DII Lacrosse Game Time - a look back at Week 10 and a preview of Week 11

Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Most. I'm your co-pilot, Kevin Stenstrom, and with me as always is the pilot in command, our plane commander of this podcast, Danny Moran. Hey, Danny.

SPEAKER_04 0:49

Hey, Kev. How's it going tonight in Northern Virginia? How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:52

It's going well. It's going well. I have to point out, though, that I used that that reference about co-pilot. We're flying solo tonight, you and me. We have no guest analysts. We have no player spotlight. It's just you and me. It's just what it is. I hope the fans don't mind. No, I don't have to mind. They're going to have to just be in the back of the plane listening to us jabberly.

SPEAKER_04 1:18

We love our banter, man. They love it, the fans. They love it. It's time to roll with the changes, Kevin. Oh, yeah. A lot of changes coming up in D2. All these teams are coming into the conference tournaments. The tournaments are the competings are setting ready. It's time to roll with the changes.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

I love that, Danny, because we are in the middle of conference play, and things are starting to shape up. And now teams are thinking, do I get into my conference tournament or don't I? And there's a lot on in stake or on stake or at stake. At stake, yeah. At stake. Gotta use the right preposition there. Took me a while. Ooh, preposition. That's a good word.

SPEAKER_04 2:11

Conjunction. Conjunction.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

What's your function? So you're exactly right. And so we there's a lot of matchups that we'll get to that are happening this next week, and ones that happened this past week that really have those repercussions. You know, what's going to happen? How do they how do they end up in the pecking order? Who do they need to beat? Do they need to run the table? Is it in their control? Or is it do they need help from others? That's about where we're at. So every team's got to roll with the changes, and most of them want it to be in their destiny, right? They want to have control.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

They want to have a chance to get in. Once they get in, it's survive in advance, just like March Madness, right? Yeah.

unknown 2:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:56

Survive in advance. So you get in, anything can happen on any given Sunday, especially this year in D2, Kev. It's been quite the year.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Yeah, it certainly has. And so with that, Danny, let's get to your top

Top 10 Countdown

SPEAKER_01 3:08

10 countdowns.

SPEAKER_04 3:21

Ah, Kev, this week's top 10 countdown, week 10, number one, Adelphi. Rollin, rolling, rolling. They are just keep on rolling.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Is it the repeat recording that you do?

SPEAKER_04 3:33

Pretty much at this point. They beat St. A's in a really close game, 15-14. They beat Malloy by one. They came back from behind to win that game. And Delphi just keeps rolling along, man. They're number one, and they're number one for a reason. They are tough. Their defense is ridiculous. And uh Mikey Dernan had himself a day against St. A's. He had five goals in that game. And they have Assumption next, Adelphi.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

So they're trying to play both Assumption and Pace. That they were saying last time I was watching the Malloy game. If you look at that, those are all tough games. Yeah. But they seem to know, like we said about Tampa last year, a lot of times, and even this year, they just find a way to win. That's what a Delphi does. When they were down to Malloy last night. Six to two at half. They didn't panic. Nope. They're like, we got we got 30 minutes. We got plenty of time. That's right. And we got a deep. Play our game.

SPEAKER_04 4:41

And that's what they did. They had Genteel in goal, though. They didn't have Tamey last night. Because of an illness, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

So number two. Yeah. I'm sorry, go ahead. No, no, no. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:55

We need help.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Do we have a player spotlight or a guest analyst helping us?

SPEAKER_04 4:59

So polite to each other. We can't get anything done. Number two, St. A's lost to a Delphi. St. A's goes to eight and one. Ben Turpin, four goals in the loss. Number three, Tampa. Rolling, rolling, rolling. Beat Rollins 10-5, and they play St. Leo next. Rex Kesselring with a day, had two goals. And did you see John Gruden with?

SPEAKER_01 5:21

I was going to say that. I watched that. Not only that, I I DM'd Coach Sully because I saw the little video with him and Gruden on the side. I'm like, I said, that's really cool. He's like, yeah, it was a lot of fun. He goes, we better suck, not suck tonight, is what he said. Which is awesome. I'm like, yeah, so now not only are they rolling, rolling, rolling, but they get celebrities in their from their backyard, John Gruden, to come over and give him a pep talk.

SPEAKER_04 5:47

Yeah, Gruden lives in Tampa, so. Yeah. Number four, Wingate Bulldogs, rolling, rolling, beat Newberry 16-12 in a crazy fast game. The dogs go to 9-2. Four goals for Sean Clark in that game. They face North Greenwood, uh Greenville tonight, and then uh Lincoln Memorial next week. Number five, Pace, rolling, rolling, rolling. They go to 10-1. They beat Southern New Hampshire 17-10, and they got three tough games coming up, Pace. They got Bentley, Adelphi, and St. Ace to finish out their season. So very interested to see how Pace goes with those three games. Number six, Meryville, 9-2 now. The Saints are beat Quincy 16-6. Wyatt Robertson with five goals in that game, Kev. And they face pretty tough Rockhurst team next. Your boys. Yeah. The boys of Rockhurst.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Make it to the top 20.

SPEAKER_04 6:45

They got into the game.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

I think that's all my influence. It's my influence.

SPEAKER_04 6:51

It could be. Number seven, Lenore Ryan goes to eight and three. They put 30 up on Emery and Henry. Eli Bashi with five goals. And they face Anderson, big, big, big, big game for LR next. Number eight, Newberry. They fall to 9-4. They lost to number four Wingate. Liam Vollins, six goals in the loss. And they face LMU on Saturday. Number nine, Seaton Hill. They go to nine and two. They beat Tiffin rather handily, 23-7. They're face Point Park and Northwood next, Seaton Hill. So they got a good chance of winning out. Number 10, Anderson goes to 11-2. They beat LMU 19-3, and they face Anderson next. And that's our top 10 countdown. A couple of scores to note. Thomas More over DE 28-7. Yeah. Wow. DE's having a hard year this year.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

New coach, young coach. They've had a turnstile on there for coaches. Let's see if this one stays. That's what they need. They need consistency and stability. 100%.

SPEAKER_04 8:04

Lewis beat Undy 15-7. Remember in the beginning of the season, I said Undy was still young on offense and they still had to do some work. I was right. They still have some work to do, Undy. Yeah. Uh let's see. Mercy over Robert Wesley in 10-7. Good game for Mercy in that game. How about Davenport? They go to 7-3 with a 20-9 victory over Lake Erie. Jaden Ashley, five goals, three assists in the game. And our boys at Wilmington, they're doing pretty good, man. Silently kind of beating people. They go to 8-4 with a 17-6 win over Bridgeport. Josh Wetson with three goals in that game. Lees McCrae. It's got to be the surprise team of Division II this year. Uh beat Mount Olive 18-3, Kev. 18-13, I had. Oh, I'm sorry, I had 18-3. My bad. Anadi five goals, four assists. Are you kidding me? Nine points. Lees is at eight and five, and they look pretty good in conference. I mean, they got a good chance to get into the 6-1 in conference.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

The only team better is Belmont Abbey. They're in the tournament.

SPEAKER_04 9:21

Good chance to go to the championship as well. Yeah. How about Florida Southern? Getting their legs going now, a little late in the season, but they beat Lynn 12-9. Dom Verradi for four goals and two assists. Emory Riddle and a close one over PBA. PBA's much improved, Kev. They've really gotten a lot better. Emory Riddle beat them 11-9. And those are just some scores to note, Kev.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Yeah, I got a couple more for you. Wheeling over Tiffin 11-9. Why that's important. Wheeling has been right in the middle of that GMAC. New team like Tiffin. That's a close game. That's a close game. It was a good game for both teams. You just talked about uh Malloy and and uh Adelphi. They also beat De Uville before that on the weekend 19-7. Monte Valo over UAH, 24-10. That's a lot bigger than I thought it may be. I thought that was kind of one of the throw the throw the records out type of thing. The other one, though, and this is interesting, Holy Family against Post. Holy Family won out 14-13. Close game in the CACC. So those are some other scores to note.

Week in Review

SPEAKER_01 10:31

But now it's time to get into our weekend review. And let's just start off right off the bat with number one of Delphi, our game of the week against St. A's. They pull it out in overtime, 15-14. This game did not disappoint. Like you said last week, and fuego. Yeah. I'm picking our uh game of the week. I thought it was a great game. I thought they were pretty damn even. It was eight ties in the game, Danny. Yeah, it was a good game. What was interesting though was there were runs. There were runs that you that you would think, like just off the off the bat, Adelphi goes on a 4-0 run, right? And you're thinking, and and Christian Thomas, who was in that game, was like a brick wall to begin with against anything St. A's was going against. And then and you're like, okay, maybe this isn't gonna be the game I want. No. Later on in the quarter, this is still in the first quarter, Saint A's scores three goals in 30 seconds.

SPEAKER_04 11:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

To make it 4-3, and then the then up and after one, 5-5 tied. And it that was kind of the what you saw in the game.

SPEAKER_04 11:46

I I thought it was a really, really well-played game by both teams. Saint A's had their chances. Just came up a little short, Kev. I mean, their offense is good. They run some good offense. They run quick. They get under their guys. They were able to beat one-on-one matchups. They moved the ball extremely well. Very, very, very impressed with St. A's.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yeah, I agree. They've got several weapons. We brought Matt LeMay on. We you got guys like Ben Turpin, same years as him. Now he was like the fourth attack man last year. Now he's come into his own. Yeah, which is just amazing. You've got other things like Eddie O'Brien. You've got other players that just fit well in that system that are really, really good. And so they've got several options. And you got the same thing on the Adelphi side. It was just so close. Look at it. It was 5-5 after one. It was it was uh what was it at? It was 7-6, um, eight-six at half. St. A's was up eight, six at half, and then it was ten-tent after three. I mean, that's how close it was. It was just back and forth. It was a chess match in, you know, what are you gonna do to get open? Which is interesting was both teams had, especially Adelphi, had trouble in the first half getting the ball in the middle, you know, feeding it into the middle of the field, into the near the crease. They either were they were trying to force it a little bit, the defense was good, they just went there, and then in the fourth quarter, that's how both teams were scoring. They found seams in the defense and were giving great passes on the crease to score. And and really, when it went to overtime, Danny, I was like, yeah, you figure anything else would happen in this game? I mean, that's exactly how it just matched up. I was probably saying that beginning of the fourth quarter. Like, this is got this is an overtime game written all over it.

SPEAKER_04 13:42

It was a fun game to watch. Very interesting. I thought both teams played really well, both offensively and defensively. I thought both goalies played well. I thought both Fogos played well. It was a good, good lacrosse game.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Well, that's the other thing. We talked about that. Quinn Gannon. We thought, well, is he gonna have and he did to begin with. St. A's won a lot of them. They couldn't put Barry the biscuit because Tomey was like a brick wall, but that kind of evened out. I mean, if you look at the stats, they're pretty well, they were pretty dead even except for St. Ay's led in ground balls and face-off, but face-off, it wasn't maybe like a three, three face-off difference. It wasn't like it was huge.

SPEAKER_04 14:23

No, it was really tight. I mean, the numbers are pretty close in that game. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

So, you know, for Saint A's, Ben Turbin had four goals, one assist. Matt Lemay had two goals, two assists. Both Charlie Dean and Mark Boyle, two goals, one assist, and then Chris Claflin, one goal, two assists. That you know you don't even now you throw in the Eddie O'Brien. It wasn't, he probably had a goal in there. That's that's a lot of weapons. And then a Delphi, look at Mikey Dernan, like you talked about, five goals, two assists in that game. Vinny McDermott and Noah Gibson both had three goals. Brayden Dunellen had two goals, two assists. Gavin Herzog on D, three ground balls, two cause turnovers.

SPEAKER_04 15:03

He's good, man. The short stick D mids for Delphi are excellent. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Yeah. They're they're really good. They're really good. It was just a phenomenal, phenomenal game.

SPEAKER_04 15:13

Those two are going to meet up again in that NE-10. I know it. And it's going to be. See if CNAs can knock them off in the tournament.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Yeah.

unknown 15:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

That's all right. Because they beat him in regular season last year but couldn't do it. And so maybe they can turn the tide.

SPEAKER_04 15:35

Then they'll play them probably in the NCAAs. If if let's see how it happens. Let's see what happens. Because even if a Delphi were to lose in the tournament, they're getting a bid. You know, they're going to get a bid. They're going to have a high seed as well.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 15:52

That should be great to see them play again one more time. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

All right. Another game I got to watch. I don't think you got to watch this. This is the HBCU Championship every year. They've got a belt for it. It's really cool. I I forgot that they had that, and I saw it on Instagram post by the winner of Virginia State. Virginia State pulled this out 12-9 against UDC. It was played on their home field. These boys, Danny, get after it. This was a physical, physical game. And just like I said last year, these two teams improved. And oh, by the way, UDC was winning this game for most of the game. Really? They outscored Virginia State 6-3 in the first half. Wow. Wow. And Virginia State did not take the lead until there was only seven minutes left in the game. I just think uh now Virginia State outscored UDC in the third, but it was three to two. So the score is eight six after three. And then they just took over in the fourth. They outscored them, uh outscored UDC six to one. And I think that really tells just a little bit about depth and size of rosters. Not that Virginia State's is huge. It's just that much more bigger. You can have just a little bit more rest for some of your guys. That's the only thing I could see. But it was it was it was a really good game, and it's fun to see. I would love to I actually would love to see UDC pull this game out. I love both teams. But you know, Virginia State has won. This is the third time in a row. I'd love to see UDC pull it out so they could get that belt in their hands and see how they celebrate because Virginia State players, they celebrate with that belt. It's like a heavyweight championship boxer's belt. It's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

It was uh it was a fun game.

SPEAKER_04 17:58

HBCU, it's like a such a classic every year, you know, for these two teams to play each other.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

And let me tell you, Miles Henry for UDC, who's a freshman, by the way, and had five goals in the game. Yeah. He made it 9-11 with 420 left, 425 left, but they couldn't muster anything more, any more goals against uh their deep uh Virginia State defense. They kind of shut them down after that. Really, really good game. You know, besides Miles Henry, Calem Hollett and Alan Fuentes both had two goals and one assist on Virginia State side. Devre Kirkland had two goals, two assists. Amari Kennedy has two goals, one assist. He's also a freshman of Virginia State. So if you look at this, they have a lot of players that are not even graduating next year. Yeah, you know, that are gonna improve. And if if UDC can recruit some more and get a bigger roster, they're gonna be even better. Absolutely. Andre Brigham had two goals and Christian Watts on defense for Virginia State, three goals, three ground balls, two cost turnovers. It's just a great game to watch every year, and I think those teams just will continue to improve. That's what I hope to see.

SPEAKER_04 19:11

Yeah, it's great that they're playing every year. I love it. It's awesome, and it's great for both both schools.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Yeah, hopefully they're hopefully that's another way for D2 to grow that you get other, I would love to see other HBCUs get in because it just grows the game. That's absolutely 100%. Okay, how about St. Leo at Florida Tech?

SPEAKER_04 19:34

Oh, Florida Tech, St. Leo. What'd you think of that game?

SPEAKER_01 19:41

I was not surprised on who won. I was a little surprised at the domination I really think Florida Tech had on St. Leo. They win the game 16-8, and I just think they had their number. They outplayed them, and they definitely outphysicled St. Leo in that game.

SPEAKER_04 19:58

Yeah, they certainly did. The first quarter saw some good fast lacrosse Kev between two ranks, Sunshine State conference teams. Ben Baker buried the first biscuit of the day for the Lions. Three minutes later, Max Henry buried one for the Panthers. Tristan LeBlanc scored the first of his two-goal day for St. Leo. Two minutes later, Joe Kowaleski found Thomas Strong for a nice goal, and we were knotted at two. Ryan Chancer found the back of the net. Florida Tech went up 3-2 after one. Pretty solid first quarter, kind of what I was thinking it would be. The second quarter, St. Leo, they were winning face-offs, Kev. They were winning face-offs and controlling possessions. While senior attack Thomas Nealand buried one, tying it up for St. Leo. FIT said enough and ran and ran off five unanswered and took an 8-3 lead into halftime. And you know what? After that, they didn't look back. Their defense dominated the game. They dominated St. Leo. St. Leo couldn't make good passes. They couldn't get good shots off. Jax Francisco again making big saves. Again, the kid has been solid in goal. He might get himself an All-American nod this year, Francisco, if he keeps it up. In the fourth quarter, Florida Tech was playing fast defense and now forcing St. Leo into bad shots. And the Panthers scored four in that frame, holding St. Leo to only two. And that was it. Have a good day. Good night. Thanks for coming. Florida's Tech looks very good. They're 9-2 and 4-0 in conference, Kev.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Yeah, they outscored St. Leo in every quarter. Now it was close in the first quarter, but after that, you know, they kind of they they took control. The other thing I would say, Danny, and maybe it was Florida Tech's defense on what they were doing. I did not really see the crisp ball movement. An off-ball movement from Frank St. Leo that I've seen in other games.

SPEAKER_04 22:03

Yeah, they played tight. Once they got down those four or five goals, they started playing tight. You know, they weren't loose anymore. You know, they weren't playing their brand of ball. And you know what? Florida Tech's defense was the reason for that. Their defense is good.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:17

And their offense is good. Their defense makes offense for Florida Tech, you know. They cause turnovers, they get out in transition and get possessions back. Because, like I said, St. Leo was winning a lot of face-offs in that game, and they were controlling possessions, just couldn't get the ball past Francisco.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Right. And the I would agree with you. I think, and without a doubt, Florida Tech's offense has a lot of weapons, but I think that offense can play free when you got a defense that's like your security blanket.

SPEAKER_04 22:48

Yeah, yeah. 100%. If you look at the stats, uh shots, it was 38-31 Florida Tech. Shots on goal, 24-19. Turnover, St. Leo had 15. Florida had Tech had 13. On clears, Florida Tech was perfect, 23 for 23, and St. Leo was perfect for 13 for 13. Ground balls, St. Leo had the lead uh at the edge on the ground balls 29 to 23. And the EMOs uh one for four for Florida Tech one for three for St. Leo. For St. Leo, they dropped a seven and four. They're three and one in conference now. Uh Tristan LeBlanc had two. Thomas Neal and Anderson Smith, Raucci, uh Alex Clark, Ben Baker, and Owen Wills each with one. And for Florida Tech, Thomas Strong, he's killing it, man. Three goals. JD Ross had three goals, Max Henry, two goals. Brooks Van Eslan had two goals. And a group of guys, Kane, Chancellor, Borneck, Adleman, Addison, and Joe Kowaleski, each headed one. So Florida Tech looks very good to me, Cap. That's a lot of scores.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

A lot of guys contributing.

SPEAKER_04 23:55

That's correct. That's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

Yeah. Really good game. All right, let's move on to another game. I'd not get to watch this whole game. I watched more in the fourth quarter. This was a close game all the way through. St. Michael's against Assumption. Great game. Assumption wins it out 11-10, but St. Mike's broke it open and had a 4-1 lead.

SPEAKER_04 24:21

Yeah. And 4-1 after one.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:25

But then Assumption rattled off six in the second.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Yeah, and then they came back, it was 7-6 at half, right? I mean, like it was, it was and that was basically, and then it was just back and forth after that.

SPEAKER_04 24:37

100%. It was a great game. Went back and forth. These two teams are so evenly matched, Kev. Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Yeah, and you know, I I'm really pleasantly surprised with St. Michael's play this year from what they did last year, because I said this last week, and I'll say it again. Last year, they killed it out of conference, and they struggled in conference.

SPEAKER_04 25:02

They're struggling in conference too. But not by score. They're one and four in games.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Yeah, but when you look how close they are in score and the games they've played. Oh, they're in games this year. I mean, sure. It's not like they are not. You know, like last year, they didn't they weren't that they were the these games weren't that close. They've been very competitive. Very competitive. You would think that Assumption at their field would have won by more goals and it wouldn't have been close. St. Mike's almost took that game.

SPEAKER_04 25:29

Yeah, it was anybody's game. I mean, it really was.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

I mean, they had a chance with 31 seconds left after the Greyhounds drained the clock, but Shane Corcoran made a crucial save at the end to secure the victory. I mean, that's how close it was.

SPEAKER_04 25:47

Yeah. McHugh got the Hounds on the board first, then St. Mike responded with four goals of their own. It was four-one after one. The Hounds opened up the second with goals by McGrath and short. McHugh and Staunton scored, and Assumption regained the lead 7-6 at half. Only one goal was scored in the entire third quarter, and the Assumption led after three, eight to six. It was a close game.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:13

In the fourth, St. Mike scored three straight, and St. Mike's retook the lead nine-eight with four minutes left. Patrick Johnson buried a biscuit for the Hounds. St. Mike's scored again and retook the lead. Then Boomer Staunton tied it up at 10 with two minutes left. Then he scored the go-ahead uh goal with a minute and 54 left. So his two goals came in the last two minutes, and they couldn't have come and had a better time.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

So talk about good timing, huh?

SPEAKER_04 26:41

Assumption goes to 9-3, they're 4-2 in conference. Uh St. Mike's drops to six and four. And like I said, they're one and four in conference for St. Mike's. Sean Murphy, good player, man. Four goals. Chris Davis had two. Noah Varano had two. Taylor Wchensky had one. Mike McGuire had Miles McGuire had one. And Nate Golinchenski. This kid is a good goalie, man. He is a great keeper in between the pipes for St. Mike's. He had 11 saves. And Noah Poirier was really good, too. He's 14 for 25 at the dot. So, I mean, their numbers were pretty good. Uh, for assumption, Ben McHugh with three goals, Boomer Staunton with three goals, Patrick McGrath with three goals, Patrick Johnson with one, Brian Short with one, Shane Corcoran. How many saves did he have? 11. He had a good game, Shane. Yeah. And Connor Stack was 11 for 23 at the dot. So I like uh the number 17 Assumption Hounds. They're good, man. I had them, I've liked them all year, Kev.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Like I said, I I've liked them too. They deserve that ranking, and they deserve to be above St. Mike's, and obviously St. Mike's. You you pointed out. I just thought it was surprising. I guess when I turned to the game, I expected Assumption to be up by more, and I didn't think I didn't think it would be as close as it was, and I'm really excited to see that. Other other players on the defensive side for St. Mike's, Taylor Wazinski, four ground balls, two cost turnovers, and a goal. Yeah. And then on Assumption side, Declan Turner, four ground balls and four cost turnovers. So all quality game, yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's go to the last game that we were able to watch. And that was, and we talked about last week, and that's Wingate at Newberry. 16-12 is the final. That score says nothing how this game went, Danny.

SPEAKER_04 28:38

Crazy game. Good game. It was fast. Crazy. Fast game. Got both teams moving fast. I was at the game. Little lightning delay. Yeah, it was.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

I kept on trying to refresh my feet. I'm like, what's going on?

SPEAKER_04 28:52

6:30 start, wound up being more closer to 7.30, 20 to 8. By the time that game is over, it was like 10 o'clock at night. You know, it was a long day. But uh I tell you, man, I I thought it was a really good game. Uh the Wingate Dogs looked very, very good on offense. And their defense looked very good too.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

Here's what I would say. I think that was one of the best first halves by Wingate's offense I have ever seen, if not the best. Because what amazed me was first of all, it was 10-2 at half. They were way up. Everything, everything seemed to go in for them. Every shooter, even if it looked like they weren't really hands-free or they weren't in a good position, the that first half, that ball went in. Like precision shots. You know, to just move the ball. But that's what I'm saying. Even when the even when Newberry's defense was on them, there were a lot of goals that it was really good just because of their ball movement. I I totally agree. But sometimes there were shots I'm like, why are you taking oh, it went in. Like, how'd that go in?

SPEAKER_04 30:04

I know, I know. Well, Sam Goss got the dogs on the board two minutes into the game. Goss had a creative, really backhand wraparound for a second goal. It was kind of a cool goal. Sean Clark buried one, not one, but two in the quarter, and the dogs led four-one after one. They looked pretty good. The second quarter was all Bulldogs. Joey Moran scored a hat trick in the quarter and helping the Bulldogs to six unanswered in that quarter, and the dogs were out in front hard, 10-2 at halftime. Coach Cotter and the Newberry Wolves, and were they were scratching their heads, man, like what's going on? In the third, Vinnie Patrico scored again, and it looked like the dogs were gonna run away with this one. Now, it was the Wolves' turn to rattle six unanswered, which most of came in unsettled situations. I'm gonna say they scored at least five or six goals in unsettled situations, not six v6, whether they got an interception or a ground ball and got caught, you know, with guys coming on and off.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

Yeah, but good for them, right?

SPEAKER_04 31:13

Like, no, they took advantage of what they were.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

This is what I would say right then because they they refused to give up, Newberry. They're good, man. They are very good. They they ref like 10-2 against a game team like Wingate, and they made it a game in the third quarter.

SPEAKER_04 31:33

Yeah, the Wolves, they clawed themselves back into that game on the back of Liam Bollins, I have to say. You know what?

SPEAKER_01 31:41

Phenomenal player.

SPEAKER_04 31:42

He's so fun to watch in person. Dude, he's lightning fast. And he's like McDermott. There's not a uh a shot that he doesn't like. He'll take any shot from any spot, from any angle. He was really good. But in the fourth quarter, Sean Clark and Vinny Patrico were able to keep the dogs on top, but not without a fight from Newberry. Bollins and Chiazzo both scored for the Wolves to bring it to 14-10. But Patrico scored again. Newberry pulled their goalie at the end in the final minute, and Moran buried an empty netter to kind of like seal the deal. So really good game for uh Wingate Bulldogs. And you know what? Newberry's got to keep their heads up. They came back from they were down, they were down big, and they came back. Uh for Newberry, they dropped to nine and four. They're five-2 in conference now, Kev. Uh Liam Vollins, amazing game. Six goals. Matt Burt had two, Scott Williams had two, Mason Trofello had one, and Derek Salazzo had one. Uh for the Dogs, Vinny Patrico with four, Sean Clark with four, Joey Moran with four, Sammy Goss with two, Jack Murray in that second line midfield for uh for the dogs as continues to contribute and play well. And Kyle Spence, you know, what can you say? How many assists did he have?

SPEAKER_01 33:08

Two assists. He had two assists. Kyle Spence usually has as many assists. Five assists as he has. Yeah. He was more quiet in that game. However, he still contributed. And like you said, like Liam Vollins, and you gotta watch Scott Williams. Scott Williams is in every play. Yeah, he's good. They're good, man. Newberry's good.

SPEAKER_04 33:33

They're gonna be tough in that tournament, I'll tell you right now.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

Well, uh to finish off talking about that game. We was 10-2. Actually, the whole second quarter, I'm thinking, like, when is Newberry gonna catch on? When are they gonna go on their run? And then all of a sudden, Wingate would score again, and I'd be like, God dang it. Like, and it's almost like took a little bit of the wind out of the sails each goal. And when they came back in the third quarter, I'm like, aha. Like this team has the fight in them, and they're not gonna give up because they know they can go toe-to-toe with any team in the sack.

SPEAKER_04 34:08

Yeah, again, six v6. They did they struggled a little bit offensively, Newberry, but those they got those, you know, those those goals unsettled and and they took advantage of it. So they out they outscored the dogs 6-1 in the third. But uh the dogs had just too big of a lead to you know to really come

Offensive Player of the Week

SPEAKER_04 34:31

back from. In the crease, player of the week offense. All right. Our offensive player of the week, Kev. I have to give it to somebody who hasn't been playing a lot this year. And that's our man Ryan Balko from Adelphi. He's been injured. He hasn't played in over a month. Comes back last night after missing all of all these games due to injury and scored four goals for the Panthers. And helped them for their one-goal win, man, over Malloy. I mean, without Balko, he's uh I don't know if that team wins that game. So, Brian Balco, he's our offensive player of the week. A Delphi.

Defensive Player of the Week

SPEAKER_04 35:15

In the crease, player of the week defense.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

Okay, our defensive player of the week is senior LSM from Malloy, Thomas Kofod. My man. Seven ground balls, five cost turnovers against Duville last week. Unbelievable. It's amazing. Yeah, great player. Well deserved.

Games to Watch

SPEAKER_01 35:42

But now, Danny, it's time to turn to our games to watch this week. Let me start off with a couple teasers. Happens early. It'll be this Thursday when this episode drops, and they're both Armac games. It's Northwest Nazarene at Adam State. Why is this interesting? Adam State won the first meeting 11-9. Both have beaten Dominican. Northwest Nazarene has to win this to have a chance at the playoffs. If Adam State wins, they're probably in the playoffs for the Armac. That's how important this game is.

SPEAKER_04 36:13

Adam State and the playoffs and the Armac. That's something that we've never said.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

No, well, no, when they had when all four were in there's only four teams back in the day, they all played. But they haven't been there in a couple years. So this would be a good thing to see again. The other game is the rematch, Westminster and Colorado Mesa. This time it's it's at Colorado Mesa. Round one went to overtime and CMU won. CMU is 6-0 in conference. Westminster is 6-1, and they want that revenge. That could be a good game. What other games are you looking at?

SPEAKER_04 36:46

Okay, I like Pace Bentley in the NE 10 coming up this week, Kev. I think that's gonna be a good game. Pace has been rolling, but Bentley's been playing tough. I'd like to see how that game. I think that's gonna be a good game to watch.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

Very good game to see.

SPEAKER_04 37:02

It's at Bentley.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

Who do you like? You gotta I I like Pace, but I think the interesting thing with that is Pace is tied in the conference with Adelphi. They're both undefeated in the conference right now. Pace definitely wants to keep that going. Of course. They gotta keep pace.

SPEAKER_04 37:23

They're playing well. They're finding the city. And they do a good job at it. They find ways to win. Some of those wins aren't pretty, but they're wins. And that's at the end of the day, it's a W. And Mariano's a great coach, man. I love what he does with that team. I love how he coaches. I love what that team does on the field. They're just well coached, man. They're just really, really are well coached. They just do a lot of good things on the field. And you know what? I like pace in that game against Bentley, even though it's at Bentley. They always play each other tough. It's always a good game to pace Bentley games. I agree. Who else do you have? Who else you looking at? I also have, and I think it's going to be a big, big game. And this is in the sack, and that's Anderson at Lenore Ryan in between the bricks.

SPEAKER_03 38:12

I think this is gonna be a burn burner.

SPEAKER_01 38:15

I agree. They're both at five and two in conference. Right there with Newberry at five and two, right? So this is interesting for seeding for the sack tournament. Who do you think?

SPEAKER_04 38:30

I I like LR at home.

SPEAKER_01 38:36

I Mancini. Well, but you've got Dixon and Rush, too. Mancini. I I think that's gonna be a toss-up. I think it may come down to goalie play. They both have good offenses. Both defenses are are stout. Probably not as yeah, I I think this I may come down to goalie play and the defenses. Who's gonna shut down the other offense? Does Donnie Powell get going? Or do guys on the on the Delphi guys on the Anderson side get going?

SPEAKER_04 39:17

Well, again, I think Mancini.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

Braden Badron and other ones like that.

SPEAKER_04 39:21

Yeah, I mean, they're stacked on offense. And you know what? We'll see what they do on defense. I I just like LR at home. They're tough in the bricks, man. They're tough between the bricks. I think Anderson's a great team, too. But I don't know if you're gonna get a lot of.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

I think this is a pick'em game, but I I have to give the nod to LR because it's between the bricks. All right, before we get to the game of the week, a couple just to note, a couple of things to note are they're all on Saturday, and that's Montevallo against Flagler. Both are undefeated in conference right now. Flagler has the better overall record, nine to four. Montevallo's not even at 500. They're six and seven. So you gotta, and it's at Flagler. Probably give the nod to Flagler, but that's an important game in the in the conference as well. And other games that are interesting is Flagler better watch out.

SPEAKER_04 40:12

I mean, Montevallo's not gonna go up of there and suck. Flagler's had their struggles a little bit this year.

unknown 40:17

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 40:18

A little bit. Not like last year, where they were killing it. They've had their struggles this year, so that's a gonna be a good game. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

And here's a game, another game in conference, Bridgeport and Holy Family. Holy Family's 3-2 conference, Bridgeport is 3-3. So this is kind of for seating and where do they make the tournament? I think this is gonna be really interesting. Holy Family's only has not played Wilmington and Bridgeport has, and that's the difference in what their record is in the conference. I think this is gonna be a close game. I think it's gonna be a great game to watch. I like Holy Family. I think I'll I'll go opposite. I'll say Bridgeport just to be a naysayer, just to be a little contrarian with.

SPEAKER_04 41:06

Love you, brother. Love you.

SPEAKER_01 41:08

All right. The other game that's interesting, conference matchup is Mercy at Malloy.

SPEAKER_04 41:12

Another good matchup.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

Mercy's 2-1 in conference. Malloy is 4-0. Brandon Pazienza. Does he make the difference for them at face-off? Or does like there is Mercy's defense up for their against Malloy with Cam Dorfin, Michael Corbo, and Daniel Fitzgerald? I find this is a really interesting matchup.

SPEAKER_04 41:32

It's where?

SPEAKER_01 41:34

It's at Malloy. I say Malloy.

SPEAKER_04 41:38

I like Malloy in a close one. In a close one. I think Mercy gives him a game. I do too. I think Malloy's gonna have a lot of uh a lot of confidence, especially after that game with a Delphi last night. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 41:53

They just got a they've had a chance to win that game. Like they could have won. Yeah, they were right in it. They were right in that game.

Game of the Week

SPEAKER_01 42:45

Time for our game of the week. And the game this week is on another Wednesday, which we're not even gonna be talking about when we record next week, but it's an important one. It's another game in the Sunshine State. It's Tampa at Florida Tech. Florida Tech lost the first game. First game of the season was against Tampa. It was an out of conference game. They lost 10-6. Remember how surprised we were at that score. Tampa to one goal in the first quarter. This is the rematch now on their field. Both teams are undefeated in the conference. This is for the number one seed in the conference tournament.

SPEAKER_04 43:23

It's gonna be a barn burner. Florida Tech is not intimidated by Tampa. No. They're not intimidated. And you know what? Tampa, like we've said a hundred times, they win. They find ways to win, but they're not destroying teams, they're not killing them. And Florida Tech's got the defense and a good goalie and a good good face off kid. Like I think they're gonna give Tampa a game. I do too, and they But being that Tampa's so stacked and so deep, especially on defense. I'm gonna give a slight edge to Tampa. Tampa. I say they win it. I think it's gonna be another close game. What say you, my friend?

SPEAKER_01 44:11

I'm gonna go opposite.

unknown 44:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

I'm gonna say Florida Tech. I'm either gonna be a hero or a GOAT next week. But I'm gonna say Florida Tech. Why do I say that? I think you said this is not gonna be a trap game for Tampa. Okay, it's not. They know what Florida Tech is. They know how good they are, right? But I think Florida Tech at home, with Florida Tech and their defense, I think their defense is as good as Tampa's.

SPEAKER_04 44:43

Yeah, I do. I think their defense is very good. I don't know if it's good as Tampa's, but it's up there. I mean it's it's close.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

And I and I just think I almost need to email Lax reference and tell them to do the stats for me on uh do the the simulations and the runs for that one. But that's uh it's gonna be a great game. And so I'm gonna go with Florida Tech. What the heck? All right, I love it, Kev.

Shout outs

SPEAKER_01 45:08

All right, and with that, Danny, we have no player spotlight. We have no guest analysts to talk to. It's just time for shout outs, my friend. I have no shout outs tonight, Kev. No shout-outs. I've got two. Two quick ones. The first one goes out to Drew Wheeler, goalie at St. Leo. He's recorded over 500 saves in his career. Amazing. That's phenomenal. That's just awesome. So congrats to Drew Wheeler. Second shout out to a coach we've had on a few times. He has just reached over 100 or hit his 100 career wins. That's Coach Jason Lang, head coach of Montevallo.

SPEAKER_04 45:53

All right, coach. Congratulations. 100 wins is no joke, my friend. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

He's the one that really started that program and it's kept it going. And they're they're always a good team. He's brought them that you cannot count them out. They don't have the record. I was surprised when I saw they were six and seven, but look what they're doing in conference. They're just a really good team. And I reached out to him. Of course, what does he say? He says, I have a lot of good assistant coaches, a lot of good uh fan support, a lot of good players, good administration. He just deflected anything that he did, which is typical for him.

SPEAKER_04 46:30

Character shows his character. Congratulations, coach. Good job. I love this song, Kev. Reminds me of my high school days. Roll with the changes. Here we go.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

And for this week, Danny, as we roll with the changes, that's a wrap. That's a wrap, Kev.