Conference Previews for the 2022 season - GMAC

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Menacross. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stenstrom, and joining me as always is the gift to D2 Lacrosse that keeps on giving, Danny Moran. How's it going, Danny?

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Gift that keeps on giving. I don't know if I agree with that, Kevin. Thank you so much. We're getting so close to the holidays. It's right around the corner.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Yeah, I thought I'd throw in a little holiday spirit there, you know, just a couple days away from Christmas.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

We're all in the Christmas spirit. So Merry Christmas to you too. Everything's doing well. And how about yourself tonight?

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Doing great. Doing great. You know, it's always great when you get to talk about another great conference. And this time we clearly, in my estimation, we're talking about one that has a couple of teams at the top, and then others trying to climb up there and be the new king of the mountain. You know, I'm talking about the great Midwest Athletic Conference, the GMAC.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

GMAC, tough, tough division, you know, tough division, the blue collar division. Um, of course, you know, you have the Mercy Hurst Lakers sitting at top. Uh, Coach Chris Ryan year in, year out, perennial national powerhouse teams. Yep. Um, multi-NCAA tournament appearances, all Americans up and down the field. And some of their scores from last year are gone, but some of those second-line guys are gonna get their minutes, you know, uh added on big time. Right. Uh right. They just reload Mercyhurst. They never, they never rebuild. Coach Ryan is an amazing recruiter. He gets amazing players to come to Mercyhurst. And and again, perennial national powerhouse, multi-ncAA tournaments. The list just goes on and on.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Yeah, I mean, you can you can go down their stats. I mean, face-offs at 76%. What I found amazing was their clearing at 90%.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

I mean, one of the best scene, yeah. Yeah, they're one of the best teams in the country. I'm I watched, I must have watched them at least a half a dozen games last year.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Right. And and the one thing that I found interesting that has happened recently is his assistant coach, Ryan O'Hagan, was promoted to associate head coach. And you remember when we talked to Coach Ryan how highly he spoke of him. Yeah. So now they're keeping him around. He was entering, he's entering his fourth season with the defense, which they were ranked fifth nationally on scoring defense last year. And if you look at the defense and who they were losing, Tommy Angelicola, Hayden Bates, yeah, Mike Woollich, Mike, Michael Rossi. I mean, that's uh when you said it's kind of like the next next round of guys, next man up. But another good reason to keep Coach O'Hagan around, just to keep that defense at that same level.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

Well, yeah, absolutely. And Coach Ryan knows knows that he's got a great defensive coach in there and um makes perfect sense that they keep him around. It makes perfect sense. You know, Mercy Hurst is going to be right there again this year, uh, Kev. I don't expect them to be anything less than a top five team throughout throughout the season.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Yeah, exactly. I don't see anything else either. I mean, they'll be right up at the top uh with all the rest. And then the next one on the list is the other one that's always at the top and probably gonna be knocking on that top five door all the time is Seton Hill.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Yeah, the Griffiths from Seton Hill. What a great team they are. They are another another team, perennial, national powerhouse, always in the top five, top ten, always up there. They have great players at Seton Hill, but they're fast. They're shifty. Uh, you know, their midfield's fast, they're attacked, they're they run a fast game. And you when you play Seton Hill, you're gonna be in for like a marathon sprint. It's what it is. They're gonna sprint and sprint and sprint and sprint. And it's tough to keep up with Seton Hill. They're a great team year in and year out. Um, some of their scores are coming back. They're loaded. And they got some, they have a nice little uh nice schedule. They got UND on their schedule, Mount Olive, Mercy, Frostburg State, and Tampa this year on their schedule. So they're they have a high-end schedule. They're gonna be playing big boys week in and week out, and then they have to play their own conference, which is not an easy conference.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Well, what I found interesting, and and you highlighted all the ones that I picked out too, but if you look at some of the others, there's other teams. Well, look at Chestnut Hill, look at Florida Tech, Lewis, other teams, Chestnut Hill obviously being the top of their their conference as well. But if you look at those others, those are ones that are trying to make their moves as well. And so they're gonna look to play someone like Seton Hill to test themselves. So I think Seton Hill's got a great balance there and see where they can then go from uh this next year. I mean, they were 11 and 3 last year, there's not much higher they can go. I I think they're gonna be right around there again. I don't see them interesting, they play Frostburg State twice again, like they did last year. Okay, okay, I didn't see that. I didn't see that. But that's a great matchup, you know. And if you look back at what they did last year in the NCAAs, you know, they lost in overtime to St. A's. So right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

But they're they're a great squad. They're a great, great squad year in and year out, and they play great lacrosse. And I expect no different from Seton Hill again this year. I I expect a fast, shifty team that plays the game hard. And um they should be right there at the top again, Seton Hill Griffiths. They're very very, very well, very well coached squad.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Yeah, exactly. So then next is the Cavaliers of Walsh University.

unknown 5:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Now last year they were they had a losing record five and eight, but they had a winning record in conference four and two.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Yeah, in conference they went four and two in conference. And again, that's not easy. It's not it's a blue-collar conference, like we said. Walsh they struggled last year. Um, they lost some games by some big margins, Kev. You know, some big margins. Um, but Colby Bauman was a freshman last year, one of his top score, their top score, he's back. Evan Bradley was a junior last year, is one of their top scorers, he's coming back. They didn't graduate a bunch of seniors, so I expect them to be a little bit more seasoned, I guess you could say. Um, with some seasoned players coming back. Um I expect them to do a little bit better this year, actually. You know, I think last year was kind of a weird year for a lot of teams. Um, again, we spoke about it, uh, not getting to do overnights, traveling within the conference or a conference right next door to you. So a lot of teams played each other twice, some of them three times. Um so last year, you know, it kind of doesn't tell the whole story sometimes with the way things, you know, there was games canceled and whatnot. So I expect Walsh to be a better team this year. I expect them to improve on both their their conference record and their overall record.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

Yeah, I mean, I think they're knocking on the door. And and luckily we've got their coach coming on later on, and we can ask them that same exact question. The other thing is they actually bring out bringing back some key defensive players with Kyle Lacey and Bay Brown. So, like you said, they've got a core nucleus there that they're gonna be able to build off of. And once again, last year was a weird year. We don't know how that affected them.

unknown 7:41

Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

And so this is a brand new year where you know, I'd love to see them get over that top five, that 500 hump, you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

You know, they're right in the middle of they're right in the middle of the pack in the GMAC, you know, conference. They're right in the middle of the pack, they're a scrappy team, they go out, they play hard, but they struggled a little bit last year. And and some of the games that they lost, Kev, they lost by big margins.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Yeah, usually it was if you look at it, it was against the the big boys, right? Ct L and whatnot. I mean exactly. And so that's where they've got to close the gap. I think closing the gap on those teams and making it a competition, making it a close game will really help them, maybe not this year in the win-loss record, but it's gonna help them as they build.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Now, I don't know who their their schedule is as as of this.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

It's not out yet.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

It's not as of as of this podcast coming as we're recording it right now. Um it's not out. So I was really wondering what they were going to do outside of conference and see where they were going with their with their schedule this year. But yeah, me too. You know what? Again, again, I expect Walsh to be a better team this year.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

I do too. I do too. I think they're gonna take a step. Now, the next one had the same record, Lake Erie had the same overall record as Walsh, five and eight last year, but they were three and four in conference. And here's a team that used to always be at the top, from what I remember. Always, you know, at the top of their conference and always fighting in the top 20.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Yeah, they've always been a pretty scrappy squad, the Lake Erie Storm. Um, they've always been a really, really good squad, actually. Uh last year took a little dip. Again, kind of like a weird kind of year, you know, and it's hard to tell if COVID was a problem, if cancellations, mojo getting, you know, your rhythm interrupted with games and stuff. You know, it's hard to tell, but you know, they got.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

I think the other thing could be, and I'm I'm conjecturing here, you know, their last winning season was in 2018. New coach comes in, Sam Ashton, former assistant at Lake Erie. He played at Lenore Rhine, so he's got some really good credentials. He left, did something else, came back now as the head coach. He knows this the school. Right. You you would think he knows how to recruit there because he's been there before. He was recruiting when he was there before. You know, and last year was his best season since taking over. So maybe that's just a step forward. Maybe it's just taken him a few more years to to rebuild that. You don't know, especially. I mean, the coach Gardelman was the coach before that. And you and I both think he's a pretty dynamic coach. Who knows what happened to that roster or how things happened when he decided to leave and go to Frostburg State?

unknown 10:28

That's correct.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

So maybe that was maybe he's just building. He's just building. He's not there yet, but he's building. And no, which coach Coach Ashton and Lake Erie the the best this year. I'd love to see them more parody in this in this conference.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

From what I understand, they had a pretty good 21 recruiting class. Uh, a friend of mine's son um committed and is now a freshman there. Uh my man Pat, my man Patty Conland and his son Gavin is up there uh playing some lacks up there for Lake Erie. Uh FCA kid from St. Thomas Aquinas, up upstate New York. Really good kid, really good family. So I know that Lake Erie does a really good job at recruiting. So I expect them to be a better team this year as well.

unknown 11:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

You know, they only they only went they only went three and three in conference last year.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Yeah, and so and what's tough is because I can't, we wasn't able to really see what their roster looks like for this year yet. Their top two scores were seniors, Tommy Michelle and Blaine Wallace. I don't know if they're coming back and they're taking another year, if they're leaving. They do have two juniors and a senior next in line, Dawson Kendell, Neil Gardner, and Connor Dent. So you know, they've had they've had points. They're they're there, they're ready to take more of the mantle. Yeah. So we'll see how that goes. I I hope that they, you know, with that good recruiting class, you never know. Maybe some of those freshmen step up and and that's right.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

I I think this is the year that they, you know, they're they'll I think they're definitely going to improve um on it last year. I I that's my you know, I think Walsh and Lake Erie are both poised to make it make a little make a little noise in the uh G Mackle this year.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Yeah, yeah, I'd agree. So next next on the list, Davis and Elkins, the senators.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Yeah, out there in West Virginia. Yeah. Small school, not a heat roster right now, but not a lot of lacrosse out in West Virginia right now, but it's growing, it's growing.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

Well, and you remember when we talked to Coach Buzzard, and that's an interesting case, right? So there's a new coach in David Pomeray, who's really the director of lacrosse, he's overseeing both the women's and the men's programs, right? And then Josh Buzzard is the associate coach for the men, right? And I remember we were talking, he was trying to get a graduate assistant in there, and what he said is where their their position in Davis and Elkins is they really can pull from northern Virginia, they can pull from Maryland, they can pull from Pennsylvania, they're up kind of in that that northeast corner of West Virginia where they can kind of pull from those states. So they've got some years they can pull some. And I think it'll be interesting. You know, the interesting thing I I remember him saying is like, look at their roster last year was small, it was only 21 years. But what he said, Coach Buzzard said was he really liked the core group of guys. He said they were really tight-knit, and that's what they're gonna have to use to build upon. So I'm not really sure if we looked at their stats, if that really matters much at this point. They've got a whole new look. They're probably looking at those kind of their stats from last year, changing things up from uh, you know, what their you know, what they're gonna do so that they can, you know, maybe counter some of that, but I think they're just gonna try to put in their systems anyway.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Exactly. And you know what, they have two of their top scorers coming back, and Tyler Kalodka and and Nolan Morrison, they're coming back. So that's that's good for them. But you know what? They struggled in goal, right? You know, you know, they struggled in goal big. 35% save percentage. Yeah, that's not good, Kev. That's not good. That's not good. That's letting a lot of balls get by. So um, let's see what you know they can do with Davison Elkins. Maybe they can improve in the in the goalie and prove and improve on defense. And uh let's see what happens with excuse me.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

A couple other things I'd say, Danny, is it looks like their close D is intact. Tyson Allen, Travis Scala, and Gabriel Rager are all coming back. I also found interesting they're out of conference, you know, with Tusculum, Lise McCrae, Deuville, Barton, Showen and Frostburg State, because not that they're they're not shooting for those, you know, they're not shooting for the Mercy's and and the Lenore Rhines and the Limestones. But I think that out of conference suits them well, right? Because they it's something that they can really build their program on. They're they're playing against a lot of teams that are similar records, maybe some obviously they're much higher, but similar records that they can really compete against. And then exactly. Because their tough games are going to be in the conference anyway.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Yeah, they you know, yeah, they're gonna have a tough year, you know. They're they don't have a lot on their roster. Hopefully, you know, they were were able to add some players and get a little depth there at Davis and Elkins, because that's a that's a problem, you know, when you don't have the depth. It's it's hard to it is it's hard to compete against some of these teams. I mean, Kev, we keep talking about it all the time. Division two is growing like leaps and bound, and the players that are coming to Division II are Division I caliber players, and you know, and and there's a little bit more parody in in the conference now. And you know, and and Davison Elkins just again, they struggled in goal last year. They struggled to, you know, score points, but they do have their core group coming back. And let's see if they can uh improve on on last year's record. Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

So let's move on now to Alderson and Bradas.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Yeah, the Battlers. The Battlers. Yeah, they had a tough schedule last year. Um they struggled at two and five in in conference and two and eight overall. That's a that's a tough year, Kev. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

And once again, they got a pretty small roster, too, of about 24. Yes, they're a young team, they're a very young team. Only five are juniors or more than that, including two grad students. So maybe coach may be just rebuilding this team.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah, I don't know. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

So their coach Ace Maloney uh is in his second season, and that's kind of why I say that. Maybe he's rebuilding from there. Um obviously they've got to fix some things on in their stats and their on how they do things. They're only 22% uh on face-off, and yet they had 19.7 goals against average with a 42% save percentage, which isn't horrendous, but you'd like to see that a little bit higher, especially if you're gonna be on D most of the time. And they really, they really got killed in ground balls. That was about two to one against their um opponents. So they really unless they fix their face off, they're really gonna need to win on D.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Yeah, they need some help. They need some help, they need some players over there.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

So now the good news is the good news is uh Danny, that the two the grad students that are returning are both their top scorers with Colin Kalbacker and Braxton Roman. Yeah. So that's a plus. That's a plus for them.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Yeah, that's that is a plus. Something to, you know, at least uh start start stepping off with, you know, and again, but you know, with a small roster, only 24 guys, you know, you get one or two injuries, you could spell to do them for a team like that, you know what I mean? So keep our five.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Well, and it's the same thing, like we said, if they if they don't have depth in the midfield, and you're they're running one line, maybe a couple extra in, you know, if it it's always, in my opinion, good to have a couple at least two MIDI lines you can run in there. And you get to 24 players, that that can be tough to do, depending on how your makeup is on your team. I agree. All right, so last team in this conference, the GMAC, uh, is Wheeling.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Yeah, the Wheeling University Cardinals. Um, they really struggled last year, CFA, when they went big goose tag 0-6 in the conference and only won only won one game all year. They went one in 10. So very, very young roster. And again, yeah, like like like Davison Elkins and like Alison Brothers, they have a small roster, only 23 on their roster. Um, but check this out 17 are freshmen. Jacob Nipple, Mike Anderson, and Brody Farber were all for freshmen last year. They had 23, 22, and 21 points respectively as freshmen. They got three more years at Wheeling. That's that's a really good start. You know, that's a really good start. You have three kids that balled out on a team that struggled is only gonna make them better. And if you could add a couple of, you know, a couple of players to help them out on the offensive side, Wheeling could could make a little run this year.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Yeah, I think the other thing they could, and the other thing I'd point out too is that their head coach, just like on a few other these teams, uh Nick and Agnostic is new. I mean, he was hired in 2019 and they didn't start playing in 2021. So they resumed play. They didn't play in 2020.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

So last season was his first, and and you know, he was trying to rebuild from there, and it's almost like a brand new squad, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:09

It's almost like brand new.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

And if you look at it, Wheeling. I remember Wheeling when my son was probably freshman year in high school, you know, and we started looking at different schools, and yeah, at that point we were looking D1 through D three, and I was trying to look at schools that fit what it kind of what he wanted. And Wheeling at that time had a really good record. That was, you know, if you look back, he he was uh freshman around 2015. So if you look back at the records in 203, 2012, 2013, 2014, they had a good squad. And so, you know, they had some turnovers with coaches there, and and now uh coach Anagnosti is in there in his second season. So hopefully they build from there.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Again, you know, a weird, weird year, and especially we got a new coach first year, first season really with the team, you know, first season really playing games and a schedule because the year before that was COVID, obviously. But let's see what coach can do with wheeling. I mean, they got not a lot of players, like I said, but those those freshmen that that balled out last year you know did really good, you know, offensively. And they just they have to grow and and and and grow upon that. That's the foundation now. And let's see where wheeling can go in the 2022 season. It'll be interesting to watch them.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Yeah, it will be. So that's kind of the roundup of all the teams in the conference. Yeah, and now we get the honor of speaking to another coach, and this time it's with Coach Alex Karch of Walsh. So let's welcome him in. Welcome, coach. How are you doing tonight?

SPEAKER_03 21:54

I'm doing well, guys. Kevin, Danny, thanks for having me on. Look forward to talking about the season.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Hey coach, thanks so much for taking the time with us tonight with the In the Crease Boys. We really appreciate it. Um Christmas time. Uh got a lot going on. Let's talk about the Walsh Cavaliers. Okay. Last year you guys went four and two in conference. Now, this conference is a tough conference, coach. It's not it's not a Patty K conference by any means. Um, you did really well in conference. Um, how are you gonna build on that this year?

SPEAKER_03 22:31

Well, the build for this year is to go beyond four and two in the conference. It's to win the conference. I believe every competitive division two team has that goal. And we know in our conference that how tough of a task that is from top to bottom, but that's what we've been looking to build towards and over the years since we started the program, and that's what we are building towards this year. And I think you know, with the four and two starting conference, our conference plays back half of the year. We didn't go four and two non-conference, which shows that we started slow and built. So now it's okay, we know what doesn't get us going early. How do we correct that? How do we make sure that does not occur and we start as well as we were ending? And that's been a lot of the forefront of this fall is building up to a faster start so that we can build momentum going into those tougher conference games.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Right. You have a couple of good scores coming back too. You have Colby Bauman coming back and Evan Bradley. Those guys did really well last year. Um, you're gonna add some pieces to the puzzle.

SPEAKER_03 23:43

Yeah, so I'll I'll talk about our midfielders first. I uh okay. I think there we have two seniors at midfield with Marcus Brown and Sully Dowling, and they're left-handed, right-handed duo that play off each other. That just what they've done both on the field and also off the field as leaders this past fall has been tremendous. And I got a lot of yeah, I hate to use the word hope because that's always the trap. You hope for something, you want to be working for something, right? But a lot of pride in how they've developed and what they're going to do this year, as well as Evan and Colby, who Evan has started to understand how he can use his skill set on the field a little bit more efficiently.

unknown 24:33

Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

Colby was a freshman last year, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:36

So much promise, so much potential. He and most guys, when they have a strong freshman year, they come back, you can't they take that natural foot off the pedal, not Colby. He has completely transformed his physical body with his work ethic, where once he gets a little bit more confidence in the work he's done, I think he's going to be an even bigger piece moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

I like what you said about your the seniors off the field because I think that is going to help your team probably as much as what they do on the field from their leadership. But let's switch to the other side of the field on D. Who are you bringing back from there? And where do you think the strength lies there?

SPEAKER_03 25:21

Uh how can you not start with the goalie? Uh, Patrick Cuttahy, senior goalie, returning all conference. Uh, he was a third team all conference last year as a goalie. And I think that's more on me as a coach and preparing the defense and the possession battle in front of him for rather than I think he should have been first team if I had done my job a little bit better to help him. But you gotta start with Pat. He's the calm center in the storm. He he just commands that net, he makes the saves expected, he robs a few that you don't know how. He controls the clear and his voice and just echoes uh across the defense. Then in typical defensive fashion, you go with uh your number one close defender and your LSM, the guys that control the middle of the field. That's Kyle Lacey and Andrew Singer. You know, both got all team uh all conference accolades. Kyle's you know when he's playing to the best of his ability, no one runs by him. And Andrew is a force in the middle of the field, whether off the wing for ground balls or just taking away most teams top midfield or he just kind of is that immediate known factor. You know, a lot of times when you're playing defense, it's oh, how do we play this guy? How do we play that guy? I've had the cheat for the past three years of oh, singer, go guard this guy.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

And right, I haven't really had to worry about that, right? Right. That's good. That's that's a good thing to have, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

So let's let's switch a little bit. Um, you kind of touched upon it and trying to build and start faster. So, what does your out-of-conference schedule look like? Can you uh give us a little bit of a preview of that?

SPEAKER_03 27:11

Yeah, the only reason my comp my uh schedule isn't up is because of a scheduling, trying to reschedule conference games, which is later in the year. So my non my first non-conference games are set, and it's like I said, we gotta start faster, and I've got us a schedule that will make sure we do that. We open up with Meryville at home, Malloy at home at University of Indianapolis, and then hosting Frostburg State.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Wow, wow, yeah, that's that's but that's what you want, coach. That's what you want. You know, you want the young guys to play the squads like that and get that feel that NCAA feel, like hey, this is this is where we aspire to be. You know, we want and you know, you got coach Dunn coming back and Malloy, and he they're gonna have a completely different look. You know that, you know that.

SPEAKER_03 28:06

Yeah, and not even that, it's you know, you look at it, you go, all right, three of those four teams were in the top 20 last year.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 28:14

That there's you know they're going to have returned known factors that are worthy of the scout right away. And then, like you said, you know, Coach Dunn's taking over Malloy, he brings a lot of experience and success from tech over to Long Island school. And it's a group of Long Islanders that are coming down I-80 or coming east or west. I don't know directly.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

They'll be going west.

SPEAKER_03 28:41

They're coming west down I-80, yeah, to try and show the Midwestern Midwestern school what's up.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

I don't know, man. I think you guys got what it takes to give them a game, no doubt. You know, I think you know how how many got on your roster this year.

SPEAKER_03 28:58

Uh, we got 43 on our roster.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

Uh there you go.

SPEAKER_03 29:01

Yeah, we're we're building.

SPEAKER_02 29:03

I think that's a great time, I think.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

That's uh that's that's what we want 40. You know, the way we want to play and the way we practice. I'm not uh all right, water break guys, go get the water. I'm uh fill up the water bottles, make sure that they're back of the lines. We're gonna go from one drill to another. Let's go quick.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

Right. Awesome. So I guess the other thing I would ask, um, coach, let's talk about the competition you have in the GMAC. We touched upon it at being a tough conference, and if you look at uh obviously, and you struggled with them last year, right? The two top, Mercy Hurst and Seaton Hill. But are everybody struggles with them? Yeah, everybody struggles with them. That's a very valid point.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

You said you're going for them. What do you think you need to do to knock them off their perch?

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Yeah, you need 20 of the players to be injured or something like that. But no, that you want to play, you want to play those guys, though. You know, like when I coached ball, I wanted to play the big guys, I wanted to play the number one and number two teams in the country or in the area or in my conference. I I wanted that because I always felt that was gonna toughen my team up, that was gonna give them the grit that they need, you know. And the NCAA game, NCAA game is no joke, and this and the GMAC's not a joke, it's not a it's not a patty cake conference. And Coach Covarts, tell us what you think about the GMAC.

SPEAKER_03 30:39

I agree with you, Danny. Like the fact that you have two perennial top 10 programs in your conference is a blessing. It's not a curse, it's not a woe is me, how do I win this? It's oh, my goal is to win the conference. My and through that, you know, my team, my players, those guys have all said, hey coach, we are with you with that. Actually, we think that's our goal. You just need to be on board with us. I'm like, that's easy, let's do this. Now, because you have two top 10 teams in the conference to do that, you have to raise your work ethic, your drive, your commitment, your accountability to be a top 10 caliber program. And that's the challenge that just gets everyone, every guy on the program, every guy on the team, every alumni, ever hopefully every recruit coming in, myself and everyone around us excited to step on the field. Now, how do we be? How is the GMAC and how are we going to be successful in there? I wish I had short answers. I will try to keep my thoughts. I ramble sometimes, so I'll try to keep my thoughts a little brief.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Oh, Danny and I have never done that. We've never rambled.

SPEAKER_03 32:01

No coach has. I I from talking to other coaches, no coach ever has rambled, ever.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

But so you can go look at the GMAC multitudes of ways, but I think where we are, we have to understand that all six games are going to be battles for us. Uh you look at the programs that are slightly younger than us, the uh Davis and Elkins and August and Broughtis, they're not that far off. I always look at it as deaf. It's always that who's got just that one extra guy that's going to carry you a little bit further in a game. And they're right there. Their top guys are solid players, they're just working to build deaf up as a young program until they are able to have that stable position of death to push us and everyone else. So gotta make sure we're ready for them. They're both on the road. Traveling to West Virginia is never easy. Uh, so you got to make sure mentally, guys are keyed in for those games and ready to step off the bus and play because they're gonna bring it to you right from the start.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

Right.

SPEAKER_03 33:19

Then you have the resurgent program of wheeling. You know, again, they're kind of starting from scratch, they're still young.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 33:27

It's going to be once they build something there, once they have that four years of recruiting from the a consistent coaching staff, you know they're gonna be good again. So you have to you know, you play on your experience a little bit, you're to keep them, you know, guessing what you're gonna do, but you know they're going to come out fired, energetic, and use their youth to their advantage. You know, everyone looks at youth in multitudes of ways. In lacrosse, you gotta look at it as fire and energy, you know, chaos. That's what lacrosse is, is control of chaos.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

Right.

SPEAKER_03 34:03

And youth, you know, youth players in the college game, they're gonna make plays you don't expect, and those plays usually end up working because you're so not unprepared for it. It's just something that can't be written out, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:17

Then you have our interesting you said that about those three because any game, any one of those teams catch lightning in a bottle, and none of and then they can propel themselves through the conference. You know, I'm I don't I don't foresee any one of those, you know, being at the top of the conference this year, but like just like you said, they're building programs and they can bring something, and you know all three of them are gonna play hard in conference, especially for us.

SPEAKER_03 34:46

I mean, they you know, we are that entryway into the top four of the conference, is they are looking and right now who they just like we're looking at our next we know who their next step is.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

You in Lake Erie, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_03 35:02

Yeah, it's just like we us in Lake Erie are looking at our next step, we know who's looking at us as their next step. So we've all been there. We I may act it sometimes, but I don't for I don't actually forget what it was like the very first time I stepped on the field at Walsh.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

So right, right. But you know, in our preview, what you alluded to is um we alluded to as well, uh, as far as the depth with the other teams, but we expected you and Kevin and I are predicting Walsh to do really well this year. We are expecting you to do much better than last year.

SPEAKER_03 35:41

I appreciate that. You know, that is the pressure we're putting on ourselves, and I didn't personally I kind of thought I was keeping it kind of a hidden secret of what we were planning to do.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

So I appreciate you know we have our crack, we have our crack research team, you know. Yeah, the the budget's huge here, you know.

SPEAKER_03 36:01

So you have to start kicking people out of practice.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

Oh yeah, yeah, you don't know who we have coming up there, you know.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

Spygate, you know, you know, but Kevin and I we do our homework, you know, and we look into things. And um what I you know that that conference is tough. I'll tell you why it's tough. First of all, the beginning of the season is in weather, man. You guys are in weather, and then like these road trips, like you said, though they're not an easy road trip. So you're getting on a bus five, six hours going to play another blue-collar scrappy squad in weather. It's like you gotta really love it and want it to, you know, because the first part of the season up there, it is pretty tough, you gotta admit.

SPEAKER_03 36:45

You gotta love the February lacrosse. I thought I was coaching a spring sport. I I didn't realize, yeah, yeah, I didn't realize January 10th was the start of spring. Um yeah, it's it's one of those things where when you start, you know, when I look at our you know in-state conference uh you know rival is Lake Erie, they started a little before us. They, you know, the their first coach was a tremendous coach and he built the program. And then they had a second tremendous coach who's now at Frostburg State and building that program. And now they have you know an assistant returning and continuing the competitive level. And I saw them a little bit in the fall at one of our fallball events, the crossout cancer event, which is at the Hall of Fame, which was nice. And they had a they got some big athletes, you know. So you know they're not happy that we were able to pull that upset off at home. We're gonna end up going to them this year. I know who they have circled, I know it's us. I'm sure that you know, as a revenge game, to we're little brother, they're big brother in the state of Ohio at the moment, until we can continuously you know pull that upset off until it's an e and even up the series. You know, it's the until we even up the series with them from the past, we're still going to be little brother until we pull to that 500 record overall. And we're aware of that, and we're you know, so we know that's gonna be a tough one. And then you got the two monsters of Seton Hill and Mercy Hearst above them. And like you said, for those games, uh when you're dealing with a younger blue-collar team, you have to be disciplined and can and control everything you can control because the unexpected is going to happen. When you're going against the Lake Erie, Mercy, Hearst, Seat, and Hill teams, you have to do that, but you have to, and then you have to be so clean in the possession battle and controlling the middle of the field. Now, the way I've really looked at it over the years is their starters versus our starters has come down to you know a point turnover differential of two to one clearing percentage, you know, or a face-off goalie percentage over 110 combined. A clearing percentage for us, if we're not getting to that 110 with face-offs and goalies, we got to be clearing at 85-90% after the ground ball battle. And we got to get 40 shots up. You know, every time we've lost to those teams, they've hit the 40 shot number uh number on us. So if we can keep them under 40 and get us to 40, you know, that's how you start ending up on those games, you know, ending up competing with them. And then you always have to work for knowing that it's there's the not unknowables, the factors that you'll have no idea will show up. And usually that's that new freshman or that transfer that Seton Hill or Mercy Hurst Scott, because if there's one thing that those two do that's to a degree that I'm trying to get to, I'm learning, I'm watching and learning as much as I can, but I still am falling short with my youth is just their recruiting factor. You know that they're recruiting just that one extra guy that you don't know about yet, and you're going to soon.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

Right, right. That's interesting. Very well put, very well put.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

I I think your insight to the conference was just awesome, Coach. You really broke it down well for us. Um maybe we don't even do our preview, Danny. We just let uh coach we just do this interview and let everyone hear what coach has to say because hell of a lot better than our preview. That's two knuckleheads. Because you know, and you you got me excited, I'll tell you, you got me excited for two games with Walsh. You got me excited Meryville Walsh. Because I think that is gonna be a really great matchup. And then you and Lake Erie in Ohio. You two. I mean, I think those if I can pencil those in uh as as games as games to watch, I'm doing it right now. I think though, not that the rest of your your schedule is gonna be great, but you know although I would like to say I could watch as much D2 lacrosse as I can, I think I can't watch every game every every weekend.

SPEAKER_03 41:27

Uh so the Meryville game is going to be a Friday, uh Friday evening in February. It's our first game of the season. Even better. I can talk about how I'm focusing on that because it's the first game of the season. But Coach Art, you know his track record. He comes from a strong program in Lindenwood. He knows the ins and outs of coaching and the lacrosse world. He's stepping into a good position in Maryville with a talented squad of returners with his IQ and attention to detail. They're going to be playing at a top 20

marker 5

SPEAKER_03 42:01

in the nation team level day one. There is no question, there's no doubt in my mind about that. So I'm excited that we get to host them, challenge ourselves in the beginning. And it's one of those things where you know we know what we need to be focusing on for our success. Can we do that against someone who's just as committed, just as single-minded for their success as we are? That's the ultimate test of sport, and that's something that I'm very excited for as well.

SPEAKER_00 42:33

Absolutely, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

Well, coach, we can't thank you enough for coming on and and talking with us. It's been fantastic. We wish you and your team a lot of success this year, mainly because we've already predicted that. So you gotta no pressure on you.

SPEAKER_03 42:50

No pressure from us. Like we need the pressure. I appreciate you guys. We need the pressure, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 42:55

Yeah, so uh, but like I said, we'd love to have you back on again, uh, maybe in the season.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

Be glad to get going.

SPEAKER_03 43:03

Uh, thank you guys.

SPEAKER_00 43:05

Coach, you've been a great guest tonight, really cool. I could see myself hanging out and having a beverage or two and talking about lacrosse, you seem like my kind of guy. Uh, I really wish you and and and and Walsh and the Cavaliers uh the best of luck this year. And I think I think good things are gonna come happen. Like I said, we're predicting that you guys are ready to poison, take a next step up. And we wish you the best of luck. Thanks for coming on.

SPEAKER_03 43:29

Kevin, Danny, thanks for having me. And anytime

hanging out

SPEAKER_03 43:32

during the season, if you guys ask, I'll come on and talk. I'll talk about wins, hopefully, wins. I'll talk about losses, I'll talk about other games, uh, insight from a third party, I'll talk about anything. And thank you guys for what you're doing for Division II Lacrosse and lacrosse in general, and getting more information out there for people. And it's appreciated by us in the coaching world for guys you know who are knowledgeable and reaching out and sharing that information to people that are hungry for it. And so, thank you guys for what you're doing. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 44:04

Uh we appreciate that. That means a lot, coach. Coach, have a Merry Christmas, and we'll see you, okay?

SPEAKER_03 44:10

Merry Christmas and happy new year to you guys as well.

SPEAKER_02 44:13

Thanks. Bye-bye. Geez, Danny, that was just fantastic insight from Coach Sparch on the on the GMAC and his team. I really enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

Yeah, he was awesome. Uh, I would love to be a player on his team. Uh, he's got the enthusiasm, uh, big smile, uh, definitely a face for TV, not radio. Uh he's a handsome guy, man. Yeah, he's a handsome guy. But you know what?

marker 9

SPEAKER_00 44:37

He had some great insight on the GMAC, and uh and I loved his insight on his players and just what what he's got going on there at Walsh. And uh I think he's gonna do good things. I think Walsh is gonna have a really good season this year. And he talked about uh, you know, his out-of-conference schedule and some of the guys he's playing in, you know, with Maryville and and some of the other ones on this on his schedule. Uh they're they're they're poised to make that next move in in that conference, if you ask me. And he he was a great guest.

SPEAKER_02 45:05

Uh yeah, it's fantastic. Uh I think they are poised to get over that 500 hump. Um, I I also thought it was fantastic what he said about uh uh the younger teams that are rebuilding. I mean, like he said, that he's it's gonna be tough battles in that conference for all of them, and that's what makes it so great. So great to watch.

SPEAKER_00 45:27

Yeah, it's a it's a good conference. It's a it's a nitty-gritty conference. Again, they play up in the weather. It's it's you gotta really want it, you know what I'm saying? So Wals, you know, Coach Kabark's he he's got them poised to do good things. I really do. I think 2022 is gonna be a good season for them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:45

So with that, Danny, uh before we even wrap this up, uh I know you and I, we as the in the crease boys, we just want to wish everyone out there uh a happy holidays, a safe holidays, uh fun holidays with family and friends uh from us, the in the crease boys.

SPEAKER_00 46:02

Yes, and and thank you for listening, everybody out there. We really do appreciate it. We see your comments, we see your texts, we do see them, and keep them coming, whether it's good or bad. And again, we wish you. I know my family, Kevin, we wish you Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you and Kendall and the kids, and all the best in the upcoming year.

SPEAKER_02 46:22

Thanks, and same back to your family. So with that, Danny, it's a wrap for next time.

SPEAKER_00 46:29

That's a wrap.