Conference Previews for the 2024 Season - NE-10 Conference

Intro

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast to coast discussion of Deep Two Men's Lacrosse. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stenstrom, and with me as always is the man who cheats Father Time every year, Danny Moran.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Hey Danny, how's it going? Kevin, how's it going? Father Time's coming to an end of this year, the 2023. We're going to get a new Father Time coming in.

SPEAKER_03 1:46

Yeah, well, it's funny. We're recording this early on December 28th, but it's actually going to drop as our first episode in the new year.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Nice. Here we go.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Yeah. And so it's pretty fitting that we're we're down to the last couple. It's pretty fitting that we're going to do the NE10 for our first episode in 2024.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Rightly so. And thank you for the introduction. And how's everything going tonight in Northern Virginia?

SPEAKER_03 2:14

It's going fine. It's going fine. You know, we're we're uh getting ready to head down to San Antonio, where uh still my my son and daughter, our oldest and our youngest, are are still hanging around us and uh and seeming to still enjoy us while they're here for the holidays. So that's all good. Good, good, good.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

And I'm happy for Ronan, and uh it should be a good, nice little week next week for you guys. And yep. Happy, proud, give him a salute and a hug. It's all good.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

I'm wearing my uniform, so he has to salute me first. There you go. The way it works. I hear you, bro.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

I hear you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

Doesn't always happen as we know.

NE10 Preview

SPEAKER_03 2:58

All right, well, let's get into it. Who do you want to start with?

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Hey, in the NE10. Well, you know what, Kevin? You've always called the NE10 the granddaddy of them.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

But it's changing. It's changing if we look at it, right? We lose Lemoyne this year.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

We lose Lemoyne, man, and that's huge. I, you know, it saddens me. We've we discussed this before. Um, it saddens me to see Lemoyne go. Lemoyne is, you know, the pinnacle pretty much of this of this conference.

SPEAKER_03 3:28

They not only the conference, but the division, they've been the gold standard for the last few years. Yeah. Regardless if they win in or didn't, they they were basically the gold standard of what how teams are and you know what they what teams want to be in division two.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Teams like we we we need to beat Lemoyne. That that was like, you know, if we want to get anywhere, we have to beat Lemoyne. Right. That's that was the mindset in the NE 10. And the NE-10 is changing. I like I said, it sends me to see Le Moine go in Division I. But I I wish Coach Sheen and the Dolphins the best of luck. It's been fun to watch Lemoyne play. I got to see them play uh at Hopkins Field in person, which was really, really kind of cool thing to do. And um, I'm just glad that I was part of the Division II atmosphere while Lemoyne was still here. Totally agree. But without without Lemoyne, kind of opens things up in the N a little bit. It does.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

I think there are some teams that are going to be looking to say, okay, we can make some noise. We don't have that big wall in front of us named Lemoyne to get over. There's still some other ones they have to get over, but it's one less hurdle. So well, which team would you like to start with one of the big walls that's really a cat, the Panthers, a Delphi.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

The Panthers, Coach Gordon Purdy, located right here on Long Island, Cav. Um you're sure they're in Long Island?

SPEAKER_03 5:03

No, I know they're right near Hofstra where my daughter goes. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um 16. Nice little campus, Delphi, very nice little campus. Uh 16-4 overall last year, 8-2 in conference. Uh had some great signature wins, 11-4 win over St. A's, an 18-7 win over Pace, a 9-8 win over Bentley in the NCAAs after losing to Bentley twice during the season.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

So that was a ride. Watching those games.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Yeah, and we discussed, like, you know, it's hard to beat a team three times, man. It's really hard. But you know what? You know how Coach Purdy is and those guys there. They reload and reload, and they're always one of the best teams in the country, Kevin.

SPEAKER_03 5:50

I agree. And that's when I look at what they've got this year and what they've lost. It appears once again they're in there reloading this time on the offensive side more than on the defensive side. So if you look at it, offense, they're losing Joseph Duchnowski, Dylan Barry, and Kyle Steinbeck. But they return Eamon Hall, Jack Hipchin, Jason Robato, and Logan Tucker. So they still have some really good players coming back on the offensive side. I talked to Coach. I talked to Coach Volpe, and he even said they've got six other minis returning that have experience. Now, those were guys that didn't get much playing time. They got some. They weren't in the probably in the total rotation that they always are, but probably will be this year.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Always deep at MIDI, always deep. The Delphi Panthers throw out MIDI's at your bang. They keep throwing those fresh legs and fresh legs and fresh legs. How many different guys that could score on that team? I mean, just the list is ridiculous when you look at the list of guys that have actually scored goals for the Delphi. It's like 12, 13, 14 different players have scored goals.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

Danny, the four players that are coming back all had 20 plus goals. Four of them. And they all had double-digit assists.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

I like Hipchin, man, because he had 68. He ate 68 ground balls on top of those 27 goals and 15 assists. Yeah. He's getting the ball back. He's a little ball vacuum.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

Now, here's where I think there's going to be a little bit of a change. And I remember talking to Coach Purdy about this last year, that he doesn't usually recruit heavily just for face-off specialists. He's like, I can make a face-off specialist. And that's what he did with Brian Hoarter. And Brian Hoarter was in there for a couple years, and he was their starter for face-off specialists last year, but he's gone. So they're going to have to reload. And really, I think they're really going to need to rely on mucking it up at the X and winning on wing play.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

They still got Dylan Renner in goal, though, 60% last year.

SPEAKER_03 8:03

Critical.

unknown 8:04

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

So, you know, Adolf play's good, man. They're they're a good squad. They've always been good. They're going to reload. They always reload year after year after year. They're always deep at the midfield, keep running those fresh legs. I expect nothing less but the Panthers to be one of those teams to beat in the NE 10. I think they're going to be one of the top dogs.

SPEAKER_03 8:26

I I totally agree. Because besides Dylan Renner, they've got Kevin Groom and Ryan Butler coming back on D. They've got their the LSM Ryan Dernan coming back, along with their D middies, Matt Treeves and Frank Falco. So they are going to be really tough in this conference this year at the top. And like we just said, they always seem to have depth in the roster.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

And they're well coached.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

And they're well coached. Coach Volpe, congratulations to him. He won assist assistant coach of the year for 2023.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

And you don't think he's going to have his defense ready to go again this year?

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Congrats, uh, Coach Volpe, man. You know, Coach Volpe and I go back kind of a long way. He coached my son in high school a long time ago. So, well, I I like I like Brian. He's a great guy. And congratulations to him. What a great honor to be assistant coach of the year in Division II, right?

SPEAKER_03 9:22

Oh, totally well deserved. Totally well deserved. I and I think we're both a little biased. After we did the the Christmas episode where you I said you were, you know, like diehard, he sent me a text with a meme from diehard. I was laughing my ass off when he said that to me.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Oh, he's he's great. Good for him, good for him. Yeah, I think the Panthers are going to be one of the top dogs in the NE 10 and probably going to be a top six, top seven team in the preseason, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

I I think so. I I'm trying to figure out where you where I put him because I think the next team we talked to, uh talk about is right there with them in the NE-10, and that's St. Anselm.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

St. Anselm's Hawks, really, really good team. So well coached, uh head coached by Mike uh Shimana. Uh they're located in Manchester, New Hampshire, Cat.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

Beautiful country up there, Danny.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

I've never been up that far north, to be honest with you. You know me. I like to go south.

unknown 10:27

New York.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

You gotta go up during the summer, buddy. You gotta go up there in the summer.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

New York is north enough. Um uh they were 10-5 overall, 7-3 in conference, uh signature win last year, dominating 17-6 win over then number 18 Bentley. They lost to Pace by one, but came back to beat him in the NE-10 first round. So St. Anselms, great team, yeah, great squad.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

Yeah, then they went into the NCAAs. They beat Mercy by one in the first round, and they lost to Mercyhurst in the quarters by one. And I this reason I have to point that out. I rewatched the highlights of this game, and this was like a heavyweight boxing match. This was blow counterpunch, blow counterpunch. There would never one anyone was uh ahead by more than two, and usually it was only by one, and they would flip back and forth until finally, finally, Mercyhurst scored the last goal, basically, and that's how they won.

unknown 11:28

St.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Anslim's a great team. I I like watching St. A's. I like the way Shimana coaches these guys, I like their style of ball, aggressive on defense. They have, you know, they they're fundamentally sound, just one of those teams you you don't want to face. You know, if you're facing CNA's, if you don't bring your best, they're gonna spank you.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

Yeah. Yeah, there's no doubt. Now, they have some key losses this year. They lose a goalkeeper, David Olsen. However, Kubick took over for him in the playoffs, and Coach Des has been playing well this fall. So he's got a lot of experience. So maybe that's not as as much of a loss because they've got some guy to fill the shoes pretty quickly. Andrew Bonavita, though, on defense, four-year starter, and then Will Harvey, short stick D middy, second team All-American. Those are some key losses on defense. But on but on offense, they're returning their top 11 scores, Danny. They're tough, man. They got players for days. And you know the names Jack Robinson, Jack Andrews, the Larson brothers.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Chase Lilly, Joe and Barty. Yeah. A bunch of guys, man, and they're all really, really good players. You know what? They play well together. They share the rock, they move the ball well. Um, we watched the Larson brothers basically grow up into like phenomenal lacrosse players. I remember when we were freshmen, we were like, hey, look at these guys, they're pretty good. Let's keep an eye on them. And now look at them. You know, Noah last year, 22 goals and 19 assists. I mean, and Chase Lilly had 17 goals. Nick Larson had 11 goals and 12 assists. The list goes on to say another team that's deep and has a lot of scorers.

SPEAKER_03 13:24

Exactly. And Coach Shimana, when he gave us his his update for his his preview, he said he's got a talented freshman class of about 12, five to six of those guys are fighting to get in the lineup, including a face-off specialist and a goalie really to kind of put the competition in uh against Kubic there, which is great. And they've got a UMass Lowell transfer, attackman, Jake Davis. He was a three-year starter at UMass Lowell on attack.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

That's gonna help them a lot.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

And defense, we talked about uh Bonavita and Harvey being gone, but those are the only guys they lost on defense. So if they got guys that are stepping up and have had a good he coach says they have some guys that had a really good fall to step up to replace those, if they continue that in the spring, there's really no let up.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Yeah, and you know how with the way he coaches, you know, you got to get those, if those freshmen are like buying looking to get on the field, they have to play well in the fall. But they got some really good scrimmages coming up. Did you see the scrimmage?

SPEAKER_03 14:27

The scrimmages, yeah. I I have that written down because they're only scrimmages, but they're playing two D1 schools close to them, Dartmouth and Merrimack.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Yeah, they're playing Merrimack and and and then Dartmouth, man. That's at Dartmouth. So that's cool. Yeah, you know, you're playing, you know, upper level, you got you're stepping up and you're getting your team ready for that first game, you know.

SPEAKER_03 14:49

And yeah, and then they're out of conferences Connecticut College, Malloy, Bentley, and Mercyhurst.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Really good out of conference, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:58

Yeah, and Merrimack and Dartmouth is all that's gonna be is a measuring stick. Where do we stand? Yeah. Yeah. They are gonna be they're gonna be right up there with with a Delphi in the NE 10.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

They're gonna be right there. Again, I think this is a another top seven, top six, seven, eight team. They're definitely in the top ten.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

100%. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

All right. There we go. In the NE10 already, we got two big boys, like you know, top ten, like boys that can ball out.

SPEAKER_03 15:33

Yep. And now we're getting into some other uh teams that are definitely in the, I would say probably top 15, definitely top 20. And let's start off with pace, the setters. Better have come up with pace, and Mariano's gonna hunt you down. Well, look at their record last year: 11 and 4 in 2023 and 7-3 in conference. Same exact result as 2022, but that is that's unbelievable. Back-to-back years with that kind of record.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Coach Mariano coaches him up. He has a bunch of good players up there, and he loves, you know, how he talks about the N-10. He said they're the powerhouse, they're there, it's the NE10, and then everybody else. That's right. I love him, man. I love him. Um, he's a great coach, you know, and he gets good players up there and they and they ball and they play well. Um, they had some really good players on that team last year, Kev. Yeah, Ragoo, the big Ragoo, Louis Ragusa. He graduated, he's gone. I'm gonna miss that kid.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

Yeah, and I'll tell you, that's my first note is what do they do between the pipes? Who fills those shoes? That'll be key. That's gonna be a key replacement. The other key replacement, which you may have a little more flexibility with a number of players that usually come in, and that's one of their key middies, their key midi last year, Anthony Caputo.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Anthony Caputo is a very, very good player. We had him on our podcast, and he was a really cool kid. He was funny, he's like really cool with us. Um, he made the he made the decision to move to Division I, Kev. Yeah, he went to Jacksonville for his fifth year. Yeah, and you know what? Congratulations to him. Let's see what he can do up there with the big boys. Jacksonville plays a great schedule. They play some really, really big teams, and he can really maybe see where he stands, maybe try to get into uh NLL or one of those, you know what I mean? Because he's that good. Um, they also lose Jake Barris and Ryan Brown.

SPEAKER_03 17:45

So yeah, and those were the number three and number four in points for him.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

So firepower. Yeah, they took a little bit of a hit, but Danny Xabio returns. Yep. Tacman out of Dix Hills, Long Island. Dix Hills is a beautiful neighborhood for a kid. 49 goals. Are you kidding me? I know. I mean, like, wow. And Rafael Rodriguez, the midfielder, had 16 goals and 17 assists at Mac Street at face off.

SPEAKER_03 18:15

You know 60% last year.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Yeah, man. Like at least has good players.

SPEAKER_03 18:22

And then and then you go down the line with Timmy Moreau, Declan Landers, Trevor Lamarau, Colin Reese. Some of those guys, the last we just talked about, were freshmen last year, but they got playing time. So that gets them ready to step up this year. And that's what they're gonna need to do when you lose guys like Caputo, Veras, and Brown.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

26 calls turnovers last year, Kev. Yeah. Don't get messing around with him.

SPEAKER_03 18:50

He's gonna take the ball from you, man. That's the one thing I'd say is I don't think they're losing anyone on D. Nick Conan, LSM is back, Chris Caputo's back, Brendan Tello, uh, you said Ryan, James Mantion, uh short stick D. Mitty, Jake Meeker, Brian Brenner. They've got all those pieces back on defense, both rope and close D.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Yeah, losing Ragusa, though, between the pipes is huge. So we're just gonna have to see how uh Coach Mariano puts it together this year. He's gonna have some new pieces in some key places, and uh I'm sure they'll be fine.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

I think they will be. And when we talk about Lemoyne being gone, and I don't know how the co how Coach Mariano talks about it with his players, but his team is is always good enough. They've got one less hurdle, like the other teams, but they can depending on how it goes on on that uh you know on the defensive side with uh with a goalie and then uh stepping up on offense, they're still gonna be really good. And I think their goal is not gonna be like, oh, well, we've got so much replacement. Their goal is always gonna be win the NE 10, get in the NCAAs.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Absolutely. And you know what? Every year they're close, they're really close. They're one of those teams again, you know, and they were knocking on the door the last two years for sure. Exactly. I expect them to be a really, really tough out again. You know, again, Coach Mariano knows how to coach, been doing it a long, long time. He knows how to recruit, he's been doing that well, he's got a great memory. He could tell you what kid played where and what kind of.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

He remembers that that your son Sean refused to go to pace.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Unfortunately, he did remember that. That was so funny. That was funny. He's a good guy. I like Coach Mariano, and he does great things at Pace, and it's a good little school. My sister went to school at Pace. I know a lot of people that graduated from Pace. It's a good little school up there in Westchester County, up in Pleasantville. Who wouldn't want to go to school in a place called Pleasantville?

SPEAKER_03 21:00

Exactly. Exactly. Now we're going a little farther north, and here's another team that broke into the NCAAs, I think for their first time last year, and that's the Bentley Falcons.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Bentley Falcons, Coach Murph, man, did a great job with those boys last year. 10 and 6 overall, and they did well in conference, 8-2 in conference.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

Um we talked about us with a Delphi, right? We did they beat a Delphi twice in the same season and just couldn't pull off the third win.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

And they beat Pace by one in a great game. In a great game, and Capito was good in that game. Um Nathan Alvidi, Conna Segretti, Cam Bartolomeo, they got some players there, Kev.

SPEAKER_03 21:49

Well, here's what's interesting their 2024 roster is not out yet, and so I'm wondering if their top point scorer, Luke Jabber, is returning, if he has a 50 or not. But even if he doesn't, you look at who they've got. You said it, Alviti, Nicholas Thorn Galero, Connor Segretti, Garrett Witt all coming back. They share the rock and they're because they're at 56% assist to goal ratio.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Yeah, it's a really well-balanced team. And with Bottomo at faceoff. Faceoff? All any 10, all region. I mean, he's just he's a beast, and he's get he's he gets he gets the Falcons the ball, and they control a lot of possessions. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 22:35

And and Jackson Tinsley, their goalkeeper, returns. He was at 51% save percentage and 9.8 goals against average, really, really good. They could lose Brian Powers on D because he was a senior, but look who they return. LSM Alex Parton, 42 ground balls and 13 cost turnovers. LSM Kyle Pierciak, 20 ground balls, 15 cost turnovers. Defender Joseph Franzozo and defender John Gagliari, they've got a lot of good pieces coming back on D. They are going to be really good this year again.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Yeah, they're going to be tough. They're going to be tough. Like you said, Val, you know, the Bentley made it into the NCAAs last year. Um had a great season, played great teams and did well. And was even in the couple of losses that they had, they were really competitive. It wasn't blowouts, you know, like this. Coach Murphy really had his team hitting on all eight last year. And I expect them to be very, very good in the NE 10 again this year.

SPEAKER_03 23:37

I agree. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 23:39

Did they post their out-of-conference schedule yet? Because I didn't think their out-of-conference schedule is a good one. Mercy, St. A's. They played St. A's. They did the same thing last year. I think they played St. A's twice. And Frostburg. They've got only three out of conference. They got a smaller schedule next year, only playing a total of 12 games right now in season before you get to any kind of playoffs. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

All right. Murphy knows what he's doing up there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:09

Yeah.

unknown 24:10

All right.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

So I expect I expect I expect Bet Bentley to be a very formidable team. I I'm putting them probably in the top 15 teams in the country.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

That's what I was saying. Exactly. Them in pace. It's tough not to.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Now that's four teams out of the four teams that we went down in the NE 10 are probably going to be preseason ranked.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

I agree.

SPEAKER_03 24:35

I agree. Okay. Let's move to southern New Hampshire. The Penmen. Very interesting name. Yeah. They were 6-6 last year and five and five in conference.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

500 team. Yeah. Located in Manchester, New Hampshire. And the head coach is Paul Calkins uh last year. They put out a pretty decent squad, Kev. They're like a tough, tough route, man.

SPEAKER_03 25:09

They were exact exactly right, Danny. And they had some really good games. They beat Franklin Pierce and St. Mike's in overtime. Both of those games. So great games. St.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Rose, 18-10. That was like a good win for them.

SPEAKER_03 25:23

And they beat out Malloy out of conference. And they lost the pace by one.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Yeah, yeah. They're a squad. They're a squad, man. They're definitely a formidable squad, a tough out. And they got a bunch of players coming back.

SPEAKER_03 25:38

They do. They do. They lose their number two and number three scores, Tristan Peets and Kristen Valentine, but they return Ryan Auger, Jack Tyrones, Tim Krutz. They've got a transfer from Franklin Pierce, Owen McCormick. Oh, wow. And get this not only does it have a ton of experience, but he played with Ryan Auger in high school. Oh, wow. Okay. So, and then you got Cody Fleming at MIDI. He was first line. Coach says he's shifty and attracts a lot of attention when he dodges. So that sets him up. He says they have they now have depth at MIDI. So I just mentioned Tim Krutz and Cody Fleming as MIDI's that they've got. But guess this? They've also got now Jackson Morissette, Aiden Robinson, Pat Roy, Joe Bodie, Colin Brunette, Mitch Anderson. So you think about that. When you've got that much depth, we talk about this with the Delphi all the time. It's fresh legs.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

He's out of Anaheim, California. Auger had 23 and 20, 23 goals and 27 assists. How about Ronan DePaul in goal, huh? 6'4. 6'4, 220 pounds. I don't have my diesel train tonight.

SPEAKER_03 27:04

Well, and he was third team any 10.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

53%, man. He, you know, the boys pretty damn good between the pipes.

SPEAKER_03 27:12

And they added a grad transfer from Undie in goalie, Carson Sutton. And coach is calling him a leader with a ton of energy. So if you look back, he didn't get a lot of playing time at UND. So now graduate work that he's coming over to Southern New Hampshire. You know, even if Ronan DePaul starts, he's going to make that goalie room better and the team better if he really is a leader with that kind of energy.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

Genaro Mara at base off.

unknown 27:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Coming back. I mean, I think the Pen Men are going to be a pretty decent squad next year. Hopefully, they can take what they've learned and how and what they did this year and improve on that record, both overall and in conference. Yeah, that's what they're looking to do.

SPEAKER_03 27:59

Yeah, you look at their defense, their LSM cam coat, 33 ground balls, and 15 cost turnovers. First team any 10, he returns. Dawson Center, second team any 10, he returns. Kyle Prue, he returns. Short stick D. Minis, Aiden Anthony, and Dylan Quigley, they both return. And get this, they also have another uh Franklin Pierce graduate uh graduate transfer. Eric Bua. He was third team NE10 last year at Franklin Pierce. And now he's coming over to play for Southern New Hampshire. Southern New Hampshire. There is an they are another team in the N and 10 with no drop off from last year.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Looks like their bag is full, man, and then like they got players there.

SPEAKER_03 28:45

So they are gonna be dangerous.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

Yeah, let's see what the penmen, man. They got a chance to like uh make a statement in the NE-10 this year, don't they?

SPEAKER_03 28:54

They do. They do. And you you know that that's what they want they want to do.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Oh, a hundred percent. I mean, they're right there. That they're they're that 500 team, but you know, when you have to play Lemoyne and you have to play Pace and you have to play St. Age, and you know, it's it's a grind in the NE 10, especially in the beginning of the season, you know. It's still cold up in New Hampshire in March. You know, it's still cold up in those spots. So it's it's a grind in the NE10, but let's, you know, let's see what the pen men can do. I think. Yeah. You know, I've watched them play several times, and I was like, this is a tough, gritty team. They got players, they were just they were playing a Delphi, they were playing teams that were a little better, you know, a little deeper. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:39

You know, you watch it's it's funny. You watch these mid-pack, any 10 games, it's a crapshoot. They are great games. When you get Southern New Hampshire, St. Mike's, St. Rose, Franklin Pierce all battling out when they're playing against each other. They those are great games to watch. Great games to watch.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

I love watching those guys because they'll play on a Wednesday night and I'll throw it on because there's nothing else to do, you know.

SPEAKER_03 30:09

So as Coach Mariana points out, you know, they play Wednesdays and Saturdays, unlike other conferences.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

Yeah, yeah. He's a trip, isn't he? I love Mariana, he's great. I did not see Southern uh New Hampshire's out-of-conference schedule. Was that posted? I don't think so. Was it?

SPEAKER_03 30:26

Uh I do have it, and I don't know if he if it was posted or coach gave Coach may have given it to me. Uh given it to us. So they're out of conference. It's a really cool one because they play South Region, half their games are against South Region teams.

unknown 30:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 30:43

Malloy, Felician, Catawba, and Mount Olive. Isn't that a isn't that a cool schedule?

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Yeah. And I think I love I love the North playing the South. I think it's great.

SPEAKER_03 30:58

And I think Kataaba and Mount Olive are gonna be tough outs for them. But I think they they have a shot at doing it. That's what we love to see, to see kind of those mid-tier teams, Mount Olive more at the top of Conference Carolina's most time, but yeah, had a little bit of a down year last year. And Kataaba kind of at that mid-tier level at at the sack. See what they do against a mid-tier team in the NE10.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

That'll be a couple games to watch for sure. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:31

Okay, uh, let's move to Saint Rose, the Golden Knights.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

St. Rose, the Golden Knights.

SPEAKER_03 31:39

No, this is different. Coach, this coach, Coach Williams, also sent us kind of a preview for us to use. And to be honest, you almost have to throw it out because he sent it to us well before they closed. Their doors, they found out their doors are going to close. And so if you look at who they're gonna bring back for the roster, you really can't look at that because you don't know who's coming back. But he gave us a really good quote. They were 5-12 last year in 2023 and 3-7, which was not where they were in 2022. But he had some good things to say. As always, he's he he takes those negatives and kind of tries to turn around, and he's not making excuses, but he's got some good reasons, and then he's got some reasons to do. What he told us was between the media and USILA polls, they played 11 teams that were ranked last year or received votes. They had six one-goal games, and their Bentley game was a two-goal game. Now they only went one and seven last year in those, and that was the difficulty, and that's where they wanted to turn it around. The thing that happened, though, is now they find out that they're they're closing their doors. And when we talked to Coach, I texted Coach and I and I showed you what he said. He's like, I got a bunch of seniors, let's ride. So that's the thing. How do they come out this year? Are they going to ride or are they gonna be deflated? I think Coach is gonna have whoever he has coming back, they're going to ride, they're gonna bring it at every game. Now, they may, depending if they don't have depth or not anymore, it could be tough, but don't count them out.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Wow, I don't even know what to say because Coach Williams was doing such a great job of building that program, you know, and uh just a really good guy, a good pedigree. Um, you know, he was given the chance at St. Rose and he was doing a phenomenal job. I'm just I'm I'm sad. I feel bad for the guy. I feel bad for St. Rose, I feel feel bad for those kids, especially the kids that were being recruited or just committed, you know. Yeah, yeah. And now the school is closing its doors. So I have no idea who's coming back. I, you know.

SPEAKER_03 33:57

So this was what is interesting. When he sent us the list, he said a whole list of returning players, and in fact, all of their starters were returning this year. That was before the announcement. So you can imagine where he thought the program was going to go this year if he had everyone coming back. Yeah, he was excited for it. But like I said, all I can say is knowing Coach Williams, whoever stays and plays out this last season will bring it home. They will just ball out. That's my prediction.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Yeah, well, who knows? I I have no idea what's on the roster, who stayed, who left, who's going, who entered the portal, who's, you know, it's it's a crapshoot right now. So we'll just have to see what St. Rose puts out.

SPEAKER_03 34:52

Exactly. Let's so let's move on to Franklin Pierce and the Ravens. Yeah, the Ravens struggled last year, huh, Kevin? Yeah, that's not the season I don't think Coach Callahan had dialed up when he started. They were 5-9 last year and 2-8 conference. Probably one of their signature wins was against St. Rose, beating him by one. 13-12. And I don't know, but I maybe just the small roster probably played a big part in that. You know, they they just didn't have a lot. Now their 2024 roster is not out yet. So what they really need is depth. They need a roster in the 30s, mid-30s to really.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

You just said that Eric Buller and Owen McCormick left. Yeah. Two of the top scorers from Franklin Pierce left to go to some areas.

SPEAKER_03 35:41

Eric was on the on the uh defensive side. He had 72 ground balls and 22 cost turnovers for Franklin Pierce last year on the defensive side. Now, the good thing is if their roster stays intact in 2024, that's that's their big loss on the defensive side. Everyone else seems to be coming back. And their goalie, Mike Masterpolo, who's pretty damn good at 53% save percentage. I've watched him play some games. He is a good goalie. He should be returning for his junior year.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

Yeah, his junior year. Yeah, yeah. He was a sophomore last year.

SPEAKER_03 36:16

Now, the problem is it looks like their whole starting attack line could be gone. K. Kelly, he was a senior last year. Joe Nutting was a graduate, and they lose Owen McCormick, like we said.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

And they had a small roster last year. I don't know what's going on up there at Franklin Pierce. I did see their out-of-conference schedule, though, Kev. Yeah. Devilville, Post, Caldwell, and Bridgeport, but I only counted 12 games on their schedule. If I'm correct.

SPEAKER_03 36:47

They should have uh 13 if they got four out of conference because they played nine in conference, right? So um but but I think that's a pretty good out of conference schedule for them.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

Yeah, Devil Post Caldwell and Bridgeport. Yep. Let's see. You know, I it's about numbers, I think, at Franklin Pierce right now. It's small rosters. That's exactly what I said.

SPEAKER_03 37:13

My note says exactly that. It's a big question mark this year based on what they're gonna do in offense. And to me, it all depends on depth.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Yeah, they're gonna need some help, I think.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

But I think Callahan's a really good coach. Devin Callahan's a really good coach. He really brought him around when he started as the interim and then was named the head coach. So let's hope they can do that this year and they get more players in. We don't have the roster at all, so we don't know.

SPEAKER_01 37:37

Okay. Franklin Pierce is located in Ringe, New Hampshire, by the way. I didn't I didn't say that to the people, so the people know where it is.

SPEAKER_03 37:46

I like when you do that. I like it because I don't have it written down. All right, then so tell me, where's St. Michael's?

SPEAKER_01 37:53

The purple minor. Colchester, Vermont. I knew it was in Vermont, but I couldn't tell you the town. Coach Alex Smith, I mean, not a bad season last year. Uh six and seven overall, three and seven in conference. Again, playing in that NE10. It's not an easy conference.

SPEAKER_03 38:12

They had a big improvement in their overall record last year and one more win in the NE10. Now they want to improve on that this year. They beat Post and Lake Erie, which are two good out-of-conference wins for them last year.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

Yeah, they lose a couple of guys. They lose Drew Collins and Max Cadavalos. Yeah. But Sebastian Simonson, the midfielder from Bruce Grove, Alberta. He comes back, 36 goals and 20 assists. Pretty solid season. Uh Christian Reyes, 16 goals and 10 assists. Um I counted 48 on their roster. Uh Cooper Wilson at the face-off. He's coming back. Don Reagan in goal at 54% last year, Kev. Pretty good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:58

Yep. And they and they're on the their whole close D looks like they returned. Mike Camarata, Cam Stewart, and Thomas Fizzoli. All coming back.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

Yeah, they're a pretty solid squad, man.

SPEAKER_03 39:12

They got their LSM, Rocky Rallone, returning as well. Here's the amazing stat, and the coach even pointed this out when he emailed us. Out of 161 goals, 115 assists, that's a 71.4% assist-to-goal ratio.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

That's awesome. That's got to be five in the country, probably.

SPEAKER_03 39:38

He says they want to keep that going. They made real strides last year. You know, I think their D will be really solid based on who's coming back. Can the offense keep up that momentum with losing a couple of couple of their top scores? But they really improved last year, and I think Coach is ready to keep that going.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Yeah. And guys that, you know, uh contributed big, you know, small in big ways. And what happens, you get on the field and you can even contribute in the smallest way, and you come back next year, your role changes. You might step up into a little bit more of an expanded role, either offensively or defensively. And I think St. Michael's is a team that's going to improve this year.

SPEAKER_03 40:27

I agree. You know, we talked about this with a couple coaches. We talked about with Coach Ashton. Sometimes when we just look at the basic stats, we're not catching all of it. And when you've got a team that does 71% assist-to-goal ratio, you've got to know that players that aren't getting anything in the stat line are contributing to that, like you just said.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

I love teams like that because they're moving the ball. They're moving the ball, moving the ball. And when you move the ball, the defense moves. And when the defense moves, it creates lanes. And when you create lanes, it creates open shots.

SPEAKER_03 41:01

And it could be as simple as a guy doing the right pick, not even touching the ball.

SPEAKER_01 41:05

That's right. That's right. That's right. And you know what? St. Michael's kind of does those kind of things. So, you know, that's a great assist-to-goal ratio. It's a phenomenal. And uh I we love Coach Smith. He's a really good guy. IG, and I see all the Instagrams for and it's just great. He's got a great little program there. He does, you know what? Kids love playing. They got 48 on their roster. That's that's a nice number. Yeah. You know, and and and I expect them to be and I expect them to improve this year. I'm gonna look, I'm gonna be watching St. Mike's a little closer this year.

SPEAKER_03 41:43

Yeah, they're gonna they're gonna be fun to watch, I think. So let's go. I can tell you, Danny, where this next team is. Assumption. Where are they? They're in Worcester, Massachusetts, my friend. Their old stomping grounds. My old college stomping grounds, the Holy Cross there. Assumption right there. The Greyhounds. Yeah, they were 4-10 last year and 2-8 in conference. They beat Felician, Franklin Pierce, and AIC, and they lost to Bentley only by one, Danny.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

They beat Malloy. They beat Malloy 14-6. That was a signature win for them. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:22

Yeah. Now they lose their number two score, Nolan Sheehan, but they return a lot on the offensive side. Cameron Thoreau, Ryan Healy, Sam Maychek, Patrick McGrath, and Ryan Boger all had at least double-digit goals. Cameron didn't, but he had 13 assists. That's a good squad coming back on the offensive side.

SPEAKER_01 42:49

Yeah, Healy had 31 goals and 12 assists. Mistel had 13 goals and four assists. Nick Palomeros is coming back to face-off. Tom Reiki at LSM. Colin Malone in goal at 53%. He's from East Patchog, New York. East Patchog is a really cool Long Island town. Very like nautical, up in the water, a lot of cool bars, like a nice little downtown area, a lot of live music. It's a really cool place, Patchog. Healy's from Westwood, Massachusetts. They got a lot of players that can score, Kev. That's one of my notes. They have multiple players that can put the biscuit in the basket. Not a bad squad.

SPEAKER_03 43:37

No, they and they got a bunch of defenders coming back, like you said. Aiden Boyle, Cooper Joyle, who comes from my old hometown, Long Meadow. Jack Galvin, Colby Leighton, Colin Malone and Goal, like you said, and their LSM Tom Rake. So they've got some key things. They improved their man up last year to 30%. They improved on the ground ball game, they improved their goals for game. Game to 12.2 and their shots per game up to 48.1 last year. So they were improving in a lot of their statistical categories. It just didn't show up in the results. Now that you would think sooner or later that would start just turn the tide. And maybe that's this year, where that you get all these guys coming back. They know each other, they played each other one more year of experience together, and now they start to turn those improvements into wins as well.

SPEAKER_01 44:27

Right. And you add a couple of good freshmen in there to like, you know, put the salt and pepper on that steak. You know what? That assumption is not a bad squad. Sometimes the numbers don't speak like you said before. They, you know, right. We look at the analytical things, and sometimes the numbers don't tell the whole story. You know, they've improved in almost every category as a squad. Yeah. But they're playing in the NE 10, Kev. It's not an easy. I mean, it's just a zero-sum game.

SPEAKER_03 44:58

You just if someone's got to win and someone's got to lose.

SPEAKER_01 45:01

It's just not an easy conference to play in. You know, it's every game is a grind. So if you can improve, listen, their out-of-conference schedule is not too bad. They play some good teams.

SPEAKER_03 45:14

Oh, they've got a good schedule. Mercy, Roberts Wesleyan, Felician Caldwell, and Georgian Court.

SPEAKER_01 45:21

That's a phenomenal out-of-conference schedule for assumption. It's another team, another team you got to keep an eye on a little bit this year.

SPEAKER_03 45:31

Yeah, I think so. They've got all the pieces coming back. It's going to be really interesting. It's going to, it could be a it could be a real dog fight if these these mid-tiered teams step it up. It could be a dog fight in the NE 10.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

That's right. Well, you know, again, it's what do they have? Six that go into the tournament or four?

SPEAKER_03 45:53

I don't, I forget. Uh I think it is no, it's at least six. They have a first round and they've got a semifinal. So they yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:04

You know, there's a spot open now. Because Le Moyne almost, you know, they took a spot every year. So their spot's gone. So somebody's gonna fill that spot. So you still have a Delphi, Ace, St. A's, um, and then you got a lot of guys vying for that that next spot. Yeah. Yeah. And who's gonna be that team? Is it gonna be St. Mike's? Is it gonna be Southern New Hampshire? Southern New Hampshire? Is it gonna be Assumption? I don't know. I don't know. One of these teams is gonna, I think, gonna make it.

SPEAKER_03 46:45

Now we go to the last team in the NE 10, and they may not do it this year, but I'm telling you, they are building, and they are gonna be dangerous if Coach Jack Spallone has anything to say about it, and that's AIC, the Yellow Jackets from Springfield, Massachusetts.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

Go, Kev from Springfield, uh two and 13 overall and 0-10 in conference. They had a tough year last year.

SPEAKER_03 47:18

They did, but remember where they've always been, and they've basically been a commuter school with commuter players, small roster. You know, once they got into a fight and uh and they started losing, they gave up. I went to the Caldwell game last year. Remember? They were losing to Caldwell and they never gave up and they came back and won. And I saw the fire in Coach Ballone's eyes. If you read his preview email to us, I will tell you he is fired up to lead this program, put them on the map, and he's doing it in every facet. He's even done it in the coaching side, right? He's added to his staff to accelerate its team's growth curve. He's added in Andrew Bracie as an assistant coach who coached at Norwich and UVM and coaches uh for a program called the face-off factory. He's gonna be coaching, obviously, face-off and defensive units. Now he has a volunteer assistant, Mark Payton, in years past. They didn't have any assistants. And they he's convinced the AD that that's what they need. Mark Payton, he says, exudes a tremendous amount of passion and enthusiasm for becoming a coach at the college level. He's got you we talk about some of the other coaches giving us some great quotes. He had them. I've got like three or four here. Here's here's one just to begin with. He recruited a class of 27, Danny, to build the roster to 41. When sometimes in years past, they had like 20 on the roster, 23 freshmen and four transfers. And he's expecting those transfers to contribute right away. This is what he said. We have added a wealth of depth on the defensive side of the ball, highlighted by some boys who just competed for a Minto Cup this summer, and some offensive guys that are accustomed to winning and have the under individual accolades to back it up. They see an opportunity just as I did to establish a new norm here at AIC that being result-driven focus. I expect to see some great things from this group as with our returners. These guys have been hardwired to understand we have a standard of execution and it doesn't change for the highest touted guy down to a walk-on. Everyone is expected to be driven and self-motivated to work on their weaknesses. Tell me, he's not he's not gunning for that NE10 championship. Now, I think it's totally out of reach this year. He's got a totally new squad, but he is loading them up to be ready in years to come.

SPEAKER_01 50:03

So, how many's on the roster now? 41. Okay. That's a big jump for them.

SPEAKER_03 50:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:11

That's a big jump. Wow, it should be interesting. It should be interesting because AIC has struggled for a while.

SPEAKER_03 50:21

Now, I watched them play a couple games last year. Like I said, I was at the Caldwell game, and like I said, they they still their final record does not show, I think, really the level of play that they were starting to bring. And they didn't have the numbers last year. Now, this year they're gonna have the numbers for depth, but they may not be they may not have the total chemistry yet.

SPEAKER_01 50:44

Yeah, well, let's see what uh coach can do.

SPEAKER_03 50:47

He's returning offense. They've got Hunter Turlich, Micah Boyle, Andrew Boyer, and Devin Walker and Aiden Knight. And he says he's looking for big things out of this group with a year under their belt with him. Okay. They've got on the defensive side, they've got Rogan Reguario coming back, returning after injury, Ryan Levis. He had 13 starts under his belt last year as a freshman. Gabe Zippen and Nick McKay. Nick McKay had 53 ground balls and 17 caused turnovers. They have, as he says, years under the belt and belt in the NA10, and they're looking for them, the defensive side, to make a big leap forward. Their goalkeeper returns, Hayden Godet, he was 52% last year as a freshman. And here's his last quote coach is one of these guys. When I talked to him last time, he was telling me things before the game started of some things they were going to try to do. He's very innovative as a coach, and he's willing to try different things to give them an advantage. Here's what he said. This last quote at both ends, our team is going to live and die by our pace. We are practicing something very new to the field game. And if we can make it click, it's going to be hard for just about anyone to play at this gear. He's looking to speed up. He's looking to play a high, high, high octane game. I think it, I think it's more than just the speed, though. He's trying to throw in some wrinkles. It's going to be, they're going to be fun to watch. I don't, I personally do not think they're going to be there this year. They're still going to be lower in the NE 10 and in Division II. But I think if he builds with this team and what he's built on this roster, I'd love. I hadn't, I didn't go back yet. And I'd love to go back and look at the numbers of the Ross in the roster before he got there. And if they ever had big numbers and when that was. Because I think he's he's really motivated to make a change there.

SPEAKER_01 52:41

Well, you know, he seems excited to get the program where he's going. And to recruit 27 kids to AIC is not an easy thing to do. No. So he must have busted his tail in recruiting. And and and you know what? Let's see what AI the Yellow Jackets do this year. They have not a bad out-of-conference schedule. Nope. St. Thomas. They play Caldwell again.

SPEAKER_03 53:08

Yeah, they got Wheeling. Wheeling, Davis and Elkins, Post Roberts Wesleyan and De Uville. So that's a good and tough schedule for them. When you got teams like Post and Roberts Wesleyan, De Uville's gonna be a handful for them. Wheeling's gonna be a handful. It's gonna be a test for them. But I think it's a good test for them where they're at.

SPEAKER_01 53:36

I agree with you. Well, let's see what Spallone does up there in Springfield.

SPEAKER_03 53:45

We'll

Coaches Murphy and Diantgikis of Bentley

SPEAKER_03 53:46

see. So that was a great rundown of the conference, but now let's shift to getting some insight from an any 10 coach. This coach, Danny, is entering his 32nd season as head coach of his program. I know. But get this, he's been named any ILA coach of the year five times and any 10 coach of the year seven times. Amazing. That puts him in legendary status in the D2 coaching world, if you ask me. You're not saying he's old, are you? You're not saying that. Just legendary. I'm old. He's much younger than me. No, let's get him on, man. Yeah, that's Jim Murphy of Bentley. But guess what? He's brought on his assistant coach, defensive coordinator coach Dean Jikis, who also can help us out in answering some questions about Bentley and the NE10. So how about we bring him on right now? Welcome, fellas. Welcome. Pleasure being here.

SPEAKER_00 54:48

Thanks for having us. This is awesome.

SPEAKER_03 54:50

Oh, it's great having you guys on. It's the first time we've had Bentley on, and it's it's long overdue. So we appreciate you guys getting on. So I'll ask you both this, both this question just to start us off. Last year's season was just phenomenal for you guys. 10 and 6 overall and 8 and 2 in your conference, which is the N, which if you've listened to this podcast, you know I called the granddaddy of them all. So you only lost to Lemoyne and St. A's, and then you beat a Delphi twice, and you went to the NCAAs, which I believe was for the first time for you. So how do you two feel about that run last year?

SPEAKER_04 55:31

It was outstanding. Uh, we were so happy for the program. We're so happy for not only our players that are currently on the roster, but those in the past who have done so much to help us get to where we're at. Um, there's so many people behind the scenes that you know, we as coaches are there, but we try and stay in the background. It's the players who matter to us. But with that being said, um, the quality and the culture of our team is what really drove us to that success. We always had great teams, nothing against the quality or the culture in the past. It just was the buildup of um all the great things that those in the past have lent to the program. And then having a great coaching staff, Coach Dean Jicas, uh, Coach Gene, and Coach Lavery have all been so instrumental in bringing so many parts together that um it was exciting, it was great. And um, I think I learned my lesson to stay away and stay out of the way a lot and let the coaches do the coaching. And it only took me 31 years to figure that out.

SPEAKER_03 56:30

So, Coach D, Coach D, what do you take from last year's season?

SPEAKER_00 56:34

Uh, you know, kind of saying the same thing as Coach Murph said, uh, you know, just proud for happy for the players. Um, you know, they did it. You know, we can put everything out and game plan and everything, but they went out, they executed. Um, like Coach said, you know, the culture of the team uh has been built up over years, and you know, just kind of the guys went out and they they did it. They wanted it, they did it. And um again, I've always said Bentley's a special place, and I think people got to see it uh on the forefront last season.

SPEAKER_03 57:06

Yeah, it's interesting. I actually watched a few um replays of some Bentley games through uh D2 Lacks updates on on YouTube in the last few days. And what's interesting is I kind of look at your team a lot of times, especially in the N and across Division II, I look at it last year as like kind of like the no-name team in a lot of ways. Before last year, I don't think I could have named a lot of the players on your team. But then if you look at them now, Bartolomeo, you know, Alavida, you know, they're just uh Thorn Galero, I mean Connor Segretti, they just start rolling off. You go back and I watch the games again. I'm like, oh yeah, we talked about that player all the time oh yeah, we talked about that player all the time. It really starts to ingrain on you how good your team was last year.

SPEAKER_04 57:57

One of the great factors that's always been part of who we are is that they're they're they are recruited by a lot of other schools at all different levels. But one of the greatest factors is no one's ever come to Bentley to play lacrosse. They've come there to get the education, knowing that they're there's a 99% plus chance of getting a job within six months of graduation. Yeah. I think in the last handful of years, I can't even count back before we played our first game in February. All of our seniors either have jobs signed, sealed, delivered, or they're trying to decide which one of the three offers they want, which uh where do they want to live? And so when you factor that all in, when you take the excitement of last year and all the things that have happened, it's great. Plus being a non-scholarship program. Um, you know, we're we're that anomaly in the division two where it's zero, zero scholarships. Uh the academic requirements it is just to get in the door and then to continue to be successful. Um, but that's the fun part. We we embrace that challenge every day. Uh Coach D, when we were hiring him, I I kind of gave him the background of it, and I was I was afraid he would never answer my next phone call. Um but uh it was it was so great to uh have that. And you know, they they don't worry about their name being said, you know, they're they're proud to be Bentley. And like I said, not only for themselves, it goes back to the alumni and everybody, the families of everyone and those that have reached out to them in so many ways in last year. They're excited to get those emails and phone calls, whether it be through LinkedIn from our alumni or whether it be through all the other social media ways of uh being in contact, it was something that was new to them. And um, I think it really brought uh the whole Bentley experience to the forefront. And um, you know, not a bad thing when you're a no-name, when you can show up and be competitive, and um, when you have those factors of top of the quality young men, um, a lot of good things can happen. I've always said to the team and any recruit that if you surround yourself with good people, good things happen. And I think that came to the forefront last year.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:04

That's fantastic. You know what? And that's what college is about. It's about the education. LaCrosse comes second, or whatever sport you play, or whatever you decide to do on your on your spare time, but it's about the education. And Bentley is at the forefront. It's like the Notre Dame of Division II kind of it's uh it's it's an expensive school. I have friends who've uh sent their kids to school there. I did not know that it was a non-scholarship though, which makes it even more intriguing to get those players to come to come there. Because, coach, we talk about it a lot. Not a lot of folks have it like that, where they can send a kid to a whatever school, name it, you know, just name one. And um, some kids' families look for those scholarships, whether it be academic or whether it be some sort of grant or loan or whatever. Anyway, but to have you play at such a high level, like last year, what I liked about your team is a couple of things. First of all, how many kids contributed offensively? Like a lot of kids are scoring 16, 18, 24 goals, 13 goals, 12 goals, a lot of different guys are scoring for you. But your defense, your defense is badass last year. What do you attribute the defense to?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:24

Well, Coach D and Jeek is, you know, finding the talent within the talent, um, getting everybody to understand their role, understand that their role is part of a big package, and it's it's all of them. It's not just the players that are on the field, it's everybody that contributes every day in practice. Um, you know, a part of our whole recruiting um, I would say design is get players who can come in, understand their role and how important it is to the whole big picture. Coach Steam Beek is so instrumental in the recruiting side of so much of what we do. And he's been able to really put all those parts and pieces together, let the players understand how important they are every day. And that just kind of culminates on game day, whether it's actually getting repetitions on the field or being part of the warm-ups, making sure we have good warm-ups to, you know, being that guy on the sideline. And that's where that whole culture comes. And Coach Dean Jekus has found those players. Uh, Coach Lavery works with him as our goalie coach as well as helps coach with the defense. Uh, the two of them are great communicators. Um, they're very um available to the players. Uh, you know, just even today, we had the ability to uh start our end of season communication with them. We just did a quick 10-minute, 15-minute phone call. We didn't want to worry about them having to come to the office during finals time or those who have already gone home instead of one of 14 different states our players come from. But the the success was what Coach D and Jeek has brought forward, let them know how important each one of them are. So then when we have the opportunity to um put them in the action, you know, they know what's expected of them because then that's what's expected of our defense. And then it's up to the offense to make sure that we go out and take some of the pressure off of them. But what he's instilled in terms of the the um the whole package, uh, that's really been so important. And you know, he he likes to go out and let them get after it. So we have we have great fun in practice, and um, you know, there's some great rivalries every day. And I tell them the good part is is maybe game day will be the easiest part of the week we had. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:26

That's what you want, right? Right, right. That's what you want. You want your practices to be harder than the games. And I tell you, I like I watch a plenty of Bentley games over the last three years. First of all, great field, great facilities, beautiful buildings in the background. I'm like, that's a nice place, man. That's a nice place. I've never been there. I gotta make it up there someday. But um what I love is the way you guys play pace. I don't know what it is when you guys play pace. What is it about that team that you guys just it's like a knockdown drag? It's like Hagler Hearns middleweight left, left jab, uppercut, right? It's just great lacrosse, very, very physical and just great lacrosse. What is it about that one particular school that you guys just go so out of it?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:16

We have so many guys that have played with them or against them through the club circuit throughout their times. Uh, and if it's not, you know, a New York rivalry, it's a um a New England Northeast rivalry. So to go with that, you know, a lot of our other sports are very competitive with them. They all know that they're very well coached, they have talented players. Um, film doesn't lie. We watch enough of it, and the players watch enough of it to know that you have to bring your best game forward. And if you don't, you're gonna take one from Hurnd or Hagler. And uh it's hard to keep on your feet. And if you don't stay on your feet, you don't have a chance. So you have to at least pretend like it didn't hurt and get yourself back out there ready to go the next one. And uh, but you also have to be aggressive enough that you can throw that one that you have to throw to put him on his heels, or maybe even more than that. But you know, they're a great coach team. I uh, you know, I have all the respect for Coach Mariano, coach at him with against him at all levels. Um, and that that's a fun part. It's a great little rivalry within ourselves. Uh we respect each other greatly. I think all of our coaching staffs uh respect each other greatly. So that just adds a little bit to it. We don't have to say anything about that side of it, it's really the players going out and do what they have to do, and they know what's at stake. It's one of those teams that you have to go out and play that way, and it may not always show up as a W, but um it it's respect down the road when it comes to what's what's in uh at stake at the end of the year, not only for the Northeast 10 seatings. We love having home games first taking that three hour and 20 minute bus ride down to Westchester County. And um and sometimes if it's during the week, guess what? We load up the bus that day because we don't want to get out of class more than one day. So it's a down and back trip, and you're playing at seven o'clock at night, it's always a great thing. But I'm back in the office at 4 30 in the morning to make sure they're all up to go to class. At 7 a.m. if they have to.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:02

Yeah. The trials and tribulations are coaches.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:06

Beachwork and full living.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:07

Yeah, okay, coach. Okay. Hey, so Coach Steve, talk to me about uh how the fall ball went and what you're seeing for your defense coming into the 2024 season.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:19

Um the fall ball went awesome. Um, you know, we're able to get a lot of guys in, a lot of guys through, uh, new guys coming in, returners coming back, kind of get back on the field and and and play, you know, with your group again with that, with that defensive unit again. Um, you know, our defense coming in this year again is gonna be a lot of the same from last year, um, same group of guys coming back. Um, you know, just we're gonna come up and play across, like I would say we go out there when we play, you know, uh we have that positionless mentality that you know we all are playing all over the field. You know, it's not like a close guy is not gonna get brought up and up, he's got to be comfortable playing up there too. And that's kind of one thing that we do kind of talk about a lot is you know, being comfortable and the uncomfortable, you know, and um and getting in those areas and playing in a spot where maybe you're not used to playing in, but you know, bringing in the younger guys and getting them used to that and everything like that. So it's um, you know, uh communications key for us as well. And and and dealing with working with it with the guys in the fall is uh something to set that base layer um and getting them ready for the spring. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:31

Awesome. Awesome. So, Coach Murphy, let's switch to the offensive side. It looks like you've got a lot of firepower coming back with Nathan Alviti, Nicholas Thorn Guerrero, and Connor Segretti, and Garrett Witt. Do you think you're uh you're at about the same? It looks like you bring a lot of them back. You really are you losing anyone this year?

SPEAKER_04 1:07:48

We did lose some players that were integral in what our success was um, you know, came from. But the good part is is you know, we don't we don't play just a system. So it's not about learning a system, so any new players coming in. We we love to uh play an open style, but um the biggest part, and that's where fallball really comes in, is getting used to each other's tendencies. And um another factor is is we don't worry so much about lines. We worry about we don't worry about, we we factor in um thinking of pairs. If we have pairs that play together, no matter who gets inserted as a third attack man or a third midfielder, or sometimes we run midfield lines with four players, so the next freshest guy or the next three fresh guys are up, and that way it it allows our depth to come forward, and that's where we do or are able to share a lot of the success, whether it be as goals assists or that hockey assist that we love to keep track of for our guys. And um, a big part to that really comes down to um, you know, just having those guys at our back. Uh L Vidi, Gagnan, uh McGovern have been playing together now for three years. They were they were aligned together as freshmen. At one point, their freshman year, they were running as our second midfield line. And so with that, they've had that experience together. But that doesn't mean they're together all the time. Um, a lot of times they'll they'll draw two poles up. Uh Lvidi's a big guy who uh is a hard cover just because of his size. Yeah. Uh strong dodger. I mean, he comes from a great family. His brother's now down at Maryland doing his grad year. He was an LSM up at UVM. And uh so I'm sure their backyard battles are pretty exciting. I always told the dad and I'd love to have film of that, and we could make a lot of money from it. But um, but you know, players like that. Dave Gagnan is a player that wasn't heavily recruited, more just locally. But um, he's a he's a two-handed threat. Uh, he's a great athlete. Uh, Nick McGovern's another player that can do a lot of things that um make his teammates better, as well as can shoot the ball really well. Then on the attack, similar thing. There's a lot of guys that can play multiple roles. We don't worry about um creating names for them. As Coach said, it's spots on the field, whether it's you know up top or whatever, it allows us to play multiple formations and we all without having to worry about running special sets, sometimes it's geared towards what grouping is out there, whether it be in pairs or attack or midfielders. And um with that depth too, we love to think that we're extremely difficult to scout. And just when you think you have us figured out, um, you know, we we may have a little bit something else in the back pocket. And no wrinkle, little no wrinkle.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:24

If you've got that depth, you're bringing you can bring, like you said, if you especially if it's not lines and you're bringing in a different pair that's paired up with something different that they haven't seen, and that creates something, something, a new look for the defense.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:35

And the flexibility of having athletes, we've always said we love to recruit athletes who can play lacrosse, and that's been a staple of how we've done it, multi-sport athletes, but also then players that can play at attack, can play at midfield, and that's something we have no problem in our players want to get on the field, and you know, talking with them even today, and every day we talk to them, it's like, coach, I'll go wherever you want me to go. Uh, I just want to be on the field. So that mentality helps us a lot to design how we go about it. But running guys out of the box that may be playing close, uh playing attack against close defenders, and then they're in heaven when they have the ability to go against a short stick on occasion. Now sometimes we have to make sure that they get the ball out of their stick, too. But um, it it's you know, those are things as coaches. Sometimes you don't have to say anything, it's just the look that gets that to happen a little bit better. Um, but it's great because some of the additions we brought in, um, not only as freshmen, but we uh for the first time ever had some grad transfers come in uh for the first time ever. And I think that's adding some uh experience in where I was saying we don't worry about a system, it's more uh letting the players play. And um, you know, they've they've adapted great into the system and what I say system as to what the players want to do. So going back to pairs or whatever grouping is out there, um, you know, you would think they've been on the on the field with their teammates for four years, and that's the way we want our freshmen to feel too. Uh sometimes the learning curve is a little bit different for them in terms of how quick they understand the speed of the game, but um, you know, that that's our job just as much as you know, getting guys to score goals and being in the right place. It's how we're gonna get that next group to be, you know, score goals and be in the right place.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:11

Great. Sounds awesome. Sounds you got it, you got it, you got a system. It's it is a system, it's a system within the system.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:18

It's interesting. I I love what you guys were saying, uh, coach, about kind of make it you you talked about being nameless, but I think it's it's more about some of the things you track that don't show up in the usual stats that Danny and I look at unless you really watch film, right? And you see that that that hockey assist or the guy that creates this could even be the second hockey assist, the first slide that's taken, and then they bring the ball around until someone's finally open because you're creating that defense to move. Or on the opposite side, Coach D, like you were talking about what you can do on the defensive side. It may be nothing to do with getting the ground ball across to over, but just playing someone hard so that he can't get the shot he wants. He may still have the stick in his hand or the ball in his stick, but he can't get that shot off, or you put it in a place where your goalie can make an easy save. And those don't show up on the stats, but I think it's kind of what you're saying from what your philosophy is, coach.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:13

Yeah, absolutely. Kind of, you know, people like to invert all the time. Well, guess what? Make sure our shorties are comfortable back there. You know, they like to bring, you know, an attacking like dodge him up top. Well, okay, well, our big defenseman might he's got to be comfortable being up there, you know. Um, that happened a couple of times last year and have being comfortable in that area.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:36

Yeah, that's that's great. So let me just switch now. Talk, let's talk about the NA10 for a few minutes. A bit of a changing landscape this year and next year, with Lemoyne uh out this year, and unfortunately St. Rose leading at the end of the season. So, Coach Murphy, talk to us about those changes, what you think of them. You've been around in the NA 10 for a long time, and I'm sure you've seen a lot of changes in the conference over the years. What do you think of this? And and what do you think of the competition in the NA10 as it stands?

SPEAKER_04 1:14:05

It was tough to see Le Moyne leave. Um, you know, it's something we've we've always had and great team, great program, great coach. I mean, great coaches that I've I've been around that have been through there. Um, it's always been something that I think everybody that has the opportunity to play them looks forward to it, knowing that you know you don't you don't have a great day. It's gonna be a long day. But uh we're happy for them. We're happy for Coach Shee and the program, the school to have that opportunity. And just last week or two weeks ago, being down in Florida, spent a lot of time with Coach Shee, and he's pretty excited about it. And I just said that's okay, we can still play if you want. And he um he found something else to talk about. No, just kidding. But um, no, but you know, it's it's great for the league to have a have a have a program like that. Um because you know, a strength of schedule. When you look to the fine line between getting into a tournament and not getting into a tournament is so minute in the north, in the south. When um you have that, that's that's a favorable thing. That's why when you you play non-league games, you're always looking to find ways you can't fill that gap. You know, they're top one, two, or three, depending upon what coach woke up on what side of the bed that week. Um, when it comes to voting and all that from the rankings from a media side of stuff, when it comes to the NCA stuff, that really does play into the mix. So, you know, we had to we had to go and try and find some things to do. Uh last year we felt it was important to play St. A's twice, but getting back to Lemoyne, you know, I'm happy for them. I'm happy for their program. I know all a lot of their players over the 30 plus years, um, and they're all just quality young men, the ones that I've known uh had the time to spend uh off the field and on the field, whether it be with the college level or even in the MLL, are all guys that I highly respect, never mind the school and the coaching staff. It's it's heartbreaking for St. Rose. Uh Coach has been putting such a great program together. What he's done with the program, um, knowing the quality of players, the quality of kids uh that he had there. I have a very close personal friend uh whose son went there, was ecstatic about the program, went there last year. Um and I'm heartbroken for them. I'm heartbroken for the program, heartbroken for the Northeast 10 and Division II. Um, you know, been around since there were, you know, there were 18 teams and 22 teams. And when we had our coaches' meetings, there were six of us sitting in a room for Division II, trying to decide the world, uh, how to change the world for Division II. And if we were going to have a national championship. But um, you know, you just you you're always looking to grow the game. And it's kind of a staple of the IMLCA, is grow the game, coaches helping coaches. And talking with um, you know, coach down in Florida um the other day, I was just like, I don't know what I can do for you, but if there's anything I can do for you, I know how hard you worked and what you've done to the program. It makes me appreciate um what you've done because it made our conference better. Um so you you feel for the kids, you feel for the program, you feel for the alumni that have put a lot of hard work into it. And um, you know, the world's gonna move on, and I'm hoping those kids find the right place for themselves. Um, I know Coach will land someplace, he's such a great coach. The big picture, um, you know, that that's the way of the world, and unfortunately, um it's gonna happen. Um, but I also know that a lot of schools that have some footing under them are are looking to expand, which will which will greatly help. I don't know if it's going to be in the Northeast End. No one's no one uh has asked my opinion if that'll work, but um, I'm okay with that too.

unknown 1:17:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:35

Yeah, that's well said, Coach, uh, on the landscape of the MX 10. What do you what do you think about uh the competition in your conference going forward with with programs like St. A's, like Pace, and of course the Delphi, which you guys basically had them on the ropes the whole time, but it's tough to beat them three times in a row in one season.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:58

Well, the great thing about the Northeast 10 is every game matters. Um, you know, people can look at records, people can look at, but I'll tell you the competitive level of every game, no matter what uniform you're playing against, they're all they're all they're quality, they're athletic. Um, if you don't prepare like you're playing La Moyne every day, right? You're you're gonna get punched in the face. And uh you're gonna find yourself in a very uncomfortable place. Obviously, a Delphi is gonna be a Delphi, you know, they're just gonna reload and be good. They're very well coached programmed. Uh the players are all top, you know, top quality kids. Um, they you know, they they know how to play, uh, they work hard. Um, I think we may have caught them a little off guard earlier in the year when we beat them the first time, knowing that the second time was gonna be even more difficult down there. Um, but you know, uh, that's where our guys, you know, we responded. But you know, they they didn't forget it. They came up to our place in the NCAA tournament and reminded us who they were. And uh fortunately we battled, um, but you know, came up on the short side. But that was a great lesson for us, and I'm I'm sure it was a great lesson for Delphi, knowing that coaching staff really well. Um, you know, that that respect factor and what they put into it, and you know, it's just it's it's a great experience. Then you have St. A's that's just you know, quality team, quality players, quality coaching staff. And I can say that I can go right down the list of everybody pace and um well, even like St.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:19

Michael's, Southern New Hampshire, Franklin Pierce, AIC, Coach Spallone there is if there isn't, I haven't met someone more motivated to come from the bottom and win the NE 10. And I think all those coaches and all those programs are looking for that. They're looking to knock off you guys and same A's and all of them. That's what, like you said, that's what makes it tough. You've got to come with your A game against these teams.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:42

And like Coach said, too. And and like Coach said, there's quality players on these teams. These kids are good players, they come to play. You know, some of them might not just have the numbers.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:52

Exactly. That might be the biggest difference between some of the programs is just depth of position and depth of players. And um, yeah, you know, as as these coaches come in and they're full-time and they're you know, they're really digging down deep and they're out on the road doing the recruiting, they're gonna get those guys. And that's where also, you know, now with LeMont leaving to them, that may mean, hey, that's one possible playoff spot that's open that we can do something we haven't ever done, or it's new to us that we um we can make something of this and make a name for themselves. And they would love to be part of that. This is the first time ever we got into this, or we made it this far. So no one's just gonna say, well, you know, Lemoyne's not there, but these teams are still there, we're just gonna keep showing up. They they're gonna show up, but they now have probably a little more purpose and a little more. Not saying they didn't have it before and that wasn't their outlook, but you know, that that that the you know, the end of the tunnel, um, that matter may not be a train. So um, you know, they're they're looking for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:51

Yeah, when I said to Kevin when the Lemoyne made the announcement, I was like, man, that opens things up in the NE 10 a little bit, man. It gives it's gonna give guys a little bit more electricity during games, you know, knowing that that spot is gonna be open now. You know, that was almost a gimme for Le Moyne year in and year out. Like you said, Coach Dean does an amazing job, great players. I mean, I I don't know too many teams that I've seen in my personal that they're just every kid knew where to be and where to throw the ball and just had it, you know, just they were just so you know fundamentally sound in every step of the game. And they were fun to watch. I mean, if you're a fan of lacrosse, you want to watch and you want to play teams like Lemoyne, you want them in our in our in our league, you know, and to see them go, I I thought it's I think it's tough for Division II personally. I just do. I just it's good. I I remember watching my son's team play Lemoyne at Hopkins. You know, how cool is that to lose to Le Moyne at Hopkins? It would have been better if they won, but uh it would have been better if they won.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:58

But they lost. It was still cool. It was still great to watch. You're right, Danny. You're still right.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:02

And and and be that as it may, just you know, the any 10 Kevin and I, yeah, Kevin coined it, the granddaddy of them all. And uh there's so much, you know, history in the NE10, so much pedigree, and so such quality lacrosse from top to bottom. It's a great, it's a great, it's a great conference.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:22

Yeah, we felt that, you know, same thing, and I know Lemoyne felt it, and there's so many other teams, and everybody, even like when Merrimack left, they go out and win two national championships and they go to the division one world. And um, it was tough, you know. That's another team you look forward to playing. We, like I said, our our conference, it was like, okay, you knew you had to show up. You needed to have a great week of practice, hoping that you could put some of that into play, not knowing what the team was gonna throw at you. Um, you had an idea, but just when you you thought about it, you weren't sure. And um, you know, so that was it. But you know, you lose a Le Moyne, but there's gonna be some other team that's gonna fill that void, not only in the Northeast 10, but in the North region, then you're gonna have nationally, and eventually if people are gonna be saying, you know, where did they come from? But there's been plenty of those teams that are already popped up around the country, whether it be down south. Um, then you have out in the Midwest teams out there, U Indy and uh Lindenwood, when they, you know, now unfortunately, they're in another situation. But you know, when when you have these non-traditional places, um, that sometimes is a great draw to get kids to go there because they can be the be that group that's gonna really put the name on the map. And um, you know, we're we're that little dot on the map where some of these other people have uh, you know, bigger, bigger footprint on maps. So I I I foresee Division II landscape continue to be extremely strong, and you're gonna find new programs coming in. And um, you know, we're very fortunate to be very um supported by our school um and everything else, but you know, there's gonna be somebody that's gonna have the opportunity to uh make a name for myself, and it's not in the far future, it's it's very it's very soon. I don't know who that will be. Hopefully, you know, somebody remembers our name, and we're not that no-name team anymore. They're just gonna kind of remember, oh, that's right, that's that business school up north, um, outside eight miles outside of Boston.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:09

Yeah. No, well, it's Bentley, I remember. It's the specific names of some of your players, and I think Bentley will always be on the map. And Danny, well, before we start this, I had a feeling that Coach Murphy would be able to set us straight on the straight and narrow. And it's been a fantastic conversation with Coach Murphy and Coach Dan Gikas. Really appreciate you guys coming on. It was fantastic. And we look forward to watching Bentley this year and see what you can do.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:35

No, we thank you for that. We thank you for the opportunity. We love uh following your podcast and all the stuff you put out there. We can't thank you enough for really putting Division II uh in the limelight. And um, you know, it's something that we we embrace, and uh we're we're we feel very fortunate to be part of this. And um, you know, always looking forward to reading all your stuff, watching and listening to your stuff, and uh anything in the future we can ever do to help. And you're always welcome to come on up. We'll uh we'll show you those beautiful buildings and the beautiful campus. And hopefully the game is beautiful too that you get to come watch.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:07

So hopefully it's pace. Uh coach Coach Murray, Coach D and G because thank you so much, Bentley. You guys had a great season made to the NCAA's last year, and Kevin and I wish you nothing but success this upcoming season. And uh, you know, I I watch Bentley a lot, so I'll be watching him again. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:27

Thank you so much. Thank you very much.

Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_03 1:25:31

Okay, Danny, just like Coach Ashton of Lake Erie, it took us way too long to have Kurt Coach Murphy and Coach Danjikis on the on the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:40

Yeah, too long, but I'm glad that they took the time to come on. They uh they're really good, and uh it was an exceptional, exceptional talk with them guys. And uh I like I learned some stuff about Bentley tonight, that's for sure. Yeah, um it's a really kind of nice school, Kev. If you look at the what they have there, it's a beautiful place. Uh, one of the best business schools in the country, and and this guy is coaching them up there, and he's been there a long, long time. Big a lot of respect for Coach Murphy and what he's done with Bentley.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:16

Like I told you, I think he's a legend in D2 in the coaching realm, you know, and I think that he does a great job up there. Like you said, it's a it's a really good school, really good program. And then like we talked about with the last rest of the NE10 as we went down it today, it's it could be a real dog fight all year.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:36

You know, the N-10 is you know, arguably the best conference in the country. You know, some might argue the sack is, but you know, if Coach Mariano had his way, he'd let everybody know how hard it is to play in the NE-10. And it is hard to play in the N. You know, again, I'm saddened by the loss of Lemoyne and them moving on. I I wish Coach Sheen and those guys a lot of luck. I think they're gonna take their lumps a little bit, but I think they'll be okay. I I will, but it sucks that they're gone. But again, opens things up now a little bit in the NE 10, you know? Who's gonna be that top dog? Who's gonna take it this year? Is it gonna be a Delphi? Is it gonna be Bentley? Is it gonna be St. A's? Is it gonna be Pace? Does you know Assumption makes start making noise? Does St. Michael start making noise? Like there's it's gonna be a fun conference this year.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:32

It is, it is gonna be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:34

Some of these teams that we talked about tonight uh are gonna improve. And they're gonna they're vying for a a spot at the any ten, you know, conference championships at the end of the year. They're buying for a spot. There's gonna be a spot open. So who's gonna be there? So this is a conference definitely to watch this year.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:56

100%. Okay, now let's move on to some lacrosse news. We got a DM from a parent at Davison Elkins. She was listening to our GMAC preview and wrote us to tell us that Lee Tester was let go with Davison Elkins back in November. The woman's lacrosse coach, who's also an assistant AD and runs the lacrosse program, uh Pomeroy is helping out, but the seniors are also help running this thing. So, you know, we're talking about this in December 28th right now. This podcast will drop beginning mid-January. Let's hope they find a coach by then for their season. Something happened, huh? Yeah, yeah. And it's it's tough. They just had so much turnover in that school with coaches with the men's lacrosse program. Let's hope they can find some and a guy that's going to stay there and stabilize that program as the head coach. Okay, now let's move on, Danny, to some lighter news. We had another DM and an invitation to start off the new year. We talked last episode of how our podcast reaches countries like Australia. Well, one of our Aussie listeners, Chris White, whose sons play Down Under, sent us a video of some extraordinary play that was shown on TLM from Perth, Australia. It's on the West Coast, Danny. Chris says that a few US players come and play in the Perth League after graduation, and he extended an invitation to anyone looking for an adventure after college to just get in touch with him. And so I think what we should say is I don't know if anyone knows Chris White. I know how to get in touch with him. So we would be happy to facilitate that if you just want to DM us on Instagram in the crease. I'll pass that message on to Chris and we'll see what we can do for you.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:58

A possibility to go to Perth, Australia, and and kind of like play and teach lacrosse.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:05

Like what I think at least play. I don't know what you know. Maybe you have to find a job. I think that's what you got to figure out with Chris. Make let Chris be like kind of the agent down there.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:18

Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:21

I thought it was a nice thing to do. Just hey, if anyone wants to come down, I'd happy to help them out. So it's pretty cool. Who wouldn't want to go to Perth, Australia for a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 1:30:28

Yeah, no, it sounds interesting. It's interesting that people from Australia are listening to our show.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:35

And talking to us. That's two things.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:37

Crazy.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:38

So we appreciate Chris for reaching out. Hey, so let's move on to our Scorebreak feature spotlight of the week. And this really talks about their offline capabilities. You know, you know they're a cloud-based platform, but Scorebreak gives coaches the ability to download their film so they can analyze and review it offline. So if you look at a tag boards, playlists, and other features can be used without an internet connection. And any work, this is the best thing, any work made offline will sink for the rest of the team once connected again on the internet. So this also proves useful when you're on the road, Danny. If you can imagine, coaches can get the last minute preparation. And even after the game is over, they can begin reviewing their game film immediately after that on the bus. And then once they see it, they do some of those cuts, they can sync it right back up, and everyone else can see it. It's another great capability that that scorebreak brings.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:37

Just one more thing that that that tool can do for the coaches, and it's just an amazing tool. And if you're not using it, you're losing it. That's why you got to go to www.scorebreak.io, ask for a demonstration, mention in the crease, and get 15% off your first year. Do it. Do it.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:00

All right, Danny. Well, we're into a new year. And by the time this episode drops, we'll be three weeks away from the start of the season.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:12

Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited for the season. One more, one more conference to talk about. And uh again, NE-10, it's been a fun uh I love watching this conference. It's a badass conference, the granddaddy of them all. Uh takes a lot of time to go through all these teams because there's a ton of them. And just the history of the NE10 and everything that goes along with lacrosse in the Northeast and the NE-10. It's just a big part of Division II history. Kind of, kind of pretty cool conference. Again, gritty, tough weather, uh, travel. A lot goes on. It's a grind, the NE-10. And Coach Mariano, we agree with you. It's definitely a grind. And uh wish all these teams good luck. There's gonna be some changes in the NE10 this year. It should be fun.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:02

Totally agree. And with that, Danny, that's a wrap.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:06

It's a wrap.