ODAC 2023

[InsiderRoll]

It’s helpful to have older kids for sure, but I think the real reason there’s an advantage is the sheer experience they have as college lacrosse players. Using Cross Ferrara as an example - Being 24 years old is helpful, but he’s played in 84 games already in his career. 84!!!! And he only played in 12 as a freshman. It’s likely that he’ll finish his career with over 100 career games. The experience he has over starters in their fourth year (traditional experience) is substantial. Compare it to Nick Morgan of HSC, a 4 year starter and USILA 2nd Team All-American. Nick took a PG year, but as a college player has only appeared in 39 games heading into 2023.

Ferrara has more than double the college games played as most 4 year starting seniors!!!!

at the end of the day it’s probably not the end of the world. But the extra 2021 year has always confused me. And perhaps you’ll see an upswing in a few years when this is done. Where programs that had to play upperclassmen have an advantage of experience that teams with seniors who rode the bench for 2 or 3 years don’t have. That could flip the script a bit as well.

[ReturnOfTheWAC]

It’s helpful to have older kids for sure, but I think the real reason there’s an advantage is the sheer experience they have as college lacrosse players. Using Cross Ferrara as an example - Being 24 years old is helpful, but he’s played in 84 games already in his career. 84!!!! And he only played in 12 as a freshman. It’s likely that he’ll finish his career with over 100 career games. The experience he has over starters in their fourth year (traditional experience) is substantial. Compare it to Nick Morgan of HSC, a 4 year starter and USILA 2nd Team All-American. Nick took a PG year, but as a college player has only appeared in 39 games heading into 2023.

Ferrara has more than double the college games played as most 4 year starting seniors!!!!

at the end of the day it’s probably not the end of the world. But the extra 2021 year has always confused me. And perhaps you’ll see an upswing in a few years when this is done. Where programs that had to play upperclassmen have an advantage of experience that teams with seniors who rode the bench for 2 or 3 years don’t have. That could flip the script a bit as well.

The 2021 extra year wasn’t necessary for most programs but let’s not forget some of the “smartest people in the room( NESCAC and CC)” told it’s students athletes it was “ to dangerous to play more than 5-6 regular season games” while down the road at schools in other conferences they played 3 times as many that year. I think the ncaa expected worst case scenario( remember the Nescac and cc had 0 season plans late into February that year).

[DeepPocket]

… some of the “smartest people in the room( NESCAC and CC)” …

[InsiderRoll]

It’s helpful to have older kids for sure, but I think the real reason there’s an advantage is the sheer experience they have as college lacrosse players. Using Cross Ferrara as an example - Being 24 years old is helpful, but he’s played in 84 games already in his career. 84!!!! And he only played in 12 as a freshman. It’s likely that he’ll finish his career with over 100 career games. The experience he has over starters in their fourth year (traditional experience) is substantial. Compare it to Nick Morgan of HSC, a 4 year starter and USILA 2nd Team All-American. Nick took a PG year, but as a college player has only appeared in 39 games heading into 2023.

Ferrara has more than double the college games played as most 4 year starting seniors!!!!

at the end of the day it’s probably not the end of the world. But the extra 2021 year has always confused me. And perhaps you’ll see an upswing in a few years when this is done. Where programs that had to play upperclassmen have an advantage of experience that teams with seniors who rode the bench for 2 or 3 years don’t have. That could flip the script a bit as well.

The 2021 extra year wasn’t necessary for most programs but let’s not forget some of the “smartest people in the room( NESCAC and CC)” told it’s students athletes it was “ to dangerous to play more than 5-6 regular season games” while down the road at schools in other conferences they played 3 times as many that year. I think the ncaa expected worst case scenario( remember the Nescac and cc had 0 season plans late into February that year).

No I get it. But I don’t think the NCAA made that decision for all sports because the NESCAC and Centennial couldn’t play. There’s a lot of D3 schools across the board for all sports.

[ReturnOfTheWAC]

It’s helpful to have older kids for sure, but I think the real reason there’s an advantage is the sheer experience they have as college lacrosse players. Using Cross Ferrara as an example - Being 24 years old is helpful, but he’s played in 84 games already in his career. 84!!!! And he only played in 12 as a freshman. It’s likely that he’ll finish his career with over 100 career games. The experience he has over starters in their fourth year (traditional experience) is substantial. Compare it to Nick Morgan of HSC, a 4 year starter and USILA 2nd Team All-American. Nick took a PG year, but as a college player has only appeared in 39 games heading into 2023.

Ferrara has more than double the college games played as most 4 year starting seniors!!!!

at the end of the day it’s probably not the end of the world. But the extra 2021 year has always confused me. And perhaps you’ll see an upswing in a few years when this is done. Where programs that had to play upperclassmen have an advantage of experience that teams with seniors who rode the bench for 2 or 3 years don’t have. That could flip the script a bit as well.

The 2021 extra year wasn’t necessary for most programs but let’s not forget some of the “smartest people in the room( NESCAC and CC)” told it’s students athletes it was “ to dangerous to play more than 5-6 regular season games” while down the road at schools in other conferences they played 3 times as many that year. I think the ncaa expected worst case scenario( remember the Nescac and cc had 0 season plans late into February that year).

No I get it. But I don’t think the NCAA made that decision for all sports because the NESCAC and Centennial couldn’t play. There’s a lot of D3 schools across the board for all sports.

My point was until really mid January only the most southern schools and the ODAC had publicly announced competition. Fall and winter sports had been canceled. I think ncaa was expecting d3 to have another year of minimal to no competition

[JustOneTime]

W&L opens with York and Noke opens with Salisbury. Should be two really tough games for the ODAC boys.
HSC opens with So. VA., Lynchburg with Ferrum and RMC with Mary Wash. These should be easy wins.

What are your thoughts on scheduling to start a season? I guess I prefer easing into it a bit rather than diving in headfirst.

[Jumbo]

W&L opens with York and Noke opens with Salisbury. Should be two really tough games for the ODAC boys.
HSC opens with So. VA., Lynchburg with Ferrum and RMC with Mary Wash. These should be easy wins.

What are your thoughts on scheduling to start a season? I guess I prefer easing into it a bit rather than diving in headfirst.

I think the teams that want to be in the top, have to schedule the tough teams.
York starts with the first 6 games all against top 25 teams
Ursinus. Top 25
W&L. 17
Salisbury 6
RIT 1
Franklin & Marshall 18
Amherst 12

[laxdad1434]

W&L opens with York and Noke opens with Salisbury. Should be two really tough games for the ODAC boys.
HSC opens with So. VA., Lynchburg with Ferrum and RMC with Mary Wash. These should be easy wins.

What are your thoughts on scheduling to start a season? I guess I prefer easing into it a bit rather than diving in headfirst.

I think the teams that want to be in the top, have to schedule the tough teams.
York starts with the first 6 games all against top 25 teams
Ursinus. Top 25
W&L. 17
Salisbury 6
RIT 1
Franklin & Marshall 18
Amherst 12

Losing by 10 to a good team, doesn't make you a better team...just sayin.

[JustOneTime]

W&L opens with York and Noke opens with Salisbury. Should be two really tough games for the ODAC boys.
HSC opens with So. VA., Lynchburg with Ferrum and RMC with Mary Wash. These should be easy wins.

What are your thoughts on scheduling to start a season? I guess I prefer easing into it a bit rather than diving in headfirst.

I think the teams that want to be in the top, have to schedule the tough teams.
York starts with the first 6 games all against top 25 teams
Ursinus. Top 25
W&L. 17
Salisbury 6
RIT 1
Franklin & Marshall 18
Amherst 12

Losing by 10 to a good team, doesn't make you a better team...just sayin.

I agree. That is why I think it's not the best scheduling move for a team like Roanoke, who has not beaten a highly ranked team in a long time, to start the year with such a tough opponent. I guess you find out right away where you stand but I think there is more downside to getting throttled right out of the gate.

[Barrel House]

Roanoke schedule now says they open with RMC Feb 4

[JustOneTime]

The RMC game is just a scrimmage.

[InsiderRoll]

W&L opens with York and Noke opens with Salisbury. Should be two really tough games for the ODAC boys.
HSC opens with So. VA., Lynchburg with Ferrum and RMC with Mary Wash. These should be easy wins.

What are your thoughts on scheduling to start a season? I guess I prefer easing into it a bit rather than diving in headfirst.

I think the teams that want to be in the top, have to schedule the tough teams.
York starts with the first 6 games all against top 25 teams
Ursinus. Top 25
W&L. 17
Salisbury 6
RIT 1
Franklin & Marshall 18
Amherst 12

Losing by 10 to a good team, doesn't make you a better team...just sayin.

Not sure that those are all going to be 10 goal losses.

W&L hasn’t won a big non conference game in a while that’s for sure. But 1 goal loss to York, 5 goal loss to CNU (who was crushing everyone last year), 4 goal loss to Denison, 4 goal loss to Gettysburg. That doesn’t say they shouldn’t be playing those teams to me. And yes they need to win some of those games to be nationally relevant, I get that. But it will help you improve over the year, I doubt W&L would be 7-3 vs Lynchburg in their last 10 meetings if they didn’t play teams like that in the early part of the year.

Lastly SOS is a big factor for at large selection, case in point. W&L and HSC last year. 1-1 vs each other, similar record, W&L has a more impressive win, but HSC beat Catholics who beat W&L. HSC beat W&L at the end of the season. W&L is in the tournament because their SOS and record vs regionally ranked teams was so much better than Hampden Sydney. It didn’t matter that W&L lost every high profile OOC game last season, it only mattered that they played them.

[laxdad1434]

W&L opens with York and Noke opens with Salisbury. Should be two really tough games for the ODAC boys.
HSC opens with So. VA., Lynchburg with Ferrum and RMC with Mary Wash. These should be easy wins.

What are your thoughts on scheduling to start a season? I guess I prefer easing into it a bit rather than diving in headfirst.

I think the teams that want to be in the top, have to schedule the tough teams.
York starts with the first 6 games all against top 25 teams
Ursinus. Top 25
W&L. 17
Salisbury 6
RIT 1
Franklin & Marshall 18
Amherst 12

Losing by 10 to a good team, doesn't make you a better team...just sayin.

Not sure that those are all going to be 10 goal losses.

W&L hasn’t won a big non conference game in a while that’s for sure. But 1 goal loss to York, 5 goal loss to CNU (who was crushing everyone last year), 4 goal loss to Denison, 4 goal loss to Gettysburg. That doesn’t say they shouldn’t be playing those teams to me. And yes they need to win some of those games to be nationally relevant, I get that. But it will help you improve over the year, I doubt W&L would be 7-3 vs Lynchburg in their last 10 meetings if they didn’t play teams like that in the early part of the year.

Lastly SOS is a big factor for at large selection, case in point. W&L and HSC last year. 1-1 vs each other, similar record, W&L has a more impressive win, but HSC beat Catholics who beat W&L. HSC beat W&L at the end of the season. W&L is in the tournament because their SOS and record vs regionally ranked teams was so much better than Hampden Sydney. It didn’t matter that W&L lost every high profile OOC game last season, it only mattered that they played them.

It was a generalization...Just because a team schedules hammers, and gets hammered, doesn't make them better for it.

[Jumbo]

[/quote] It was a generalization...Just because a team schedules hammers, and gets hammered, doesn't make them better for it.
[/quote]

Generally speaking, yes. But the topic was on the top teams in the ODAC. Specifically Roanoke. So yes, the top 4 or 5 teams in the conference should be playing top ranked teams. It will help them get better and prepare them for May.

If I had any input, (conference with more than 6 team). The top 2 from previous season would not play the bottom two. Giving the lower seeded teams an opportunity to schedule two games against comparable teams. And allowing those top teams opportunities to schedule higher seeded teams. Then when conference playoffs come, everyone included.

[laxdad1434]

It was a generalization...Just because a team schedules hammers, and gets hammered, doesn't make them better for it.
[/quote]

Generally speaking, yes. But the topic was on the top teams in the ODAC. Specifically Roanoke. So yes, the top 4 or 5 teams in the conference should be playing top ranked teams. It will help them get better and prepare them for May.

If I had any input, (conference with more than 6 team). The top 2 from previous season would not play the bottom two. Giving the lower seeded teams an opportunity to schedule two games against comparable teams. And allowing those top teams opportunities to schedule higher seeded teams. Then when conference playoffs come, everyone included.
[/quote]
As I said, scheduling a hammer for your 1st game is not a great idea. Especially for a team that hasn’t been that good for a while, at least by their standards. Both teams gain very little in these matchups. Hopefully Salisbury treats this like a scrimmage and has the freshman in the 2nd half.

[Asgot]

W&L opens with York and Noke opens with Salisbury. Should be two really tough games for the ODAC boys.
HSC opens with So. VA., Lynchburg with Ferrum and RMC with Mary Wash. These should be easy wins.

What are your thoughts on scheduling to start a season? I guess I prefer easing into it a bit rather than diving in headfirst.

I think the teams that want to be in the top, have to schedule the tough teams.
York starts with the first 6 games all against top 25 teams
Ursinus. Top 25
W&L. 17
Salisbury 6
RIT 1
Franklin & Marshall 18
Amherst 12

Losing by 10 to a good team, doesn't make you a better team...just sayin.

Who did York lose to by 10 goals?

[InsiderRoll]

W&L opens with York and Noke opens with Salisbury. Should be two really tough games for the ODAC boys.
HSC opens with So. VA., Lynchburg with Ferrum and RMC with Mary Wash. These should be easy wins.

What are your thoughts on scheduling to start a season? I guess I prefer easing into it a bit rather than diving in headfirst.

I think the teams that want to be in the top, have to schedule the tough teams.
York starts with the first 6 games all against top 25 teams
Ursinus. Top 25
W&L. 17
Salisbury 6
RIT 1
Franklin & Marshall 18
Amherst 12

Losing by 10 to a good team, doesn't make you a better team...just sayin.

Who did York lose to by 10 goals?

I know it was a direct reply to your question, but think was referencing Roanoke losing 22-5 to CNU in their opener last year.

I think York was brought up as a reference of a team that not horribly long ago did not win many of those games but challenged themselves and as now elevated themselves to that tier.

[Asgot]

Oh, kind of misread that. I think a lot of colleges now need to balance the conference schedule and OCC so they put a good face on their overall schedule. The ODAC strength at the top does not always help enough with the overall weakness at the bottom which is likely why the search out stronger OCC opponents. I would imagine that is why York’s OCC schedule is so hard as the MAC is overall fairly weak. Conference like the Liberty League or the NESCAC really do not have the same issue as they are pretty strong from top to bottom.
As a coach I felt I always wanted to play the best schedule possible fortunately we played in a conference that was very strong but you always wanted the challenge of playing the best teams possible, as I feel that gives you a good measure of your ability against top competition.

[thescottharris]

HSC roster is up with 6 freshman, competing with Averett for fewest freshman. I see Will Perry is back for a fifth year who graduated 2016 from North Cross School. What G program does HSC participate in

6 is very low. Last fall, HSC Instagram introduced 13 new freshman. I find it hard to believe a majority of them dropped

And how can HSC have 5th year players? They don’t have a grad program.

Not everyone graduates in 4 years

[thescottharris]

HSC roster is up with 6 freshman, competing with Averett for fewest freshman. I see Will Perry is back for a fifth year who graduated 2016 from North Cross School. What G program does HSC participate in

6 is very low. Last fall, HSC Instagram introduced 13 new freshman. I find it hard to believe a majority of them dropped

And how can HSC have 5th year players? They don’t have a grad program.

He just stays and keeps taking classes, no grad degree. Just burning mom and dads money so he can keep partying and playing lacrosse. Kids been in college for 6 years with no advanced degree.

That's not how eligibility works. You have to be working towards a degree and be full-time, with the lone exception being you can be part-time in your final semester so long as you are finishing up your degree.