Making Sense of it All - March 29
by Jac Coyne | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Coyne Archive
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| Come rain or shine, the Salisbury women are going to be
contenders for the national title. If the Gulls do win it all,
they'll have to thank a bunch of White Mules. © Kevin P. Tucker |
Considering the weather we've had this spring, Salisbury women's
coach Jim Nestor was a little sheepish bringing up the conditions
for Sunday's game against Franklin & Marshall, especially since
no one likes to hear griping about a pleasant climate in late
March.
"The sun came out," said Nestor on the bus ride back to campus
after his top-ranked (for now) Gulls nipped the No. 3 Dips, 10-9,
on the road. "It was a great day, but it was a little hot for some
of the players who don't get the amount of rest they normally
do."
In order to defeat F&M and truncate a rare, one-game mid-season
losing streak, Nestor had to shorten his bench and throw everything
he had at the Diplomats. Early on, it looked like the strategy
would pay off as the Gulls built a 7-3 lead late in the first
half.
Five consecutive goals bridging the two halves by the hosts, which
resulted in an 8-7 lead for F&M, forced Nestor to alter his
game plan.
"I thought we were running out of gas," he said. "I started looking
at our team and I said to myself, ‘We might be hitting a wall
here.' So I wanted to slow it up on the offense a little bit
because we were rushing things. We were connecting on [our
possessions], but we were playing long sets on defense, so I
started thinking about our endurance."
After trading goals 40 seconds apart midway through the second
frame, Salisbury tied the game with 14:22 left on Ashleigh Gender's
second marker of the game and then took the lead for good on a goal
from Sarah Clemmens - one of Nestor's four subs. The Gulls then
methodically bled the clock until the victory was in hand.
Salisbury was helped by the fact F&M used an even shorter bench
- Lauren Paul rolled only two substitutes for the entire game - in
addition to the dismissal of Dips stud Jen Pritchard (LM's
Preseason Player of the Year) late in the first half because of a
second yellow card.
The biggest key for the Gulls' win may have come for days prior,
however, when the top-ranked team was outclassed by Colby, 15-14,
snapping a seven-year regular season home winning streak.
Classified by Nestor as "an eye-opener," the White Mule triumph
exposed some deficiencies that Salisbury was able to eliminate
prior to Sunday.
"We didn't put it behind us right away," said Nestor of the Colby
loss. "We broke down the film and saw a lot of mistakes that we
made. Of course Colby is very good team, but at the same time we
saw a lot of things we didn't do so well as a team. We really
focused on that, knowing how strong F&M was with its offense.
We knew we had to come in and play great defense to pull out the
victory."
With the possible exception of a home date with TCNJ on April 11,
Salisbury will be large favorites in the rest of its contests. If
they can take care of business, the Gulls will likely host a
regional, meaning there is nothing but sunny skies ahead for
Nestor's team, regardless of the weather.
The Difference a Week Makes
When we headed into this week, not only did the No. 1
Salisbury men have the look of a team ready to coast to another
national championship, but the only team that appeared to be a
threat to the Gulls' crown was their conference rival, and national
No. 2, Stevenson.
Now, in the matter of four days, the men's Division III title race
is officially wide open.
It started on Tuesday, when Salisbury nearly had its 104-game
conference winning streak snapped by CAC lightweight York. Trailing
at halftime, the Gulls held just a one-goal lead midway through the
fourth quarter before pulling out a 13-9 victory. It continued on
Saturday when No. 16 Gettysburg, which stumbled at the outset of
the season, traveled to the Eastern Shore and handed Salisbury its
first home loss in six years, 11-10.
Stevenson concluded things by showing it was vulnerable, as well,
when it barely squeaked by a Wesley team that had one win over an
above-.500 team, 12-11, on Saturday. The Mustangs trailed, 9-6, in
the third quarter - the largest deficit of the season for Stevenson
- but managed to rally for the win.
Neither Stevenson nor Salisbury should be discounted from the
national title race, obviously, but their vulnerability makes the
prospects for this year's tournament extremely exciting. Instead of
the championship going to one of two teams, it is plausible that
seven or eight teams could be playing on the day before Memorial
Day.
And that's a great thing.
It's a White Mule World
So now that Salisbury has blown up the women's Division
III rankings with a 10-9 victory over No. 3 F&M on Sunday
afternoon, who is the No. 1 team in the land? This will be a very
tough week for the pollsters, especially because the results aren't
orderly. I reserve the right to criticize the pollsters (i.e.,
coaches), so I'll go on record with my picks just to be fair.
Here's my annotated Top 10:
1. Colby (6-1) - No. 8 to No. 1 is a big jump, but if you
knock off No. 1 and No. 5 in the same week, you have to reap some
reward, right? Plus, name another team that could beat Salisbury
and Middlebury in a four-day span.
2. Salisbury (9-1) - The Gulls lost to Colby, so they drop
behind, but take a look at that schedule. Brutal. And remember they
smoked a Roanoke team that just crumpled W&L.
3. Gettysburg (8-0) - We'll give the Bullets points for
the program tradition and the undefeated record, but who have they
beaten? No. 19 Mary Washington, which might be out of the poll this
week? They'll get a chance to prove themselves worthy later this
year against F&M and TCNJ.
4. F&M (8-1) - The Dips drop one spot with the loss to
Salisbury, which seems pretty fair, all things considered.
Especially since they were at home.
5. Hamilton (6-1) - This is where the pollsters will have
to swallow some pride. Keeping the Continentals at No. 2 after the
loss to Salisbury was an artificial nod to winning the title last
year, but Hamilton doesn't deserve the automatic bump to No. 1 now.
Hamilton and Ithaca both beat Cortland by one at home. What does
that tell you?
6. TCNJ (6-0) - Nice record; weak schedule so far. Like
Gettysburg, the Lions will get their chance - Gettysburg, Salisbury
and F&M still to go.
7. Tufts (5-1) - Beating Colby earns a thumbs up for the
Jumbos, but they receive deductions for the lazy scheduling. Only
two non-conference road games and both against teams within 45
minutes (Babson, Wheaton) of Medford? And no non-con games against
opponents outside of Massachusetts? Weak.
8. Middlebury (4-2) - Don't shed too many tears for Missy
Foote. A pair of one-goal losses against quality opponents will do
nothing but help the Panthers down the stretch.
9. Trinity (6-1) - They lost to Colby, but beat Williams
and W&L. Staying static sounds right.
10. Union (2-1) - This ranking might be a gift, but we'll
let the Dutchwomen get a couple more games under their belt before
passing judgment.
My second ten for those interested, in order: Babson, W&L, St.
Mary's, Stevens, William Smith, Buffalo State, Williams, Cortland,
Elizabethtown.
Tigers De-clawed
Anyone remember back to 2005 when the Colorado College
women made it to the national semifinals? The Tigers became the
face of Western small-school women's lacrosse after that and paved
the way for non-traditional teams to grab a piece of the NCAA pie.
In some small part to CC's success, there are now NCAA D-III
women's lacrosse programs springing up all over the place -
Michigan, Texas, California, Oregon, Missouri, Washington, and
Illinois.
Unfortunately for Colorado College, it is slipping behind some of
the programs it helped elevate.
It started last year when Claremont grabbed the Pool B bid
typically allotted to the schools out west in front of CC. This
past weekend, the situation became direr as the Tigers were not
only beaten by Adrian - a second-year program from Michigan - but
handled by the Bulldogs, 15-9.
Colorado College put non-traditional D-III women's lacrosse on the
map. Alas, the Tigers are fast becoming a footnote in that same
arena.
Slides & Rides
- As great a week as Colby had in women's Division III,
No. 6 Mercyhurst was a step better in WD2. In the span of three
days, the Lakers defeated two Top 5 teams and then survived an
overtime scare in a "trap" game. It started on Thursday with a
13-12 victory on the road against Lock Haven and was followed up
with an 11-9 home triumph against No. 1 and defending champion West
Chester. On Sunday, ‘Hurst stumbled a bit against Bloomsburg,
but managed to eek out a 15-14 double OT win to improve to 8-0. The
Lakers probably won't be able to hop both Adelphi and C.W. Post in
the polls, but they should be a solid No. 3 this week with a huge
leg up for an NCAA bid.
- The Denison men put up some nice numbers in its 12-4 victory over
NCAC foe Wittenberg on Wednesday. The Big Red won 18-of-19
faceoffs, were successful on all 13 of their clearing attempts
and went 3-for-4 on the man-up. And there was only one technical
foul called on Denison the entire game. That's about as efficient
as you're going to get. But just to let you know how fickle
lacrosse can be, Denison couldn't come close to matching that
trajectory on Saturday against Wooster. The Big Red watched the
potential tying shot fly past the goal as time
expired, allowing Denison to take home an 8-7
win.
- This has been a season of threes for the Washington & Lee
women. After racing out to a 3-0 start to the season, the Generals
then lost three close games to F&M, Mary Washington and Trinity
- all possible NCAA participants this spring. W&L rebounded
with three more wins, including an 11-10 triumph over No. 5
Middlebury. The latest three-game cycle is not off to a promising
start as unranked Roanoke handed the No. 12 Generals a stunning,
12-8 defeat on Saturday, snapping the program's five-year
undefeated run in the ODAC.
- Like a fine wine: meeting up with Washington College for the
20th time, Haverford finally dealt the No. 8 Shoremen a
loss on Saturday after going 0-19 in the previous meetings. The
Black Squirrels, ranked No. 14, took an early, 4-1 and held on for
the 8-5 victory on the road. The win not only snaps Haverford's
ineptitude against WAC, but also vaults the program into first
place in the Centennial. The Fords have rebounded nicely from the
15-3 dismantling by Cabrini in the season opener.
- This is not shaping up to be a promising season for the Amherst
women - once a huge player on the national scene and a program that
entered this season ranked in the Top 10. After Saturday's 10-4
loss to Bates - one of the few unranked NESCAC teams - the Lady
Jeffs are 4-3 with Williams, Middlebury, Colby and Trinity (not to
mention non-con Babson) left on the slate. Finishing above .500
would look pretty impressive right now for Chris Paradis'
troops.
- I referred to the York men as "lightweights" in the CAC above,
but after the Spartans followed the narrow loss to Salisbury with a
victory over conference foe St. Mary's, it could be a case of
York finally rounding into form. We'll see how they do against
Stevenson on Wednesday, but the Spartans might be a team the CAC
heavyweights don't want to see in their conference tourney bracket.
So we'll upgrade the Spartans - they're officially
middleweights.
- A quick update of my favorite Upstate programs: the Buffalo State
women were idle this weekend and start their SUNYAC season on
Tuesday against Brockport. The St. John Fisher men improved to 9-0
by downing Hartwick, 7-5. Things get a lot tougher for the
Cardinals starting Wednesday, when they travel to Ithaca...the
Ithaca women showed some signs of life with an upset win over No.
14 Cortland, 13-12 (FYI: Buff State rocked the Bombers, 17-12,
earlier)...the Trinity women are quietly putting together a great
season, heightened by their win over Williams on
Saturday...speaking of the Ephs, the men are now 1-5 after bowing
to Trinity, 6-3. Williams loses to Roanoke, 17-16, in overtime and
then manages three goals against the Bantams? Odd...with the win
over Mary Washington, the St. Mary's women put themselves into the
second slot in the CAC behind Salisbury - a nice place to be come
selection Sunday...when you look at some of the games in all three
divisions and both genders, these past seven days have been the
most entertaining week of lacrosse in about three years.
