Championship Weekend!

INtro

SPEAKER_06 0:11

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Priest with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Men's Lacrosse. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stensrom, and with me, as always, is that prestigious prognosticator of D2 Men's Lacrosse, Danny Moran. Hey Danny, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_08 0:31

Kevin, you killed me, buddy. You killed me. I'm doing really good. How's it going in Northern Virginia tonight?

SPEAKER_06 0:37

It's a hot one. It's a hot one. Feels like it was July, too. Yeah, yeah. But uh all good. All good. Now, Danny, this episode is all about the championship weekend. And besides the game that we have to get to to talk about, we really have a little bit of a story of how we got to the tournament or didn't get to the tournament, who we talked with, and some of our technical challenges along the road. Okay. So, so first though, before we get there, I have to give a shout out to the Tampa and the Mercy fans. They invited and welcomed me, us, it would have been us, into their tailgates. And they kept on asking for you, Danny, which kind of you know upset me a little bit to and you know, I had I had a good roll with the punches on that one. But anyway, they were great fans, great parents who care about their kids and their teams. It was just awesome to see. It was a lot of fun. I wish you had been there.

SPEAKER_08 1:37

Well, Kevin, I always talk about the Irish and the luck of the Irish and being Irish, and I always give a shout out to those Irish kids. Well, I had the Murphy's Law weekend. The Irish caught up to me. Anything that could go wrong did go wrong, including car troubles, scheduling troubles, and all kinds of things. Uh, I was completely upset on Sunday, completely upset. I wasn't a guy to be around on Sunday, that's for sure. But I got to chill and watch the game on the big screen, and uh all is good in the world after, you know, after the weekend that didn't turn out the way I wanted it.

SPEAKER_06 2:17

Yeah, so just to tell all our listeners out there, our original plan was that both Danny and I would meet and and be there the whole weekend, interview the teams in person vice doing it over Zoom, which is how we typically do it. But as Colin Powell once said, no battle plan ever survives the first encounter with the enemy. Not really that we have enemies, I don't think we do. We may, who knows? But our plan certainly did not survive into the weekend, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_08 2:49

Well, sometimes you know you hit these little bumps in the road, Kev, and you got to learn to navigate, like a good Navy man would or a good soldier would. They learn to navigate and improvise, and uh that's what we wound up having to do.

SPEAKER_06 3:05

Yeah, so let's let's get first. So, you because of your musical talent on the drums, your band had a lot of gigs this weekend. So we knew you weren't gonna be able to be there till Sunday. So we figured, okay, I will meet with the teams in person, we'll bring you in via Zoom.

Mercy

SPEAKER_06 3:23

So, first stop is Mercy. We go to I go to their hotel, and like I said, we usually do every podcast solely on Zoom, which is I wouldn't say we perfect it, but we've got a routine down and we we figured it out. But as I try to get you in on Zoom, as you remember, we've never tried this before, and for some reason, when I plug in the mixer into my computer, the speakers on my computer never work. So we had to I had to get on earbuds in so that I could hear you, and then we had to translate you to the players and the coach when we did the discussion, yeah. Speed bump number one, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 4:06

But but it worked out, you know, the kids were great, and coach Levine was great, and it managed to work, so yeah.

SPEAKER_06 4:13

So just to set it up as the intro, and we'll get to the interview in a second. We were able to sit down with Coach Levine as well as four of his players, and those players were Brady Kiernan, Jack Kipnas, Dom Scorsha, and Justin Gerdville. And it was a great group. So why don't we just uh turn to that interview right now? Let's go. Coach, let me start off with you. When we interviewed you during the ECC preview, you talked about your team having a lot of uh senior guys on the team and what you thought you could do. And and I listened to it as we drove, I drove up today. I'm like, actually, Danny and I sounded pretty smart because we said that you guys are gonna be tough to beat. And throughout the season, we saw some games where you didn't have a full game, a full good game, but you guys always fought back and you always closed. So just walk me through the season that way, if you can, about how you were able to do things like that.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Yeah, you know, I think um throughout the entire year we uh we we improved. I mean, if you look, I thought, you know, going through that we had the pieces in place where we could be competitive and make a run. And we were a similar group to last year that made the quarterfinals, and you know, we didn't get an opportunity to compete, unfortunately. So I thought that, but early on in the year, um, we played some close games and uh, you know, almost lost a couple games that I didn't think we should have. And uh, you know, our fourth game of the year we played Lemoyne, and you know, we ended up losing that game eight-seven, and we we we blew a lead, but I think we learned a lot from that game, and and it gave us even more confidence that we could compete with anybody. And I think that was more along the lines of what our expectation was going into the year. Um you mentioned resilience, and I think that's what our guys are about. We definitely have talent. Um, we've got a deep team and an experienced team, um, a lot of seniors. Um, to be honest with the COVID year and stuff, we don't lose a lot of guys for next year, but we do have an experienced group that have played in NCA tournaments and championship games. Um and I don't mean this as a slight. We're a talented group, but we don't blow you away with we do things, they don't quit, they keep fighting. And that's what you saw in Seaton Hill and Le Moyne. Because honestly, and I think I said it in that NCAA interview, both those games could have gone either way. And I think it was evenly matched teams, and I think it's that um those intangibles that you can't quite like quantify what it is, and that they find a way to win games that are when they're in those close situations, and you know, being in the huddle in timeouts and down a goal with 40 seconds left, and even the double overtime and tied. It was just such a sense of calmness and confidence about them. And I think you know, they've had some tough losses, played in big games, won big games. Um, so it's not new to them. They've been in these situations before, and I think uh that really served us well and gave them the confidence that they could, you know, compete at this level and make the plays they need to win those type of games.

SPEAKER_06 7:15

All right, so let me ask the players here. When we had Justin on, we kind of talked about you guys getting your your season ripped away from you, the postseason last year, and playing with a chip on your shoulder, right? And Justin put it as we're just hungry. Did that play into the way you played this year? And did it bring you more hunger based on what happened last year? Start with you, Brady.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Um, yeah, I definitely would agree with that. I mean, I was one of the guys that tested positive for COVID. I know Curdy was too. And I mean, I remember getting that positive test and just being on the field and I was crying and kind of had between my uh legs a little bit. And so when we came back here, it's like we knew what we had, we knew that we were gonna be a good team. We knew that we could make a run if we just had to get there and had the opportunity to do it. Um, and so when we came back this year, like my focus all throughout the fall, I shouldn't say my focus, the team's focus was no, we won ECCs, they feel great. I love doing that, but let's get to you know the real thing. Let's get to the national championship and see what we can do. And now we're here. Um, and it's such a surreal feeling. Like I've had this piece of paper, just a line piece of paper with this national championship, uh, national champions um on my wall since fall, since I got here, the first day I got here. Um and it's in my wallet right now. It's kind of just, you know, all the hard work that we've been putting in throughout, you know, this long year, it's kind of gonna start paying off and just kind of ready to go and get out there.

SPEAKER_06 8:41

All right. So let me ask a little bit different question to you, Jack. And that has to do with playing in those, those, those tough games and your defense always showing up the way you guys do. What is it like to play uh for mercy in the defense you have?

SPEAKER_04 8:59

I think that our defense is a lot different than other defenses, and we're a very tight-knit group, and we love playing and flying around with each other. And I always what we always say to each other before every game is that it starts and ends with us. It doesn't matter if the offense goes out there and scores two goals. We do our job, we'll win that game. So we always just lean on each other. And if one guy has a bad play, like there'll be a time where I do something wrong or Gerd does something wrong, it's not us turning and yell at each other. We turn around, we pick each other up because we've been through these battles together. We've all had those moments, we've all had that time where I should have had that ground ball, I should have made that play there. But you know you have your brother on your left and your right to come turn and help pick you up. And then you always know that there's the one that's watched over your shoulder. You got Coach Karash sitting on that sideline. You know, he's making a comment under his breath, you do something wrong. So you better make sure you're doing the best you can of all times. But uh no, it's it's a privilege to play with these guys because, like Coach said, I mean, we're an experienced group. We've been in a lot of these battles before, so there's not a lot of moments that we haven't seen. You know, we've been down in games and we've been up in games, like you said, that overtime game, we had a ball for a full three minutes, and then it comes down our end, it's like, all right, well, we need to get on the ball again, we gotta do our job. And we all have full faith and confidence in ourselves, and we're a tight-knit group that believes in each other, so it's it's a lot of fun to be together.

SPEAKER_06 10:05

All right, Tom, I have to ask you with the winning goal to go. I mean, you're the hero for that moment, but you have guys around you like Brady, like Jack Gibbons, but you gotta tell me what that feeling was like for you to win to have that pass. First of all, that pass was crazy.

SPEAKER_08 10:25

Exactly. The pass was insane, man. Like I I couldn't believe that pass. I wouldn't have made that pass.

SPEAKER_06 10:32

So, first of all, did you know what was coming? And then once you had it, was I mean it looked like a right on the doorstep, but you never know.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Yeah, it was it was there right on the doorstep. I mean, I was trying to like just look the goalie off for a second to play him, but I put once I once it was by him, I threw everything I knew it was over, it was gone. Um, no, yeah. We saw in the first overtime that when the lefty got to the top side, they were sloughing in really far to the crease. So right out of the timeout, we called the same Jordi said the same, run the same thing, see what happens. He swung it over to Calabria and he was in the crease. He hit me down low and it was there. It's unbelievable. I mean, I feel like all 50 whatever goals I have this year, but just like that right on the doorstep, but all these guys just put me in great position. I mean, it's unbelievable. There's nothing I can do, really.

SPEAKER_08 11:22

That was awesome. It was awesome to watch.

SPEAKER_06 11:24

And the offense, the way you guys pass the rock as a team is is really impressive. And I think realistically, that's what you're gonna need to do against Tampa. I mean, Tampa does the same thing, and they come at you at waves. That's what you're gonna have to deal with on defense. But I think that's what you're gonna need to do uh offensively is continue that kind of sharing the ball to be able to stay with them. Now, they just had, coach, they just had a a dominant win against an unbelievable limestone team. I was shocked that uh with that that score. So are you just thinking more about you guys and playing your game, or did you get to look at the film of that game and try to figure out a little bit more of what maybe you can do off of that? I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Yeah, I think uh we need to stay true to who we are and play our game, and that's what got us to this point. Um, obviously, we're gonna watch film and you know make some adjustments to prepare for Tampa, but they're they're a complete team. They do everything really well. They win draws, they get great goaltending, they're athletic defensively, they push transition, talent in the six-on-six. So um, you know, we know what what we're we're we're seeing on Monday, and the guys are excited for the challenge, and it and it was similar. Obviously, we've never played them, but similar to going against the Goliath in the north, and our guys always thrived against playing against Lemoyne, and you know, to be the best, you got to beat the best. So we love the opportunity to go out and play the best teams in the country. Um, you know, and I think our guys have always risen to that occasion and are able to elevate their game. And and at you know, at the very least, man, we're gonna fight for 60 minutes and you know, let the chips fall where they may, but we're we're definitely excited for that opportunity.

SPEAKER_08 13:05

Kevin, ask Coach Levine what the mindset of the team is and how practices have been this week.

SPEAKER_06 13:12

So Danny wants to know what the mindset of the team is and what practices have been like.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

You know, it it hasn't been different, I don't think. I mean, yeah, at least we're consistent. I'll say this. The beginning of every week, our practices, you know, I guys are banged up, it's a long season, and then it's like, you know, Monday, Tuesday, and then we really need to refocus the end of Tuesday, and then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, the guys are dialed in and focused. Uh, the these long weeks, you know, it's once it gets closer to the game, these guys just want to put on the uniforms and play the games, man. Enough, enough film coach, enough talking about what we need to do.

SPEAKER_06 13:48

Especially when you have multiple games in a week and you've done that for a while, then all of a sudden you go to this. What do you mean, one a week?

SPEAKER_00 13:55

A whole week off. Yeah, it's uh it's challenging at times when these guys are just it's like uh I was saying like they're like a hungry dog on a leash, and I'm trying to reel them in, reel them in, and then they let them let them go. So they uh they're definitely uh they're definitely fired up for this opportunity for sure. But honestly, practice, and I'll say it even like even when we were playing Le Moyne, like in the huddle, it was calm. Even before the game in the locker room, I thought it was you know, they were focused and motivated, but it was loose, and it felt like not a whole lot different than than a regular season game, um, which is awesome, and that's what you want, man. You just go out there and you play loose, and you're gonna play the best that you can and not overthink things and just do what you've been trained to do and what you've been doing for your whole life and the whole year. So not a lot, not a lot changes in that respect.

SPEAKER_08 14:37

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_06 14:38

One thing, coach, you're exactly right. Your team has played the big dogs. It's not like the South has a monopoly. In fact, I I would venture to say that everyone looks at the north of having the monopoly of good teams, and there are a lot of good teams in the South. So Tampa's just another one for you guys. Another one, you guys are ready to play just a great team. You play great teams. So we've asked Coach what what he thinks your mindset is. So why don't you, Justin, why don't you tell us what you think, how you've been feeling, and what you're thinking about Tampa. I mean, yeah, at the end of the day, this team's a really good team.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

I mean, they got to the national championship. You have to be good. Um, I think I practice. I think everyone knows what they have to do. You know, me personally, like I'll go into practice, you know, I'll get my legs going, I'll do what I have to do. But at the end of the day, I know what I have to do, I'm ready to do it. You know. Um, but yeah, like my coach said, I just at the end of the day, I want to put my jersey on, get in that field, and just hear that whistle go and start playing.

SPEAKER_08 15:36

How exciting, how exciting to be in the national championship game. How exciting is that?

SPEAKER_06 15:41

These guys must be must be elated, especially for you guys and what you had to deal with last year. You've got to take a moment besides the practice and getting ready to soak in that you are at the top of D2 and here this weekend. So, how does that feel?

SPEAKER_02 16:00

Um honestly, I don't really know what to say. I've been kind of like I said all week, I've been just kind of pretty much miserable at practice like that. Not because I'm I don't want to play the cross or anything like that, just because I'm so excited and kind of mad at Jordy this whole week because you know, I want so much information from him, right? I want to know, you know, our itinerary. I need to know everything that's going on that goes into this weekend, right? And uh, you know, he only knows so much, and and so I'm kind of sitting there, I'm just like chomping at the bit. And I just kept saying to my roommates and stuff like that, you know, like, you know, I'm not gonna be happy until I'm in Connecticut. And I've been just a you know, just miserable all week to them. I've just been just so angry. I'm like, I just want to go there, I want to go and play. And I think it's uh such a cool, cool thing and cool feeling to to have and to share with everyone, especially, you know, we've been practicing at purchase and stuff like that. And it's like, okay, we're going to practice at purchase, and we know we're gonna practice at purchase, but I know on Thursday or Friday, sorry, that we're gonna be practicing in the stadium, and that's all I can think about is walking out and just seeing it, and then uh on obviously walking out and seeing it on Sunday. It's don't really know what to say. And you know, a lot of guys and a lot of teams that have their you know, their relationships and stuff like that, but like truly, like I wouldn't want to do it with any other group, and I'm kind of just happy to be here with the people I'm here um with. And you know, it's just like I said, let's just get on.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

So these guys are mad at me, but I we we we we just beep we beat LeBoyne and they're asking me all this information. I've never done it before either, like guys. I know nothing. I don't know what I'm not a hundred percent sure. We gotta we gotta and not not not to mention just one, like five different Zoom calls are throwing all this information at you, and not you know, me. What do I know? I'm just trying to focus on preparing our team.

SPEAKER_06 17:47

And we have a family at home.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

And I've got holy, I got three kids under seven. I got my wife's birthday was yesterday, my daughter's birthday is today, so I'm trying to find that balance. But you know what? I I don't they they've done a great job, even to them not listening to me. There was a couple times, and I I love this. Maybe some other coaches might not, but there's times like I remember to Brady, I called the man up play. No, we're doing this, and we score a goal off it. Great, or out of a timeout, I draw something up. No, I want the ball. But we these guys are confident. Um, so I think we have that type of relationship, and it's uh it's been great.

SPEAKER_06 18:21

Well, coach, you always have the last word for clarification on this team. Yeah, you had to. So Jack and Dom, just give me your your thoughts about this weekend and what how you're feeling now. And tell me how many of your family are gonna be here.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Yeah, I mean, honestly, it hasn't hit me yet. Uh still since even the Le Moine game, whatever. It's probably gonna hit me in about two hours once we get to the field for practice and I see what we're walking into. Uh I I honestly can't even give you a number. I know my my buddies alone are they have three hotel rooms. There's like 13, 14 of them, and then my aunts, uncles, everyone, another 15, 20, everyone will be here.

SPEAKER_04 18:58

I really don't even know. Yeah, and then like the other side of it is like it's an awesome experience for us, obviously, and like our families are all gonna be here, but there's like two busloads of alumni coming to this game. Like, guys, guys, you talked about that for last year's group that had the opportunity to play and it got ripped away from, and then you've had the guys that have built this program, put the foundation for the past 10 years that now are gonna be there to get the support of us. Like, it gives you that almost extra motivation because we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for those guys. So, now that we're gonna have those guys cheering us on, like it makes that moment even better. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_08 19:29

You said that. I was I was at that game, boys. I was there, I saw all the alumni there, and I saw Coach Levine going running right over to the alumni and high five and all those guys. It was a great game to be at. I was so glad I took the ride from Long Island up to purchase and to see you guys play. It's the second time I saw you play. I saw you play against the Delphi as well. You guys have been a great team all year. You got six All-Americans, a bunch of them sitting right here, and it's really cool to see you guys. I wish you all the best of luck on Sunday. I really do.

SPEAKER_06 20:03

And he's been saying all year on the podcast that you have a chip on your shoulder, you're you have a mission you're you've set for yourselves, watch out every almost every week. It's almost like I think people are probably thinking, does he say anything else on the podcast? Watch out for mercy. But that's why you guys have been so exciting to watch all year, and we couldn't be more excited to watch you guys play on Sunday. Yeah, so like you said, Danny, speed bump number one, as we I had to translate a few times, but like you said in the intro, the team took it all in stride. The players were great, they had a lot of fun. They actually were laughing a lot of times while I was trying to translate. Actually, actually, you're laughing a lot when they were just seeing your mouth move and they had no idea what you're saying, but I'm hearing everything. It was it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_08 20:53

Yeah, yeah, it was fun. It looked like it was fun. I swear to god, I wish I was there just now. Oh man, it's just like all my whole weekend was shot. But yeah, that's why it wasn't

Tampa

SPEAKER_08 21:04

started.

SPEAKER_06 21:04

But right after that, right after we finished with the Mercy team, I hop in my car and I head to the Tampa team hotel. I get up to Coach Clark's room, he's there, but his players are busy, their schedule has them out somewhere, so we could just be with Coach Clark. But that was great that he actually had some time and a few minutes to meet with us. But here's where we go to speed bump number two. We were still having the same difficulties, could get no speaker. Coach says, Hey, I'll just get on the Zoom on my computer. So that's what he did. But what we didn't realize is as my voice is being recorded into my computer, you also hear my voice on his computer coming out. So you get you're gonna hear on this interview with Coach Clark a little reverb for me. I actually edit myself out a lot of Times when it was just me because it was kind of crazy to hear me. Like it was like that echo where you go, Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 22:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I got rid of that. Right. It's kind of like being on the radio and listening to it on the phone. It's kind of like the yeah, like a like a little delay reverb kind of in there.

SPEAKER_06 22:21

But you know what?

SPEAKER_08 22:22

We navigate. We navigate.

SPEAKER_06 22:24

Yeah, we need to work on our technical abilities or get a better staff. But right now, our staff is really cheap. It's us, and we do it for free. Let's fire them guys. They messed up this week. That's right.

SPEAKER_08 22:36

We need a new technical crew.

SPEAKER_06 22:37

I fired myself twice that day, and I kept coming back. All right, so here it is. Our interview with Coach Clark. So Danny and I talked about this in our last podcast. Your game against Limestone, I quoted with one word, and that was domination. You guys had such a complete game. It's almost like your whole season was building, and just clicked, everything clicked that one game. Just go through that. Did you see the same thing?

SPEAKER_09 23:07

What were you thinking during that when you got up by so much and you just continued that? Well, leading into it, I certainly didn't feel that way. You know, I thought it was uh certainly one of the best teams we had played. Um, you know, I hope we didn't peak a week ago. Yeah, so we did a lot of things very well. Um uh, you know, the thing that really impressed me about us last Sunday was the way we handled the ball between the lines. Um, limestone's known to uh kind of nine and a half men ride. Really sure when it's coming, but when it does, it can be very dangerous. Fortunately, we had a team uh that we played three times this year that ran a very similar ride. So we've been preparing for it literally for three weeks before we started to prepare for it for limestone. But uh our our poise and maturity in between the lines uh was really something else. It was it was as well as we've done in that area yet. So domination, I I don't know. I it looks at when you look at the scoreboard and you look at the stats, uh our kids played it remarkably hard, and like I said, with a lot of poise and maturity.

SPEAKER_08 24:13

What stood out to me, coach, was the defense, Matt Bidot and and Blake. They were able to shut down some of these guys that play for Limestone. It's a such a great team, Limestone. They play fast, they play furious, they play aggressive, but you were able to stop that defensively. Was that something that was in your arsenal going into that game? Were you talking about defense? Was it uh a mainstay of the game that day? Because you talked about the ride and preparing for that.

SPEAKER_09 24:43

Absolutely, it always is, uh, frankly. Uh you know, while we score 14 or 15 goals a game, I I mean we we focus most of our time is spent at the other end, trying to make sure that we're not giving up a whole bunch of goals. Uh, you know, our defensive coach, Ryan Sullivan, has been here for five years or so, was a great defender at uh at Mercyhurst. So he learned from Chris Ryan. Right. And, you know, the way they play defense, uh as disciplined and as technical as they are, he's really brought that to our team this year. Umestone is uh predictable in one sense, but very dangerous in another. They're predictable in that they're going to try and score in the first 15 seconds having the ball. Um so you almost just have to get through that first fury of of um of attack, if you will. Um we're very fortunate to have you know four short stick D middies we can roll out there. We play three long stick middies. When you mentioned Matthew, but Sean Nislik and you know is another great pole for us. I think he was, you know, got some accolades.

SPEAKER_08 25:52

Yeah, first team All American.

SPEAKER_09 25:54

Yeah, so you know, it was it was a war of attrition, I think, because we just kept putting defenders out there. Um, and we did a phenomenal job with our attack riding to the point where we didn't let them get out over the top. And uh, you know, then once you get in on defense, they tend to attack you right out of the box, whether it's four on four, five on five, six on six. You got to be ready as soon as they get there. And and our coaching staff uh did an awesome job preparing for that all week. And uh the players bought in and and you saw the result.

SPEAKER_06 26:25

Yeah, coach. Interestingly, you mentioned it with the limestone game, but I think I've seen it in other games this year where you win fairly easily on the score. So you would think if you look at the stats, that it starts with offense, but I think it always starts with your defense, and I think that's what you were just saying. It wasn't just a limestone game. No.

SPEAKER_09 26:47

No, I agree with you, and uh face-offs too. You know, uh, our faceoff guys had a great year. And it a lot of that's our wing play. So um we do score some goals off the face-off, and it's usually not, you know, Hunter popping it forward the traditional four on three. Um, it's us fighting for the grounder and then breaking and popping. And I mean, that's how we kind of broke it open a little bit against uh LR um in the second in the quarterfinal game.

SPEAKER_06 27:15

Right.

SPEAKER_09 27:15

We made that little run there, and it was you know a face-off forward, and then it was a ground ball off a face off and uh and a fast break. Uh so yeah, we get a lot out of our defense in that it really it's a very physical defense. It really wears down on offense, but we also get out of that end. Uh, you know, it's not unusual to see two long poles pushing transition for us. And then Blake obviously has a phenomenal outlet passer.

SPEAKER_08 27:39

He's amazing. He's an amazing player. I uh I saw a couple of games this year in the beginning of the year, and I we had him on the program, and I said, Hey Blake, that ball is that like a big balloon right now for you? Because you're like stopping everything. He's like very humble. He's like, Yeah, I'm seeing the I'm seeing the ball pretty good. Okay, you know. So hey coach, let me ask you, you know, being at Limestone for all those years and going to Tampa, we had you on on the podcast early in the year before the season started, and told us how excited you were to be at Tampa and everything. And it was the mentor versus the student in this past game. How'd that how'd that feel on a personal level?

SPEAKER_09 28:18

Weird, you know, conflicting. I felt like that that mom and a kid on both teams, you know, and and you cut the jersey and that.

SPEAKER_08 28:27

Right, right.

SPEAKER_09 28:28

Um it was stressful, you know. I uh as much as I wanted to win because I'm a competitor and I care about our guys, you know, I wanted those guys to have a good experience as well. The limestone side. I was when you guys uh when Kevin came in, I was actually in the middle of texting. Two of them were playing in the all-star game tonight uh from Limestone. So it was it was a mixed emotions thing. You know, I felt badly when they felt badly. You know, you're you're upset when your kids are upset. Not that they're my children anymore, but um, so it was hard. It was it was uh it was easy to motivate to uh to prepare for, you know. I guess it's like playing your brother, you know, you want to beat his brains in and give him a hug.

SPEAKER_08 29:06

Right. Brenton Coach Storio has done a phenomenal job there in his first year. He he really done well. His only loss really was that one goal overtime loss to Wingate in the Kram Classic. Um that was a great game. It was an exciting game. Um, but now you're in the case.

SPEAKER_09 29:23

And it was tough circumstances too, you know. He um not only, you know, coming back to his alma mater and all those things, but you know, we lost the player Frank Smith last summer. Um so that was really hard for it was hard for me to leave that group during that time. Um, but I knew they were in good hands, and then Brendan and his his staff, Kevin Reesman, uh did it did a phenomenal job with those guys to to navigate all the emotions of of that situation, you know. Uh hard enough to lose your coach. Uh and I don't know, it might have been really easy for them to lose me, I don't know. But certainly to uh to have a death of one of your best friends and teammates and someone you love was hard. And uh Kevin and Brendan did a phenomenal job navigating that.

SPEAKER_06 30:09

Yeah, coach. I think if there was someone that needed or was the right pick to take over for you and make that transition, especially you're talking about with losing a teammate, having someone that they were used to, some of those kids being recruited by Coach Storier made it a little bit easier. So let's talk about this weekend. Has some game with the players yet, and you that you're actually here. I know you've been here before. Tampa's been knocking on the door for years, and now they're finally here. What's their mindset?

SPEAKER_09 30:46

I think it's pretty calm and mellow right now. Uh, you know, yesterday was a long day of you know, flights and people on different airplanes, and then our sticks didn't get here. So we went we practiced at Yale yesterday. Defensemen didn't have sticks, and uh, it was a real show. But I think I think the reality of it will sit in tonight when we uh go over to Renchester Field for our practice time. And I think that's when they'll get a real taste that this isn't just another, you know, Sunday in Baltimore playing against, you know, another team at USA Lacrosse or something like that. But they've they had a good week of practice, it wasn't great. Um, you know, um having done this before, um it's almost predictable that the the Tuesday after a semifinal game, they're gonna kind of walk around a little bit. Um all the emotion that goes in to get to this game. Uh, and in my in my experience, it takes them a couple days to do that. Um, and then uh Wednesday and Thursday, a lot of energy, a lot of guys flying around, very short practices. You know, there's not uh mercy, mercy doesn't do anything wildly complicated. Um, they just do really fundamental things and are really athletic. So it hasn't been a you know a mind game of trying to figure out how we're gonna do this, that, and everything else.

SPEAKER_08 32:04

Right. You know what, coach the division two we talk about only, and we talk about how wonderful and great Division II lacrosse is. But what's great about this national championship is that we have two teams going for the very first time. We're not we're not watching the tech, we're not watching Merrimack, you know, we're not, it's two new teams, and it's uh I find it really exciting for D2. How do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_09 32:30

I feel good. It's good, it's good for the sport. It is, it's good for the sport, and uh, you know, especially another team from an outlying area in Florida coming up. Um, I hope we show well. Um, but it's the growth of the game is so you know, the the unfortunate we're losing Lyndon Wood, but UND is as good as any of us, you know. Yeah, we've got some good teams down south and uh you know with Wingett and and and uh LR here last year and limestone here a bunch. It's it's so much fun to see how this thing goes. If you guys had asked me, you know, 35 years ago if I'd ever be coaching in South Carolina or Florida, I would have thought you were crazy, or I was coaching baseball. So yeah, I didn't want to come back to Connecticut. I was I I was raised mostly in uh Wilton, Connecticut, so this is kind of cool too.

SPEAKER_06 33:18

Oh, interesting. That's cool stuff. That's awesome, coach. Let's talk about more of the Sunshine State Conference and how you may feel how that prepared you. We've been loving the Sunshine State Conference this year. I mean, the amount of teams you guys came up on top, but they were just balling out Florida Tech, Florida Southern, Rollins, and then you got even like Emory Riddles teams that you can't let up on, and your team last year always seemed to close out, and you continue to do that this year. There were some close calls, but in the end, Tampa wins. Do you think that conference? I would assume that you think that helps you get here and prepare. I mean, that was a gauntlet in and of itself.

SPEAKER_09 34:10

100%. You know, when you're playing at Florida Tech on a Wednesday at four o'clock, you know, uh, we played Florida Tech three times, we played Florida Southern three times, you know. Uh for us to have to prepare for those guys, I mean, think about that. That's all the preparation, you know, it's one thing to play those guys. People overlook the amount of time you spend preparing for those teams and how important the preparation for those teams is, right? So it's one thing for a two-hour game, but what did you do for the you know 10, 12 hours of practice leading up to that? So for us having to prepare for those kinds of opponents, you know, day in and day out, once we get into April, uh, and then we had a you know a pretty robust data conference schedule in February and March.

SPEAKER_06 34:51

Yeah, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_09 34:52

You guys know me well enough. It's you know we we don't schedule to make the tournament, we don't schedule to be undefeated. We schedule to play the best competition we can because we think that makes us better in the long run. And uh, I guess we'll find out Sunday if I'm right.

SPEAKER_08 35:10

Well, I'm excited to be there. I'm excited that we have trespasses because we're completely not worthy. Two knuckleheads, two two knuckleheads.

SPEAKER_09 35:18

I told Will, let's help these guys, but I'm not responsible for it. It ends at the game.

SPEAKER_08 35:26

Hopefully, the Irishman from Long Island doesn't find the beer guy. But anyway, um, it's gonna be fun to be there with you, Coach. I'm I'm looking forward to the game. You've had a remarkable season in your first year at Tampa. I wish you the best of luck and on Sunday. Thanks. It's awesome. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 35:43

Danny, that was that was fun with Coach Clark. He was once again very magnanimous to have us in and very humble on his comments about what he thought prior prior to the game because we did that uh early in the weekend, I think Friday night. You know what?

SPEAKER_08 35:59

Coach Clark showed a soft side to him when he started talking about limestone and Brendan's story

Game Review

SPEAKER_08 36:05

here, didn't he?

SPEAKER_06 36:06

He did. So that was early on the weekend, and now we have the game on Sunday. So let's get in and talk about the game. Yeah, man. What a beautiful day, huh?

SPEAKER_08 36:18

Oh, it was a beautiful day for lacrosse.

SPEAKER_06 36:21

It was it was picture perfect. It was a great crowd. Mercy and Tampa fans traveled very well. I saw it at their tailgates, they were all psyched. It was great to see. It was great to see.

SPEAKER_08 36:35

Yeah, it was, but I have I have one little bitch. I think that the NCAA needs to get that onto ESPN. They that needs to be on national TV. That in the G3 game. Yeah, the the streaming stunk. I mean, it was skipping. That's what I heard about. Yeah, it wasn't very good. And you know what? These kids, these kids work hard, Kev, and that's a game worth worth being on ESPN, either ESPN mu or ESPN two. I mean, they had cornhole, they were showing cornhole on ESPN too. Yeah, and you know what? We could have been watching a D2 game and a D3 national championship game. And you know what? I for the NCAA, they they need to they need to get that game onto ESPN. And and I don't know who who the execs are at ESPN who think about programming and stuff, but you know what, these kids work hard, and this game, this this national championship game deserves and earns. And and in my belief, in my opinion, I think it should be on a national.

SPEAKER_06 37:40

I totally agree with you. If you look at the I watched the D3 game first, and then I watched the D2 game, and you look at the D3 game great all the way through. You look at Tampa and Mercy. That first quarter was fairly sloppy in a lot of ways. There was 12 turnovers, but after that, after they got it kind of got in the groove, it was a phenomenal game. It was a great game. It was if you look at it, you know. I I thought for a little bit when, and we'll get into this. Tampa went on that that six goal run that we may have another Tampa limestone game, but Mercy was gonna not gonna let that happen.

SPEAKER_08 38:19

No, Mercy.

SPEAKER_06 38:20

That's why I agree. I agree with you. It should be on televised. Espn should pick it up. I mean, ESPN U, put it on ESPN U. Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_08 38:29

I mean, the NCAA dropped the ball streaming, streaming the D2 game because the stream stunk, in my opinion. I think you'd find a lot of people who watch the stream would say the same thing.

SPEAKER_06 38:41

Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna give the lead guy for the media there. I'll I'll send him an email on that. I will.

SPEAKER_08 38:47

Yeah, it was it stunk, it really did. And I, you know, for lack of a better word, I mean, it just it was it wasn't good. And and again, these kids work hard. These kids are some of the best players on the face of the earth, Kevin. You know, I don't care what anybody says, that's how good these kids are, and they work hard and they get to the you know, school's over, Kev. These kids are still playing, they're still practicing, you know, they could be home, they could be with their girlfriend, sitting in a pool, you know, working a lifeguard job or something and making money, but no, they're still grinding, they're still grinding.

SPEAKER_06 39:23

And when you said there's some of the best of the best, I looked again at the USILA all-american list. Mercy, including the honorable mentions, have like seven on the list, and I think Tampa has eight. And if you look at that whole list, it is the who's who of D2 lacrosse and Matt Mercy and Tampa have a lot on there, and they were showing that in that game.

SPEAKER_08 39:49

Well, absolutely. There's just all Americans on both sides of the ball for both teams. Yep, so it was gonna be a good game. Hey, you know what? After that first quarter, it was only one-one. I was like, hmm.

SPEAKER_06 40:02

Yeah, I remember I texted you. I was like, Yep, if Mercy can keep it at low game, I think this favors them.

SPEAKER_08 40:11

And then, of course, as soon as I said that, I know seven minutes of Tampa scoring. I wanted I wanted to text you back and say, it's early, buddy, it's early, you know. And then again, Tampa went on a six-goal run in that second quarter, a six to two run, actually. And and that was kind of like the difference in the game.

SPEAKER_06 40:32

It really was, and it really started with Matt Beto's goal. Yeah. So Mercy wins the face-off to start the second quarter. I think that's what it was. And Sean McCarr lost possession after running into about three different uh Spartan players. Tampa's Christian Bordiak picks it up, he brings it down. Matthew is in trail. He sees trail, yep, passes the ball right in the middle. Great shot. And then from there, Tampa just started humming that quarter.

SPEAKER_08 41:09

Yep. Willard, Fitzpatrick, McKinney, Miller.

SPEAKER_06 41:13

Cole Willard had three of his four goals in that seven-minute run.

SPEAKER_08 41:18

Yeah, they started banging them in. You know what? They were just beating them to ground balls in that second quarter. They would just, it was, you know what? It was like a seven-minute fury by Tampa. It was like that whole thing happened within like a six to seven-minute period in the second quarter.

SPEAKER_06 41:35

That's exactly right. You you talk about ground balls, it ends up being even throughout the whole game. But in that quarter, Tampa had 14 to Mercy's eight. And and that created them with having so much more possession than Mercy did that quarter.

SPEAKER_08 41:54

Yeah, and they had a couple transition goals real quick, you know, and you know, and and and caught caught, you know, mercy out of out of out of their defense out of spot, out of position a couple times. But you know, Amano still had a really good game. He did when you break it down in quarters. If you broke this game down in quarters, okay, it was one-one in the first quarter. It was one-one in the fourth quarter. Yeah, it was two in the third quarter. That's right. The the difference was that six, seven-minute period in the second quarter, it was a seven three quarter in favor of Tampa.

SPEAKER_06 42:35

Right. So exactly right. And Mercy, they stopped the bleeding in the second by scoring two, and and they make it seven to three with 336. You saw the mercy crowd getting back into it. So they basically were just fighting off Tampa and they got it to eight, four at half. So they kind of withstood that big punch, but they could never really get a big punch back to close that gap. They they would get it within three several times. And I think one of the things that really happened that kind of may have, and actually, I think Brady Kiernan even said it in the in the press conference afterwards, kind of taking the wind out of their sails. They score the first goal in the fourth to get within three, and the next faceoff, Justin Gerville gets a two-minute non-releaseable because of a hit to head to the Tampa's face-off specialist, Hunter Turner. He took Turner out. He took Turner out. That was a big hit. Yeah. Now Tampa didn't score in those two minutes, but that's two more minutes gone. That and they and Mercy was ready to, you know, I think they've kind of felt if you look hear what Brady said on the post game conference, took the wind out of their sails. They they just couldn't get it back after that.

SPEAKER_08 44:00

Yeah, you know, I if if if you look at this game it's um you know it was really kind of even game. It really, really was. Kevin, uh I've watched Mercy play in in person three times this year. I've watched them play on TV probably another six. So I watched probably nine or ten of their games this year. And we talked about how they let teams in, they always kind of let teams hang around and whatnot, but they wind up closing them out. This game, if you ask me, in my opinion, was the best that Mercy played all year, even though they lost. That might have been their best game. The way they played, the way they played, they played fast, hard, and aggressive. They weren't, they were not intimidated by Tampa at all. Not at all. They were getting in faces, they were getting in lanes, they were they were making checks, they were causing turnovers.

SPEAKER_06 45:02

Well, that was what I saw with both teams in the first quarter. As a matter of fact, I wrote a note about that. It was the defense that was winning, especially early on in the first quarter, because sticks were getting in lanes on both sides. Mercy was doing the same thing, and it was causing turnovers. If it wasn't causing a turnover, it was a bad pass because of where players were.

SPEAKER_08 45:22

You know, I found I I found uh I thought that the first quarter was kind of sloppy a little bit by both teams, two heavyweights feeling each other out jab, jab, jab, jab. But you know what? There were some bad passes, some low passes, some high passes, went overheads, out of bounds, type of thing. Um, some just bad decision making, you know, and and trying to force balls inside and losing possession and stuff like that. But again, that second quarter for Tampa, that first, you know, six, seven minutes of fury. That's what I call it. It was a seven-minute fury.

SPEAKER_06 45:55

And and and and uh Mercy just couldn't recover from that. Right. And you and I talked about this before we started recording. Uh and you were the one that mentioned it. The other thing that was the huge difference uh was EMO.

SPEAKER_08 46:12

Well, Kevin, uh Mercy was called for two uh increased penalties where the ball went in. Okay, so that's two goals that were taken away from them. Um right. One, if you ask me, was very, very questionable. Um, the ball went in, then he fell. And if you if you ask me, he was pushed into that. Yeah, he was pushed into it. You know, it should have been a penalty. The goal should have counted, it should have been a penalty, and they should have had a faceoff with a man up, Mercy. And that call didn't come. You know what? It was kind of a clean game. There was only seven penalties in the whole game, right?

SPEAKER_06 46:48

Really, it was really that second half where it got more physical, and that's where the penalties started happening.

SPEAKER_08 46:54

Yeah, but mercy was oh for three on their extra man opportunities, okay. And Tampa was three for four. Okay. Let's take away Tampa's EMOs and add those two crease goals. It's a different ball game, my friend. Yeah, it's a different ball game. Yeah, you know, it's a one-goal game now. Yeah, you know, if you when you think about it, it come down to five plays, maybe five plays. That can make a difference in a game. Sometimes one play, one ground ball can make a difference in a game, one big save, you know, that type of thing. You're right. And but and I mean, because because I thought Mercy was in the game again. I it was one of the best I've seen Mercy play all year.

SPEAKER_06 47:41

They were just playing fast and hard and aggressive, and I will tell you I will tell you when they got it back at half at 8-4. I'm like, okay, next half they need to be next quarter if they can get it to within three. They were close to that. It like you said, it became 2-2. So they couldn't close the gap. There were times when they did, and I really felt even until the end, until I think Daniel Fitzpatrick put it in with three minutes left to seal the deal. I thought that Mercy could come back.

SPEAKER_08 48:11

Yeah, I mean, they were into it, and uh PJ's had a really good day at the face-off. Yep. Month Turner had a really good day in the face-off. I felt like both goalies played well well. Did you see Blake Homer make that save and start pounding his head? It went viral. It was a it was a great man. It was great. He was like screaming at his deep hole, get that ball! He was like bagging his head. It was that that video went viral. That kid's so good. He had nine saves. Tommy Amano had 11 saves.

SPEAKER_06 48:40

He's at 50. It was 50, and and Blake was at about 56. So, there once again, you we go back and you look at the stats by the end of the game, totals, it was practically dead even down the down the line.

SPEAKER_08 48:53

All right, the mercy, mercy had 34 shots, Tampa had 33. Mercy had 17 turnovers, Tampa had 17 turnovers. Mercy had 33 ground balls, Tampa had 32 ground balls. Mercy won nine face-offs, Tampa won 13. The difference is that 0-3 on the EMOs, yeah, and it and the three and four.

SPEAKER_06 49:18

And like I said, the the ground ball difference only in the second quarter. Yeah, and and that was the difference. That was the difference. But uh a few shout outs to to the play and the players on Tampa, Matthew, Beto, three ground balls, three caused turnovers, one goal again. You know why he's the player of the year. He's a beast, Christian Bordiak, three ground balls, Daniel Fitzpatrick, three goals and an assist, and then Cole Willard, who was the most outstanding player of the game with four goals. Yeah, and Cole Willard's interesting because he's a Penn State transfer that was injured and didn't start playing really until March. So if you look at that, and I remember this, I don't remember really of us talking about him in other Tampa games that we watched. He had a great game against Limestone, and he had a great game here, and I think part of it is, and and Coach Clark pointed that out in his post-game press conference. Uh is everyone so used to some of those other players, and then you add in Cole Will Willard that they're not used to. Yeah, I mean, that's just tough to cover all those guys.

SPEAKER_08 50:31

They have like seven, eight scores every game. I mean, they got guys for days. They have what coach coach runs a lot of guys out there. He's not just banging on the same 11, 12, 13 guys, they're playing 22, 23, 24 guys out there. So they're they're mixing up middies, they're mixing up attack men, they're mixing up even on the defense. They're you know, they're running extra guys out there. It's it's pretty pretty remarkable what Tampa what has done this year. 20 and oh, man. I mean, phenomenal perfect, completely perfect undefeated season in JV Clark's first season as head coach. I mean, it's nothing less than remarkable.

SPEAKER_06 51:11

Actually, they're not 20 and oh, they're 21. 21 and oh, 21 and oh, yeah, there you go. Even better. I I slipped it up too because I'm so used to saying 20 and oh from the last game, and they just won. They're 21st.

SPEAKER_08 51:29

You know, you have to have to say they might be one of the best D2 teams of all time right now. If you go back years, you know, and look at the the history, this might be one of the best division two college teams ever put together. They're up there. These guys, they're up there. These guys are good. And you know what? And Coach Clark made history this weekend. He made NCAA Division II history. He's the first head coach to grab a national title from two different schools in Division II. So, congratulations, Coach Clark. Job well done, son.

Champoins Spotlight

SPEAKER_06 52:05

Danny, that was a great segue into our next segment. For this segment, we don't have a coach's spotlight, and we don't have a player spotlight. We have a champion's spotlight. Yeah, man. Awesome. And and what a great way to end our last episode of the season. You know, Coach Clark was really gracious to talk to us prior to the championship game. And I thought it would be, or we both thought it'd be really great, kind of as a bookend, to bring the champions on afterwards. And so coach is willing to come back on, but as you remember, we weren't able to get any players on when we talked to them. So, as an added bonus this time, besides just Coach Clark, we have Blake Ulmer, the Tampa goalie, player of the year, Matthew Beto, and MIDI extraordinaire Dan Fitzpatrick. So, welcome, gentlemen.

SPEAKER_11 53:02

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_08 53:04

We got Blake Ulmer, first team All-American. We got Matt Bidow, first team Matthew. Sorry, Matthew. Matthew Bidot, first team, and Danny Fitzpatrick from not too far from me. You're up in Chester. I'm in Long Island. I know guys from Monroe and stuff. I know that area pretty well. So we got Blake, we got Danny Fitz, and we got Matthew Bidot on the team uh on the show tonight and Coach Clark. And we couldn't be happier to have the Tampa Spartans on. You guys are champs. Hey Matthew, I'm gonna start with you. What was that day like?

SPEAKER_12 53:38

It was uh probably like one of the longest days of my life. That was just a it was a four o'clock game, so you're just inchying the hotel room just to play and everything. So it was a it was a long buildup, but it was well worth it. And then once the clock hit zero, it just became the greatest day ever. Once you come a champ once, it's intoxicating. It's one of the best healings ever.

SPEAKER_08 53:59

Danny, tell us what you felt.

SPEAKER_05 54:01

Um, I'm gonna rewind it to the day prior to that. I mean, the nerves were high, obviously on championship weekend, but um, coach had us talk to uh Bill Tierney, which uh he basically told us to go out there, play like any other game, just take it step by step, don't do anything you wouldn't do. And that's what I kind of just put into my mind. I listened to a legend coach, and I just took that words where I just did it out and how he told me to do it.

SPEAKER_08 54:26

Awesome. And Blake, tell us your feelings on the day.

SPEAKER_10 54:30

Um, it yeah, I mean, it was it was the best day of my life. Um, it it was more than what I thought it'd be um until I got trampled by my team. If you guys saw me fully.

SPEAKER_06 54:41

I was going to ask the question how injured are you in that pig pile by your teammates?

SPEAKER_10 54:47

You know, my my back hurts a little, but uh I'm all right. I was too I was too happy to be upset about it. So um, no, it seriously was uh just a surreal feeling. Um, I'm so proud of everyone. Um, we just we had an amazing year. It's just the perfect way to top it off.

SPEAKER_06 55:03

So that's awesome. So, coach, let me ask you uh first, congrats on the win. Second, now that you've had a few days to sink in, what do you think about what you were able to accomplish in your first year and also being the only D2 coach to have two national championships with two different teams?

SPEAKER_09 55:22

Well, I I didn't win a national championship. I was uh brought on a hell of a ride for I guess I got here in August until uh Sunday, and these guys brought us along and uh most of it really, and not just trying to you know speak like a coach here, but uh you know, so much of it was just get out of their way, um try to get them there on time with enough balls and uniforms to play. And uh, you know, our job is to put them in positions where they could be successful, and uh they were the ones that were successful. And players and people like you're talking to now with these guys and and the other uh guys in the team are uh they make coaches look good.

SPEAKER_06 56:04

And uh I couldn't be more grateful to these guys. Yeah, thanks. That reminded me of something, Coach, and I need to ask Matthew and Blake. Coach Clark has said several times, I've heard him say it, how important it was and how glad he was that he kept Coach Sullivan coaching for Tampa. I just want to get your your opinion on what Coach Sullivan means to this team and to the defense.

SPEAKER_12 56:27

I think he's definitely our leader, and I feel like he always is a very well-prepared coach, and you can tell in the game planning and scouting we have every week that he's very detail-oriented and he always puts us in positions to succeed. So I think he just did a really good job of that, and just I think he's a very he's a very easy person to come to as well. Well, he's very personal, which I really appreciated.

SPEAKER_10 56:50

Um, I I same thing as uh Bito said, just you know, he always has an answer for the offense that we're playing. Um, and definitely that personable part. Um he's just you know, he's he's really easy to play for, everyone loves him. And um yeah, we're just very lucky to you know have him be our coach.

SPEAKER_06 57:11

That's awesome. So back to you, coach. I got one other question, and it's about the game itself. Danny and I talked about this in the last segment, that except for the second quarter, it really was a tight match. What were you feeling on the sidelines, especially that that second half? Uh it's a good question.

SPEAKER_09 57:32

Um, I I felt like we were in control uh of the game. I felt like we were in control of the tempo of the game. Um, and you know, we're a team that that relied upon making runs in big games. And, you know, it's what we started with last fall, really. I felt the best way for us to learn as much as we could about our our team and our players was to let them play and to do a lot of fast up-tempo runaround, you know, really athletic drills. Uh, and what we saw was a group of guys that that would have the opportunity or the potential, not the opportunity, but the potential to to make those runs. And if you look at our games really closely uh throughout the year, we made those runs in games, and even the close ones, those are the runs that allowed us to, you know, ultimately win. Um, but the maturity this team showed on Sunday in a national championship, I didn't sense the nerves. I'm sure they were there, but I wasn't in pregame, like, oh boy, we can't even pass and catch, or uh, you know, we're we're we're walking on eggshells, we're overwhelmed by the by the environment or the the stage or the you know the game itself. Uh these guys were confident, they were mature, uh, they cared so much about each other. There was I really didn't feel at any point that we were in trouble, if you will. They made a little run there, I guess, in the second quarter. Um, you know, but by then we had built a a good lead. Yeah. And uh they played so many, you know, variations of defense with long poles up and short sticks down and short sticks over and everything else. Our guys handled all that that really well and uh had good long possessions when we needed to. Uh, but at the end of the day, we we gave up seven goals. Uh, at least three of them were like the ball bounced off of someone's stick into someone else's stick. They got one on on basically an open net and a ride. Right. Right. Um, you know, so essentially we gave up four real, you know, six-on-six goals in the national championship game. And most of the time you're gonna win if you do that.

SPEAKER_08 59:44

Oh, 100%, 100%. But if you look at all the other at the other stats, shots were pretty close, turnovers were even, ground balls were kind of even, face-offs were sort of even. Mercy only had nine, you guys had 13. Big difference. There was oh for three on the EMOs where you guys were three for four. And if you look at if you look at the quarter by quarter, okay, after quarter one, one-one, quarter three, two, two, quarter four, one-one. It was that seven-minute fury run in the second quarter. We outscored them seven to three. That was the difference in that game. But like you said, coach, they were throwing a lot of variations at you, and your team handled it well. And I agree with you. I didn't think that you guys were in trouble. I I thought that you guys were in control of that game, but it was an interesting game. I think Mercy's a really good squad. What do you guys think?

SPEAKER_10 1:00:42

Um, yeah, I thought I thought they were I thought they were really talented. Um it was just that was a very good team we faced. Um coming out of the north, they beat you know Lemoyne and C and Hill, and those are two very talented teams. We saw at C and Hill earlier than the year. Um, and they had a huge comeback on us. And um, yeah, no, they're very talented though, especially number 96, Brady Cairn. That guy was a stud.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:07

Yeah, yeah, he's a good player. You go first, but all you sure.

SPEAKER_12 1:01:11

Uh yeah, I know. I thought Brady was a very good player. He was definitely a tough cover. He was uh had that like Canadian kill skill set where it was just very difficult to predict where he was going with it, and like the way he operated, he was a very good player.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:23

Yeah, I just got to give their defense a shout out. They were one of the toughest opponents. We definitely versed on that at that defensive end, and um, they had some big boys that could hit and they came to play.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:35

So so I got two questions. The first one kind of goes on what coach was talking about, saying he kind of felt like you guys had control. Mercy kept on trying to close the gap. They would always bring it to three, and then you guys would shut them down and you'd get to four. And it it always, like Danny said, it kind of looked like, okay, well, now they've got to fight uphill again. So, what was your mindset, Matthew, when during that time frame?

SPEAKER_12 1:02:01

Yeah, I would say it was definitely like in that first quarter. It was kind of like we were we were always expecting our offense because they were so good at starting the games pretty hot lately, that you're expecting them to start hot and like they scored one early by Dan, then it was kind of 1-0 for a while, then they got one. It was one-one at the quarter, then definitely felt that that second quarter run we had is something that we needed, in which we had in every single game this year, whether it was in the first or the fourth quarter. We always had a time in a game when I feel like we just went on a run and kind of took control of the game, so it definitely helped out.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:32

So, Dan, I got a question for you. Your hat trick goal came with you. You were basically on isolation, and you had a sweet dodge to score with three minutes left. I felt right then that that kind of sealed the deal for you guys. Your goal just sealed the deal. What were you thinking at that time? Besides being ecstatic about the hat trick goal.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:51

Yeah, I was gonna say I didn't really know how to celebrate. I was kind of jumping around like a fish, but um I definitely felt it it had it was a dagger, but I was also you can never just count a team out. They could have easily put bumped in three, what was it, four minutes still to play?

SPEAKER_06 1:03:06

Yeah, three. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:09

Yeah, so there's always that chance. So I didn't want to think of that. Nobody really said that because you can't you can't think that in that kind of time. So luckily, everyone was still playing hard. Defense shut it down, and I knew that once it started, we got the ball back again. Then I started feeling feeling the energy.

SPEAKER_08 1:03:28

My my 18-year-old son comes home, he's got the phone, he's got the Instagram, he's like, That look at Blake Gulmer, and there's Blake, just made a big save, starts punching his helmet, starts punching himself, yelling at Padel to get the ground ball. That was just that was a great video, man. That was great. You pumping yourself up, Blake. You completing yourself up on that one.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:51

I like to I like to play off my energy. So when I make a save like that, when I'm getting all hype, like some people might not like it, but I I love doing it. It makes me it makes me stop the ball better when I'm all fired up. And um, I don't know. I I just lost it on that one. It was a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:07

That that was epic. That was epic, and unfortunately, I haven't seen all the broadcast everywhere. I just saw it that one time live and I haven't seen it since I'm so back and look at that because that was really cool.

SPEAKER_08 1:04:18

Yeah, it got posted a couple places, but yeah, it was it was it's been out there, it's semi-viral out there right now. But it was fun, yeah. There's another video now. Apparently, you guys at the end of practice, somebody takes a shot, right? You got the two guys lined up on this side, yeah. And last week somebody threw the stick to coach. Now, now let me ask you this, coach. Had it been a while since you tried to take a shot, or would did you not want to make Blake look stupid and go all there? Well, what that shot was about six feet high, coach.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:55

Uh, it was a it was an excellent high bouncer, just missed the crossbar. Uh Blake was not in the goal. I wouldn't want to crush his confidence before a national championship game. We do that every week, uh, before every game. It's a different player every time. Um, and it's just been a tradition of mine for hours, I guess, that uh because the guys always want you to look like a fool and take a shot. And uh there's only one one game I'll take the shot before.

SPEAKER_08 1:05:28

And uh I'm two for two now. So good for you, coach. Awesome.

SPEAKER_09 1:05:34

Yeah, I didn't hurt myself, which was the key. There you go. There was a real possibility of that.

SPEAKER_08 1:05:39

It was great. It was great.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:41

Hey, coach, so one other question. I loved your quote in the press conference describing Cole Willard as having moxie and maturity, but I think that really kind of typifies your whole team this year. You talk about it with runs and and how they play. What what do you think?

unknown 1:05:59

Oh.

SPEAKER_09 1:06:00

it's it's uh it's it's the second word i use to describe uh this group is uh you know maturity and the other one is eager uh this group was eager to uh to go from good to great they were uh very mature in handling uh any ideas we had any any you know as we talked about on saturday or sunday morning you know we really put the the responsibility for the team in the hands of the players and they held each other accountable and you have to have mature 18 to 22 year olds to do that uh throw in a few 23 year olds like like Cole and uh you know it really helps so he played with Moxie he's just a confident guy and uh you know like I said to you we we brought him along slowly because his knee was bad um and boy did he have a uh a final couple games oh yeah sure did sure I almost look at him like a silent assassin because I don't think many teams were really they didn't probably have a lot of film in them certainly not at Tampa and they there were so many other players that they had to watch out on the Tampa team on offense that he can come in and be under the radar and all of a sudden boom those last two games he was on fire. Yeah we we also moved him to the first midfield uh so he was out there with with Danny and and uh Owen Miller so you know because teams were double polling us a lot yeah um you know and mercy whether it was zone or or man to man had three poles up after a while after he started to hurt him so um it really made us deeper when he came back uh because you could put him he was on a second midfield most of the most of the end of the year and then you put him on the first and not only did it help the first midfield but it it actually ended up helping the second midfield we got a little bit more uh you know speed out of that second midfield we were able to use that second midfield a lot on Sunday and that that helped us oh yeah that really helped us yeah all right so uh Matthew Dan and Blake what do you think coach Clark brought to the team this year that may have helped you get over the top you guys have always been close and now you have the championship just curious on your thoughts there I'd say um probably probably just that that championship experience that he has under his belt um every single big game that we had he handled it so well on um our ends and he'd he'd keep us calm and tell us how um how to handle the big situations and I thought our team did a tremendous job um like games like uh like seeing hill those are games you come out of um with a championship level coach right um they come back have this massive run in the second half and we still can chip our way through it um I think that that's the biggest thing um just having that experience and being such an amazing coach um I think that's probably the biggest thing for me.

SPEAKER_12 1:09:11

I would say it would be the composure that he brought and wisdom I remember um when we went to double OT with Florida Tech and we also had Lemonwood that same week it was during our spring break those like I feel like that was a big turning point in the season with how uh we kind of struggled those two games and then we found ways to win I feel like he really kept us composed especially when we were down in both those games to like help us rally and fight back and uh win in both those games eventually.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:36

Cool.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:37

Danny um many people believe like when a new coach comes in they're a little scared that they're gonna be like micromanaged and they're very they fear that that it could affect their culture and stuff. Coach made an emphasis that he wants us to pick the culture we want to create and he would just back us up and guide us with that. And that kind of created a foundation on what we became and on the offensive zone he made sure that we were doing um a we over me ball and it kind of just showed look up all over the scoreboard and the spread sheet we are spread out I think every attack when it's split with this uh stats and same way through the midfield and it really just is awesome to see that.

SPEAKER_08 1:10:19

Yeah you guys spread the rock a lot of uh unselfishness on the team offensively but what Matt and brings to the table son i i don't know that i've seen too many defenders play at the energy level that you play at you bring some high energy and you're from San Diego you like the west coast kind of like that's such a chill place and you come to the east coast and you wreak havoc man like you're wreaking havoc it's really fun to watch you play let me ask you guys Danny you're a junior right uh yes sir and Blake I'm technically a sophomore I got two years left oh lookout and and Matt Matthew I'm same boat as Blake I'm a junior but sophomore eligibility was oh yeah wow wow look out uh oh uh oh SSC they're in trouble again next year the SSC and you know what the rest of the country's gonna be in trouble too it's been great to have you guys on guys congratulations on a great unbelievable 21-0 season and it might go down as one of the best yeah division two teams in the history of division two lacrosse it may just be there's been some good ones there's been some good ones but this just might be top three top four all-time division two teams i i had a great time watching you guys play and analyzing you guys this year and Blake we've had you on earlier in the summer and you and I have gotten a little rapport going and and coach Clark has been phenomenal in coming on with us a couple of times now and just his honesty and and his um just just his down home kind of way I like I really enjoy and I really thank you guys for coming on and once again congratulations on a phenomenal season thank you very much thank you really appreciate thank you for having us thanks guys good luck uh the rest of the summer

Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_08 1:12:21

Danny that was awesome to have Blake Matthew Dan and Coach Clark on to kind of cap off our second season what what great kids and great coach I mean coach Clark has been phenomenal he's been coming on with us and just just so honest and open with us and just really down to earth. I really appreciate Coach Clark a lot i i've i have a lot of respect for coach clark i really do and and these kids manny blake and and matthew they're phenomenal players oh yeah they're they're all gonna get a big ring and they're all like top notch kids though but they're good kids and that's more important than anything I think of I I agree I totally agree all right so to close out this episode we have one other piece of D2 news and that is that last week the USILA all American list came out you want to go down you want to start with first team yeah go ahead you go do the first team so first team all Americans at attack actually the the Tampa boys talked about him Brady Kiernan from mercy along with uh Joseph Budnowski Adelphi and Willie Greco wingate and then at midfield for first team Danny Riley wingate Jack Gibbons mercy so we got two mercy two wingate Justin Williams Florida Tech those are the midfield and then to defense Matthew Beto Tampa Ryan Slattery St. Anselm and Nate Arnold Lemoine Goalie you can guess who this is Blake Ulmer Tampa yep yep face off you you and I know this one's coming too and that's from Anderson Cam Weeks phenomenal player phenomenal and then short stick D Meddy Braden McCard Mercyhurst Owen Matukis Tampa and Kyle Bosch you Wendy and then at LSM Sean Nizalek Tampa there's your first that's quite the first team okay second team all Americans division two out of tack Patrick Kalshawk out of Lindenwood phenomenal player uh Ethan Landamore out of Mercy Hurst one of the top scorers in the country Kevin and Bobby Patton from Wingate four year starter big boy love the way he plays uh second team in midfield Zach Pierce from Le Moyne another great player Torn Eccleston from Lenore Ryan another great player and and Owen Miller from Tampa. Another midfielder Thomas Hanulak from Seton Hill on defense second team Liam Ogadeen from Mercyhurst Kendall Collins from limestone my man Victor Powell from Lenore Ryan like that kid he's a good player. Goalie Frank Delia from Lemoyne great great player face off second team really another great face off guy Sean Doran from Mercyhurst. Another face off second team Logan Gray from Seton Hill uh short stick D Middy the unsung heroes of defense the unsung heroes these guys have to go against usually the best players on the other team a lot of the time so Will Palmer from St.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:57

Anslim Galimi from Lemoyne and Sean McGovern the LSM out of a Delphi yeah it's it's funny we we talk about a few of these players like good player good player I'd take any of these players on my team in a heartbeat with that honorable mention. There's not a coach on the in the country that wouldn't take these guys they're they're all really good players yeah and that goes that goes with third team let's I mean look look at the first we start off with attack Jeff Atlas from Florida Southern Carter Collins from Lemoyne Drew Willig from U Indy and then Dom Scorship from Mercy. That's third team attack that's unbelievable crazy okay midfield Nick Larson from St.

SPEAKER_08 1:16:43

Anselm Kyle Steinbach from Adelphi Noah Haas from Belmont Abbey and Anthony Caputo from Pace I like that kid I like that kid yeah on defense in the third team all American josh jackson you wendy Jack Kipnis Mercy Tim January Pace and Justin Eisenhower Rollins at goalie for third team Tommy Umano Mercy well deserved well deserved and then Kyle Aber Linenwood two great goals another great one face off guy we love Kevin Horowitz Florida Southern yeah good kid on short stick D Midi and this is one of the reasons why their defense was so stout because they had one up in a in the I think the second team or first team Christian Brodyak Tampa Tampa stacked yeah Mitch Linklighter from Lenore Ryan another good short stick D Midi and then an LSM Brennan Hackle U Indy and Justin Gurdville at Mercy another phenomenal player okay honorable mentions guys from um all American honorable mention in division two in the 2022 season at attack we got a bunch of attacks here at honorable mention first ones up is Keelan Peeling from Queens Bryce Johnson from Mercyhurst Gavin Kesselring from limestone Harriet Kikowski from Tampa Kyle Casey from Pace Austin Hawson from Belmont Abbey Hunter Lemieux from Roberts Wesleyan Sam Lindah from Rockhurst Bailey Pringle from Rollins and Jake Barris from Pace Wanna grab the midfielders sure so at midfield for honorable mention Ben McCreary Le Moyne Cameron Smith Linenwood Finness Gent Rollins James Steinkey Colorado Mesa Dan Fitzpatrick Tampa Michael McGary limestone Colin Sipek Lemoyne and Matthew Eccles Mercy that's a good good set of midfielders there honorable mentions too unbelievable um at defense honorable mention neil lingerman from Belmont Abbey Nick Parris from Adelphi another really good player Sam Balch from Florida Tech Peyton Leonard from Cotabba Christian Crouch from Seton Hill uh Sean Wrigley from Mercy Ryan Albert from Lemoyne okay and then at goalie and we've talked about all these players during the season William Baxter Limestone the Rago Lewis Ragusa Pace Ragu the Ragoo Brent Olney Mercyhurst and Dylan Renner Adelphi honorable mentions LSM's a banger a banger I've watched this kid play for five years actually now Mike DeLedge from Wingate congratulations Mike good job buddy um LSM John Sherr from Mercyhurst and another LSM Griffin Shylan from Pace okay then rounding out uh the short stick D middies for honorable mention cage Williams Seaton Hill Tyler Petech Mercy and Braden Elmer Lemoyne and last but not least our honorable mention face off guys Division II All Americans 2022 season Sam Curry from Le Moine Dylan Czechitz from Colorado Mesa and PJ Argyros from Mercy congratulations fellas what a list absolutely all great players congratulations that's a great accolade um something that nobody can take away from you that's that very few players get to get to take that accolade home so congratulations to you guys exactly now now there are a few players that got one more accolade by USILA you want to go through that list absolutely absolutely you want to start off with the outstanding player of the year go ahead kevin I mentioned it quickly in the opening with Tampa coming on Matthew Beto was the outstanding player of the year for Tampa. Wow what a year yeah that young man has had like I just said to watch him play he's on another level he's from San Diego where it's nice and chill and everybody's relaxed out there. He comes to the east coast and just knocks the snot out of everybody that comes in front of him yeah when he gets a stick in his hand I don't think he's relaxed. Oh no no no he's been uh quite a player and just really fun to watch so Matthew congratulations on earning the uh earn his outstanding player of the year uh lieutenant colonel turnbull outstanding attackman of the year willie greco from wingate university and then to follow it up for wingate and I love it because of the military background of these names Lieutenant JG junior grade Donald McLaughlin junior outstanding midfielder is Danny Riley from Wingate.

SPEAKER_06 1:22:11

Wow Wingate has the attackman of the year and the midfielder of the year uh I think they're gonna be a pretty good team next year as well yeah yeah um the William Schmeiser defensive player of the year again Matthew Bidot from Tampa this is how many how many how many awards has he taken home he i'll tell you what bags i i've seen the list that's his last one there's not enough bags for Matthew there's just not enough he didn't play he didn't do face off so there you go all right the ensign cart marklin kelly jr outstanding goalie of the year of course blake ulmer yeah man he's a great player good kid too huh yeah okay the long pole midfielder of the year Sean Nizalak Tampa so there you go Matthew but betto Blake Ulmer and Sean Nizalak that that's how when we talked to coach how the defense then brought it to offense for them this year yeah yep okay short stick defensive mid midfielder of the year Braden McCard from Mercyhurst yep congratulations Braden and last but not least face off player of the year from Anderson University Cam Weeks congratulations Cam great job this year you're a phenomenal player and those are your uh your players of the year in division two Kev great job that's awesome that's a great way to to end this episode I just want to let our listeners know that this ends our second season we will be doing a few episodes during the summer probably every two weeks or so two or three weeks give us a break Danny and I are look back Danny we've been doing one a week since the beginning of August and I'll tell you what it's been fun I'll tell you it's been fun it's gone by fast I've had a blast I can't wait to keep this podcast going and hopefully we get more listeners especially other parents in high school and middle school and players so they know how great Division II lacrosse is really good point Kevin parents out there that are listening we have a lot of parents that do listen we're starting to get players now because of the player spotlight they're starting to listen but we have to get the word out to the high school parents and the high school kids maybe the kids might not be into the podcast so much as maybe the parents would um to get to know about division two they can go back on our past episodes and listen to podcasts on recruiting and what we've you know what we suggest and they can go and listen to coaches talk about their universities and their schools and their teams.

SPEAKER_08 1:25:04

There's a lot that division two has to offer and you and I both know that being that both of our our kids you know chose the the division two route and both were successful on successful teams with great coaches. So we know how great Division II can be um so we need to get that word out to the next level of parents now we need to get them to that high school so parents if you know people in high school you have friends, cousins, uncles, nephews, get to the parents and tell them about our podcast and and and find out what's going on in division two because it's a really good opportunity for your son or daughter to play lacrosse at the next level I know everybody thinks about division one and every you know division one my son's a division one athlete he's a D one but you know what D two ask Matt Bidot how D2 is ask JB Clark how D two is ask Blake Almore ask Danny Fitzpatrick ask any of the players that we've had on our team how great Division II is. So that's what we're asking our parents and our listeners to do is to get us to that next level down and get us to those high school coaches and those high school uh maybe tournament team coaches and start listening to the podcast and maybe we can help. Yeah I I just add one other thing that all the players we had on in my opinion are D1 level players and there are plenty of other players we have not had on yet that are at that same level and that's what people have to realize is that D2 has that kind of talent and it's it's just another great option to look at 100% Kev there's the there's Division I caliber players all over the country in division two. Now do they fall through the cracks sometimes perhaps you know that's what happens and um maybe they weren't on the best high school team or they didn't have a great tournament team or whatever. And then they get a chance to get to their university and they shine you know and and and they become a great athlete not a good athlete a great athlete and we have great athletes all over the country here in Division II.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:24

Exactly Danny and I couldn't add any more to that so I think for season two that's a wrap. That's a wrap