Conference Previews for the 2024 Season - Sunshine State Conference

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2024 cost of cost you by score for customers on the cost of 50 hours of four breaks out for work five budget don't forget to fifty percent off your first year use corporate

Intro

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welcome welcome welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Men's Lacrosse.

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I'm your co-host, Kevin Stenstrom, and with me as always is the Red Solo Cup of D2 Lacrosse, Danny Moran. Hey Danny. Red Solo Cup? That could be dangerous, Kevin. Yeah, yeah. You all hear me out on this one. As we get ready for New Year's Eve, it's a guarantee that the cup of choice at many of these parties will be the Red Solo Cup. Unless you're the from the Monte Valo Brewster Club, and then it's a purple one, right? Yeah, right. That's right. But you, Danny, are the cup of choice for D2 Lacrosse Info. So that's how we get to Red Solo Cup.

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Wow, Kevin, that was deep, my friend. That was deep. You got a couple of days off from work. You really dug in deep to that one.

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I pulled that out of what I used to call my MyAs2000 uh computer model. No, actually, that is a shout out to Joe Vedovnik, an old friend of ours who's been helping me on a few of these last few intros. He's a trip, Joe. Yes, he's got a crazy sense of humor. I'm running out of good ones. He's like, he threw me a few. So this was one of them, but now it just took the explanation.

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This explanation was shorter, but I had to get that Midwest dry Minnesota sense of humor. All right, Joe. Merry Christmas to the Vetovniks. That's right.

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He's on the payroll. He's making as much as we do.

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Kevin, how are you? How is your Christmas? And how's the family doing tonight in Northern Virginia?

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They are doing well. Actually, they're all out as I'm sitting in the house uh by myself. You know how like uh Christmas presents go when they get a bunch of clothes and then they gotta change them, exchange them for other things, that kind of thing. So that's what they're doing this at this afternoon and evening. But it was really good. How about you?

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I had a beautiful, nice, relaxing Christmas with family and friends, and it was, you know, just like just like always. This was it's Christmas is the best time of year, man. I love Christmas, it's just a great time, and it is. I know sometimes people in the world get sad at Christmas time, whether they're lonely or whatever, but I just think Christmas is great. And you know what I don't love about Christmas? I I think about the true meaning of Christmas in Christ and holy and and you know that type of thing.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Yeah.

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Well, I'm glad you had a really good one. And it was with family. That's always the best part, is sharing it with family and just trying to actually trying to slow down instead of speed up as you get through that whole bustle of trying to find gifts or and what you're gonna have for dinner and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But it's really good. We had a nice relaxed one too, so that's really good. But

SSC Preview

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it's time to move on. We are down to three previews left, Danny.

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Yeah, let's see if you can guess what this means.

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It's uh KC and the Sunshine Band. Right. And why is it special tonight, Kev? Because we're doing the Sunshine State Conference.

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That's right, Kevin. I got you with one. Ding ding. I need my bell. I need my bell. Oh, I was like, it that took all day for me to do that. That was good. That was good. Hold on. There we go.

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And the bell, and the bell.

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Yeah, this is the best. All right, the Sunshine State Conference.

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Yeah, man. This this this is another conference that has got some great competition.

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So top five teams. Top five teams.

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Yeah, yeah. Let's start with one of them that almost made it all the way.

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With Rollins. Yeah, the Tars. Coach Chris Lewis and the Rollins Tars. They're located in Winter Park, Florida, Kev. They had some year last year. They were a really, really, really good team, ranked all the way up to number two in the country. They were 15-2 overall and 7-0 in conference. They had some great signature wins this year. They had a 13-11 uh win over nine, uh, number nine limestone. They had a 17-win, uh 17-10 win over number 15 Anderson. That's the game that I saw, and I said, uh oh, this Rollins team is good. Uh, and a 12-6 win over number three Tampa. So they beat some really, really, really good lacrosse teams last year.

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And it's interesting because their first loss was to Colorado Mesa, and then they did not lose again. Did not lose until they are in the NCAA quarterfinals against Lenore Ryan.

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Yeah, that's a great year.

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Coach Lewis did an unbelievable job with them. They did. They did. And this year, if you look at their out of conference, Danny, it is another challenging one. Florida Tech, Barton, Anderson, Concordia, which that'll be a fun game to watch. Flagler, a Delphi, Undie. I mean, that that ending of their out of conference is brutal.

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That's that's a great out-of-conference schedule. Um, they they're coming up to New York to play a Delphi in Long Island. That should be great. That should be great. Yeah. I like when the North, North and the South get together. I do too. I like that. I do too.

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Doesn't happen that often because of you know the a lot of their conference play and everything, but that was that's gonna be a great game. Now, here's what they lose this year. They lose Justin Eisenhower, they're all American, and short stick D. Middy Dave Mosher. But that, Danny, that's it. That's it. Shahe Kachadurian comes back. He was goalie of the year last year. And I have to say this, I owe Shahe an apology. When we were doing the CACC preview, I said that the Georgian Court goalie, Vincent Burkhart, had the softest hands and quickest feet for a big man. Do you remember that? Yes, yes. And as it was coming out of my mouth, Shahe was in the back of my mind. I'm like, I think Shahe for a big man has the softest hands. The big diesel and the quickest feet.

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The big diesel. Yeah. So uh yeah, Shahe comes back, Mikey Berkman comes back, Jack Johnstone comes back, Bran Hansen comes back, Lil Spencer, Justin White. Yeah, man. Hey, Mikey Berkman had 38 goals and 36 assists. Talk about a balanced, balanced lacrosse player, smart, high IQ, right? A leader out there on the field. He's like in charge. Like you can just see when Berkman's out there and he's got his game on, that they're very, very tough. Jack Johnstone had 51 goals last year, 13 assists. He doesn't like passing the rock too much.

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He doesn't need to. He doesn't need to. He's got like Grant Hansen and he's got other players like Mikey that that share the rock for him.

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Grant Hansen had 42 goals and 22 assists. Yeah. He's from Medford, New Jersey. And Logan Myers added 26 goals and 12 assists as a freshman last year. And he's out of Marietta, Georgia. So and with Catchadorian coming back, and dude, they they they they were really good last year. 45 shots a game. They were 24% on their power play. They could probably want to improve on their power play. Yeah. But their defense was so good that they were ahead in games most of the time. You know what I'm saying?

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Yeah, yeah. Not and so to talk about their D a little bit more. Like, so they they lose uh Justin Eisenhower and Dave Mosher, like we said, but they get back Ben Copen, who was an all-American LSM, along with Connor Thornton on the D. So they've got some key players coming back on D still. It'll be interesting to see. They're they are stacked on offense. In fact, the coach, when he answered us for a conference preview, said there are a number of younger players that are going to be pushing the top nine guys on attack for attack and midi spots and playing time. So they've got plenty behind them, too. Um, and they he's got two starters that had season ending injuries last year who are also back. Their face-off unit is back, led by Thomas Garvin at 57%. Yeah. So they aren't missing a beat this year.

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Dude, that defense caused 190 cause turnovers last year. They get their sticks in lanes, they knock balls down. Yeah, they're they're just a very physical, active defense where, again, they're getting sticks in lanes, they're sliding early, they they they double team, they come hard on their double teams, and they're looking to not just stop the guy, they're looking to get the ball back. You know what I mean? They play an aggressive style defense. The offense, like I said, these guys, there's multiple scorers, they're deep at attack and midi. They're they're gonna be a top five team, if not top three team in the beginning of the year.

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I think they're top three. And in my top three right now, as we're going through this, and we haven't gotten through all the previews, so I haven't done all my homework, but I would say they're top three. Here's the only question I've got. You know, they did so well last year with the same guys. Do they come back and rest on their laurels, or do they come back carrying a bad taste in their mouths of how it ended, they only didn't get past Lenore Ryan and have fire in their bellies. I think it's gonna be the latter.

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Yeah, they're they're they're gonna come out. They know what they have, they know that their window is right now. Yeah. They have all the ingredients, they have all the players, and they have the with Ketchaduri in it in goal there. It's it's huge. You know, I just think that this team, you know, when you look at them on paper and you look at what they got and look at the depth and and the and the amount of talent, especially with Berkman back there, this team's gonna be tough. I'm putting them in the top three in the country.

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Me too. And I don't see a weakness. There's not a weakness anywhere on the field.

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I agree with you, man. I think the Tars are gonna be tough, tough, tough team to beat.

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Okay, let's go to a team that's always tough, always seems to be in the top ten, if not the top five, and that's the Tampa Spartans.

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The Spartans from Tampa. Yeah, JB Clark. You know where Tampa's located, Kev?

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I think it's in Tampa.

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It's in Tampa. But they had some great wins last year, you know. They were coming off, last year was they were coming off their national championship year. Right. And we discussed it. Hey, this can a team keep up that that that what's the word I'm looking for?

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You know, can they keep up that that it's like we just yeah, just like we talked about, do they still have that fire in the belly, or or and that's tougher, I think, once you win something that they win at the national level. Because, you know, you just psychologically, you go through such a high and you feel so good, and you're kind of as we used to say in the Navy, pros from Dover, you're coming back, and you're everyone's looking at you. But that's the thing. Everyone's looking at you and wants to beat you.

SPEAKER_03 12:47

Well, right. Everybody's bringing their A game, they want to knock down Tampa, you know, they want to knock down Tampa, so they're coming a little harder, they're doing a little bit more film work that week, they're doing a little bit more on the field. They're they're really they know what they're up against when they face the Spartans from Tampa, and teams bring their double A game, you know, they bring it. Yeah, so and and they ran into some some teams that brought their A game last year, you know, Kevin.

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Yeah, they they ended up 13-4. Great record, six and one in conference. Yeah, but the first one that kind of caught them was losing to Frostburg.

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Yeah, but they did have some signature wins. They beat LR, man. They beat LR, they beat LR 13. That was a great game, yes, yes. And uh they had a 10-8 win over number 11 Seton Hill, too, which was a really good game. Could win either way. Um, and you know, Tampa kind of squawked that out, and they were lucky to get away out of the win from Seton Hill. But you know what? They're losing three really, really important players from that those that's that national squad, that national championship squad and last year. No Blake Umer in goal. Yep, no Danny Fitz, nope, no Luke McAnaney. That's on the offensive side of the line, and no Harry Kukowski either.

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No Harry Kulkowski, and no trancannon, who had 48 ground balls and 29 cost turnovers.

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That's you know, I I always thought McAnney was an all-American. Why he wasn't on that all-American list is beyond me. It was it's beyond me. I mean, his he was just an amazing player. Danny Fitz, we had on the program, and I just love the way that kid plays, man. Yeah, he plays with heart and hunger and is aggressive, and he can do many, many things on that field. He can facilitate, he can score, he can dodge, he can step in. And and Blake in goal two years ago was the, you know, he's been an all-American in the last two years. So to lose an all-American goalie is huge, Kevin.

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Now they they lose a lot of firepower too, but when you've got a guy like Blake Ulmer that literally in the national, that national championship run, he was lights out mostly every game and kept him in a lot of it. And not only just by stopping goals, but by running that the transition quickly if he gets it. And that's how good he was. He was still he was at 60% save percentage last year.

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He's yeah, he's great. He's great. And you know, they're losing him. But you know, Tampa, they don't fall too far, they always reload. Yeah, they like to go, they like to go into that transfer port transfer portal. Yep. And and um, you know what? Who wouldn't want to go to school in Tampa? Yeah, it's not a hard sell. The school's beautiful, it's a beautiful part of the state. It's near clear water, it's near the ocean, it's you know, it's near the gulf. It's it's pretty nice.

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Yeah, and they do have some key additions coming in, transfers uh from all D1 programs. Andrew Malani, attack, a Towson, Mitch Pfeiffer, a MIDI from Richmond, JP Robinson, uh Defender from Lafayette, and Devin Rasmus, a MIDI from Towson. But they also have some key guys coming back. Matthew Charlie Polish, yeah, Charlie Polish, AJ Pascarella, and Jackson Day, both uh short 60 middies. Owen Miller, AJ Pascarella, right? Yeah. And Alex Poma, their face-off, who was at 63 percent. You know, now they lose one of those, one of their face-off specialists, Hunter Turner, who uh had the same amount of draws but was at 58. So, but they've got Alex back, they they've got Jackson Beyshaw at attack, and of course, having Matthew Beto back is key for your defense. Yeah, he's can you imagine if you lost him and Ulmer in the same year, which is what would happen after this year if Blake came back.

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Man, he's scary good, you know, huh? He's just scary good. Yeah, he's scary good. They were a very good team last year, Kev. I still think they're a top 10 team. Yeah. I still think they're in the top 10. I just don't know if they're gonna be. Well, I heard the kid from I heard the transfer from Richmond, the midfielder. I heard he's pretty good. Yeah. So I think that, you know, I think they'll be fine.

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JB always kind of well, we talked about it, right? Tampa is uh one of these schools that brings in transfers and they seem to do a good job of fitting them in really quickly. It's not a huge uh doesn't take a lot of time for them to get in the in the swing of things and get in their chemistry with the with the other teammates. And they're a team that does not make a lot of mistakes, they move the ball well, they play fast.

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Yeah, no, they're well coached. Yeah, JB Clark is, you know, he's he's a legend in Division II lacrosse. He's got multiple, multiple championships from limestone, and he's pretty much put limestone on that map nationally, and he gets to Tampa in his first year in Tampa. He wins a national championship. Like the guy's a pretty good coach, you know what I mean? Yeah, he's a pretty good coach, he knows how to get things done. Again, they always reload, I think, without McAnani and Fitz and Ulmer and Kilkowski and some of those guys. I always wonder about how good they're gonna play together, the new kids. Right. You know, are they gonna be like, hey, I was a D1 kid last year, I'm gonna, I'm the guy now. Do they have that and you know, that mentality? Or is JB gonna bring them down to earth and say, now you're a Spartan, and you know what, we pass the rock and we do it like this. You know, so I always worried about that chemistry. You know, that's always always something because when you have a team that plays together two, three years, that chemistry is hard to replace, you know. You have to find that kid, that right kid that's gonna fit into your program and just kind of buy in and everything. And yeah, I just wonder.

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Like I said just a little bit, I Tampa seemed to do that pretty well every time, bringing in new guys, but I will be honest with you, I have not looked back in years past, since we've only been doing this for a few years now, and looked like, have you lost that many pieces of the puzzle that have played together that long in in one year, right? Like, is it more like two or three versus five or six?

SPEAKER_03 19:15

Yeah, yeah, good question. And and that's that's huge, you know. I I think I just think I you know, good teams play with chemistry, you know, they know where they're gonna be, you know, like a Lemoyne, like uh, you know, yeah. The good teams play with chemistry, the LRs, the wing gates, the you know what I'm saying? And yeah, they just have the chemistry about them. They have a good decent out-of-conference schedule, Tampa. Did you see it? Yeah, yeah.

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They've got Flagler, Rockhurst, Lenore Ryan again in Savannah, Georgia. Second year in a row, they're they're doing at a neutral site. Florida Tech, Belmont Abbey, Wingate in the Crown Classic. Yep, and then Westminster and Colorado Mesa.

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And Seton Hill late in the season. Oh, yeah. Yeah, again. A late game, they're gonna play Seaton Hill. So that's a pretty decent schedule for Tampa. Um, again, I think they're gonna be a top 10 team. I don't know about a top five team right away, but they'll definitely probably be a top 10 team. And I'm always watching Tampa to see what they got, you know.

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So they'll be in the mix. I agree with you, top 10 100%. And they will be in the mix coming all the way to the NCAAs, guarantee it.

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Oh, they'll be in the mix for sure.

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All right. How about Florida Southern?

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The Mox Florida Southern, the Mox. Located in Lakeland, Florida, Coach Marty Ward. Last year they were 13-5 overall, five and two in conference. Pretty good season for the Mox last year. They were tough. Yeah, so really interesting.

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They lost to Anderson and Limestone fairly early in the season. I think it was the third and fourth game. And I think that's probably why they somewhat stayed under my radar early on. If you remember back in 2022, they were beaten-up teams to begin with. They were just on a tear, and that's how they just got right up quickly in into the conversation. But to be honest, after that, they only lost to Tampa and Rollins in the regular season. And then they beat Tampa when they were number seven in the semis for the conference tournament and lost to Rollins, who was number three at the time.

SPEAKER_03 21:30

Right. So their signature win, they had a good signature win, a 21-10 win over a really good St. Leo team in conference last year. And then they beat they beat Tampa. So, you know, the Florida Southern can play with the big boys. They can compete and win. They're not a team to look over at all. Again, five and two in conference, and that's a tough conference count.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

Yeah. Well, and look who they lost to. That in conference was, like I said, Tampa and Rawls. And they came back and beat. Tampa. So yeah. They they were a very good squad last year. I think what hurt them a little bit last year, and this sounds weird because at face-off they were at 50%, which is very it's good. That's what you want to be at. But yeah, they lost some of their possession time because of Kevin Horowitz graduating. They were well above 50% the year before that. Now Jacob Sids came in and as a freshman and still did really, really good.

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Just imagine how good he's going to be this year. Yeah.

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Yeah. That's what I'm looking forward to seeing. And they're another team that puts up a lot of shots per game, 51.9. So they're up there with the with the volume.

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They were at 40%. They were at 40% on their extra man opportunities, which is dynamite. Yeah, it is. 88% on the clear. They got Matt Flamin's back. I love that kid's name, right? Yeah, number one goal. Yeah. Yeah. It's from Calgary. It's from Calgary.

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It's Canadian. Nolan Ty comes back as well. He was freshman attackman last year, and he had 40 goals and 13 assists.

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Yeah, he's pretty good. He's pretty good.

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And then uh Bryden Roboch also. Now he's a junior. Remember two years ago, he came on the scene, played really well against when they played against Lemoyne, had a good game. He's had some several good games. I think it's going to be time for him to step up into a bigger role because they lose Sean Nolan, their number one point getter, and Jay Minor, who was key in their offensive schemes.

SPEAKER_03 23:30

Yeah, Minor was huge last year. And last couple of years, actually. Um defensively, they're pretty good. Zach Fitzgerald comes back, Nick Shannon on defense. Mike Simone and goal had fifty at 53% last year. Mike Simone's out of Smithtown, New York. Smithtown puts out some really, really good lacrosse players. There's a couple of PLL guys out there from Smithtown. Yeah.

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Well, and did you see Nick Shannon's stats? No. 62 ground balls, 54 cost turnovers.

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That's insane. That's insane.

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I mean, I went and looked, I saw those stats. I'm like, was he an all-American? He was. I think he was an honorable mention last year, which shocks me that it was only honorable mention.

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With numbers like that? Wow. Crazy.

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So yeah, I think they're going to be really tough on D. I think the question mark is more who picks up on the offensive side because they're usually known for having more than one or two weapons. And if you look who's coming back, they've, you know, the ones that you really talk about with the high numbers right now are Flamenspeck and Ty. So if guys like RoboShot and some other guys step up in that offensive scheme, they'll be fine.

SPEAKER_03 24:44

Yeah, they're going to be a very good team. I think they're going to be a ranked team. I would say that they're a top 20 team, Florida Southern. 100%. You know, I think I'd have to put them in my top 20 right now, just the way they are and just the what they've done. You see, they're out of conference schedule. Pretty tough.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

It's tougher than the one they had last year. This one is tough. They start off with Wingate, Montevallo, Limestone, Flagler, Belmont Abbey, Lander, and Colorado Mesa.

SPEAKER_03 25:15

At Limestone, at Anderson, and at Lander, that's not going to be easy. No. No. So I like the Mox. They're a tough four. They're a tough team. I think Marty Ward is a pretty good coach. He coaches the crap out of these guys, man. Yeah. They've been, they've been, you know, making noise for a couple of years now, you know, and they just they're a fun team to watch. They get after it defensively, offensively, they move the ball, they run, they they they like to get out and transition. Just a really, really well-run team.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

Like many teams, I'll say, they don't back down. But here's the other thing. If they're down by many goals, I'm not just talking two or three. Let's say six, six, seven goals. Do not count them out.

SPEAKER_03 26:02

Oh, hell no. Don't put, don't, don't be in the box against them because they're going to bury you. Yeah. If they're on e if they have an extra man, chances are they're going to put it in the biscuit the biscuit in the basket. They're a tough team.

SPEAKER_02 26:15

I say they're going to be a top 15 team, Kev. I I think so too. I think so too. I'll have to as I think through this, I'm starting to germinate on what that top 20 is going to look like for our show. But uh they're definitely in there. They're definitely in there. All right. Let's go to the Florida Tech Panthers.

SPEAKER_03 26:36

The Panthers, Florida Tech, Brad MacArthur, good coach, another one. Hey, they're a pretty decent team, you know. Uh, 7-7 last year, 3-4 in conference. Uh signature wins was believe it or not, 17-9 win over Barton, Conference Carolina's champ, and uh 10-6 win over Flagler, the Peach Belt runner-up. So they they beat some pretty good teams last year. Uh Zach Razgagni. He's back. Razgagni. That's a tough one to pronounce.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

I think it took me two years to get his name right. I'm glad you said it this time.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

Zach, dude, 28 goals and 28 assists. Elk Ridge, Maryland, boy. Talk about a balanced player. Colin Stewart, 39 goals and seven assists. He's from Westminster, Maryland. Nate DePlanck from Vieira, Florida, had 20 goals and 13 assists.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

Yep, those were their top three point getters, and they're all coming back. And then they get Ben Foster as a transfer from you, Wendy. Wow. Wow, I didn't know that. Pickup. Wow. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_03 27:51

He's a good player.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

He's a really good player. You add him at MIDI with these guys at attack. Yep. Now on the defensive side, they lose Sam Balch, who had 38 ground balls and 41 cost turnovers, and Connor Young at LSM. But they returned JP Pachukin and JR Radden on D. Now, Radden was not a starter last year, but he got good playing time. He had 19 ground balls and seven cost turnovers. Their face-off was up to 55% last year, it was a huge improvement. Yeah. And so if you look at what they've got on offense coming back on D, that's my thing. Defense is still a little bit of a question mark and see how they do.

SPEAKER_03 28:36

Cooper Leonard on face-off from Kerry, North Carolina. And he split time with Jack Maranto. So they're a pretty good face-off team. You know, they're gonna they're gonna fight you and they're gonna they're they're pretty good at face-off. They're gonna get possessions. Jack Francisco in goal 50% last year. I'll take a goalie stopping half the goals. Yep. I'll take a goalie all day like that. So I think uh I think Florida Tech will probably, you know, be around the same. Maybe if Ben Foster can come in and really help out, they could maybe improve on that record from last year.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

They they can. I think it really depends on the defensive side, too. I think on the offensive side, they'll be fine, right? But uh now Jax Francisco coming back and goal, some of the key defenders, they got some other guys that can take over and take in spots like left out, you know, that with Sam Balch and Connor Young gone now. That's that's the plus.

SPEAKER_03 29:34

They have an interesting out-of-conference guy. Very interesting thing.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Yeah, I kind of don't understand it, but I've got Rollins, Limestone, Flagler, Tampa, Concordia, and Westminster.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

According to my homework, they play Rollins twice and Tampa twice.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

Once in the beginning of the season, yeah, and once at the end of the season.

SPEAKER_02 30:01

And several of the Florida teams do the Sunshine State conference teams do this, where they've got they play their in-conference opponents as an out-of-conference game earlier on.

SPEAKER_03 30:12

That doesn't make sense to me. I know like some of the like some of the conferences out west with the travel and the smaller conference. I understand why they play each other twice, you know, with travel and all of that. But these guys are right next to each other. I mean, you got Sunshine States, you got Conference Carolinas close by, you got Peach Belt that you can play, even Sack that you can play, Conference Carolinas that you can play. I just wonder why they they're playing Tampa twice and Rollins twice, especially those two teams. You know, I'd be just happy just playing them once, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:47

Oh, maybe Coach MacArthur wants to see them once before he brings them for conference play.

SPEAKER_03 30:52

Or maybe maybe he likes the way he looks and gray hairs, because if he keeps playing Tampa and Rollins twice a year, he's gonna get a lot of gray hair, man. So it'll be interesting.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

Yeah, yeah, it will be. Okay. Moving on. Lynn Fighting Knights.

SPEAKER_03 31:13

The Fighting Knights from Lynn, located in Boca Raton, Florida. Is that the most southern? Is that the most southern team in Division II? I think that might be the most southern team. I think it could be in in division two. Boca's pretty nice place. Uh, they were pretty good. Coach Mark Miller last year, uh, seven and nine overall, just two and five in conference. You know, Lynn has kind of been like a roller coaster up and down. They've been good two years ago. The COVID year, they were really kind of like scared some teams.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

And then they mostly and I think part of it is remember, uh, Coach Kingsbury left. Last year, Coach uh Miller was in an interim status, I believe. And he had that removed. He had that removed last year. That's right. Two years ago, he was an interim status. Last year he had that removed. Uh, and and he's still building from I think when Kingsbury left, right? So I think that's part of it. Their actual overall record was an improvement from 2022, but they had one more loss in conference. So, you know, what do you want to see? It I think that's kind of like a a 50-50, right? They beat Flagler, but they lost to Florida Tech in overtime last year, right?

SPEAKER_03 32:30

I wonder what they did as far as recruiting goes, you know.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

Yeah, because the 2024 roster's not out yet, so we can't see who's I saw that.

SPEAKER_03 32:39

I was looking at that. They had a nice 13-8 win over Flagler last year. That was a big win for them. Yeah, um, Thomas Murray comes back, Demidy out of Queenstown, Maryland. 6'4, 220 pounds. 6'4, 220. Come on, man. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

Now all of these we're saying are coming back. We we think they're coming back because we haven't seen their roster yet.

SPEAKER_03 33:10

He had 21 goals and 15 assists. Dylan Cologne, attackman out of Royce City, Texas. They play lacrosse in Royce City, Texas. I guess they do.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

All over the place in Texas now. He was an assist machine with 32 assists last year.

SPEAKER_03 33:27

He had 32 assists, only 13 goals, but he was dishing a rock. Jalen Stanton, senior midfield from Woodbine, Maryland, 28 goals and seven assists. So they got, you know, some decent players coming back. Yeah, they lose their top scorer, though, Steven Beckham. And they lose their face-off and their LSM, Mikey Trause. So they only had 38 shots per game, 27 shot, uh, 27% on the extra man. And not bad. 51% at the faceoff. They clear okay. You know, they had a middle of the road season, kind of. Yeah. A middle of the road season. They can, you know, hope to look, they're probably going to look to improve this year. Decent out-of-conference schedule.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

Yep. Yep. They've got uh Flagler, Newberry, Alabama Huntsville, Quincy, Maryville, North Greenville, and SUNY Maritime, which I think is a D3 school.

SPEAKER_03 34:21

Yeah, they're a D3 school. Not far from here, not far from me. Um, right by the bridge over by the Bronx, there, leading from Queens into the Bronx. There's Maritime tucked on the side, right on the water underneath the bridge. Kind of cool, kind of like a cool little campus. So um, believe it or not, they get some pretty good lacrosse players there, you know, because it's New York, it's close to home. Kids want to do that maritime thing and still play. They can play competitive lacrosse, and that SUNY Maritime is usually pretty decent. So, hey, the fighting nights, Coach Miller, he's got he's gonna be back, and we'll see what happens with this team. Again, they're gonna look to improve. Uh, they didn't put up their their freshman yet, so we don't know who they got coming in.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

Yeah, to to me, it looks like so they lose their LSM, Mikey Trauss, like you said, but they are returning a bunch of guys on defense, or should be returning Matt Canado, Jake Paul Podmulsic, and Nickus Nicholas Lahan. So they, I think, ex well, and they do lose their starting goalie, Colin Casey. So I don't know. I think their defense could still be good depending on who's in cage, but I think the offense is a little bit of a question for me. Based on they've got some guys returning, but they lose their top score, and if they can build on that, they may be a tougher team this year. That's what I hope to see. I like to see them climb back up where they were a couple years ago.

SPEAKER_03 35:53

You know, Florida is beginning to put out some pretty decent high school players now. There's a lot of good high school players coming from Florida, and the kids that don't want to go, man, that don't want to go far, they don't want to go across country. They can go right to Boca Raton and play like really lacrosse in beautiful weather year-round.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

And well, that's the thing, too. Just if you live in Florida and you don't want you can still go to a school in Florida and still be hours away. Oh, well, there's only choices in Sunshine State Conference.

SPEAKER_03 36:26

Florida's a big state, man. It's a big state. You enter Georgia if you come down 95, you're on the Georgia line that says, Welcome to Florida. You still got like an hour and a half before you hit any city at all, Jacksonville. Just about.

SPEAKER_02 36:41

It says Jacksonville right when you cross. I used to live in Jacksonville, as you know. And we're gonna hit Jacksonville. Yeah, it's like when are we gonna get there? Biggest, it's the biggest city in the United States, or it used to be based on square miles because of what they claim is part of Jacksonville. But you ain't in the city for a long time when it still says you're in Jacksonville.

SPEAKER_03 37:01

I'm just you know, it's such a big state. You're right. You could be hours away and still live in the state. But yeah, you know what? Well, let's see what happens over there in uh Lynn this year. Again, they've been like an up and down team. They can give teams a scare. You're like, why are they playing so well tonight? And then not playing so well another night.

SPEAKER_02 37:20

I think that's part of it. It's just four quarters of consistency for them, is what they've got to start dialing up.

SPEAKER_03 37:29

Yeah, well, how many do they have on their roster? That's what I was kind of wondering. I was wondering if their roster was on the smaller side.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

I think they're okay. I haven't looked at it recently until I did this a little bit ago, but I think they're in the 40s. I don't think they've got a small roster. All right, I think they're good. Okay, well, let's move on to St. Leo.

SPEAKER_03 37:50

The Lions. My sleeper team in uh the Sunshine State this year. Brad Jorgensen, head coach there. Uh St. Leo is located kind of near Tampa. I think that I think that Zephyr Hills. Yeah, northeast of Tampa. Zephyr Hills, yeah. It's it's not far. 20 minutes, 15, 20 minutes from downtown Tampa. It's not far. Um, probably like 45 minutes from Disney World. It's like not, it's not a bad place to go to school. Uh very surprising 9 and 7 and 4 and 3 in conference. They were very good last year.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

Improvement from 2022.

SPEAKER_03 38:28

They were really good last year. Uh their signature wins, a 17-10 win over Emory Riddle and a 13-11 win over Flagler. You know, like I these flagler, like, these are good teams that Flagler's playing. Right. You know, and and and these teams want to play Flagler because Flagler's a good team. And you can beat like a team like Flagler. That's a good, that's a good win.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

Well, here's the other thing, Danny, is I watched them last year. First thing out of the gate, practically, they lost to Limestone only by two. Yeah. Then they lost to Alabama, Huntsville, and Montevallo, but they were a young team. And based on those kind of games, they continued to improve throughout the season. And I think their signature win was not Flagler, but Florida Tech. Because it was in conference, they beat him by like eight goals. And it was it was one of those games where if you had looked at it like how both teams started off the year, what they what their history was the year before, you would have thought Florida Tech had the game. But St. Leo took care of them the whole game. So their roster is still young. The way I counted, Danny, they still have 32 freshmen and sophomores, and only six seniors and one graduate student on the show.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

So basically, so basically everybody's coming back.

SPEAKER_02 39:50

Yeah. Greg Palmer came back. Greg Palmer's coming back. He was a freshman last year.

SPEAKER_03 39:57

Oh, that's right. That's right. 46 goals and 22 assists as a freshman in the Sunshine State. Pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 40:03

Guy Bistro's the one, I think, maybe a graduate this year. He's coming back. He had 42 goals and 23 assists. And he's a guy that we've been saying his name for since we've been doing this podcast.

SPEAKER_03 40:14

Yep. Adam Techman, 27 goals and 16 assists. And my man, my man, Thomas Nealan.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

Do you think? Here's my question. They lose Justin Williams and Ryan Merrick at MIDI. And they were number five and number six on their points. Do you think Thomas moves to MIDI?

SPEAKER_03 40:33

Nah, he's an attackman. Oh, yeah. I don't think I don't think he goes to MIDI. I think he stays at attack. You know what? You know, they lost those first couple of games. Nealin really didn't get much time. And then in like the third game, he started getting more and more time. Nealin got the start. And when he's got the start, and then he threw those first couple in. And when he started getting his confidence, he was only a freshman last year. Yeah. Yeah. And Nealan, Nealan's on the small side. He's not a big, big kid, but he's a Long Island kid, played a lot of tough lacrosse. He was a finisher at high school. He was like kind of like a TJ Hyder, is at Mercy. Yeah. And is hanging around that goal. Bang! Get those little rebounds and snap him in or get that quick pass and snap him in. He learned the NCAA game last year, Nealan and Palmer. They did well. I expect this team to be better. They're gonna be better. And look at this.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

They're on the defensive side, their LSM Jason Curly returns along with Jimmy McConagall on defense. He had 25 ground balls and 19 caused turnovers as a freshman. Another freshman on the defensive side. Goalkeeper Chase Strike returns. He was at 50% last year. So they are solid. They are solid. And if they grow from that young team last year, I think they're dangerous against any team they play this year.

SPEAKER_03 41:53

Palmer was all SSC. Bistro was all SSC. Nealan was all SSC freshman team. I mean, they got they got boys there. And they're out of conference schedule. Kind of tough a little bit, don't you think?

SPEAKER_02 42:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They start off with limestone again. Two years in a row. Then Rockhurst. Not going to be an easy game. That should be. Not going to be easy. Montevallo, not easy. Then they say Clark. Now I have a question mark because I went to I there's several Clark schools, right? There's Clark up in uh New England. There's one in the Midwest. I mean, Clark and Worcester Mass, where I went to school, right across, not right across the street, but right across town from me when I went to school there. But this school they've got in the link says it's a school in Vancouver, Washington. And they don't even have a lacrosse program. So either they've got the wrong Clark listed on their on their website, uh, but uh, and they are playing a Clark, just not this Clark. And because that would be kind of far going from Vancouver, Washington to play only Saint Leo while they're there. Now they if they had a pro so and then they play Flagler and Emanuel.

SPEAKER_03 43:02

So that's that's a that's a favorable schedule for St. Leo.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

That's uh well, I think I'll tell you what, I think it starts off tough. They've got some tough. Look at they lost to Monevado last year. They're gonna want to get that one back. They'd love to beat Limestone right off the bat. I think they're gonna play him tough again. So I think it's gonna be, they are going to be a really, really difficult team to play against this year. And I don't think we mentioned this. Did we mention that they returned their face-off specialist, Michael Flores, who was at 63% last year?

SPEAKER_03 43:34

Wow, that's amazing. That's really good. I tell you, man, if uh St. Leo can get four or five wins out of those that that out of conference schedule, and then once they get into conference, they're gonna be tough, man. Yeah, I think they're gonna be a tough out. They're my sleeper team in the SSC this year. I just think that they're gonna be a team to, you know, one of those teams you don't want to play. Like, uh oh, St. Leo's coming in. They're tough, you know.

SPEAKER_02 44:01

I think you're right. I think last year maybe some teams took them for granted of where they were two years ago, and they showed up. And now I don't think any team, though, is really going to take them for granted.

SPEAKER_03 44:10

Well, if you're smart, you won't. Yeah, exactly. And you know, Coach Jurgensen's a good coach. He's well liked. The kids love playing for him. Coaches like coaching with him. He's just done a great job over the years at St. Leo. I couldn't, I I love the guy. I think he's a great guy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:29

Now, here's another team that could be a sleeper team, Danny. Emory Riddle.

SPEAKER_03 44:36

Yeah. They got a pretty good coach, huh?

SPEAKER_02 44:39

Yeah, John Jez takes over for Spencer Wims. Now, Coach Wims did a great job. He built that program. Yes, he did. And he gave Coach Jez a lot to work with. Now they were only five and nine last year and one and six in conference, but they improved their overall record. And you've got to remember that last year was their only second year back after not playing for two years. They didn't play in 2020 and they didn't play in 2021.

SPEAKER_03 45:04

Right.

SPEAKER_02 45:05

And look at some of the wins they had. Flagler, Montevallo, Alabama Huntsville, and Lander.

SPEAKER_03 45:11

Yeah, they beat Lander 16-14. They beat Montevallo 18-15. You know, those are probably teams that maybe they shouldn't have beat.

unknown 45:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:20

You know, Montevallo and Lander are both very, very good teams. You know, you would think, you know, Emory Riddle, eh, you know. And then Emory the Eagles go in there and and take care of business. Um, they're locating Daytona Beach. Another tough sell, huh? Yeah. Another tough sell. God, I love the Sunshine State. What a what a great thing. You have still awesome years of eligibility left, Danny. I wish. I wish. You think Coach Jez would let me uh get on a MIDI to run on a MIDI line?

SPEAKER_02 45:51

Yeah, until you f pulled your hammy as soon as you stepped out there.

SPEAKER_03 45:54

But Moran, get out there. No, get back in, you know. Uh Coach Jez, you know, he's got he's uh a legend in local and uh in division two. He's a legend.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

He's he's we talked about in the coaching changes what he did at post.

SPEAKER_03 46:11

Yeah, he's just you know, he's amazing. He and everybody knows it. He's a legend and he's well well respected in coaches. We had him on the show for our coaching changes, and he was all tan and looking good. And I think the Florida life definitely uh fits Coach Jez. Um, Isaiah Hines comes back, attackman, 43 goals and eight assists out of Dallas, Texas. He gets to work with Coleman Jacobs, 37 goals and eight assists out of Orchard Park, New York. I don't blame you, kid, for leaving Orchard Park to go to Daytona. Smart move, Coleman. Uh, and Pete Abbas, the attackman out of Middletown, New Jersey, 26 goals and 12 assists. I counted 44 on the roster, which is a nice size roster for Coach.

SPEAKER_02 46:58

Not only those top three, but they returned their top five scores from last year, Danny. They now they they also, just like St. Lou, they were and are young. And I don't know how they do this. We talked about those coach Wims based on what happened with COVID and the year after. The roster says that they've got two seniors and 30 who are either freshmen or sophomores. But some of them may be from academic standpoint, could be juniors and seniors, just from an athletic, how many years you eligibility standpoint they may have more. I think that's how they do it on the roster. But and most of their starting D returns, too. Kurt Pelchin, Preston Moderi, and LSM Hudson Kirk.

SPEAKER_03 47:42

Hey, like you said, Kevin, very, very young team. They were averaging 41 shots a game, not bad, not great, not bad. Uh, 28% on the extra man, 38% on face-off, 80% on the clear. Now you got Coach John Jezz there. Yeah. I think that's all going to improve just because of coaching. Just because of coaching.

SPEAKER_02 48:02

What's interesting though is their face-off went from 57% in 2022 to 39%. So that's certainly something that Coach Jezz will want to turn around. Their goalkeeping was at about a 40% save percentage. Probably want to get that a little bit better. And like you said, man up needs to improve. And I think those are all things that Coach Jez is going to be looking at. Tell you what, Danny, lots of young talent to mold for Coach Jez.

SPEAKER_03 48:28

Yeah, these kids are lucky. I believe it or not. They don't even know how lucky they are, really, to have a guy like John Jez come in and coach them. I mean, like again, the pedigree, the history that this man has, his IQ, the respect that he has amongst the other coaches and all the NCAA people in Division II. Um, again, post Long Island guy, you know, just had player after player after player after player for years, knows how to coach. Just, you know, he's gonna have uh a year where he's gonna have to teach, he's gonna have to show his stuff. I expect them to improve on that five and nine and one and six, though.

SPEAKER_02 49:10

I I agree. I hope the players, I'm sure the players when uh Coach Wims left were bummed out. Great guy, kind of guy you want to play for, sharp, sharp coach. But what they get, they just got to soak it in.

SPEAKER_03 49:28

Yeah, because it could be the best teaching of their life. And just just the amount of pedigree and the the knowledge that the man has in the in the game of lacrosse, and they got a decent out-of-conference schedule. They play some tough teams, man.

SPEAKER_02 49:42

They do, they do. This is a tough one. Flagler, North Greenville, Anderson, Montevallo, Chouan, Belmont Abbey, and Alabama Huntsville.

SPEAKER_03 49:54

That's a tough schedule. That is, that's a tough schedule. So um, I'm excited to see the uh Eagles this year and what John Jez does. Let's see after like game four, game five, where they where they sit, you know? Yeah. Barring barring any injury or anything like that. I just this is a team that I'm just interested in watch because of John Jezz. I agree, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 50:17

All right, last team to get to Palm Beach Atlantic, the sailfish.

SPEAKER_03 50:21

Oh boy, poor sailfish. Two and twelve last year.

SPEAKER_02 50:26

They were flapping on the beach. Oh and seven in conference play. They beat Davison Elkins and Quincy. Now, Quincy was a pretty good team last year, but that was a tough year for them. Jesse Venata was really it was their first, it was his first year last year as the head coach and not the interim like he was in 2022. Now, what's interesting about this is they're out of conference for this year and their roster for this year in 2024. Both are not out yet. All and go on is kind of what they had before. They had 33 on the roster in 2023, only eight were seniors or or graduates. So, you know, who knows? Maybe they recruited well, maybe they've got some transfers coming in. We just don't know what their makeup's gonna be like.

SPEAKER_03 51:09

Um, and Sola, senior attack, he's coming back. I think 16 goals and four assists. Caleb Southard, a junior attack, 15 goals and 14 assists. Christian Bond on defense had 17 caused turnovers. Uh Ben Light, Ben Lightly, Lightly? Lightsey, I forgot how to pronounce that name, in goal. Umke, small roster, man. No depth. You know, getting beat beat up early. Tough, tough season for the sailfish last year. They're located in West Palm.

SPEAKER_02 51:43

Yeah, so I think if you look at what they've got returning on D with Dylan Hunt, Christian Bond, uh, and Hunter Sheffield, maybe with last year's experience, the D improves and they can do a little bit better. But I'll tell you, they they only had 10.7 goals per game, and it was 17.1 goals against, and only a 40% save percentage. So they only had 150 goals over the season. And they so they need to improve that scoring and get better defensive, I won't just say goalie play, but defensive play to get that goals against average, because that's that's kind of the the key. You also gotta remember that last year they lost a key player on defense after the 2022 season, Gunnar Gabeline. Right, right. Right. So, and when you don't have that depth, you gotta you got a key guy on defense who is probably their true defender. Yeah, kind of tough. So they're they're gonna hopefully these guys now they've got uh some of that experience under the belt, the defense will improve. They've got a few guys hopefully coming back and should be returning on offense. You just like to see them get a little bit better, a little bit deeper, a little bit a little bit more roster, a little more depth.

SPEAKER_03 53:01

Yeah, be able to be able to compete, you know, because these guys just get beat up early. It's like a long day for the sailfish. I feel bad for these kids, you know. It's hot in West Palm. You get in your pin, you get in your eyes.

SPEAKER_02 53:16

I always remember that. And what was with it last year? I think it was one game with early on in the season, like in February. I think it was an Emory Riddle game. Maybe it was Emory Riddle Lynn or something like that, middle of the day. And they were talking about how hot it is, and the kids had to put uh towels on their necks because it was so hot, and we're up here freezing our butts off. Yeah, kind of funny.

SPEAKER_03 53:34

So I think I think Palm Beach got they, you know, the Atlantic, the selfish, they got work to do. They they just need kids, they need they need help on their roster, they need depth. These these poor kids, and they're getting beat up early and just really don't have a chance.

SPEAKER_02 53:49

And uh yeah, so let's see. Coach Venata comes, you know, full second full year as the head coach. Let's see what he's able to do over the over the recruiting season the summer and see what they can put together and put now a couple years ago, Danny, they were a better team.

SPEAKER_03 54:07

Yes, they were ranked. I mean, I'm gonna say like four years ago, maybe like the year before.

SPEAKER_02 54:13

Four or five years ago. It was right around my it was before COVID. It may have been that COVID year that because I think they were ranked like Wing played them. And I thought they they were they had to watch out for them. They beat them pretty well, but they had a good team around 2018-2019.

SPEAKER_03 54:29

And they had more than 30 on their roster, you know, they had more kids on their roster. So let's see what Palm Beach Atlanta gives us. But Kevin, the Sunshine State Conference is a really, really good conference, a lot of good teams, a lot of really good players across the conference from Tampa to Rollins to St. Leo to Lynn to Florida Tech to Florida. Florida Southern. Just go down the list. These kids are good, man, and they're good teams. They're gonna be ranked. I like Rollins this year. I'm gonna put them at the top of the Sunshine State Conference right now. I think that they're the team to beat. I think Tampa's gonna be second. That I think they're gonna have a you know a little bit of a change here. And uh I wonder if teams are are like we're not scared of Tampa anymore. You know? I mean, I wonder if teams say like we're not scared. They're good, but we're not scared anymore. So I'm I'm excited to see what JB puts on the field this year. I mean, Tampa's always a great team, and JB does uh an amazing job. I think you know, Florida Tech is gonna improve. I think Emory Riddle with having John Jezz there is a team that's gonna improve. I like Florida Southern. They were 13-5 and 5-2 in conference last year. They're gonna be a good squad, great out-of-conference schedule. Sunshine State Conference is a good, good conference.

SPEAKER_02 55:58

You just ran down it really well, Danny. We looked at the two top, we'd say the two top are Rollins and Tampa, but don't count out any of those other teams for not beating Tampa or Rollins and beating each other up. Oh, yeah. Because it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. That was a good rundown. Before we move on to the discussion with a coach, just remind people that we recorded with Coach Lewis before Christmas. So there's we talk about holiday stuff, you'll hear it, but that's why when you get these things, remember this the back office things that we have to do. We we record at different times to get all the pieces together. It's a holiday. Yeah, it's the holidays. We're getting things done. So why don't we just go to that discussion right now?

SPEAKER_03 56:44

Yeah, let's get them on.

Coach Lewis of Rollins

SPEAKER_03 56:46

Coach Lewis, how you doing?

SPEAKER_00 56:48

I'm doing great, guys.

SPEAKER_03 56:49

Thanks for having me back, Coach Lewis Rollins Tars. You guys had a really good year last year. Wow, what a squad. What a squad. The defense, that's what I remember. The first game I saw you play, it's like the third game of the season last year. I said to Kevin.

SPEAKER_00 57:09

So Newberry?

SPEAKER_03 57:10

Yeah, I said you got and Newberry's got a good attack unit, they're good, man. They're a good squad, and their attack units real good. And I said to Kevin, I said, watch out for Rollins because that defense was legit. And each week I kept checking in on Rollins, and if I could catch a game, I'd watch a game. And Catchadorian was like amazing to me. And then Mikey Berkman, and then these players just one after another, just stepping up. Coach, what a season you had.

SPEAKER_00 57:43

Yeah, I mean, we were we were really fortunate to have um a number of guys that that we brought in off the transfer portal. We had never used that as heavily as we did before last season. And it was always a little bit like uh Dabble Swinney at Clemson. I was always afraid to bring in guys that may mess with the chemistry and the culture that we had established uh over the previous um six or seven years. And so um, you know, the opportunity to have Mikey and Shahe and Grant Hansen, who had actually come uh in the year before, and uh and a number of other guys, um, really kind of helped us get to where we were hoping to be. And one of the reasons we did that was um Tampa and Lynn had sort of kind of jumped on that in like 2020, 2021, and they had kind of gotten ahead of us a little bit. And so we felt like in order to be able to compete with some of the best programs in our conference, that we needed to kind of we needed to kind of go after that as well. Now, because of that 2020 uh COVID year and guys having extra seasons of eligibility, that allowed us to get, you know, guys who had who had already played four years. Um, but you know, uh so Mikey had an ACL tear his sophomore season, I believe. So, you know, he didn't use an eligibility, a year of eligibility for that. And Sahey was never the starter at Syracuse, and so you know, he had some seasons of eligibility still left. And so we were fortunate to get those guys with two years left on their on their careers. Um, you know, that was huge for us. And um, you know, we've still um gone into the portal a little bit. We brought in a couple guys uh over the summer. We brought in two over the summer. Um, we just got two kind of fell into our laps as as mid-year transfers. We're pretty excited about. Um so yeah, we're um we're still we're still using that um as as a way to sort of supplement our roster, but we don't want that to be the main way that we're we're bringing guys onto the team.

SPEAKER_03 59:57

It seems to me that I'm sorry, Kevin. It seems to me that division two coaches are just like trying to stick their toe in the water with the portal. You know, it's not like division one where teams are just, you know, kids are putting their name in the portal. Hey, I'm not I'm not playing, I'm going somewhere else. And I think just from the last couple of years with the portal becoming more and more popular, coaches are beginning to dip their toe. Some of them might be afraid, like you said, some coaches don't want that to be the mainstay of their program. They still want to build from within, still want to recruit good kids there and that sort of thing. Would you agree with that?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:35

Absolutely. And I would say half of the guys that we've probably brought in as transfers, uh, in the time that I've I've been the head coach here, have been guys we were chasing pretty hard uh as high school athletes. And so, you know, they were guys who who wanted to maybe go and and be the one guy. Uh, and then you know, they got to that that level and um saw that it wasn't necessarily everything that they wanted. And so, you know, they were looking for a different kind of experience. Um and so um, you know, a lot of the guys, like I said, a lot of the guys that we've brought in were guys that we already had a relationship with. Um, so we've been pretty lucky in that sense as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:22

Yeah, and you and I have talked about this before, coach. Some of these folks you bring in that transfer in, you're not looking for, you know, they've got one year left. You're looking for guys who can be built into that culture that you've built for a couple of years. So you just talked about with Mikey and Shahe. And I think, and Grant Hansen's another good example. He's he's several years, right? So you look at that and you look at what you're bringing back this season. You have, I think you're bringing almost everyone back, and then you've got, like you just talked about, some others that can fill in for more depth or maybe some gaps and things you want to do. You've got to be pumped at what your roster looks like for this year.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:03

Yeah, absolutely. Um offensively, it's uh it we're just stupid talented.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:10

I mean, but we we sit in the you guys are, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:16

I mean, I've got four to be that way. No, I get it. I've got four returning all Americans. Um, you know, we played this fall without without two of our second line middies because they were both on on foreign study in Rome, Italy. And so um and then we brought in, you know, a transfer from High Point over the summer, and we just got one from UMass and another one from Lenore. Um, so the the midfield is so deep. Um, we we maybe hear uh Danny, you talking about us the way you talked about a Delphi last year, where we're just gonna throw three lines of middies out there of you know, 10, 11, 12 guys, and we're just gonna you know see what they can do.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:56

So right, right, right. That's down the other defense.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:00

Just beat them down.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:02

You know what? You're bringing them fresh legs, fresh legs, fresh legs. And if you can get one or two of those kids to go two way in a little bit, you know, oof.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

Yeah, well, well, that's usually our plan is we got one guy in every line uh who's capable of going back and playing some defense. Uh we send them down there to to work with Coach D. Comenti and um and learn how to how to run the defense the way we need it to be run. And um, you know, if if we get a uh if we get the ball back and and that guy's tired, then a lot of times we'll have a fourth guy on that line who's able to go out there and and run out there and you know they've they've had some experience playing together and and they've got that they the um you know familiarity with each other's games to to be able to play together.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:44

So yeah, that's that's phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:48

Yeah, yeah, we're super lucky right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:50

Yeah, and then if you look at like Danny said, I mean, your season last year, 15-2, you basically ran the table. You one loss to Colorado Mesa, and then you don't lose again until you hit LR in the NCA tournament in the quarterfinals. What do you take from last year? Is there anything you take from last year, and especially that first game ever in the NCA tournament?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:14

Um yeah, I mean, first of all, you had to you you had to step back after after the game had ended, and and you couldn't right away, right? Because the going into that game and and you know, thinking that you had a a team that had the talent to potentially win a national championship, and then and then seeing that end and at you know at the elite eight level um was painful. And it was painful for uh me and my coaching staff. It was painful for my guys who were graduating and weren't gonna be able to come back and take another shot at it. Um but ultimately you just have to be really proud of what they did last year. And so we don't want to lose um we don't want to lose a sense of that and and being excited about what we were able to accomplish. But then we got almost the entire roster back, and so it's kind of gonna be tough this year.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:17

Rollin's gonna be tough this year, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:19

It's it's kind of last year wasn't quite enough, you know, to know that we were that close and didn't get to that ultimate goal of winning a national championship. And listen, if if if as a head coach I don't ever win a national championship, that's not gonna destroy me. That's not gonna make me think that I haven't been successful. Because um one of the one of the and and everybody's heard this when I've been recruiting them. One of my favorite things as a coach is to see an 18 year old young boy come onto my campus and watch him leave four years later, and they've become a young man. And I had some part of the process of watching them grow, watching them develop, um getting them to buy into our culture and buy into being selfless and tough and positive and accountable for their own actions and to to be a leader and to understand sometimes the the chips don't always go your way. Um, but uh, you know, I'm always proud of these guys. And uh, you know, we know we have an we know we have the opportunity to get there this year. And so um, you know, we're gonna do everything we can, I think, to to you know, try and make that happen.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:38

I think you have all the ingredients, Coach. Uh, you know, Kevin and I talk about ingredients. You know, you need the ingredients to build that cake, you know what I mean. You need all the ingredients for it to come out well. And I think you have all the ingredients with all those guys coming back. You just you whooped ass on the Sunshine State Conference. You were ranked in the top 10, I think nine weeks. I mean, uh, you were in the top five for six weeks, uh, finished the season at number two in the country. Just a remarkable, remarkable season.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:08

Yeah, I I don't know that anybody goes into this conference and and thinks they're gonna whip ass on anybody. It's just too tough.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:16

No, but you did it, but you did do it. I mean, you did, you took care of business in the Sunshine State, you know, and Tampa's there, and you know, there's some squads there, Florida Tech, Florida Southern, and even St. Leo is a good squad, you know, they're all good.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:31

Yeah, Florida Tech and Florida Southern last year were pretty young. Um, they didn't graduate a loss off a lot off those two teams, and and so you know, they're gonna be back, they're gonna be a year older, a little bit more mature. Um, so you know, there's there's really not a lot of easy games in this conference.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:48

No, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:50

Yeah, then you look at your out of conference for this year, and I think it's as strong as last year. You look at Barton Anderson, Concordia, Flagler, Undy, and a Delphi. I mean, you end up especially with the last two, but there's there is not an easy game in any of those. I I'm I'm curious of what you think the psychology of your team is, not only with the out-of-conference, but coming off such a great record, they're all coming back. Do they feel do you think are they more like a got a chip on their shoulder that they feel just left unfinished business? What happened in the NCAAs? And are they gonna use this out of conference to fuel them into the conference games? What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:32

Yeah, so um at a point last year when I was building the schedule, we had, I think I had scheduled UND to be played on March 16th, and we knew that we had Tampa on March 23rd. And so um before I ever sent the email to Coach Purdy, I I sent an uh I shot a text out to a bunch of the guys who are you know kind of our team leaders, captains, and and other leaders that we had, and I said, listen, I'm thinking about maybe playing a Delphi, but then we got to go a Delphi, U Indy, Tampa. And it's a stretch that could maybe knock us out of the tournament, or it's a stretch that could maybe get us really ready to play in May, hopefully. And every single one of my guys were like schedule a Delphi. We just wanna we wanna be able to compete and uh and we'll go play, we'll go play anybody anywhere, and uh let's just do it.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:33

So where where's the Adelphi game?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:35

Originally, uh Coach Purdy and I had had uh tried to play it in Maryland. We just never were able to uh get a site because I didn't wanna I I didn't want to go up to Adelphi and and play up there in their field and their weather and and not have him come back. And and we actually worked it out uh a couple weekends ago when we were at the IMLCA conference down here in Orlando. I said, listen, man, if we come to you this year, will you come back to me in a year or two? And and uh he said, Yeah. So I said, All right, I guess so. We're gonna go up there and play on the island. So uh you'll probably be able to see us.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:14

I'm definitely gonna be at that game. Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:17

That's I may have to go up and sleep on your couch, Danny, for the and watch them play.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:22

You're more than welcome. I'm telling you, I love when the north teams and the south teams get uh get after it out of conference. I love that. Doesn't happen very often, especially any 10 teams because they have so many in their conference, it's hard to they could they only have like three or four games to really mess with, you know, out of conference because they have maybe five because that their conference is so deep. But I think that's great. And I think that's great for division two lacrosse as a whole.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:51

It is, but the problem is the way the the tournament selection works is whether or not we win or lose that that game, it won't really matter as to whether or not we get into the tournament. Because the division two, which is different than division one and three, has what they call a regional model, right? And so games that you play outside of the South region for us don't really help you or or hinder you uh in terms of getting into uh getting into the tournament.

unknown 1:11:21

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:22

Because regionally it doesn't bother you, it doesn't, it doesn't affect you regionally, but you know what? RPI still counts, and that counts, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:30

Yep, yep. So it's in a couple of the it helps in a couple of the categories.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:35

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:36

And I uh you know, having having previously been the the defense coordinator Merrimack, uh I've played against the Delphi numerous times. Um and actually uh Coach Murphy and I were talking about maybe trying to play uh a neutral site game against Bentley maybe next year up in Maryland. So that's great. Uh I like the I like those, you know, those sort of interregional contests and and you know, because everybody everybody wants to you know have bragging rights. Is the northern region the best one? Is the southern region the best one? Obviously, you know, it was the northern region for a long time, but now you've got you know with limestone and Lenore Ryan and um Rollins Tampa you know and Coach Doyle who won a national championship at Dowling, you know, looking at the same thing again down at Wingate. Um there's there's some fantastic programs in the South, and the North has lost so many in the last few years. Yeah, Des Moines losing Des Moines being the latest one, but Merrimack's gone, CW Post is gone, and YT is gone, Dowling is gone. Yeah, so it's kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:42

St. St. Rose is leaving after this year. Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:46

So well, I I I don't know how we go. We've got to get back into a positive note. Uh let's uh all I want to say, coach, that's a like a little, I'm a little down now about talking about everyone leaving the north, but the south is a very good region. And coach, I'm telling you what, looking at your roster, at your schedule, I'm just it's it's gonna be so much fun to watch Rollins again this year. Not they were a lot of fun last year, uh, like Danny said earlier as we were talking with you. We just kept on watching you, and it seemed like every week we had to say, Oh, there's another win for Rollins, and they're they seem unbeatable. Then that you kept on climbing the the charts in the in the rankings. And in fact, I went back and looked. I think in the preseason poll, you were ranked like number 19.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:35

Were we?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:36

Yeah. And now you climbed how far you climbed. Florida Tech was ahead of you, Florida Southern was ahead of you. Obviously, Tampa was ahead of you. It was just an amazing run, and I think you are poised to be there again this year. And so we thank you for coming on tonight. And we really we can't wait to watch, we can't wait for the season to start and watch Rollins and see what they do this year.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:58

Yeah, it's gonna be a little bit different for us. We've we've kind of never been the team to beat, right? We've never been in our conference, usually that's Tampa, right? And um actually in in 2022, we were unranked at the start of the season. Um, I'm actually on the the Division II uh poll committee, and I put us in at number 20, and I was the only person on the poll committee that voted for us, and we ended at 12 and 3 that year. So yeah, so last year we had a little bit more credibility. That's no respect at all. So it'll, yeah, I know. It'll it'll wait. Uh we'll wait and see where we uh where we end up preseason this year. I would um I would say it's higher than 19.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:43

That's my guess. I'm gonna put myself on a limb and say it's gonna be higher than 19, coach.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:50

Well, I think Little Orion's gonna be at number one, so it won't be us. Uh we'll see what people think we're gonna be after that.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:57

Who knows? You're gonna have to tune into our our top 20 because I'm it's it's formulated in my mind, and I'm like the the top three keep on switching in my head, and I'm not gonna reveal it anything yet, but they keep on switching in my head.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:10

So yeah, Kevin and I come up with our own top 20. We we throw again our own two cents, and that's about what it's worth. But we throw our two cents in, and you know what? We were damn close last year, man. Were you yeah, we were like super close, you know, a couple of the preseason? Yeah, with the preseason, we were close. I put I had put wingate at three and Lemoyne at six, and now you had him at two, and I don't know. It was we had a couple of different different things, but we were like really close.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:40

Yeah, but we both had Tampa at the top last year. So when we didn't have right, I think we went Tampa and then Lenore Ryan, and then I think I had Wingate three. It was my top three last year.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:50

Well, see, there's there's one of the really scary things about this season is Tampa returned almost everybody last year.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:57

I know, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:59

And then, you know, they were 13 and 4, they were still a great team. Um, but you know, it's it's one of the top that sure, it's tough, and it's it's it's hard to get young men who had that kind of success the year before to understand how hard you worked and how hard you have to work again. And now when you go out there and you play, if you're a team that's gonna be, you know, if we're lucky and we get ranks inside the you know, the top 10, the top five, whatever, everyone's gonna for us. And so we get we're we're everybody's Super Bowl. And so we've never been in that position. And how are we gonna respond to that? How do we as a coaching staff um try to handle that, uh, those kind of expectations and and making sure that the guys understand what it is that they need to do to perform at the level that they kind of did last year.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:54

So yeah, because they're gonna have they're gonna have the bullseye on their back this year. You know, that's yep, that's the way it goes. Like Tampa, you know, everybody brings their A game because it's Tampa. This year, it's gonna be Rollins. Everybody's got to bring their A game against Rollins, or else they're just gonna, you know, they're just gonna beat you down. And you know what? And that's what you want. That's what you want. You wanna have that target on there, you know?

SPEAKER_00 1:17:20

Absolutely. And uh, you know, I I remember um I was at uh I was at a a talk by uh Coach Gardelman at Frostburg uh during the the conference a couple weekends ago, and he had a really cool quote from Pete Carroll that I loved. And uh it said, uh, coaches win practice, players win games. And so for us, it's it's really about how do we make sure that what we're doing in practice and what we're doing with our scouting and in film, uh, and in in our weight room work, rest and recovery, nutrition and all that, how do we make sure that these guys are ready every Saturday to go out there and win games? Because ultimately, you know what I do on the sidelines during a game is called timeouts, you know, and I can talk to them about what I'm seeing but from the sideline, but then sometimes in a in a timeout huddle, I get different feedback from what they're seeing on the field than what I think I see from the sideline. So it's it's really just giving them the tools they need to go out there and and and be able to be competitive and and try and win these games. So it's uh it's always a challenge to to um you know think that you have these guys ready, which I never feel I do, but um ultimately uh you have to play the schedule.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:41

So your schedule is awesome this year. Again, yeah, we're excited about Delphi, UND Tampa. I mean, Jesus Christ, man. And that's a schedule. And you know what? You got the squad for it, Coach. You really do. I look forward to watching the Tars this year.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:00

Yeah, and then and then last year we were super fortunate to not have a lot of injuries, right? So that's key. Um, you know, Justin Eisenhower was a first team All-American defender. He graduated. Um, we were feeling pretty confident in in our defense. We had uh a young man named Connor Thornton, who was a three-year starter, coming back as a senior this year, and uh tour his ACL about a month ago. And so, yeah, yeah. And he's the hardest worker, one of the best leaders on the team, um, a young man who just you know does everything he can to help us win and and cares a lot. Um, and it's kind of heartbreaking for him to see him not not be able to play this year. And so uh, you know, we're gonna be a little bit younger on defense than we were last year. We're missing a couple of those down guys now. So um, you know, uh obviously with uh the goalie back, we have um, you know, Evan Tesler who's who's uh who uh has developed into one of our better defenders. Uh Ben Copen was an all-American LSM last year. Um our two best D middies last year were freshmen. And so um, you know, we graduated a grad student who was who was a big big part of our defense. But you know, uh these these sophomores are gonna have to step it up. And and we made, you know, we've got a a transfer um who's probably gonna play some D, and then and then we're looking at a couple freshmen who are gonna have to kind of contribute as long sticks. So, you know, you always gotta, you know, that's the one thing about um, you know, college across. Eventually they uh they all grow up and go away.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:39

Yeah, well, and I'll I'll tell you, coach, please pass on to Connor our our thoughts. I uh you may remember this. My son is senior year, blew out his ACL, MCL meniscus, and his season was gone, and all he could do was help on the sidelines. And we hope that that, you know, at least he took that away from trying to help the team as best he can. It's a tough situation for any player to have to go through to lose your last season like that. So we wish him the best, and we wish you the best uh this season. And obviously, we hope to be talking to you during the season, and we'll definitely be watching.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:12

Sounds great, guys. Appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:15

Coach Chris Lewis, Rollins Tars. Thank you so much for taking the time. Merry Christmas to you and your wife and family out in LA. And uh, congratulations on your grandson. All good stuff, man. A lot of good positive things in the Lewis house.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:29

Yeah, there's there's a lot I can't complain about in my life. So uh a lot of times, you know, people will ask me how I'm doing, and like, yeah, I'm doing really well. And even if I wanted to complain, nobody wants to hear it. So you and me both, Coach. Yeah, man. All right, I appreciate you guys. Happy holidays.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:46

Same here, coach.

Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_02 1:21:49

Danny, great discussion with Coach Lewis.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:52

Yeah, man. Rollins is uh loaded for bear this year, and I think he knows it, huh?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:58

I think he does, but he pointed some things out, some players with injuries and whatnot that aren't going to be on the team, knowing that they are the targeted team. They are the hunted team this year, not the hunter. And that takes a different mindset that I think he's preparing his team for.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:18

That's a good problem to have. It is. That's a good problem to have. You know what he's excited about? They're deep, they're good. They're gonna be a tough team, Kev. I think they're gonna be a top three team preseason.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:30

Yeah, and that's one other thing. You saw when we were talking with him, and we I asked him the question of what do you take from last year and how it was kind of burning and seething inside of him of losing to Lenore Ryan and not going to the national championship. So close, so close, so close. When I talked about it in the in the conference preview, when I talked about like how are they gonna come out? Are they gonna be fired in the belly with a bad taste in their mouth? I think the coach is making them drink vinegar to have that bad taste in their mouth to go forward.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:05

They're gonna be tough. They're they're loaded for bear. They got a decent out of conference schedule that I think is favorable. I they play a Delphi at a Delphi, which is if I wasn't going to the Crown Classic, because the Crown Classic is that day where Wingate plays Tampa, if I wasn't going to that, I'd be going to the Rollins Adelphi game for sure, because that's going to be a knockdown dragon.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:28

And I'd be sleeping on your couch.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:31

So yeah, I the SE SSC conference is a really good conference, and Coach Lewis is a great, great. He's a great coach, and he was a great guest.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:41

Exactly. Okay, let's move on. A little lacrosse news. Emmanuel Saints have a new coach. Lance Olson takes over for Bert Sevens. Coach Olson played midfield at Emmanuel, Danny, before transferring to Limestone as a graduate student. And he was entering his second season of coaching at Montevallo. We talked to Coach Lang about how he kind of gets those, his assistants ready to go. He's lost two, three now to head coaching jobs. This is his third. So he's coming over, taking over Emmanuel. Kind of at a tough time, right? I mean, that's after fallball, going into the season. But they now have a young coach to spur them into a new generation of lacrosse for Emmanuel Saints.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:28

Well, sounds good.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:29

Congrats, coach. All right, now. Got a couple more things to go. First, let's talk about the scorebreak feature spotlight of the week. Danny, this week it's live tagging. We kind of talked about this a little bit. You don't need the airborne system, which is their high-end thing, to be able to do this, but it allows you to actually break down film and games in real time using just an iPhone. If your iPhone is connected to the video that you're shooting, it it actually syncs up the live tags and the stats of the video. So you've got those quick buttons, like you said, for goal or face-off or whatever. And it automatically results in film breakdown, which once that film is uploaded, it's ready to go. You can watch it and review it in the office or on the bus right afterwards. As soon as you upload, you don't have to wait 12 or 24 hours for your own film to be cut. It's done then on at least some of the things with those tags. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:32

Yeah, it's an amazing tool. www.scorebreak.io. Mention in the crease and get that 15% off your first year, coaches. Do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:44

I like that as we end the end the year. Do it. Now, Daniel, let's I have to remind our listeners that there will actually be no episode next week. This one's going to drop on the 28th. 28th. But next the week of January 4th, I'm actually going to be down in San Antonio with my family as our son graduates from basic military training. So awesome. That's so cool. We're going to be celebrating with him, so there'll be no podcast, but don't worry, we'll get all the conference previews in. That's awesome. And as we close out, Danny, close out 2023, we need to thank our listeners for the growth of this podcast. I shared the stats with you that we got this year. Were they mind-blowing? I still can't believe we have one download. They're mind-blowing to me. We were in the top 10% of podcasts on Buzz Sprout, our distribution platform in 2023. We had over 31,000 downloads in 2023. And we had listeners in 39 different countries. Canada, Germany, Australia, Finland, just to name a few. Wow, Finland. Finland. Oh my lord. If you told me we would have this type of reach in 2021 when we started, I would have said you're nuts.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:14

That's crazy. I had no idea about those that that kind of stuff. Finland. They listen to I wow. I'm blown away, man. I am blown away.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:25

Yeah, it has been such a ride and so much fun as we go into uh our fourth, third, fourth year. I guess it's our third. Third, it's our fourth season.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:36

Fourth season full year. Third full year. Kev, it's been great. People DM us and they're like sending us swag, and it's just been a fun ride. I I have a ball doing this. It's no work at all. I know you do a lot with the editing and stuff like that and sending emails out, but you're it's been a great run. And to have, you know, just one download. I mean, I've said it before, it kind of blows my mind. Hey, two guys that never played the game on a whim decided to do a podcast, and here we are three years later, banging out podcasts. People are listening, coaches are coming on, players are coming on. We're getting recognized at national championship games. It's like kind of pretty cool, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:19

It's awesome. What a year and what a ride. And with that, Danny, that's it's a happy new year to everyone.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:25

Happy New Year to you, Kev. Happy New Year to all our listeners. And I wonder if they listen to Casey Sunshine Ban in Finland. They are now.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:50

That's a wrap. That's a wrap.