Conference Previews for the 2025 Season - Peach Belt

Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Men's LaCross. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stentrum, and with me as always is my AQ loving partner, Danny Moran. Hey, Danny.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Kevin, what's up, my brother? How's it going tonight in Northern Virginia?

SPEAKER_00 0:31

I am excited, Danny. Excited. First of our conference previews we are recording tonight.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

It's starting the train is starting to roll, don't you think? The train is on the track. It's ready to rock and roll, man. I'm excited as well. We're getting into the 2025 season, and I think a lot of people look forward to our uh our conference previews and see what we have.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Coaches have already noticed that, right? They've already said it to us, waiting for your conference previews.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Yeah, yeah. It's exciting. I'm I'm I'm excited for it.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Yeah, it's always fun. It's always fun because it gives us a chance to it helps me as we get ready for the top 20 at the end. When we do 10 weeks of this, then we do our top 20. It's really all this homework we do that helps me figure out where I'm gonna put teams. It's a lot of homework. A lot's gone on this year now.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

It has, it has.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

I think you'll see that. See that in our first one this year.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

I think with the COVID year and all of those guys are gone. You're seeing a lot of teams with new faces, a lot of core guys, core groups with a lot of different uh colleges over the over the in the country. Have they gone on to graduate, whether they were seniors or graduate seniors or fifth years or yeah, yeah. You know, that's all gone now.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Yeah, seven years. And I think you'll see with some of these teams in the peach belt, which we're gonna talk about tonight. Some of these teams are are fairly new, but they've gotten to the point where they've matured where they're they're experienced when they weren't years ago, they became experienced the last couple years, and now they're starting to see that turnover and having to get fresh blood in there. Yeah, they're not that new anymore, really.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

It kind of seemed like they've been around a while now. Well, five, six years later. We love the peach belt.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Oh, yeah. We love the peach belt. Well, let's let's talk about that first. Why did I say the AQ lover and you? Because we've talked about this on several podcasts. You and I both think the AQ is a great thing. And the peach belt tonight, right now, we're doing the peach belt and the RMAC next week. Right, those two conferences are inextricably intertwined now because of the AQs.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Yes, because that the end of the season, they'll play the winner of each of those conferences, they'll play each other for the AQ.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Right. Because to qualify as a conference, you've got to have six teams. Right. The Peach Belt sits at four, Rmax sits at five. They did something so strategic and so cool. They decided to come together so that both conferences have a shot at an AQ. Yeah, man. I think it's awesome. It's awesome. Yeah. And I and I think with the Peach Belt, even more interesting, only four teams now. Shorter is now in Conference Carolinas.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

But there is unparalleled parity in this conference.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Uh completely. It's it's a pick'em game almost every game, right, Kev?

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Yeah, we will see as the as it unfolds when they go through their out of conference. Maybe that will be more the telltale sign of where they really fall. But I think when you get there and you look at the past records of who beat whom in the conference, it's these four beating each other up to get into the tournament and then go for the conference championship.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Right, right. I'm wondering how many teams are really beefing up their out of conference this year, Kev. You know, as I'm looking through some of the um some of the teams have their schedules out, and some teams aren't as beefy as they used to be. I don't know if they have to, if they just do well in their conference, get a chance to get to that championship game, then they got a chance to get that that that bid, you know, that automatic qualifier.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Yeah. It will, I think that's a good thing to look at as we go through these previews. I think there's two philosophies, right? There could be that one, let's save ourselves for the conference, because it's not as um important. The important thing is getting into the tournament. The flip side can be I need to play tough competition to be ready for conference time. Right. And so I I I don't know, I don't know which way. I'm not a coach, so I don't know which way to go.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

And and I think you're gonna have those teams that are gonna have like good records. Like uh, you know, the let's take uh let's for example, who let's take UND, just for example. Let's say they go 12 and 4, but they don't win their conference, they still have a chance to get in, especially if they're ranked like in the top 10, then they'll go to like RPI strength of schedule, that type of thing. Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

So that's where it becomes important.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Yeah, so some teams might still beef that that out of conference up. You know, I think some of the lesser teams would want to do that, and I think some of the upper echelon teams might not have to do that as much.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Oh, see, I think some of the it depends. I think some of the upper echelon will want to have a good out of conference because if they lose a few and they don't and they don't win their conference tournament, they want to look at one of those at-large bids.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

100, 100.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

So it's gonna be a good thing. It's gonna be interesting, yeah. All year it's gonna be interesting to see how it matches up and a little different now, and I think it's gonna be interesting who they pick for at-large bids and how that transpires over the years. Like, what does that become? How does that now people start looking at it? You look at the RMAC, we'll get into it next week. They won't have to travel as much, they shouldn't have to travel as much. Now they still have to travel because they they there are not a lot of teams in the West that they can play out of conference, but they may not have to stack the schedule as much and have all the tough teams like CMU always, Colorado Mesa always did to try to get ready to get in the tournament.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Yeah, they still have a pretty good out-of-conference schedule. I was looking at them too.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Yeah, they do. Yeah, so does CUI. They're road warriors, like Coach said. They're road warriors.

Peach Belt Preview

SPEAKER_00 6:52

They are okay. Well, you ready to get into it though in the peach belt? Yeah, get into the peach belt. What do your notes say? Who do you want to start with?

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Well, we should start with the conference champs, shouldn't we?

SPEAKER_00 7:03

There we go. Lander Bearcats.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

The Lander Bearcats. You know where they're located, Kev? In Greenwood, South Carolina. Not too far from Columbia. Coach Anthony Lapore at the helm there at Lander. Yeah, he's he's done a really, really good job over the last several years. Uh, they were 12-4 last year overall, three and one in conference, conference champs, yeah, uh, with a 15-12 win over Flagler to win the championship. Uh, they had a couple of really good wins last year, signature win. They had a good signature win, 13-11 win over Mount Olive last year, and a 13-12 win over Anderson last year. They had one bad loss, and that was to Montevallo. But uh the Landa Bearcats were a very good team, very well coached, a lot of good athletes, deep, big roster.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

They and here's we talk about the tight competition. They beat Flagler and Alabama Huntsville in overtime during the regular season. That's how tight the competition is in this conference. I mean, I'll tell you right there. And and you're right, they had some really good signature wins. Um, they're out of conference for this year, Danny, is Coker, Emmanuel, Limestone, Young Harris, Newberry, Lees McCrae, Walsh, Virginia State, Anderson, North Greenville, and Wingate. So it's a mix. It's a mix. They're it almost it to me, if you look at it, they've coker, they're gonna be it's gonna be a close game. They've got a few games in in between. They kind of go up and down if that's the schedule. They finish, though, kind of like going progressing up. Virginia State, Anderson, North Greenville, Wingate, right? I mean, like that is a trying to propel them, I think, into the conference play. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

They lose some guys, though, Kev. They lose some of their big boys, man. Some of those names that we called out a lot last year for Bearcat. Guys like Kyle D. Crispino's gone, Nolan Oki, and True Conroy, who had a really, really good year last year. That's that's 133 points between those three guys.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Yeah. Yeah. And then they lose, they graduated a lot of polls, as Coach was telling us when we had him on a call. And they lose Quinn Ingalls, James Lynn, Nick Benoit. I mean, they've got some work to do to get that next man up mentality with their younger players.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Yeah, Zane Dalpey comes back, the attackman, Carter Wilcox comes back. He had a really good year.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Number two and number four scores on the team.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

So, like they got some guys with some, you know, some experience on the offensive side. Jeremy Woodrick, the midfielder, comes back. Uh, Nick Page, the goalie, comes back. He was at 52% last year, Kev. That's not too shabby. Not too shabby. And and Tyler Carroll, the face-off guy, comes back. So they have some core guys coming back.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Special teams, which is always important, right? Starting off and finishing. Starting off and finishing. And they have 15 freshmen and five transfers. Coach says, Coach Lapore was telling us that the freshmen are really doing well in fallball. Maybe they can make a little bit of difference. Here's where I'll tell you the real difference that you would don't always think about this because you always talk about it, Danny. A good head coach has good assistance. Yeah. Well, they pulled off a coup down in Lander this year. They have a new assistant coach and coach Alex Williams, former head coach of St. Rose. Good coach. He's a good coach. Accomplished coach uh Lapor was saying he's come in zero ego ego, only a net positive. And if you look at some of their other assistants, former players, Sunder Bishop, Quinn Ingalls, and then Coach Gifford, who's been there a long time. That coaching, that's a big qualified coaching staff to get them ready for the peach belt again.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Oh, absolutely. Just imagine what Coach Williams brings to the table. You know, being a former head coach, you know, working with new programs, getting programs off the off, you know, working with guys like Gardelman and stuff like that over the years. Uh, you know, the lander landed a great coach. I mean, they got a good coach and staff there, you know, 100%. So yeah, lander, lander looks good, man. Uh, you know, it's gonna again, Kev, like we said in the beginning of the show tonight, I think a lot of core groups are gonna be gone with those 50-year COVID guys gone. You're gonna see a lot of teams with new faces and this year. And Lander's no different. No different.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Right. I think Lander's one of those teams also with I think Monteval. When we get to Montevallo, Lander's a team where they're going to have to grow as the season progresses. They're not going to come out, I think, you know, just you know, 22 to 5 winning games like that. They're they're they are going to have to grow in experience and gel as a team as the season progresses.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Well, hopefully the upperclassmen and guys that have some seasoned uh games under their belt can get these new guys, you know, to buy into that culture and uh see if some of these freshmen and young guys can step up to the plate and continue to do what the Bearcats have been doing over the last couple of years, and that's winning championships.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Yeah, yeah. Totally agree. Totally agree. Okay, who do you want to go to next?

SPEAKER_01 12:53

We might as well go to the runner-up. I mean, talk about the championship. Let's go to the runner-up. Flaggler Saints. The Flaggler Saints. I like this team, Kev. Ever since they are located, located in beautiful St. Augustine, Florida. Florida. Friend of mine's daughter's a freshman down there, and she's loving it. Uh, coach Brian Duncan, who's an amazing coach, Kevin. Yeah, yeah. He's he got this, you know, they were four years ago. This is their fourth year in in Division II. And ever since they came in, they've just been trending upward and upward and upward and upward. Um coach brought that team from a club team into division two. They had established players that kind of had like an offense and a defense setup, but they didn't have the depth. And now they got they're starting to get the depth, they're starting to put it together. They they were the conference runner-up last year in just their third third year in Division II. So that's that's an amazing.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Well, here was here's what I would say. I agree with you, Danny. If you look at where they were when they started in 22, they had a fairly large team in 22. So they had depth in numbers, but I don't think they had the depth in the skill yet because it was and nothing against club. Like you said, there's a there's something for everyone. But you know, if there are players that were there that wanted to be more play club and not play at the D2 level that you've got to, the that commitment there can be different, right? And I think over the past few years, that's what he has gotten his team to. He's gotten those kind of players that are committed to the to the program and D2. They were only seven and nine last year in 2024, overall record. But that doesn't show what they actually do because what they do is you got to see how close they are in games that they even lose. They beat themselves up every year and out of conference playing the Sunshine State to get ready for the the conference tournament, right? And conference playing, conference tournament. Second year in a row, they went to the finals and lost to Lander by three goals. Like, if you don't think Coach Duncan has that written somewhere in the locker room, like we're not gonna let this happen again, like we're going to we're not gonna let us lose by three goals, we're gonna win.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

I would have that plastered everywhere. I would too, man. You know, like you said, seven and nine, two and two in conference. But you know what, Kev? That that's that record doesn't really reflect the team as much because they were really competitive in a lot of games. Like they didn't get steamrolled too many times, you know. They they they were in those games that they lost, you know, and they're facing ranked squads.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

You know, I I I I think that goes back to when you say two and two, that goes back to the parody as well.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Yeah. Um, their top three scorers are coming back, Trace McDonald, junior attackman. How many times do we call his name last year?

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Well, he was he was the peach belt player of the year last year.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Kid's a beast, man. Yeah, really. Um uh Tyler Douglas, senior midfielder, Luke Burton, sophomore attack, they're all coming back, you know. And um they lose goal, they they lose Nate Nately of their goalie, but Josh Stephen returns. And Logan Tobias and his 21 goals is gone.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

He's gone. Antinus Macusis is gone.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Antonus Macusis. That's a name right there. Yeah, he's gone. He had a great, he had a great career at Wagler. Uh Jaron Shaw, his 17 goals are gone. But um most of a good portion of this team returns.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

So they've got, you know, they've got their face off. Matt Matriga, who is second team all conference coming back, uh, Brandon Gushalt, they're a D Pole, second team all conference is back. They've got a couple of MIDI's Griffin and Garrett Moore, Luke Burton at attacks coming back, and they are stacked at D MIDI. Yeah. Danny, Ben Byrne, Brandon Watson, Parker Collins, Jacob Hauser, they're all back. So, and they have a J uh Jacksonville University transfer that his 24th season was cut short. D-pole Gordon Ogden. So let's see if with him in the mix, as if he stays healthy, what he can do.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

You know, just from watching Coach Duncan's teams over the last four years, he likes athletic kids, man. Those kids get after it, they're fast, they're nice and athletic. And I just, again, I think, you know, they don't lose a whole, whole lot there.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Here's the difference what I saw from 23 to 24 with the Flagler Saints. They, like you said, they play fast. In 23, they played fast and sometimes will get ahead of themselves, right? And then they cause turnovers, you know, almost unconscious turnovers, unforced turnovers. Yeah. Yeah. Because they'd just be playing at such a fast pace, they couldn't, it was just it was almost a little too chaotic. Last year, that happened very few times.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Yeah, they learned to control the chaos a little bit. Yeah, that comes with being seasoned, that comes with playing games, that comes with being coached, that comes with repetition of practice, that comes with, you know, and chemistry on the field as well as off the field with your teammates.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

And now you're adding again. Yeah, they're not losing a whole lot. A lot of these kids come back. They they yeah, they've got a good mix coming back. They've got also like about five transfers coming in and 15, 10, 15 freshmen.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

So it's big class, 20 kids coming in.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Yeah, so they've they've got a lot to work with, I think, um uh this year. They're out of conference this year, Danny. Rivals, what they usually do. It's heavy Sunshine State, which makes so much sense for where they're located. They've got Lynn, Tampa, Emory Riddle, Florida Tech, Florida Southern, Rollins. They sprinkle in Barton and Malloy, but they also play St. Leo and Peach and uh Palm Beach Atlantic. So, you know, when you go through that gauntlet of the Sunshine State Conference, you know you're prepared to play in the Peach Belt. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Tampa, you know, ranked, Rollins ranked, Florida Southern ranked, you know, Florida Tech in and out, receiving votes, and uh St.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Leo last year ranked for a little bit. St.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Leo was ranked for a little bit last year. They're gonna be good again. Yeah, so when you play teams like that, sharpen the iron sharpens the iron, right? Yeah. Now I have high expectations.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

I have high expectations for Flagler this year. Well, I'm sure Coach Duncan is ready for that. Now, what's interesting on their stats is they they've got great team stats. The only thing I would say that which is always find interesting, it was kind of the same thing that they had in 2023. Their power play was only at 27%. And yet their penalties, they had 84 penalties by their opponent's 68. So they're still in the box a little bit more than probably they want to. And you know, you could probably say, okay, we don't mind that as long as our power play, our man up, is a little bit stronger if it's like 35%, right? But that that's not those two to me aren't balancing out right now. And I'm sure that's what they're one of the things, some of the things they're working on.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

Well, they also faced seven ranked teams last year and some really good defenses. So again, yeah, they're still trending upwards. They're still they're still relatively new. Yeah, they are. They are, you know. So again, I I just love the way they play. I love what Duncan does with them. I love the style of play, and I have high expectations for uh Flagless Saints this year.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

So you've already got them going to the uh winning the conference tournament right now on paper.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

The way it looks, yeah, to me right now.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

That's okay. I love it. Stick to your guns, Danny. Stick to your guns. I love it. I just like them, you know. I just it all makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Everything pulls into he's a good coach, man. He's a good coach. He gets these kids to play.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

I I tell you, I agree with you, but I think Lang and Lepore, and uh, and now Fry is fairly new. He's only in his second year at UAH, but you look at Lang and Lepore, those two are great coaches for their teams. Absolutely. So I love this conference.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

This is a great conference when you when you start to break it down like this.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

Yeah, it it's it's crazy. So let's go to Montevalo Falcons, why don't we?

SPEAKER_01 21:58

The Falcons. Located in Montevallo, Alabama, Kev, Alabami. Uh coach Jason Lang, another really good coach. Yeah. We've been with them for a while now, has them playing at a high, high level across. They were nine and six overall, three and one in conference last year. Another, you know, another good team, good parent group.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

How about, how about, yeah, you great parent group.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

They take care of us, Danny. That's right. They did. That's right. For a few other parent groups out there, Montevala parent groups, pretty good, man. The brew crew. They send us swag.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

How about their huge signature win last year, beating number seven Florida Southern in overtime? First top 10 win in program history. That was a cool. That was a great game.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

A high score game. Florida Southern has a really good defense, too. That was a really good game. Oh, it was phenomenal. Phenomenal game.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Now they lost to you, Indy, St. Leo, Maryville, and Emmy Riddle. So, and they lost to Flagler in the regular season as well as conference semis. Same thing that happened to them in 2023. Flagler's got their number. So you know one of the goals that Coach Lang has is to get one more quality win against you know the Sunshine State Conference or others and beat Flagler in the peach belt.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Yeah, they definitely do. They they they've lost a couple of big, big names this year, though, too. Trevain Hunter.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Yeah, well, their top scorer right there. Number one scorer is gone.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Jackson Klucher. Yep. Another really, really good player. He had some great games. He did some, he's a really good player, man. Yeah. Um, and Zach LeBurge, that that's 141 points between those three guys, Kev. Yeah. That's not gonna be easy to replace.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

No, but they've got guys like Jacob O'Kobe at attack and Matthew Bowis. I mean, Matt Bowis had 51 points last year. Jacob had 39 points. So they've got they've got two good attackmen coming back. And then their middies, Morgan Treites and Will Angus. You know, Will played more defense last year, but you know, he's as coach says, he's a big lefty with good size. So look for him on the offensive side, contributing more. But I would agree, like when you've I think you've got from the attack, I think where they're gonna need it is a little more points uh help and some other middies coming forward. Yeah, goalie Alex uh Garcia. He comes back, yeah. He was 55% last year. Not bad. He was the he was the first team on conference last year.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Yeah, and uh junior face-off cole Tanger, he comes back 62 percent. Yeah, he's pretty good at the face-off. He gets he gets possessions for the Falcons.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Yeah, and then Shaffner is their second uh face-off guy. He's at 61%. So they've got a great tandem there. They look to me. What's their out of conference again? Their out of conference goes like this: Emmanuel, Mars Hill, Emory and Henry, St. Leo, Thomas Moore, Belmont Abbey, UIndy, North Greenville, William Jewell, Maryville, Malone, and Walsh. I don't see that as yeah, I don't see that as difficult as what we just went through with Flagler and Lander, but they've got a lot of competition for them. You know, you look at Undy and Maryville, you know, well, Belmont Abbey and then St. Leo, they've got a bunch of ones that can really that will challenge them. So it's a it's a good mix. It's a mix, is what I would say for them.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Yeah, that 141 points, though, man. I mean, Kluczek and Hunter were like ridiculous last year. Yeah. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

So again, they've got some key key returners on on D. James Trainer, uh, 12 cost turnovers, 17 ground balls, Chris Humphrey, Ryan Andrews, and and Nick, Ryan Andrews and Nick Gacka are both their strong D middies for them. So I think maybe they're D that looks pretty good, but then you look at who they lost on D. Luke Hennebal, 72 ground balls, 22 cost turnovers. Will sumner, summer, who is a D midi, 28 ground balls, 12 cost turnovers. Max Citrano, 37 ground balls, 25 cost turnovers. They they've got some guys that have played in a lot of games, like all 15 games, maybe not started, but now are gonna take over the starting roles. So let's see how they fit in those roles this year.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Next man up, as they say, right, Kev?

SPEAKER_00 26:46

I Montevallo and Lander both are right there.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Yep. Again, I think we're gonna see turnover like this in a lot of schools because of that COVID year. I think you're just gonna see core, core kids go. But you know what? Montevallo should be all right.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

I think they're gonna be okay. I I think so too. I I I will tell you, we go back to the parody. I with those, by the time they get through their out of conference, which is like 10 games, for both Landon and Monte Valo, if they keep to they keep improving throughout that, and it may not show in the score, but it's in how they gel as a team, like I said before, and how they play as a team to get ready to play Flagler and to play UAH. I mean, that that's kind of the key.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

I agree. All right, let's get to the last team. University of Alabama, Huntsville.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

The Chargers. Located in Huntsville, Alabama, Kev. Coach Mark Fry, second year there for the Chargers. Last year went seven and nine overall and two and two in conference.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

Yeah. Yeah. Now they lost to Maryville and Lewis last year, and they beat both those teams in 2023. But I think both Maryville and Lewis were better teams in 2024 than they were in 23.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Yeah, their bad loss last year was to Emory Riddle. Yeah. That was their bad loss. And they had a really good signature win, a 17-15 win over Flagler last year. Right, right. Once again, that was a good win.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

Goes back to parody. I know it's I sound like a brilliant. But that's what makes this conference so great.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Right, right. 100%. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

And this year, Danny, their roster is at like 55. 55. I think that's the largest I've ever seen from. They've got 24 freshmen this year. Wow, that's a big class. That's a big class. Does some of them step up? Are they still learning? Are they going to be inexperienced? I mean, they lose um their second score in Arnt, but Pete Fabrizio returns. You know, they've they've got uh some strong guys coming back from D for D. LSM Alex Dorencott, uh D Pole, Colin Galinski, and Willem Will Castell return.

SPEAKER_01 29:13

Yeah, he's good, Castell.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

Yeah, and then Will Bond is now a sophomore. He had 27 ground balls, 19 cause turnovers as a freshman. Their goalie, Tommy Peer, is now a sophomore. Now, if you look at his stats, Danny, they don't look great on paper, but I'll tell you, I watched him last year and he had some really good games last year.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

He's learning. He's learning the game, getting better. He's getting better. It's good that they got returners at the face-off and the goalies. You know, that's that's gonna help them. That's gonna help them immensely. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

So I think Deeds gonna, along with what you said, uh I think Fabrizio's a good friend. Fabrizio's a good player.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

He's a play player. David Friend, Corner McAlpin. Uh, you know, that and you know, I just think they're they're a very good team. 55, you said, coach has homes roster this year.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

Wow. Yeah, and they're out of conference. Okay, I was just gonna ask. To me, this is a very tough schedule. Very tough. Emory Riddle, Limestone, Lees McCrae, Maryville, St. Louis Leo, Lynn, William Jewell, Rockhurst, Florida Tech, Lewis, and Undy.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Say that again one more time, go over that one more time. I was trying to just compute that all in my head right quick.

SPEAKER_00 30:30

Emory Riddle, Limestone, Lees McCrae, okay, Maryville, St. Leo, Lynn, William Jewell, Rockhurst, Florida Tech, Lewis, and Undy. Wow. That's a that's quite the schedule.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

That's quite the schedule.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

That's a packed schedule.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Now do they go out to you, Wendy? Do they go out to you, Indy, or does Undy travel to them? I will tell you in a second. That's that's interesting, Coach Fry put those in the city.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

They go to you Wendy. Okay. They get on the plane and go. And they're going to Lewis as well. Wow. Wow. So I'll tell you what, that is a schedule. That is. That is. I think that's going to be a tough schedule for them, a very tough schedule. But what does it do for them to get them ready once again? If they if they come away from that without many injuries coming to people, all those GLVC teams and limestoning, my God.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

You know, I think that I think the Chargers are going to be a better team than seven and nine this year. I just think they're going to have more uh experience. You know, okay, you got 25, 24 freshmen coming in, but you know, probably a couple of them are gonna get on the field. Yeah. And yeah, though those kids are gonna be good. You know, you're not gonna you're not gonna jump on the field for UAH right away unless unless you can play the game. So it should be interesting. It's an interesting conference, and it's great that they're they're joining with the RMAC.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

I love that. I love that. The fact that they both of those conferences get to play for uh an automatic qualifier is just phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Now, which which conference, the RMAC or or the Peach Belt is the better all all around conference.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

I've been I'll tell you what, it's been it's been brewing in my mind. But this conference, Danny, they've had some turnover if you look at Lander and Montevallo, but they've got guys coming up. I think it's gonna be a great conference to watch.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Yeah, and you know what? Again, these schools, the portal's a thing. The portal is a thing. Okay, so it's a thing. It's a thing now. It is. It's part, it's part of the program. And you're gonna see, again, at least eight out of I'm gonna say 80% of the colleges in Division II are gonna have at least one or two transfers. Some are gonna have four or five, some might have six or seven, you know. You look at the Tampas, it's not a hard sell to want to go to Tampa, you know, if you're not playing at Loyola, you know. I can go down to Tampa and play for a good team and be in a beautiful, you know, school in beautiful weather, you know, that type of thing. So the portal's the thing. I think all the teams are gonna go into the portal every year now. I think that's gonna be part of it. So you're gonna see teams bring in uh whether they're from community college or D3 or D1 or other D2 teams, which happens a lot too. So you're gonna see these schools with new kids, and you'll be like, he's a senior, he's brand new, you know. Like, why? Because he's a transfer from brown, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I hear you.

SPEAKER_00 34:00

And not only that, uh you you're right. And I think what happens with the automatic qualifiers for every conference is now that starts to level the playing field a little bit for those conferences that really didn't have a shot before to get into the tournament as an enticement for better players to come to them. Hey, you look at you you come to our school in the CACC or the or the Armac or the Peach Belt or Conference Carolinas, and you have a shot to get in the tournament because if we play well and win our conference tournament, we're in.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

That's right. It brings that March madness feel to to the two lacrosse now. Yeah, it does. And it's I just think it's a great thing. I like you said, kind of evens things out. Anything can happen on any given day. That one bad bounce, that one pipe, that one bad call, that one off sides could mean a difference in a trip to the national championship, you know, a possible trip to the national championship, or going home. Whereas schools like Mesa, right? Like for so long, they've been knocking on the doors. They're travel, they're road warriors. They have to come out east, they're facing a gauntlet, they'll face two SAC teams, they'll face two Conference Carolina teams, they'll face two Sunshine State teams, and then they go back and then they travel to other teams out there. That what'd they have? Like two home games last year, Mesa? I think they ignore that, but like they they took. Their first home game like was like week nine, yeah, or something like that. Like their first nine games were on the road, and they got you know, they got bounced two years ago. They had a legit, right? Yeah, legit you know, they were 12 and 2. Yeah, they had a reason to be in the yeah, yeah. But they had like a lower echelon team that kind of maybe screwed up the RPI. That's gonna change now. Yeah, because Mace is gonna be like, now is our shot. So I'm gonna be interested to see how the RMAC went because Westminster played well at the end of the year. They came on. I mean, they had a great record last year.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

Yeah, it's a great conference. It's gonna be fun to do next week.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

Yep. I like in the peach belt, I really like Flagler. I just think that that's the team that's athletic, trending upwards. And um I'm I'm picking them to go all the way in their conference this year. Um first, what's it? What's today's date?

SPEAKER_00 36:41

November 5th, as we record election day. Election day, big one. Yeah, yeah. So okay, but I like that. I like that pick. I'm I I'm not there yet. I I'm I I'm thinking it's a pick 'em, but I'm maybe I'm just chicken, Danny, not to pick one yet. But I I gotta think about where I will put them, the flagler team, in the top 20, because I think they're maybe they may be there.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Again, again, Lander loses 133 points between Dietrich Spino, Oakley, and and and uh Crew Conroy. Montevallo loses 141 points for Trevane Hunter, Jackson Kluczyk, yeah, yeah, and Zach Labarge. And UA Charges use lose Ian R and Kyle Light, two top scorers for them, you know. So again, I I just Flagler's got all their boys coming back.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

Oh, almost all. They got a few that are they're losing. So well, I mean, Trace McDonald, he's won.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

He's coming back, he's gonna have fire under his tail. I'm telling you, you better show you.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

We're gonna be talking about Flagler every week, I think, because of you. Well, we'll see.

Shout outs

SPEAKER_00 37:53

All right, well, let's move on. Now it's time to close it out. Do you have any shout-outs, Danny?

SPEAKER_01 37:58

I have no shout-outs, Kev. You're catching me off guard. There's nothing happening really yet. So I've I've got two shout-outs. I'm sure you do. I do.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Well, you know, if you usually you have some and I don't, so this time I'm helping you out. I got two shoutouts. All right. All right, here we go. First one is the coach Jimmy Lang, head coach or former head coach of the former Lyndon Wood Ments program. He was named as the USA LaCrosse St. Louis Chapter Men's Commitment Award for 2024. Which is pretty cool. He gets for the his commitment to lacrosse in that area. Oh, okay. And that I think is very well deserved. Look at it. He played at Linenwood, he coached and brought it from club to D2 to D1. He gave he gave us all to Lennon Wood that program, men's lacrosse, and the St. Louis lacrosse community. Congrats, coach. Totally agree. And let's just say it. I think he and Lennon Wood got shafted by not having the team anymore. 100%. 100%. Yeah. So congratulations to you though, Coach. That's very, very well deserved. Uh, you certainly have done a lot for the lacrosse community in St. Louis, and certainly for D2. And we just give a shout out to you. Shout out. My next and last shout out is to Mitch Pelke. Do you know Mitch Pelke? Ohio State boy. He is, he is. He has a YouTube channel solely about lacrosse. He's a lot younger than us, Danny, so he gets a lot younger crowd. I think they really like him. But he just came out with an episode asking, is D2 real? And he went to LR to find that out. And the answer was a resounding yes. He said it, and of course, every Lenore Ryan player is going to say it, right? He toured their facilities, watched them in practice, talked to Coach P. Evan Voss shared them around. He showed some love to LR and D2. My only disappointment was there are no Lenore Ryan Bears like Evan Voss or Coach P that shouted out in the crease as the only medium that really shows D2 lacrosse some love. Probably forgot. They probably forgot. Maybe it was got on the cutting room floor.

SPEAKER_01 40:31

That's what I can hope. He probably told them, Don't say nothing about any other media. It's all about us today. I saw that on Instagram. It was cool. It was a good bit of 10. You know, he was a stud in the Big Ten, played at Ohio State. You know, and if you look on social media, you'll see a lot of people saying D2 ain't real. And it is real, man. Oh, it's totally real. And look at the facilities at Lenore Ryan are ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

They are. It's amazing. It's a beautiful place to be better than a lot of D1 programs. In fact, that's what Coach Baradine said on the on the show. He's like, except for the Big Ten and the ACC, I'd I'd put our facilities up against any lacrosse uh facilities, up against any D one program. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:23

The stadium's beautiful. That's where they go to play home games and practice.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Locker room was just redone in 2019. Hey, we shouldn't just be recruiting. We're starting to recruit for LR now on this episode. I don't think he needs any help from us. No, no. No, he doesn't need those things. But it was it was great to see that uh Mitch did a great job. It was really fun because he talked to a lot of players, kind of got into their what they're doing socially and everything. It was it was a fun episode to watch. And I think it did show a good side for D2, so it was great.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

Yeah, you know, anything that's positive for Division II is going to be a good thing. You know what? The guys that say division two ain't real are playing in division three, probably.

SPEAKER_00 42:08

Well, I'll tell you with that, Danny, all we can say is to all our listeners out there let's keep D2 real by sharing this podcast with everyone you know.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

Yeah, thanks to all the listeners for all your support. The last four years. So here we go. Continuing into 2025 season, we have our first uh conference preview under the uh under the bridge now. Yeah, it's called In the Books. In the books, and uh next week.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

Yeah. This episode, it's a wrap. It's a wrap, yeah.