we were able to
grind out a couple of wins,” added Cavallaro.
Just as all three of these programs have righted themselves, they
are now faced with their biggest challenges of the season on
Saturday – and the possibility of starting the
cycle all over again.
Lynchburg hosts a No. 2 Stevenson team that has lived up to its
billing. Hampden-Sydney entertains ODAC rival and No. 8 Roanoke
fresh off the Maroons surprising loss to Dickinson. And F&M
must prove to themselves that their W&L triumph was not a fluke
by beating a 5-0 Ursinus team hoping to put a signature win on its
résumé.
Can these three teams, once on the brink of irrelevance, cap their
turnarounds with eye-popping victories this weekend? It’s
tough to say, but I know I’ll be watching.
Pressure Zone
Eddie Bilinkas,
Middie, Lynchburg
What makes Stevenson even better this year than last is
their defense, and you can bet the Mustangs will have Dylan Hoff
and Ethan Farrell on lockdown. The Hornets are going to need
someone to step up and win one-on-one match-ups to force the
Stevenson poles into some tough decisions. Bilinkas is the perfect
candidate to do it. A couple of early goals by Bilinkas should lead
to a bunch of assists later in the game, possibly even the
game-winner.
Sara Bloom, Goalie,
Tufts
The 40.7 save percentage ain’t gonna cut it in the
NESCAC. With seven conference teams in the Top 20, there are no
days off for a netminder. We know what Bloom can do – we
witnessed it last year – so the junior needs to shake off the
rust and give the Jumbos a chance against Colby. Obviously, her
defense can give her a hand, as well. Regardless, unless there is
some improvement on the back end, Tufts will be 0-2 in the
conference.
Craig Bunker, Middie, Colby
Tufts is a better team than Colby. I don’t think a lot
of people outside of Waterville would argue with me on that. But
that doesn’t mean the White Mules can’t win their
match-up with the No. 9 Jumbos on Saturday and Bunker is a big
reason why. After two games against Williams and Endicott –
not exactly pushovers – Bunker has taken every face-off and
won 27 of his 33 chances. That would be an 82 percent clip, if
you’re wondering. If the junior can dominate the X again,
he’ll allow Jon Thompson to run his game plan, which will
undoubtedly feature a slow down, methodical approach.
Julie Ann Caulfield, Goalie, Salisbury
Staring down Caulfield from the other goalmouth on Saturday
will be Lidia Sanza, F&M’s All-American goalie and one of
the more battle-tested keepers in the WD3 game. It’s
important that the Salisbury’s junior doesn’t flinch.
Replacing first team All-American Sonja Stuart, Caulfield has had
an excellent start, but now we’re talking Final Four
intensity. It’s a tough assignment, but Caulfield has to be a
difference-maker for the Gulls.
Zachary Ciesinski,
Goalie, Stanford
The numbers haven’t been pretty for Ciesinski –
a GAA of nearly 10 and a sub-50 save percentage – and those
digits could get downright ugly if he loses focus for a minute this
weekend. Florida State and Central Florida both have explosive
offensives that could run the Cardinal out of the state if the
junior is not on his game. It’s a tall order, but Stanford
needs a career weekend out of their keeper.
Jon Cortina, Goalie, St. John Fisher
Fisher better take its game against Oneonta very, very
seriously or the Cardinals are going to get their first blemish of
the season. The Red Dragons are no pushover, and would like nothing
better than to net a couple of cheapies early and force SJF to
press. Cortina needs to make sure he’s sharp from the first
whistle because Fisher is probably not as good as they think they
are right now.
Jack
Dumsa, Attack, Grand Valley State
GVSU, the runners-up in the 2008 MCLA Division II
championship game, finally launches its season in earnest on
Saturday when the No. 9 Lakers travel to No. 2 Dayton. The Flyers
have proven they haven’t lost anything from last year’s
championship game run, so if GVSU wants to post a signature win
– something it lacked last year when it was left off the
tournament roll – then Dumsa will have to be a presence in
the mold of former Lacrosse Magazine 2009 Preseason Player
of the Year Cameron Holding, who now plays for NCAA D-II Florida
Southern. Dumsa scored eight goals and dished out an assist in the
Lakers only game of the season, a 24-16 rout of Hope. He’ll
need at least half that goal production against Dayton.
Kevin Hayden, Attack,
Virginia Tech
Not only did the Hokies lose a massive amount of scoring
from last year, the weak early-season schedule hasn’t allowed
the new pieces to gain needed experience. Enter Hayden, the
fourth-leading scorer on Tech last year. With the Hokies facing No.
13 Florida on Saturday in Georgia, goals will be at a premium and
the sophomore must deliver. If he allows himself to be shut off,
then Tech will be in big trouble.
Daniel Martin, Defense, Hampden-Sydney
It would have been nice if Roanoke was visiting Farmville
with a little complacency, but Dicksinson made sure the Maroons
will be loaded for Tiger come Saturday. As such, Martin will have
to earn his captaincy by leading the Sydney defense against the
relentless ‘Noke attack. The Maroons are going to get their
goals. The senior has to be make sure they don’t come in
bunches, which will lead to some frustration and allow the Tigers
to be in at the end.
Slides & Rides
- Todd Cavallaro, F&M’s head coach, thinks you
can put sophomore Colin McKew in your future All-American candidate
file. The attackman led the team in points his rookie season and is
on his way to matching the feat this year with 13 points in four
games for the Dips. Although he’s just 5-foot-9, 145 pounds,
McKew is a force for F&M.
“He is much more of a scoring threat this year,” said
Cavallaro. “He’s always been a great feeder, but now
he’s an excellent finisher, as well. I’ve coached a lot
of players on different levels and he could play anywhere. He
really could. He’s not the biggest guy – he’s not
going to power dodge you – but he has an incredible field
sense and knows where to get and when to get there.”
- Bad news for USL’s newest Hall of Fame inductee. Pat
Genovese, head coach at William Smith, and the Herons are
essentially eliminated from the NCAA tournament hunt after three
games. With their relatively weak non-conference schedule
(especially compared to Liberty League rival Union), William Smith
will have to win its conference tournament AQ after losses to
Messiah and Nazareth already – an unlikely prospect with
Union and Hamilton in the way. The only good thing going for the
Herons at this point is I wrote an obituary for the Gettysburg men
after five games last year and they ended up in the finals. So
they’ve got that going for them.
- We have a front-runner for Game of the Year, and it comes out of
the MCLA. Jon Chee, a freshman for Cal, potted the game-winning
goal with 11 seconds remaining in the sixth overtime frame to lift
the No. 19 Bears to an 11-10 win over Sonoma State on Sunday
evening. Knotted at 10-10 after regulation, the two teams played
23:49 of extra time before Chee settled the affair.
- How can Hampden-Sydney stop Roanoke on Saturday? According to
Rostan, it’s the old razor about face-offs and defense.
“They are one of the few teams in Division III that have
three face-off guys, so you have to find a way to control them in
that because when they are running well, it’s almost like
make it, take it,” said Rostan. “Our first game last
year we didn’t play good defense and they were hitting
cutters all day. In the second game, we did play good defense and
we playing goal for goal with them.”
- As much as Lynchburg would love to continue its four-game run,
Hornets coach Steve Koudelka knows he has his hands full. “I
thought they were as good as anybody last year,” said
Koudelka about Stevenson, who LC has split with over the last two
seasons. “Obviously, they still have a great attack, but I
think they have a better-than-advertised defense. Their goalie is
really good and their defensemen are big, tall, lanky kids who can
stretch the field on you a little bit.”
- A pair of games featuring teams searching for their first-ever
program wins occurred on Tuesday and, obviously, we have two teams
feeling relief and two still searching for satisfaction. Albion
(Mich.) picked up its inaugural triumph against Southwestern
(Texas), 15-11. Southwestern, which hopped over to the NCAA from
MCLA Division II this year, is currently 0-7. Mount St. Mary (N.Y.)
snagged its first program victory by beating Bard, 12-5, leaving
the Raptors (0-3) still searching.
- It’s clear that Steve Ulrich, the Executive Director of the
Centennial Conference, handed out a talking points memo to the
men’s lacrosse coaches in their preseason meeting. After Dave
Webster, Dickinson’s head coach, spouted about the primacy of the CC in the D-III world in my
Making Sense column, Cavallaro parroted the same theme. “From
top to bottom, this is by far the best conference in Division
III,” he said. “Every team is very capable and there
are going be a lot of close games.”
- Ladies and gentlemen, we have our early favorite for NESCAC
women’s player of the year. After a two-goal, six-assist
performance in a win against Tufts, Kelley Trapp netted three goals
and set up five others against Manhattanville. As I write this,
however, I see that Trapp only had two assists in the Lady Jeffs
loss to Messiah on Thursday, so she’s already down to a 6.0
points per game average…the Colorado College men almost
pulled off its biggest test of the season, but McDaniel go the
better of the Tigers, 10-9. CC’s still alive for a Pool B,
however…I can’t wait for the Spring Break trip season
to be over. It’s hard to gauge how a game went without a box
score…I’m hoping the game between No. 1 Michigan and
No. 7 Oregon down in Texas will be a competitive match, but I fear
it won’t be…always keeping an eye on his ODAC
competition, Koudelka said he’ll be making the trip to
Hampden-Sydney to watch the Tigers play Roanoke on Saturday
afternoon before Lynchburg faces Stevenson in a 7 p.m.
start…I’ll be covering a little MCLA Division II
action this weekend when No. 12 Western Washington plays No. 8 St.
John’s at Shattuck-St. Mary’s.
- Also, if you’re looking for any of my past 3,000-word
ramblings, check out my
archive.
