It's down to the FINAL FOUR!!

Intro

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Aloha to another episode of In the Group with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Men's Loss. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stentrum, and with me as always is our King Kamehameha, Danny Moran.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

King Kamehameha. Aloha, Kevin. How's it going all the way out in what part of Hawaii are you in?

SPEAKER_00 1:56

I'm on Oahu. You know, down Honolulu, but uh we're going to different meetings uh throughout uh throughout the island, as they say.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Tough life you live. Tough life.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Yeah, well, it was tough this week trying to catch up with all those games over a layover and not being able to watch, you know, while I flew. It was not an easy thing. I'm trying to catch up late at night here, not late at night here, but eight o'clock is two o'clock my time, and it was tough to stay awake and try to catch up on these people.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Talk about flying, you know, me and flying. I haven't had the best luck, you know, spending eight or ten hours in an airport a couple of a month or so ago. And then Monday, I had a lot of uh storm Monday. It was stormy Monday in Florida, my man. Yeah. No planes were going out. My plane was delayed. I had a connection from Tampa to Miami. I got a little message, hey, your your plane from Miami to New York has been delayed as well. I said, alright, maybe I'll be okay. We land in Miami and uh sit on the tarmac for about 40 minutes. I miss my connection to Canada. So now I go to the agent. There's no more flights to New York. None. Zero. They won't even help me out with another airline. Looks like I'm stuck in Miami for a day. I go get a hotel. I take an Uber to hotel. It's early. It's 11 o'clock in the morning. Yeah. Hey, can I check in now? Oh, Mr. Moran, for another $40. Sure you can. I was like, I'll be out in the lobby. So I didn't get home till today, Kev, early this morning. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

So crazy. Crazy. You have had some trips.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Yeah, but it's all good. I don't get I don't get upset about it. I just like go with the flow. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Yeah, and you're an old Florida boy anyway.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Yeah, it was stormy down there, man.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

There's not much you can do.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Them low clouds that look like you could reach up and grab them real dark and nasty and lightning. And and even and the wing gate game was delayed a half hour because of it.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Yeah, I I landed. So I landed before we get to the games. I landed in LA and I figured I'm gonna turn my phone on right away, go to the game. I fig now we landed early. We landed like an hour early. So I thought, oh, I may be right around halftime when I turned this on. And it was in the first quarter for the Tampa Wingate game.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Yeah, it was late. It got started late.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

So yeah, so I figured that was uh it was a weather delay. But I'll tell you what, this week, Danny, three very close games and one not so much.

Week in Review

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Yeah, you want to start with that one? Yeah, let's start in the North region and we'll start with that one. That's a Delphi against Malloy. A Delphi wins handily 21 to 7. Not really a contest. I did not get to watch this game. It was 3-1 after one. It was eight to two after two. Now, Malloy scores the first in the third quarter. And if you were probably watching this game, especially if you're a Malloy fan, you're probably like, okay, does that breathe some life back into the Lions to be able to come back?

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

A Delphi scores 10 in a row, then.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

They're tough. Hey, you know, you got to give your hats off to Malloy. They had a great season.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Exactly what I had. Credit to Malloy, what they have done this year.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yeah, absolutely. Coach Dunn, um, just everything that happened for Malloy this year. They had a great season, they played great, they won that ECC. Um, I called that one. I pat myself on the back for that one. But you know what? I knew that going into a Delphi, it was gonna be a real big uphill battle.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

I both had a Delphi. I did not think it was gonna be this score, but I didn't think it was gonna be. I thought it was gonna be like a five, five, six, seven goal game.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Yeah, I kind of figured that I, you know, in my mind I had, you know, Malloy hanging in there maybe for a half before a Delphi kind of turns on. A Delphi's defense, man. You know, Dylan Renner, it's tough to get balls by him, Kev. The defense is very good. They they move, they slide, they hit, they check, they get sticks in lanes, they make it real difficult for offenses to run their offense.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

You're exactly right. What's interesting though when I looked at the team stats, and the team stats don't always say it, right? Because I just looked at the team stats, and they were interestingly closer than I would have expected by Yeah, yeah, they're a good team, Malloy. One the one, the only thing is that Christian Michaels only had seven saves, but he faced 28 shots on goal.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Yeah, well, that's not his best day.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

It was not. Christian Michaels needed to have a stellar day to keep Malloy in it. And that's not a that's not a knock on Christian Michaels. God almighty, he had a phenomenal season and a phenomenal career.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Awesome season.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

But it's just it was the nature of the beast that this day.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Yeah, Delphi's just too big, too strong, too deep, too, too, too, too, too, everything.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

And I and I did not know, just to finish that, I don't know what kind of shots he was facing. Were they on the crease, like a few feet away, that he really didn't have a chance for a lot of them? Were they far out? You know what I'm saying? Like, you don't you can't tell it by that because Christian Michaels is a good goalie.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Oh, he's a phenomenal goalie. But again, I I my hats off to Coach Dunn and the Malloy Lions in the year that they had the Taylor Boys. We had them on the podcast. They were just featured on News 12 Long Island here in New York. Yeah, and uh what a great little you know two-minute thing that they had on them. And let me tell you something. A lot of people see News 12 Long Island here, Kev. It's a very popular station here on Long Island, believe it or not. It's a small little like you know, Long Island kind of hometown type of news station. They talk about all hometown stuff, and a lot of people see that. I see Malloy getting better again next year.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Oh, I agree. I I don't see them turning back.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

You know, the recruitment, I think they're you know, they're on their way, you know, they're on their way with with Coach Dunn there. Like I said, when he got there, we said, give him four years. Well, this is his fourth year, and look at him in the NCAAs, gets to the second round, you know.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

And hats off to Adelphi with their win. They had nine scores in this game, Danny.

unknown 8:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Mikey Dernan, six goals and an assist. Noah Gibson, five goals. Braden Danellan, two goals, four assists. Kyle Lewis with a very even game, three goals and three assists.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Yeah, he's a good player. And they're good at Delphi, man. They're tough, man. They're going, they're going to the natty, I think. I don't know. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

We'll see. We'll talk about that in a little bit. This it's going to be a very interesting North final, without a doubt. Let's go to that second game in that region. St. Anselm against Seton Hill. Now, this is where we split. You had St. Anselm winning. I had Seaton Hill. St. Anselm pulls it out 9-8 against Seton Hill.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Quality lacrosse game, Kev. That was a good game. Evenly matched between these two guys. I can't tell you. It was a defensive battle, low scoring.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

Yeah, you look at it after the first quarter, it was 2-1 Seton Hill, and Seton Hill got that to that one goal ahead by Caden Granberg on a buzzer beater to put the Griffins up by one.

unknown 10:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

I mean, so then then, but then the Hawks score the next the first three goals in the second to go up four, two.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Yeah, yeah. How about LeMay, huh? Kid's a beast.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

No fear. I felt that this was was more of a defensive battle than an offensive like explosion. I think both both teams were scoreless for the first five minutes of the game, and Grenara made like three or four big saves in that frame. Like Seton Hill was able to get it. It was on fire. Yeah, Seton Hill was able to get shots off, but they just couldn't get him past Grenara. The Griffins finally got on the board with Mikey Coleman, buried one for Seton Hill. Will Cody in pipe for Seton Hill? He was good, man. He was firm and steady between the pipes. He made seven saves in the first quarter, Kevin. That's crazy. Talk about, oh, incoming, incoming, you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Uh LeMay finally got the Hawks on the board. It was 2-1 Seton Hill after one. In the second quarter, kind of more of the same. Defensive battle. Each team kind of getting shots off, both goalies making saves, and kind of trading goals. I think St. A's outshot them, uh, outgoaled them three to two in the frame. And uh that that was it was we were tied at four at halftime. Low scoring, very defensive battle.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Yeah, and then the second half, it was it continued with these mini scoring runs of two goals apiece. It just so happened that St. Aides is the one that ended up with the last mini run to go up uh, you know, basically nine-seven. And and Seton Hill scores with like 54 seconds left to bring within one, but then the Hawks are able to get the ball and run out the clock.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Yeah, man. In the waning minutes of the game, Seton Hill turned up the heat offensively. They were able to get some really nice looks, Kev, but Granara made three consecutive saves to stop Seton Hill from getting anything more. I mean, uh Granara was just amazing in goal. And with the Hawks hanging on to a one-goal lead, Seton Hill was still able to get multiple shots off in the last couple of seconds. Oh man, I just it was a really, really good game. You know, Hawks hang on, win 9-8, man.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

Yeah, it was uh it was one of those games like the score, they were so evenly matched, little margins of error could have made the difference, right? So you look at like the face-off, St. A's getting more 12 to 9. Was that just enough to win this game? I mean, the goalies were playing great, defenses were playing great. Like you said, Seton Hill was getting off shots. It just came down to little things like maybe something like that.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Yeah, for St. A's, Matt LeMay had three goals, no assist. Plus, you know where he's from, Kev? You know where Matt LeMay, the freshman, what an impressive Massachusetts, right? He's from Westminster, Massachusetts.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

The fearless freshman. That's what I've caught I've coined him this year. Because the kid's got no fear, man. He'll sweep the top and just let it rip. He'll go. I was very impressed with his play this year. I think he's really good. Maverick Lyon had two goals and uh no assist. Colin Mulvey had two goals. Will Andrews won. Mark Byrne would won. Granara, again, 30, 13 saves on 21 shots faced for 62%. And some of the shots he he saved were doorstep, unbelievable saves, just really good. Quinn Gannon at the dot, 12 for 20, 60 percent. I think that was huge. Able to get St. A's some extra possession, which they needed in this game.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

And for the Griffiths, they finished the year. Hey, Coach Novotny, great job, guys. I mean, really, I mean, hang, don't hang your heads. You guys played really, really well. It was anybody's game.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

It really was. I mean, you play them again, seating up the win. I mean, it's I think it it really was a toss-up.

unknown 14:18

St.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

A's came out of top and they deserved it. I'm not saying anything, but it was, like you said, a very evenly matched game that you would love to watch every time those two teams go at it.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Yeah, it was a good game. It was well played between both teams. And again, both goalies played great, you know. So for the Crips, they finished the year 18-2. Great, great season. Carter Green with two and one. Wade Brunel, kind of quiet in this one with one goal and one assist.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Mikey Coleman, one and one, uh, and a couple of guys, Grudy, Lockier, Herbster, and Caden Granberg, each with one. Will Cody, 12 saves on 21 shots, 57%. Can't ask for much more than that in goal. No. And Mark Strunk was nine for 19 for 47%. Not too shabby.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

That's where we go back to. It's that little margin, I think, in face-offs. Everything else, so so damn close in team stats that you I just think that that may have won the day. One or two extra possessions, and the Hawks take the game.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

I think it was Grenara that won that game for the game.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Yeah, you're probably right. He had two unbelievable saves.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

He really did. I mean, there were some shots. I'm like, oh, there it is. Bang! Save Grenara. I was like, whoa.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Because Seton Hill's good, man. They move the ball. They're a good squad. They they do good things on the lacrosse field. They play good lacrosse, you know. Uh the two-man game. They they they initiate from the top, they initiate from wing, they initiate from X. They're just a good squad. So hats off to Brian Novotny and the Griffiths. You had a great year. Uh, but St. A's can makes the final four for the second year in a row. Congratulations, all.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

This is good. We'll get to it. This is gonna be a repeat. Adelphi and St. A's. We'll get to that in the games to watch because we've only got two games left to watch, but uh next week. Let's turn to the South region. Let's start with Tampa versus Wingate.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

All right.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Tampa pulls it out 13-9. We even with that score, Danny, this, in my estimation, was a pretty dead even game until about the beginning of the fourth quarter.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah, it was, you know, the the score, it was a lot closer than the score would would uh lead you to believe. I mean, personally, I was at the game, Kev. I attended the game. Uh kind of wet weather. It was stormy in Florida all weekend. Uh the game was delayed 30 minutes or so. Uh, field conditions were wet, but you know what? I gotta say one thing. Tampa Stadium is nice, man. Good job, boys. Good job on that stadium. It's beautiful. It really, really is. And there was a big crowd from both sides, both contingents. That those stands were crowded, man. That was pretty good to see, you know.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

And uh it's funny because every you can't tell that from where they yeah, where they film it from every time, because it's from above where the stands are, right? And so every time we watch a Tampa game, I always am curious of like how many people are there.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

You see the U-Hall vans driving by on the street behind behind them, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you know what? It was a good game. I mean, two powerhouses, I think I think this was a really, really defensive game because both teams can.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Just like Seton Hill and St. Ace. It's the same exact score after one quarter, two to one, Tampa with the lead.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Yeah, I mean, it was a defensive game, both offenses holding them to pretty low scores. This game was it was gonna be a possession game, Kev. You knew that kind of because both teams can can score and score in bunches, but both teams have great defenses. So it was gonna be like, all right, who possesses the ball? How long are they gonna possess the ball? And that and that favored the Tampa Spartans. Mikey Flores was able to win multiple.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

I totally agree.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Was able to win a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Tampa is gonna score.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

And so it's it's tough to be on your on your heels is probably too strong, but it's tough to have to play defense first and not be in the offensive side of the field.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Yeah, it was tough, tough day for Wingate in the middle of the field, you know, controlling the middle of the field. Um, but then again, it wasn't too bad for Wingate. They've you know, they still did their thing.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

Right. Uh like I said, I so at the end of three, the score is what's the score? Is it at the time? Well, it was seven.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

It was seven, seven and a half time. I mean, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Five five at half.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Five five and half. That's right. Five-five and half.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

And that's kind of the two-goal lead. Uh I'm paraphrasing here. I don't have the all in front of me. Wingate would come back and get within one, and then it'd be a two-goal lead. It was always the at least two or one. And when they went into the at the end of three, it was nine-seven. And I thought, can Wingate close the gap? And going into the fourth in five seconds, right off the face-off, Tampa scores.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Yeah, Florida's clamped that one and came down and just buried one. And you kind of saw the wind come out of those sales.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Yeah. I don't know if it was Wingate or it was me. You know, because I'm like, damn, you know, that's it's another hill to climb. Now you've got three goals to advance. And and and Wingate did. They brought it down to two, but then it was it was 10-8. And then Tampa went on their mini run and they got it to a four-goal differential.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Kev, there was a couple of questionable calls in that game. You know, uh, I hate when refs can kind of control ebb and flow of that game. There was a call, uh, they disallowed a goal for um Wingate on a beautiful pass. Uh for and Kyle Spence, I don't think the ball was in his stick a nanosecond. He scored. They called him in the crease. I think it was a bad call. Took took a goal. They would have been one goal down. Took a goal.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

I I remember that. Uh obviously, from my vantage point, I couldn't see if he was in the crease or not. Nah, he wasn't.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

He wasn't. He wasn't in the crease. There was another call where uh now you are a wing dad, right? Yeah, but yeah, but I was on that goal. I was there. I I was close to the goal. I was right down by the field. I wasn't up in the stands, I was down close to the field. I was watching great friends. Nah, the ref sucked. He sucked. I gave him I gave him lip. And the a one of the Tampa people, I don't want to mention any names, said something to me. And I was like, nah, the ref's not off limits, man. It's not off limits. He made another bad call when they awarded Tampa the ball after uh a wingate dodging shot that went wide, went out of bounds, wingate recovered. Uh Wingate, they started with the big all of a sudden JB got in one of the ref's ears, they blew the whistle, they stopped play. Refs, you know, had a little pow-wow. Next thing you know, they awarded the ball to Tampa. I mean, it was clearly a shot. I mean, nobody passes the ball 100 miles an hour like that. You know what I mean? It was clearly a shot. And the ball was awarded to Tampa, and they scored on the goal because it was a quick reset, kind of weird. It was like it was just like a weird play. And Tampa scored. So, you know, when the refs are taking goals away that they shouldn't, and and then letting coaches in their ear and dictating where the ball should be, that kind of bothers me a little bit. And you know what? Both both of those calls kind of Went Tampa's way and they were able to score and take a goal away from from the from the Bulldogs, which made it made that made that mountain even harder to climb now. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Well, uh, Tampa got off to that fast start in the third, right off the first face off. Uh Tampa moves the ball well. They got nice size, Kev. They got good size. The kids are pretty big. I was down on field level, man. The difference in this game, to me, was at the dot, where Tampa clearly had the edge and held time of possession. And when you give a team like Tampa possession, they're gonna find ways to score. Um, again, I think the game was a lot closer than the score would suggest. I don't, you know, I you know, I coached football for many years, took teams to five championships, only won one, Kev. I was like the Marv Levy of football. I could get them there, I couldn't win. I only won one. But and when you're in a championship type team, you know that some lucky things have to happen your way. Yeah. And I felt I felt that Tampa got some lucky calls and some lucky bounces. That that helped them. I'm not saying that it stopped Wingate. I'm just saying when you get a championship team and you're giving them extra possessions and giving them calls, it's tough to it's tough to beat.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

Well, I mean, you look at some things I pulled out from the team stats, and like I said, I I didn't watch this game. I didn't watch any of the games as focused as I have. What if I was back home in in command central, right? Uh, but look at shots, shots. 46 for Tampa, 35 for Wingate, which surprised me here is shots on goal. Only 14 shots on goal for Wingate. Bottom pipes. That's a shot on goal. No, that's a shot on goal. You hit a pipe, that's a shot on goal. So there was a lot now. I think that's probably Tampa's D. Oh, yeah. That did that. So when you look at that difference, when you look at that, that's a little bit of a difference too. That can that could be uh could have been the difference in the score. The other thing is ground balls, and you mentioned that with lucky bounces. Ground balls were 35 to 22, right? So that's a fairly wide margin in a game like this. In fact, it's wider than you would think based on the score, and I think that helped Tampa as well. Whether it was lucky bounces or not, it was still in their favor. And so I think you add those together along with Mike Flores and what he did at the dot. I'm not that score is a reasonable score for me to think about, right? And I like I was pretty surprised. If you do the if you do the math, 35, you know, uh 35 shots and 14 shots on goal only for Wingate, that's like a 40% shot percentage on goal, which when I look at 14 out of 35, I think that's not that great. But 40% doesn't sound too bad in a lacrosse, you know, in a lacrosse game like in an NCAA semifinal. Yeah. So I I don't I I don't know enough about stats, or I'm not a coach. I need a coach to tell me is is that below average, average, above average? What is it? But it's just a little markedly different than what Tampa did, which was over 50% shots on goal. And that's all I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Both teams have great defenses, Kevin. There was great defensive play on both sides, both teams, really, really good on defense and big, you know. Hey, you know what? Mikey Flores walked past me after the game. I was down by uh, they had like a big uh, what do you call it, uh garage, parking garage next to the field. Yeah. I was parked on the first floor and I was by with the car, and the players would go into their, like, I guess their locker room uh after the game. And Mikey Flores walked by, I told him, Great game. I was like, wow, that kid's a big kid, man. I was like, he's bigger than he looks on the on camera, you know. Turns out he's slightly.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

Yeah, that's that's why I like being in the stands, Danny, because I I I feel bigger then.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

He he was like he stood like 6'1, a little over 200 pounds, solid athlete there. So, yeah, you know, Tampa won the middle of the field, they won the the face-offs, they won, you know, they had the edge of the dot. I'll tell you right now, I bet you both coaches would tell you that neither one of them played their cleanest ball. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 26:19

Yeah, I think you'll I saw the same thing in the other South Region game that we'll get to, right? I I I agree with you that that was um, like I said, I was jumping back and forth uh from this game, and then I realized it was funny, Danny, because the other ones were coming down to the wire. So I was trying to go to those games, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I have to watch the Tampa game because I don't know if I'll get the recording to watch again.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

So for Tampa, for Tampa, Ryan Kemp with two, Davis Lindsay with two, Ronan Sanchez with two, Ray Bradshaw with two, Jackson Bashaw with one, Devin Rasmus with one, Mikey Flores buried one, Max Kesselring had one, and Zach Johnson had one. It's a lot of guys.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

Nine scores, Danny. Nine scores.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

A lot of guys burying biscuits. Con Artario, only five saves. Um, for Wingate, they uh they finished the season 15 on five with an amazing run at the end of the season, beating beating four top ten teams and a low seed on the road, all of them.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

And and that's what you've got to say. Now, we've seen Lenore Ryan do that before and they and go to the championship when they were the five seed at one point. Gate almost did it too. That is a long haul to go through. And what they did losing to most of those teams, a kept not playing Tampa, and then beating them all except for Tampa, pretty exceptional.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Yeah. Uh they finished the season 15-5, SAC champs. Can't take that away from the dogs. Kyle Spence with three, Jackson Grant with two, Sam Goss had two, Sean Clark with one, Joey Moran had one. Uh, Quad Williams, 11 saves. He had a pretty good game. The kids played great the last five, six weeks, man. Like, really, really great. So, congratulations, Bulldogs. Congratulations, Tampa, on going 20-0.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Yeah. Yeah, without a doubt. So let's get to the last game. Limestone against Maryville. This one, Danny, we must eat crow. Merryville pulls it out in overtime, 13-12.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Chaotic. Chaos.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

I will I I will that's the word I had for the first half, first half of the first quarter. Maryville scored three in the first two minutes and 15 seconds. And you were like, Holy shit, where did this come from? Right? I was and and they won face-offs, brought it down, scored. And but then limestone answered with their with three of their own. And limestone. Yeah, and but there were balls were flying, bodies were flying, there were scrums. You the ball felt like it was on the ground more than it was in sticks half the time in that first part of the first quarter.

unknown 29:11

Broken.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

Cats and dogs living in sin together. It was crazy out there.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Yeah, it was. It was a chaotic game. But you know what? Maryville was pretty impressive to me in this game. Great ball movement.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

All game long. Uh, great spacing. You know, limestone likes to press, they like to come out. Maryville's like, all right, come out. And they spaced it really well, opening up a lot of lanes for Maryville. And they were able to get shots off Kev Like. I it was pretty good, but that limestone defense, they're they're good, man. They really make teams work for goals, you know.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

Well, this was a real back and forth game like the St. Anselm Seton Hill game as well. It it seemed like right off the bat, Maryville had all this momentum. The thing that I think, and we talked about this off podcast, limestone comes back, but I don't think that really scared Maryville, right? They stuck to their guns. A lot of times, Danny, what I saw is they became very patient on offense.

SPEAKER_02 30:21

Yeah, they're good.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

They waited for their opening to shoot. In fact, that's what they did at the end of regulation and the end of overtime, and we can get to that in a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Yeah, it was 4-4 after the first quarter. Really good kind of first quarter. And it was it was 7-6 at half. But that opening two minutes in the first quarter, Kev, may have been the difference in this game for Maryville. Yeah.

unknown 30:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

Because they had that three-goal lead real quick. I mean, yeah, limestone is limestone. They're gonna come back. They're a really good team. Just stacked on offense. But if Maryville doesn't go out to that big, big lead, do they hang with Limestone? Because after that, limestone kind of hang with them and put up a five-note on them in the third quarter, outscored him.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

Well, and here's what's interesting. That's the first time that Limestone took the lead.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Right, exactly. It was the third quarter before. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

And you're right, with with Meryville going up three. Now, Limestone tied at 3-3, so it's like, all right, now you're back to 0-0. But I think that gave him enough momentum that, all right, and confidence, we can hang with these boys. And so they always had the lead until then. And that that's kind of surprising for uh a limestone team this year, right?

unknown 31:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

What's even what's even stranger, not strange, but kind of what I saw Meryville do, like I said, end of the fourth. And and and limestone's looking to shut down Maryland on defense, Maryville on defense. And like I said, Meryville very patient on offense, waiting for their their opening, and they score to tie it with 12 seconds left.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Yeah. You know, limestone killed a two-minute unreleasable in that quarter. Yeah. And I was like, here's Maryville's chance to put up two or three, maybe. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 32:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

To really put, you know, really, and Limestone killed it. I their defense really stepped up in the second half. Um, but like you said, that extra energy and it it just Maryville forced a turnover with a minute left in the final seconds, and Simonson was able to tie it up from Maryville.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

And then when you look at overtime, they just basically did a rinse and repeat. Both teams, I think, had opportunities twice before the Maryville got it. And they score with 20 seconds left in overtime to win the game.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

But before that, Limestone won the face-off. Mike Mike McGarry pulled a fake like question mark that he did against Wingate and scored, right? He pulled a fake question mark. Everybody thought he shot. He went under and shot and hit the post.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

That was right. Like they got well, and that's the other thing. I didn't write it down here, but I remember that. What happened was you remember, limestone calls timeout. They get the exact shot they want. Yeah. And McGary has a great shot. It just hits post.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Just missed it.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

I thought the game was over right there. When I when he when he shot that, I'm like, the goalie's not stopping that.

SPEAKER_01 33:50

One inch away from going to the final four.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

So Limestone loses in their last game at home ever. And I feel terrible for those kids. I really do. I really, really do. My heart goes to those kids. And you know what? I was wondering, I'm saying to myself, how does a 19, 20-year-old kid react with all of this stuff going on in the background on the field? You know, and I was looking at Limestone, and then I've loved them all year, Kev. From day one when I saw them, week one, I was like, this team is good, they're legit, they're deep, they're strong, they're defensive, they got all the ingredients to go to a national championship. And then that news hit. And these kids, you know, they don't they don't know what the future holds. They don't know. You know? Whereas all these other kids are like, I know where I'm going next year, I know what's going on, you know, like they're comfortable. Now these kids have to start over. How Brendan Storyer can keep those kids focused through all of those turbulent the last three weeks there at Limestone with all with everything that went on. And I felt that maybe Limestone, maybe some of those kids weren't at their best. Because I felt like there was only really three guys that were like really playing their ass off. And first was Zach Terry. That kid was going hard from minute one till the last second. Mike McGarry, another one. He was going hard. He was clearing, he was doing everything he could to help his team. And on defense, I felt that Dylan Witt was really trying to keep the defense together. He was barking out orders. I felt that those three players kind of stood out to me at Limestone. They were just like, these guys want it, guys. These guys want it. Do the rest of the guys. Are they are they checked out or are they still in? And I don't know, man. Like, you know, Maryville stuns them. I think it's a stunning upset to me. I didn't think that Maryville could do it.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

I didn't think so either, but look at Maryville has proven time and time again this year that they can hang with any team. I mean, they only, you know, they're going to play Tampa next, and they only lost to Tampa 9-6 in the regular season.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

I was going to say that was a three-goal game.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

And so it's it so I definitely hear what you're saying. Like, I don't know if I saw that um watching the game. I wasn't watching every player what they're doing. I definitely believe that it has got to be tough for anyone going through that situation to be dialed in all the time when you've got all the other all the other distractions in the back of your mind. It's very tough to do.

SPEAKER_01 36:50

You know, Kev, it's a sad day. I'm telling you. It's a sad in Division II lacrosse, it's a sad day. Limestone has set the bar in in Division II lacrosse, especially in the South. They're the reason why we have regions. Um, they have done so much in the history of Division II lacrosse. And to see that team not be able to play a game anymore, it's kind of it's kind of messed up. You know, I just feel bad for Coach Storyer and I feel bad for those kids. And I just feel bad for most of the students there that have to find a new home now. And I give Coach Storier all the credit in the world for really keeping it together and keeping that team, you know, as focused as he could. And I I I pray that they all they all find you know a place and and find a place soon.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

Totally agree with you. I think what you said, I will repeat a little bit later, probably in shout-outs.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Okay. So uh so for Meryville, they set a school record, Kev, 14 wins. They end the season 14. Uh they're still going on, 14-4. Justin Simonson, four goals, one assist, plus the game winner, an OT, had a great game. Jack Greeby, four goals. Colin Tobias, three and one. Connor Caval with one, and Ben Mickett with one. And for Limestone, the dog. Zach Terry. That kid is good, man. And he's got heart, and he's got just everything you could want in a lacrosse player. Uh, he had six goals and one assist. Mike McGarry, three goals and two assists. Grant Rogers added two, and Austin Lamaro, who was playing attack for the uh injured Caden Anagi, um, had a goal. So Limestone, we're gonna miss you, dudes.

SPEAKER_00 38:32

And let me just point out, Corey Lyons with 17 saves.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:37

He kept them, he helped keep them in that even longer.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

It was a great game. It was a great game. I agree with you that I I would say that like you talked about uh the Tampa Wingate game being a little bit sloppy. This game had a lot of sloppy in it as well. And I think Merryville needs to clean that up also when they go against Tampa.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

Anyone who's ever taken a kid to a morning travel game knows how important that travel cup of coffee is. When it's talking about that coffee, no, don't forget how early it is.

Games to Watch

SPEAKER_00 40:27

Let's start off.

SPEAKER_01 40:28

Final countdown.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

Let's let's start with Tampa, Maryville, since we were just talking about that. Tampa still undefeated. And Maryville lost to Tampa in the regular season 9-6. But Maryville is playing really well as a team.

SPEAKER_02 40:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

Like I said, they've got from that last game against Limestone, either it was because of Limestone's defense or they have some some sloppy play to clean up if they want a match against Tampa.

SPEAKER_01 40:58

Again, I like I like Maryville's ball movement.

SPEAKER_00 41:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

I like the way they move the ball. They're very unselfish. Uh you know, Simonson can play, man. I mean, that he that those boys can play at Meryville. And uh I like Tampa in that one.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

I think I've got to go with Tampa as well.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

Dude, their size, their defense is big, and they slide early and they recover.

SPEAKER_00 41:23

Tell you what. Meryville's not small either. They've got size as well. I don't think the size difference is, there is no size difference. I think I think it comes down, it's gonna come down to execution in this game. But I have to give Tampa the nod. Just they're undefeated. They've they've always ended up on top. I said the same thing against Wingate. I thought that that game could go to double overtime. It didn't. The score did not reflect how close the game was, like we talked about. But Tampa still ended up on top.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

Yeah, yeah. I like the way Meryville moves the ball. They spread out the defense, they make the defense move, they make the defense work. Um, they got guys, they have multiple scorers there.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

I think Terrill against Dylan Radke is going to be another thing. Which goalie has the better game?

SPEAKER_01 42:16

Again, again, I think this game is gonna come up about possessions, uh, uh the possession game. Yeah. Uh yeah. I think Mikey Flora is gonna have to have a really good game. I think if he has a really good game and goes 60-62%, it's gonna be a long day for Maryville. That's just my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 42:33

No, I think you're right. I think that's a good thing to watch for. I agree. I agree. Okay, let's go to a Delphi against St. Anselm.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

The rubber match, yeah, rubber match exactly.

SPEAKER_00 42:45

A Delphi beat St. A's in overtime for the Northeast 10 Championship, but they they lost in the regular season 9-6 to St. A's.

SPEAKER_01 42:58

Yeah, I mean, at this point, Kev, it's a pick'em. I do you give the Delphi the Panthers the edge because they're home?

SPEAKER_00 43:07

And they draw they they may the other thing I said is okay, they've got to be a little bit of a fresher team playing Malloy. They didn't have to go through as tough a game as St. A's, but is St. A's more battle-tested now? Like there's a lot of things to think about.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's a rubber match. It's a pick'em to me. I would I would say maybe a Delphi holds a teeny weeny teeny leeny weeny edge because because they're home. Because they're home. Yeah. These teams are so evenly matched and they played so evenly and they know each other. And they know each other very well. I I might have to give the slight teeny weeny weeny weeny edge to Adelphi because they're home, and that's it.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

I agree that this is a pick'em game, but if you put a gun to my head and you said you need to pick one, I go with the teeny weenie weeny like.

SPEAKER_01 44:01

Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me to see St. Aides win this game, though. It would not surprise me. No. I think it's gonna take a full team effort from St. Aides, and I think it's gonna take a full team effort from a Delphi. They're gonna have to play well at all aspects of the game at face-off, which has been kind of okay this year, better than last year, of course. But you know, they got Dylan Renner in goal, they got a strong defense and Delisandro and those guys. Um offensively, you know, they got Dan Ellen and and Mikey Durden. They got some boys.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

Lewis, yeah. They Noah Gibson, they've got plenty of now. St. Asa's got a lot too.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

You got Finn Grenara in goal. Yeah. I mean who's amazing. He's only a sophomore, Kev. Kid's only a sophomore.

SPEAKER_00 44:49

He's been swimming in the deep end of the pool since he got there, and he's been just remember, he took it over last year when their starting goal league got injured and never gave it up.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

Yeah, so I really like the kid, man. We should try to get him on someday. We should have to try. We're gonna have to try to get Fringan on. Um, so you know, uh, I think that's a pick'em game, kinda again. I it's the rubber match. It couldn't be any better in the NE10 and having these two guys play each other again.

SPEAKER_00 45:20

Yeah, and the winner goes to the Natty, man. Unbelievable. We're all I can't believe how close

Shout outs

SPEAKER_00 45:26

we are. Cannot believe it. And with that, Danny, just you and me tonight. Let's just roll right into shout outs.

SPEAKER_01 45:32

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 45:33

Do you have any? All right, my shout-out. I've got one shout-out besides our sponsors, and that shout out goes to the limestone lacrosse program. You said it so well, I'm not gonna go through all the things, but you you said one thing that needs to be repeated. They set the bar, especially in the south, but not only in the south, across D2 lacrosse, and it is a damn shame that they have to close their doors, not only for lacrosse, but for all the students, staff, faculty that have to move on and continue with their lives. The one thing I would say though, I just want to thank the Limestone Men's program. Thank the current coach, head coach, Brennan Stoyer, and his staff for giving us such a great team to watch and for other teams to emulate.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Yeah, it's been for us for us to talk about limestone. I mean, they they got the target on their back. You know, my my sons have been playing against limestone for quite a couple of years now, you know. And damn, gotta play limestone in the NCAA. Yeah, damn, we got limestone. Damn, limestone's coming into the SAC.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

Exactly. I remember that day.

SPEAKER_01 46:50

Lots of dams, you know, with limestone for me over the years. But you know what? Again, they set the bar. And if you can beat limestone, that's like cigar time, you know what I mean? Like that's especially today when you can beat a limestone Saints team, and then it doesn't come around too often. They don't lose too often. And just to see what's going on is just I'm just I'm I feel terrible. I really do.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

I I'll say one other thing. I said this on a recent podcast, I'm gonna say it again because I think the way Coach Storier led his team by example is something that needs to be recognized. I'll go back to it. When my son was a senior and they played limestone in the Crown Classic, and Limestone lost in overtime, and that was like our second year doing the podcast, Danny. I yelled to Coach Stoyer down, I'm up in the stands, and I yell at him down, and I'm wearing all Wingate gear. He really knows my face because he's been on the podcast, right? And I say, Hey coach, he comes over, shakes his hand, gives me a big smile. I say, that was a great game. Just to do that, just after losing, losing in overtime to Wingate, and to have the gracious graciousness to come over and shake an opposing parent's hand and and acknowledge that it was a great game and and give a smile and not be upset, and even though I'm sure he was down deep, that says a lot for the man and what he did for his program.

SPEAKER_01 48:30

Yeah, class man, class act, class act all the way. Again, limestone set the bar. Can't say nothing bad about limestone. Because they just come in, they beat your ass, and then they get back on the bus and go home. And that's you know what? It's uh it's a it's a cool way to be, you know, I think. You know, it's just you know, and other teams when they have to play limestone, they know it's like, ugh, oh boy, you know, it's gonna be tough.

SPEAKER_00 48:56

No, you said it right. Damn it.

SPEAKER_01 48:58

Yeah, it was a lot, lots of dams. So you know what? I hope those players find find homes quick. I really do, I really do.

SPEAKER_00 49:06

So do you have any shout-outs?

SPEAKER_01 49:07

I just want to shout out to all the seniors this year who are graduating and who have graduated. Congratulations, young man. You know what you've done is you've been a student athlete, which is not an easy thing to do. It's not easy to be a student alone at college. It's not easy. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, uh, time prioritization and other things to be successful in college. Uh, to be an athlete in college is not easy. To to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and 4 30 and get ready for lifts or runs or whatever coach may have in in store for you at that time, you know, then go to classes, then go to practice, and then go to study hall. Again, time prioritization. But to do both and to do both well is an amazing accomplishment. So all you all you seniors that played your butts off for four years and your time has come to an end, I commend you all for what you've done, what you've accomplished. You've made your families, you made your parents proud, you made your coaches proud, and you're great for your school and your school program. So, congratulations, seniors.

SPEAKER_00 50:17

A great shout out and a great way to end this episode as we head into the final four. And so with that, Annie, that's a wrap.

SPEAKER_01 50:27

That's a wrap, Kev. Hold on, good some music. Stormy weather, baby. Little almond brothers. Hey, that's a wrap. We're down to the final four, Kev. We'll see you next week.