Game Time - A look back at week 10 and a preview of Week 11 of the 2023 season

SPEAKER_03 0:00

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Intro

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Hey Danny, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_03 1:41

And the one and the two.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Hey Kevin, how's it going tonight in Northern Virginia? How are you? It's going great. It's going great. I'm sporting my Aloha Youth Lacrosse Association t-shirt that I got in the mail yesterday. So a shout out to some listeners out there that sent it along. Jude, Paul, Kate, and Dan. They hooked me up so I can rep the islands. Nice, man.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

I like it. I like it.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Yeah, you like the rainbow wave and the lacrosse stick underneath. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

I dig it. I dig it, man. Being a beach guy and a lacrosse guy, I dig the shirt a lot. It's very cool.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Very nice. So so enough about me, though, Danny. You know, my wife always says everything's about me, but it shouldn't be. So let's move on. Are you ready to talk top 10 roundup?

Top 10 Roundup

SPEAKER_03 2:32

The top 10 roundup. All right, Kev. A lot of movement last week. So a lot of teams have shifted in the top 10. We'll run them down. Number one still is the Lemoyne Dolphins. They beat Assumption 11 to 3 this week. And uh Lemoyne is sitting at 9-0, Kev. Number two, a Delphi beat St. Michael's 12-7. And a Delphi is 11-0. And Kev, Lemoyne and Adelphi are the only two teams left in all of Division II with an unblemished record. Yeah. And they they meet each other in a couple of weeks. So that should be interesting. Marker calendars, end of the April. Number three, Mercy Hurst beat Davison Elkins. I think they're still scoring. And the game ended like four days ago, uh, 26 to 7, and the Lakers sit at 8-1. Number four, Undy beat a good Meryville team, 15-11. That was a good game. It was kind of fun to watch. It was. And the Greyhounds sit at 9-1. Number five, Wingate beat number 18, Anderson in the pouring, pouring rain 14-9, and the Bulldogs sit at 10-1. Number six, Rollins. The Tars beat Lynn 12-8. And Rollins sits at 9-1 at no at 6 in the country now. Number seven, Lenore Ryan beat Tusculum rather handily, Kevin. 21-7, and the Bears sit at 10-2. Number eight, Mercy beat numbers. Then number 12, Frostburg State 9-7. And uh the Mavs sit at 9-2. That was a good game. It was. Number nine, Tampa beat Florida Southern. Another decent game. Not a bad game. Tampa took it out of them at the end. They won 17 to 8. And Tampa now sits at 10 and 2. And number 10, St. Anselms beat Franklin Pierce rather handily, kept 17 to 7, and St. A's sits at 5-2. And that's your top 10 roundup.

Week in Review

SPEAKER_02 4:53

Excellent. Excellent job there, Mr. Moran. Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

And like you said, I look at this pass as we go into the week in review. There were some crazy games, but really there was some crazy weather this week down south for these games. Oh, yeah. Did you see like the uh the Masters like on Saturday? It was Friday Friday and Saturday. Yeah. Everyone in down south. And we'll get into some of those games, including one that we should have had on the list of games to watch that we didn't. But let's start off on the one it was on Friday. You mentioned it. It was Mercy against Frostburg State. That ended up being a 9-7 win, like you said, for Mercy. This is my notes right at the beginning of the game, probably after the first half. If you liked high-scoring offense, this was not the game for you. But if you liked aggressive, hard-hitting D, this was the game to watch. It was 4-3 at half, Danny, and it was very physical.

SPEAKER_03 6:02

Yeah, they were getting after it. Uh there was a lot of penalties in that first game, a lot of pushing and shoving going on. Hey, it's lacrosse. It's physical. Lacrosse game, you know, top 10 teams kind of getting after it. And it was a very good game. I really enjoyed the game, actually.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

Yeah, so talking about the penalties, there were 13 penalties that teams go man up. It was like back and forth, and and they seemed to score on them fairly regularly. But the other thing I would point out is I think Frostburg was doing a great job with their ride. They did a great job on causing some turnovers. And Mercy, when they were in six on six and then in the defensive side, it seemed that they were pushing out Frostburg's offense. And they were almost happy just to let them shoot outside of 12 yards, knowing that Tommy Umano would just suck it up.

SPEAKER_03 6:57

Yeah, Tommy, Tommy had a really good game in goal again for Mercy. I mean, he's just he's got to be an all-American this year, I think, Umano, the way he's been playing. He's just really, really good. Hey, Frostburg's a very good team. They can score, they have offensive players, they have great goalie play, they have good face-off play. But they met how about Cooner for Mercy at the face-off. It used to be PJ Aguirros, you know, and now there's kind of split in time. Cooner's kind of really taken off, and he's won some big face-offs when they needed the ball, Mercy. So Kuner's doing a great job at the dot.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

Well, you know what's also interesting about this game is that Mercy scored the first two goals. And that's all they really needed because they never trailed. Frostburg would get within one, and then Mercy would get it, uh, bring it back up to two. It just it and a good example of this. Frostburg State had a six on four because of man up. So they had six players against Mercy's defense with only four players. They get a great outside shot that hits the pipe really close, but it doesn't go in. Those were two 30-second penalties, so the clock goes by fast. They pick up the ball, they get it back on the failed clear, and then they score. Now it's even six on six, so they get it within one. But guess what? Mercy comes right back on the face-off, like you're talking about. Yeah. And they score the face-off goal to make it 6-4. So it was 5-4-6-4. And that seems how the game went throughout the whole game. It was a great battle, but Mercy just kept on being able to hold him off. And like you said, Imano had a great game. Meckley had a good game, too, but Imano just won out with 19 saves.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

Yeah, and you know, like I said, Jason Kuner really was he did some remarkable things at the face off. And he he got them some key possessions, you know. I felt that, you know what? Uh uh, it could have gone either way. It was one of those kind of games. Like you said, Mercy never gave up the lead. You know, Frostburg gave him a game, though. That was a game. That was a good game, I thought. I really did.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Yeah, I mean, they go up, what was it? It was nine. Well, with 152 left in the game, Mercy has the ball and they're only up by one. Once again, it's like, what's gonna happen? Brady Kieran Kiernan scores, and so they go up nine seven with one fifteen left by that point now. Mercy wins the faceoff, and that's basically what they can do is just hold the ball. So it was just so close most of the game.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

But yeah, shots were even, yeah, shots were even, and uh, you know what? Mercy turned the ball 21 over, so 21 times they turned the ball over. A lot of them were on clears. Well, that's what I'm saying. That ride. Yeah. Yeah. So, but you know what? The Frostburg's a good team, and I think they're gonna be around a little bit in the hunt. They still have a few games left, but Jake Bauman had three, O McCallum had two, Austin Sipes had one, Justin Malls had one, and for Mercy, you know, Brady Kiernan three, Jason Kuner at the X had two goals at faceoff. He, like I said, he had a really, really good game. TJ Haider, one of the top scorers in the entire country, had one. Um, Thomas Connors and Gibbons, and and they, you know, they're just a bunch of guys that can play on.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Well, and then adding on the defensive side, we talk about them all the time. Justin Gerville, six ground balls and two cost turnovers. So we talked about we talked about that defense. He is the along with Tommy Amano and and of course Jack Kipnis, they've got they're just stacked on defense when when you when you look at it, too.

SPEAKER_03 10:45

Oh, yeah, they're very good. They're a very good team. Mercy's gonna be, I think they'll be going into the NCAAs. I think I agree. I agree. My prediction. I think they're very good.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Okay, here's another one. Roberts Wesleyan against Malloy. Roberts Wesleyan ends up winning 13-12. We called this last week, Danny, a pick'em game. And I said it would be really interesting to see what Coach Delfino dials up. Well, what he dialed up was a total team effort to hold to really hold the Lions at bay. I mean, it was a game that was just back and forth. They continued to exchange goals. It was crazy.

SPEAKER_03 11:22

Yeah. You know, the seven, six at halftime. It was goal, goal. Goal, goal. Yeah. Malloy would score, Robert Weslin would answer. Robert Westland would go up one, Malloy would answer, tie it up. Malloy would go up one, Robert Wesley would come back and tie it up. It's a really kind of good game. I like I like games like that. You know what? They're two evenly matched teams, I think. Oh, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Without a doubt. But if you talk about the total team effort that um that Roberts Wesley and put out, Reed Jekowski had four goals, three ground balls and one cause turnover. Jordan Dietz and Dan Doviak both had three goals and two assists. And Isaac Morero had eight ground balls with Luke Delavek getting through three ground balls and four cause turnovers. I mean, that both both sides of the ball. You look at that. I mean, and then so you you look at those stats, and you might think, oh my God, they they probably killed the other team. No, a one-goal game. That's how close Malloy made it.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

Robert Sweslean did play a team game. Now, most of their goals were assisted. And a lot of different guys got touches, and a lot of different guys got the assists, and a lot of different guys got scored. So Robert Wesley and had to play a full team game to pull this one out. And, you know, Malloy, Chris Delaney had himself a game with four goals. Jack Herzlinger had three. And you know what? A bunch of other guys chipped in, you know, and and and I like Malloy where they've gone this year. You know, they're they're seven and five now overall. And uh just came up a little bit short against a very good Roberts Wesleyan team, Kevin.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

And you know what? I forgot about this until I read the recap. Malloy beat Roberts Wesleyan last year, I think by a goal also. And that was at the end of the season. Well, when we said Malloy was starting to trend up like they are this year. So Roberts Wesley, and they they wanted this game. They wanted to get it back because they were uh I'm upset from the loss last year. But that's how close these two teams are. You gotta put this team on your calendar this game on your calendar when these two teams play.

SPEAKER_03 13:33

I was just gonna say they're gonna meet again in their conference tournament, I think. And I think that's gonna be a hell of a game. I really do. Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

All right, so did you watch? You mentioned it. Did you watch any of the UND Maryville game? I did not. So I'll tell you, Danny, I was coming back from some errands with my wife, and I turned it on, and it was 1110 UND with 1245 left. I was really watching the last quarter, but I went back afterwards and saw the game. The score, the end score of 15-11, does not show how close that game was. Maryville led most of the way. 5-3 after one, 7-6 at half. And like I said, I come in at the fourth quarter, it's 11-10. I'm like, oh my God, this is a game. We were wondering if Maryville could take it to Undy. UI was undefeated in the conference, and everyone else is beating each other up in the GLVC this year. But then Undy breaks it open and goes on a 6-1 run in the fourth, and that was the difference. It was that it was basically the one quarter that they just broke it open. You know, Undy held more possessions. They had a 20 to 10 face-off advantage, but I'll tell you what, it was Maribel's goalie, Steve DeSantis, that really helped keep them in with 16 saves.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

You know what? UI and Rockhurst are both undefeated in the GLBC. And when do these two go at it?

SPEAKER_02 15:05

Next week. It's a game to watch. We're going to talk about it.

SPEAKER_03 15:09

There you go. There you go. I was just thinking about that. I was like, all right, these two are undefeated, and they go out it next week. So Undy still has a couple of tough games on their schedule, you know, before the end of the season. They have an out-of-conference game against Wingate, too, as well.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

And that Rockhurst game is going to be will be interesting. So let's talk. So Rockhurst played against Lewis, who was ranked number 19th at the time. They played at Rockhurst. Rockhurst comes out on top 13-8. Rockhurst caused 14 turnovers and outscored Lewis 6-0 over the final 16 minutes. Once again, Danny, once again, this was a close game. It was 5-4 and a half. Rockhurst was up. But I'll tell you what, some things to mention, and I got to this game a little bit late. By the time I was watching the game, Baden Boyenko for Lewis, who's their top goal scorer, was out. He played for some time and didn't come back. So he got injured, along with their face-off specialist, Dominic Torella. He got injured early in the third. So they were losing some pieces. But I will tell you, I will tell you, I think one of the keys to the game was Rockhurst goalie, Hayden Harris. He had some unbelievable saves. He had 13 saves for the game. He had one damn, not one, three. Three bang bang stops in succession with 420 left in the third to keep them tied at that time. So it is tied at that point with 420 left. And then Rockhurst kind of opened it up and won the game. And so for Rockhurst, you had a Lars Yarkowski with three goals. Ricky Bloom and Jake Fisher both had two goals and two assists. Matthew Kahlberg on the defensive side, three ground balls and seven cost turnovers, with Luke Getz also having six ground balls.

SPEAKER_03 17:14

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Yeah. Seven cost turnovers in a game.

SPEAKER_03 17:18

That's a game, man. That's a game.

unknown 17:20

Crazy.

SPEAKER_03 17:21

The kids getting your possessions alone. A kid alone. You know? That's a great game. So you know what? That'll be interesting to see how Undy plays out. They're a very, very, very good team. Solid all the way around. They're 3-0 in conference, 9-1 overall. And uh they play Rockhurst next week. Rockhurst 6-3 overall, and also 3-0 in conference. So this is a big game for both teams. Both teams. Both teams.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Huge game. All right. Now talking about one you talked about in the top 10 roundup, Wingate Anderson in the rain at Wingate. That was a crappy day down there in Wingate, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_03 18:04

It was nasty. It was 30, it was the wind chill with the wind, it was 18 mile an hour winds, a pouring, pouring rain. I think the game time temperature was something like 43 degrees. With the wind chill, it was probably in the mid-30s. It was miserable.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Yeah, I'll tell you what, you could tell that the weather had an effect because that game was sloppy beginning. Beginning, especially. They kind of calmed down after a while, but it was a sloppy game on both sides to begin, especially in the first quarter. But I'll tell you what, wind gates to me seemed to have control the whole game. Like I never thought that they were gonna lose the game. There was a time, Danny. This is once again, I'm kind of watching on my phone as I'm out doing errands, and they were up 8-3, and then I turned my phone off because I had to go in, talk to some people for something, come back out, and it's 8-6 at half. And I was like, oh, wow, this could be interesting. But I'll tell you, I come start watching the second half, and and uh wingate just held serve the whole way through, and then built on that to win 14-9.

SPEAKER_03 19:11

I agree with you. I never felt that Wingate was um in trouble really, and I felt that they were in control of the game. I didn't think at any point that they were gonna lose that game. I just um they were winning face-offs. Uh Anderson's uh number one face-off guy, Cam Weeks, was not playing. Yeah, and they threw a bunch of different guys out there. And uh Jimmy Cockkamp at the uh at the dot had himself a day, and uh they controlled most of the possessions and then second half, they basically controlled the game. Right. The first half was very sloppy, like you said, there was a lot of rain, there was a lot of wind. The flag was sticking straight out. The flags were sticking straight out. So it was nasty down there. It was very cold, very windy, very rainy. Uh, a lot of unforced turnovers, balls sliding off the stick, going high, going low, you know, that type of thing. It was just some sloppy play.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

Yeah, you mentioned around the bat, James Cotkamp. He went 21 for 26 at the face-off dot. That's a great game. Now he wasn't going against Cam Weeks, and we've talked about this. I say it again. Anderson just looks out of sync with Cam Weeks gone. They've got studs on both sides of the ball, offense and defense. But it seems like to me when Cam Weeks is in the game, he get he's like their catalyst. He's like the catalyst. He obviously gives them more ball possession because of what he can do. Right. But it's what he can do on the run. He can either score or pass it. It opens up their offense a lot quicker for them. Now they've got to play a little more settled without him. And I think that caused him. And so, you know, I hope he comes back soon because they're a dangerous team. They're a dangerous team, I think, without him.

SPEAKER_03 21:02

But uh, they're they're very well coached. Those kids, there's that kid Raven Badron, he he's a freshman. Matty Rogers is a freshman, you know, and they're just balling out those two kids. I mean, yeah, and they got, you know, they got a solid midfield, two solid midfield lines. Their goalie play is very good. Very good. Then you got then you got Cam Weeks, but you know what? Cam hasn't played really in four weeks now, Kev. Yeah. And I don't know if he's coming back. I don't know if he's coming back. It doesn't seem that he is. Yeah. I could be wrong. They could roll him out there, come tournament time, but yeah, I I don't see him if he's gonna not gonna be 100%. I don't see them rolling him out.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Yep. And so speaking of tournament time, with that win, Wingate secures the number one seed in the tournament, and they secured also at least a tie for the conference regular season. In title. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:01

Soing is in very good shape. They kind of uh control their own destiny right now. Yeah. And that's a really good, really, really good position to be in. There's only six or seven teams in the country right now that can control their destiny like that.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Right. I'm looking forward to the Wingate U Indie game. You mentioned it. That's coming in a couple weeks. I think it's April 22nd, not this next week, but that'll be a fun game to watch because those teams, I think, are really well matched up.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

Oh, yeah. And you know what? It's an out of conference game and it's right before the tournament. So it's kind of smart, uh, a smart scheduling by both teams to play an upper echelon team and sharpen those irons just before the tournament, right?

SPEAKER_02 22:47

U Indy always does that. At least I've seen the last couple years, and Wingate's doing it this year. You know, hopefully they can stay healthy after the U Indy game going into the um SAC tournament. Okay. How about you talked about this one as well in the 10 top 10 roundup? Florida Southern, who was number 16, and Tampa number nine.

SPEAKER_03 23:10

Yeah, I watched that game.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:12

I watched beautiful night, a lot of people there.

SPEAKER_02 23:17

Yeah, it was Tampa looked good. It was a very physical game, and it was a game of runs. In the end, it was more runs, obviously, with a 17-8 win for Tampa than Florida Southern had. But Tampa comes out and they score the first four goals. And I'm thinking, geez, you don't want to go down four goals to Tampa. I just didn't, and then, but surprise, not surprisingly, I shouldn't be surprised by it. The Mox answer back. They scored three goals in like 30 seconds, and then score a fourth to tie it up, and it's four four after one. Well, then Tampa shuts them down on the second quarter, and they score four more, and they come into the half eight-four. I and I then I think I think Tampa owned possession in the second half, Danny. I think Tampa D shut out shut out the mock. They shut out the mocks in the second quarter, like I said, and they only held to one goal in the fourth. But then that's that second half, Tampa had most of the possessions.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

Yeah, Danny Fitzpatrick had a great game. He looked like a man possessed. He he looked, you know, the last couple of games, Tampa hasn't been, you know, Tampa-like. They've been, you know, kind of not what we're used to seeing. Not saying that they suck or stink or anything like that, but they just haven't been playing Spartan-like lacrosse in the last couple of weeks. And I think that they got back to Spartan-like lacrosse against Florida Southern the other night. They played fast, they played furious, they were moving the ball very well. Yeah, Blake Ulmer made some great saves. He was very good in goal. Boy, he can get the ball out. And then on the defense, you know, with Bido and their short stick D mids are good too. Tampa's there, they played good. I thought, yeah, I thought, you know, I think that Florida Southern is a really good team. And I thought that they played well. I didn't think that they played shitty.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

I thought that they played well, but Tampa's just they came to play. Well, I'll tell you what, Danny, I thought about this before the game started. I said, you and I talked about it when Emmy Riddle had to go play against Tampa after Tampa had lost to Frostburg State. And now Tampa lost to Rollins, and Florida Southern has to face them. And I really think Tampa just, you know, they they buckled down. There's no way they're going to lose two in a row. They were perfect in clears, Danny, while the while the Mox went 12 or 17. I think the other thing that hurt the Mox was penalties. Tampa was man up six times. Now they only scored twice, but when you're playing more defense six of those times, and not being able to have that off, especially when you're down on goals, you know, and they've gone that run already, it makes it tough. And you gotta look at like you talked about the defense for Tampa. The Mox were averaging, they were the the number one team for goals per game. They were averaging 20 goals per game, Danny, and Tampa held them to eight.

SPEAKER_03 26:22

Yeah, yeah. Tampa's defense, you know, when they want, they they can play, they can, they can knock things down. But you know what? Tampa owned possession, they ruled possession in that second half. They were getting the balls, they were causing turnovers, and they were just they just had their way with Florida Southern in that second half. Again, I think Florida Southern's a really good team. I think they have a chance to make a little bit of noise. They got a couple of games left. Let's look at that Sunshine State conference. You got Tampa at five and one with one loss. You got Florida Southern only has one loss, but they think Tampa owns a tiebreaker. Rollins is undefeated in conference.

SPEAKER_04 27:04

Hmm.

SPEAKER_03 27:05

Rollins might have that number one seed in the Sunshine State Conference then. Because if they both have one loss, Rollins would own the tiebreaker. Yeah. So Rollins could have the one seed in the Sunshine State Conference. That's interesting. Tampa would have the two seed. And who's in who's next? St. Leo? Florida Southern? One of those teams. It's Florida Southern and St.

SPEAKER_02 27:34

Leo are to tied right now at three and one in the Sunshine State. So they they would be next. Now you got to look at who they're playing still, who know who they have to still play. St. Leo, I think, has a tougher schedule than Rollins to finish out the season.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

Yeah. St. Leo's got a tougher road because they lost to Florida Southern and they still have to play Tampa and Rollins. So St. Leo might go down a little bit.

unknown 28:02

Right.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

And Florida Southern has a, I think, a little bit clearer schedule to finish off.

SPEAKER_03 28:10

Yeah, St. Leo's got an uphill battle, but I still say they make the conference tournament.

SPEAKER_02 28:15

Yeah, because Florida Southern has less. So you got Tam. They got a tough game, and we'll talk about this one. They've got Florida Tech and then P Palm Beach Atlantic.

SPEAKER_03 28:23

So Florida Tech's not it is going to be a tough game for Florida Southern, but they're So Rollins will be the one seed, Tampa will be the two seed, and it looks like Florida Southern is going to be that third seed. And then St. Leo, maybe the fourth seed. That's a pretty good, that's going to be a good tournament in Sunshine State.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

Yep. One guy I got to talk about though before just to go back to Tampa for a second in their D is Trajan Cannon, number 11. I swear to God, Danny, he was everywhere on the field as a short stick D middy, and then through transition, he was always, if he didn't, wasn't causing the turnover or getting the ball, he was the one they were passing to to get it in transition to get in their offense. He had an unbelievable game.

SPEAKER_03 29:10

Yeah, he was very good. He had a standout game. He played very well. Like I said, the short stick D middies played well for Tampa the other night. They did their job and they did that very well. So I like the Sunshine State. I like the way that's kind of uh could we have a Rollins Tampa championship, maybe? That should be that's in that's a possibility. That's a very good possibility, but I wouldn't count some of these other teams out either. You know, no, no, no, no. That's the like I like the Sunshine State. I like the way that's popping in. And I like the the the sack too. I like the way that that's coming in. It looks like limestone might get a three in there.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

Yeah, we'll talk about that. We'll talk about that games to watch this week because that's a we've got one coming up. You know, this next game will be telling for limestone. We'll we'll get to that one.

SPEAKER_03 29:59

These conferences are starting to like there's everything's starting to point into the direction now. Like you can kind of get a feel of what teams are gonna do and what's what's gonna happen and where these conference tournaments are gonna go. Yeah, so it's I'm just looking at the different conferences, like in the GMAC, Mercy Hearst, and Seton Hill both sit undefeated. Remember last year? Remember last year? Yeah. So does Seton Hill have another one in their bag, you know, their bag of tricks left? You know, who knows? So, like it's interesting to see. It's it's all starting to come to fruition. It is. I'm gonna I'd like to see who else makes that GMAC conference tournament. You know, who else is in there? Lake Erie? They're a four and seven, but they sit two and one in conference. Right. So you know what I mean? So it's interesting. I like I like this time of year. This is the best part of year. ECC with the Frostburg and Mercy, Roberts Wesleyan, and Malloy. Those four, those are your top four in the ECC. They'll be getting after it soon. Yeah. It's interesting. It's all coming in Conference Carolinas. How about Belmont Abbey?

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Undefeated in the conference. That one we could talk about too as we get to some games to watch this week because that's going to be telling between North Greenville and Barton.

SPEAKER_03 31:23

Because North Greenville sits at seven and six overall, and they're only at one loss in conference. So it's pretty interesting. It's all coming together, it's all coming through fruition now, Kev.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

Yeah. Now, Danny, I've got one more game to talk about, and it's a game that was not on our list last week, but should have been. And and you talk about a conference that would be fun to watch for the conference tournament championship, is the Peach Belt. I knew you were gonna say that. Alabama Huntsville played Monte Valo. We did not say this was a game to watch, and we were stupid because this is always a good game. Yep, these two teams played in the conference championship tournament, the the finals, the last two years against each other. That's right. So we should have marked this game down. And I was I got home from my errands, like I said, and we got it, uh, we got tagged on Instagram from a mother, Montevallo, Falcon mom, Melody Carl Brennan, who tagged us and said, Did you watch this game? If you haven't, you need to watch it. So I'm trying to pull it up. I'm looking on it, it was played at uh Alabama Huntsville. They do their games on YouTube. I go to their channel, it's not there. I click on Saturday, not there. I click on Sunday, it's not there. I I send a little message to Melody. I'm like, I I want to watch the game, but they're not showing it. She sent me a link, Danny. And I sent it to you via Instagram too, so you can watch the game. So I watched the game today, and it was crazy. First of all, let's talk about the weather. The weather. You it was pouring rain. This film, the camera must have been right below like a canvas. You could hear the rain coming down. You look at the field, they're standing water on this grass field, Danny. And by the fourth quarter, there's rarely a player that doesn't have mud all over them, their shorts, their jersey. It was just it was just crazy conditions. Now, by the fourth quarter, it had stopped raining, but the field was actually the field held up pretty well. It was it was muddy in places, but it was it was crazy. And the way this game started off, Danny, Alabama Huntsville scores three goals in less than three minutes to go up 3-0. And they were doing a great job of breaking down the defense. It was 5-3 after one. And and after a lengthy scoring drought, Montevalo scores at 1055 mark in the second to make it 5'4. Alabama Humpsville came right back after the face-off win to score and go up two. But Monteval finally ties it with 209 left in the second to make it 7-7. And then they score again to go up one with 10 seconds left in the half, they scored to make it 8-7. So at first you saw this game, it, you know, I'll tell you what, Montevallo was turning the ball over a lot in that first quarter. They could not get their offense in sync. And so I thought the way Alabama Huntsville's been playing, there's no way you just can't do that against Alabama Huntsville. Well, they shortened that up and they played better. It was it was just like the wing gate game. It was sloppy on both sides with the weather, but it was a back and forth affair. And Monteval climbed ahead 10-9 after three. But guess, and then they go up by two. Alabama Huntsville scores two in a row and ties it up, and the game ends in an 11-11 tie. And I'm thinking, can they do what they did in the first quarter and score three in a row? Alabama Huntsville starts off the ball and misses a shot and can't back up the ball. Montevello gets it because they backed up the ball. They bring it down the offensive side. Get there, yeah. Bring it down the offensive offensive side. They miss their first shot. They regroup, they call a timeout. Coach Lang calls a timeout. And after the timeout, Jackson Kluchuk dodges down the right alley and scores. But that was to win the game. But that wasn't the best part, Danny. That was not the best part. After he scored, you know, you're you're running down the alley. You're still moving, your body's moving. He scores and he belly slides in the water, in the grass, and he has like three teammates follow him, belly sliding right into him to congratulate him. And that's how the game ended. It was a total gritty, gritty game. And it was a great win by the Falcons. A bunch of those guys couldn't wait to get a hot shower after that game.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

Yeah, those those those games, you know, Kev, I I hate to say it, but I hate playing in the rain. I hated coaching in the rain. I hated practicing in the rain. I don't dig the rain, and I think it changes the game. You know what I mean? LaCrosse is a fast-paced game, and I think the rain slows it down, but it makes for interesting games like that. Yeah. A lot of like turnover, sloppy play, lose a possession, sliding, belly slides, doing penguin slides. It's kind of weather. That was kind of like penguin weather down there.

SPEAKER_02 36:39

Well, like you said, and the weather changing it, the scores were made by passing and not much by dodging. Because you just couldn't. They're slipping on the field, and they did a good job. Both teams did a very good job of breaking down the defense by passing. And so it was a really close game. It was fun to watch. I'll tell you what's weird though, Danny. I looked at their their conference records after that game. Alabama Huntsville and Montevallo both stand at one and two in their conference, which I didn't imagine would happen at the beginning of the season.

SPEAKER_03 37:15

No, you absolutely not. But again, that's what makes it kind of interesting, you know, Kevin. Because now other teams are involved, like Flagler in the Peach Belt. Don't count those guys out. No, we'll be talking about that in games to watch this week. Lander is undefeated in the peach belt. Flagler is undefeated in the peach belt. Okay. Huntsville's got two losses, and Montevallo's got two losses. So it's an uphill battle for those guys. Yep. Yep. And you know, so the Peach Belt is really kind of cool this year, if you ask me. And I've been picking Lander. I've been picking Lander the whole time, and they seem to lose in tournament time. So let's see what happens to this. See what happens.

Coach's Spotlight

SPEAKER_02 38:03

Okay, Danny, let's move on to our coach's spotlight. This one is going to be a little different because we are not focusing on a coach in his team season, but more on what that coach and team are doing. Pace University is partnering with an organization called 15 for Life to dedicate their game on April 19th against St. Anselm for mental health awareness. So we thought it would be great to have Coach Mariano come on along with Andy Kavavit of 15 for Life to discuss the event. So what do you say? Should we just welcome them in? Let's bring them in, Kev. Coach Tom Mariano, head coach of PACE and Andy Kavavit, founder of 15 for Life. Hey guys.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

Guys, thanks for having us on. Appreciate you taking the time. Yeah, good to see everybody.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Thanks for spending a few minutes.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

No, we really appreciate you coming in. I think this is really important. Um, Danny and I have talked about this in the podcast before on other episodes. And when I saw that you were having this event, coach, I just felt it was a it was a good segment to add with the coach of spotlight. So, like we talked about before we started recording, coach, uh, you know, we follow you on Instagram. I routinely see you post items on the importance of mental health, which I think is just awesome. So can you tell us what this means to you and what you're doing with 15 for life on April 19th?

SPEAKER_01 39:29

Well, I think, you know, the shortest answer is, you know, I think we all have known that there is a major crisis in our country. There's a major crisis in athletics, high school, college. You know, and we're all trying to build these teams and successful teams. And let's face it, mental health is one of the most important aspects of being successful in life on and off the field. And I think, you know, fortunately and unfortunately, you don't often think about suicide until it hits you right in the face, until you know you know someone or it hits home close to you, and then it really becomes reality. I think it's one of those things like it's like a car crash, like you drive by it, like, oh, I know about it, but what am I doing about it? And I think, you know, during COVID, we all spent a lot of time in Zooms and some really thoughtful and impactful conversations took place, and then we come out of it and we start to move back a little bit. But that mental health has honestly gotten even more increased. So for us as a team, you know, it's something for years we've talked about mental health and improvement, and then obviously, you know, 15 for life was founded, you know, and it for us it's a local organization that's really doing something tremendous. So we wanted to partner with them in any way we can. And honestly, their message of 15 seconds, you know, can save a life. Uh so I think it's important for us. So anytime you can raise awareness, and I think you know, the biggest thing is this stigma in athletics, and certainly in male athletics, you know, suck it up, throw a band-aid on, yeah, don't talk about it. Well, we're trying to do the complete opposite. And, you know, I think 15 for life has done a tremendous job of leading that charge of, no, let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Because, you know, minor things can turn into major things, and major things are major things. So I think for us, it's you know, anytime we could have a conversation, you know, in reality, is we're fortunate we get to play a college across game, a high-level division two game. It's going to be awesome to play for a cause that means so much in today's time. I mean, it's a no-brainer.

SPEAKER_02 41:37

Yeah, thanks for that, coach. So, Andy, let me turn to you. If you could just give our listeners a little background on 15 for life, you know, what what what is your main mission with that and background on how the how the uh the organization started?

SPEAKER_00 41:53

Yeah, so uh we uh started uh the foundation uh in uh honor of my brother Rob Kavavitt. Um and we had the sort of unfortunate task of um facing uh his suicide uh March 16th of two years ago. Um so as a family, we decided that uh silence wasn't enough. And although we didn't know what should be said, we knew that silence didn't work. So we started the foundation as a family and have worked as a group um as siblings uh to just simply do that, really to open the dialogue uh and uh hopefully change the stigma around mental health depression and um and suicide prevention. Uh my brother Rob was uh an incredible, incredible guy, an incredible father, an incredible husband, uh, an incredible physical therapist, of course, had a history in lacrosse. Um so we were really just a family faced with doing something. Uh and we were fortunately met uh by a massive embrace of a bigger family, which is the lacrosse community. Um that's who showed up. So uh really the the initiative has been guys like Coach Mariano not looking for a script, not waiting to be told what to do, uh jumping in and figuring out what it looks like. Um because, like we say, we don't we don't know what to say. We're not professionals, we're just a family who's suffering. Uh, and we know that um we've prevented this from happening since we started the foundation, so we know it can be prevented. Uh so uh our goal really is just to open the dialogue and reduce uh suicide prevention because every 11 minutes, right now, somebody chooses suicide over life.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

That's that's awesome. And that's great to hear about your partnership. Can you um either one of you kind of explain what? The day and the event is going to be like. Is there anything special planned? I know Andy, your team's going to be there, obviously, coach. You know, what are you doing with your team to promote this?

SPEAKER_01 44:15

Well, I think, you know, the big thing, I think Andy hit it right in the head. It's it's not about the game. You know, for us, that's just a vehicle. Right. That's kind of like, hey, we're here. You know, this is something important to us, you know, we're going to wear t-shirts, which is awesome. It's fundraising for the foundation. But this is about, you know, the daily talks, the weekly talks we have as a team, you know, where guys get up and and talk and air, you know, important things. Sometimes it's trivial, but you know, the thing I say to people all the time, it might be trivial to you, but to me, it's major.

SPEAKER_04 44:51

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 44:51

It's life-changing. And I think, you know, you listen to Andy talk about Rob, you know, and you look at some of these other people who who've, you know, this has taken place with people around them had no clue. And that's what I think scares all of us the most. So I think for us, it's just continued this awareness. You know, we have a stick above our locker room, a 15 for life stick. The guys touch it every day. And you know, but I want it to be more than that. It's not just a stick, like think in your head, think what you can do, how you can do. Look out for your teammates, look out for your friends, your family, you know. Like I said, 15 seconds.

SPEAKER_02 45:30

I think so important. So important. I think what you just said, coach, and maybe Andy, you can elaborate a little more on that 15 seconds. Coach, you said touching the stick. It's not just touching the stick, but it's realizing for that moment what that stick represents. And you take a moment for yourself, either to take a breath. That's the way I would look at it, or what can you think about for for someone else who may be in trouble, in pain? Uh Andy, do you what what would you say about that in the 15 seconds?

SPEAKER_00 46:04

Yeah, I think exactly that. Um that that touch of that stick or that remembrance of even the number 15, just being that that moment where you check in with mental matters, uh, where you understand that that is, as coach said, you want mental health to be as strong as possible for your for your team to be as good as possible. So it only makes sense. Um, so to correlate it with that, and that's why little things like the decals that we put on uh, you know, over 15,000 student athletes, helmets, men's, women's, lacrosse, and otherwise, uh, since we started the foundation, it's just that conversation starter that uh allows people to not be embarrassed, not be ashamed, um, to recognize that one in five of us, um, so if there was one more on this call, then you know, one in five of us is or will be dealing with a mental health issue. Uh, this isn't uncommon. It's very relatable to people. You'd find it hard pressed to find a family that doesn't have mental health issues uh in their life. So the idea that we ever suppressed those thoughts. And like Coach said, I grew up in a generation where it was definitely a suck it up. Um, you know, this was not stuff you talked about. Um, but at the same time, to me, this is not, of course, not political at all. And this isn't about woke culture or any of that. To me, this is about logical humankind being smart and intelligent and addressing everything that matters. And of course, your mental health uh matters. So you don't have to be suicidal, you don't have to be manic to need to check in on your mental health. Um, so just that um the ability to touch that stick, have those players go, yeah, got my mind on my, you know, on my mental and uh my mental on my mind. It's it's a different way of thinking. And I think as kids grow up generationally with that mentality, then they won't be embarrassed and ashamed to talk about stuff like guys our age are. Uh, you know, my brother Rob, 45 years old, a coach, high school team, coach of the youth league team. Um, he's in the number one demographic for who who dies by suicide, you know. And unfortunately, the scary part is the number two coming up is our teams, um, and including our girls. So uh it's definitely spreading quickly, and stuff like coaches doing with the game um help uh that one in five know that they're not alone.

SPEAKER_02 48:40

Yeah, I think I think that's an important thing to realize is one, like you said, our age group, and I'll actually even put myself a lot older than you guys. Um, our my age group too, it's not something you ever talked about. And yet you look at the kids that you've that you coach on your team at pace or you or in youth youth leagues, the complexity of life these days compared to when I was their age is astounding. It's astronomical, the pressures they deal with more than I ever had to deal with.

SPEAKER_03 49:16

Uh and it's a different world today, Kevin. It's a different world than the world that you and I grew up in, Coach. I mean, we come from a different generation. It's a different world. We didn't have the videos and we didn't have the phones. We didn't have it. We didn't have it. You know, you went outside to play, you found a stick and a ball, and you you you did something to keep yourself occupied. Today's kids are not like that. They are so drawn into the world in so many different ways because of social media. You have Instagram and TikTok and Snapchat and all these things that these young kids are on. And they're on it, it's a different world. Their information is given to them in seconds. We used to have to go to the Dewey Decimal system. Remember that, coach? You know, you wanted to find a book, man. You had to go to the library, go to the Dewey Decimal system. Now you can find the chapter, that book, in 30 in 10 seconds on Google. It's just the world is a different place today. And the pressures that are on kids, not only athletically, but academically. I mean, I some of the stuff that they push in school at an early age. I mean, I think I was in ninth grade when algebra was started. And these kids are learning algebra in sixth and seventh grade now. And I think it gets onto their shoulders. And some of these kids have a tough time navigating through that these days.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

Well, I think I'll add to that real quick, just you know, because obviously I live in this world of from coaching youth sports to college. Simple analogy, you know, peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The the older folks, you know, there was one option peanut butter and jelly. You know, you you made a peanut butter and jelly jelly sandwich on white bread because there wasn't any other bread. That's right. You ate the crusts, you know, now these kids have uncrustables, they got this, they got different flavors. You know, their life has so many different options, which in some ways are positive, but in some ways are negative, just like social media. Social media, if used properly, is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 51:13

Right.

SPEAKER_01 51:13

If you negatively, it's awful because how many times do you pick up and you read the paper or Twitter? Uh, you know, a suicide was based on bullying in middle school. It's yeah, and then you know, my third one is when did kids have to be perfect? Right, right, exactly for our youth kids and college kids. I tell my college kids all the time all the time, I'm not are we am I asking to be perfect? I don't need you to be perfect. You're gonna have a bad game, make mistakes, smile, have fun, keep working hard. You you you coach a third third grade team, and parents are talking about scholarships and screaming at kids, coaches are screaming at kids. It's not fun. Like these, a lot of these kids don't have fun. And to me, with what's going on in the world and everything, the craziness, it's you know, sports needs to be fun, and I think organizations like 15 for life, because you know, I look at that as a lacrosse family. You know, you look at some of the organizations, Headstrong for Cancer and 15 for life, one love. These are lacrosse organizations and they're being embraced by the lacrosse community. And boy, do we need all of them.

SPEAKER_03 52:27

Morgan's message. Morgan's message is another one.

SPEAKER_01 52:31

Morgan's message. But I just look at, you know, right now for us, you know, the 15th for life, man, we need this more than we've ever needed it. And it's unfortunate that it happened, but at the same time, who knows how many lives have been saved? And we don't even, you know, Andy probably doesn't know it, and he may know some, but you know, none of us may know it, but just the fact that that it's taking place and it's helping to save people's lives, and and that's the extreme. What about it's just maybe giving brightness somebody's day? You know, I think that's important.

SPEAKER_02 53:03

Yeah, well, without a doubt, coach. I think what you also said is that you're doing this event, but the event isn't what really helps. It's trying to live it more each day. And and like you said, no one's gonna be perfect, right? So you just have to try to engage when you can. I mean, I think the uh other side, you talk about people and the stigma of not talking about it or not talking about if you're feeling depressed or something. Well, it goes the other way. I mean, I've just because of organizations like yours, Andy, and being more aware this past year, I've had heart-to-heart hearts with my kids who are two are graduated from college. But now I don't feel like it's a bad thing to do because I want to make sure their head is in a good place. And if they're not, we'll find help. Um, that's kind of what organizations like yours has has done for me personally. And um, and coach, I I I just kind of, you know, how has your team embraced this? Maybe not just 15 for life, but have they it sounds like you are creating a culture where you do this on a routine basis? I'm just curious what what that has done for your team.

SPEAKER_01 54:17

You know, I think it's all about building bonds and you know, friendships and love for each other and care. I mean, I think that's really, you know, listen, 40 years from now, 20 years from now, you're not gonna remember every game, you're not gonna remember practices, but you're gonna remember the guys who are there for you. Because unfortunately, you know, college students deal with, you know, parents getting older, grandparents, you know, things happen. They they need people in their lives who can support them, who can lift them up. And I think that, you know, I think we have a majority of our guys fully embrace this and are all in because they're living this. Now, it could be them, it could be a sibling, it could be their parents, it could be a friend. You know, unfortunately, if you ask people to raise their hands, how many people have been affected by this? Too many hands go up.

SPEAKER_02 55:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:08

And then you get the guys who maybe have had really great lives and awesome lives, and nothing bad has happened to them. And we say to them, that's awesome for you. But we want you to understand what maybe is making your your roommate take, your teammate take. How can you help them? And I just think it's you know, maybe your roommate's upset, or maybe your teammate's really upset because something bad. I mean, we, you know, you have guys who find out a you know, somebody died the moment five minutes before they walk in a practice field and they don't say anything to anybody and they practice. And you're like, Man, this kid can't pass and catch today. He he looks off. And then you kind of sit and you talk to him later and he drops it on you, kind of like, oh. All right. And it just kind of shakes you to the core.

unknown 55:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:55

Yeah, I I appreciate you saying that, um, Kevin, that you spoke to your sons, and you know, that's really sort of uh the goals. Definitely on the now, um, knowing that we've saved lives, knowing that people are getting helped by this is incredible. Uh, long-term is shifting the way people think about it and see it, you know, so that our generation can grow up smarter than we did. And you know, when you think back to those 80s days where you woke up, grabbed your stick, and you left, you know, until dark and came back for dinner, right? That was simple life. But the external complexities that these kids deal with, you know, forget about sports, even just peer pressures in school and social media, then you add the school on top of it, is so significantly different and complex. But there's also some simplicity to it now, which is that understanding of all of these mental health issues. Because when we grew up, we didn't understand them because we didn't talk about them. So, you know, we're not just talking about suicide, we're talking about people not being uncomfortable. You don't have to be dealing with ADD, ADHD, OCD in ways that make you uncomfortable. There are ways to do this, right? So, uh, in that simplification way, um, if we understand our genetic susceptibilities, where we came from, who we are based on our parents, what our likelihoods of potentially having those types of mental health issues or any issues, right? I mean, positives or negatives, it'd be good to know. Um, so that you can then uh fight them, battle them, deal with them, whatever the word is, um, you know, and not allow it to creep up on you uh like it too frequently does that gets to the point of suicide. So, really that dialogue shifting the focus, kids grow up smarter, they understand what it is, they know how to deal with it in a way that makes them comfortable, and then we never get to the suicide place. And that's one of my personal goals is to change that every 11 minutes that we're losing a brother or a sister right now. Just move it to 15 minutes. Like if we could just make that four-minute shift, we'd be saving tens of thousands of people per year. And then we'll let's do another couple minutes from there and keep moving this thing around the clock.

SPEAKER_02 58:14

It's awesome. Yeah, I'll tell you what, I think that's a great way just to um end this conversation. I appreciate both of you coming on and really emphasizing that it's it's just a game with your partner that, but it goes much beyond that. Um, and it becomes it becomes something that we got to look at as a daily routine on both sides, checking in with others and checking in with yourself. And if and if you need help to reach out, because that is not a bad thing. Everyone needs help. Everyone's gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 58:45

And how great is the lacrosse community that is has embraced this in so many different ways. I I think, and more than any other sport that I can think of, like I'm on Instagram and I'm on these different ones, and I'm checking what everybody's doing out there. And you know what? The lacrosse community is really involved with the mental health, they're really getting it out there. There's been kids on our program that talked about it. We had Thomas Galgano from Adelphi last year, who's whose best friend was from Bingham Pin, who went through that whole thing. And, you know, we have it far too much. And if again, if we can take that 11 minutes and make it 15 minutes and just save one more life, that's all that's all we can try to do.

SPEAKER_02 59:28

We had CJ Hart goalie of St. Anselm, who was a co-founder of the Headgame Project, which is a student-led, student uh driven organization to raise uh mental health awareness and reduce the stigma. So when you said, Coach Mariana, we need 15 for life, we need Morgan's message, we need Headgame Project, we need all of them uh to keep this inertia going so that as you said, Andy, this we can move that that number. We can keep moving that minute number higher and higher, past 15 to 20, to 60 and beyond.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:05

Wouldn't that be beautiful? Yeah, I I've got a kind of a broad dream and a challenge USA Lacrosse and the PLL and anybody, including you guys, to try to figure out how to do this. But I think that if we keep doing what we're doing, we can make lacrosse the number one sport when it comes to mental health awareness with the absolute lowest suicide rates amongst its players, coaches, and referees. And um, any goal short of that, you know, just sort of doesn't seem like enough to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:35

I agree.

Games to Watch

SPEAKER_02 1:00:38

All right, Danny. You kind of mentioned, and we both mentioned in the week in review, about several games coming up to watch this week as conference play heats up and positions are on the line for their conference tournament. So let's start off with one that I think is interesting because they're sitting kind of right in the middle there in the conference Carolinas, and that's Saturday on the 15th, North Greenville against Barton. North Greenville is 7-6 and 3-1 in conference, and Barton's eight and six and three and two in conference. But North Greenville just beat Mount Olive to gain some momentum in their in Conference Carolinas and needs this win to stay in second place in the standings. So it's going to be a really good matchup. I think those teams match up well. They're it's going to be evenly matched. I think it's going to be a really good game.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:32

Yeah, the Crusaders are at home. I like North Greenville in this one, Kev. I think they're playing well the last couple of weeks. You know, they're trending up at the right time.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:42

I I think I agree with you right there. Barton, I think this year, they've played really well some games, and then some other games I they've seemed a little inconsistent. Right. And I agree with you. So, but yeah, we'll see, we'll see how that goes. What what games do you have listed?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:01

Well, I like coming up. Lewis and Quincy. It's always been a good matchup, those two teams.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:11

That would be interesting. Quincy has played really well this year compared to where where they were last year. Lewis has come off that loss from Rockhurst, so they're not going to want to lose.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:22

And Lewis, as good as they are, they've been inconsistent as well. They've been up and down, kind of win and loss. So that has some, you know, conference. And then we got another game is the Mercyhurst Seton Hill.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:39

Oh, yeah. It's another game. Think about last year, Danny. We talked about this a little bit ago in in the other segment. It's always a good matchup. I think Mercyhurst won the first game, and then Seton Hill came back in the in the conference tournament and beat them. And then Seaton Hill. And then they had the rubber match in the NCAA tournament, and Seton Hill beat them again. So this, although it's it's a top 20 matchup because where Seton Hill sits in in the rankings, they play like this is a top five matchup every time they play against each other.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:14

Yeah, they play each other. They're always really good games. These they go after it, Kevin. They go after it. So I like that. That's a definite game to watch.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:24

Without a doubt. I also have on Saturday, April 15th, in the Peach Belt, the two undefeated teams in the conference, Flagler against Lander. Both sit at 3-0 in the conference. This game is for first place. Both want it. But Flagler, interestingly, has a tougher road, I think, after that because they still have to play Alabama Huntsville after Lander. So but this is for first place at the time, and it's at Flagler.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:00

They draw a nice crowd.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:02

I think I'm picking Flagler on this one.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:04

You gotta go with Flagler, huh? Wow, that's that's a big you know. Again, I've been picking Lander all the time. Every time I pick Lander, they've been losing. So I don't know. I think even though Flagler's at home, and they're I I'm gonna have to take Lander on this one. I think they're the more veteran laden team, I guess I could say.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:29

Definitely from an experience in NCA Division II, 100%.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:35

But Kevin, it wouldn't surprise me though if this is a pick'em game off.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:39

This is a pick'em game, and I'm I'm rolling the dice. That's all I'm doing.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:43

And you know what? Did you think that we would be talking about Flagler being undefeated in conference play with a chance to continue to go undefeated and maybe take the first seed in the conference? It's I'll tell you what, I think I would have told you you're crazy, that'll never happen.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:00

I I think they're out of conference, them playing all the Sunshine State conference teams, sharpening the lions, right? Yeah, it sharpens the irons. Okay, let's move to the GLVC game. We touched upon this in in our last segment, too. On Saturday, Rockhurst plays Undy. Rockhurst is 2-0 in the conference. Obviously, Undy is is undefeated as well. Can Rockhurst upset the domination of Undie in the GLBC?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:35

You know, Undy's had a couple of teams keep them, play them tight, Kevin. You know, just in conference, you know, and and these these teams know each other, they play each other multiple times a year. And um Undies they they look really very, very, very good to me. And could Rockhurst does Rockhurst have some Something in there to trip this team up. We'll see. And you know what? Again, a really good matchup. I'm gonna give the edge to you, Wendy, though. I do too.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:10

Here's what's interesting. When I watched the Rockhurst Lewis game, the commentators, and they're playing at Rockhurst, said that Rockhurst has only been 100% healthy in like three games this year. And when they played against Lewis, they were healthy. So if they're healthy, if no one really got too injured in the last game and isn't too beat up going against you, Wendy, I think they have a good chance, but I I think you Wendy pulls it out.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:38

Yeah, but that's a good game to watch. I think it's one to watch for sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:43

Now, also on Saturday, Danny is Florida Tech, Florida Southern. Florida Southern plays Rollins on Wednesday. So by the time this pot we're recording on Tuesday, they play tomorrow. Podcast comes out on Friday, so a Thursday. So the game will already have been played, but they've got to play Rollins first, and they sit at 3-1 in the conference right now before the Rollins game. Florida Tech is 2-2, and they've got Emory Riddle this coming Wednesday tomorrow. And then they finish with Rollins. So Florida Tech really wants this game against Florida Southern to stay in the hunt for a bid to the tournament. What do you like? I think I have to give the nod to Florida Southern.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:34

Yeah, I think so too. I think so too. I think that Florida Tech has a harder road, like you said. But you know, Rollins is looking good, man. They look like they're poised to go to the NCAAs, if you ask me. They're only a couple of wins away. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:50

Yep. So it'll be interesting to see that game tomorrow when Florida Southern plays them, but then Florida Tech, Florida Southern. They always play close. They were good. It was a good game last year. It'll be a fun game to watch this year. What else? Who else do you have on your list there? What about in the sack? Lenore Ryan and Limestone. This, Danny, is a key sack matchup. LR is currently in second place with a 5-1 record. Limestone is at 5-2. If they can beat LR, they can move into that second place spot, I think.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:29

Absolutely, they could. They definitely could. And Limestone could do it, man. Their team is good. Their attack unit's very good. You know what? They've had some up and down games. They played a good wing team, and you know, wingate kind of took it to them pretty good, but Limestone's been very competitive all year, you know. Just not see them in the top 10 is kind of like odd to me. It is.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:56

Right. I think the games they lost, if you look back, they're except for maybe the Anderson game, you you can kind of say, and even that one, you can say, I don't that wasn't too much of a shock, right? Lenore Ryan, the same thing. I mean, the games that Lenore Ryan has lost, which is Tampa and Wingate, you can say, I can see that, right? I can see that those games. Here's what's interesting is it is between the bricks. It is at Lenore Ryan. So that gives LR a little bit of an advantage, I think.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:30

Sure does. Sure does. Definitely gives him an advantage. But you know what? I I expect Limestone to go in there and play very competitively. It's not going to be an easy game.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:40

I agree. I agree. I think Limestone is going to go in there hungry. If they go in there the way Wingate did, then they they have a very good shot at winning this game.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:55

Let's see what Lenore Ryan's defense does. I think it's going to be up to their defense to kind of stop limestone. If they can really stop limestone, because Limestone's attack unit is very lethal. They got guys that can score. Yeah. The midfielders are kind of like, yeah, they're not contributing as much on Limestone. They're they're they're dropping dimes, but it's been predominantly attack-oriented for limestone this year. So let's see what the defense can do. I agree. I agree.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:29

Okay, I've got two other games that happen next Wednesday, April 19th, because our podcast, our following podcast, will not be out yet. And that is Mercy against Delphi. I think this could be a Delphi's toughest test yet. Yeah, Mercy gets them home too. Yeah.

unknown 1:10:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:55

So can a Delphi keep rolling? This is gonna be a test.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:01

Delphi looks good to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:03

I'll tell you what. I know.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:06

They just like freight training.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:08

I I think I have to give almost get I have to give the nod to a Delphi just the way they've been playing. I mean, even when they when they played against the way they played against Pace and St. Ace.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:19

Yeah, 100%. I mean, I think Mercy is gonna have to play a very, very, very good game. They're almost gonna have to play a perfect game to beat a Delphi. Now, Dylan Renner in goal for a Delphi has been standing on his head. If he doesn't, if he doesn't get an all-American nod, I'll be surprised because he's been phenomenal. And we know what their midfielders are like at a Delphi. They just there's a ton of them there, and they all can shoot and they all can score. And then you got Duchnowski, and then you got some of the other guys. A Delphi's tough, man. I have to give the nod. I have to give the nod to Adelphi on this one. But you know what? It's not gonna be you know what? Like it's hard to say, you know, because a Delphi and they smacked Stane Ansoms around in that second half. Yeah. You know, and and and they smacked Pace around too. Yeah, and yeah, and they're both very good teams, Kevin. So a Delphi's kind of scary. I think Mercy's gonna have to play the game of their life to be there.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:24

Well, talk about a goalie matchup, right? Dylan Renner, Tommy Amano. God, can't I can't think of anything better. No, that's like as good as it gets.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:37

Yeah, that's about as good as it gets in division two. Both of them are just amazing. Yeah. Yeah. You know, they're they're both in the top, they're both in the top five.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:47

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:47

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:48

Oh, yes. I totally agree with that. Totally agree. One last game. We talked about this on our coach's spotlight with Coach Mariano and Andy Kavavit, and that is pace against St. A's on Wednesday, the April 19th. It's the 15th for life game, which is really, really cool. But this is always a good game. This is another key NE 10 matchup. It's at pace. It's at pace. I I I think this is a pick'em game. I think I'm going pace.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:21

Okay. Wow. I don't know what to say. I I just think I think, you know, if I got any sense from Coach Mariana when we talked to him, their team is stinging from the the way they lost to a Delphi.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:42

Well, you know, at least Pace gets them home, you know. They get some cities home, you know. So St. A's is good. That's that'll be a really, really good game to watch next. That'll be a great game.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:52

St. A's is gonna watch that too, because this is another one of those where this is a measuring stick for them. They lost to a Delphi, they lost to Lemoyne. They don't want to lose to Pace also in the same season. They don't.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:06

No, 100% they don't. And St. A's is pretty good, you know. But Pace is very good too. They're both very, very evenly matched, I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:16

It's you know, yeah. I think there's a lot of games this next week that we just went through that they're very evenly matched, and that's what's going to be so fun to watch.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:25

Yeah, I think you know, any one of these teams can, you know, beat the other team.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:29

Yeah, it's just go down them. Mercy of Delphi, LR Limestone, Florida Tech, Florida Southern, Seton Hill, Mercyhurst, Flagler, Lander, North Greenville, Barton, and then Rockhurst, Undy. Probably that's only one where I'd say I think I'd I'd totally give the nod to U Indy. But Rockhurst has been just climbing. So anyone can win these games.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:52

It's gonna be great to watch. I know Rockhurst is good. And you know what? And when it when it heats up in conference time, you know what? Sometimes coaches get something up their sleeve, they pull a trick out of their bag, tricks, and yeah, they come up with something, a 10-man ride at an inopportune at an opportune time, or you know what I mean? They'll just come up with something, a play out of a timeout, or that type of thing. And then, you know it's when so much is on the line, you tend to do some really good things. It's pretty cool. And uh, you know what? There's so many good teams in the in these all these games that you just we just spoke about. Yeah.

Player's Spotlight

SPEAKER_02 1:15:32

Okay, Danny. It is that time. Time for the player spotlight. My favorite part, Kev.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:40

My favorite part.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:42

I hear you. I hear you. Tonight we are sticking with the defensive side of the ball again and a brain and a player who has started off his collegiate career pretty darn well, if you ask me. He is currently ranked eighth in the country for Division II in cause turnovers with 28 cause turnovers and averaging 2.33 per game.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:06

So what year is he? And what year is he?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:09

He's only a freshman, just starting his career.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:12

Oh, the Lions got four more years, three more years with this young man. They do.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:17

I told you, I told you. I know, I know. So let's just welcome in LSM for the Malloy Lions, Thomas Kofod. Hey, Thomas.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:27

Hi, thank you for having me on the podcast. It's it's an honor to be on it.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:31

Thomas, it's an honor, it's an honor to have you on. Freshman out of Seaford, Long Island, not too far from where I am. And uh you are just bawling out. Tell us what's it like to be on the Lions right now? You guys are really doing pretty well.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:47

It's a great team to be on. Um, I honestly think of this uh team as like a family in a brotherhood, especially with all my coaches, my my teammates. It's I I couldn't ask for more from them.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:01

That's great to hear. Well, I'll probably ask you another question about that a little bit, but let me get to you a little bit. I watched your last game, your team's game against Roberts Westland, and you impressed in that game as well. You had eight ground balls and two cost turnovers, and you had a beautiful trail check right on the right goal crease to stop a goal. Did you think you'd have this type of impact coming in as a freshman?

SPEAKER_05 1:17:25

Uh, to be honest with you, no, not like this. I thought I would have like uh you know a good season, maybe get some playing time, but uh nothing nothing like this, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:39

Have you started every game? I think I read you've been in every game. Did you have you started every game? Yeah, I started every game so far.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:46

Taking 11 shots. I'm looking at his stats right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:49

He's got 11 shots. Yeah, and he has a few, he has a few assists and a few goals, too. So his first point came against pace. Come on now.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:00

Oh, that's pretty did you got the ball? Did you keep the ball? No, I did not keep the ball. You gotta keep the first goal in the end.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:09

That was an assist. That one was an assist. Still, still you gotta keep that first goal. I'll tell you what. The other thing, Thomas, I see about you, you're not you're not a big, big LSM. You're but you're fast and rangey, and you always have a very active stick. So is that how you describe your play? Because you know, you're only what about 5'11? Yeah, I'm about 160, 170. So you're not like the biggest LSM we've ever had on this on this thing, but I watch you play, and it's like you're always in lanes, your stick is always in lanes, you're always poking, you're always poking on that rope defense. So is it just you're you're working on your speed and your footwork that gets you through like this?

SPEAKER_05 1:18:55

I definitely say my speed is my my biggest attribute as a player because I use that for everything. You know, it's it I've always been told like you can't teach speed, and I've just I was luckily born with it. But um I actually was a D MIDI uh two years ago, so I've only been in LSM for about like a year, and so I definitely learned how to play defense with my body and have now the stick. I've been learning a lot with like keeping your stick in lanes and pokey poke checking at the hands. So I definitely say that must be is my biggest attribute as a as a player.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:34

So you were a D MIDI in high school?

SPEAKER_05 1:19:37

Yeah, in uh 11th grade I was a D MIDI for the Seafood Vikings, and then last year, after the first game of my senior year, I was asked to switch to uh LSM.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:49

And what was that like to put the pole in your hand? Were you used to it? Had you done it before, or was it like a whole new thing for you? I had never been in LSM before.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:58

That was the first time I thought it was definitely different. Uh 100%. I remember my the first ball I threw was just straight down and it was embarrassing. I was like, oh god. But yeah, yeah, but that's awesome. And then I kind of just learned a lot from from here.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:20

Well, you certainly have if you're starting LSM for the Malloy Lions. So tell us then tell us the rest of your lacrosse journey. How'd you get started and how did you get to Malloy?

SPEAKER_05 1:20:32

Well, at first, it's kind of uh funny. I was originally committed to pace as a D MIDI, but then uh I decided to decommit. I wanted to switch majors and I switched it to nursing, and I found Malloy, which is only 15 minutes away from me. I've always heard like great things about them. I talked to uh Coach Dunn, and I remember my visit here, it just felt like it honestly felt like home. Like I felt like it was a great environment, great culture, and I thought like the team was good because I met some of the guys. So, and also my sister goes here. So I just thought okay, I just thought it was a great school and a great program.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:10

So now how old how old were you when you started? Because you know, we're we're Long Islanders, they start them young out here. How old were you when you started? So I started in kindergarten, so five years old. Okay, so what what uh club team did you play for on Long Island?

SPEAKER_05 1:21:28

I played for the uh Long Island Hitman.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:31

Okay, yeah, the Hitman, sure. Yeah, it's just it's it's Long Island, Kevin. Man, these kids get, you know, they learn to walk, they give them a stick, and the stick isn't a walking stick, and then a couple days later they pick their travel team.

unknown 1:21:48

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:49

Exactly. So now, Thomas, you know, do you know any of the history of Coach Dunn at all?

SPEAKER_05 1:21:56

Yes, I do. I before I came here, I definitely searched him up, and I know he's got a couple championships at MIT, and he's she's an unbelievable coach. He knows so much about the game. It's it's unreal.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:09

What's what's it like playing for him?

SPEAKER_05 1:22:12

Uh, it's just it's like definitely different from anything I've been a part of in my lacrosse career. He just every time I have a question, or uh anytime I like mess up, he gives me pointers, and he just helps me a lot, especially with my uh LSM game. He's just he's a great coach.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:36

Not not only is he a great coach, but he's a really, really nice man. He really, really is a nice guy. He he truly is a genuinely good person. And you know, to play for a guy like that, you'll let me tell you something. Molloy a couple of years ago was struggling, and now they're not struggling anymore. You guys are trending upwards. What's it like in the locker room?

SPEAKER_05 1:22:59

In the locker room, it's it's a from what I've heard, especially, it's a completely different uh setting than it was a couple of years ago. Um, we're very focused, we prepare a lot, like as especially on like the defensive side, we know all the tendencies, uh like about eat like our opponents. And we had to we've actually written our own scouting reports. So we watch film for hours and hours and prepare ourselves for the most. So, and especially during games, we like quiz each other, make sure we know what we're doing, go over everything, man, zone rides. So I say, yeah, it's we're very focused, we're very locked in for every single game, especially in the locker room.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:44

That is really cool, and we and we've watched the transition with Coach Dunn and what he's done, and it it's it's really cool to see. It's really cool to see your team building that chemistry, and when you notice it on the field when you guys play, it's it's a lot of fun. What I'll also tell you is I don't know if you know this, but the coach that's sharing this podcast with you in the coaches segment and coaches spotlight is the man you turned down, Coach Mariano.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:16

Oh wow, that's that's great. Hey, don't feel bad, don't feel bad because my son turned him down too, and he remembered. I was like, oh shoot, he remembered. He's like, Yeah, I know he remembers. Oh god, yeah, that's their job, Thomas. That's their job.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:38

We didn't know it was gonna come out like this, but it's pretty cool, you know, that you got a possibility to play for pace, and now you turn around and playing for Coach Dunn at Malloy. I'm sure Coach Dunn and Coach Mariano have had a few discussions about you along the way. And now, though, now Thomas, now comes a really tough part for you in this in this segment, in this spotlight, because we've seen what you can do on the field, but we got to see what you can do in the firing round with Danny Moran. The firing round.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:15

The firing round, yes. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we got Thomas Kofard from Seaford, Long Island, Malloy Lions, LSM freshman, just balling out, having a great time in his freshman year, playing for one of the legends in Division II lacrosse and coach Coach Dunn. He's got he's in the firing round. Couple of questions coming at you. Here you go. First question mom's best meal. Oh, easily penny ala vaca.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:46

Easily. She makes a great pen ala vaca. It's definitely my favorite meal. I got that.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:51

I'm hungry already. Okay. Favorite dessert?

SPEAKER_05 1:25:58

Ooh, definitely uh Carvel ice cream cake. I love the crunchies. They're my favorite thing. I used to work at Carvel, so I used to always put crunchies on my ice cream. Maybe even take like an ice cream cake home. It's every day, every year for my birthday, I'll get an ice cream cake and I'd eat half of it. Like it's just I love it.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:16

Maybe Danny Carvel will hear this podcast and then become a sponsor of ours.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:21

Yeah, we gotta get Tom Carvel. Throw us a couple of bucks for the for the plug. Okay, next question, Thomas. Early bird or night owl?

SPEAKER_05 1:26:31

Oh, definitely early bird. I used to wake up super early to get some studies in before practice during the fall. So I'd definitely say early bird.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:41

Okay, you're the first player on the player spotlight that's ever said early bird. Favorite, favorite midnight snack. Ooh, serial. Definitely. There we go. Here we go. PlayStation or Xbox? Xbox. All right. Runs or lifts? Runs. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:05

You might be one of the first ones that said runs, too. Thomas is a renaissance man. I I can just sense it. It's got an old soul. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:15

I love it. Favorite TV show. Breaking bad. Breaking bad, good one. I love that show. All right, here's a good one. Favorite cartoon as a kid.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:27

Oh, um probably SpongeBob. You know, it's just it's such an easy laugh.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:37

All right. SpongeBob, it is. Favorite football team.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:41

The New York Giants.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:43

Giants, okay. Favorite football player.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:49

Uh Patrick Mahomes, even though he's not a Giants player, but he's just so athletic, so it's just so fun to watch him.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:56

Oh, he's remarkable, remarkable player. I've been watching. Football for many, many, many, many years. I've seen all the great quarterbacks, I think, except like YA Tittle and those guys. I haven't seen them, but I mean, everybody from like Fran Parkington up, you know, I've I've seen. And Patrick Holmes is very special player, man. He's got like six sets of eyes. He can see the field like nobody else has to be. And he can throw from any angle of his arm. And he's just and he can run and he can do everything. So that's a good, that's a good pick, Thomas. I like that one. Favorite kind of music?

SPEAKER_05 1:28:32

Uh, I'd say it depends what mood I'm in. So if I'm like getting ready for a game, it's like rap and rock, but if I'm just chilling, it's probably just country.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:43

Okay. What was the last song you listened to?

SPEAKER_05 1:28:46

Uh Simple by Florida George Line.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:49

Oh, there you go. A little country boy in you. All right. If you could play a musical instrument, what would it be and why?

SPEAKER_05 1:28:59

Uh, probably the drums. Because probably because hearing like a solo from the drums, it kind of just like, how is he doing that with his hands? Like so fast going crazy. I just think it's the coolest thing. So definitely the drums.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:15

Thomas, I think Thomas, I need to point something out that you're uh Danny Moran's favorite player. Now forget Kyle Bosch because Danny plays the drums.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:24

Really? That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:25

Yeah, I've been playing since I'm about eight years old, and I still play. Well, I'm in a room right now. My room right now, right behind me, is a synthesizer and full recording equipment, and my drums are right over there to the right, all set up. Maybe after this I'll show you. But anyway, what's your favorite class at Malloy so far?

SPEAKER_05 1:29:47

Ooh, I'd probably say anatomy. It's a tough class, but I've learned a lot from it, especially because I'm a nursing major. Super important. But it's honestly extremely interesting to me to learn everything about the body. I think it's so cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:04

Excellent, excellent answer. Who's the best professor you've had at Malloy so far? I know you're only a freshman, but who so far has the been the best professor?

SPEAKER_05 1:30:14

Uh definitely Professor Singh in my sociology class because she just she was super nice, made the class super easy. And I know, like, for some people, like they didn't like her, and I just never understood why. She always brought in like munchkins for us and like other types of food. So, like early in the morning after practice, and I'm hungry, like I just grabbed a bunch of munchkins, sat down, and just wrote notes. It was it was great.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:39

Professor Singh gets a shout out for the munchkins. See what see what you remember as a student? These are the things that you know mean a lot, you know, especially coming from practice. Yeah, a handful of munchkins goes a long way. Okay, who's the funniest kid on the team?

SPEAKER_05 1:30:59

Ooh, definitely number 11, uh, Mikey Rodin. That kid he cracks me up, man. He makes me cry sometimes. Like, I just I can't. He is the funniest kid I know.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:09

Oh, that's great. Mikey gets a shout out. In your life, what's been your best lacrosse memory?

SPEAKER_05 1:31:17

Definitely last year in the playoffs when I scored a goal against Southside, only because it was like we we go to Hofstra in the playoffs. So when I scored that, I just got like the chills, like it was it was unreal, just a crowd just screaming. It was I just like those feelings that I just I've never felt before.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:42

Yeah, and you know what? And Kevin, not for nothing on Long Island, not every team makes the playoffs, you understand? Yeah, like to make the playoffs on Long Island in your specific conference is not an easy feat. So just to get there is a pretty big thing, and to to score in a game like that is a pretty big thing. So that's a pretty cool, pretty cool memory. I like that one. All right. Last question, Thomas. You've been great tonight. Give us your best impression of Coach Dunn.

SPEAKER_05 1:32:13

So uh, okay, okay. Oh wow. You gotta get your hands on him, you gotta poke and slap him. Hey, get back in, get in the passing lane.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:25

That's good. That's good. I can see him. I can see him saying that.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:34

You did great in the firing round, Thomas. Thank you so much for coming on the show tonight. You were a great guest. You're just bawling out, you're only a freshman, and only a year with the long pole in your hand. That's like even more amazing to me. That's I think awesome that you could pick it up that quick and play at the collegiate level and be in the top 10 in the country for cost turnovers. That's pretty impressive, young man. I wish you nothing but continued success.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:01

Thank you very much for having me on. I appreciate it a lot. It's been great to be on here.

Shout outs

SPEAKER_02 1:33:07

Thomas Kofod, freshman, balling out at LSM. He was a good kid. He was a lot of fun having on.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:16

Yeah, man. He seems like a really fun, kind of chill kid to have. Seems like it'd be a great teammate, right, Kevin? Yeah. Yeah. You know, freshman, full of energy. Everything's new to him. This is like he's playing NCAA ball. Uh, had the chance to go to pace, you know what, decided to change his major to nursing. And then now he's playing for the legend and coach Bill Dunn. And it's number eight in the country and calls turnovers, only a year into playing LSM with the pole. So he's a pretty special kid now.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:48

Yeah, yeah. He had two great choices. Mariano and Pace were done in Malloy. He couldn't go wrong. Obviously, he was smart because of what he wanted to do for his major, and that takes precedence. That's the other thing you got to give him for maturity there.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:04

Oh, 100%. You know, I just I and you know what? I just like the kid's demeanor.

unknown 1:34:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:08

Thomas just had a very good demeanor. He seemed very comfortable with us. And uh, you know, we said last year with Coach Dunn on the on at the helm at Malloy, there was only one place to go, and that's up. And you know what? The Lions are sitting at seven and five. They are vastly improved from last year, and because you know, young men like Thomas Kofbod playing such great defense for the Lions. So he was a great guest.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:36

Yeah, exactly. And it was also great to have Coach Mariano on a pace along with Andy Kavavit of 15 for Life and what they're doing. The game they're doing on April 19th, we talked about it goes beyond that. Uh, you know, 15 for Life has distributed over 5,000 decals to universities, high schools, and youth programs across the country. And and as we talked to Andy off the podcast, these decals really represent a chance for a conversation happening around mental health. Like he talks about, he calls it by keeping their mind on the mental and mental on their mind, right? Go back and forth. And that's so important. So I just want people to know as we start to close out this show that we're gonna have a link to 15 for life in our show notes. And if you're a team out there, you can sign up to get decals for your team and join the 15 for life ambassadors. I think that would be really cool. It's a great way, as Andy told us, you know, they see that decal, that sticker on your helmet, and they ask what it's about, and it starts the conversation. It's an easy way to start the conversation.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:44

And you know what? And when we first of all, it was a great discussion with Andy and Coach Mariano. Yeah, great discussion. Um, I'm just blown away by the whole mental health thing and the fact that it interests me because I have boys that are in sports and kind of has been affected my family and my nephew and my cousin. And so I've seen that side kind of firsthand, and I I find it interesting. And and the fact that the lacrosse community uh above m all the other sports that I can see has really taken mental health uh to the forefront. If you look at a lot of the colleges' Instagrams and their Twitter pages, and you know, they're they're setting new paths for mental health at the collegiate level. And and and you know what, we're starting to talk about it more and more. And you know what? You sign up for 15 in life, you get the D 15 for life, you get the decals on your helmet, and people say, Hey man, what's that? What's that 15 for life? And now you start the conversation. Well, this is about mental health and such and such. And and I think it's a it's an important subject. I I just I find it to be a very important subject. And I thought tonight's discussion with those two guys was great.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:10

Totally agree. I totally agree. So to close out, Danny, as we've been starting to do, and you started really, we've got a few shout-outs. Let me start off because there was one I meant to do last week, and that shout out goes to Jed Brummett of Colorado Mesa. He recorded his 100th goal against Westminster. That's a that's a great. Yeah, there you go. My next one.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:36

It's a big milestone, Kevin. That's a big milestone.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:39

And I I I apologize to Jed for missing it. I'm a week late on it, so I apologize to him. That's why I wanted to get it out there. My next one is shout out to Mark Crawford of Barton. He's the first player in program history to hit 200 points, Danny. That's amazing. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:03

So shout out to Mark. What do you have? Okay, mine goes uh my first shout out, is goes out to Jaden Seeley. He's a tackman at for shorter, had six goals and one assist for his UAH last week. Uh we had a really good game for them. And we talked about it last week. And I just, you know, when I thought about it, I said, we have to give this kid a shout out. We really do. And that's Joe Amichi, the goalie for North Greenville, who recorded 19 saves against number 10, and and and the big upset over number 10 Anderson in a 10 to 5 win. So Joe and and Jaden, shout outs to you guys. You guys had a great week last week. That's all the shout-outs I have, Kev.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:45

Okay, so Joe gets two. I got I got them last week. You got them again this week. That's awesome. I've got two more. Shout out to Eddie Baker of St. Rose. He had a day against St. Michael's. Get this, Danny. Six goals, four cost turnovers, three ground balls. Wow. That's a day. That certainly is a day. Good job. Good job, young man. And my last shout out goes to the entire Roberts Wesley and Redhawks team. I didn't know about this until I read the recap, Danny. They had an emotional week last week prior to the game. One of their players, defender Parker Bossard, lost his mother, who passed away, Amy Brought Bossard. So they had that on their minds as they go into the game. And and they pull out the win against Malloy for their teammate, which you know, I find incredible that they had that resilience to do that. So shout out to that whole team and how they were able to perform in a tough circumstance of one of their one of their teammates, their brothers, uh going through such a tough time.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:03

Yes, that's that's that's a shame. And you know what? There's the lacrosse community pulling together again, right? Exactly. And my last shout out to all the teams in the South that had to play in that nasty weather last week. Songs for you guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:30

And with that, Danny, that's a wrap. That's a wrap, guys.