Cortland vs. Lasell
Cortland came out a little sloppy on Sunday but then turned it on in the second and third quarter. Troy Morris was a beast in this one along with his red headed midfield counterpart, Tyler Starrett. These guys are so athletic that anybody outside of the top 10 is going to have a hard time to beat the fake red dragons.
One of these teams went on a 10 game win streak last year, the other team is Cortland. Lasell is awesome at beating the deaf dumb and the blind. They suck just as bad in beating good teams. Bad news for them is Cortland might land themselves right outside the top 20 ranks this week. Cortland is going to want to push the pedal down fast to start this game to get their guys some rest because it’s a quick turn around for a match up at Washington College on Sunday.
Geneseo vs. St Lawrence
Geneseo played a hell of a game against Ithaca. I thought the Bombers had pulled away enough in the 3rd quarter so I turned and watched another game. I flipped back with 2 minutes left and Geneseo had the lead. Some funky stuff happened in the last 30 seconds that if you had a little bit more composure they should have held on and won this game. Each team had their opportunities to end it but Ithaca put the ball in the back of the net first in the second over time.
This game against St Lawrence will show what Geneseo is all about in their toughest matchup of the year and second toughest game on their schedule. SLU is in that stratosphere right above Ithaca (Insane they Let RJ Ehli coach here) so I think it will be tough to come out with a win here.
Brockport vs. Westminster
Brockport walked off the bus and instantly got robbed at gunpoint. They went down 7-1 almost immediately in their game against Wooster. Wooster also beat Westminster earlier this year so this game should be interesting. The fact that Brockport is home makes me feel more confident in them. If they lose this one though it will be a longggg rest of the year for the eagles.
Oswego vs. Clarkson
It’s insane that I’ve written like 100 blogs about DS lacrosse this year and Oswego still hasn’t played a game. Clarkson will have a better SUNYAC record at the end of the year then half of the teams actually in the SUNYAC after they beat Oswego and will be 2-0.
Plattsburgh vs. Skidmore
Skidmore will also have the chance to have a pretty impressive SUNYAC record playing 3 teams and already one win under their belt. If Skidmore could do what they did to Oneonta it has to be worse for Plattsburgh right? For the love of god I hope so.
Potsdam vs. Moravian
The Bears held off a 4th quarter comeback against Neuman today. The Senior Peyton Walsh had 6, count em 6 goals in this one. That’s one more than Oneonta scored as a team today :(. The Bears drive over to Bethlehem to play Moravian. I don’t know jack shit about Moravian except they have lost to some bad teams this year. I think the upstate boys get another dub here.
New Paltz vs Mount Saint Mary’s
New Paltz jumped out to a first quarter lead and then went on to get outscored 7-1 in the next 2 quarters. This game against Mount St. Mary’s should be very similar to their game against Morrisville. I think MSM wins a close one.
Oneonta vs. Hartwick
The boys hung in as tough as they could. They held a team in Dan Kaplans top 30 ranking to 10 goals. The defense played really well 1 on 1 and I thought it slid and recovered well. Boukas made the saves he was supposed to. Stevens just didn’t have any signs of team offense, a lot of guys just trying to take it to the hoop themselves. On the other side, Oneonta’s offense just doesn’t have a guy that can break his defender down and draw a ton of attention like Dean Cannon used to. The offense struggled again but not as much as the clearing game where they went 17/25. 22 turnovers was also back breaking. The 10 man strikes again and I would expect to see it in a ton more games the rest of the way.
Hand up I thought Hartwick was going to start the season on the right foot. Farmingdale took what I said and shoved it right down my throat. I talked about how nobody gets more out of their players in the country than Coach LaSala and I still stand by that. He’s also one of the better X’s and O’s guys I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. I would 100% expect to see a 10 man ride in his game plan even on a short week. Coach Owens has not been able to beat the Hawks yet and I just don’t know if they have the firepower to do it this year either. I think we have a similar score to last year’s game, somewhere around a 11-9 game.
RIT vs. Ursinus
What a game between RIT and York on Sunday. A slow start for the tigers but they were able to bounce back and climb all the way back and then some. They were cruising on all parts of the field in the second half but almost let it slip away in the end. Ill tell you what though York has fucking duded in the cage and at the X. Those two guys, specifically the faceoff guy was super impressive and a guy you need to get to championship weekend. RIT might have found another gem to add to the star studded Attack. The rookie out of The Hill Academy, Tyson Allison had himself a day with 4 goals. The Bruno brothers all got on the field too whi8ch was cool. I cant talk enough about Coach Whitchers and his game planning ability. This guy is different and will make a hell of a head coach one day soon. They didn’t stick to it the entire game but his ideas to put short sticks on Pilcher and Bell was genius and frustrated the tigers early and put a lot of pressure on the midfield. RITs abilities to make the unbalanced/ no room underhand flip pass right on the money is the real difference between them and the rest of the top offenses in division 3 lacrosse.
The Tigers travel down to Homewood field to take on #17 Ursinus on Saturday. They beat a Stevenson team that I think is overrated and got smoked by York so far this year. I think this will be similar to the Bates game. Coach Coons guys can’t overlook the Bears with CNU and the mustang classic less than a week after.
Washington & Lee vs. Gettysburg
The game of the weekend was by far Salisbury vs Lynchburg so I do apologize for overlooking that (A great game to watch if you’re not Austin Stewart). A couple of top 10 teams meet down in Virginia in my opinion the best game of this weekend. I want to do some more research on these teams so I will get more into detail about it on Thursdays blog.
Off Ball 