Game Time - A look back at week 6 and a preview of Week 7 of the 2023 season

Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:10

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 Stenstrom, and with me as always is the Big Kahuna, Danny Moran. Aloha.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Aloha. How is it Stenstrom? Again, coming live from Hawaii. Again, a second podcast from Hawaii. Yeah, that's why my friend.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

That's why I had to bring back the big kahuna. I'm out here on the on the island of Oahu on a little bit of travel. Um, you would have loved it, Danny. We actually were here for a benefit concert for uh a friend of ours that passed away. He was a recording engineer. Eight hours, two to ten on Sunday, more than 15 different artists. Everything from jazz to rock and roll to blues to Hawaiian music. The the the acts were just phenomenal. It was just fantastic. All for uh a man by the name of Milan Milan Bertosa, who's done over, participated in or recorded or produced over 700 albums. Wow, sounds interesting. Eight hours of music. That's cool, man. Yeah, you would you would have loved it. You would have loved it.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

But but I digress there. I digress. Well, how's how's Hawaii anyway? Is it nice out there? Well, let's just say as as we're as we're sideways, all right.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

And you're going through a nor'easter. It is raining here, Danny. It is raining here. So there you go. Okay. It's good, good. I got a little bit, but but it's pretty cool. So you wake up on a Saturday morning at 6 a.m., 7 a.m. You get your cup of coffee, you start watching D2 lacrosse. Is there anything while listening? While listening to the waves of the Pacific Ocean, it ain't too bad.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

I got nothing to say. I actually have a lot, I have a lot to say, but I'm just gonna close the door on that. I'm glad you're having a good time, and I'm glad you get to see some of the games out there, you know?

SPEAKER_01 2:19

It's cool. Yeah, it was it was great. So, and we'll get to that in the week in review, but why don't we start off with the top 10 roundup?

Top 10 Roundup

SPEAKER_01 2:29

The top 10 roundup.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Oh, I missed my horn. I screwed everything up. Where's the music? Hold on. All right, that's that that that crack research team working in the back there. Okay, the top 10 roundup for this week. Number one, Lemoyne remains undefeated. They beat Robert Wesley in 11-3. Number two, Mercyhurst, they remain undefeated at 4-0. They beat Chestnut Hill, Kev, 11-2. Yeah. We thought that would be a little bit maybe more um competitive, but Mercy Hurst. Mercy Hurst took it to him. Yeah. Put a beating on them boys. Uh, number three, Mercy beat Wilmington 11-9, and they're at 5-1. Mercy. Number four, Adelphi beat Caldwell 19-1, Kev. Um they sit at 5-0. They're undefeated. Uh, number five, Lenore Ryan beat number 15 Florida Tech 20 to 11, and the Bears sit at 6-1. Uh, Tampa back onto the winning way, back on the winning ways after losing a big game the week before. They beat Palm Beach Atlantic 19-4, and and the Spartans are six and one at number six. Number seven, Rollins lost to unranked Colorado Mesa 15 to 10. Kev, we'll talk about that. Yeah, we will. And Rollins is now sitting at five and one. Uh, number eight, the Wingate Bulldogs beat number 17 Newberry Wolves 16 to 14 in a kind of a thrilling kind of game. Yeah. And the bull and the Bulldogs sit at 5-1. Number nine, you Indy, beat Walsh 20 to 4. And uh the Greyhounds are at 5 and 1 as well. And Saint A's beat number 18 Bentley rather handily, Kev. Yeah. 17 to 2. There's Saint A's sits at 2-0 now. So that's your top 10 roundup.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

All right, that was good. I like it. I like it, Danny. I love the top 10 roundup. Kind of gets us into the mood. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. Get you started. Kick start the heart,

Week in Review

SPEAKER_01 4:48

right? That's right. So now we move on to the week in review. And Danny, I kind of look at this one. There was a bunch of kind of chess matches this week, some surprise finishes, and I think one real barn burner. So you ready to get into it? Yeah, let's do it. Who do you got? Who's on the pocket one? Well, let's start off the we the game that was the first kind of in the week. It was actually it was played before our last podcast podcast came out, but after we uh we recorded it. So that was the Lewis Belmont Abbey game. Yeah. And that was a little bit of a surprise for you, I think, because I think you had Belmont Abbey in that one.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

I did. I picked Belmont Abbey. I said these two teams were really kind of matched up even, and I felt that way. But man, Lewis came out and they were just really good that night, Kev. They really played well, both offensively and defensively. Um, and Lewis wound up beating them 14 to 8.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Did you see the game? I actually was at a work event uh all night. I could not watch it. Um, but I think I called this one. I agree with you. I think I would this is the one I called that was going to be a one-goal game with Lewis winning. But I'll tell you what, this is a menor protege matchup with Coach Peruzzi and Coach uh Baird as former mentor. I think the real defense came down to the scoring in the second quarter where Lewis was on top seven to two. Because if you look at the stats, the team stats, Belmont Abbey led in almost all the categories. Shots 42 to 36, turnover, they only had 19 to Lewis 22. Yep. Cause turnovers, they had 13, Lewis had nine, face-offs 15 to 8. Now, Lewis, I think, I think it's uh even though the offense scored seven goals to two, I think it's their defense stepped on up, and sometimes they had more ground balls, 34 to 28, and their saves, they had 19 saves to to Belmont Abbey's 10. Their goalie Ria Wrath, Ria Wrath, 1970 save percentage for that game.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

That's a phenomenal game from Rio Rath, absolutely phenomenal. And the the usual cast of characters for Lewis, man. They put biscuits in the baskets, Baden Boyenko had three and three, six-point game. Evan Clement had two. And uh Dylan Kendrick and Dom Torello split the face-offs. So they did pretty good. But come on, Abby's got that kid Trey Childers had a great game. He had five goals for for the Crusaders, and Davis McCulley had two and one. And um, you know what? Thomas Sullivan had 10 saves. I mean, he didn't have play a bad game in in goal either. But you know what? Lewis was just a little bit better, a little bit quicker, a little bit faster, and uh came out on top. It was a good game.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Lewis is uh Lewis is on the move, which we we talked about that way way back in the conference preview, and and and they're they're headed that way. And and and nothing against Belmont Abbey. This was gonna be a tough game, regardless. So uh, you know, we'll see where I think Belmont Abbey, like we talk about with other teams, is gonna be fine. They're gonna be fine in Conference Carolinas and they'll go from there. Um, I I think though, from a obviously from a national rankings and NCAA, they they probably wanted this game, and I'm sure Coach Barrett isn't as happy with the final result.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

No, he's definitely not happy. Yeah, but Peruzi's got those boys back in the top 20 again. So yeah, they've been they've been right, they've been knocking on the door, you know, they're right there, so they have to keep up their winning ways, you know. It seems like Belmont Abbey's gonna help their cause. Yeah, okay. What what other what games do you have? Well, did you see the limestone Anderson game? Because that was one of the games I said that was gonna be a good one. And Kev. Oh, it it was a barn burner. That was a good game, man. That was a good game. Um, Anderson beat limestone in overtime in an overtime game, and you love those overtime games. It's so exciting. It's so exciting. Yeah, Anderson pulled it off 15-14. Limestone gave Anderson everything they could handle. Kev, this game had like six ties and five different lead changes. Well, I'll tell you what, it was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

You're you like if you look at the first quarter, I was I had a note that said both offenses were moving the ball really well. This just in the first quarter. It was Anderson, though, that could capitalize on it, and Limestone couldn't. And it was 4-1 after that, after that first. But Limestone comes storming back in the second quarter to tie it 8-8 at half. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Zach Terry had seven goals.

unknown 9:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Seven goals, man.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Yeah, so it was funny because it was like you said, it was just a back and forth game, really, really even. At one point, even did you see that time when Limestone had three guys in the box? Yep, they were down three men and they held serve with three guys down. But then you go, you know, then you're down two. And Anderson, you can't let Anderson have that much time. No, no, and so they finally scored, and and and and but still, no one, even with that, no one was really dominant. They were just it was so well even, you know, it was so even. And I think the other thing that Limestone did a really good job was neutralizing Cam Weeks. Cam Weeks would win face-offs, would would win the draw, but they would get sticks down there and they would push and they would on even not only the face-off specialist, whoever they had lined up there, but their wing play. Yeah, ground balls.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

You know, I'm wondering if Cam is 100%. I'm wondering. Because, you know, yeah, the kid is so good, they throw him out there with one leg, and he's gonna win, he's gonna win a good percentage of his of his face-offs. I just don't know if he's 100% still, to me, doesn't look like 100%. But you know what? Anderson's a good team. They did a lot of good things. The second half was about as even as you could get the second half, right? Yeah each deep each team scored two in the third and four in the fourth. You know, but I'll tell you, Zach, if it wasn't for Zach Terry, man, he went on a he went on a tear. He scored four four consecutive goals for the Saints and to tie him, and then he hit one to put them up one. So that that kid was keeping them in, and and they traded goals, and and and Zach Terry struck again twice to give limestone a two-goal lead with eight minutes left. It was like a pretty good game, you know. And then uh Anderson tied on a Raiden, you know, Raiden Bowdrawn goal, and then Bushnou put one in in the overtime for the win, and it was as good as a game as you can get.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

I'll tell you what, that was a great overtime. If you remember, Cam Weeks wins the face-off, goes right down, takes a shot. It was a good shot, just just missed. So now he didn't have backup. They're gonna put the biscuit in the basket, and they couldn't. And then, like you said, Braden Bouchot Boucho, who, oh, by the way, had a great split dodge to get open and in that shot. And he was the guy in the game before that took over the face-off position for Cam Weeks and had such a good, such a good game. So he's really uh contributing to his team any way he can. It was really kind of cool. And he ended up with a hat trick. Rainbow drone had had four goals and one assist. But I'll tell you what, the other guy played really well, both goalies played really well. Hunter, Closterman. Clusterman's good, man. And he was playing for the injured Joey Heckle. He is not their starting goalie. I know he's pretty good, though.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

He did a he did a damn good job because you know there's scorers all over the field for Limestone with Mike McGarry and Connor Brower and Nate Sens and Zach Derry. Those guys can score.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

He did, he did a good job. Yeah, so and what's here's what's interesting. So there was a great game. And Corey Lyons had 16 saves as well. He played a really good game, it was just one of those. He's a good goalie, too. But here's what's really interesting: as I was watching uh sipping my coffee and watching this game, I had the wingate game on my phone. And I'll tell you what, Danny, it was like a carbon copy until the end. I'm watching the limestone game, the score is 6-3. Wingate Newberry, 6-3. Limestone, second half score 14-12. Wingate Newberry scores 14-12. The only difference was in the in the in the final results was the higher ranked team, Wingate, pulled it out, but Newberry played a good game in that one, too.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Yeah, Newberry's a good team. I talked to we talked to Coach last week on the on the podcast, and uh he knew he was going into the gauntlet. And you know what? They're man up. Newberry's man up is really good. They went four for four. Yeah, they're really good. I think they're number one in the country, but you know, Wingate, you know, that offense and and and just just too many, too many guys to cover, just too many guys can score, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Just too many. It's true, but I think also from the defensive side, and and some of the cause turnovers were guys on offense that did it too. I keep can't give it all, but when they were riding, you're right, they had eight caused turnovers versus Newberry's four, and I think that was key for this game. They and and so I it was it that was another good game to watch, it really was. What what else do you have on the list? So the other games I had.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

Well, to be honest with you, Kev, we weren't they weren't on the docket to watch, but because I have absolutely no life and nothing else to do, I watched a couple of games that normally I probably wouldn't have watched. So I wound up watching the UAH Alabama Hauntsville Maryville game. Let me tell you something. That game was as good a game as you could possibly get. It was complete quality lacrosse from two Division II teams. That was first of all, it was wet, it was rainy, yeah, it was aggressive.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Well, remember, you texted me about this game. You said I'm watching the Alabama Huntsville Maryville game, and I just had gotten back to the hotel. We were doing something. I'm like, oh crap, I'm gonna turn it on. And I got to watch the whole fourth quarter, and you're exactly right. It was a great game.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

You know, here comes Maryville coming out from the Midwest out to the East Coast and doing that East Coast run that all those Midwest teams do. And it's not easy for those guys. They spend a week on the road, they're eating, you know, stale bagels at the hotel in the morning and that kind of thing, but it's not easy. But Maryville, that was some game. They pulled it out in overtime, Kevin. I'm sorry, UAH pulled it out in overtime for 14 to 13. Meryville, it was a fun game to watch. Again, in the rain, wet, misty, on a grass field. There was kids with mud on their uniforms. It was like one of the old school. There was a lot of like a lot of checking going on. The crowd was going nuts on every ground ball, on every score, on every move. It was just had that exciting game. Meryville went out and went on after the one, they were winning 5-4. They were winning by one after one. And it was a 7-7 game at halftime. Okay, there were six different ties and seven different lead changes in this game. Uah was leading 12-11 with 328. And Foster from Maryville tied it with 245. They had a double man down. It was crazy. Maryville goes man up, and Reed Ersay buries the biscuit to give Maryville the lead with 27 seconds left in the game.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

This is when it got real. I mean, not that the game was good before that, but here is where it got crazy. I'll let you continue. I was last like I was ready to I was ready to just all right, we'll go have you know lunch or whatever now. I'm like, it's just but no.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

The last two minutes and 45 seconds left. So, so yeah, so Reed Ursula buries the biscuit, gives Maryville a lead with 27 seconds. Uah's Hunter Coleman wins the clamp, sprints downfield, hands Kyle Lightwood perfectly feeds Reed Bender for the tying goal with nine seconds left.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

It was unbelievable. And then and and and over time, Brody Phillips hit the game winner to give the Chargers a nice win. But it was a rowdy, chippy game, wet field, damp, misty conditions, mud on the field. It was just had everything. It was so exciting, Kev. It was such an exciting game. And uh got to give a shout out to to both of those teams, to Alabama, Huntsville, and Maryville for such an entertaining evening. It really was a great game.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

If people can get to that that stream in a replay, they should do it. It was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

It was awesome. It was awesome. You're like, it was like ground balls and getting kicked out and guys getting pushed out, and just it got chippy and physical, and uh, it was great. I loved it. I loved every second of it.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Okay, so let me I've got one and then we can get to uh a few others, but I know you watched this game and I did too, and it's Colorado Mesa against number seven Rollins. And Colorado Mesa pulls it out 15 to 10. They were playing at Westminster's Dunkey Field, and I'll tell you what, Colorado Mesa. This is another one of these chess matches, Danny. Colorado Mesa did not put on the clinic that they did when they played Rockhurst, but they moved their chess pieces around to really win. And they played a very, very smart game.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Yeah, it was a good game. I mean, it was two really good teams. Did yeah, the the the the mountains in the background.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Oh, yeah, it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful field. Isn't that amazing?

SPEAKER_02 19:43

Yeah, I said to my wife, look at the look at the Rocky Mountains in the background. It was just gorgeous. But um, and that was at Westminster's field. Yeah, yeah. So it was a it was a good game. I mean, I just felt it was kind of like slow paced a little bit. It was kind of like a slowdown, grind it out kind of game. Um, but you know, Colorado Mesa was impressive, I have to say, because you know what, Rollins can score, they got scorers there, and I I felt that Colorado Mesa's defense was making them take bad shots and forcing them out of their comfort zones.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

What'd you think? That was my that note right here. They only they held Rollins to only 26 shots, and only 22 of those were on the goal.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

Yeah, I mean, I thought Mesa's defense just maybe it was just not Rollins' day offensively because they looked a little bit out of sorts because I've watched three games of theirs so far, and they've been looking really good on offense and and and really good on defense. It just maybe it was the trip out there, maybe it was the elevation, maybe it was a combination of the thing. You know what?

SPEAKER_01 20:49

I had that I had that in that note too, but then on the backside, I'm thinking, you know what? Good on Colorado Mesa because they have to do it all the freaking time. So it's I and hats off to Rollins for going out there. Oh, understand. Um, because you know it gives those guys gotta do the travel like Westminster does. Yeah, and Dylan Checkets, he had 15 of 23 face-offs, which I think was a critical advantage for Colorado Mesa to maintain possession.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Yeah, he's really good. That's a big reason, too, man. Dylan Checkets just getting possession after possession. Hey, Jed Brummett had three, Sergio Paleo had two, Drew Eckelman had two, Jamie Stankey had two. Dylan did what he did, and Calvin De Sett had 12 saves for Colorado Mesa. Pretty solid game.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Yeah, they spread the ball around on offense. They had nine different scores. I that that really helped them. You know what?

SPEAKER_02 21:44

And Rollins spreads the love too, man. Justin White had two, Grant Hansen had two and one, Willem Metz had two, Harrison Key had two, Thomas Garvin was five. What what did he do with the face off? And Ketchadorian had 11 saves. I mean.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

they're they're a solid they're a solid squad but Rollins it tripped up a little bit and yeah well I'll tell you what the game was closer than what the score said at the end because uh Rollins you talk about chess matches they they were risking it at the very end in the fourth quarter putting out and pressing the goalie comes out Shahi came out to try to cover folks and they got a few easy easy goals uh you know with with the open net so I'll tell you what Colorado Mesa did what they had to do what they wanted to do you know beating a top 10 team like Rollins and now they got to keep going now they go to the Florida swing and they take on Florida Tech and Tampa.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Well you know what they look good Colorado Mesa I think they look good man I mean 100% you know what they're making noise I think that you know that's a team you got to watch out for Florida Tech's gonna you know have a tough time against you know you got yeah and then if Dylan Czechs can if they can go play Tampa and Dylan Check it's can get possessions for them who knows what can happen there. Right Colorado Mesa is is a good team one to watch out for um they can give teams a fit 100% they got players there Kev. Yeah so uh who else I got a few others what who else do you have that you you you saw I got a couple of shout outs there yeah the other games that I saw again wasn't on our games to watch but because I have no life I was just flipping through watching games and you know what St. Leo Flagler played Saturday night in uh in in at St. Leo and it was great man um it's a good game you know flagler just beat Mount Olive the the week before 1411 that was a big program win yeah for Flagler this is only their second year you know and yeah Kevin they they have athletes man flagler this kid Tyler Douglas four goals he's a good athlete he's a good player Logan Tobias at two and tunis McCuzis that's a good name Tunis and Tunis McCusas he had two goals and an assist trace McDonald had one and two and you know what flagler looked pretty good out there but Saint Leo's got some players too and that was a good game it was four three after one it was eight eight six after after at halftime flagler flagler was winning yeah man and then St. Leo five goals in the third they kind of poured it on and and that was the difference Justin Williams had four goals and assist John Rauchy had two goals guy bistro who's always a good player for St. Leo always a good player he had two goals Greg Palmer had two goals and um you know what Flagler outshot St. Leo 49 to 34 but you know what it was an exciting fast paced game like I said Flagler led eight six at half and Saint Leo just rattled off five consecutive goals in that third made 118 and it was just an exciting really good game to watch a two-goal game that could have gone either way you know what I mean yeah so you know just because they don't have a number in front of their in their name you know if they're not in the top 20 doesn't mean that these good games don't exist because that St. Leo that St. Leo flag game was good. These kids were going after it when they realized what was at stake at the end of this game it could have been anybody's game and they started playing hard man and the same thing with the UAH Maryville game. That was an exceptional game.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

So folks out there in Podcast Land you've got to watch some of these other teams these boys can fall in fact I've got three to go through quick shout outs on three of them first off one we should have marked for this week coming up because it's another menor protege and that was Deuville against Felician. Coach Wilson of Deuville pulls out a win against his former mentor coach Bonicum of uh Felician Tristan Engelhard and Brady Ruffalo both had five goals and Stefano Evans had four goals and four assists for Deuville that is an effort by those guys they outshot Felician 49 to 40 and they won the ground ball contest 38 to 26 I didn't get to watch the game but that but look at Deuville now has got a few wins in their ledger this year and they're moving on and it's it was a it was a great game and a great win for them. Another one and this one we did talk about was Dominican against UDC I thought it was going to be a close game but hats off to the Chargers they won 218 and it really was they had a they were went on a 7-0 run in the first quarter and a total of 9-0 run overall but guess what even though they won by a lot they they udc actually won a lot of the stats 47 ground balls to to you to um Dominicans 27 they had more saves 22 versus 15 so their goalie Najee Wilson had a good game but the real problem was Dominican outshot UDC 64 to 33. So you've got that many shots coming at you 64 shots oh boy yeah so great game great long day between the pipes man great game by Dominican but UDC's got some things that they can hang their hat on and try to try to build from the last game I've got Danny and we talked about this one and it was a surprise because we both picked Lake Erie Lake Erie against St. Michael's and St. Mike's won 18 to nine and there this was remember St. Mike's had two games canceled postponed and there was no rust on this team. Let's see Sebastian Simonson scored three times during the second quarter uh and well when they had a 4-0 run and that kind of put them up um and and he had a total of I think five goals and Drew Collins had six assists then St. Mike's scored the final five goals so along with having winning 14 caused turnovers which was probably a key to their victory and they split their their they had two goalies split time Sean Regan 10 saves on 15 shots and Spencer Scardino nine saves on 13 shots that's a quality win for St.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Mike's wow that's a big win for St.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Mike's totally quality win good job congratulations fellas surprisingly a little bit right yeah yeah so it'll be really interesting to see where where they go farther on in the NE10 this year it'll be some good matchups coming on. Okay Danny let's move on to our coach's spotlight tonight we get to speak to another coach for the first time and I'm really excited about this because this program I have kind of been watching ever since my son started looking at colleges to go to so probably let's talk that's six years ago um and so I'm really excited

Coach's Spotlight

SPEAKER_01 29:20

this coach is in his second year as head coach and really trying to catapult this program I think back to where it was probably around 2014 or whatnot.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

So why don't we just welcome him in Gage Bradshaw head coach of Wheeling hey coach hey how you doing how are you hey coach Bradshaw from Wheeling thank you so much for taking the time tonight uh on a cold and wintry kind of night here and uh out there where you are and uh we really appreciate you taking the time to come on with the two knuckleheads from In the Crease appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

Hey yeah I think you know any chance to talk across is a great time to speak so I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

That's awesome. So let me let me start off coach you were a graduate assistant at Wheeling in 2021 and then became the interim head coach last year.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

So tell us how that whole transition into coaching first of all and then taking over the reins has been yeah I mean so you know from Texas originally kind of went through the recruiting pool as a student athlete ago and uh for my first two years of college I went out and played for Brian Breck in in that group in two years and then ended up transferring and finding my way down to to Florida and playing for Jack Hallway. So I got to play for him two years and in that whole time you know I knew really early that I wanted to kind of lined up you know my major and my degree so that I can make that you know route um you know graduated and found myself to wheeling as a as a graduate assistant to get my master's and um the way things kind of unfolded kind of transitioned into the head coaching position you know I've loved it and have loved being here ever since you know I was here as an assistant now as a head coach I've you know it's been awesome and um you've been really bought into these guys in this program and have really loved every bit all through right out my levels and everything else it's been awesome. So um really got my start playing in college and transitioning into being a coach.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

Yeah so let me ask you that you you know you're at Rutgers transitioned down to Jacksonville two really good D1 programs but you go from Florida back up to West Virginia and you say you love it. So what do you love about wheeling and West Virginia there?

SPEAKER_00 31:30

Yeah I just think it's one of those places where you know there's so many hidden things to discover. You know we're about 45 minutes outside of Pittsburgh right you know we're in that little sliver. Think of us as that main part of the state and we're actually way more north where as north as you can get in the state and you know with Columbus being so close and Pittsburgh being so close and Cleveland being away and I think it kind of brings all that culture into one city you know kind of that just blue collar thing you know the guys that we try and bring in represent that and I think you know that's what I love about it. It's that you'd never really think about and really discover you know until you go out of your way to find it and then kind of see like wow it is awesome there's a lot to do here there's a lot to get into there's a lot to explore on top of this beautiful nature and the big hills and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 32:12

Yeah it's a lot different from Florida though. A lot different from Florida.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

Yeah a little bit different weather a little bit more snow up here no palm trees no palm trees in West Virginia okay palm trees palm trees that's right okay okay you you just have to start to embrace the winter sports Danny that's all that's all you have to do. I don't like them so coach as I've watched over the last several years it seems that there's been a lot of turnover at wheeling now we've seen the same sort of thing at schools like Shorter and Young Harris and talking to those coaches recently one of the things they're really excited about is trying to bring that stability back to the program. I assume that's obviously you went from graduate assistant to interim head coach so you're kind of already bought in and trying to bring that stability the last couple of years.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

So talk to me about that and how you think that can really help catapult this program as I talked about in the intro yeah I think you know we talk about as coaches all the time bought in buy in the process trust the process and then you see guys leave or go elsewhere for power to them. But I'm a I'm a big loyalty guy and so when I got my opportunity, you know, at first like hey these guys are going to want someone that's bought into them as much as they are into playing. And so that's what sit down and say hey you know what I'm bought in here um you know show my guys not only what I was representing as myself, you know, my belief system and you know my culture standards like hey this is what needs to happen is this buy-in. And I think you know that starts with me as a head coach, you know, representing what really the opportunity that you know was afforded to me allowed me to do. And I'm here to lead these guys in the right direction. And I think when they see that buy-in they're working for you know you get a lot better buyback from the players right you know you get a lot of better without a doubt I think that was kind of the point.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

And and you know what you're in the GMAC tough tough conference the GMAC let's talk about the GMAC a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Tell us your thoughts on the GMAC yeah I mean look I think you know the GMAC is a really tough conference you know you got great programs you know it's a good mix right I think we're all over the levels of different types of lacrosse that make it a competitive league. You know I think that's what you want to be competitive. You want to play great programs and I think the GMAC is a great place to do that.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

I I agree I agree with you. I love the GMAC it's a nice blue collar tough weather guys that get after it in in the cold and the snow they're brushing off the snow in the field for practices and stuff. I give you guys a lot of credit for that because there's a lot of kids down in the south going damn I'm sure glad I didn't go to school up north you know because they see the snow but you know what I give credit to you guys too for doing that because it's not an easy thing.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

It's it's it's a tough thing and getting on the road those bus trips and uh it's tough GMAC so how many guys uh you got on the roster this year coach uh right now for this 23 season um stuff going on though right you know you battled through injuries trying to get back you know guys healthy and and all that final number is 36 so we have 36 guys on the roster okay yeah that that's at least so that's that's better than some other teams we know you've got some some sort of depth and you can build from there. But I have to ask you this you mentioned kind of Alderson Bratis and coach we had coach Maloney on and he talks about winning the state of West Virginia amongst the GMAC between you Alderson Bratis and Davis and Elkins so is that like a goal of yours too is it like we're gonna win the West Virginia Cup because I'm I'm tuning into those games I don't want to see who wins the cup yeah I mean I think it's it's awesome you know I think shared those same little rivalries before like when I was at Rutherz you know we had the rival we rivalry with Princeton and you know those cups and those battles and the win in the state um you know in Jacksonville we're the only D1 team uh down in Florida so we didn't really get to have that little rivalry and then you know to kind of have an in-state rivalry again was pretty cool. You know I think Allison brought us in DE and his programs and you know both have head coaches that really want to push the success uh timeline you know for their best and so I think it is fun to get to those games and realize like hey we're playing for the state you know we're saying that hey we get to be one of the better teams in the state I think dynamic to our games right you know and I think it's awesome to be a part of yeah that's that is really cool.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

That is really cool. So let me ask you this coach so you're basically a D1 guy from a player but you're a D2 coach. So talk to us about what do you think the advantages of going D2 is for student athletes.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

You know I think the division two level like I guess like you know I've seen both sides I think financially you know I think there's a better opportunity for level depending on your talent you know I think you have a higher opportunity to get a little bit more money compared to what you'd get at the division one level depending on your skill set, your academics um you know obviously three that doesn't have any athletic scholarship you know we're kind of in that middle ground right you know we have money to work with that opportunity and maybe give a little bit more depending on skill sets at and you know what the coaches are looking for at this level. I think you're gonna play some great talent and you may get on the field a little bit earlier at the division two level than maybe one level. And again it all comes down to skill set, you know, academics, culture, you know what your role, what program you go to I think there's a little bit higher opportunity to get on the field a little bit early on what program you're at because there are more programs that are looking for guys that are hungry to get on the field in division two level or a little bit higher.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

And I think they're a little bit more abundant at the division two level you know Kevin Kevin Kevin and I both had uh sons that played in the division two level and um I just think you get more bang for your buck, I think, financially at the Division II level. And like you said it you get to play. You might get to see that field earlier than you might if you went to a division one program. And you know what if you're going to you know go through the summer youth programs and the and the travel teams and pay that kind of money to get to get recruited you know go to those prospect days that you might why not go and play? Why not go to a place where you can play why would you want to get get up at 5 30 and do runs and lifts and and not even get on the field and then the division one level you don't get to travel with the team they might just take you know 40 guys they're not going to take all 62 guys that's on the division one team so I love division two and what it's been able to do for me and my family and my kids has been phenomenal. And that's why Kevin and I kind of do this podcast we just we don't think that division two gets the love that they should get and you know we get to talk to coaches like you who's got that division one pedigree and you're bringing that knowledge to the division two level and that's that's goes on a lot more than people might think that goes on in the division two level would you agree?

SPEAKER_00 39:03

Yeah you know from what I can see here and you know obviously I think I'm a little bit spoiled the conference that I'm in you know that have incredible talent you know and I think that's something that gets overlooked and obviously you know division one's division one for a reason don't get me wrong been around those players but there's some guys that can play man at the division two level and can really get after it and I think and be able to compare my experiences as player as a coach there's some guys that can really you know get out and get after it you're starting to see you know in the PLL you know there's guys oh yeah division two guys that are kind of you know getting into that rant that realm and playing at that high of a of a caliber. Yeah 100% and I think it's it's you know something like you said you get more bang for your buck right you know if you maybe think hey I can go to one of these D1 programs maybe I see the field maybe I thrill up to the athlete you know at that point but you know if you maybe want a higher chance to you know get on the field play and make those travel rosters and you know make that difference on a roster and a team right for right you know D2 is for those guys that just want to make an impact and want to play and you know walk away it's this experience and I did uh you know make a difference in where I was at.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

Yeah coach that's that's great. So we talked at kind of in my aviator speak at the 2000 foot level talking D2. Let's go down almost to the ground level talk to me you talked about culture fit and everything else so tell us what you're trying to build there at wheeling from a culture player standpoint where you're kind of driving to for goals for your team um it doesn't have to be something specific but just kind of give the overall flavor of what you're trying to build for wheeling and what you're trying to do with your players.

SPEAKER_00 40:38

Yeah I think you know our big team motto is like one step at a time right and I think we talk about it's just being able to control what you can control and understand that oh we continue to get better you know as we continue to get better we continue to compete. I think for us you know it's been uh you know a rebuild you know in 2020 kind of um you know pushing the envelope on excellence is what we're really trying to do. And I think people you know understand that this was going to take time, right?

SPEAKER_01 41:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

Our guys bought into as well that hey, you know it starts with the culture first. You know, first we got to represent you know our culture standards, our identity, you know, we got to understand who we are that every year, you know, day in, day out. So I think as a team bought into the long haul and and really bought into this is a you know long process. But I think the entire team including myself and my assistant is like hey why can't we push the gas pedal on that? You know how can we kind of keep pushing our foot to the you know every day, every month every year on how we can accelerate the process you know what do we got to do right recruit what events do we need to go to what teams do we need to schedule to to make ourselves look more um competitive and and more ideal you know playing the tougher teams and you know making those tough that we're showing our best effort and really getting you know diamonds out of pressure. Right. Right and I think that's what we're really living is hey you know how do we kind of push that envelope and get it done and I think that's really what the identity of this team is is we'd rather push than take the easy route out and really you know make sure that we're pushing the envelope on success.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Yeah you know you you not only are the GMAC but you talked about that schedule your out of conference schedule Frostburg and Lewis and you know what you're putting big boys on that schedule and that's good. That's great. And then you got the GMAC you're gonna have Seton Hill you're gonna have Mercy Hurst you're gonna have those big boys and you know what like you said um comes out of pressure comes the diamond you know you sharpen the irons you know what and these kids learn and they learn the NCAA game and they play at that level and you only get better by doing that coach you can't you can't swim if you ain't in the bay you know what I'm saying so so so I think your your kids are in a good spot. You you got a couple of wins underneath your belt already this year. You're playing in that weather and uh I wish you the best of luck in uh this the rest of the season coach I'm really looking forward to seeing what wheeling could do. I honestly I haven't watched wheeling yet this year I usually catch a game I try to catch as many games as I can you know for the podcast and uh and because I have no life and I love lacrosse so I watch a lot of lacrosse and a lot of I watch D1 too but a lot of D2. So I'm gonna be keeping my eye out for wheeling it was really nice of you to come on tonight. We really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

Absolutely 100% and like I said anytime to talk across and the love of the game I'm all there for it.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

Right.

SPEAKER_00 43:37

I'm more than happy to come on and this was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

Uh thanks so much.

Ganes to Watch

SPEAKER_01 43:42

All right well let's move on to the games to watch this week Danny who do you got?

SPEAKER_02 43:49

Kevin there's a few games to watch you know and then it's not always the big dogs but we're gonna we're definitely gonna watch a couple of big dog games this week on You know what? The first one that's gonna I want to watch is Deuville Bridgeport game, the battle of the two new programs. And Deuville's got two wins under their belt. And this year they're just playing second season. Yep, yep, right. They're improving, and and Bridgeport's their first year, so you know what? And they've got a win too. One of those games. So yeah, that's right. That's right. Could be a really good game. It could be one of those games, you know, that you never expect, you know. So I like that game. Who do you like?

SPEAKER_01 44:34

So I think you've got this on your list too. I've got Mercyhurst, Undy on Saturday. That's uh number two against number eight. You know, Mercyhurst has just been handling everyone this year, and U Indy, like you you and I talked about off podcast, they've got one loss, and they want to stay, they want to stay in the top. Now, they're they're playing a higher ranked team, but still they're gonna want this one to keep rolling for the NCAAs.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

Yeah, a loss for you know Undy could hurt them a little bit, for sure, for sure. So that's a good big game, but you know what? Uendy's got to go into Mercyhurst, and that's not an easy thing to do. No, you know, it is not. All right, who else? So that's that's gonna be a good game to watch. Okay, another uh an any 10 game, Kev. I'm interested to see St. Anslums and Lemoyne because last year were some great games. I think you know, I think that's gonna be a real good matchup and could have ramifications in any 10 in conference play and tournament time. I think that both these teams are good enough that they could be in it at the end of the year to make a run at the NCAA's. So this is two of the top-tier teams getting after it, and it's a conference game. So I like Le Moyne and St. Anselms.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

Yeah, and St. A's handle Bentley fairly easily. So they haven't really beaten Lemoine, and I know they want to. Let's see what they can do this year. Another game I've got on Saturday, Danny, is Lewis against Alabama Huntsville. Lewis is on a roll at five and one. We already talked about them in week in review, as well as the Chargers. They're at six and two. They just beat Meryville. We talked about it. They're playing Rock Hearst this week, but uh, it'll be uh already done when uh the podcast is out, but they have to go to Lewis for this game. So this will be an interesting game. This will be a really interesting game. Yeah, that should be a good one.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

And um, and that would be Saturday, yeah. Right? So then we have games Sunday and Monday of next week. So what do you think? Tampa and Colorado Mesa get after it. Without a doubt. That's a game. They're coming out east again. I think they're a good team. Dylan Check it's at the face-off dot. He's as good as anybody else in the country, and I think he's gonna make it uh an interesting game. We'll see how Tampa plays against a good Colorado Mesa team. Uh especially at the face-off, you know.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

That's that's huge, you know. Yeah, can they do what Frostburg State did? I think they've got the talent to be able to do it, but I also think Tampa gets burnt once. It's gonna be tough to uh to get them again. It'll be a good good matchup. Another game I've got, Danny, is on Tuesday, the 21st, and that's post against Malloy. Coach Jez against Coach Dunn. You can't not watch this game. You gotta pull this game up. Nah.

SPEAKER_02 47:50

Two legends, two legends in division two as coaches, as far as coaches go. Um, great guys, great programs, both of them improved. You know, the we knew that they were gonna have take their bumps in the first couple of years, you know, until they get their guys in. But you know what? It's it's the uh the two old dogs going at it. So it should be it should be interesting. Yeah, and yeah, they're neighbors, they're neighbors, you know what I mean? They're neighbors, these two schools. There's only about what eight, ten miles that separate the two schools.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

So that's a good little rivalry. I love it. I love it. Yeah, I've got uh a couple others just to mention, just because I I think they could be of interest, and that's on Saturday, is Malone against Davis and Elkins. You know, Malone's having a pretty good season. Davis and Elkins is still trying to get going on the upswing here, but that could be a really good matchup. And then on Wednesday, the 22nd, is Walsh against Lake Erie. Now, before Malone came into the GMAC, this was the battle for Ohio between Walsh and Lake Erie. Lake Erie usually comes up on top. Walsh two years ago did win. So it'll be interesting to see if Coach Scavarch can come out there and beat Lake Erie this year. And it's at their field, so that should be interesting. And then finally, Danny, on Wednesday, also the 22nd, is Mercy Bentley, ECC versus any 10. Bentley lost to St. A's. They don't want to they don't want to lose again against Mercy, but you know Mercy stack. So I I I give the nod to Mercy on that one.

SPEAKER_02 49:23

Yeah, I'm gonna have to give the nod to Mercy on that one. So who do you like in the Malloy postgame? That's a pick'em.

SPEAKER_01 49:32

That's a pick'em.

SPEAKER_02 49:33

That is a pick'em.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

That is a pick'em. That is a pick'em. If you go by record, you might say Malloy. I think Malloy's got one or two more wins, but I think you're right. I think that's a pick'em.

SPEAKER_02 49:43

I don't think I can choose that one. I'm gonna go with Coach Dunn and Malloy. I think they're gonna pull it out. I'm I'm probably leaning that, I'm leaning that way a little bit too. Okay, what do you think about the Dehuville Bridgeport game? Who do you like in that one? I'm gonna say Deuville. Yeah, me too, man. I like them. They're they're on a little roll now. Let's get rolling, Deouville. Let's get rolling, boys. And and Bridgeport, you know what? You're you're in for a game. That should be a good one.

SPEAKER_01 50:15

Well, I'll tell you what, though. I mean, Coach Tempone there really brought in some some senior guys, and it'll it'll be a battle for both, but I'll I'm I'm gonna give the nod to the Diouville.

SPEAKER_02 50:25

Okay, all right, in the Lemoyne Saint-A's game. Who do you like in that game? I hate to say it, but I'm gonna goine that's home. Le Moyne's Le Moyne, yeah. Yeah, I'd like to see CNA's play one more before that, you know. I'd like to see them play one more time, but I think I'm gonna give the edge to Lemoyne on this one, only because I've kind of seen Lemoyne play a couple of times. I really haven't seen CNA's play that much at all this year. They only have two games under their belt. So I'm gonna give the edge to Lemoyne. And last but not least, what do you think of that Mercy Hurst Undie game?

SPEAKER_01 51:04

I that's gonna be a good game, I think. That could be a pick'em, but I'll tell you what, I think Mercy Hurst is uh it's they're playing at home. I have to give the nod to Mercy Hearst.

SPEAKER_02 51:16

Yeah, man, Undy's a scary good team, man. They can do a lot of good things. They have great LSM play, they have great short stick D MIDI play. Their defense is stout, their offense, they like to get out and transition. They like to run, they like to get out quick. They got a couple of Canadians that can bury that biscuit, man. And just Undy's a scary team. I you know what I mean. Like, so are you looking at you going that way? I like Mercy Hurst.

SPEAKER_01 51:45

I think it's a pick'em. I think that could be like the post-Molloy game, that could be a pick'em.

SPEAKER_02 51:50

Yeah, I like Mercy Hurst. Yeah, so that I that's it. I think those are some good games, and another good week of quality lacrosse, Kevin, across the board. There were some great games, you know. We had the top 10 roundup. Want to see a Delphi play somebody. Want to see a Delphi play somebody. Yeah, you know, I think the country wants a Delphi to play somebody.

SPEAKER_01 52:12

You need to call up Coach Purdy then. Come on, man.

SPEAKER_02 52:15

Their schedule's already set, man. Well, it's been a good week. We got another good week of coming up. Uh Friday, St. Patty's Day, Cup, you know. The black velvet band for the um listeners. Singing with us. Uh, love St. Patrick's Day, one of my favorite, uh, favorite holidays. And it's really cool in New York. They do a great thing with the parades and the cops and the farm, and they just really get into it on St. Patrick's Day. So happy St. Patrick's Day to everybody out there, and especially uh our Irish listeners and all the people that wish they were Irish. Kevin Ostenstrom. Kevin O'Stenstrom.

Player's Spotlight

SPEAKER_01 53:11

All right. Now on to the player spotlight.

SPEAKER_02 53:15

My favorite part, Kev, my favorite part, and tonight's going to be even more favorite than usual.

SPEAKER_01 53:21

Yeah, this is gonna be great. We usually have just one player on to discuss, you know, his play during the season. But after about a week ago, we witnessed David taking down Goliath, which required a total team effort. So we decided we can't just bring on one player, we have to bring on several across the spectrum defense, offense, special teams. So we're gonna bring them on. We're gonna talk about that game and also just their season so far and their team. So, what do you say? Should we just bring them in? Let's bring them in, Kat. Okay, so so from the Frostburg State Bobcats, goalie, Mitch Meckley, defenseman, Seamus Kearney, your Irishman there, Danny.

SPEAKER_06 54:08

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:09

Oh, love the Irishman. I love the Irish A2, I do, and then Attackman, Bubba Love, best name in D2 lacrosse. Oh, hands down.

SPEAKER_02 54:23

Hey guys, how you doing tonight? The best the best name in all of Division 2, Bubba Love. How's it how does it go through life with that kind of name? Tell me, Bubba.

SPEAKER_05 54:35

You know? It's good, it's good.

SPEAKER_02 54:40

Uh no, look at you, man. You look like a movie star, and with a name like Bubba Love, you must be killing it, dude.

SPEAKER_05 54:48

Trying to. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:51

Right. Okay, so Mitch, let me ask you a question. Let me get your perspective on the Tampa game. How did you guys prepare? What you what did you do to execute so well? And just you know, just give us a feeling for how that, you know, did you really have feel like when you walked out there into that stadium that you had a chance to win? And and then how did it feel at the end? So just uh several questions and just give us your perspective.

SPEAKER_03 55:18

Yeah, that's kind of a loaded uh question. But yeah, yeah, we go out to every game believing we can win. We knew we were facing a tough team out there with Tampa, really talented, um, filled with athletic kids from top to bottom. But we don't we go out to every game thinking we really have a chance to win that game, whether it's Tampa or this week, we're focused on Wall Um St. Thomas Aquinas. Um, so we go into those games with that same mindset. And as far as preparation for that game, it really started Monday with our focus on our end of the ball, the defensive end of the ball, being effect, really pressing them out, really getting on the hands, making them uncomfortable, not letting them get set up in their offense and just have their way with us. So that was a focus from from Monday to Friday. And we did a good job implementing that with our our dark side, what we call our defense, all the way down to um our scout team giving us a great look um at what Tampa likes to run.

SPEAKER_01 56:09

That's awesome. And you guys did a great job of pressing out and not letting him get. I mean, they were down to I think it was like 29 shots for the game. I mean, that was just incredible. I've never seen Tampa held there. So you guys definitely executed well. So, so Seamus, since that Tampa game, you've obviously had a couple more wins. You've continued the streak, you beat Malone, and you beat Wall. So talk about what you do as a team to kind of keep that momentum going.

SPEAKER_04 56:37

I think, I mean, really, as a team, is we I can't say it any better than like we stay as a team, like we are always together. Um, our coach makes it clear like whenever you see anybody on the campus, there's two guys together. It's two or three guys always together in a group. We are never not together. And I mean, every single, every single day we have a new practice, new practice plan, incorporating something new, getting like ready for the week. And um, our focus at the end of the day is beating that team and finding a way to win our way. And that's our that's our main focus.

SPEAKER_02 57:11

Well, defensively against that Tampa game, in that Tampa game, I just felt that you guys were just really wreaking havoc, making them uncomfortable. And then you did a great job on that defensively. But Bubba, on the offensive side, what was the mindset going in on the offensive side into that game? Because I felt that Frostberg moved the ball well, real well that game. And you guys were getting really super duper high percentage shots. I mean, you kept moving the ball, moving the defense. Was that one of the things you were looking at to do going into that game?

SPEAKER_05 57:47

Yeah, honestly, all we can practice was just like at the start, it was about us play our game, and then we set a game plan of what we wanted to do. And then from there on it was just execute, don't let them rev us up and play the way we like to play.

SPEAKER_02 58:03

Well, you guys played real well offensively. I just felt like, you know, because uh Ulmer and Gold is one of the best in the country, if not, you know, one of the best top three anyway. And um, you guys you guys were giving them a hard time. You were getting those open looks, like really right in front of the cage with super duper high percentage shots. And uh how'd you feel at halftime? What were you what were your thoughts? Seamus, what was your thought at halftime? Like, you're a sophomore, you're a young guy, man. So here you are.

SPEAKER_01 58:34

He doesn't know any better like the other guys. He just you know, he just having fun.

SPEAKER_02 58:39

No, no, it's Seamus. What were you thinking at halftime? Like, oh my god, we're playing good or what?

SPEAKER_04 58:44

I I was I was so happy. Like, I I could I was ecstatic. Uh I remember last year during halftime when we were getting beat pretty bad by them. I I was uh everybody was down in the dumps, but uh this year we and everyone we're like just keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going. Like, don't let up, don't let up. Because I mean, the the second that we would have let up, we would have had started having issues, but we kept our foot down their throats and just kept going.

SPEAKER_01 59:08

Yeah, it was interesting in that game. It was interesting in that game that I saw a couple times, and we said that on this podcast last week, that there I'm I'll tell you guys right now every time I saw uh Tampa score on a uh you know in transition, unsettled goal, I'm like, all right, now they woke up, here they come. But realistically, I think your defense was set to not let them get that running going, like just really keep them from in a six on six game. Mitch, was was that part of it? Or I mean, because every time that they did that and they had a transition, they didn't get another one for several, I mean, lots of minutes later.

SPEAKER_03 59:47

Right. So, and I think that really uh starts in the in the um well with Craig and um Alex and uh Drew Downing winning face-offs, getting possession for us. They didn't have that game. We had the ball in offense where we'd either use the whole 80 and ride like heck to get it back, or use the whole 80 score. And by the time we, you know, if we wrote we rode real well that game, they got the ball to our end. They were they weren't getting crazy runouts. We were putting them in our world, as we like to say, get having our effect. They weren't get they weren't getting too too many of those transition looks. They had two in the fourth quarter, which we weren't, you know, particularly happy about. But uh the whole the whole game, we kind of controlled the tempo on offense, and that kind of filed back onto the defensive side of the ball where we could execute our game plan.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:29

Yeah, and Bubba on offense, that's the same thing I saw. And and Mitch, you just said it. I think you were really patient on offense, waiting for the shot to come to you that you had. I mean, like Danny said, you had some on the doorstep with some great passes, but then you guys were moving and you had some good 10-yard outside shots, hands free, because you finally moved the defense around. Is that what you guys are waiting for? You guys weren't gonna rush shots, you were just gonna say, okay, we're gonna wait till we've got our shot that we want.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:59

Definitely. We just didn't want them to make us feel like uncomfortable or anything, get us out of our groove. We wanted to play as a team, move them, and take the open looks that we got instead of forcing them.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:13

And you guys did a great job of it. I think uh it was so it was pretty cool to see. I watched the entire game from face off to to the last second, ticked off the clock, and I was like, wow, this frostburg state team really just made a big mark in in the national in the scene here, man. And uh now you guys are just climbing up the ranks. How's that feel, Mitch? You're the graduate guy, you've been around a while.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:38

Yeah, it's it's it's crazy. It is um, it's it's it's a fun feeling uh climbing your way up back from D3. I don't think we uh we ever broke the top 20. And when I was a freshman here in D3, I think we received some votes. And then I remember first getting our first uh top 20 ranking as soon as we came D2, and it's just fun to see as we keep climbing up. I think last year we were preseason number 12, had a bad loss uh early in the season. We I don't think we ever cracked back into the top 20. So it feels good to start the season in the top 20 and just see that number keep shrinking and shrinking and shrinking. And we we want to and think we can be a top five team. Um, so we're just gonna keep taking it one game at a time and try to stack those up and get to where we want to be.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:20

Now, Seamus, let me let me ask uh Seamus a question. Hey, you're a sophomore year, you have a year under your belt, you're in the ECC. You got you know, you're well will talk to me about the ECC and what that's you know, playing in that you know, tough conference is like, Seamus.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:36

I mean, it's I mean, it is a really tough conference. There's a lot of gritty, like the the only word that I could say like that would fit all these teams is probably gritty. Like every single team in this conference is very gritty. And I'll all those games are gonna be most of those games are typically dog fights. And uh the one that I'm really focused on this year is uh, of course, it's gonna be Mercy. Oh, yeah. I've been waiting, chomping at the bit to play those guys again ever since uh the ECC uh championship last year.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:07

Yeah, no, that should be a great game, you know, and that they're playing well right now, they're stacked, but they got a new coach, so we'll see how it goes. Um, Mercy's been one of those teams that kind of lets teams hang around. So always think about that going into that game. But um, Baba, you look smooth as silk, man. Like you look just chill, hanging out. Your answers are just like cool and smooth. You made one of the best plays I ever saw last year. I think against Wilmington. It was like a great behind turnaround in the air, like last second shot. I don't know if you remember that. It was pretty crazy shot. I remember telling Kevin, you have to see what this kid did on the field. It was like a last second shot. Like, and you went, you just it was a long pass, you took it like you did a spin move. Like uh I don't know, man. It was like pretty cool, and you just turned around and buried the biscuit. I was like, holy crap, look at that shot.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:05

I don't exactly remember that one.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:08

I knew you were gonna say that. You put me out there, and you just you could have just gone with it, Bubba. You could have just went with it.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:14

I appreciate the compliment.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:17

No, you guys are you guys are very fun to watch, and especially this year, because I have to say, you know, last year I had you in our preseason poll in the top 20, and you you kind of disappointed me. And I know it was disappointing for you guys last year. So, Mitch, what is the difference this year from last year? You think that you just seem to have a your team just seems to be clicking together better?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:39

Um, I think we said it. Um, I don't know if we said it yet this one, but I I heard a coach say it in uh the last one he was in a couple weeks ago. It's just the bought the bought-inness and the togetherness. So everything we're doing is together. We're excited about getting up and going to lift, we're excited to go to practice, we're excited to watch film. We even, you know, have we everything we do is together. We have movie nights, we go to the Chinese buffet down the road together. Everything we do is it's together, and we're all bought in with one goal in mind. Um that's cool, man. Yeah, coach likes to um one of my favorite things coach likes to say is we're a group of 50 odd individuals, 52, 53 individuals who have come together to um come to one common goal. And that's what I think is really cool is we're all we all are we all are unique, but we all have one goal in mind, and we're doing that together.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:25

Well, hats off to you, Mitch. You really got the boys honing out there, they look great. Frostburg sits in a really good position. You got a couple of teams coming up that quite frankly, you could probably take care of business. You got Seton Hill coming up in a few weeks, then Mercy, then a new and improved Malloy team with Coach Dunn over there. He's doing a great job with Malloy. So, you know, and then you got Roberts Wesleyan who who doesn't suck. They don't suck, you know. So the ECC is tough. You got a couple of nice good games on. The schedule, and you know what, fellas, I wish you nothing but luck. You guys have been great and fun to watch so far this year. And Seamus, I love the Irishman, man. Irishman come first in my house. You know, it's St. Patty's Day, too, coming up Friday. What do you got going on? Well, uh he's got practice, Danny. Practice. Oh, he's got the 24-hour rule. I know, I forgot about that. The 24-hour. No, it's all good. And and Bubba, you got the best name in Division II. We say it on the podcast all it all the time. And you're just balling out this year. And I wish you guys nothing but the best for the can and for the rest of the season. I think you guys can make a lot of noise if you keep playing and keep doing what you're doing, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:45

I think you got a real legitimate shot to make some noise. But you know what, Danny? All three of these guys are studs at their positions. But I don't know how they're gonna be able to hang with the firing round.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:02

The firing round. Ten questions, fellas. We're gonna go through through a bunch of quick questions. Just give me your quickest answer. We'll start with Bubba. Xbox or PlayStation? PlayStation. Mitch. Xbox or PlayStation? Xbox. Seamus. Xbox. Xbox. Bubba. Morning bird or night owl? Night owl. Mitch.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:32

Morning.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:33

Morning. Seamus. Night owl. Bubba. Favorite cartoon as a kid. SpongeBob. There we go. There we go. What about you, Mitch? Favorite cartoon as a kid. SpongeBob. SpongeBob. Seamus. Don't say SpongeBob. Come up with something different.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:53

Yeah, I'm trying to I'm trying to think for you. I'm going to go with Kennedy's verb. I'm young.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:58

Phineas and verb. All right, cool, Sheaven. All right, Bubba, mom's best meal. Gotta be the meatloaf. Meatloaf, Mitch.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:10

I was gonna say meatloaf, but my mom makes a pretty good uh Thanksgiving meal, like the whole the whole platter at Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:16

Oh, that sounds good. And Seamus. Oh, let me just tell you my mom will love this.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:22

Easily, it's gotta be your spaghetti meatballs. Absolutely crazy. She's taught me the recipe. I make it all the time. It's electric. Shout out to electric.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:31

Shout out to Kimberly. That's great. Shout out to Kimberly. All right, cool. Bubba, favorite type of music. Country. Country. What was the last song you listened to?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:44

Oh, that I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:46

Okay, Mitch, favorite kind of music.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:48

I'm on a classic rock kind of uh kind of my man. Yeah, I I I'm into that right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:55

What was the last song you listened to?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:57

Classic rock song?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:00

American Girl Tom Petty.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:03

Oh, okay. I play in a band and we play that song, and I freaking hate it. I hate every time I play that song. The guitar player always looks at me, he's like, You hate this song. I was like, I dread this song. But it's my karaoke song. That's a okay. There you go. Seamus, your favorite music.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:21

Uh, I'm gonna be honest with you. I I like all kinds of music. Uh uh, the last song I listened to was uh I'm still standing by Elton John. That's a great song, Walking of Practice, listening to that.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:36

All right, cool. There you go, Seamus. I like your style, kid. Bubba. Um, what was the question I was gonna say? Oh, um, favorite class at Frostburg State. Oh, say that again?

SPEAKER_05 1:09:53

That was easy.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:55

That's that is not what your mother and father want to hear, dude. You're on a national podcast right now. Come up with someone you gotta get paid, though, you know. Ah all right, all right, Mitch, your favorite class at Frostburg. So since you're a graduate student, but you know, you've been there a while.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:16

Um, probably my uh circuit design class.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:20

Circuit design, you're electronics engineer, electric engineer electrical engineer. Oh, very good, very good. And Seamus, so far, what was your favorite class?

SPEAKER_04 1:10:29

Probably gotta go with economics 352 with uh Oleg Kutcher.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:35

Okay, cool, dude. All right, shout out to Oleg. Yeah, all right. This is great so far. Baba, who's the one kid on your team you'd never let date your sister?

SPEAKER_05 1:10:49

Warren Evans.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:53

The other guys are laughing, all right. Mitch, who is the funniest guy on the team?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:00

Luke McCullough, hands down. Luke, look, that was a quick quick response. I got some nods from the other guys, too. Yeah, yeah, hands down.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:09

Seamus, who's the most athletic player on the team? Like one of those guys that can just like do it all, man, darts, bowling, ping pong, gets out on the field.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:21

You're gonna like this answer too. It's Luke McCullough.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:24

Oh no, his nickname. The freak? That's his nickname. The freak gets a shout out there, Danny.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:33

Oh well, fellas, that's all I got for you guys tonight. You did great in the firing round. You guys have been a great guest tonight. Frostburg's in good hands with you guys. Thanks so much for uh coming on the show tonight. We we really hope you had a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:49

It was a great time. Thanks for having us. Yeah, thanks for having us. Yeah, thank you. I had

Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_03 1:11:54

a blast.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:55

Danny, I am so glad we had a team effort for the player spotlight this week.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:02

Yeah, those guys were fun. That was a good idea to get all three of them on. Uh, what a great, great group of guys, you know. Coach Garleman's got a good group there. They're excited to be where they are. Um, especially Mitch Meckley, the the the graduate uh the graduate senior, been there since it was Division III and has seen the transformation. And now he's looking, you know, in the top 15 in the country and they're playing well. It was good to get those guys on. And uh again, I wish them all the best of luck. I like Rawls Fern State. I like that school, I like the whole vibe of it. It's just it's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:38

There were good guys. So now, so now before we close out, uh I think you've got some shout-outs, and I've got some shout-outs. You want to start it off?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:45

Yeah, got a couple quick shout-outs. You know, Kev, we're at the Crown Classic last week, and uh had a couple of DMs from a guy, John Beachley. He's a limestone dad, loves the podcast, came over, said, I want to meet you, DM'd me. I said, Come on over. So we hung out, we talked, we shook hands, we talked about. He came up to me after the game. Hey, John, it was great to meet you. Um, your son's a great player out there, and uh keep going. It was good to meet you, John Beachley, and the entire Del Grasso family who came down to North Carolina to see their son Nick play at the limestone for Limestone at the Crown Classic. Jerry and I go way, way back, Kev, since we were apprentices together at Electrical Union. We were apprentices together.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:35

That's at least 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:37

Back in 1990, your business. Okay. So, and his wife, Jeannie, is a Rockaway Beach girl. We grow up. So I know Jeannie and they're great people, and they had their kids there, young young Gerard and their daughter Claire. So it was really cool to see them. And Jeannie loves the podcast, and she's a big lax girl, Kev. She's a lax mom. Love it. I love it. Um, big shout out to the U Bill for winning that second game. Been programmed, beating Felicia 6-9. Good job, guys. Shout out to Dan Zabia, the attackman for pace, had 11 goals, one assist, three ground balls, and four course turnovers in one week. Not too bad, huh? Yeah, that's pretty damn good. Yeah, that's pretty good. And I want to shout out to Eric George, attackman for Chawan. Guess what, Kev? He's got a hundred career points at Chawan. So, congratulations, Eric. Good job. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:33

All right, I've got a few shout-outs myself. Um, the first one, because I'm in Hawaii, it's a shout-out to the Aloha Youth Lacrosse Association, A Y L A. So I was talking to some critical players that play for the AYLA in a couple different age groups, and that is their brothers, Jude Munter and Paul Munter. And they've got some interesting, they're not only players, Danny, they've got some interesting coaching strategies. It has to do with sticks and piccolos and flutes and wearing cleats that fall apart. Now you just have your socks on and you're and you're still playing defense. It's kind of convoluted, but it works here in the Ohana of Hawaii. That's my first shout out. Second shout-out has to go out to Dexter Tuimala. He's actually the front one of the front desk guys here at the Hilton that we're staying at. I give him a shout-out because he's helped me try to find a room to do the podcast in because my wife was working at the same time. And I went to the printer to print out my notes for this, and the printer wasn't working. And he's like, dude, just send me to my work email, I'll print it off for you. So that's a kind of uh Loha spirit that that Dexter has. So I uh so I have to give him a shout-out. And lastly, yeah, here's a great guy. He's a great guy. I'm gonna send him the link to the podcast, and he can now spread it across across this great island.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:03

Yeah, Dexter. Yeah, Dexter, you got a big shout-out, national podcast, all the way to Long Island, dude.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:09

Good job. And now, finally, I think what we need to do is just tell our listeners a little tease here. We got a little surprise coming next week that I will be very interesting as we move forward as a podcast. So I I'm telling all our listeners right now, you need to stay tuned, spread the word. I think it'll be really interesting. Don't you agree, Danny? You mean you mean we have an exciting announcement to make?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:36

That's right. Okay, all right. I'm looking forward to getting the opportunity to uh share that with our listeners when the time comes. So, with that, Danny, that's a wrap.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:54

That's how you sing though.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:55

All right, they shine the light diamond. Happy St. Patrick's Day to all our listeners out there, and to you, Mr. Kevin O'Stenstrom. Hey, and that's a wrap.