Holy Cross

[sguy9]

Has the timeline for the 'Interim" tag been outlined? Have they posted the job or are they waiting to see how this pans out? So far so good, but the games are the easy part of being a head coach.

[crusader66]

Big game this weekend and winnable. Need to start putting together some wins in PL to make a run. Let a few slip away vs. Bucknell and Army but we were right there. Lets finish strong

[Lax315]

Wow what a win against Navy!! GO ‘Saders!!!

[calourie]

I think one of the stories for the year in D1 lacrosse is the emergence of this year's Holy Cross team becoming a factor in the Patriot League. Very nice game against Navy.

[crusader66]

Lets keep the mojo going this week vs. Lafayette. No denying this team is jelling. Could have had an additional win or two already but at 4-5 and 2 wins in a row its moving in right direction. One game at a time we can get into the PL tourney.

[HCDC]

Nice PL W.

Only the third time HC has scored more than 10 goals v. Navy in 17 matchups. Only the second in the reg season.

13 CTOs kept Navy off balance, particularly on the ride, which HC appeared to be more agressive on than in previous games.

HC clear also looked like they were running some new schemes, which helped beat the pressure. 11 days off gave them an opportunity to refine some things.

Can’t let down vs. Lafayette or take a W for granted. In 2015 HC had wins vs Loyola and Army and then went on the road to Lafayette and lost 11-7....and ended up not making the PL tournament. Leopards were also on the verge of a W last year in Worcester until a late HC rally and OT win.

[Voyuer]

I do not know that the record will show it at the end of the year, but I think HC finally has enough decent lacrosse players on the team to be competitive game in and game out. I have always felt like they did a lot with much less talent than the other PL teams. I think they have closed the overall roster talent gap. Which should lead to a much more consistently competitive team in the next few years. They always played hard, and now have the talent to go along with it. They had some very good players in the last few years but never enough of them. Now with just one to two great players added to the roster they could be very good.

[runrussellrun]

I do not know that the record will show it at the end of the year, but I think HC finally has enough decent lacrosse players on the team to be competitive game in and game out. I have always felt like they did a lot with much less talent than the other PL teams. I think they have closed the overall roster talent gap. Which should lead to a much more consistently competitive team in the next few years. They always played hard, and now have the talent to go along with it. They had some very good players in the last few years but never enough of them. Now with just one to two great players added to the roster they could be very good.

And a nice mix of local talent, something that lacked in the past. Of course, the new AD helps, indoor facility and Worcester cleaning up its act.

[Jerseylaxfan]

This team is clearly playing much better lacrosse. They seem to love playing for this interim coach and the new offensive and defensive schemes he has added have been the reason for their success. Who know's if they will be able to keep this coaching staff, I hear the AD decision isn't coming until May, which will mean mid summer decision on the coach. I wouldn't wait around if I were him, only two scholarships and low pay isn't worth sticking around for. Holy Cross needs to put some $ into the sport and take off the interim title if they want to be competitive.

[crusader66]

3 wins in a row. Team is 5-5 and really looks confident in all phases of game right now. One game at a time. Colgate next. Lets keep piecing the wins together!

[HCDC]

Another nice PL W.

Nice output on the offensive end. HC is now above 10 goals per game in scoring. Not surprisingly they also reached the .500 mark for W/L. As I’ve contended before, the two stats are not unrelated.

HC has failed to tally 10 goals in 4 games this year. It lost all 4. It has scored 10+ in 6 games, and won 5 of them. Loyola was the exception.

Was also impressed by the way the backups played in Q4.

Definitely need a win v. Colgate this Saturday to shore up tournament spot. Colgate probably presents the best opportunity for a win of the 3 remaining PL games. Bucknell stands at 1-4 in the league and has yet to play Lafayette, Colgate, or Lehigh. Reasonable chance they end up with 3 league wins. They own the head-to-head tie breaker v HC. Navy has 3 PL wins already, and has yet to play Army and BU. Navy could also finish with 3 PL wins, and HC holds the head-to-head tie breaker over Navy. But Navy holds the head-to-head tie breaker over Bucknell. And in a 3 way tie btw HC, Navy, and Bucknell, results against common opponent is one factor, and the only common opponent btw the three teams is Vermont, who Navy beat but HC lost to.

Not going to go through every tie break scenario at this point, but it could become an issue. Best route is for HC to win 2 of its last 3.

[HCBosfan]

The next three games are all winnable. I watched the Lehigh game and they are riddled with injuries. Even when Lehigh got the ball, Loyola would make them uncomfortable.
Lots of hard work in front of this team. I agree that it was nice to see some play from others in the 4th Qtr. They showed the same tenacity and confidence. Having 6 players with over 20 points has shown the depth in this offense. The defense is showing up in the top 10 nationally in many categories. They have played against some tough offenses.

[Lax315]

Keep it rollin’ ‘Saders!! Plain and simple!!

[X-Check]

Peter Burke —- with a couple more wins, might just sneak in as a contender for “Interim Head Coach of the Year”?

[Lax315]

Keep it going boys!! Go ‘Saders!!

[crusader66]

Nice win! 4 in a row. Team really looking good.

[HCDC]

4 in a row vs Colgate too. HC had been 1-21 v. the Red Raiders before 2016.

O’Connell and the faceoff unit won 17 of 20. Two of Colgate’s three FO wins came as a result of a violation on HC, so Colgate only won 1 FO where there was no violation. It’s not just O’Connell. Murphy and Hannan are getting it done on the wings.

HC has only been over .500 after 10 games once in the PL era - 2013, when they were 6-5. They finished that season 7-8. There was also one time that they were at .500 after 10 games - 2015, when they were 5-5. They finished that season 6-7.

BU looks tough and are likely gaining confidence with wins over Army and Loyola the last two weeks. But HC is playing well too.

I’d be working on improving the clearing game and getting ready for BU to throw out some 10-man ride. HC needs to value every possession and clear at a better rate than they have been.

[HCBosfan]

This team is fun to watch. Even when we were 1-0 in the first I was not to concerned, mostly because we had 10 shots on goal and Colgate had none. The Defense is playing so well including Murph and Hannan. Murphy was like a vacuum the last handful of games. The offense is loaded with so many different weapons, with different styles of play. BU is a good team with some good W's. However before BU we put the most goals up on Loyola and our game against Army was tight. I like our chances. HCDC, you got some stats on goals per game in HC history books. Our Average has to be up there. Or goals against. We know the CTO's are probably as high as they ever have been. Congrats to Matt Farrell, well deserved!!! Kid is undersized and overskilled and even with poor parenting he has turned out to be an incredible gift to HC.

[HCDC]

Right now HC is at 10.27 g/gm and 9.27 gaa.

HC highest g/gm is 9.8 in 1993.

It’s lowest gaa is 9.36 in 2007.

HC has two tough games left in the regular season; we’ll see where their stats end up. If they can improve on both numbers in the last two games, it should mean at least one more win.

HC has 119 CTOs right now after 11 games - 2 reg season games to go. It had 125 in 2013 (15 games), 133 in 2016 (15 games), and 131 in 2017 (15 games).

Stats above are limited to the PL era.

[HCBosfan]

Besides BU goalie making 20 saves the game statistically was very close. We shot more, Fogo we had the edge and had more GBs. BU’s 2 and 4 are great players no doubt.
This weekend is a must win. All of these hard games in my opinion are needed to test our skills leading into the playoffs. Besides pulling the Goalie out at the end we were 11-13 that’s close to a high power offense like BU. In fact we did the same against Loyola. Both games we had 2 minute releasable penalties that put 2 goals per game up. Need to clean that up a bit. We don’t need to be diving into the crease.

Lehigh lost to Bucknell. Bucknell Defense as we know is good. We have a very good chance here to move ahead and be ready for the PL tournament