Game Time - A look back at week 3 and a preview of Week 4 of the 2024 season

Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of Deep Two Men's Lacrosse. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stentrum, and with me as always is the Yoda of Lacrosse podcast host, Danny Moran. Hey Danny. You are the Jedi master, which may come in handy as we have a young Luke Skywalker waiting in the wings to learn from the master. Oh, you're okay. He's not Skywalker.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

You're smooth with your words, man.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

I see where you're going. He is not Skywalker. He is a Luke, though.

Luke McAnaney

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Luke McEnaney. He played midfield and attack for Tampa from 2018 to 2023. NCAA All South Region Honors. Sunshine State All Conference Selection in 2021 and 2022. And as you have said, Danny, robbed of an all-American spot. 100%. 100% robbed. So he's with us tonight for our first ever guest analyst. You want to bring him on?

SPEAKER_04 1:20

Yeah, let's bring him on. How you doing, Luke? I'm doing great. I'm pumped to be on the podcast. Thanks for having me. I appreciate that, shout.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Luke McEnaney. I have been a big fan of yours, man, since the first time I saw you play, even though it's for Tampa. No, just kidding. You know what? You're a phenomenal player. Hey, your career numbers at Tampa. 95 goals, 46 assists, 141 points. But more important than that, NCAA champ. You know, you you just did it all. You're you're a great player, and we are excited to have you on the show as our first guest analyst here on In the Crease, man. We're really appreciative. Uh you taking the time to do your homework, like Kevin sent you notes. He's like the principal, like the principal sending the students.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Listen, listen, dude, someone's got to do the production here. We got to get people ready, ready to go. I didn't want him to feel like he was, you know, he didn't have things and know what was going on and how we do things. I'm just, you know, trying to help them out a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

Always helps to be prepared. There you go. Well, catch us up, though. What are you doing now? Um, so I just took a job at Raymond James. I'm training to be an advisor and studying for my test right now, the series seven. Um but yeah, I work over in St. Pete. It's like 25 minutes away. So it's a little commute, but it's nice to be over there. Um I love this area, Tampa Bay. Um, and yeah, I'm honored to be the first analyst on the podcast. And the one note I will make about the all-American, um, so I never that never really like occurred to me. And one of the reasons that I never really got mad about it was because Colin White was a leading scorer on the national championship team and was not an all-American. So I can't get upset because he had more goals than me. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

That's nice of you to talk about your teammate Colin there. I like it. I like it. I still I still call bullshit. That's I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You know, the way you played and what you meant for that team, especially the championship year, just you know, there was a lot of guys. I mean, you guys were a good, good, good team, you know, really good team. And and Blake in goal is just amazing that year. Yeah, he had a great year. But the way you play, your style of game, quick, fast, shifty, left, right. You're not afraid to mix it up. I know that you're not the biggest guy in town, but you're not afraid to get physical with those big close defenders, man. So you were a great player, and now you're in the real world making bucks. Did you open a Roth IRA yet?

SPEAKER_04 4:06

Uh, I have not. I've done my Roth 401k, but there you go. So that's past my seven, so no financial advice yet.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Oh, okay. All right, all right. So, what has the transition been like? Was it kind of did your palms itch when the season started? You didn't have a lacrosse stick in your hand?

SPEAKER_04 4:23

Definitely. Um, I actually live next door to Nick Papa, who's on the team still, so he's always hanging out with me. And you know, he's always asked me questions about the real world, and I'm like, just keep playing lacrosse, figure out him there, it's not worth it. Um, but yeah, I mean, I miss it. It's definitely when you're good at something like that, and this is what I told him, you know, you miss it and you really understand how good the players were around you. Um, so it's definitely something that you know you got to start back at the bottom once you graduate. But um, I've done it before, so trying to do it again.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Awesome. I'm gonna be fine, man. I'm sure you'll be just fine. I've got one more question for you, and it kind of goes with what we were talking about before we started the podcast. What would you say to high school players looking to play in college? What piece of advice would you give them? Now that you've done it, you've been through the whole thing, played at the top level. What would you say to uh lacrosse players in high school that are looking to play in college? What advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_04 5:28

One thing, definitely be patient. If I was talking to my senior year self, um, you want to go in and you know get a spot on the team, and it takes time, relationships take time. Um, I was lucky enough to have a great senior class that I was close with. So my grade and the seniors, you know, we all knew each other, they were welcoming. But definitely like it's hard not playing when you're from, you know, I was saying this to you guys earlier, being from upstate New York, coming to Florida, you think that you're gonna get a spot immediately and you get humbled really quick. So you got to be patient and really just like show up every day, show up on time, um, always ask questions. And eventually, you know, when an opportunity comes, you got to take it.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

That is great advice. Don't you think? Yeah, absolutely, man. Absolutely. That's why you were at the top, my friend. That's why you were at the

Week in Review

SPEAKER_00 6:21

top. All right, you ready to get into it, you two? Talk about the weekend review.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Let's go. So why don't we start with the Tampa game? Since Pop Papa's your since your Papa's your boy next door, and he played the other game. Let's let's start with that, Kev. What do you say?

SPEAKER_00 6:37

I I love it. I'm I can't wait to hear you guys. If you as you remember, my Saturday was spent. I got to watch the first half of this game, and then I was in a car driving down to Virginia State, which is two hours south of me, and I could only listen to the game. And as you remember, this game had no announcers. So I could I could only listen when there was a lot of a lot of applause. I'd look over at my tablet and see if the the score changed. That's how I did the second half of this game. So let's get into it. Tampa starts out with a 4-0 lead. And I thought, hmm, this is interesting. And then Lenore Ryan scores, I think the next seven to pull ahead. And then at halftime, what was it? At halftime, it was uh it was nine-six at half. Tampa tried to start a claw back, they got it seven-six, and then Lenore Ryan scores two in a row. So that was really kind of interesting. It seemed like that was Lenore Ryan just just like they did against you indie, kind of took it away from Tampa to begin with. What do you think, Luke?

SPEAKER_04 7:46

Yeah, I mean, I was very hopeful early on. Uh when we went up 4-0, the offense, this offense this year, they're moving the ball a lot faster than we did. Um, and you can tell there's a lot of chemistry. So when they got out to the 4-0 start, I thought it was going to be downhill from there, but it's a game of runs. LR definitely started fighting back. And at halftime, you know, LR's offense was playing really well. Our offense didn't, we weren't able to really get anything going. Um, LR must have, I think they had to have adjusted to Tampa's offense.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Um, and that's yeah, yeah. That's a note I kind of had. LR sort of going on the run. I started looking at Danny. You know, we talked about this last week. It seems like Lenore Ryan's defense starts to clamp down, and that creates their offense. And I either it's just because I want to see that in my head when I'm watching the game again. It almost seems like the same thing happened to Tampa. They clamped down LR's defense, clamped down on Tampa, and then they were able to turn around on their offense, and their offense started clicking.

SPEAKER_04 8:54

Yeah, the defense to offense transitions can kill, they can make it make or break a game. You know, with Matt Bidot for us, it was awesome because if he got a ground ball and he was coming down the field, he was creating offense. And yeah, that's something I saw LR do taking taking advantage of a lot of those, you know, fast break opportunities because those are easy goals. You know, you get a four-on-three, you got to finish. And LR was definitely finishing the ball. Um, it's tough to adjust to a very aggressive defense like that when they start pushing the ball. But yeah, I thought they did well in the transition. Thought that's definitely something that LR was taking advantage of.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Was there no goal scored in the fourth quarter? Was it 12-9 after three, and that's the way it ended up?

SPEAKER_04 9:41

It's funny. I was watching the fourth quarter in the sauna, actually. And uh bastards. My connection, like my connection wasn't working. Um, so I was trying to watch it, and then it was 12-9. There was probably five minutes left when my phone stopped working, and then it went back on and it was the end of the game. And it said 12-9. So I was like, Oh, it must be glitch end of the third quarter, and looked at my phone and that was game. So it there wasn't really anything, you know, we weren't creating anything. Um that was definitely uh something where I was like, we gotta you gotta push the ball more during the fourth quarter. Um I mean, Coach Clark's gonna have those guys together. I think that's good early on for Tampa. Um, yeah, yeah, I agree. They're gonna be hungry to get him back. Um, but props to LR, obviously, for well look at last look at last year, Luke.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

You guys beat Lenore Ryan in that game in Savannah. Uh-huh. And then Lenore Ryan came back and won the whole thing. So this is early in the season, two really good teams, 12-9. Here's the other note I had, and I didn't have any stats on this game. They the box scores have not been put up yet on this game, so I can't get any stats on it. Yeah, but I went back and looked. Lenore Ryan is 4-0, and no team has scored more than 10 goals on them. No team.

SPEAKER_04 11:11

That goes back to the adjustments, too. The adjustments they make.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

That's the one thing that that's standing out to me is Lenore Ryan's defense. I mean, they are just shutting, shutting guys down. And they make they make really good adjustments. They really do. Coach Paradine has really, and you know what? They're making good adjustments on offense too, because in that game, um, they were initiating from X and going to GLE on the right side. If you're looking at the uh looking at the net, they were getting a GLE. They were, I don't know, Tampa wasn't sliding. They just they just found something in that little island, and LR was able to score and score. And then they started attacking from the wing with mid middies to that same spot, and it was working. So, whatever you know, the adjustments Paradigm made, he found something in that Tampa defense there that they could work with. But again, I think the thing that stands out to me right now with this Lenore Bear team is their defense and Victor Powell and Pennsylvania and goal. They're just McCracken, they're good, man.

SPEAKER_04 12:15

Yeah, and they got a lot of experienced guys. I think that's McCracken and Victor Powell have been there forever. So that's good on their end. And I mean, if you look at Tampa, we have a lot of older leaders, Charlie Bullish, Owen Miller. But a lot of the guys playing, especially on offense, are younger guys. And thankfully they have good leaders that are gonna help them out to get more comfortable playing. But like you look at Andrew Milani transfer from Towson, he was still fast out there, and I think you know, in a matter of time, those guys are gonna be able to put it together. Um, it's always tough going against LR when they make adjustments like that.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:51

So um, but I'm I think they're gonna be happy in the long run that they had to deal with that early on in the season so they can you know improve from there. And Coach Clark's always looking out for that stuff. He's a very smart coach.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

So oh yeah, oh yeah. It's a legend. Okay, let's move on. Let me let's go to the game that I got to watch because it's a I want to get to it early because it was such a historic game, and that's Virginia State against UDC. Virginia State pulls it out 12 to 8, but let me tell you, it was great down there. First of all, beautiful day. It started off around five, and it was still sunny. Of course, I was in the press box and I was warm the whole time. But once the sun went down, it got pretty cold out there. Great crowd, and like I said, forget the records. These two teams got after it, they were flying around. I don't know if you could see it. It I know it was being broadcast, and I think it was pretty wide, but you they were flying around. Now, they played with heart and grit, they made a lot of mistakes. These are young teams, you know. UDC had that break during COVID and is trying to get back. Virginia State, their first season ever, first program win was this game. But they also at times they actually you could see flashes of brilliance in their game. When they got the right spacing, they moved the ball well, especially Virginia State, but even UDC, and that's when they buried the biscuit, right? And even on defense now and then they play well. It was a really cool game to watch against these teams because they were not giving each other any room. It was great. You know, Virginia State went up four to two after one. It seemed to me that they were pushing. You talked about it, Luke. They pushed transition to get those early goals, and that's how they got up. They actually got up six to two before UDC started to crawl back. And what happened, I don't know if you guys saw this, a Virginia State player got badly injured. Tyrone Jones, they're actually their face-off guy. He was seven of nine before he got injured, like 8 41 in the second quarter. He he broke his wrist, and I'm I have a feeling it was multiple breaks because I talked to Coach Church and he said he he was having surgery, I think, today on that. Wow, that sucks. So there's a break of like 45 minutes, and then obviously there's a lot of talking going on. UDC comes out and crawls back, they tie the score 6'6 early in the in the third. But, you know, and there was they once again, their D was playing good. Their goalkeeper, UDC's goalkeeper, Najee Wilson, I really like about like him. He played really well. I'll tell him about in the end when you get the stats. And then it was 8-8 after three. And then Virginia's now it's a game. Yeah, now it's a game. They got 6-6. Uh Virginia State scores two again, and then UDC answers with two, and it's tied up after three. And then Virginia State scores pretty quick in the fourth, but it stayed that way 9-8 until 326 left in the game. So it was just back and forth. And then Virginia State rattles off three goals in two and a half minutes.

unknown 16:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

And that was all she wrote.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Historical game. Two HBCUs. We had the coaches on and the players on last week. Out. How cool is that that we have that division two where these HBCU schools can go at it? What'd you think, Luke?

SPEAKER_04 16:23

Uh well, the one thing I was going to touch on is that 45-minute break that you were talking about. Yeah, coming back after those little breaks. I've had rain delays. One time we had like a windstorm against Rollins, and that's a huge, I mean, that can make or break a game for anybody. Um, you got to be in the locker room, fired up, dialed in the whole time, because it's easy to, you know, get unfocused. Um, but that's good that they both came out, were you know firing away. And you were saying Virginia State scored early on in the fourth quarter and then kept it kind of rolling. Um that says a lot about a team, you know, when you're able to come out in the fourth, set the tone, you know, get punched in the face, and then punch them right back in the face. So that's good signs of an early program.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

Yeah, you could tell it in the stats how close it was. So, like shots, 37 to 30. Turnovers, each team had 19. Cause turnovers, each team had 11. Ground balls, Virginia State with 33 and UDC with 28. So it was really, really, really close. And I think the maybe one of the differences, and I actually talked to Coach Church of Virginia State about this, and he's really proud there, like at an 80% clear percentage right now, and it was in the clears. Virginia State went 20 of 22, and and UDC went 21 of 27. So just a little bit of a difference, but it was a great game. Some of the the top scores, so Kalani Laughlin had six goals for Virginia State. Andre Brigham had three goals, one assist. Danny, he has a cannon of a shot. Like he has got a bullet of a shot. He had some goals. I was like, What's this kid going forward? Elmore Donovan had two goals and one assist, and Devray Kirkland the second, one goal, two assists, four ground balls, two cause turnovers.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

That's a great game.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

And then Jaden Harris, number four on on defense, five ground balls and two cause turnovers.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Virginia State, Virginia State gets on the board.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Their first game, uh, their first win, actually. And uh UDC, you know, they went out and they they they they fought in that game. They fought hard, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Yeah, IG Wilson had 13 saves and 12 goals against. And like I said, you know who he reminds me of a little bit, Danny? Shy. Yeah, he reminds you Shy. A little bit of smooth. If he gets beat, no big deal. He's nice, cool, calm, collected, and he gets goalie.

SPEAKER_04 18:51

Every good goalie's got to be calm after those.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Dylan Donaldson, four goals and one assist for uh UDC. Yeah. Uh McAtear Philippotis uh and Julian Shem each with one. So hey, another another that was a historical game, Kevin. You got to be there, and I think that's pretty cool stuff right there. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

All right. What other games uh did you watch, Danny? You want to talk the uh Malloy game?

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Yeah, we could talk about the Malloy game because I'm in love with the Malloy Lions this year. I don't know why. This team has got just just you know, I just really like what Coach Dunn has been able to do there in a short period of time. This team a couple of just three years ago was really, really struggling, really struggling. And now, you know what? They're one and one, but they beat Southern New Hampshire 11-10 in double overtime, Kev.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

And even more ironic is they lost by the same score last week against Seton Hill.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yeah, it was 6-1 Penman after one. It was 8-3 at half. It looked like all Southern New Hampshire. It really did. I mean, I just felt that they were struggling, Malloy on offense a little bit in the beginning. They're a young team again. And then third quarter, Malloy got two goals and shut shut the penmen down, no goals. Then went on a 5-2 run in the fourth to tie it up. So it was pretty, pretty cool game. It was 8-5 at the beginning of the fourth when the snow started, boys. See now, Syracuse boy. You haven't seen the snow in a while in a game. This was like, it started out like a regular snowstorm, it started again, and then all of a sudden you just see it getting worse and worse and got heavier and heavier. And by the end of this game, it was a fallout snowstorm. It was going, man.

SPEAKER_04 20:55

It's not like a high school game.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Yeah, yeah, right. So snow started coming down, lions, Christalini scored 8-6. Southern New Hampshire a couple minutes later. Lions, Mike McLean scored his first goal of the season and a big one, bringing the goal, bringing the Lions to within one. Penman called timeout. Right? That face off for the Penman was dominating the X. I mean dominating that game out of some game, man. He was just winning everything. He won the face-off, and uh the Penman were able to get shots off before Antonetti scored 9-7. Southern New Hampshire, nine minutes left. A 30-second clock violation by Malloy, gave the ball back to the Penmen, and Lynch scored to extend the lead by two with six minutes left. So now the snow's coming down. Malloy's starting to come back. Penmen are just, you know, they're sticking in there, they're staying tight, they're staying stout. At the three minute mark, Mark Pelulas scored on a man. Up from a lawyer and brought it to within one again. Okay. Pazienza won the ensuing faceoff, but the penmen turned the ball over with one minute left in regulation. Okay. Chris Delaney tied it up with 50 seconds left in the and in the first OT, Malloy went man down on a slash. Antonetti missed the shot and Southern New Hampshire lost possession. Each team only got two shots off in the first possession. In the first OT. In the second OT, each team traded possessions and shots. Then the Penmans, Ryan Lynch, went off sides, man. Wrong time to go off sides. Giving Malloy now a man up opportunity in overtime. And Mikey Roden buried the biscuit game winner in the snow with only 20 seconds left in the second OT. And Malloy pulls it out. A gritty, gritty, gritty win, man.

SPEAKER_04 23:12

I love that for them in the snow, too. I mean, that seems like it was slowing down the overtime a lot.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Yeah, I was it was funny. I once once again, I'm in my car and I'm switching between games. I put one on my phone. I have my phone like on my lap, and all I can do is listen to it, right? I can't really look at it, but they're have announcers, so I'm in the double overtime hearing here in the game. And it was crazy because you get to that first overtime and you hear the I did hear the penalties, Danny. Like, okay, they're gonna score now. Nope. Right. Nope. You know, you're like, and it just kept going to the second overtime. I didn't see the snow, which is even crazier. Couple stats that stuck out to me in this game, though. Turnovers. Southern New Hampshire at 18 to Malloy's nine.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Yeah, Malloy, you know, they took care of the ball. They really did, you know.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

And that had to help them. When they're down by that much, it's 18 extra possessions, Kevin. Yeah. 18 extra possessions. Nine, nine extra possessions for him. Yeah, they they get and then then man up. Malloy went three for five in New Hampshire. Southern New Hampshire went oh for four.

SPEAKER_04 24:22

Wow, it looks like Southern New Hampshire is gonna be, they probably got a team meeting today about this. Those stats are ones that every coach is gonna talk to you about after the game, anyways. But you know, man up and the ground balls and turnovers, those are the big three.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Yeah, Malloy, Malloy went three for five on the extra men. Yeah, they took care of it. They were effective. The Penmen outshot them 51-47. Again, the 18 turnovers to nine. That was big. Um uh 18 for 22 on the clears for the penmen, 20 for 22 uh to 22 for the Lions, 28 ground balls for uh Southern New Hampshire, 21 ground balls for Malloy. Uh big one is the three for five on the EMO and the zero for four. Uh Chris Delaney, four goals and two assists. He's having a really good season so far. Uh Justin Pululis added three goals. McCheney, Corcoran, Rodin, and Mikey McLean, all each added one. Edmunds, Ryan Lynch, six foot one, 200-pound attack freshman from Derry, New Hampshire. Four goals. I think he's going to be a kid we're going to have to watch out. Yeah. He's only a freshman and he's got some nice size. 6'210, man. Um, Antonetti, the sophomore from North Attlesboro, Massachusetts, added two goals. Gennaro Malada. He was a 19 for 25 at the X and the ground ball. He did a good over there of Gennaro. You did good over there. And the sophomore Aiden Robinson from Cranston, Rhode Island. He also added two goals. So the New Hampshire's a solid team.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

And their goalie, Ronan DePaul, had 19 saves with 11 goals against. He had a really good. I remember just hearing his name being called like another save. Christian Michaels for Malloy had a pretty good game, too. But Ronan DePaul stood on his head a few times when Malloy was a good thing. Yeah. All right. Okay, let's move on. Let's talk about another first win for a team. William Jewell beating Malone 15-14. Remember, Malone is in a second year program. William Jewell is in their first year. The Cardinals, when they played against Quincy, Danny, we talked about this last week. They actually played pretty well. And I was really interested to wonder how they were going to do. And this game was like a game of runs, but not Luke the way you were talking about it earlier. It was like the Cardinals went on two five and one runs, once in the first half and once in the second half, to pull away. So Malone had to always kind of scrape back, crawl back in. You know, it was 10-9 after three. Pioneers tied it, tied it up 10-10, and that's when the Cardinals went on their run again. And then Malone, they scored like three goals in like 15 seconds to get within one with 51 seconds left. And then they got one more shot off, but the goalie blocked it. Secure the win for William Jewell. It was a crazy game. Once again, a little bit tough. Uh kind of watching it. It's that one camera shot up high, and you're trying to see how they're moving the ball and everything. But uh, it was a really good game. Uh Tanner Garcia for William Jewell had one goal, three assists. Jacob Weinkoop had four goals and one assist. And that Nathaniel LaRue had four goals and three assists, with Cade Snyder on defense getting three ground balls and two cost turnovers, and Finn Zyberth, their goalie, 17 saves and 14 goals against. On the Malone side, Eli Chiati had three goals, one assist. Talon Heath, our man who was on the podcast last year, six goals, one assist on that game. Pretty good day. Jack Savardasso had one two goals, one assist, and their goalie had 11 saves with 15 uh goals against Philip Bell. And then William Jewel followed this up with a convincing win over Thomas Moore.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

17 to 4.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

Yeah. So they had a good road road, uh, two road wins for them before heading home.

SPEAKER_04 28:45

Shout out, Jewel. I might have to start watching them. 17 to 4 is a little bit more than a convincing win.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

Yeah, so Thomas Moore is, yeah. Thomas Moore is a brand new program, too. They they played actually NI NAIA last year, Luke.

SPEAKER_04 28:59

Okay. Um and that's still a good league. Like Weber, um, that's where our old coach, Chris Berg, he's there. Those guys are good.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

Yeah, yeah. So they they but they were a brand new program. They just did that for one year, and they came, they were always going to come over to NCAA D2. So tough start for them to start. William Jewell, you'll be interested to see how they do the rest of the season. Be fun to watch them and see what they can do. Okay, what other games do you got on the list there?

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Mate, what about Luke? What does he got? What do you got, Luke?

SPEAKER_04 29:33

What do you want to talk about? We can touch on limestone southern a little. Um we were talking about it earlier, but uh, those are definitely, I mean, Southern, I don't know what's going on with them this year. First game. I thought they were gonna, you know, they beat us last year. They had um a lot of great players, but I don't really know who their stars are now. Um, I do know that their coach um definitely, you know, he's an upstate guy, so uh he knows what he's talking about. And they're, I mean, those guys are lacrosse players and they love lacrosse. Um, but limestone, I mean, limestone looks like they're gonna be pretty good this year. Um, it'll be cool to see. I mean, like you look at them two years ago in playoffs, thought they were gonna be a lot better against us. They had a great season, but you know, we came out firing. And then last year I thought they were gonna make a run too. So I think those guys are hungry to kind of get back in the conversation. Um, but Southern, I mean, it'll be interesting to see how it works out in the SSE play with them.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

Yeah, I th I I agree with you. And we talked about this a couple episodes ago when they beat Wingate and they just looked really good. You know, their offense wasn't great, but they shut down Wingate's offense. So when they lost to Montevallo, I was really interested to see how they're gonna come back against Limestone. And I'm not sure it's as much a knock on Florida Southern as it is how strong Limestone is this year.

SPEAKER_04 31:00

Yeah, I mean, with that much history, their program's been around forever. They've been a great powerhouse in D2. So I think that's part of their culture. They can pick it up. Um, you know, Coach Clark definitely set the foundation there. So, you know, I saw that sample. They'll definitely um make a run this year. But so I mean, Southern's a sleeper team. That's how I see that.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

I I agree with you. I think that's a good way to put it. You cannot discount them if you're playing them.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Um, but they got two losses now, man. So a little inconsistent right now, you know, out of out of Florida Southern. You know, limestone's off to a three and oh start. They look amazing. That guy's Zach Terry, man. Let me tell you something. He's just burying biscuit after biscuit. I'm surprised they're not doubling and trying to take the ball out of that guy's hands. How do you just leave it in his hands? You gotta, you know, you gotta put your best defender on him and you gotta double and slide to him quick, you know, and get him, get him to get rid of the damn ball, you know, because if you don't, he's so big, he backs you down. He's like Charles Barkley, man. He just backs you down and and just get be able to get the shot off, you know.

SPEAKER_04 32:06

So, you know, limestone gets very good this year. Limestone, LR, Tampa. It's gonna be great playoff season.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Yeah. Without a doubt. Yeah, the the all of the south. I think the top five teams come out of the south, right? Like the top seven or something like that. Out of the five out of the top seven, I'm out of the south now. I think it's different, you know. The landscape of D2 is shifting from the northeast to the south now. It's evolved. But you know what? It's kids like you from the northeast saying, I want to go down where it's warm and play lacrosse for a competitive team where it's warm.

SPEAKER_04 32:44

Not a hard selling point to a kid from Syracuse, New York.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

100%. I'm not one. He proved it, Kev. I've been saying it for three years now. It's not a hard sell, you know.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Now at 20-something, it backs up a little bit older person with that quote. All right, let's move on.

SPEAKER_01 33:01

Lr looks good. Who's LR got next?

SPEAKER_00 33:04

That's what I want to know. Who's the who do they have next? Oh, they're playing a Delphi. Uh all right. That's in my games to watch this week. We'll we'll be getting to those in a in a bit. Um, let's talk really quickly. I want to talk about this one. Belmont Abbey, Kataba. I didn't see one second. Kataba wins 9-7. I'll go through it quick because this is like deja vu all over again, Danny. As I saw this score, just like when I saw the score for the North Greenville game, and I had to turn it on. So let's go back and look at Kataba. Kataba beat North Greenville, then they lost to Mount Olive by three, and now they beat Belmont Abbey. And I I was driving in my car, I was looking at scores, I saw that it was 9-3 Katawba over Belmont Abbey in the fourth. And so I uh I just turned it on and was listening to it. And and basically Catawba outscored Belmont Abbey in the second and the third to pull away. They they went on an eight-goal run in those periods to go 9-3 after three. Now, Belmont Abbey did a great job of scoring four in the fourth and blanking the Indians, they didn't let them score at all. But it was once again, Kataba was playing strong enough that they just Belmont Abbey couldn't have couldn't come back in in a 15-minute quarter. Yeah, and get this too in the stats. Belmont Abbey won all of the face-offs, 20 of them. Wow, that's crazy. But then you look at shots, Kataba had 42, and Belmont Abbey only had 28.

SPEAKER_01 34:50

So Kataba dominated the game, you know, at the X.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

And most of the other stats.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

They lost the X, but they were dominating everything else, huh?

SPEAKER_00 34:58

Yeah, yeah. Their defense was able to shut them down in the second and third and quarters, and then and then they were able to hold on. You know, but Kari Neely for Kataw had one goal, two assists, Peyton Turner had one goal, four assists, and Gabriel Parker had three goals. And then what I'd have to say is once again, here's a goalie to watch for Belmont Abbey, Angus Snow, a freshman. Yep, the next Sully. He had 15 saves, he kept them in the game.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

He might be one of them among the country leaders in saves right now. He's just playing heads up. But yeah, for Belmont Abbey, what do they do? They fall one one and two now, right? They lost two, and Kotaba goes to two and one.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

Well, interesting. Did you watch the Undy Mercyhurst game?

SPEAKER_01 35:50

I did. That was a really crazy, crazy game, man. I don't even know what to think about that game.

SPEAKER_04 35:58

Uendy's got some players. Undy's always got some players. They got some their offense. I love watching their offense play.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

Yeah, you know what? They they they're a little bit different this year so far coming out. Um, they've been struggling to find goals a little bit. Um, and Mercyhurst, they're really struggling on offense, man. They're just they can't find goals. I mean, they only scored four goals. No, what are they two goals?

SPEAKER_00 36:27

Two goals out of three quarters.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

Yeah, like they're in, you know, and the week before the wingate held them, you know, to like six goals and held Landamore scoreless. I don't know, man. I don't know what to think, but this was a crazy game, man. It was six-two Undy at the beginning of the fourth. Tardiff made it six three. U Indy's Tristan Schaefer answered one minute later to make it seven three. The Lakers, Matt Welch, got a slash, put UIndy and a man up, and the Greyhounds Nick Rangard buried one eight to three. U Indy, right? Lakers scored on a LaFarbe goal. Mercy Hurst won the ensuing face-off, and LaFarbe scored again two goals in like a minute, making an 8-5 UI indie with nine minutes left. All right. You mean, you know, Mercy Hurst starting to make a little bit of a comeback, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:18

Well, especially when you get two quick goals like that, you think, hmm.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

Are they trading? No, they could be coming back right now.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

They both traded a couple of possessions. U Indy's Trevor Lockwood was called for a 30-second push, and Colin Schmatz. Schmatz scored a man-up goal, bringing the Lakers within two with six minutes left. At the 425 mark, Ethan Landymore finally got on the board with his first goal of the season. The 425 mark of the fourth quarter in his second game. Ethan Landymore. It just amazes me that it's it took that long for him to get on to the on the books. Um, so Landymore, uh, where am I? So Landymore got got on the books with his first goal of the season, brought the Lakers to within one. Each team traded shots again, and both goalies made great saves in the following possessions. I mean, both goalies. Schmatz hit the crossbar. And on the restart, UIndy was caught looking. And with 47 seconds left, Braden McCard got loose inside. And Casey Carlson for Undy made an incredible doorstop save. Incredible. I was like, there's a goal. Bang! Oh, save Carlson. It was insane. It was like, now it's like getting to the bottom, just 30 seconds left. UND cleared the ball and called timeout with 30 seconds left. Okay. Lakers took goalie Brett only out of the game.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Yeah, this was crazy. Danny, I have to say this. You told me about this end of this game. I didn't watch any of it, but I I did replay the fourth quarter.

SPEAKER_04 39:02

I have to watch this now.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

You do. So they're especially the fourth quarter, Luke. You have to watch it.

SPEAKER_04 39:09

I mean, that's a that's a crazy move. I've never seen that before. Unless a goalie gets a penalty, I've never seen a goalie get pulled.

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Stand by. They take Olney out and they replace him with Tyler Moritzon, the backup goalie. At the restart.

SPEAKER_00 39:27

But where do they put Tyler? They put Tyler at attack. They put the goalie at attack. So they have all short sticks and D-poles against you, Indy, in the on the on the offensive side. And they cause a turnover.

unknown 39:44

The ball.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Charlie Gleason caused the turnover. Hold on, where am I? I'm losing my spot. I got so much notes here. Cause the turnover. Gibson, Gleason rather, picks up the ground ball and loses the ball. Loses the ball. Who picks up the ground ball? The new goalie, Morrison. One-on-one, unimpeded, sprints to the goal with the goalie stick. Goalie on goalie. Takes a three-yard shot. Carlson makes the save, man. Carlson makes the save.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

And that wasn't a bad shot either.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

No, it was it would hey a hundred guys would have taken that same shot. Yeah. Hey, got one-on-one on the goalie. Nobody behind you. Good bounce. You're gonna bounce it, right? You're gonna bounce it.

SPEAKER_04 40:45

You always know how to shoot on goalies.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

And and Carlson.

SPEAKER_04 40:50

It reminds me, I coached with lacrosse, and we had a brave heart, and our goalie took it over midfield, did the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

That's awesome, man. That's awesome. But like I don't understand the move of taking Olney out. I don't know. Like, I don't know. Maybe I don't know what coach, but it almost damn near worked.

SPEAKER_04 41:07

That's something they've definitely practiced before. We always do those little situations at the end of the games. Um, so I'm assuming they probably practiced that one and were waiting to pull it out.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

I think they probably felt more comfortable with one of their either long pulls or short sticks on defense, like to double and cover everyone than Brett only doing it because he no one was in goal. No, no. So then they put the goalie, they put a goalie up an attack, and the crazy thing is, it almost worked.

SPEAKER_01 41:41

It almost damn near worked. I mean, he was on it was one-on-one, one v1, man, goalie on goalie. And Morrison had some quick legs, man. That kid was quick. Yeah, I was like, wow, what an ending. What a great game.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

What a yeah, so you indie pulls it out eight seven. It was a good game. Good game. That fourth quarter was worth it. Everyone should watch that fourth quarter.

SPEAKER_01 42:01

And and Mercyhurst now, but bizarringly, goes to Owen, too, man.

SPEAKER_00 42:08

Yeah, but also look at who they played. Both Wingate and Undy. So not easy. You know, that's a tough schedule. That's a tough schedule. Now they beat Undy. They beat both last year. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

That's right. That's right. So we'll see. We'll see. You know, Coach Trey Cleely, you know. It's a long season. Yep. Yeah, Tristan Schaefer had three goals and one assist for Undy. Williams, Lightweller, Rangard, Lamb, uh, Sam Pucevic, all added one. Trevor Locke with six ground balls and four cost turnovers. Caleb Parker, 11 for 19 at the X, and Casey Carlson with the 17 saves, and and two game-winning doorstop saves within like a 20-second period.

SPEAKER_00 42:55

Uh from our saves ever at UND. Yeah, he probably saves.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

Yeah. He had a good game. He's a good goal. Phoenix LaFarbe had uh two. Colin Tardi fanned two. Landemore one, Schmatz and Mahoney each added one. Matt Welch uh was X by committee, uh face off by committee. Matt Welch and Andrew Better uh combined eight for 19, and Brett only 16 saves, not a bad day in goal for them, but takes the L, man. So another really, really exciting game in Division 10. Yeah, that was a great one.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

Here's another one that was exciting and very surprising in my book, and that's Mars Hill beating Barton 10 to 7. They turned around. Mars Hill turns around tough loss to Young Harris and beat a team conference tournament champions last year in Conference Carolinas. Danny, this is one where I I was actually in the press box waiting for the other game to watch, so I had a little time. And I turned this one on. The Lions D did a great job against Barton. They outscored Barton 6-3 in the second half of play, and they netted three goals for their offense in each of those quarters. And if you look at the if you look at the stats, it's kind of interesting because shots. So you you look at that, like that's that would be a typical thing you'd expect out of Barton and Mars Hill, right? Barton would have up there around 45 saves. Barton had seven. Mars Hill 18.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

How many shots again? How many shots?

SPEAKER_00 44:46

Mars Hill had 29, and Barton had 45. Wow. And then extra man. Barton goes 0 for 5. Mars Hill only got one for four. But once again, Luke, you talked about it, right? That's one of those stats. When you go goose eggs and have that many turn turns or chances in man up, you gotta you gotta capitalize.

SPEAKER_04 45:11

Yeah, especially man up because those are just goals. You know, ground balls can lead to anything, but man up, you gotta be finishing the shots. Um, and it's it's tough as a man up guy because you know you're thinking about that all the time.

SPEAKER_00 45:25

Yeah, do you feel the pressure when you go in there?

SPEAKER_04 45:27

Absolutely. I mean, there's you don't think about it until you like your 0 for three on your first three man up opportunities, and then you're like, okay, we have to score this one to go play five percent.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

I'm not laughing. Like, I I can see that I can imagine just getting tighter.

SPEAKER_04 45:43

Yeah, no, exactly. And once you're rolling, I mean, if you have momentum, it's not if your offense is playing well, we're excited for those. But I mean, it comes down to how important is this man up right now? Um, and most man ups are set up for a certain player. So if you're that guy and it's a tight game, you have to finish that one and you know it's gonna be your opportunity. So um, you know, it depends what position you're in, but definitely feel the pressure sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

You have what do you have? Nine career man-up goals. How many career man up goals you got? Nine or ten or something, I think. I read.

SPEAKER_04 46:21

Yeah, maybe I I don't really count those ones. Uh I just sat in the crease. Every for me, I was on the crease a lot. So I, you know, man up or even, I doesn't change anything. I just got to catch and shoot.

SPEAKER_03 46:34

Right, right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_04 46:36

I knew what my job was. It was easy because every play we had, for the most part, I was just going to the crease, so I just had to know where I started out.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

Yeah, so just to talk about a few of the individual stats here. Mars Hill, Josh McCallan had three goals. Austin Stroud, one goal, two assists. Cole pickle on defense, seven ground balls, one cost turnover, and Steven Smith, their goalie, 18 saves, seven goals against. Barton, their their big scores were Matt Clary at two goals and BJ Wilson at two goals. So one other game, I well, I one other game to really talk about, I think, unless you guys have others, is the Dominican Concordia of Irvine game.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

Two California teams, man. Gnarly. It was a gnarly game, man.

SPEAKER_00 47:32

It was a domination by Concordia, winning 24 to 8.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

Hold on, I gotta get my uh my sound effects up. Hold on. Is that you chewing? Yeah, that's me chewing, Eaton Crow. That's eating crow. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 47:54

That's eating crow for you.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

Because who did you who did you think? I picked I picked Coach Sammy, my Ranger fan partner, man. I picked Coach Sammy and Dominican of California to win that game. And boy, was I wrong. See you, California, University of Irvine. I still screwed it up. I still screwed it up. I kicked Concordia University of Irvine and Dominican of California. I finally said that word correctly together. It's not so easy for me. 24 to 8, man.

SPEAKER_00 48:27

Yeah, the stats showed it. Concordia had 55 shots to Dominicans 19. Oof. Faceoffs, Concordia 27, Dominican 5. Oof. Man up opportunities. Concordia 11, Dominican 1. Oh and ground balls. Concordia had 51 to Dominicans 18. That's a complete domination.

SPEAKER_04 48:57

That's just in between the lines.

SPEAKER_00 49:00

You are exactly right, Luke. This is what I wrote. They were tenacious. Concordia was tenacious on the ride, and they won the middle of the field all the time.

SPEAKER_04 49:13

I mean, you talk about like offensive lines and football. It's the same thing, getting ground balls.

SPEAKER_00 49:18

Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Concordia had 11 different goal scorers.

SPEAKER_01 49:26

That's that's amazing. Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_00 49:29

Matt Caresi had six goals. Chad McFadden had five goals, two assists. And then our favorite player in Dominican, Pear Anders Alters, had four goals and one assist for Dominican.

SPEAKER_01 49:41

Yeah, he's like number 10 in the country, I think, for goals per game. That kid is he's playing pretty good for Dominican. But I was shocked on Coach Foss and the Eagles had them boys ready. Yeah. Ready. Congrats to them for their first game in NCAA in Division II for their very first game to put up 24 on a team that was like 2-0 coming in. That's why I picked Dominican. I was figured like they had a couple of games under their belt already. You know, the other teams, uh uh uh club team coming in, Division II first game. Figured they're gonna be a little nervous, you know, where the you know the other guys had two games under their belt, got those nerves.

SPEAKER_00 50:20

But remember, they won the MCLA championship last year, Concordia. I know, man. I know, I know. They were really, really, really dominant. This week's games are gonna be interesting. We'll get to that of who they're playing, everything. They've got an interesting schedule coming forward. It'll be really cool to see how they end up by the end of the week.

SPEAKER_01 50:40

And Dominican, hey Coach Sammy, keep your boys out of the box, man. You can't be in the box 11 times and expect to come away with a win, man.

SPEAKER_00 50:49

No, because you're just yeah, you're just playing defense for minutes upon minutes upon minutes. Yeah, forget about it. All right, one other thing just to mention Tiffin got their first program win, beating Heidelberg, a D3 team, seven to six this past week.

SPEAKER_01 51:05

Right, Tiffin. Tiffin.

SPEAKER_00 51:07

Congrats to them. All right, so uh you guys ready for uh games to watch this week?

SPEAKER_04 51:14

I'm gonna give one more shout out, North Greenville over Coker. Uh huh. Sean Molyneux went two and three, and then Yates Miller had three goals, and then my boy Christian Cecini was three and two. So um, you know, North Greenville started off, you know, I think they're three and one right now, started off with a loss, so they're hoping to turn their season around right now.

SPEAKER_00 51:36

Yeah, that's a very good point, Luke. We talked about their first loss to Kataba, and they didn't look the same. And then last week they played like the North Greenville were used to, and they did the same thing this week.

SPEAKER_04 51:50

They got some good players. Um, Christian Cecini's a transfer, and then they have um the brother of a Lenore Ryan player who's very good too. Moffitt. Moffitt, Moffitt, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:04

Hayden Moffitt. Hayden, not Miles. We're we've got the we're we're trying to debate. Do we think Hayden's the better player, Danny?

SPEAKER_01 52:11

I don't know, man. He's he's having a good start. He's starting out pretty good. But yeah, Moffat, go ahead, Luke.

SPEAKER_04 52:17

The younger brothers are always better.

SPEAKER_01 52:24

Yeah. North Greenville, I uh you know what? They've always been a spunky team last couple like last two, three years. They've been spunky. They win a couple that they maybe shouldn't, and then they lose one or two that they probably shouldn't. You know what I mean? So they need to get to that next, that just turn that one corner and become more consistent. But you know, they ran into a really good guitaba team, and I think North Greenville is going to be just fine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:49

Yeah, they got a good program. I kind of compare them to Florida Tech. They were always giving us a fight. So um, I definitely got a lot of respect for the guys over there.

SPEAKER_00 52:59

I totally agree. I totally agree.

SPEAKER_01 53:04

The following segment of Increase is sponsored by Laxjobs.us. Find lacrosse jobs, fine lacrosse people. Laxjobs.us is the number one source to browse and post lacrosse job opportunities on the web. If you're looking to work in lacrosse, at laxjobs.us, you can browse across job opportunities, upload a resume, create a Twitter profile, and receive five hundred potential employers. You can sign up for email job alerts as well. Are you looking to hire lacrosse people? At laxjobs.us, you can post a job that you believe to a network of qualified job seekers. And the best part is that laxjobs.us is completely free to use. Our goal is simple. Fill lacrosse roles with lacrosse people. Visit us today at laxjobs.us and follow us at laxjobs underscore and join our community of professionals. Laxjobs.us. Find lacrosse jobs, find lacrosse people. laxjobs.us.

Games to Watch

SPEAKER_00 54:14

All right. Let's move on to games to watch this next week. And I'm going to hand it over to Luke first. You can give two games right off the bat, because I know one of them is going to be a Tampa game, but you got to give us something besides Tampa, okay?

SPEAKER_04 54:28

Okay, I'll start off with the L R a Delphi game. All right. Um LR Adelphi battle the South and North, and that'll kind of see where things are gonna go into playoffs. Um, you always want to know who's gonna be better than North or the South. Um, so that should be a good indication. Uh, I got LR in that game. Um, gotta go with the boys from the south. Uh, but it's gonna be a good game to watch. Adelphi, especially early on, they play differently. Um, I remember playing them when I was a sophomore, and you can't do as much in the north with all the snow. Um, and you guys have talked about all the snowstorms up there. So I feel like LR is gonna have their feet under them. Um, but a Delphi, I mean, they're kids from Long Island. You can't really, you know, count against them. So it'll be interesting to see.

SPEAKER_01 55:18

One thing I say about a Delphi, sorry, Kev, one thing I always say about a Delphi is no matter what happens, year after year, they reload, they reload, yeah, they reload. Yeah, but one thing that I have to say about a Delphi is that when they reload, their IQ level on this team, on his teams, on Coach Purdy's teams. The IQ of the players that they don't make a lot of mistakes, man. They're very good with their sticks. They're they don't they just don't make a lot of mistakes. They play aggressively on offense and defense. I love when teams play aggressively on offense, you know. I like when they push and they move the ball and get the defense to move. And that's a Delphi. And you know, they got the Chinese Army, midfielders for days. They just keep rolling in middies, man, rolling in middies. And they they wear down a lot of teams, you know. But Lenore Ryan has got the defense to play against a team like a Delphi. Luke, I'm with you on this one. I like LR because they got a couple of games under their belt and a big win over Tampa, and a Delphi, you know, steps on the field this week for the first time. So I think that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 56:29

Yeah, the only thing I'd add to that is that a Delphi plays their first game this Wednesday. We're recording this on Monday. So by the time the podcast comes out, that game will be done. They'll play they're playing Georgian Court, which is a good team. Now, a Delphi, if they come out like they usually do, they should they should have the upper hand on that game. Then they've got to travel down to Hickory for this game. So I'm kind of with you guys. I how can you bet against the team that won it all last year and who's undefeated right now?

SPEAKER_01 57:01

Yeah, no, I mean, until somebody can you know knock LR off their perch right now, and I still have to give them the edge. They're just playing very well. They got those a couple of the uh the transfers are playing well for them. You know, they're fitting in, they're starting to play. You can see in the last three games their offense just starting to click a little bit more, more familiar with what they're doing, you know, and the defense is stout, like with Victor Powell back there, McCracken, Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_04 57:28

So I like especially coming off the Tampa LR game. I think that they're gonna be ready to go against the Delphi. So it should be interesting.

SPEAKER_01 57:34

And it's home, man. It sucks playing between the bricks, man, at LR.

SPEAKER_02 57:41

We know, we know you have some nightmares a little bit Carolina.

SPEAKER_01 57:46

Yeah, yeah, you know, I've been there a few times myself in the bricks and came up on the losing end with my boys, but uh yeah, it's not easy to go down there because LR fans come out in droves, man. They come out big time and they come out on the loop. Yeah, they they do, man. And they're loud for their team, and they have some good tailgates. They were they love their bears, man. And why not? What's not to love?

SPEAKER_00 58:10

Yeah. All right, Luke, I have to admit, you shocked me with your first pick. What else do you have?

SPEAKER_04 58:16

Uh, Tech, Tampa.

SPEAKER_00 58:18

There we go.

SPEAKER_04 58:19

Saturday. It's in Naples, so not a home game. And we definitely got a little advantage of having home games, but um, it's not too hot here right now. So, you know, as it gets hotter, I'd like to say Tampa does a little bit better. You know, they're better conditioned. But Florida Tech always gives us battles. You saw two years ago with the overtime game. Um they they like coming after us. Um, but the one thing I'll say is I think they've lost a lot of guys, and Tampa's gonna be ready for this game coming off that loss against LR. So this week I know Coach Clark is gonna be working these guys. Um, so they'll be ready to go for that game.

SPEAKER_00 58:57

Yeah, I agree with you. I'd hate to be any team having to play Tampa after a loss.

SPEAKER_04 59:03

Yeah, I would too. I would too. It's personal, it's personal after that.

SPEAKER_00 59:08

Yeah, especially you're playing an in out of conference game, but a conference foe. So there's a little bit extra. There's a little more bragging rights, right? For that one, I would assume.

SPEAKER_04 59:20

Yeah, yeah. Ford attack. I mean, we've had battles with them, like I said, and they're they're a very physical team. They're coaches and NLL guys, so their defense was always very physical. Um, but we like to match that energy and make them play to our pace.

unknown 59:36

Right.

SPEAKER_00 59:36

I love it. I love it. Okay, one on my list is on Friday, the 23rd, and that's Bentley against Mercy.

SPEAKER_01 59:44

Ding ding. I was gonna say that. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 59:46

It's a good game. Yeah, Mercy's 2-0. It's Bentley's first game, and I think this could be Mercy's biggest test of the season so far.

SPEAKER_01 59:56

Oh, definitely, 100%. It's gonna be their biggest test so far. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:03

What else do you think?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:05

Mercy looks good. I I've watched two of their games. They they look pretty good, man. That kid Kuner is a at the X. Oh, he's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:13

And I'll tell you what's interesting is we were wondering what their offense would look like. And I still haven't pieced it together, but you're hearing new names and the same new names, several of them, not just one. There's like three or four guys that are stepping up in these games to score.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:30

And Heiner hasn't played yet. I don't know if he's injured or what. He hasn't played in the first two games. So yeah, yeah, I like that game too.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:37

Yeah, I think Mercy's gonna come away with the game, but you know, we were talking about Florida Southern being the sleeper in the south, and I think that's Bentley. If you look at last year, they beat Lemoine. Um, so I think those guys, you know, they're always ready to go. Um, kind of like the underdog in the north. Um, so I wouldn't be surprised necessarily if it was a closer game. Um, but definitely got Mercy.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:59

So I'm I'm going the opposite way. It's Bentley at home. Oh, I think it's good because I'm gonna say Bentley, but I'll tell you what, Mercy's already played a couple games, they've got some under their belt, and that can go a long way. So you could be right, Luke. It could be Mercy's game.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:15

Well, you know, Bentley last year went to the NCAAs. They not only beat Lemoyne, but they beat a Delphi twice and then lost to a Delphi in in the in at the end in the NCAA. But anyway, uh I'm gonna have to give the uh I don't know. I don't know. I might have to give Mercy. I might have to give, yeah, man. It's a pick'em game for me, kind of in a way. I agree with you. Maybe, you know, with with Bentley being home, do they have the advantage? I say they do. But again, Mercy's got that two games, like you said, Kev under their belt. They got those little couple of, you know, you know, whatever they need to get working on, they're working on and and doing that stuff and trying to eliminate the mistakes from the previous game. So I might have to give the slight edge to Mercy, but it's gonna be a close game, I think.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:10

Okay, what any others on your list there? What else do you have? Either one of you. Shout it out. All right, I've got if you do you have one, Danny?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:21

Yeah, I think a really good game that's gonna be this week is St. Leo and LMU. It's funny, Danny.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:31

I actually almost put that on my list and then I took it off.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:34

I'm sorry, Luke. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:35

Oh no, you're good. Um, I was just saying St. Leo's, I mean, they lost to Limestone. Limestone's a good team this year, but their offense, like last year, I was very surprised by their offense. Um, they always, when I was young, my freshman year, that was when they had gone to the national championship the year before. And they had a lot of those, they had a great offense, they had a lot of Canadians. Um, but I see a lot of similarities in their offense, like last year into this year.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:04

I agree with you. You know, they I think Coach Jorgensen does a really good job. He had a couple down years, but he always gets players to go there. Again, St. Leo's not a hard sell either. Not too far from Tampa and Clearwater, you know what I mean? Ebor City's not.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:19

They got a golf course on campus.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:21

I know, I know. So um I think that's gonna be a pretty good game. Where are they playing? It's at LMU. It's in Arrogant, Tennessee. Okay. So I just I just think that those two teams match up well. And you know what? If you like to see two teams that are matched up well play lacrosse against each other, those are the types of games that you want to watch.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:43

I agree, Danny. That's a really good pick. I think it'll be a good game. Here's one I'm calling this like a mini RMAC tournament. So Dominican plays Colorado Mesa, yeah, and Concordia plays Westminster. It's Colorado Mesa and Westminster's first games of the season. Then they turn around and Westminster plays Dominican on Saturday, and then on Sunday it's Concordia against Colorado Mesa.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:20

So they flip each other in these two games. Yeah, flip each other's.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:24

They're playing at Irvine.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:27

All four teams are gonna be there. I think, first of all, be I'm really uh interested to see Westminster and Colorado Mesa in their first games. My bet is CMU beats Dominican. I I don't know. Uh Westminster and and Concordia will be close. And then I'm really excited about Concordia and Colorado Mesa following Sunday. This will be really interesting. Just a mini RMAC tournament, I think. Any thoughts, Luke, on that?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:55

Based on what I've heard about all these teams and what I know about Westminster and Mesa, um, I got Mesa in both games. They're they're a good team, they got a great program. Um, Concordia, you were saying they got a good offense. They're looking good early on. I think Westminster against uh Concordia is gonna be a good game.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:15

I agree. I agree. I think it's gonna be interesting. See, Westminster's always right on that cusp of being uh not just in the Arm Act. I mean, in years past, it's it's CMU in Westminster, but they've just always been on the cusp, maybe a half a step, right around that North Greenville where they win some games that you don't think they're gonna win, and then they lose games you think they should win. And uh and I think they got a little bit older this year, they were fairly young last year. So I think it'll be interesting to see. Now they're all playing at Concordia, so they all gotta travel out there.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:45

Yeah, and they and they all better watch out for Mesa because let me tell you something. They got a chip on their shoulder. Yeah, this is a team that thinks that they should have been in the NCAAs. You know what I mean? Like they were right there, they are a good team, they have a top. 10 defense. They have short stick D middies, all Americans over there. They got a great face-off guy. They're a team that's loaded for bear. They're deep, Kevin. They are a team, I think, that's going to be playing with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. And they're not going to let no club team coming in push them around in their first game. I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:22

Two years in a row? Two years in a row not making playoffs?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:26

That's correct. That's correct. They were just on the outside last year. And I will tell you, I think, Danny, you and I had them, Colorado Mesa, both in our top 10. And every other poll has them at like 15 or 16, which kind of surprised me.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:41

Yeah, well, they don't know as much as we do. No, Mesa's a good team, man. I'm telling you right now, they're a good team. They were knocking on the door. If they didn't like put Lees McCrae on their schedule and maybe put a more formidable foe on their schedule, they might have made the conference, uh, the NCAA's. I mean, it came down to really their out-of-conference schedule and some of the teams that they had on there. That's what it came down to.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:10

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:11

And and I tell you, they're good, man. They're going to be tough. And I think they're going to have a chip on their shoulder. I agree. That's just my opinion. I don't know. It's just one guy. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:20

I think that was a great take on it.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:22

Remember, you're the Yoda. Just remember that. But just to point out one other thing, Concordia then has to turn around and fly to Florida and play Rollins on Tuesday, the 27th.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:35

And they better watch out for Rollins, too. Talk about it. It's on schedule. They're heading into a little bit of a gauntlet, aren't they? Yeah. Yeah. But they get to come across, you know, across country. You know, they get on a plane, come come down to Florida and get the ass beat out of you by the tourist. Can you say that on here?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:56

Yeah, you can. Yeah, and then he'll just eat crow next week if he's wrong. So that's right. That's right. What else what other games do you have?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:04

Um, that's uh pretty much it for me. I like Seton Hill.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:09

Yeah, but I had that game on my list too. It's first game for Chestnut Hill.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:14

I like Seton Hill a lot every year. Um, they're all like their offense was kind of like I was saying I was surprised by St. Leo's offense. The last two years playing Seton Hill was the same way. Um, we didn't really expect them to be that good offensively, but I loved watching them play. You know, when you're at attack and you get to see, I think it was 22 to 19 in 2022 against Seton Hill. And it was just it was fun to watch.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:39

Yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Coach Navant, yeah. Navantny's a great recruiter. He's a great recruiter. He gets very good lacrosse players to come there.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:49

I've got one other game, and it's kind of on the level of what you talked about with St. Leo Lincoln Memorial. And you may be shocked by this, but I think it's going to be an evenly matched game, and that's Lees McCrae against Shorter. Shorter is they're both playing better this year. Shorter is four and one. Lees McCrae, who didn't win a game last year, is two and oh.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:14

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:15

There you go. I just think it's a it's an evenly matched game, and they both will want the dub because guess what? A lot of the teams that they beat were like they were D3 teams, and this is a D2 matchup for both of them. One of them's coming away with the win, and it's gonna be bragging rights, and both of them are gonna want it. I think it'll be a fun game to watch. Good one, Kev. I I like that one. Any others?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:40

What about you? Any more, Luke? You ain't got any more? Because I I'm out. I don't think I have any more.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:45

I got all the ones that I had written down, and yeah, no, I'm excited to watch this season unfold. Seems like, especially in the south, we were talking about the top five teams. It could be anybody. Um, LR Delphi, that's gonna be the best game of the week, easily.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:02

Yeah. Well, we got some in the North get going this week. Saint A's gets going, Bentley gets going, Pace gets going. A lot of the any other any 10 teams. Yeah, coach Dunn and the Malloy Lions, I think, face face St. A's next. So they're they're in a you know, coach Coach is putting some uh Coach Dunn is putting some schedule together for the Malloy Lions. But um, again, like the the teams in the North finally get to start playing. Welcome, welcome to the 2024 season North. We've been yeah, we've been waiting for you for three weeks. No, that always happens. I don't know why they start, I guess because of the snow and the weather and whatnot. But uh, like again, last Saturday was really snowy in the northeast. If you saw the Lake Erie uh uh Lewis game, it was a whiteout. I mean, you couldn't even see across the field, it was just a storm, you know, and the end the end of the uh Southern New Hampshire Malloy game was in a whiteout. So it was uh quite the weekend in the weather up in the north.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:03

Yeah, but like you guys said, this is where it starts. Now, all the teams after this week we playing, we just now we're starting to turn that crank. We're just we're just cranking it up right now for the season. It's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:14

Yep, and a lot of the North teams play quick, they'll play like two or three games in a week, you know, they'll start to catch up, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:20

Yeah, yeah, it's like a month and a half preseason, and then it's just games. That's about we have like three weeks of that, and then we get a little break, but it's always nice playing more games.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:31

You know, it's not it's not easy playing in the NE 10, like Coach Mariano from Pace says, it's not an easy conference to play in. First of all, everybody's a dog, they all can play, and and you're playing in weather, and you're playing, you know, you're getting on buses, and it's a it's a grind in the NE 10, man. So I think when you come out on top in the NE10, you're always you know a formidable squad, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04 1:11:54

And I like modern week hockey or anything like that, it's just gritty.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:58

Yeah, 100%. I totally agree with you, you know, and I like watching the NE10 play each other, man. These guys beat the snot out of each other. It's just great lacrosse to watch these guys play. So the North is good. I think the South is a little bit better. And right now, the South is pranking some teams, man, with Rollins and Tampa, Limestone, LR, Wingate. Wingate's getting going. You know what I mean? They they have a top 20 matchup this week with Maryville, who's number 18. Yeah. Yep. So Maryville's 2-0, I think, if I'm not mistaken. So they're coming into uh the Charlotte area this week, and uh another top 10-20 matchup there. So everything's getting going, man. The season's pretty much here. It is best part of the year.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:50

Besides May.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:52

All

Shout Outs

SPEAKER_00 1:12:53

right, so now we got to close it out. You do you have shout outs, Danny? We usually do shout-outs, Luke. Do you have anything you can think of the top of your head?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:59

Yeah, I got everyone's been asking me once they heard I was coming on the podcast, get a shout-out. I'll give I'll give Chris Christian Cecini who's three and two, so I'm gonna give him a shout-out.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:10

Um, I'll give a shout-out to Andrew Malani. I think he's gonna be a great player for Tampa, and he's been balling out. Um, shout out to Chris Sparks, the guy who got me to play Crease Attack, and he was basically my coach, even though he's my teammate. He's a long time there. Um then let's think where else we can we go. Dan Fitzpatrick, he would love a shout-out right now. He's uh he's in trooper, so he won't hear this until Friday.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:37

But really a trooper academy, huh?

SPEAKER_04 1:13:40

Kevin, I was gonna tell you while you have your phones on when you're driving watching these games. I hope Dan's the one that pulls you over.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:49

Well, he's where is he in upstate New York, or did he stay in Florida?

SPEAKER_04 1:13:53

He's in upstate, he's in at Kazanovia College doing his Trooper Academy. So okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:59

Another great player, man. Yeah, Danny's a good player. I love I like watching him too. He was one of my favorite players last year.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:07

He was fun to play with. Danny great shout outs, Lou.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:11

Yeah, those are good. That's awesome. Awesome. What about you, Danny? You have shout outs. Oh, I have a few. Uh my first Rhodes Conroy from LMU, three goals and two assists. That performance put Rhodes on the 100-point mark for LMU. Only the sixth player in LMU history to hit 100 points. I've got that one too, yeah. So, Rhodes, congratulations. Good for you, buddy. Uh little uh Mercy Mav love here. Mercy Mavs senior, Andrew Calabria, had a career-tying seven-point game, four goals and three assists, and a 1910 win over Assumption. So he had a really good game. So congrats, Andrew. Uh, my third, uh Casey Carlson. Uh Undie Goalie. 17 saves, induced two doorstop saves in the final 30 seconds to secure an 8-7 win over Mercy Hearst. So shout out to Casey Carlson, Oceanside Long Island Kid. Good job, buddy. And finally, my final shout out goes to coach Steve Gardelman from Frostburg State, Kev. Oh, Gardelman's wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl over the weekend. Penny Joe came into the world February 13th, and she's a biggin. Eight pounds, 13 ounces. So, congratulations, Gardelman family. Good for you guys.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:36

That's awesome. That's awesome. All right, I got a few. Uh, just to add on some career milestones, Zach Razgagni, Florida Tech, 142 career points. Why do you think that's like something like 142? Very close to you, Luke, right? Yes, that is program record at Florida Tech, most points ever. Uh good man, congratulations. Scott Reed of Newberry, 200 career points, and he got it against Mount Olive. He had five goals and one assist in that game. That's crazy. 200 points, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:12

Yeah, that's crazy. I just can't fathom it.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:16

I know it's insane. I know. I've got one more, and this is a special one. This goes out, this shout out goes out to Patrick Crutchfield, number six, sophomore defender for Chouan. The number six is important. Patrick wears that number in honor of his friend, Mason Farrell, who tragically passed away in June of 2017 at the age of 13. He was only 13 years old. Patrick and Mason met playing football and also shared a love for lacrosse. They both played lacrosse, although they played for different towns, so they never played together, but they they knew each other for years and years. Besides a love for sports and the outdoors, Mason's greatest gift was his gift of friendship. And Patrick has honored that gift and legacy by wearing Mason's number, number six, each year and every year since his death. And now he wears it playing for Joan. It's an amazing story, an amazing, amazing kid, Patrick. You're an amazing young man. Shout out to that's that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:15

That's awesome. That's a great way to end.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:19

Yeah, now we've got we got we've got to do uh first of all, shout out to laxjobs.us for sponsoring our segment.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:26

Yes, laxjobs.us, guys. If you're looking for a job in the lacrosse field, hit up Lax Job US. If you're looking for a job, fill out uh the questionnaire and it puts you in front of a hundred uh hundreds of possible employers. And if you're an employer of Lax Job and you're looking for employees, you can put your job out there, whether it's coaching or in the lacrosse field in some way, shape, or another. Uh, sign up and uh it's free, guys. That's what's crazy about Lax Jobs US. It's free, and it puts you in touch with people who want to get into lacrosse fields, coaching and and that type of thing. So definitely hit up our sponsor, laxjobs.us.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:10

That's how I got on this podcast, Lax Jobs. Shout out, Lax Jobs. There we go.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:15

I love it. And with young Luke, first guest analyst ever, on In the Crease podcast. You did an awesome job. It has been so much fun having you on and hearing your expertise instead of the two normal knuckleheads on this podcast. Now you're knucklehead number three, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:40

It's an honor. Yeah, Luke McAnady, we are so glad you came tonight. What a great job you did, man. You were awesome tonight. I had a great time. I had a great time. It was fun. You got you got you know, you got something in you, man. You might have to get get the numbers out, get the notes out, and and maybe be part of this one more time before the season's over. What do you think? I love watching lacrosse, so I'd love to be back on. Well, it was great to have you on tonight. Kevin, great idea for guest analyst. Uh and we couldn't have got a better one for our first one, Luke McInney. We appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:15

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:17

And with that, Danny and Luke, that's a wrap. That's a wrap, Kevin.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:24

That's a wrap, baby.