Game Time - A look back at week 3 and a preview of Week 4 of the 2025 season

Intro

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Bienvenidos, bienvenidos, bienvenidos to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin. A coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Medz lacross. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stensrum, and with me as always is our Don Juan Danny Moran. Hey Danny. Hola, Kevin.

SPEAKER_05 2:13

How are you doing, my friend? All the way back from Madrid, Spain. Oh my, you live some kind of life, Mr. Stenstrom.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yeah, I'll tell you what, it was a lot of fun. Um, we actually recorded our spotlight last night after I had just returned. I'd been home for like an hour. I had no idea where I was at. And and woke up early this morning, like three o'clock in the morning, because it was like eight o'clock, not nine o'clock Madrid, Spain time. I don't know where I am right now, Danny, but I'm here with you and we're ready to talk some lacrosse.

SPEAKER_05 2:46

Yeah, man. What a week, huh? Another good week of Division Two Lacrosse. I think we have a good podcast tonight coming up. I think we have a great guest. I think the uh the listeners are gonna love tonight's guest, I think.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

I do too. I agree with that. And it is it this week is interesting because a lot of the games, there was pure domination, and then there was a lot of other games that there were a lot of mini upsets that we'll go through, just games to note, right? Scores to note

Top 10 Roundup

SPEAKER_01 3:18

as we'll get to it. But first, it is time, Danny, for your top ten roundup.

SPEAKER_05 3:26

Kevin, for the first one in 2025, it's your top 10 roundup. All right, Kev, here we go. Our first top 10 roundup of 2025. Number one, Adelphi went on the road and beat Georgian Court rather handily, 19 to 6. They go to 1-0 and they play St. Thomas Aquinas next, Kev. Number two, Tampa, the Spartans. Are you kidding me? They're 4-0. They look ridiculous. Yeah. They beat Rockhurst 15 to 9, but they play Limestone next. That's gonna be a good one. Yeah. Number three, Limestone Saints. What? Are you kidding me? There's another team. They look ridiculous, too. They're 4-0, and they beat Uah. It was like a spanking, uh, 22-9. And Limestone plays Lander before they play uh Tampa. So they got Lander next. Number four, LR. Not looking so bad either with those 32 new players. They go to 3-0, and they beat a stubborn Rollins Tards team uh 15-9, and they play Undy next. So that should be a good one. Yeah. Number five, Wingate had a bye this week, but they face Florida Tech this coming up uh Saturday. Number six, Pace. They host Malloy for their first game on Saturday, February 22nd. So that should be a nice game.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

They'll be they're coming into the fray now. Pace.

SPEAKER_05 5:17

Yeah, pace is looking to probably, they're probably chewing at the bit trying to get some playtime out there. Let's get rocking. They're looking at all these games, right? Number seven, Rollins. Beat Belmont Abbey and number 20, Anderson, but lost to LR. They had quite a week, Rollins. Yeah. And they're two and one now. Number eight, St. Ace. They haven't played a game yet either, Kev. They opened their season on March 2nd at Frostburg State. We'll talk about that in a couple of weeks. Number nine, U Indy. They had a pretty good week. They go to 3-1. They beat Lake Erie 13-3. They beat Newberry 14-6. They beat Davenport 19-4, but lost to Limestone 11-6. So U Indy had quite the last couple of weeks. And number 10, Maryville, lost to LR in week one, 13-12 in overtime. Okay. Beat Rockhurst 14-13 in overtime. In overtime. Beat Davenport 24-7. I don't think so. Davenport was really ready for Maryville. Maryville is like, let's get after it, right? And Maryville Saints, they play UAH next. So, Kev, that's your. Mercy, big over Franklin Pierce, 17-5. Jimmy Osorio having a day for his debut there. How about Barton over Wilmington, 14 to 10?

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Wasn't seeing that one coming, Kev. Yeah, but then today, because we're recording this on Wednesday, Mars Hill turns around and beats Barton at Barton Stadium, Wilson Stadium, in Wilson, North Carolina, through a stadium 11-10.

SPEAKER_05 7:38

Barton's struggling out of the gate, huh? So now what do we got? We got Flaggler had a nice win over Florida Tech, 10 uh 10-5. How about Lees McCray, Kev? Coach John Grant Jr. gets his first win with an upset win over UAH 13-12.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

How about that, man? Brutal weather. The wind and snow. It was horizontal snow. Horrible conditions.

SPEAKER_05 8:06

Yeah. You know what? A lot of games this past weekend were in weather. Either it was cold or rainy or both. Number 13, Seton Hill, big over RW. I didn't see that either, man. 23-5. I expected Robert Swesley to put up a little bit more of a fight. Lynn over North Greenville. Wasn't expecting that one either, Kev, 13-4. And uh that's a couple of notes. Oh, and lastly, I'd like to talk about this game. Tuscom over Virginia State, 17-13. But I want to talk about Virginia State for a sec. Watch them play half of that game and watch them play against Mount Olive in the rain. Coach Church is doing a pretty good job there. Okay? Yeah. Second year program. Let's call it what it is. It's a second-year program out of the barn gates. Um, a lot of young players, new players. Um maybe not the deepest team, maybe not with all the greatest athletes at all the positions on the lacrosse field. But they do have some good players. But you know what? They did really good things in both games. Even though they lost, they did good things. They had Mount Olive tied 5'5 at halftime. Yeah. They were given Mount Olive fits. Fits, I'm telling you. But you know what? They were young, they made some young mistakes, and that's to be expected on a young team. But I just wanted to give a shout out to Church. I, you know, again, they've lost both games, but they did a lot of good things. I saw patience in their offense. I didn't see kids getting frustrated, and you know what I mean? I saw like a ritual and what they were trying to do out there, and and it was pretty good. It was pretty much a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Yeah, you and I talked about this off podcast. They won their first game up against Emory and Henry, and I watched them play, and I saw a marked improvement from where I watched them play last year. And I wasn't sure if it was because of playing a new brand new team, Emory Henry, or was it a little bit of both? Have they improved? They have improved in in what they're doing, what they're being coached, and what they understand, what they need to do, is a marked difference from where they were last year. So that's great. A couple other I've got a few other scores to note. First of all, Emmanuel beats Coker 12-8. Didn't expect that. Then they followed up today, we're recording this on Wednesday, by beating Tusculum 18-14.

SPEAKER_06 10:45

Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

What's Emmanuel got cooking in the street pot down there? Yeah. Pretty interesting. Also, Deuville takes care of Walsh today, 1211. So there are teams that you wouldn't expect before would make these wins, and they're doing it. And finally, we had a big question mark about Palm Beach Atlantic. And what they would do. They beat Lander. Lander 1915. Some really interesting scores this past week. Absolutely. Coming all the way

Week in Review

SPEAKER_01 11:20

up to this Wednesday. So now why don't we get into our week in review, Danny? Sure. Who do you got? Who do you want to talk about first?

SPEAKER_05 11:30

How about let's let's try that St. Leo Montevallo game. Okay. Okay. You know, Montevallo being a pretty good team. St. Leo is again not in my top 20. I thought they would be, you know, one of the end. So I was interested in this game. Um this is a pretty good game, and St. Leo pulls it out 14-13. Come, they came back. I mean, it was a pretty good game, but a little sloppy because it was St. Leo's first game, and Monte Valo, it was their third game, I think. Grass field, Kev, at Montevallo. Yeah. A lot of slipping, a lot of sliding, a lot of guys falling on the ground. Uh, definitely first game jitters for St. Leo. Uh that that mostly kind of like a slow-paced 6v6 type of game, pretty evenly matched. I felt that Agorsian, uh, the the uh Monte Valo goalie, I felt he had a really good game, and he I felt like he kept them in the game.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Um yeah, he had 18 saves to St. Leo's goalies eight. So that will tell you the amount of shots that St. Leo was getting and what Alex was doing to keep them in the game.

SPEAKER_05 12:44

Oh, yeah, he was definitely really good in goal. He kept them in the game. I thought St. Leo's hustle, all right. You know, it was 4-4 after one, and it was 7-7 at halftime. Yeah, that tells you right there. You know, this we got a game, you know, we got a game. Again, first game jitters for sure with St. Leo. You can see it. And again, that field is maybe not the best field, Kev. Again, a lot of players falling, a lot of players slipping and stuff like that. Well, here we are, 7-7, knotted up at halftime. Mondavallo comes out in the second half, and they look good. They outscore St. Leo 4-3 in the third quarter. Yeah. Um, that second half, each team kind of traded goals back and forth, man. It just went back. Uh each team traded goals, like I said. Ultimately, St. Leo holds on to win the first game of the season on the road.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Yeah, Falcons were up 13-12, and then St. Leo scores the last two goals, and they go up with 118 left, and they were able to, you know, basically run out the clock. They got the ball back and able basically be able to run down that clock. So a very good win for St. Leo and very evenly matched game.

SPEAKER_05 14:00

Yeah, man. For Montevallo, Aiden Kalari had two, Jenny Middler had two, uh, John Spans had two, Matt Boas had two, five players added one. Uh Brandon Schaefer was 15 for 29 at the dot. Not great, not bad. You know, kind of hung in there. Uh again, Agorsian with what, 18 saves? And uh just played, like I said, I felt he kept them in the game. Um, and for St. Leo, Tristan LeBlanc had a game, four goals. Aiden Newton had three, Ben Baker had two, Zach Krug had two, John Rauchy, Braden Stilwagen added one, Maverick and Chernoff all added one. Thomas Nealan had three assists. Uh Andrew Graham was 13 for 20 at the dot. Uh Wheeler had, what, eight saves, you said?

unknown 14:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:49

But you know what? There's two guys that I like on this team, and there's both defensemen. Owen Willis had five ground balls and seven cause turnovers in that game, kid. And Jimmy McGonagall had four ground balls and two cause turnovers in that game. These two kids, they're pretty good. Yeah. So St. Leo, you know, pulls on, you know, pulls it out at the end, 14-13. They also faced Rockhurst, like we just talked about this past Sunday, and beat them too. And uh Montevallo beat St. Thomas More on Saturday, and they face uh Belmont Abbey next. So Montevallo's 4-1 and St. Leo's 2-0.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Yeah. Both programs off to a good start, but and now we'll tell you how close they were matched. Let me talk quickly about you said it in the you know, notable scores, Seton Hill, Roberts Wesley. We talked about this last week. Wanted to see what Roberts Wesley could do against Seton Hill. And I'm telling you, Seton Hill belongs in the top ten with this dominating, dominating performance. And it's not the start that Roberts Wesley and wanted. What I thought was interesting, I don't know if you looked at that game at all. Both teams came out with these kick-ass black helmets. And you and one with and Roberts Wesley's in black and Seton Hill's in white. You know, it it was it was good against evil, but both had evil, evil helmets on. They were ready to go to battle. It was pretty funny. That's all I can think about when I was first watching it. It's pretty cool. It was 4-2 after one, but then Satan Hill, Seton Hill goes on an 8-0 run in the second, so it's 12-2 at half. And they never look back. They went on another 7-0 run in the third. So that's a total of 15 unanswered goals that Seton Hill had over Roberts Wesley. And that that's all they all she wrote. And you can see it. If you watch the game, Roberts Wesley and could not gener generate any offense on the Griffins' tough defense. And on the opposite side, their offense was overpowering. They had too many weapons. Too many weapons. Exactly. That's exactly what I was looking for. Too many weapons. You look at the shots, 58 to 35 for Seton Hill in favor of Seton Hill. Turnovers 26 to 12. Roberts Wesleyan had 26. And then in clears, this will tell you how the dominating defense, they couldn't even. Roberts Wesley and only 14 of 23, whereas Seton Hill had 22 of 25. Just a dominating performance in that game. Yeah, kind of surprised at that score. I I was too. I thought Roberts, I thought Seton Hill would win, but I thought Roberts Wesley would give him a better, a little bit better game. They clearly weren't ready. Nope. All right, where else do you want to go? What else do you want to talk about? You want to go talk about the Catawba Belmont Abbey game? Go right ahead, my friend. I I did not get watch that game. Remember, I'm trying to balance what I'm doing over in Spain, and the games are at different times. I'm in the middle of a cafe, and all of a sudden I see that Rollins is being Lenore Ryan. I gotta look at that game. It's very it was it was mayhem, I tell you.

SPEAKER_05 17:58

Well, this game was a quality lacrosse game, Kev. Got my bells back. Ding, ding, ding. Hey, this was a good game. Kotaba wound up winning 13-11. And uh this was a pretty good game. I mean, Kataba hosted Belmont Abbey, so uh looks like they got a new field at Katawba. Did you see it? Looks beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Yeah, I've seen it, yes.

SPEAKER_05 18:22

It looks really nice. It was 38 and raining. It was not a nice day. Umtaba won three consecutive face-offs, scored twice in three minutes. I was like, uh-oh. Kataaba's for real, right? Belmont Abbey got on the board at 9.15 in the first, brought it to 2-1. Crumb Packer buries the second goal at 7.58, makes it 3-1 Katawba. Belmont Abbey buries one late in the corner, makes it 3-2 after one. Pretty good, solid first quarter. Yeah. Both teams filling each other out, couple of boxers, right? Second quarter, Kataaba answered that right away and made it 4-2. Jordan Dash scored on an EMO, made it 5-3. Belmont Abbey's Mahoney scored on a nice move on a little toe drag inside lefty move, made it 5-4. So Belmont Abbey's hanging in there. Kataba's like dishing right back. Belmont Abbey's hanging in there. Lorenzo from Belmont Abbey ties it up on a crazy goal. It was a shot saved by the goalie, loose ball in front of the uh crease. Everybody trying to get it. And Lorenzo grabs it over his head backwards and scored. Like nobody saw it coming. You know, it was just one of those crazy goals. I saw that goal. Yeah, that was pretty cool. Tied it up for Belmont Abbey. Sweigart put Belmont Abbey ahead on a lefty zinger shot 6'5 Belmont Abbey at the 850 mark. I'm like, we got a ball game here. It's raining, it's cold, it's snotty. You could see the people with raincoats and umbrellas, and you could see the water coming off the sticks. I'm like, this is wild. Miller dishes one to Lorenzo, who buries one, makes it 7-5 Belmont Abbey, four unanswered in three minutes for Belmont Abbey. Wow. I was like, oh man, this is a game, man. This is a game. Um Mercer tied it up at the 452 mark. Braswell on a beautiful toe drag move to the inside, gave Kataba the lead with 8-7 with 347 left in the in the third. I mean, this game was just insane. In the third quarter, Kataaba scores off the face-off 9-7 Katawba. I was like, uh-oh. Lindsay with a laser shot, 10-8. I'm like, this is a game. Peyton Turner, the sophomore attack. Unbelievable. Out of Huff High School and Tampa. Oh my god, this kid. Belmont Abbeys outscores 4-1 in the third, and it's 12-8 after 3. I was like, this game is just this game is just insane. Then Nate Lorenzo hit first fourth goal for Belmont Abbey, made a 12-9. Even in the loss, Belmont Abbey looks so much better than the game versus Rollins. So more energy, a lot more energy from Belmont Abbey. Again, snotty, snotty, snotty day. Um Catawba had 46 shots to Belmont Abbey's 40. Pretty close, you know what I mean? Brown balls 32 to 31 in favor of Catawba. Uh Guitaba 19 for 24 on the clears. They struggled a little bit. 19 for 20 for Belmont Abbey. Uh 2 4. Two for three on the EMOs for Katawba. They were, they were, they were good when they were man up. Only one for three for Belmont Abbey and 14 turnovers compared to 17 turnovers. Pretty, you know, numbers are close. Andrew Crumpacker was the guy, man. Three goals for Katawba. Peyton Turner, two goals and his uh three assists. Braswell, Jordan Dash, Lindsay, Stout, McGuire, Jack Mercer, they all added one. LSM, Brian Garcia had three ground balls and one cause turnover. Kale Petroff, 14 for 26 at the dot. And Brady Gartner, eight saves for the win. Belmont Abbey, Nate Lorenzo, like I said, he's pretty good. He had a good game. Five goals and one assist. And then Claire, Clough, Swiger, Chandler, and Mahoney each added one. Jordan Brown was 13 for 23 at the dot. J.R. Tomey did a lot better than he did last week. He had 18 saves and uh Luke Tannis for Belmont Abbey had three ground balls and a caused turnover. So it was a good game. And Kataba's off to a 3-0 start, Kev.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Yeah. Yeah, and they face Barton next, who we just talked about. They just lost to Mars Hill. Katawba, I think you talked about in the conference previews. You said they could go a run and on their non-conference games, and they're doing just that.

SPEAKER_05 23:25

Kev, I said, you know, they have a good chance. If they can win those first two out of the gate and and get on a roll, I said they could possibly be 6-0 by the time they start sack conference play. And it right now certainly looks that way. I'm on Swago this year, Kev. Yeah. I'm on Swago. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

I'm I'm batting maybe 500. I don't want to talk about it right now. All right. So here's here's a here's another game uh that uh we talked about last week. It's kind of interesting because the team stats don't match the final score. This is Concordia, University of Irvine against Colorado Mesa, the acronym game. CUI against CMU. CMU pulls it out 13-8. They picked up right where they left off, Danny, even with a lot of their offensive changes. Redshirt sophomore Connor Jensen scored a career high four goals to lead the Maverick attack. Carson Points also added a hat trick. Um, while Eric Peterson and Dylan Pless, Dylan Pless scored two goals apiece. Add to that, we talked about this guy, Danny. The transfer from AIC, the newcomer goalie, Shaden Shields, made 18 saves in his debut for them. That total is the best for any Maverick Netminder since 2018. That's that's great. He's a freshman? No, he's a sophomore. He's a he's the transfer from AIC. Oh, okay. Here we go. 13 saves in the first half. Wow. And that allowed them to have the lead, but not by a lot. It was 5'4 at half. All right. It was 6'5 with 13-05 left in the third quarter, but never got any closer because the Mavericks went on a 7-2 run. And that really helped them pull it away. Uh and and if you look at it, like I said, they pulled away on that. They win 13-8, and you say, okay, well, where where did you could you see something in the team stats? Concordia really held the advantage in a lot of these. Concordia shots, thir 40 to 39 for CMU. Ground balls, they had more. They had 36 to CMU's 27. Face-offs, CUI went 17 of 25. Caden Poe, who was on the RMAC conference team and a very good face-off guy, he went 14 of 20 at the X. And all those advantages still did not give him the win. But what does that tell me? First game for both teams. You remember how Colorado Mesa beat Concordia last year, first game? Concordia came on. Would not surprise me if they come back later. Like I said, look, four scoring, Colorado Mesa, Connor Jensen had four goals, one assist. Carson Points had three goals, and Dylan Pless and Eric Peterson both had two goals. For Concordia, Max Texter had four goals, one assist, Brody McDonald, two goals, and Jeremy Barnes had two assists. So it's funny, the score was farther separated, you know, in goals than I when you look at the team stats, and even you look at some of the individual stats, you would think it would be closer. They just pulled away in that second half and were were able to dominate, and so they win the game. Where was that game? Was it in California? It was, but it was at Dominican's field. Oh, okay. Okay. Neutral playing field. All right. Interesting. Where do you want to go next? You want to do uh about Anderson, uh Emery Riddle? All right. I missed that game, but tell me all about it. Um, you know what?

SPEAKER_05 27:05

It was uh wasn't a bad game. 21-14 Anderson at the end. I mean, they kind of pulled away. Uh both teams exchanged goals in the beginning. Broden, uh Baudron, Baudron. Yeah, Raiden Baudron. Baudron. Okay. It's hard, it's a hard name to pronounce. Beaudron, he was able to bury one late in the first, give Anderson a 5'4 edge after one. Uh Baudron opened up the second quarter with a nice goal. Uh, but drink and Keefe scored in the two-minute span to tie it uh at six. Uh second quarter ended up in a 7-7. You know, it was kind of a good game for half. You know what I mean? Yeah. Emory Riddle was hanging in there. Um uh third quarter, Keefe scored again to give uh Emory Riddle a lead. Then each squad was able to score five goals apiece in that in that time frame. And uh it was tied 12-12, 12-12 going into the fourth. And then penalties huge for Emory Riddle. Yeah. The Eagles were in the sin bin a lot in the fourth quarter. Not what you want. Spell doom from Anderson scored on five of seven extra man opportunities in the fourth. And it was, you know, nine-two goal differential. So uh in the fourth, it was just that was it. I mean, it was a close game until penalties really spelled doom for the Eagles. Um, not much to really talk about other than that. I mean, again, they hung in there and then just wound up in the sin bin, and and Anderson took complete control of it. I mean, just complete control. Uh 59 shots to 44 for Emory Riddle, um, 17 turnovers for Anderson, 14 turnovers for Emory Riddle, uh, 14 out of 15 for the clears for Anderson, 17 for 24 for Emory Riddle. They struggled trying to clear the ball. Uh 32 GBs for Anderson, uh 23 for Emory Riddle. Uh again, five for seven on the EMOs for Anderson and uh one for three for Emory Riddle. Um for Anderson, Braden Brushno, eight goals. Eight goals. He was just I know. Well he's just what do you say? You know, just give him the ball, man. When the kid's hot like that, you just give him the ball. It's like Jordan, you know. Uh Badron had three. Uh Ryan Bitterman had two. Cole Sparks had two. Matty Rogers, Deutsch Russett, Trevino, Kursel, and Eli Marshall each added one. So they had a bunch of players score, you know. Yeah. Uh AJ Rush and Aiden Dixon shared face-off duties. Uh AJ was 13 for 18, and uh Aiden was 13 for 19. Both of them pretty good. They did the job at the uh dot dot. And Bobby Davenport in goal had nine saves for the Trojans. And for Emory Riddle, Trey Dring, seven goals, a career high for the kid. Uh Tim Keefe, he had a good day too. Three goals and four assists. Christian Hoffer had two. Lucas Anthony and Chris Harper each added one. Andrew Ewalt was nine for 28 at the dot. Um, Elza Zuber was two for seven at the dot. They struggled big time against Anderson. Um, Luke Barber, four ground balls and uh one cause turnover. Trevor Nizweki, three ground balls and two cause turnovers. And Reed Kerr, he's he's pretty solid. Yeah, he had eight saves. Yeah. So Anderson is number 20 in the country, and uh they go to two and one. Emory Riddle's one and two. Emory Riddle faces Palm Beach uh Atlantic next. Should be a decent game. And uh Anderson travels to North Greenville next. I think uh the the Timberwolves, right? No, it's the Trailblazers. The Trailblazers, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

Northwoods get your mascot straight here, my friend.

SPEAKER_05 31:25

Northwood's the Timberwolves. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

T's and N's and Northwoods.

SPEAKER_05 31:31

There's only 73 teams, I gotta figure out. 80 or whatever there is. So yeah, so uh Anderson travels to North Greenville, and North Greenville better strap themselves in. Yeah. Because it's gonna be a long day. Anderson looks like they're uh they want to get back into the uh mix.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Yeah, back where they were two years ago. Here's another game, Danny. Uh we talked about last week, and another game that was total domination. That was Dominican against Malloy. Malloy. The reason why I want to talk about this, Malloy beats them 20-3. Now, Malloy started off with a big win over Southern New Hampshire, 17-2, and they follow this up, that win, with a convincing win again against Dominican. We talked to Coach Shiner last week, he seemed pretty positive of what he could do. And I just have to say, I guess it was a little bit of a rude awakening and what he had to do. You called this that and you called Malloy in your top 20, and they're proving it right now. Look at it, it was it was 4-1 after one, and it was 11-2 at half. And that's all she wrote. I actually too tuned into this game during the third quarter, and it was already 15-2, and just like the Roberts Wesley and Seton Hill game, Dominican really didn't have any answers. They were just totally outmatched uh in this game. Malloy, go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 33:06

Coach, you know, Coach Shiner said, he even said he goes, building blocks right now, gentlemen, building blocks. Yep. So he knows that. And you know, Coach Don at Malloy is doing really good things right now. And uh I think he knew what was coming.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

Yeah. So for Malloy, Brian Dilberto, five goals, two assists, Luke Hickam with three goals, Jake Fazon and Rocco Hogan each had two goals apiece. And our man at LSM, Thomas Kofod, back, five ground balls and one cost turnover. Beast. Yeah. So D Malloy is looking very, very good so far this year. Alright, how about you want to talk about Lenore Ryan Rollins? Sure. Wasn't that our game of the week? That was our game of the week. Yeah. Um, what'd you think of the game? So you saw me post, you gave me a comment, and my wife commented back to you that why the heck am I watching a lacrosse game at a uh street cafe having a cappuccino uh when I should be enjoying my time in Madrid. I got in I saw this game, I saw the score at about halftime, and Rollins was up. And they were up seven five. Uh and and I and I had to that's when I started watching it. Really interesting game. Rollins comes out firing, and and they get they they start a 6-0 start against Lenore Ryan.

unknown 34:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:47

Lenore Ryan closes it, back-to-back goals to make it 6-2. Like I said, I came in about the time when uh Rollins was up se you know up 7-2, and and then LR rallies for three to make it 7-5. It was 8-6 at half, and you're thinking, okay, this is a really good game. Rollins was looking pretty good, and being able to hold themselves up against a uh a Lenore Ryan team. You said about earlier when you were doing the top ten. Lenore Ryan Lenore Ryan with their 32 new players are starting to gel. I mean, they turned it around in that second half. They shut out Rollins in the third and scores four score four themselves to go up 10-8.

SPEAKER_05 35:34

Well, I I watched the game and I got two names Matt Mancini and Donnie Powell. Two players that were just insane. Okay. Now, Kev, that first quarter, Rollins looked amazing. They were winning possessions, they were getting after it, they were moving the ball and getting easy shots. They pulled that kid. They pulled that kid. What's his name? Um uh what's his name? Peters. He was the starting goalie for LR. They pulled him, and then they put in Nick Floyd in the first quarter, and then the second quarter, you could see LR was settling in. They were settling in.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

You know, they were so that so much time. That is why they are such a good team because they do that time and time again. They don't panic. They don't panic.

SPEAKER_05 36:24

They don't panic. They were down, they did not look good in that first quarter. I'm gonna tell you right now, they didn't. And Coach Paradigm tell you the same thing. He'd tell you the same thing. He wasn't happy. And and like again, that second quarter, you could see the nice Mancini started winning face-offs, and just they were just settling into their offense, and then pow, Tommy Bow. He was good, man.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

Yeah, and you look at the team stats by the end, Lenore Ryan and shots, Lenore Ryan 53 to Rollins 25, saves. This is what's interesting, and it tells you the difference in shots, right? Rollins with 19 saves, Lenore Ryan with only four, but it'll tell you the turnaround and how little shots on goal and shots Rollins probably had in that second half. Turnovers, Rollins had 14 to Lenore Ryan seven, ground balls, Lenore Ryan took it took it with 30 to Rollins 19. And then here we go with with Mancini. Faceoffs. Lenore Ryan 20 to Rollins 5. Yeah, it was ridiculous.

SPEAKER_05 37:35

He he's he's huge, man. He's a big, you know, he gets possessions. And the offense, and the offense is lethal enough to make things happen. Uh, my my question really with LR is on defense a little bit. I mean, they're a lot of those guys that they're missing were first team All-Americans and second team All-Americans last year. And I do see a difference on that defense.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

I do. But once again, they did not panic. And I watched that right. I came in more the end of the the second quarter, and I watched the second half, and I saw their defense do a lot better that second half.

SPEAKER_05 38:16

Well, the goalie was making saves too. He he was making saves, the kid.

SPEAKER_01 38:21

Well, I don't even think they got that many shots off. I mean, that's the thing. And then you have Mancini who's who's getting the ball at all.

SPEAKER_05 38:28

He was getting, you know, he's getting stick on the ball, sending it off the pipe and stuff like that. He was good, man. You know what? 53 shots they had. So, like, again, by the second quarter, you could see LR settling in. And then the third quarter, it was the Donny Powell show, man. That it was probably his best game as a Lenore Ryan Bear. Probably his best game in his career that I've and I've seen him play a lot, you know, that guy. Yeah, he he was good. He was uh initiating from X, that wraparound, he was beating his man faster than the slide could get there. Bang! Six goals for the kid. He looked really, really good. And you know, Evan Voss. I mean, you expect him to like throw up a lot of goals. Dude, he had some great passes. Yeah. He had some great assists.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

I think he had four assists. He had one goal, four assists. You talked about Donnie Powell, and then you got Sloan Stewart and Morgan Madish, both with three goals apiece, and then Josh Wright, their LSM, with three ground balls and two cost turnovers for Lenore Ryan. So, but you're right, Evan Voss, which you you usually see his goals of somewhat above assists, one four assists in that game.

SPEAKER_05 39:45

He had one, he had, he had one pass that was just, I was like, wow, beautiful. Wow, you know, and uh that you know, LR, again, they go to three-0. Uh Rollins goes to oh, Sam Madison for Rollins had three goals, Sean Coraccio Golo had two, Armitage along with Logan Myers, Paolo, the long pole, Frank Hapney. He's good for Rollins. He's an all-everything man. I mean, he does everything. He really does. He scored a goal. He gets ground balls, he causes turnovers. He played pretty good. He had three ground balls to cause turnover. Um, Lake Baker was one for ten at the dot. I mean, and Mancini's just he's on a different level.

SPEAKER_01 40:27

He's almost unstoppable.

SPEAKER_05 40:28

Yeah, he's just on a different level. Yeah. Uh Hackney, the long, the long stay biddy, came in and he took 15, 15 face-offs. And he only won four. He only won four. And Max Book had 19 saves, man. So I mean, LR, they face you Indy next. I think it's gonna probably be their biggest test of the year so far. Yep. Yep. And Rollins has their home opener when they face Westminster's coming

Games to Watch this Week

SPEAKER_05 40:59

down.

SPEAKER_01 40:59

Yeah, we'll be well, let's get to those right now. How about we just switch the games to watch this week?

SPEAKER_05 41:05

Anyone who's ever taken a kid to a morning travel game knows how important that travel cup of coffee is. When it's important coffee, no, don't forget how early it is. A better way to try. What do you got on your uh document?

SPEAKER_01 42:35

Well, you talked about one of them. You talked about Rollins and Westminster. This is Westminster's first game of the season, and they're traveling. Like the Road Warriors, Colorado Mace and Westminster, the Armac teams having to travel. Westminster has a good squad. Rollins, they're very, very good. And I'm sure they're gonna come into this game with a revenge mindset. They do not want to lose two in a row, and and they they want to bring it to Westminster on their home turf.

SPEAKER_05 43:07

It's always, you know, it's always cool when the teams from uh Salt Lake come out to the East Coast to play the big boys, but uh Westminster better better keep their bags packed. Don't don't take too many things out of those bags, fellas, because Rollins is good. You're gonna be in for a long day, I think.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

I think this is gonna be a close game. I think Westminster, I think the the Armac teams can match up. I'm not saying they can win, I'm saying they can match up better. And I think Westminster, I if I remember when we did our conference previews, they've got a pretty good squad coming back. I think it's gonna be a close game. I don't think Rollins has played realistically four good quarters. So do they put it all together?

SPEAKER_05 43:56

But they're two and one, and they you know, they just came from. LR on the road. That's not an easy place to play.

SPEAKER_01 44:02

No, I I agree with you. That I I'm not saying that.

SPEAKER_05 44:05

And they hung in there. They hung in there for half, you know. And uh I mean LR just had a really good game in Mancini, but I I like Rollins. I think they're gonna be sharpened. Their irons are sharpened, and you know, it's Westminster's first game.

SPEAKER_01 44:19

Right. I didn't say I didn't say that Rollins would lose. I don't think it's gonna be a blowout, is what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_05 44:25

Yeah, it should be a good game. It should be. Westminster's always a spunky team, you know? And they come to the East Coast and they play the big boys. They're not like messing around, which I love about those guys.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Yep. All right. Another game on my list, and I think it's on yours, is Pace Against Malloy. Pace is their first game. You said that, right, when you did the top ten. Malloy is off to a really hot start. I mean, what is it like? They've only had five goals scored against them, and they've been in double digits? I mean, up there 17 and 20 goals apiece. This could be interesting. Pace, I think, is a stacked team. I think Pace wins. How close does Malloy get?

SPEAKER_05 45:15

Um I think Malloy's gonna give Pace a game. Pace is a very good team, very well coached. They're deep. They got some boys up there. Danny Xabia, I mean, first team All-American. The kids can, you know, he's gonna be looking for his now, I think this year. He's gonna be their go-to guy. They've always had a great defense, you know, at Pace. Coach Mariano does great things up there. He really does. Up in uh Pleasantville, where Pace is. I always love saying that. Pleasantville. So yeah, I think. I no, it doesn't. It's a really nice little town, too. It really is. It's nice. Um I think it should be a good game for both teams. I think Pace probably pulls it out at the end, but I think Malloy, again, they're in my top 20, so I like them, you know. Yeah, yeah. Who else do you have? Well, I mean, Mercy started off with a bang, but they you know, Franklin square, uh, Franklin Pierce. Yeah, I'm not given much credence into that. They beat Georgian Court by a fairly good amount, too, though. But they but they beat Georgian court up pretty good, man. So now, here comes Bentley. They're ranked by the USILA. Um, had some great two seasons in a row. Yep. First game, though, for them. It is the first game for them, so I think this is gonna be one of those barn burners, Kev.

SPEAKER_01 46:47

Yeah. This is a good test for both teams. Is Mercy really up to where they've been in the past? Because Bentley is probably the strongest competition they played. And I tell you, Bentley having to play Mercy their first game. That's that's gonna be a test.

SPEAKER_05 47:08

Yeah, I think it should be a good game. Really good game. But it's been cold up here, man. It's been cold up here. I'm hoping that the weather breaks for these guys. I mean, I mean, it's been really, really cold in the in the 20s and in teens. Yeah, there's been a lot of games postponed, snow games. Yes, you know, so the Northeast.

SPEAKER_01 47:29

Yeah, postponed St. Uh St. Thomas Aquinas, postponed their game because of weather. It's it hasn't been pretty.

SPEAKER_05 47:35

No, it's been really cold. So that should be a good game. Hopefully the weather breaks for those guys. That's on Sunday. Yeah, Sunday, the 23rd.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

Uh but another game on Saturday, the 22nd, I've got Danny, is Chestnut Hill against Seton Hill. Seton Hill looks really good. It's the two Griffins. First game for Chestnut Hill. You had Chestnut Hill in your top 20. That's why I'm pointing this one out. Seton Hill looks really good. They're open now. They just played Roberts Wesley and they're 1-0. They're in the top 20 in the U.S. ILA top 20. We had them both in our top 10. What can Chestnut Hill do? What does their defense look like with a totally refurbished defense? Where's the game? It's at Chestnut Hill.

SPEAKER_05 48:23

At Chestnut Hill. Again, it's been kind of crappy up here. Chestnut Hill uh is not too far from me. Um should be an interesting game, you know. Yeah. Chestnut Hill's defense. They got a pretty good attack unit. Um, a lot of those guys are coming back. Jake Ballerini. Um, I like Chestnut Hill, but I think Seton Hill has got a little bit more in their in their quiver. In their quiver. That's what I think. You know? Yeah. So I like I like Seton Hill, but I think it should be a good game. Yeah, I agree. Who else do you have? Well. The only game, maybe L R U Indy. That should be a good game. Again, um Undy. I think that it's gonna be a test for both teams. These the these two teams have faced each other before. Yeah. So um they kind of know what each other likes to do. Um, it'll be interesting. I think that should be a good game, Kev. But you know, it's tough to go in between the bricks and play. And you know, Undy hasn't had much luck in between the bricks over the years in in NCAA tournaments and and and in regular seasons. So, but I think it'll be a really good test for LR and for Undy. So that should be a good game, like a good solid game.

SPEAKER_01 49:53

Yeah, any others on your list? That's it. That's what I've got,

Game of the Week

SPEAKER_01 49:58

too. Our game of the week. And this one we were unanimous from the word go on this one. It's number two against number three, Tampa against limestone, and I heard no bell. Still no bell. Oh bing, ding, ding! Quality lacrosse, and they are playing in a neutral site, they are playing in Savannah, Georgia. And they've played there before. I know Tampa has, I don't know if Limestone has. The one thing I wish, and I don't think they're going to, they've gotta figure out how to stream at this location so we can watch the game. Didn't they? They do. Maybe like on YouTube or something like that. I hope so. I have not seen it listed on either of their schedules that it's a game that you can that you can stream.

SPEAKER_05 51:45

It might not be. It might not be. I hope it is. Yeah, me too. Yeah, Tampa.

SPEAKER_01 51:52

Number two. What else can you say? Number two against number three. Both are looking really good, like mid-season form.

SPEAKER_05 52:02

Yeah, um, I don't I don't know what to say about this one. This could be a pick'em game, Kev, for me. I mean, both teams do a lot of things well, and both teams are uh looking to improve in certain areas. Uh you know what I mean? Like they're both 4-0, but there's room for improvement on both of these teams.

SPEAKER_01 52:25

My question is, can limestone's D slow down the Spartans Gauntlet and offense? I mean, when I've seen Tampa play this year, they just look awful fast and awfully good at moving the ball and getting getting shots.

SPEAKER_05 52:43

Yeah, they are good. They are good. I mean, uh Flores has been doing a really good job at the dot since he came over from St. Leo. I mean, he he's doing great. So I mean, I think it's gonna come down to face-offs, I think. The team with the more face-offs has a better chance, obviously, but I think in this game, I think it's really gonna count. I mean, this is a pick'em game for me, Kev. I cannot I agree. I cannot choose this game. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 53:11

There's nothing more I want to do on Sunday but to watch this game streaming. I'm just praying it happens. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 53:21

So, yeah, a couple of good games coming up this week. Definitely the Mercy Bentley game is gonna be good. The Pace Malloy game, again, good good game for pace to start out with. I mean, good RPI out of conference schedule, and Malloy's got a couple under their belt. Should be interesting. Do they catch pace, you know, you know, in their first game jitters and that kind of thing. So um the Rollins Westminster game is always you know, uh treat is always a good thing. And you know what? There's one more game that might be interesting as I look at the schedule here, and that's the Florida Southern Flaggler game.

SPEAKER_01 54:01

Yeah, well, Flagler's been playing pr playing pretty well. Uh Florida Southern, I'm surprised at their record right now.

SPEAKER_05 54:08

Yeah, they're 0-3. Look who they faced. Yeah, well, that's it. Faced three ranked teams, you know. Yeah, they had a gauntlet to begin with. A gauntlet. And they played Wingate really good, you know. So, I mean, I think they're the probably the best 0-3 team in in Division 2. 100% on that one. You know, if you ask me. So, I mean, Flagler's a good team. They look really good this year. They look ready, they look deep, they have multiple midfield lines. They're, you know, they're they look pretty good. Yep. So that might be a good game. So we got Florida Southern Flaggler, Rollins Westminster, Pace Malloy, um LRU Indy, which that's gonna be a good one. Uh, and then Sunday, the Mercy Bentley game, and then the Tampa Limestone, our game of the week.

SPEAKER_01 54:56

Game

D2 News

SPEAKER_01 54:57

of the week. All right, Danny, before we head into our spotlight, we have a little D2 news. And it's unfortunate news. Uh Shorter University out of the Hawks, out of Conference Carolinas, has made the tough decision to cancel the rest of their 2025 season. It does. It really came down to what did they have on the roster? They had listed 19 on the roster. I saw something on social media said they were at about 16. They played a few games, they've had some injuries. They're really shutting it down to protect the players they have because they can't seem they don't feel they can go through the season. Uh and and really keep their players healthy and and do what they need to do on the field. So they're gonna shut it down this year and regroup with another recruiting class. Remember, they got a new coach in there, and hopefully they can come back uh for 2026 and start back uh into the D2 season. That's that's that's tough news, man.

Spotlight

SPEAKER_01 56:03

Danny, once again, uh no player spotlight this week. But we do have something new. You and I talk about this uh practically every year since it's come out, because I think, Danny, we've been on the podcast every time this this event has happened. How great the Crown Classic in Charlotte is, right? Oh, it's a great event. Great event. Yeah, uh usually the the lineup is usually phenomenal. Usually one D men's game, one D2 men's game, one D1 men, a women's game, and then a D2 women's game is usually the lineup, at least that's what was as I remember it. Yep. Always great pairings, like really good teams in all those divisions. This year, though, the lineup is a little more unique, and they've got two D2 men's games lined up this year. So here we go. Here we go, Kevin. That's right. We thought, what the heck? Let's let's bring on someone from the Crown Classic, and luckily we have the creator of the Crown Classic, Chris Schiller, with us tonight. Let's welcome him in. Hey, Chris.

SPEAKER_00 57:05

Hey, Chris. How are you guys? All right, thank you.

SPEAKER_05 57:08

Thank you so much for coming on the show tonight with the two knuckleheads from In the Crease podcast. Uh strictly dedicated to Division II, but to have you come in and talk about the Crown Classic and everything about it. It's been an amazing event. I talk about it all the time. I tell people that's the best event in all of College La Crosse. And in all of College Lacrosse. Uh, I've been very fortunate in that my son has played in three consecutive ones, and we'll be playing in another one this year coming up, and um looking forward to being there in two weeks. And uh tell us all about the Crown Classic. How did it come about? How did it start? What made you think of it? Let's start from the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 57:51

Oh um first and foremost, I appreciate you guys having me and appreciate the compliments. Um, and it doesn't go without saying that there's a huge team behind the scenes that run the crown, right? Like we can take all the credit you want, but uh it's the people who volunteer. Like the crown or any lacrosse event really, uh, you know, from like at this scale, it's not a money-making venture, it's just the purity of the sport, right? And bringing just unique things to Charlotte. Um, so how it started is that I went to Penn State, uh played there, and Charlotte, North Carolina is not close to state college, uh, Pennsylvania. Um, so I you know, and it's very difficult to get there, right? State college isn't the easiest, it's in the middle of Pennsylvania, it's not near a major city. Airports are tough. So that drive sucks. Just it sucks coming from here. So I was like, you know what? There's a couple Penn Staters down here I played with, and uh Rob Warren and West Virtual. I'm like, how cool would it be to have Penn State down? You know what I mean? So Brony, and I'm like, hey, I'm I'm just toying with this. Like, are you guys interested? He's like, dude, that'd be a great spring break trip for us, right? Like, play a couple games, they can work in, you know, a couple games as they make their way down to Charlotte and work their way back up. I'm like, he's like, who would we play? I'm like, I don't know, who would you play? So you know, I played for a while and I'm like, let me look at my Rolodex. So I was like, I played with Sean Adalin, he's a Rochester guy like I am. Yeah, and I was like, Nance, he's like, Hell yeah, I'm in. I'm like, he's the he's the best. He's like one of my all-time favorites. So Towson was in.

SPEAKER_01 59:27

Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_00 59:28

Like, all right, my best friend from Rochester, Pete Milliman. I called him like, dude, will Cornell come down? He's at Cornell at the time. I'm like, will Cornell come down? He's like, Who are we playing? So it's kind of like it's like the fourth team I was struggling with, right? And I'm like, logistically, how am I gonna do this? And so I called Galloway, like one of my like one of the best people on the cross, John Galloway, right? Yeah, down at Jacksonville, just purity. And I'm like, it wouldn't be right if I had the crown classic in Charlotte without some type of southern feel to it, right? Like Galloway at the time was making his way up, and I called all four of them, like, here we go, here it is. He's like, We're all in. I'm like, this is amazing. How are we gonna do it? I'm like, I have no idea. I've no idea.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:15

Did you have a venue yet?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:16

No, but I knew. I mean, I I kids we had run some lacrosse clinics and a couple of my buddies here like run the run the club scene. So I I put some feelers in, I knew we could get um at the time it was the sister stadium to where we are now, uh, Mecklenburg Sports Complex. And um, yeah, like it's unbelievable. It's a great uh sports complex with fields all the way around it. So my vision was like, oh, we can run tournaments around it and all the things, but it's grass, and this is like everything just so it's changed now, right? So we had it on grass, and the first year, guys, I mean, it was just comedy, it was the worst weather of literally all time, like it couldn't have been any worse. They had two games on Friday, two games on Sunday, and it rained literally nonstop, and it was a degree above freezing the entire time. So it's just grass sloppy, it was terrible, and literally the last game ended. Some comes out. I'm like, you know what? But it was the start of something. We knew we had something, it had to change because it was super expensive, and it was like, all right, we can't, this can't last. So, anyways, it's it's evolved. So sorry, that was kind of the no, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:28

I love the fact this is kind of interesting that it was really out of a selfish motivation to see your team, your alma mater, play closer to you, but it's turned into this such a great venue when you say grow the game, yeah. The way it's been split up and the way it's been, like the way I I think of it is like one for each division, men's and women's not counting D3 right now, but it's changed a little bit every year, right? This year you have two D1 women's games and two D2 men's games.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:00

You got it. Every year is different because of scheduling. I mean, eight schedules, I need to eight teams, I need to make sure it fits at one date, right? And usually, like the best game will dictate the date, you know what I mean? Like, it's like, okay, we got a great game here, let's build around it. So this year we had Wingate, Leno Ryan. There is no better D2 matchup in my life. Oh, yeah. Like when I saw that, I'm like, and we we inked them for a two-year thing, so they're so you know, another thing I deal with is one team's got to give up a home game. Like, there's so many little intricacies in this thing. I just I love it, right? It's like you're playing chess, it's Tetris. Yeah, Tetris, probably better than Tetris, and um, you know, one team's got to give up a home game. So, like, well, I'm not giving up a game. Are they giving up home game? And I'm like, well, let's just do a two-year thing, and generally it's kind of a no, but since they're local and listen, I love Coach Boyle, Coach Paradigm, and I coach for the Charlotte Hounds, so it's like a lot of connection. Um, I just love them to death. And Coach Boyle and I played a local club league here, like competitor, just tough.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:08

And um, you know, yeah, we don't know that at all about Coach Boyle.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:11

I mean, you know, like he like you look at him like I think I could take him, and then you see him like really get upset, and you're like, I think he can kick my ass. Um, you just got to grit about him, he's got that Irish in him. Absolutely, and the coolest thing, I knew like this was hitting a mark, especially with Wingit and you know, a couple other clubs, when one of my good friends here who helps me uh on the volunteer side run the crown, his son got recruited to Wingate, and he was also getting recruited other places. Right, he told his dad, and I'm not gonna mention his name because I don't want to embarrass him, but he told his dad the reason why he chose Wingit was he wanted to play in the crown. I mean, amongst a lot of other things, don't give me like you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of the things, one of the things was he wanted to play in the crown.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:55

It's an attractive thing for a recruit. I'll tell you one. If I if I was a high school player, by the way, Danny and I both have four years of eligibility left, but no one would take us.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:04

That's awesome. That's your boy. Well boyle.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:06

Yeah, if I was a high school player or an eighth grader and I went and saw the crown classic, especially like Danny says, you see the night game there, yep, and you see the venue, and the first thing I would think of, if I was a lacrosse player, I'd think, I want to play here. It is the I have taught when my son my son didn't play, actually, he was injured, but and he was it was killing that he couldn't be on the field because that venue with the stands up above the players, like it is, yep, it's it is just it's ideal.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:40

It's theater. The city, the city of Charlotte behind you. Yeah, for whatever reason, we've had just amazing games there. Like uh every year, there's always just some the games are so tight, and it's drama and it's fun, and it's crowds. And I mean, one of my favorite games was the the uh limestone wing it game because those two crowds were like at each other's throat. I'm like, oh my god, yeah, we're worried there's just like I was there.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:05

I mean pulling some people off each other, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:08

No, it's cool because Coach Boyle has actually uh made it into a recruiting vent as well, so he'll have some recruits um on the field uh for it. I'm like, yeah, uh whatever you want to do. I you know, the whole goal of it now it's kind of morphed into I want to celebrate the local talent here too, right? Like celebrate all the Charlotte kids who are now made it into college and playing and you know, honoring the coaches who brought them up here. It's just um we're you know, we're trying to get this homegrown feel to it. That's why we're having UNCC Davidson on the women's side. Like, what a cool yeah, that's a great lineup. We've had UNCC women at our crown like the last three years because they were supposed to start a women's team like a couple years ago, but COVID hit. And they had to delay, and every year we're like, Okay, this is the year, and we keep announcing them, and now they're finally here, right? And they're playing at the crown, so it's like you know, really cool local matchups.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:59

Yeah, so let's talk. Let's let people know the matchups this year. It's it's Florida versus JMU. That's the first game, correct?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:05

Yep. Florida women, JMU women. So that's that should be a great game, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:10

Top 10 game for 11. Then UNC Charlotte versus Davidson.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:15

Yeah, just a cool local match, like UNCC's first year playing, right? Love it. Growing pains and all the things, but it's a chance to celebrate a new women's program here, playing another established women's local program in Davidson.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:29

And probably some of these ladies have played against each other in tournament ball and high school ball too.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:34

So they know each other kind of. Seton Hill versus Tampa.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:42

Yeah, that should be a good one. So I'll fully admit, I've never seen I've seen uh clips of Seton Hill. I've never seen a full game of them played. Tampa's been up here a few times.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:50

I love you know Seton Hill is stacked this year. Yeah, I think that's gonna be a great game.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:56

That'll be a great game. So that's number, I want to say number two versus number 13 in D2 right now, with Tampa being number two.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:03

Yeah, and then you end up with, like you said, the North Rhine against Winsgate, Wingate. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:08

So we have, I mean, if you think about it, we have three of the top five teams here in D2 playing. So you got Tampa two, Wingate, I want to say, no, Rhine three. Yeah, yep, and Wingate five, and then Singhill 13. I mean, come on, it's it's great lacrosse.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:24

It's gonna be and you know, Chris has been living in Charlotte for a while because he calls it Wingate, which I like. Yeah, Wingate Wingate. Not Wingate. No, that's that's us here for us northerners. We call it Wingate. I still call it Wingate. Yeah, sorry.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:38

Wingate been yelled at by the game. Not only that, Lenore Ryan and Wingate are conference both of the same conference.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:44

It'll be the night game. We got some fun things planned for the music and the lights. Oh, that's great. It's gonna be awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:50

It's gonna be awesome, is right. So you talked about this a little bit. I have to this question. So, is it every year trying to figure out what the matchups are gonna be? Like, how do you I was gonna say because my original question was gonna be you're gonna go back to the traditional matchup, but I guess there really is no traditional matchup.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:08

Always try to do traditional, right? Always every year. So, people out there, if you're listening and you've email me, like what the hell are you doing? Like, every year I try to do D2, and hey, and one of these years I will do a D3, right? Like, I'm trying to mix it.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:21

Yeah, great.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:22

That's awesome. Charlotte is so saturated with D2 amazing lacrosse programs. Like, it's just it's kind of it's wild how D2 is really we have some amazing programs right here. So it's like I pull them here, and the nice thing about the local programs here, they pull a crowd too, right? Which is great for us. We have to butts in the seats in order for this thing to survive, so we can pay for Memorial Stadium and the workers and the security and the cops and the show pros and the you know, it just it goes on and on, and people are like, So we need the butts in the seats, and though that those local games provide that, you know what I mean? So um, you know, like every year it's just something different. One year we had three men's games and a women's game because that's all I I the the jungling of schedules, and you know, once again, people get people read into it too much, they're just like favoring the men's. I'm like, no, like absolutely not. If I could have three amazing women's games, I would like if the top 10 teams want to come down to Charlotte, I will adjust. If Boston College want to come down and play Northwestern women, I I will bump a men's game. Like, I'm about matchups and the growth and everything, and every year is gonna be different. Next year we have a D1 men's locked, and it's gonna be amazing. Um, we have a you know, uh Lynn O'Reilly and Wingett have already, you know, that we have them. Yeah, and then we have a D2 women's game. I'm just looking for that D1's uh women's game right now. That's it, and then that's locked up already for next year.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:44

Wow, that's awesome! That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:46

Women women D1, especially, they they uh schedule about a year out, like at least.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:52

Right. So your your planning cycle is it's years out.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:57

You're late right now for the D1 women's game, and it and it's tough right now. Like, listen, we can go into nil and all the things, but it's yeah, really hurting college budgets. Uh, we can go into that whole scene. Like, I I've I've just found out so many fascinating things about how this is affecting uh programs um holistically, because and I'll just give you a quick example. If I'm donating a hundred dollars to Penn State Lacrosse, right? Like I'm donating it to Penn State University, old school, 100 bucks, Penn State University. They get to divvy it out to if I earmarket for lacrosse, but it's going to the university, right? Nil, you have collectives. So my hundred bucks, I'm like, yeah, I want to pay a player. My hundred bucks is going to a collective now, outside of the university. Universities are getting hammered by this, and you'll you'll start to see a shift over the next couple of years. Universities are now being their own collective, which was smart. There's no way all this money could shift, but all these budgets are shifting away from non-generating, non-revenue generating sports, right? I mean, now Penn State's paying their football players a whack ton of money. Where's that money going? Like, there's only so much to go around, so it's like now I talk to these college coaches, they're like, dude, you get like we need help. And I'm like, there's only so much help, and it's gotten worse and worse over the years because of nil.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:16

That's a shame.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:17

Yeah, but yeah, because we're adjusting, everything everything's adjustable, and we'll figure it out. Hopefully.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:25

Well, uh now how let me ask you this because uh how many years has the crown classic been going on? Because you said it started in Mecklenburg?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:34

Uh yeah, Mecklenburg, uh uh the sportsplex there. So that was oh, you're gonna do that to me, aren't you?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:39

So that was 20, I want to say it was we we do that all the time just about the podcast, and we've been only going for like four years or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:46

I can't even 21, 22, I want to say it was 2019. Um, that all right year started, I want to say, or 18. Um, this is the sixth or seventh year now, I want to say, uh, because that COVID year was weird, right? So man, it's just such an amazing start. We had one of the last games before COVID hit, Penn State Cornell, and that was at Huff High School here. Um Jeff Teat scored the winner. Um not against my alma mater, unfortunately, but um and literally two days later, the seasons were done. Two days.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:20

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:21

So um, yeah, I mean, we've had we've had a long stretch, um, six or seven weeks.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:27

That's great. That's great. You talked about your volunteers, so I know you can't name them all, but like what's the army of volunteers you gotta have for something like this?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:36

I think it's grown to about 40 people behind the scenes. Um, some are paid, you know what I mean? Like the announcers and you know, like people like that. Um, but man, so Brian Holland, just a really good Long Island guy, played at Hostra, uh, lives down here, coaches at Montreat. Um uh got it drill. Um, so he brings his team. So they'll play a game Friday night, and they'll he'll bring his whole team to volunteer.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:03

Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:04

So we got you know, there's tons of tons of movement on the field. There's changing out waters for the team. There's just so many behind the scenes stuff. Uh going from women's to men's, you got to change out all the cones, all the balls, all the things, you know, it's just bowls. It's you know, it's crazy. It's uh, but it's fun. We hit we have such a blog, we have stories every year out of it. It's just it's a good time. So yeah, it's about 30 or 40, 40 deep at this point.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:28

So I'll end with this question, unless you have another one, Danny. What would you want to our listeners to impart on them about what you're trying to do with the crown classic? And yeah, just what what words would you have about the crown classic that you want to impart on our listeners?

SPEAKER_00 1:13:47

Um, there's not many times where you can come to a lacrosse event and see high-level women's and men's at the same time. Like, if you haven't seen a high-level uh high-level women's game, I I I'll challenge you to go watch it because I wouldn't want to play it. Like, it is it's aggressive, there's no pads, and these girls are just flying and pushing and slashing and you know, just have little goggles on. No, like I don't think I'd want to play that sport. I literally, uh you know, and there if you ever play with a women's stick, like turn to pass and catch. How do you hang on?

SPEAKER_05 1:14:23

Hold on to the no pocket.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:26

Listen, I give them all the credit in the world, man, and I love watching it. Um, you know, my sister grew up playing her whole life, so I got to watch it growing up, right? She played at Penn State um after me. It's just really cool to watch, right? So that introduced me, and just all of a sudden I got a taste of the like uh Syracuse played Virginia Tech, I think, at our first women's at Huff Stadium. And I was like, Gary Gate was the coach, right? Yeah, well, there's my hero, you know, Syracuse women's team. And I watched that game and I'm like, these girls are awesome, and it just kind of grew. So I would I would challenge you if you if you haven't seen or if you haven't seen a D2 game, how about that? Like, yeah, a lot of people are like, Yeah, we'll come out for Hop Qs. Of course you will. It's like the oldest matchup of all time, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:15:08

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:09

I challenge you to come out and watch a D2, high-level D2 men's game. You're gonna be super impressed. So my message is come out and watch both. And if you have a son or daughter playing lacrosse, come out and watch and see what it takes to play at that level. Because I think parents have an expectation that their kids are like gonna be D1 and that's it. Come out and watch a high-level D2 game, come out and watch the highest level D1 women's game. You're gonna be like, all right, we got some work to do, right? And that's good, it sets a really good bar. Um, and it's entertaining. So one ticket gets you into all four games. I think lowest ticket cost is like 18 bucks for you know all four games and go in and out, and it's funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:48

It's a phenomenal price, it's a phenomenal venue. If you have not, we didn't talk much about American Legion Memorial Stadium, but I will tell you when I walked through it and saw it, I was blown away, you know, food, drinks, just the way it's set up. There's not a bad seat in the house. I mean, it is great, and and like you said, it's the matchups, the matchups you get for that across every division, yes, is a game to watch. Agreed.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:19

Yeah, it's it's a lot of fun. It's uh you know, every game gets done, we're like, that was an awesome game. Who's up? You know, it's just like let's go, you know, it's it's just another awesome game. It's just yeah, it's such a cool day of lacrosse. If you love lacrosse, it's just it's a really cool day.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:32

You know what? Everything about that stadium, like even the parking is easy there, like you can just fly right in, tailgating spot, everything.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:40

So it's interesting, right? So since it's four games and it's spread out, parking's super simple because people are in and out, right? Right, if you have one event that gets a little tricky, right? Perfect there because there isn't a ton of parking. But since it's so spread out and fans are coming and going, it that that's what makes the event cool too. It's just so super relaxed. Let me tell you something. I'm I'm looking forward to seeing what Winget brings to the table. And if Len Lor Lenore Ryan can match the crowd's energy, the fans' energy, the parents' energy, because the day before the game last year, they were out tailgating and the when they weren't supposed to be. I'm like, that's a I don't even care. It's amazing. There that Winnebago's there that flags up. I was like, let's go. I just let's get that same energy because we're focusing like this is our this is our primetime matchup. And I told the coaches that I'm like, we are highlighting D2 men's across. You will be the highlight, you are the main event. So come out and and show up.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:36

It's a big game for both teams, and you know what? Both teams travel very well. Lenore Ryan travels extremely well. Absolutely. We were we were in Philly for the championship game, and Lenore Ryan was there in droves.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:48

They show up, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:50

They they were there, they know how to tailgate, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:53

They do, both teams. I can't believe it.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:56

When get special though, um believe me, I've been at a few of those, so uh, it's uh there is there is no better uh lacrosse tournament that I've ever been. Just like Danny says, like I I I I challenge anyone if you're in enough distance, if you have kids that play lacrosse, go to the early games, go watch, like you said, go watch a women's game, go to the Seton Hill Tampa game if Lenore Wingate is too late. But go to this this tournament, this classic. It is a classic. Every game is great. I I can't say enough about it.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:35

It's a great event, great event. Chris Schiller, thank you so much for taking the time and coming on with us tonight. I really appreciate it. Um, a great event, and there's not much more I can say. I mean, it's like I said, I talk to guys, lacrosse guys up here on Long Island. I tell them that's an event. It's a day, it's really a day. If you really love lacrosse, and if you love the south, and like I'm gonna be moving down south, not too not too distant future, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:02

Because I love you may have a volunteer for the the tournament in uh classic in a few years.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:07

It's all about the stories, it's all about getting together as a lacrosse community, right? So if you guys want to go down, I mean we'll see you guys, but uh any fans go to uh the crown lacrosse.com uh to get tickets. Um, it's really simple. We make it, you know, super general mission tickets. You know, you pick your section, but we keep the pricing pretty standard, except for those individual seats in the middle are a little more expensive. But um, you know, we hope to see so many people down there. You know, and that's another cool thing is that I get to see my buddies I played with in the you know in college and the pros. Like I get to see their kids playing now, which is kind of like odd, but it's really cool. I've had Sean Williams come down here, you know, Dyson Williams. I've had Jake's kid played for high point, you know what I mean? It's just seeing these guys now funnel through, and a lot of my good friends are head coaches, so I get to see them, you know, it's just really cool. Like it feels with that's fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:58

That's fun. Well, uh, before we go, I I have to shout out Coach Storier of Limestone who who gave me your contact information, so you can blame him.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:08

No, uh, but I think it's a great story about that man at the crown. It's just you want to talk about like it gets heated, and I get a front row seat. Like I get front row, I'm right at the scores table because I just love I love being in it because I'm out of it now, so I like being in it.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:22

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:23

I never so Storier used to go to my um, I used to run a like a um a prospect camp, like you, like we did growing up, like 205 top star. I did it down at Clunch, right?

SPEAKER_05 1:20:33

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:33

And I did it at Limestone a few years, and and uh Storyer would help me, and he's a gentle giant. I'm like, oh, this guy's awesome. I love this guy. He's like, we got along, I just saw the gentle side of him, just like Boyle. Yeah, different side of it. Like a call was made, and just I don't think it thought it. I don't think he thought it went the way he it should have, and he lost his mind.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:55

I'm like, this is just well, and I'll add to that story because when they play Wingate, I was at that game, and that was our second season of the podcast, I think.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:06

Him and Boyle.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:07

And I had had Storier on the I think we'd had Coach Storier on the podcast by by then.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:12

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:14

And I so I went up to him to introduce myself after the game. And I'm up in the stadium and I'm yelling to him. He came right over to me, recognized me, shook my hand, said Mr. He always calls me Mr. Stenson, which cracks me up, so does Coach Boyle, by the way. Uh, and I said, Hey coach, that was a great game. Um, you know, obviously I'm sorry, you know, I'm not sorry you lost, but it was a it was just a great and he couldn't have been nicer. At that moment, he's like, You're right, that was a phenomenal game. And for him to do that against a guy wearing a wing gate sweatshirt at the time.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:49

Yeah, he's gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:59

I love limestone, I love what uh coach Sereno, you know what I mean. He was my hounds coach for a while. I coached with him on the hounds. He's the one that kind of started the when he was uh A D at Limestone, right? He's the one that was like, All right, we're in. You know, when Coach Clark was that taste, you know what I mean? Just yeah, you know, it all kind of just comes around.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:18

It's awesome, yeah, it weaves itself back, yeah. Yeah, it does.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:20

And story years a man. I'd you know, we'll limestone we back one, you know, probably in two years. I just love that program.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:26

You know, it's as as big as lacrosse is getting, it's still a small community.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:32

Absolutely. Everyone knows everyone.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:33

All you guys know each other, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:35

And we'll see you guys down here and we'll all hug and you know, it'd be awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:38

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:39

That's what lacrosse does.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:40

That's right. Well, Chris, thank you so much for coming on. It's been it's been great hearing more about it, how you have to do it, and the the the traditional lineup isn't always traditional, but it's always, always good.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:53

Appreciate it, guys. Thanks for having me on.

Shout outs

SPEAKER_01 1:22:57

What a great conversation with Chris Schiller.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:01

Yeah, that was fun. Yeah. He's a good guy. I definitely see myself hanging out with that guy. I think you may be. I might I might look for him at the game. I might look for him. Yeah. Usually I say I do and I don't, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:23:15

But it was it was just interesting to see how you build something like that. The you forget how much work goes into something like that. Especially when you look at the say it again, the quality lacrosse, the quality programs from D1 and D2, he gets there year in and year out.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:37

Oh, that's amazing. You know, but he knows a lot of people, obviously. He knows a lot of people. He rivals us, Danny. I'm not even I couldn't even scratch the page that man. Oh my god, yeah. No, Chris was dynamite tonight. I really enjoyed his his enthusiasm and his openness and yeah, his love for lacrosse and what he's trying to do. And again, a beautiful venue. And at nighttime, it's it's awesome, especially if you get nice weather. If you get like a 70 degree night, you know, something like that, man, it doesn't get much better. It really doesn't with the city of Charlotte all lit up behind you, and it's a beautiful city at night. It really, it really is a pretty city. It is. So again. I've been to two of them, you know, in the last two years. Last year was snotty and rainy and cold. It was not a good day. And they don't allow umbrellas into the stadium, so everybody there was pretty much soaked. But it's a great event. The girls' teams, I mean, last year it was Hopkins and I forget, the two years ago the Notre Dame girls were there. And it just it was it's a great, it's a great event. He does a great job, and I was so happy he came on the and and shared his experience and his his stuff with us.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:54

It was awesome. It was great, great to have that conversation. Okay, but now it's time for shout-outs. You got any, Danny?

SPEAKER_05 1:25:03

Yeah, I got a couple of shout-outs. My first shout-out goes out to Coker's Will Habel, the senior MIDI. He was diagnosed with Hodkins lymphoma in 2023. In 224, 2024, he rang the bell. Cancer free in 2025, he's back on the field, and he scored a goal in the first game. So shout out to shout out to Will Habel.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:33

That's a great story. My first shout out goes to Emmanuel goalie, Grady Magruder. He had 16 saves against Coker for a 67% save percentage. That's a good game. And I'm telling you, he's probably one of the reasons Emmanuel's where they're at.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:57

Yeah, it seems to be. I'm gonna have to watch Emmanuel now. It's not a team that I usually normally watch, Kev, to be honest with you. But they're making noise. They are making noise. I'm I'm I'm shocked by them, actually. I'm definitely gonna have to watch them now. Coach, I'm gonna watch. Promise. Alright, well, who else? What other shout outs you got? Oh, I gotta give a shout out to my boy, hometown, Gavin Conland, Lake Erie goalie. Even though they lost, he set a school record for saves. He had 22 saves in the game. So, I mean, the kids balling out. The team needs some offense, though, it looks like. But uh shout out to Gavin Conland.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:42

Okay, my second shout out, we've already talked about him, but I feel you've gotta say it again. Matthew Mancini. 79% face-off win percentage against Rollins. That's just unbelievable.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:02

Again, he's really, really good, probably top two, top three in the country.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:07

You know, wait till the stats come out. I mean, it's a little early to start looking at stats like that, because not everybody's played. You know, you gotta get every you gotta have everybody like five or six games in, yeah. And then start looking at those stats, and you're gonna see Matt Mancini. He's gonna be either one, two, or three. I guarantee you. Yeah, I I believe it. You know? All right, what other shout-outs you've got? I have another one last shout out to Liam Duncan, the junior LSM for Felician, Kev. Ready for this? In two games, this kid just had himself a week. Four goals, one assist, one assist, six crown balls, and five calls turnovers. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:50

Liam Duncan balling out for Felician. I love it. I love those shout-outs. My last shout-out, as we do every week, goes to our sponsors, the D2 Showcase, D2 Showcase and Shad Coffee Lids and Cup. Thank you so much for your sponsorship. Please check them out. Obviously, if you've got a player or you know someone who's in high school, have them check out the D2 Showcase and bring your Shad Coffee lid when you go to those early games. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:22

Yes, thanks to our sponsors and thanks to our listeners. Keeping us going. So we're still getting the DMs. You know, the season's really kind of boiling up. The North teams are getting going. Some of them are getting going this week, you know. So uh keep those DMs coming and uh thanks to all our listeners, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:40

You make increase what it is. That's exactly right. And with that, Danny, now that I'm back in the United States from beautiful Madrid town, that's a wrap for this week. That's a wrap, guys.