March 23, 2005
The Wednesday National Notebook takes a look at college lacrosse being played beyond Division I.
Home Away From Home
For some Limestone College men's lacrosse alumni, attending this past Saturday's Alumni Weekend didn't mean catching a flight down to Gaffney, S.C. Instead, it meant getting in their cars and driving on Route 50 to Broadneck High School in Maryland, where No. 2 Limestone played host to No. 6 Adelphi.
"All of the Maryland kids were excited to come home and play a great game against a good team in Adelphi," said Limestone's attackman Roger Vyse, who is not from Maryland but Ontario, Canada.
Limestone over the years has been a major recruiter of athletes from Anne Arundel County in Maryland. The 2005 Saints roster has 20 players from the Free State including nine from Anne Arundel County and two from neighboring Queen Anne's County across the Bay Bridge.
The game felt like a home game for Limestone as an estimated 500 Saint supporters littered the hillside overlooking the backfield at Broadneck. Among the crowd were the friends and family of senior attackman All-American David Wooster, who went to high school at nearby Annapolis.
"It feels good to be home," said Wooster. "It was a great crowd today. I had all my friends and family here."
Wooster didn't disappoint as he scored four goals and three assists and the Saints broke open a 10-10 fourth quarter tie with a 9-2 run to win 19-12. Senior midfielder All-American Bobby Woody, another Anne Arundel local from Edgewater, scored four goals in the decisive quarter.
"It was a hard game," said Wooster. "We could tell we were in better shape and condition. We just kept working our offense and eventually gaps just started to open up."
Limestone hopes its conditioning and experience makes a difference come the end of May, when the Saints hope to be playing for the Division II National Championship. The Saints lost a heart breaker to Le Moyne in last year's national championship game in overtime.
The other factor is Limestone's new head coach Chris Hasbrouck who becomes the fourth Saint coach in six seasons. Limestone went to the Division III ranks to get the long-time Salisbury assistant of 11 years, who hopes to put an end to the revolving door of coaches in Gaffney.
"I used to have the greatest job in America down there [at Salisbury]. I absolutely loved coaching those kids. I never really looked for other jobs," said Hasbrouck. "This was something that really got my interest. I wouldn't have accepted it if I didn't plan on being there for a while."
"He brings the winning attitude," said Wooster. "He knows what it takes. He gets us prepared every day and he makes it fun."
Hasbrouck's winning attitude showed when during his pre-game speech, he told the team he had never lost to Adelphi while at Salisbury and he didn't plan on starting Saturday. The coach didn't have to worry about eating his words as his team backed him up. The win also snapped the Saints' five-game losing streak to the Panthers.
It was a good win for the new head coach in front of the Limestone alumni and fans in their home away from home.
No. 1 vs. No. 2 games in Florida
Two of the best Division III men's and women's games of the year will take place this week in Florida. No. 1 Salisbury places their 36-game regular season winning streak on the line as it faces No. 2 Nazareth on Friday in Coco Beach. This is a rematch of last season's national championship game that the Sea Gulls won 13-9. On the women's side, No. 1 Middlebury will face No. 2 Salisbury on Wednesday in West Palm Beach. The Sea Gulls knocked off former No. 2 The College of New Jersey two weeks ago. It was their first win against the Lions ever. Can Salisbury do it again this week? Too bad a lot of the fans of these four schools and Division III lacrosse won't be able to see these games.
Line of the Week
5 goals
Cali Toms - Freshman Attack
Bloomsburg University
Cali Toms scored a game-high five goals on Tuesday to lead No. 9 Bloomsburg to a 12-8 home upset victory over No. 6 Lock Haven. Toms is third in team scoring.
From the Sidelines
The College of New Jersey had its first two-game losing streak since 1985 as Cortland beat the Lions 10-9 on Saturday. The Lions put an end to that skid with a 16-3 victory over Ursinus on Tuesday. . . . Middlebury's men's and women's ice hockey teams both repeated as Division III National Championships this past weekend. Three of the men's hockey players will join the lacrosse team this coming weekend. . . . Messiah men's team took down its second Top 20 ranked opponent this season. The Falcons beat No. 8 Lynchburg 10-6 at home on Saturday. Messiah took down Ithaca to being the season in overtime.
Wednesday National Notebook Archives
3-16-05: Colorado State Exacts Revenge Over UCSB
3-09-05: Gannon Ready To Make Run
3-02-05: Young Generals Make Statement
