Finalists Seibald, Abbott Represent Rare Breed
by Matt DaSilva |
Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Blog from the 'Boro
FOXBORO, Mass. -- It's not quite Kobe versus
Lebron, but Monday's NCAA Division I men's lacrosse championship
game features two of the game's biggest stars in Cornell's Max
Seibald and Syracuse's Matt Abbott.
Even if the stats don't say so.
Seibald and Abbott, both finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy that
tends to weigh on postseason performance, boast modest numbers.
Seibald has 26 goals and 10 assists, but it's his cool, bullish
demeanor that teammates find contagious.
"He gets so much attention on him," said Big Red attackman Chris
Finn. "He just exudes this quiet confidence on game day on the
field."
Abbott has 12 goals and nine assists, but leads Syracuse in the
ultimate dirty-work category with 74 ground balls.
"Everything that everybody says about him his true," Seibald said
of his adversary. "He is that one-man clear. He's an offensive
threat, a defensive threat -- he can do anything."
You won't see Seibald and Abbott matched up against each other.
They're too good not to draw defensive specialists. But it's that
same trend of specialization which each of them defies.
Long poles and role players have neutralized big athletes between
restraining lines, but Seibald and Abbott exemplify the old
school.
"Max is a tremendous player. He compares to our Matt [Abbott].
He's the guy that teams really have to focus on. He plays offense;
he plays defense. He can go out there to face off; he can be on the
wings for the faceoff," Syracuse head coach John Desko said of
Seibald. "And when he comes up with it, he's a real threat going to
the goal. It usually takes more than one person to stop him."
What question mark?
It didn't take long for ESPN analysts to undercut Cornell when the
NCAA tournament bracket was released earlier this month. "Defense
and goalie are question marks for Cornell coming into the NCAA
tournament," read the crawl on the bottom of the screen.
The Big Red has used that quote as bulletin-board inspiration and
flipped that perception with dominant defensive performances
against Princeton and Virginia en route to its first NCAA
championship game berth since 1988.
Injuries and graduation left Cornell's defense decimated after the
2008 season, but the Big Red has found a rhythm with early sliding
and quick recovery.
"It's a pretty complicated system, and it's really taken guys
throughout the course of the year get used to it," said Matt Moyer,
Cornell's All-American on defense. "I think now you're starting to
see it paying off a little bit. Guys are just more comfortable
playing. There's a lot more communication and a lot more teamwork
on defense, versus letting guys play one-on-one, which is what we
were doing in the fall and beginning of the year."
Myers shows stick-to-itiveness
Goalkeeper Jake Myers transferred from Syracuse to Cornell in
2007-08 for a chance to play, even if it meant leaving a program
that would vie for a national championship. Now he gets the best of
both worlds.
Myers started for Cornell as a senior in 2008 and was granted an
extra year of eligibility for 2009. Having to sit out in the fall,
however, he lost his starting position to Butler transfer Kyle
Harer.
Harer started well, including a 17-save performance in the Big
Red's win over Duke, but cooled significantly. Myers won the
starting job back after relieving Harer against Harvard on April 4.
Harer had made just two saves and allowed 11 goals, but Myers
stopped the bleeding with four saves late, and Cornell came back to
win, 13-12.
Myers made his first start of the season three days later against
his former team, Syracuse, the same team he'll face Monday in the
NCAA championship game.
"He stuck with it, and some guys wouldn't," Syracuse head coach
John Desko said of Myers, who made eight saves in Cornell's win
over Virginia in Saturday's semifinal. "He got back in the goal, he
has a lot of experience for Cornell, and now he's playing the best
ball that he has played."
Said Cornell head coach Jeff Tambroni: "The fact that we got a
fifth year for him has really paid dividends."
Pannell draws high praise
Cornell freshman Rob Pannell's three-goal, three-assist
performance against Virginia has people talking. Pannell elicited a
lofty comparison from his high school coach to Big Red head coach
Jeff Tambroni during the recruiting process.
"He was compared to a guy like Timmy Goldstein back in '88,"
Tambroni said. "He's a guy who can control the tempo of an
offense."
Goldstein, a star attackman, was a 2007 inductee into the National
Hall of Fame. He led Cornell to consecutive NCAA championship game
appearances in 1987 and '88. He led the nation in scoring in 1987
with 100 points.
Pannell currently leads the Big Red with 65 points (24g, 41a).
"For a guy who's a freshman, playing at the level he's playing at
now, it's been pretty impressive to lay witness to what he's been
responsible for," Tambroni said.
