Conference Previews for the 2025 Season - Conference Carolinas

Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Men's LaCrums. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stenstrom, and with me as always is Father Timeless, Danny Moran. How's it, Danny?

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Yeah, I wish my shoulders would say that. Father Timeless. My shoulders feel like really oldly.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Yeah. It's usually see, it's usually my calves in the morning when I wake up, you know, and they're stiff. And it takes me a while. It takes me like a walk into the bathroom before they loosen up. That's when I feel it. But no, you always exude the youthful spirit, Danny. That's all I can say. And I've got an episode that drops before New Year's.

unknown 0:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Yeah. This one drops before New Year's. So I thought, Father Timeless, you fit perfectly. Not father time, father timeless.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Well, thank you so much for that. I really appreciate that. Kevin Stenstrom, how's it going tonight in Northern Virginia?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Well, I haven't been here that long. I just got back from travel. I was off in Hawaii for five, six days, then flew home, landed on Saturday, turned around on Sunday to fly to Rome, New York. Now, if you don't tell me that's not a difference, going from 80-degree weather to driving in sleet and snow, it was quite the shock to the system.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Oh, I can well you see, I can't imagine it because you see, I've never been to Hawaii and where I had to fly to Rome, New York. Now I can imagine Rome, New York. Rome, New York is pretty much under snow right now, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Well, it's funny. We got like a couple inches, but now when I left this morning, we got a couple inches Sunday night to Monday. And then when I got up this morning, it was almost all gone already. So warmed up pretty, you know, it got up to probably 38, 40 degrees during the day. So it was enough to start to melt the snow. That's not bad at all.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

No, no. But we can travel to another part of town if you want

Conference Carolinas Preview

SPEAKER_01 2:12

to tonight.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

In my mind, I'm gone to Carolina.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

What do you think? Yeah. Conference Carolinas tonight.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

And you just feel the moonshine.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

I love that song. And I love this state. I love North Carolina. I think it's a beautiful, beautiful state in our country.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Remember, it it goes to South Carolina too. I know. And a few other places, but you're right. A lot of teams in North Carolina. This is an interesting conference. Not only, Danny, last year did we have a former perennial powerhouse really come out of nowhere again to win the championship, and that's Mount Olive. Right. But this year, we've got several coaching changes. We had them on during our coaching changes uh episodes, but this one, there's three at least three coaching changes in this conference this year.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Yeah, it's a it's I like this conference. It's a good, gritty southern conference, and got a couple of you know, national powerhouses in this conference. Yep. And some other really, really good and up-and-coming teams.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

This, you know, it should be a good year in the Conference Carolinas, I think. I think it's going to be very, very intriguing to see who stays up on top, who makes some moves, who at least becomes more competitive. I think some of the teams just want to do that.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yeah, I agree with that. That's that's the key every season, you know. But there's a couple of bad boys that you know live on top in the Carolinas.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Yeah. Until and one that's back on top now, and that's Mount Olive. You want to start with them?

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Let's talk about the Trojans located in Mount Olive, North Carolina. Uh Kev. Right off 95. It's pretty rural by then where they are. Yeah. I got I got caught behind a chicken truck one time going to a going to a game at Mount Olive. A real chicken truck, like you'd see on Sanford and Sun, I swear to God. Feathers flying off it and everything. But you know what? Coach Dylan Price. What can you say? He had a really good year last year. 12 and 3 overall, 7-0 in conference, beat Belmont Abbey.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Huge jump from the year before. And you knew that that was probably coming. I mean, he was an assistant there under Coach Murphy. He he knows the school, he knows the program, he knows how to recruit. It's we know knew it was going to take a little time, but that's a huge jump from where they were last year, 7-8 and 4-2 in 2023 to 12-3 and 7-0 in conference.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Yeah, but Mount Olive is always pretty good. They're always they got a bunch of studs there pretty much every year. They kind of had some down. Yeah, when they lost Coach Murphy, you know, that was like a little bit of a switch and change a roo over there. And Mount Olive, Coach Price came in, struggled a little bit the first two years, but kind of swung it around last year, didn't he?

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Totally. And what's interesting, too, and you said it, they beat Belmont Abbey in the championship in overtime 12-11. Well, that was the exact same score that they beat them in the regular season. Yeah. Overtime.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

12 times by one, 12-11 in overtime. Yeah. So talk about evenly matched teams, huh?

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Now they lose a lot, though. They lose a lot, Kev. Yeah, their top four scorers to begin with.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Yeah, Chaz Goodman, Aiden Lalonde, Chapman Parker, Scam Souson. It's a lot of points right there. That is Matt Asheon, midfielder, Chance Urban. They lose a lot.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Now they do return Benjamin Vanderklee, 21 goals, six assists, and Hudson Karasek. But you're right. That's a there's got to be other guys that step up now. Now their defense, though, their defense is returning a lot. They've got Davin, Davin Eichert coming back, Sam Norton. Uh they return the seniors, and it looks like they've got senior short stick D Mitty Brady Lawrence coming back, along with Alan Usher, another D pull, another senior. So to me, this team is looking like they're really fairly strong on defense still, but it's next up, next man up on offense.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Junior goalie Curtis Lindzing comes back. He was 54% last year. You know where, you know where Curtis is from, Kev? Where is he from? From Wake Forest, North Carolina. And you know what? They got senior face-off Josh Mauer coming back, big, huge, 58% last year, Kev. You know? They lost to Lander, Newberry, and Wingate.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Yeah, so and those are those are teams in the past where they would beat or play even. You know, Wingate is one where they went back and forth for years. Landon Newberry, probably, you know, Lander's obviously picked up from when they first started. So that's a that was a those weren't bad losses for them last year, those those teams. I I just will wonder to see how they will fill in the gaps on offense this year, because right now their 2025 out of conference schedule's not out yet. Their their roster's not out for 2025. So we don't have anything to base on except for the 2024 schedule. I mean, roster.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Graduate 12 seniors, Kev. That's a lot, you know. And you lose a lot of senior leadership on the offensive side of the ball. So we're gonna have to see. Again, like you just said, they didn't they didn't post anything yet. Um, rosters and and and conference and and schedules. So we don't know who's gonna be stepping up yet, how many freshmen they got coming in. But I expect, you know, I expect the Trojans to be uh a really good team in in the Conference Carolinas.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Yeah, I I agree. I don't think they're gonna slip that much. I think it'll all depend on how their offense gels together. Um, they've got a solid D, like you said, goalie and most of their D poles coming back. So I think they're gonna be set there. They're gonna have to rely on their defense to begin with to set up their offense.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Yeah, it should be interesting, though. I'm gonna see, I don't, you know, I want to see how Mount Olive comes out of the gate. Because I I think they do play Wingate out of conference, because didn't Wingate's conference saw a schedule coming out? Yeah. Don't they play Mount Olive? I think that might be one of the games on their out-of-conference schedule. But anyway, and you know, last year they were pretty good, man. Top 25, 26 team in the country, if you ask me. You know, they had a couple of studs out there, especially with Laden uh Lalonde and Goodman out there. That those guys were those guys were pumping out points. They were good, steady, you know, uh seasoned veterans out there.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Right, but now they're not there. So, like right. I mean, that's gonna be the tough thing.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Here we go again. Another conference where the good teams are losing good portions of their of their either offense or defense, or some some teams combination of both, you know. That fifth year, that COVID year is gone. Yeah, these teams are turning over a little bit. Yeah. Now that I'm I'm looking forward to seeing what Mount Olive throws out there the first couple of games. Should be interesting.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

I'd be really great to see they're out of conference and who they're playing to begin with and how they match up. That'll be interesting. You're right, they do play Wingate. Uh, it's Wingate's fourth game of the season in February, February 26th. So that will be a matchup to watch. I think that will be a test for Mount Olive. And even if they don't win that, if they play that one close, you know they're gonna be ready for Conference Carolinas.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

I agree. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

All right, how about the runners up from last year, Belmont Abbey?

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Yeah, the Crusaders, another really good team. Always, always ranked, Keth, always ranked, yeah, always has a team that's got studs out there on both sides of the ball. Coach Chris Barrett, he does a great job there, has been there a long time. They're located in a beautiful little town called Belmont, North Carolina. Really cute, quaint little North Carolina town, really nice. Uh the Crusaders went 10 and 7 last year, and they were six and one in conference, losing to losing to Mount Olive there.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Yeah, but look at this though, Danny. They started off one and five, and they but they lost to four ranked teams, and then they went on a tear. Yeah. So exactly. Look at they were they were really young last year. Coach let us know that four-fifths of their roster were freshmen and sophomores last year. So you can see where they're gonna start off slow, but they to get where they got all the way to this the championship game, it is a testament, once again, that coach Barrett and his and his coaching staff, how they get these guys prepared, how they recruit, how they get them playing Belmont Abbey ball. Um, pretty impressive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Coach Barrett's a good coach, man. Yeah, he gets those boys playing every year. They're always a tough team.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

They always got studs, they always find players. I mean, they and they had really solid team stats last year. Man up was 30%, face-off was 70%, clears were at 86%. They're doing things to give them chances to score.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Well, yeah, Caleb McCahey was insane last year at the face-off for Belmont Abbey. He's not coming back. You know, he was 70% last year. That's that's outstanding. You know what I mean? They're losing their all-conference uh short stick D Mitty, Jacob Power, Pat Doring, another defender that was all conference.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Yeah, they also lose a lot in the midfield. They lose Riley Arsenal, like you said, Jacob Power, Jaden Green. Those are three. And then you talk about on defense, Pat Doring, but they do return Trey Childers, who is their number three scorer, and their number four scorer, Harry Maloney. And their attack, Danny, they return a lot on attack. Jeremy Mahoney was their number one scorer, Quinn Smith, Mikey Swigert. Uh they lose Davis McCulley, like you said. Um, does a guy like Nate Lorenzo then step up? You know, there's some there's some holes on the offensive side, more on the midfield side. They're bringing back a lot on attack. That goes to what they were before, which was young and now are kind of progressing up with their uh more experience.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Some of these kids that are coming back, though, were really good for them last year. Like goalie Angus Snow was freshman of the year in Conference Carolinas.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Here's what's interesting is you remember, Coach said last year that they had a goalie that was transferring in from Kaiser to play for the spring of 2025 because he had to sit out. He got in January and he couldn't play the way the Conference Carolinas rules went. He had to sit out that that year. So he's coming in. But Angus Snow came in and really took the reins and balled out, man. He balled out.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

He did. He was fun to watch. You know, senior defenseman Ben Johnson comes back. You know where he's from? He's from Eagle, Idaho, Kev. He was all conference Carolinas last year. Uh, you mentioned Trey Children's 30 goals and three assists. He was all conference in all region last year and attacked Quinn Smith.

unknown 14:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

You know where he's from? You know where he's from? Where's he from? Hamilton, Ohio. Went to Mollar High School.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

You know anything about yeah, the from football I do.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They they they put out a couple of lacrosse players. They do, they do. Yeah. So I think, you know, this is a team that's very well coached, Kevin. Um, they averaged 46 shots a game. Their man up was at 30%, their clear was at 85% last year. Yep. They were ranked in the top 20 pretty much throughout the whole season, you know, towards towards the they weren't in the first third of the season, then they started getting ranked and started coming in to the ranks. So Chris Parrett, he does a great, great job every year with the Crusaders again. He there he always manages to get studs on both sides of the ball, but boys that can play.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Yeah, and I so I think they're a little bit different on just the almost mirror opposite of Mount Olive. Because I think they bring back solid offensive players, a little bit of a question mark on defense, but you know, when you've and I really think it's gonna be interesting between Christian Tomey, who's their transfer, and Angus Snow, you know, who gets that spot? You would think Angus is gonna have it right now, but maybe that that competition is only gonna make both of them better. I think they're looking very solid this year, Belmont Abby, to even start with. Whereas last year they struggled. Now they played once again with a lot of ranked teams out of conference. We don't know their out of conference schedule yet. That's not been posted. So I'd love to see that and see how they match up and and what they do to begin the season.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Yeah, I think they're gonna be a formidable team. I like again, I just think they're well coached. Uh he always winds up putting a tough, gritty, well-coached team out there, a team that doesn't really make a lot of mistakes. They know where to be, they know where to go. It's just a matter of execution with them, you know.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

I think they've right. I think they've got a lot of players last year that got some time that are now stepping up in more in starting roles, and we'll see where they go. I think I think they're gonna be very, very solid. I would I would not put it past them that they're once again in the championship for Conference Carolinas, trying to go for that AQ. Yeah, you know he's gonna, you know he's gonna try.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Yeah. All right, where do you want to head next? I think we should go to the team that's gonna maybe put a scare into them, and that's the North Greenville. Ready for this? Yeah, I am. I'm ready.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Trailblazers, Cap. No longer the Crusaders, no longer the Crusaders.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

They are now known as the North Greenville Trailblazers.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

It's funny. I sent an email. I was when I was doing my homework, I sent an email to Coach Struss. I'm like, Coach, did you guys change your name or something? I went back to my notes from last year for the conference preview and saw their Crusaders, and now I see trailblazers. He's like, Yeah, I don't know why we did the change, but I kind of like it. I like it too. What I really like about it is you had two teams for a long time with their with their mascot being the Crusaders, and now we've flipped it and they've got the Trailblazers for North Greenville. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

This might be the little lift that they need. They're no longer the Crusaders trying to beat Belmont Abbey Crusaders. Yeah. So this might be this might be a good thing for uh Coach Corey Struss and uh Trailblazers, located in North Greenville, South Carolina, Kev.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Oh, yeah, but they're they're right outside. If you look on the where the school is says Tigerville, yeah, that's true. South Carolina. But you're right. I mean, it's north, it's right there. It's a suburb of North Greenfield.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Next town.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Next town. 10-8 last year. Pretty formidable team. Five and two in conference, Kev.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Yeah, they lost to Belmont Abbey in Mount Olive, and then they lost to Belmont Abbey again in the semis. They had a tough out of conference, and I think that's where they needed to turn around some of their W's. They went four and five out of conference last year. They they had their ups and downs last year. I don't think they had the consistency that you've seen from a North Greenville team in years past. Now, here's their out of conference for this year, Danny. Lincoln Memorial, Florida Tech. They're playing Lynn in Savannah, Georgia, just like they did last year. Anderson, Coker, Emory Riddle, Lander, and Montevallo. That is a damn good out of conference for them.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Really good. They could be four and two, four and two after that.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Yeah. There's gonna be some close ones. I think, I think if you look at a lot of them, I think, you know, Anderson, Emory Riddle, Lander, Montevallo, they're uh I mean Florida Tech. I mean, Lynn, they're they're all I think these they match up. It's gonna be really interesting. I think they're gonna be really close in all those games. I have we haven't like we have not looked at Sunshine State. I haven't looked at Lynn and Florida Tech. We know where Lincoln Memorial and Anderson are in Coker, you know, and we don't know about Emmy Riddle. Landard and Montevalo, we've talked about, right? A little bit turnover for both of them. Right. And I think if you look, I think to me, Danny, for North Greenville, when I look at what they they lost and what they're bringing back, it really is a mixed bag. I think they're bringing back enough strength, but they lose some, they lose their number one scorer, Christian Chicini. I see and their and their number four, Tyler Pellegrino, but they return number two and number three, Yates Miller and Hayden Moffat. Hayden Moffitt.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Yeah, Miles, Miles' little brother. Yeah.

unknown 20:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

He had a good year. He's a senior now. I know. Unbelievable. So yeah, they lose Cecini, 40 goals and 40 assists last year. That kid's a beast, Kev. And uh, like you said, Tyler Pellegrino. They also lose Alex Brooks is 25, Steven Santini's 24, Cam Webb's 22. It's 178 points, Kev. It's a lot. Yeah, it's a lot.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Those, you know, Alex Brooks and Steven Santini, both middies. You know, they've got a bunch of guys in the wings as middies that played a lot of minutes, played a lot of games, but didn't start. Sean Mullignew, Connor Brewington, and Liam Bruebacker. Those guys need to step up now.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Yeah. Junior MIDI, Jared Steinman. You know where he's from. Where is he from? South Lake, Texas, man. I gotta admit, man, that the Conference Carolinas gets kids from all over the country. Yeah. And then they got face-off sophomore Bennett Masler. You know where he's from? Tempe, Arizona, Cap. 60% last year.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Yeah. Yeah. They their face-off last year with Seth Brosman at 59 and and Bennett at 60%.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

So they're gonna get they're going to get possessions. They are going to be a team that possesses the ball. Because they have two good face-off guys that can that can just win possessions. Yeah, they got short stick D-mitty, Nick Jaffe's coming back, and they got a wing gate transfer, Caden Castle. Caden Castle. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, Caden Castle transfer. He's really good. He got a lot of burn in his freshman year, not too much burn in his sophomore year.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Yeah, but he's a he's a very good player. He will really help them out, I think.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Oh, I think he's gonna be a bit a good addition for them. Yeah, yeah. And they got goalie junior, Gabe Nelson, 46%. I think he's Steps in.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Yeah, he he got several starts last year. He wasn't the main starter, but he got like about six six starts. So that's pretty solid. And he was a burn, you know.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

He got burned and he did pretty well. Now, you know, at least he's got a a green light. I'm sure Coach Truss is going to bring in.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

He was about yeah, he was at 46%. I mean, Austin Jones was only at 48%. I say only. They were very close in their in their save percentages. So, you know, let's see if he steps up, what he can do, if he can improve on that. Who else, like you said, um in the in the goalie room, can maybe step up, uh, cause some competition there. On defense, I mean, like we said, Austin Jones is gone in goalkeeper. They lose uh Cam Webb, short stick D midi, Carson, Lustic, D Pole, and LSM Tristan Brown. Really solid. But they return a lot of good guys. Davis Longblade, who was only a freshman last year, very good player. Cole Jenkins, Dalton Wilkins, and you mentioned Nick Jaffe as another short stick D Middy coming back, and Tristan Stevenson. So if that's why I say a mixed bag, they lose some guys, but they bring back a lot of guys with experience.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

They do, they really do. You know what? They had a pretty good season last year overall, you know. I mean, other than those, you know, out of conference losses, they played really well. Um, they averaged 46 shots per game. Yeah, their shots on goal was an impressive 61%. So six out of 10 shots is going on goal, man. So they got players that can shoot. Their man up was at 33%, but they turned the ball over. That was a problem for them last year. They turned the ball over more than their opponents. Yeah. Well, then their case. Pretty solid all the way around. They are.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

Their offensive stats improved, their defense efficiency dropped to 60th nationally. Now, I think this year they're gonna be better at that. They lost some key guys on defense, but they're bringing a lot of guys back. So I think they're gonna improve on defense, and that may make a difference for them and you know, get a few more wins than what they had last year in 10 and 8. Now, 10 and 8's a good good record, don't get me wrong. But oh yeah, where North Greenville wants to be, they want to be at the level that like Mount Olive and Belmont Abbey were last year.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

They're not too far away, man. They're like right there, they're knocking on the doorstep. I mean, they can if if they can put it together early, they could beat one of those teams, I think, right now, just the way it looks to me. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

I think they'll be close. I think they'll be close if you look at, especially depending on how on how Mount Mount Olive's offense looks and what Coach Price can do, because he's got to get a whole new squad of scorers in there. North Green will be right up there.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Yeah, and I think Coach Trust is a good coach. I think what he does, I think what he does there is really good. You know, he's done a lot of good things in a short period of time there. You know, I remember a couple of years ago, them giving limestone a game at limestone. Yeah, yeah, you know, they they didn't have the legs at the end of the game, but man, they were in the game, you know, and this is a team now that they're got the trailblazers named, they got to trail some blaze, and they got to blaze some trail and and and knock some tails in the dirt and get after it this year because I think they're right there, Kev. They're right there. This is a team that could make them make them run at the at the uh AQ.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

I I agree with you. I agree with you. All right, how about the Barton Bulldogs? The Bulldogs, Coach Schumate, Wilson, North Carolina, yeah. Warren Schumache. So, yeah, Wilson, North Carolina, Warren Schumacher.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

That's hysterical. Hey, they went 7-10 last year, Kev, the Barton Bulldogs, four and three in conference. They won the conference in 2023.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Yeah, they underachieved last year. Decimated with injuries, Matt.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Yeah. Injuries last year for the Barton Bulldogs.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

They lost a D-pull and an LSM against Lenore Ryan. Then they lost Matt Clary for the season. Like Matt Clary still ended up like number two scorer on their team, you know, and he was out halfway through the season with an ACL tear. They they never, as Coach even said, they never really found their identity with all those injuries. And you it matched up with what their team stats were. Their manup was only at 19%, face off at 46%. They really dropped off on their team stats, and a lot of that had to have been because of injuries.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

Yeah, a lot of their really good players were. They lost all three LSMs, Cap. Yeah. They were literally just putting defensemen out there as LSMs at the end of the year. Yeah. They were just, you know, it happens to teams every once in a while. You know, you get hit with the injury bug. You get three or four really, really good players, starters for you guys that are seasoned veterans, been there, leaders of the team. They go down with injury. It's tough to get out of that hole, you know. It really is. And that's what I think happened to the Bulldogs last year.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Yeah. Now, let's let's talk about their out of conference for this year and then try to see where they're going with their roster. Out of conference is Lenore Ryan, Wilmington, Coker, Mars Hill, Kataba, and Flagler.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Excellent. Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

That's a good mix for them. I think I like the Wilmington mix in that. Yeah, I do too. I do too. I think that's great. A north-south uh matchup there. I think it'll be interesting to see them against Coker and Kataaba and Flagler, and even Mars Hill. Mars Hill, they should be able to, we'll see, take them. But the other ones I think are gonna be are good matchups from, you know, Lenore Ryan's Lenore Ryan. Even with what Lenore Ryan lost this this coming year, what they're gonna have to see how they look. But um, that's that's a good test for Barton and they're out of comp. What's funny, Danny, is look at who they're returning uh at attack, and I've got to call this the nickel attack. Nick L, because all three attackmen coming back, their first name is Nick. Nick Nelson, who's a junior, he's coming off injury from last year. He's gonna lead, kind of lead that group. Nick Pomiglio, he's a transfer from Cortland, and then Nick Lord, who's a senior captain. He's their finisher, two-handed finisher. So three Nicks at the attack.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

And they're healthy, it's a healthy and revamped attack unit. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

Totally revamped, yeah. And then at midfield, they've got Bryce Washington, number three, uh score coming back. JJ Mitchell, Drew Paxson, and Jimmy Carter, both sophomores. Both saw minutes last year, but did not start. And then they've got this freshman, six three freshman, a lefty, Jake Ellerson, they're really high on.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Yeah, they got some players there. The another defenseman, 6'3, Zach Kashubarra. Yeah, 6'3, and a 6'4 defenseman, Alex Saipa. Yeah, they got some big boys back there on the polls. Yeah. Um, they got Jack Pendergrass coming back, you know where he's from. Where is he from? Levitown, Long Island, kid. Uh-huh. It's a Long Island kid. He's a bruiser. They're very deep at face-off, Kev. And they have a really good transfer coming in a goalie.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Yeah, Nate Lair from Flagler. Yeah, it's a graduate transfer.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

He's good. Yep, and he's seen a lot of good lacrosse down there in the in the uh Sunshine State Conference. You know, Flagler played some good teams last year, and I mean, he he brings a lot of experience to the table to the Barton Bulldogs. So now they do.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

I don't know, man. Yeah, they think they're gonna be much better. They stay healthy, without a doubt, they're gonna be better. Now they do have some key losses. They lose their number one score, Nick Calary, Matt's brother. He transferred to Lynn. You've got Matt Clary who graduated, Ryan Santos on D. Logan Wheeler as a MIDI is gone, and Ryan Stableton on D is gone. But I'll tell you what, if you look, you got guys like Alex Saipa and Zach Cashabera, uh Mason Ferrara, who's a red shirt redshirt freshman on D. Most of them played in the games but didn't start. And so they've got a lot of experience, but now they're at that next level. And are they ready to take on those reigns? We'll see. But they they had to they had to have some serious experience based on the injuries they had last year, especially on the defensive side. So I think they're gonna be ready. I think both on the offensive and the defensive side, if they stay healthy, you're not gonna see an under-500 team.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

I mean, I think they have a good squad coming back. You know, these kids have been waiting their time. It's their time. You know? Yeah. They've they all got burned, they all got minutes. You know, they might have not all have been starters, but they all got minutes. They all got burned. So they got some uh I don't know, man. Barton should be a tough team this year if they stay healthy.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

I think so too. I think they're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

I think they'll be better when they're seven and ten.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

I think they're they can they're gonna be in the mix at the top again. There's you know, the four teams right there Barton, North Greenville, Belmont Abbey, Mount Olive. Everyone else is chasing them.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Yeah, pretty much. I want to see Barton play like Wilmington and Mars Hill. Those would be two different games to kind of base his stuff on. So we can see a lot out of Barton just in those two games. I agree. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 32:05

All right, where to next? Wherever you want to go. How about we go to Chuan in Murphy War, North Carolina, the Hawks. The Hawks. Here's where we have a head coaching change. PR Simschauer takes over for Josh East. Now he was the assistant, so there's some good continuity there. He has taken over. He's brought in a very qualified assistant coach with Ace Maloney, who used to be a head coach. So that can be that's a sta both of those, I think, are good stabilizing factors. Last year they were five and nine and two and five in in conference. That they kind of held steady from the year prior. No real signature wins. They really beat who you think they would beat in conference and out of conference.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

So you know Shawan has always kind of been like a 500 team, Kev, you know, yeah, for the last six, seven years. But you know what? Sim Schauser brings he's a lacrosse guy. He's a lacrosse guy. He's from Yorktown Heights in Westchester County, New York. If you know anything about Yorktown, they put some of the best lacrosse players in the world, some of the best high school and some of the best clubs come out of Yorktown. Yeah. Okay. And he came out of Yorktown. Then he went to Syracuse. So he's no slouch, you know, as a player. He transferred out of Syracuse, wound up going to Arizona. But Jim Schauser, he's a lacrosse guy, man. Yeah. He's a lacrosse guy. And if he brings that northern, you know, that Yorktown, Syracuse, Northern lacrosse to Chawan, it might be able to do something and change that team around a little bit. But they lose, they lose two of the most prolific scorers in Division II history. Not just, not just like in the Chawan. Not the Hawks.

unknown 34:13

No.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

D2. In D Two history, yeah. In Dosey and Eric and Eric. The two Ericks. The two Ericks. Those guys were amazing. And they were like brothers out there. They knew each other's moves and they fed off each other. No one ran the two game, two, the two-man game better than those two guys.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Yeah in the country. No doubt. You look at their their stats. Eric George, 53 goals, 28 assists. Eric Dosey, 45 goals, 41 assists.

unknown 34:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

Look at the year before when they were juniors, when they were like in the 80s. Like they just, these guys can play and they're gone.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

Now they are returning number number three scorer through number five. Jake Malia, Seth McKenzie, and Thomas Rohal. So they've got the you almost have to call them backups. And that's no disrespect to those three players. But when you've got Eric George and Eric Dosey up front, that's basically how it rolls. I mean, but these guys, a lot of experience, good production. They've just got to make up a little ground with those two Eric's gone.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

Again, Sim Schauser is a lacrosse guy. He knows the game. I'm sure he's going to have these guys playing at least decent lacrosse. They got junior defenseman Harry Edwards coming back 6'4. You know where he's from? Where is he from? Get this, Kev. Adelaide, Australia. I love it. I love it. Unbelievable. They got junior defenseman Mike Litchfield coming back. 34 ground balls, 26 cause turnovers. Are you kidding me? I mean, face-off Ronald Williams comes back. Yeah, 44. And Richard Johnson, their other one. Where's he working? Kingston, Jamaica Mon Kingston.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

They've got an international team at Chuan.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

That's crazy. That's awesome. And goalie Gavin Kors comes back.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

Yep, he was at 50%. Now they do lose Patrick Crutchfield on D. He transferred to William Wilmington and Cameron Snow, their LSM. But you're right. They are returning a lot on their defense, and they've got some solid, solid offensive players returning, and their goalies returning, and their and all their special teams returning with their face.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

Well, those guys were freshmen last year. Like they were all sophomores, a lot of these kids. You know what? They're out of conference schedule. They got a tough one. They do. Cotabba, William Jewell, Wilmington, Coker, Shorter, and Virginia State.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Now Shorter is actually in their conference now.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

Shorter is in Conference Carolinas. I don't have them for tonight. I do. I guess I'll cover them. They moved from Peak Belt. I knew there was a team that was added. I knew it. I just couldn't figure it out. All right, we'll talk about them later. I think it's going to be a tough season for the Hawks. I really do.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Um here's what I say, Danny. I think they probably hold steady from when they were last year. I don't, I see them maybe incrementally improving. They have a new coach, they've got a good defense, they've got a lot of offense to make up. Maybe their defense makes up some of that. So they kind of hold steady. You look at their out of conference. Um, you know, they could they could break almost even there. Maybe, you know, one under 500. We'll see. You know, William Jewell will be tough for them. Virginia State, you know, we'll see. So I I think, I think they're gonna probably hold steady, and it's gonna be it'll be a building block year for Coach Sim Schauser.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

See, I don't know about holding steady because with those two guys, Dozy and Eric George, gone, they they they were so much of the offense. And I'm looking at like Jacob Malia, right? He had 33 goals. How many of them were assisted? You know, is he creating his own goals or is he uh receiving yeah that you know put the put the put ins from great assists from Dozy and George? So I want to see if Malia is the type of kid that can create, are they gonna have an offense that can create you know uh goals? I mean, that that's what it comes down to. I I think I think it's gonna be a tough year for them. That's just my gut opinion.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

Yeah, you you make you have some very good points with losing those two guys. It all depends on who steps up, but you're right, that's a lot of ground to make up that those these young guys need to do. So unless they really do more of an offense by committee.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Like 33 goals from Malia is nothing to shot, you know, nothing to sneeze at. I mean, that's great. Just curious how many were assisted, how many did he get on his own, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 39:07

Yeah, and how many, you know, how many of the assists went back and forth between George and Dozy, too, right? You know, somebody somebody's gonna have to be the guy, yeah, you know, on this team.

SPEAKER_01 39:17

And we don't know that is yeah, we don't know who that is yet. So and they're gonna have Catawba out of the gate. Yeah, that's not gonna be easy. Uh a a pretty decent William Jewell team, yeah. Right, that with a bunch of players coming back, a really good, well-coached Wilmington squad. Coach, and then they're gonna be coker. And you know what? That's that's a tough start, man. Yeah, yeah. For Chuan. So yeah, we'll see how the Hawks do. Go get them, coach. All right. I think I could only 36 on their roster, too.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Yeah, that's about what they had last year, too, though. So they're holding steady, about the same size. I mean, that's not horrible 36. It's not like some of the other things. It's okay. So they can they can run good practice with that. They just, you know, they they obviously would like to be up closer, a little over 40. But okay, let's move on. How about we go to Emmanuel? Sure. Lions in Franklin Springs, Georgia, head coach Lance Olsen. He is in his second year. They were only 1 in 15 last year, one and six in conference. Now, he didn't get there until like January. Yeah. But and there they beat Lee's McCrae last year. They've got an interesting out of conference this year. Montevallo, Lander, Davison Elkins, Coker, Tusculum, Emory and Henry, and Virginia State.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

And then they opened conference play and where they host the Trailblazers of North Greenville. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:57

Yeah. Their 2025 roster isn't out yet, but uh one thing they do need is they need depth. They need more players.

SPEAKER_01 41:06

Yeah, they only had 26 on their roster. Yeah, they have nobody, they have no depth, you know, nobody to give these kids a break.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

Yeah, and they're, you know, you can see their struggles last year with a new coach coming in in January. Once again, I have to, you know, if if Coach Olson really, now that he has a full year under his belt and he's got that fall ball, and he's also got an assistant, if they're able to really start to implement what he wanted to implement, you know, because you really can't implement much in a month, right? That that's like building the plane as you fly it last season for him.

unknown 41:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 41:46

So if you look at their stats, I mean, face-off was only 24%, man-up was 28%, which was an improvement from the year before. Clear is only at 73%. Goals against average were 17, while they only averaged 8.3 goals per game. They struggle in a lot of areas, but it's what the last year doesn't count, in my opinion. It's what he can do this year, now that he's had a full year under his belt.

SPEAKER_01 42:12

Yeah, they got some good players returning. Luke Hildebrand comes back. He had 31 goals and 20 assists last year, Kev. Uh senior attackman Jared Weiss comes back. He had 23 goals and 15 assists. Junior MIDI, Rylan Latrell, 14 goals and 14 assists. Sophomore MIDI, Riley Dowzle comes back, 10 and 10. I mean, they got some players coming back.

SPEAKER_00 42:34

Their top six scores returned, Danny. Top six scores, which is great. And they lose Adam Wright and Alex Davis on defense, but Adam Delski returns along with short stick, D Midi, Caden Flett, and D pull William Thomas, who had 30 ground balls and 13 cost turnovers. So they've got a good core coming back. Now they lose their starting goalie, Matt Pesek. He was at 49%, right where you need him. So that's gonna be a question mark. It's tough, man.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

I don't know what to say about Emmanuel. They got a tough, tough road ahead. Unless they start putting players out. You know, they need to they need to up their roster, they need to get depth.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

Yeah, now, like I said, do we see improvement with the change of what coach is trying to implement? Remember, we had him on the podcast, and he talked about changing almost their whole philosophy, culture, how they do things, because he asked a lot of people what did they want to keep, what did they want to get rid of. And there wasn't much they wanted to keep. They really wanted to change. Change takes time. So this year is going to be if we see improvement, and maybe it's not always just some wins and losses, getting closer, making closer scores, you know, maybe they do get one more win. You know, what what do they really do with in The team stats. How do they actually play as a team? That's kind of what you got to look for in this team.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

Coach got an uphill battle. That out-of-conference schedule is not an easy one, especially Montevallo and Land are out of the gate. Two, you know, two very, very formidable teams. Yeah. Nationally, you know, new insane.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

Davis and Elkins, that'll be uh a good match for them. Emory and Henry, new team, Virginia State uh second year team. They've got Tusculum, who's you know, really starting over too. So, you know, there's got some ones where they we'll see where they really compete, but you're right. Montevalo, Lander, and Coker. I think those will be tough for them.

SPEAKER_01 44:42

Yeah, I agree. I think I think the the Lions, it's gonna be more of the same from them guys, sorry to say. Until I see something different.

SPEAKER_00 44:51

I I think what you've got to look at once again is not the overall record, but how do they play? Right. What are the team stats? What do the box scores say? And really more on the team side than an individual, right?

SPEAKER_01 45:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

Exactly. I think that's what you want to see. Okay. Here's a team, Danny, that really shooks things up this year with their head coach announcement, and that's Leez McCrae, the Bobcats out of Banner Elk, North Carolina. Yep. Head coach John Grant Jr. Need We Say More.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

Just uh went into the National Hall of Fame, didn't he? LaCrosse Hall of Fame just recently.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

Yeah, yeah. And he's in every other Hall of Fame: Delaware, NLL, Major League Lacrosse. He's in all of them.

SPEAKER_01 45:44

Brings a lot, brings a lot of pedigree to Lee McCray. A lot of excitement. We had him on the podcast. A lot of excitement, not only in Banner Elk. I actually felt bad for a guy because Hurricane Haleen destroyed his beginning. Yeah. You know, if you think about the story, just his beginning. He really couldn't get on the ground rolling, rolling, rolling like you would want to. A guy with, you know, his energy and his background.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

What did he say? He said he had like three or four recruits that were supposed to come in that week.

unknown 46:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

That had to cancel out. And he was planning to bring in a lot of mid-year guys. Their roster's not out yet, their schedule's not out yet. And you know, I think a lot of that has to do with how many guys is he bringing in mid-year.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

Well, last year they went three and eight overall, and they were 0-7 in conference. Kevin, well, you and I that both know Lees McCrae has been a team that has struggled since its inception. Yeah. This team has struggled to get players, they struggled to play, you know, uh competitive lacrosse. You know, they really have. They've just been a team that last year only had 21 on their roster. How do you compete? How do you compete? You can't compete.

SPEAKER_00 47:06

No, no. And when we talked to Coach Grant, he said, you know, the players that have stuck and stayed are quality players. And he's just trying to bring them up to the next level. And he's going to incorporate a lot of players that he's bringing in. I think it's going to be a new look team. I'm not sure you're going to see, once again, a lot more wins in the win column this year, but you're going to see a more competitive team. I can guarantee that. This is a new look team.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

Well, you're definitely going to see a team that's going to be coached. Okay. It's about execution now, getting the right players. You can coach all day long, hoping, hoping that it all pulls together. They do return a couple of pretty good players. They do return senior attack, Spence Cohns. He had 14 goals and three assists, had 17 points. Junior MIDI, Dylan Gignack comes back. Junior MIDI, Valentino Cortez comes back. Junior goalie Eddie Patterson and junior defender defender Calvin Matlock out of Houston, Texas. 6'1, 200 pounds. They do have some players. If you know Coach Grant, I know that he's been working hard to recruit. He did get recruits in there. If you saw the Instagram, um, and he was going to go into the portal. You know he's going to have to go into the portal. Um, Kevin, this, you know, Lee's McRae's is one of the worst teams number wise in all of D2. Can Grant turn it around and how quick. I just think he's got a lot of work to do. And this team is in a complete revamping overhaul.

SPEAKER_00 48:54

Yeah, totally agree. It's going to be an overhaul. It's not going to all happen this year. Coach even said that. He said, if you try to do it all in one year, it's not sustainable. So this will take some time. But I'll tell you, just with his name and his background, if that doesn't, and he gets the the backing and the resources he needs from the school, then this can be turned around. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:27

They their first game is the Wingate Bulldogs.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

Yeah. Like we said, we we know that they're playing them because we already said that we talked about Wingate. But other than that, we don't, you know, I'm not really sure what their schedule is, but we know that's their first game because that's Wingate's first game.

SPEAKER_01 49:42

They step into the arena against one of the best teams in all of Division II. Lee's McCrae is going to get a big lesson that afternoon. Yeah.

unknown 49:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:51

They are. But you know what? That's what's cool about John Grant Jr. He's going to get games like that, put them on the schedule, show his teams that's what you need to aspire to be like. Because Wingate's going to be good. And you think they're going to call the dogs off because it's Lees McCrae and it's John Grant Jr.? No, that's not going to happen. You know. So I think I think it's awesome for Division II that John Grant Jr. is in our division and everything that he stands for and has accomplished in his career. I think him coming to Lees McCrae was a surprise. It was a surprise, I think, to a lot of people. Yeah. You know, and when I when we had him on the podcast, I had to ask him. I was like, why? And you know what? He gave a really straight up honest answer. And he's like, I wanted to build a program.

SPEAKER_00 50:42

Yep. It had the bones. He liked the commitment that he was being told by the the administration. He loved the area. He thought it was great for his family. There are a lot of pluses. And the real downside for him that happened in his first season was the hurricane. They were out for about a month, if not longer. It put a damper on the on the beginning for sure.

SPEAKER_01 51:08

Because you know he wanted to get, you know, just get on the tracks and get that train rolling quick.

SPEAKER_02 51:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:13

And the hurricane came, blew everything out. He didn't even know where players were. They were looking for players. They couldn't get in touch with players. One of their players was a volunteer fireman in the town, and he was out rescuing people. It was crazy. Rescuing some of his teammates. His own his own teammates, that's right. So tough, tough little beginning there for Coach Grant, but you know what? He's he's gonna he's gonna put his stamp on the program 100%. Um, I'm praying that the Bobcats give him the resources to do what it needs, what needs to be done to get that program up and going. Right. You know, it's gonna take resources, they're gonna have to get heads in beds, they're gonna need bodies. And uh I think this is the start of something different at Lees McCray. I think it's gonna take more than just this year. They're gonna take their lumps. They're gonna take their lumps, but you know what? It's all good. It's good for Division II. It's a real, it's a plus.

SPEAKER_00 52:08

Yes, I totally agree with you. And it would be interesting to it'll be very interesting to watch how they they progress this year and what they do. And we'll just see. Now let's move on to the last two teams, the newest teams, both came from the peach belt. Young Harris was in Conference Carolinas last year, so that's their second year in the conference. Uh, the Mountain Lions out of Young Harris, Georgia. Their head coach, Brandon Gelder, is now in his third year. And I'll tell you what, he is starting to turn this program around. Yeah. I mean, they were 6-9 in 2024 and 3-4 in conference.

SPEAKER_01 52:48

Two years ago, three years ago, they didn't have a team.

SPEAKER_00 52:50

Yeah. Four years ago. Yeah, three, four years ago, they did not have a team.

SPEAKER_01 52:55

They basically started all over again.

SPEAKER_00 52:57

Yeah. Yeah. So they total reboot. They showed some real improvement. They beat Lee's McCrae, Emmanuel Chowan in conference. They beat Mars Hill. They beat Tusculum. They beat Shorter. And now, Danny, even though that was last year, now their roster is up to 42 this year. Yeah, he's done a lot of work, Coach Gildart, man. I mean, that's they still have a very young team, but they're starting to get seasoned.

SPEAKER_01 53:27

You know what? I never knew where Young Harris was. I'm like, where the hell is Young Harris? It's in Young Harris, Georgia. Yeah. Where the hell is that? Right. It's all the way up north near the South Carolina. Yeah. Yeah, near the South Carolina line. It's like two hours directly east from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and about two hours north of Atlanta.

SPEAKER_00 53:50

If you ever watch their games, I love watching their night games at that field. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful stadium, beautiful surroundings. Really kind of cool uh backdrop when you watch their games there. I really, really enjoy it. Now, their 2025 out of conference, Danny, is Anderson, Tusculum, Mars Hill, Coker, Emory and Henry, Lander, and Newberry. So, except for Lander, they've got a sack out of conference schedule.

SPEAKER_01 54:23

Yeah. Yeah, they do. I tell you, I like what Young Harris is bringing back. They improved, they improved substantially in every category last year. You know, that you know that again, this team didn't even exist after COVID. It was shut down. They return pretty much everybody, Kev. Okay, a team that was six and nine, three and four. They return pretty much everybody. Senior attack, Tommy Chris comes back, 22 and 28. Sophomore attack, Brady Stokes at 20 goals and 16 assists. You know where he's from? Queen Creek, Arizona, man. Wow. Attack Dylan Young, midfield, David Tyrick, Hunter Stag, Lucas Olsen, Colespin, uh Colby Conley was second team all conference last year for them. I mean, defender Brent Sowan comes back 6'4, 210 pounds, first team all conference.

SPEAKER_00 55:26

54 ground balls, 37 cost turn hours for Ben.

SPEAKER_01 55:29

LSM Kieran Ips Ibster Ispister? How do you pronounce that? Kieran Ispister. Yeah. Another first team all conference kid. Ryan D Francisco. Hey, Kev, this is still a young yet solid team that I think is going to approve again. I think this team is trending upwards. And I think, and I'm going to go on the record and say right now that two years from now, the 2027 season, Young Harris is going to be a squad.

SPEAKER_00 56:00

Yeah, that's a good good prediction. That's a good prediction. I think Coach has got them going in the right direction.

SPEAKER_01 56:08

Everything's trending upwards. Everything's trending upwards. Everything, all the numbers, everything.

SPEAKER_00 56:13

And you know what they do? If they keep improving, that helps their recruiting, right?

SPEAKER_01 56:19

Yeah. I mean, again, I didn't know where it was. So they're up in the mountains, they're up there. But again, this Coach Geldard has this team improving in just about every single category. And they really don't lose that much. Attackman Wyatt Peak. Really?

SPEAKER_00 56:41

Who else? Yeah, they that's about they've got a they lose a few guys. They lose Nick Baker. Um but like that. We uh Wyatt Peak and Nick Baker, and then they've got a lot of other guys coming back. Interestingly, what's even even more interesting is the guy you said, Kieran Isbister, who's a defender, had four goals and four assists along with his 40 ground balls and his 27 cost turnovers. He's a baller, man. He's a baller. First team all conference. Yeah. So I mean what they need to do this year is put a little scare into the the top four when they play him.

SPEAKER_01 57:23

Yeah, I'd like to see him, you know, like, and I think I think playing Anderson out of the gate is gonna be good for them. Yeah. I I can see them beating Tusculum. I can see them beating Mars Hill. I could see them beating Emory and Henry. And let's see how they play against Lander. Lander's gonna be tough, and so is Newberry. But you know what? That's a great out-of-conference schedule for them.

SPEAKER_00 57:49

Gets them really ready for conference play.

SPEAKER_01 57:51

If they could go, if they could go three and three, that'd be great for them. Totally agree. Totally agree. Because now they come into a conference that quite frankly, they can beat teams. I like this young Harris, the Mountain Lions.

SPEAKER_00 58:08

They're gonna be, they're gonna be the wild card this year, I think.

SPEAKER_01 58:14

I tell you, just so surprising again to me. Like again, three, four years ago, this team didn't even exist. There was a team, there wasn't a team. The coach left, they didn't have a coach. They stopped the program, they started it again.

SPEAKER_00 58:26

Then they had a coach for a year. He we he came from uh Virginia to a private school, really great guy. Thought he was gonna did not stay. So he comes back to a lot of turnover. And he just kept it going.

SPEAKER_01 58:40

Here comes Gildart, and man, he's done a I mean, a really, really good job. He has, he has, and I and his staff. He's he's got this team trending upwards in every single category. I love the out-of-conference schedule. I love the fact that they're young still. I love the fact that they're young yet, seasoned with players that have played and scored goals and played in tough games. I think they're gonna be a much improved team. I say, watch out to the Mountain Lions and conference and out of conference. I think they're gonna be a good team, Pat.

SPEAKER_00 59:15

Yeah, I agree. All right, so let's head off to the team that you forgot about that went to Conference Carolinas. My bad or Hawks. Now, Danny, they went eight and eight last year in 2024. They were 0-4 in conference when they were at the peach belt. I said last preview the goal of that team was to get to 8-8 in the season. And they did that. Now, they did that by mostly getting wins against D3 and NAIA teams. That's how they kind of you look at their 0-4. So the the ones wins they had were all out of conference, right? They beat Thomas More. The teams in D2, they beat Thomas Moore, Lise McRae, and Emmanuel. Their head coach, Jonathan Vance, who had been there only for a couple years and had really tried, that's why it was for him, you know, like he was starting to build it, right? And he was getting it up and he got it to eight and eight. He moved on. He moved on to a new gig that that fit him better. They bring in a new coach sometime this fall, Coach Stefan Ducket, new head coach. Still not listed on their lacrosse website. He is listed in the staff directory. I don't have any information really on him where he came from. He came in kind of halfway through the fall ball season. You know, their roster drops to 23, is what's on their 2025 roster right now. They're out of conference. Once again, it's a mix. They've got some, they're playing uh Davison Elkham, Elkins, Tuskelem, a D3 School Oglethorpe, and then a few NAIAs, Tennessee Wesleyan, SCAD, and Point University. You know, last year they were only had 36.4 shots per game. Their face-off was at 39%, and that was an improvement, but obviously that still needs to improve. Clear percentage improved also, but it was still only at 77%. Their man up was at 33% pretty good. They lose their top two scores and number four and number five from last year. Grant Saunders, Jaden Seeley, Cordell Greenwood, and Ethan Kavanaugh. They do return number three, Lucas Sherer, who had 27 goals and nine assists. They've got some guys on D returning. Noah Gilliam, Ethan Johnson, I think is a short stick D Mitty. They got two D poles, Hunter Hardeman and Joshua Fail returning. Joshua and Fail was only a freshman last year. But let me tell you, this is the bottom line, Danny. They lost a lot of players as well as their coach. I think they have a very uphill climb this year.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:00

Certainly looks that way. Certainly looks that way.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:04

You know, they just don't have the roster, for one thing. And new coach coming in mid-fall ball, it's gonna be tough. It's gonna be tough for them. I you know, I I I hope, you know, you almost look at it like some of those schools we talked to that are just starting. Like, you've got to look at it from uh what stats mean to us. What are the stats that we're going to use as metrics to try to improve upon? They can't look at the wins and losses to improve. That's not gonna get them there.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:42

Shorter is another team that's kind of like struggled the last yeah couple of years, you know. Now they have to, you know, they enter Conference Carolinas, and that's not gonna be any easier. No, it's not gonna be any easier. If anything, it's gonna be harder. Yeah, you know, so it's an uphill battle for them, shorter. Uh battle for Lees, although I think they're gonna be a much different team. I think you're gonna see John Grant's stamp on the team. Totally agree. I think Emmanuel, they're gonna have a long road ahead and until they can start putting heads in beds and getting players there and getting three deep in certain, you know, in all in all facets of the game. They gotta get, they just need to be deeper. I I love what young Harris is doing. I think they're doing a great job. Chwon, I think Coach Schimhauser brings a lot of pedigree. The Yorktown Heights, the Syracuse, that Northern lacrosse, upstate New York lacrosse.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:41

But they got the air, they gotta yeah, they've got to get production, you know, now that the two Eric's are gone.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:49

Right. They didn't now these younger guys are gonna have to step up. You know, they're all a lot of them are sophomores. Again, 36 on the roster. Let's see what you know, Coach Schimmshauser can do there. Um Corey Stross and the Trailblazers, I think they're gonna be a tough team in Conference Carolinas. Again, they return a lot. Yeah, they lose Chachini and Pellegrino, but they do have some studs coming back in Yates Miller and Hayden Moffat. And just guys that can play, man. You know, uh I think uh Caden Castle is gonna add uh a good offensive piece to them, somebody who knows how to play the game, played at high level. Um, I just think they're a team to watch. Uh Bulldogs of Barton, I think they're gonna be a better team than they were last year. I think I think injuries played a big part in how they, you know, wound up seven and ten and only four and three in conference. And then Mount Olive, I think, loses a ton on on the offensive side. And I they do return some senior defensemen and some junior, junior midfielders and attackmen coming back. But I want to see. I think I'm not 100% on them yet. Right. Let's see.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:08

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:09

I think and I think Belmont Abbey is gonna be just fine. I think Belmont Abbey every year is just fine. Coach Barrett is a great recruiter. He always gets studs on both sides of the ball. Yeah, they started out a little slow, but you know, they wound up six and one in conference and and went to the championship again. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:29

So I I expected them to start off slow last year with having such a young roster, and then they pulled it together. Now they've got some more experience. They lost a few guys, got more experience. So, yeah, I agree with you. They're gonna be up there. They're gonna be in the mix.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:44

So now we got automatic qualifiers in Conference Carolinas now. And I think, you know, I think a team like North Greenville's got a shot. I think a team like Young Harris might start skipping. Knocking on that door. Yeah, I do. I do. So it's it's gonna be a a fun year in Conference Carolinas.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:10

Yeah, I agree. It's gonna be great.

SHout outs

SPEAKER_00 1:06:13

All right. So now to close it out, uh a few shout outs. Do you have any, Danny?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:21

Just to our listeners. Just you know, thank you so much for listening and give us your feedback. We appreciate it. It's been another year of uh in the crease with the two knuckleheads.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:32

Yeah, this will be our last episode coming out in 2024.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:37

We never played the game, and here we are with a nationally syndicated podcast, and we got all these people on. It's been so much fun, it's been great. It's been another good year, 2024. I'm looking forward to 2025 and the 2025 season. We've got a couple of more conferences to talk about, and then we get rolling.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:57

Then we get right into it. Okay, I've got two shout-outs for today. The first goes to Coach Shelly Shiner of Dominican. He was awarded the IMLCA Sticks and Service Award. It was that's awarded to the coaching staff, his co-old coaching staff for 2023, 24, 2024 for all the years of community service that they engaged with with their teams at Kane over the years. That's really, really cool. And what he told me is there he's basically cutting and pasting and doing the same thing with the community engagement now with Dominican in this new program.

unknown 1:07:42

Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:43

Really, really, really, you know, we talk about this kind of what you talked about at Delphi and what they did for that cancer. Yeah. Uh like all the schools do it. Yeah, the lacrosse out. I mean, this is another example of how the lacrosse community gives back and what Coach Shelley Shiner did at his old school and what he's trying to replicate with Dominican. So congratulations, Coach. That's awesome. My last shout-out, my second and last shout out, goes to the Munter Ryman family in Hawaii on the Windward side in Kailua. You remember, I've talked to them before. They're my connection to the AYLA, Aloha Youth Lacrosse Association. Paul and Jude are the players. They're the innovators of lax X's and O's for me out there with AYLA. We've talked about it before. They've got unique ideas of how to play lacrosse. I love it. Their mom, Kate, though, is an innovator herself. She started her own company called Rogue Wave Toys. These toys are beach toys, Danny, that have really solved the plastic addiction and problem that we've got. They are made from a proprietary blend of compostable plastics that are derived from renewable feedstocks. What does that mean? That means after their use, or if they get washed away in the in the in the ocean. It biodegrades. Biodegrades. They compost themselves. So there are no plastics in the ocean or in the ground. That's awesome. Really, really cool. If you have I love that kind of stuff. If you have not looked at road grave toys, I'm telling all our listeners, look it up. Now I live on the ocean. I live right next to it. They're really cool. That's a cool stuff. That's awesome. Now, their dad, Dan, he's the idea man. He's the equipment manager for AYLA, and he's done a good job there. But he's come up with a unique idea that I'm going to try to help him spread. And that's coming up with a lacrosse tournament that we're calling, or he's calling, lacrosse Ohana Invitational on Oahu. Ohana means family, okay, in Hawaiian. It's akin, Danny, to the Maui Invitational for basketball that's played right around in November, right?

unknown 1:09:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:00

His idea is bring like four to eight college teams. He went to Notre Dame, so he wants to get Notre Dame out there. Bring four to eight college teams to Oahoo to play like in a fall ball tournament. Wow. That'd be cool. He's thinking even like this is a long-term thought. He's like, well, let's do it, let's shoot for 2028, same year as the Olympics. Wow. We need to get sponsors. I need to talk to anyone out there, coaches, any listeners, parents, anyone who knows someone who's built a lacrosse tournament that can give me help on how to build something like this. Please DM me. DM us through Instagram in the crease. Help me find the right people to talk to so I can brainstorm and I can help Dan, the idea man, in bringing this to life on Oahu.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:54

That would be pretty cool. It'd be kind of like the Crown Classic in North Carolina. Well, that's what I want to.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:59

I actually want to find the the uh the guy who's put that together, the crown classic. Dan's gonna reach out to Maui Invitational folks, see how we can figure out how they gotta they have a ton of sponsors, obviously. There's got to be ways that you got to get sponsors to help defray the cost for teams. I would love to do it like the Crown Classic, where you get some of the roll across these now.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:21

Basketball teams are only like 12, 13 guys on the team, a couple of coaches, roll across the city. And they have bigger six, yeah. They're like football teams, yeah. So the D1s, you know, yeah, the Nother Dames, the Syracuses, the Denver's.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:36

They may have to just bring a travel travel team with them this year. That would be pretty cool, though. That's a great thing. If we could figure it out, it would be awesome. Yeah, that's cool, man. See. So if anyone has any help for us, I'm I'm all ears. Please help me out. But with that, Danny, we close out 2024. For twenty twenty-four, that's a wrap.