ODAC lax season is on

[thescottharris]

HSC with a real tough week ahead. On long bus rides for Tues/Wed (days where they would get better by practicing rather than playing GUIL and Va Wes). They gotta get/stay healthy though...good seeing 15 back on the field for them. I know one of their dmids is battling an injury and their top 2 play a lot of minutes on d for them. We'll see how they fare this week...

Starters will get plenty of rest vs. Virginia Wesleyan at least. Probably should against Guilford too, but they were playing Roanoke tough so who knows. Based on comparative scores in their other games, it should be an easy W for the Tigers though.

[TidewaterLax]

I don't know that resting many of the starters who don't seem to play that much anyway is a great idea. Why would you sit your starters for long periods at this time of the season, just so they can be fresh when they get pole smacked by Lynchburg in 4 days? Seems to be little to no cohesion with this group and why would (or could) there be, I saw the attack forcing the issue at inopportune times and then continually different combos on their O mid lines just about every time out? I would think you would use games like Guilford and VA Wes to try and figure out your offense? In the 3 or 4 games I have watched HSC play this year, they play like their hair is absolutely on fire. They rarely get into a 6 vs 6 set to run any kind of offense because a couple guys on attack are too greedy to wait to set things up and / or their poles think they can score at will on transition. In fact, once today I could clearly hear the coaches screaming "Yellow" on the broadcast but the attackman went straight to the goal. Is it selfishness or just lack of lax IQ? I would guess is there is little to no accountability for them trying to do things they shouldn't be doing. Guys like Berkman, Koedelka, wouldn't put up with that stuff ... maybe that's why a lot of these guys are playing at HSC? And yes, they did win relatively easily today, but come on gang it was Guilford. And yes, tomorrow they will come down here to the shore and smoke my Marlins (talk about a dumpster fire).

Lynchburg is unselfish and they share the ball, their goal is clearly to win not be the leading whatever on the team. Tigers better quickly fix the issues that I have seen more than a few times this season or it's GAME OVER! ... HSC will end up in 3rd place and get beat in semis by W & L, then spend the next month wondering what might have been if they had actually played like a team.

[thescottharris]

I don't know that resting many of the starters who don't seem to play that much anyway is a great idea. Why would you sit your starters for long periods at this time of the season, just so they can be fresh when they get pole smacked by Lynchburg in 4 days? Seems to be little to no cohesion with this group and why would (or could) there be, I saw the attack forcing the issue at inopportune times and then continually different combos on their O mid lines just about every time out? I would think you would use games like Guilford and VA Wes to try and figure out your offense? In the 3 or 4 games I have watched HSC play this year, they play like their hair is absolutely on fire. They rarely get into a 6 vs 6 set to run any kind of offense because a couple guys on attack are too greedy to wait to set things up and / or their poles think they can score at will on transition. In fact, once today I could clearly hear the coaches screaming "Yellow" on the broadcast but the attackman went straight to the goal. Is it selfishness or just lack of lax IQ? I would guess is there is little to no accountability for them trying to do things they shouldn't be doing. Guys like Berkman, Koedelka, wouldn't put up with that stuff ... maybe that's why a lot of these guys are playing at HSC? And yes, they did win relatively easily today, but come on gang it was Guilford. And yes, tomorrow they will come down here to the shore and smoke my Marlins (talk about a dumpster fire).

Lynchburg is unselfish and they share the ball, their goal is clearly to win not be the leading whatever on the team. Tigers better quickly fix the issues that I have seen more than a few times this season or it's GAME OVER! ... HSC will end up in 3rd place and get beat in semis by W & L, then spend the next month wondering what might have been if they had actually played like a team.

lol

Lynchburg has recorded an assist on 58.2% of their goals. Hampden-Sydney has recorded an assist on 58.1% of their goals. Damn shame H-SC hasn't managed to record just one more assist so they could have a higher assist percentage!

But let's look at conference play, where the schedules have a bit more common opponents than in non-conference play, though admittedly H-SC does have one less game against the traditional top four than Lynchburg does given the Roanoke game got cancelled. The Tigers have 82 assists on 128 goals (64.1%), far and away better than what Lynchburg and W&L have done Lynchburg checks in an 89/158 (56.3%) W&L 77/136 (56.6%).

Oh, but they force the things that aren't there because they are selfish. Theoretically that should lead to a bevy of turnovers, right? Well in conference play, they are averaging just 14.9 turnovers a game, W&L checks in at 14.25, Lynchburg 15.75. Alright let's look at the whole schedule, they are at 17.4 a game compared to Lynchburg (16.5) and W&L (15.6). A little bit higher, but certainly nothing alarming by any stretch of the imagination.

And forcing the issue should lead to lower quality shots, right? In conference play, their shot on goal percentage is 63%, their shooting percentage is 34.8%. Randolph-Macon is the only team in conference games that has a shooting percentage of at least one percentage point greater than H-SC. Macon is at 38.4%, lapping the field as Lynchburg is at 35.7%. Lynchburg is a decent amount better in shot on goal percentage at 67.4%, however.

I would also assume that forcing things and the poles being selfish would lead to a lower clear percentage. Well in conference games, H-SC is 132 for 137 for 96.4% and overall they are 192-205 for 93.7%, the best clearing percentage in the ODAC in both overall and conference only games.

And the poles? They are shooting 16 for 39, almost entirely in transition, for a 41% shooting percentage. The top shooting team in the ODAC in terms of shooting percentage is only at 34.8%. If they long poles were a single player, they would rank third on the team in shooting percentage for players with at least 20 shots. There's only 10 players in the ODAC top 50 for shots that are shooting at least 41%, and two of them are Hampden-Sydney players. I'll take every day of the week a position shooting 41%.

Damn shame the Tigers are a bunch of selfish SOBs!

I will give you the one thing that that's been glaringly bad, which somehow in your bout with keyboard diarrhea you failed to mention, is that the man-up offense has been atrocious at 15.4%, which is baffling given how H-SC is always one of the best in the country in man-up percentage.

This supposed terrible offensive product Hampden-Sydney put on the field today posted a season-best 42.6% shot percentage, a season second-best 70.2% shot on goal percentage, and a season-best of only 12 turnovers. And that was with third and fourth stringers who didn't even play well playing for the overwhelming majority of the second half. Yet despite that, the Guilford starters still barely managed to outscore the third and fourth stringers in the second half, sad!

[TidewaterLax]

Well then, better bet the old trust fund on the Tigers according to Mr Harris. I don't
actually have a dog in this fight, in fact my original dog is Blue and White but it would be nice to see some new faces at the top

[Dehuntshigwa’es]

I want Scottharris to be my defense attorney

[Nothinbutthelax]

LYN will not take HSC lightly. 2016 and 2018 film probably required viewing..
HSC goals again jumps out on me (12 against Guilford). If they can control time of possession and wear down LYN Poles and rope unit they have a good chance. LYN may still be without Trammell Robinson on attack (wrist guard on vs Colorado) and SSDM Clayton Jones (on crutches) They are deep but if tested that experience will be missed. This should be a battle but expect LYN to pull away in 2nd half..

[JackieMoon]

HSC put up 10 goals in about 10 minuets and began to pull their front 9 by the 2nd quarter. I totally agree that giving up 12 goals to Guilford is alarming. But that’s what happens when guilford’s 5th years are shooting on the 4th string freshman goalie.

[Nothinbutthelax]

Fair enough Jackie.. All good programs cycle in the bench. LYN even goes thru sets and rolls ball to corner to avoid running score up but bench still hold score down. Haven’t seen much of HSC but assuming their staring core will give LYN all they can handle..
Question: is goal differential still the factor to determine home field in ODACs? There was a comment about LYN not playing the full slate that will work against them?

[islander]

opposite - HSC has not played the full schedule with the Roanoke game being cancelled.

[2laxers]

LYN hasn't either with the VaW cancellation. So both HS-C and LYN will have one less conference game than W&L. I have no idea how that would affect the tie breaker or if there even needs to be one if they base the seeded on winning percentage. Assuming W&L win out they would be at .900 and if LYN beats HS-C they would be at .888. If W&L does win out they would be the 1 seed, I think. Would be nice knowing this in advance of the LYN/HS-C game.

[Nothinbutthelax]

Scott Harris, any insight?
Seems beyond the control of the teams so Thinking goal differential will hold but who knows

[BigLaxGuy123]

Huge game this weekend between Lynchburg and Sydney. No question these are the top two teams in the ODAC this year. Would love to hear some predictions for this upcoming game. Let’s hear them!

[Dehuntshigwa’es]

Huge game this weekend between Lynchburg and Sydney. No question these are the top two teams in the ODAC this year. Would love to hear some predictions for this upcoming game. Let’s hear them!

I may regret this but I picked the Hornets from day one and sticking with them. Don’t seem them losing if they play well. Just from the eye test if I go position by position I have 6-7 of the starters on a combined team coming from the Lynchburg bench. HSC’s best chance is for their fogo to have a career day( he’s outstanding 67%) and for either one of their goalies play like Taylor from W&L did in the first contest. I expect it to be close if this holds true. Finally just what the hell is with their man up unit it’s atrocious. Don’t know what they run but if you get 3-4 chances you better grab 1 or 2 goals. This game is also at Lynchburg an ugly place to have to play, the Hornets feed off the crowd and they never ever quit not matter the score.

[thescottharris]

Scott Harris, any insight?
Seems beyond the control of the teams so Thinking goal differential will hold but who knows

Win % will determine seeds then obviously h2h is the first tiebreaker. Then next it’s the 10-point tiebreaker, where a win over the last place team is worth 10 points, next to last 20 puts, etc.

I can’t say with 100% certainty but I think they would only give points when there is a common opponent. So like if there was a three-way tie for first (which I know there won’t be but this is a hypothetical used to explain more clearly), LC and W&L wouldn’t get points for beating Roanoke because HSC didn’t get to play Roanoke. After that I’d have to look up what the next tiebreak will be.

With some games having been cancelled, I don’t think there are going to be any tiebreaks to have to do this year that can’t be solved by h2h.

[2laxers]

Scott Harris, any insight?
Seems beyond the control of the teams so Thinking goal differential will hold but who knows

Win % will determine seeds then obviously h2h is the first tiebreaker. Then next it’s the 10-point tiebreaker, where a win over the last place team is worth 10 points, next to last 20 puts, etc.

I can’t say with 100% certainty but I think they would only give points when there is a common opponent. So like if there was a three-way tie for first (which I know there won’t be but this is a hypothetical used to explain more clearly), LC and W&L wouldn’t get points for beating Roanoke because HSC didn’t get to play Roanoke. After that I’d have to look up what the next tiebreak will be.

With some games having been cancelled, I don’t think there are going to be any tiebreaks to have to do this year that can’t be solved by h2h.

Thanks Scott, so with this information, if LYN wins W&L is 1, LYN is 2 (by h2h) and HSC is 3. With a HSC win HSC is 1, W&L is 2 and LYN is 3. There does not seem to be a way for LYN to be the 1 seed, but the LYN/HSC game still means a lot to both teams.

[W&LLover]

W&L 8 - Guilford 6 at half... really shows a lack of effort on W&L’s part. Would be pretty cool to see guilford take down one of the big dogs in the odac. Greenspan needs to play better in the second half in order for this to no longer be a game.

[Faxlax]

Now 15-8 with ten minutes left. Still too much standing around on offense. Not sure why the previous poster picks on Greenspon by name. That seems very petty and unnecessary.

[ColonelFastBreak]

Huge game this weekend between Lynchburg and Sydney. No question these are the top two teams in the ODAC this year.

Seems that way.

The regionally rankings are challenging to parse at this point due to the existing disparities in games played amongst the contenders, but this has all the makings of a critical Pool C match-up. A win for HSC gives them a chance at a Pool C bid (if it comes to that) and probably vaults them to the top of Region IV. Their resume starts to look stronger if Southern Virginia is featured in the rankings at year-end (challenging given the Roanoke game cancellation). A win for Lynchburg is equally important for their Pool C resume and for securing home field for the ODAC. Keep in mind that their two losses to CNU and W&L were on the road. W&L's Pool C resume is pretty thin at this point with so few actual spots available. I cannot imagine they are granted a spot in this year's NCAA tournament without winning the ODAC.

It is extremely hard to predict who might get a Pool C bid, since the committee will be comparing, for example, an 11-3 HSC team (2 to LYN and 1 to CNU) with a 4-1 Williams (loss to Tufts), a 4-1 or 5-1 Gettysburg or Ursinus (loss to the other), an 8-3 St. Lawrence, a 13-2 York (losses to Stevenson) or an 8-1 Stevenson (loss to York). I am leaving out RPI at the moment because I don't think they will play enough games. Who knows how they will treat the criteria when confronted with such wide disparities in total games played? If they stick by the criteria as it has been applied in the past, it seems the southern schools will have a real edge simply by the fact that they will have played more games outside their own conference and have had the ability to build up a few regionally ranked wins. Only time will tell, but there is certainly a scenario where the ODAC gobbles up one of those Pool C bids, whether it is Lynchburg or Hampden-Sydney.

[dingdongdman]

W&L 8 - Guilford 6 at half... really shows a lack of effort on W&L’s part. Would be pretty cool to see guilford take down one of the big dogs in the odac. Greenspan needs to play better in the second half in order for this to no longer be a game.

Totally agree that W&L is not playing a solid game, lots of lazy plays going on. Defense is looking slow and not making good approaches. Defense needs to button it up if it hopes to win ODACs and subsequently win a game in the tournament.

[thescottharris]

W&L 8 - Guilford 6 at half... really shows a lack of effort on W&L’s part. Would be pretty cool to see guilford take down one of the big dogs in the odac. Greenspan needs to play better in the second half in order for this to no longer be a game.

Guilford did a good job catching W&L and Roanoke off guard. They were leading Roanoke big early before the Maroons stormed back to go up 9-7 before the game got suspended.