Atlantic 10 Lacrosse

[gymman1031]

The weekend for the conference starts with a match-up of former Southern Conference programs High Point and VMI(the host). Does High Point, like they have done in the past, beat the Keydets handily?

[Qckstk]

Yes

[10stone5]

Matt Knote is at 72% in saves after today’s game.

[Ketch]

St. Joe's deserves to get some ink on the Forum. They have a formidable team with a lot of returning players from the group that almost knocked off Yale last spring in the playoffs.

[Farfromgeneva]

25 kids on roster are senior or grad students. They should run through the league this year notwithstanding Richmond's talent or UMass' relative pedigree. Have to imagine it would be a big letdown if they don't take the AQ.

[10stone5]

St Joe’s has gotten accolades,
they’ll get more and more as they progress through the
next four games.
I’m still not yet convinced St Joe’s will bulldoze through the
A-10.

UMass beat Army, Army just beat Rutgers, Matt Knote is at over
70% save percent — and also, St Joe’s still does not have a lock
down defense, so like last year, it looks like outscoring teams
will be the answer.

[Farfromgeneva]

St Joe’s has gotten accolades,
they’ll get more and more as they progress through the
next four games.
I’m still not yet convinced St Joe’s will bulldoze through the
A-10.

UMass beat Army, Army just beat Rutgers, Matt Knote is at over
70% save percent — and also, St Joe’s still does not have a lock
down defense, so like last year, it looks like outscoring teams
will be the answer.

I was probably a bit hyperbolic, but it's sort of an all in strategy for this year or a plan to be on the transfer hamster wheel into perpetuity.

[10stone5]

St Joe’s has gotten accolades,
they’ll get more and more as they progress through the
next four games.
I’m still not yet convinced St Joe’s will bulldoze through the
A-10.

UMass beat Army, Army just beat Rutgers, Matt Knote is at over
70% save percent — and also, St Joe’s still does not have a lock
down defense, so like last year, it looks like outscoring teams
will be the answer.

I was probably a bit hyperbolic, but it's sort of an all in strategy for this year or a plan to be on the transfer hamster wheel into perpetuity.

On the other hand, St Joe’s shut down a very potent offense from
the Tigers for the last 5-6 minutes of that game,

maybe St Joe’s defense is bend but don’t break.

[Farfromgeneva]

St Joe’s has gotten accolades,
they’ll get more and more as they progress through the
next four games.
I’m still not yet convinced St Joe’s will bulldoze through the
A-10.

UMass beat Army, Army just beat Rutgers, Matt Knote is at over
70% save percent — and also, St Joe’s still does not have a lock
down defense, so like last year, it looks like outscoring teams
will be the answer.

I was probably a bit hyperbolic, but it's sort of an all in strategy for this year or a plan to be on the transfer hamster wheel into perpetuity.

On the other hand, St Joe’s shut down a very potent offense from
the Tigers for the last 5-6 minutes of that game,

maybe St Joe’s defense is bend but don’t break.

Having an AA fogo makes a difference, see the better bryant teams from the last decade.

[gymman1031]

I am confident that St. Bonaventure will be fine. I like to think that two of their top issues are:

-adjusting to life without that amazing goalie
-adjusting to life not being able to sneak up on anyone

[lilax]

I am confident that St. Bonaventure will be fine. I like to think that two of their top issues are:

-adjusting to life without that amazing goalie
-adjusting to life not being able to sneak up on anyone

One of the problems at the lower level is when you have an elite 4 year starting goalie, it deters good goalie recruits from committing. Dobson's presence might have prevented Bonnies from recruiting better goalies. Recruits might have felt why commit somewhere if they're going to sit on the bench for 3 years and then maybe get their shot.

Bonaventure also lost the All MAAC Rookie team FOGO to Richmond.

[gymman1031]

I am confident that St. Bonaventure will be fine. I like to think that two of their top issues are:

-adjusting to life without that amazing goalie
-adjusting to life not being able to sneak up on anyone

One of the problems at the lower level is when you have an elite 4 year starting goalie, it deters good goalie recruits from committing. Dobson's presence might have prevented Bonnies from recruiting better goalies. Recruits might have felt why commit somewhere if they're going to sit on the bench for 3 years and then maybe get their shot.

Bonaventure also lost the All MAAC Rookie team FOGO to Richmond.

Yep! And, sure enough, those two positions you mentioned are the two most important on the lacrosse field.

[GeneralBart]

A-10 had a pretty good weekend. The conference went 7-1 with only loss being UMass to BU. The A-10 went 3-0 against the CAA; 2-1 against the Patriot; 1-0 against the Big East; and 1-0 against the MAAC.

[10stone5]

Course, St Joe’s with a very physical, high scoring performance.

That was a high profile game, so the Hawks will get a lot of
props from the pundits.

This doesn’t mean that the A-10 is in any way St Joe’s to lose.
I still think it is going to come down to the wire for the A-10.

These teams are going to have to upgrade their OOCs to have that
option of at least being in the running for At Large.

[jrn19]

They’re in the runnings for at large’s right now.

Saint Joe’s plays Duke, Hopkins, Penn

High Point plays Georgetown, North Carolina, Duke

Richmond plays Maryland, Virginia, Georgetown

UMass plays Yale, Rutgers.

Hobart plays Cornell, Cuse

A10 has by far the best OOC record of any non ACC/B1G/Ivy league and they have scheduled as well OOC of any of the other leagues. Saint Joe’s if they beat Hopkins would be right there for an at large and isn’t out of it by any stretch. UMass and Richmond’s metrics will be solid. They don’t need to upgrade their out of conference schedules. They just need to…win the games. That’s the hardest part. They probably won’t. But the games are there for them. Some of them are even home games. If Saint Joe’s can beat Penn and Duke, they have a shot to be in the convo for an at large. If UMass had beaten BU and can beat Rutgers, not out of the question. But the games are there. They don’t need to upgrade anymore. They just gotta win em.

[10stone5]

Well,

the Hawks have Sacred Heart and St John’s — and really I’m
looking ahead, not at this year - those are two teams they could
swap out, even for ex-NEC teams like Robert Morris and Bryant -
Monmouth also, another team that can be swapped out.

Its just, the A-10 is primed to compete with the Big Three
conferences for At Large berths - and, the scholarships are
lining up as well.

I’d like to see St Joe’s get Penn State on their schedule.

[jrn19]

Sacred Heart was willing to go to Saint Joe's. Robert Morris played both their games against A10 teams at home. May be a consideration. Not sure you want to be doing home and homes with ASUN teams considering how logistically onerous it is to schedule teams that have to play 9 conference games. What the league did successfully this year, at least so far, not counting St. Bonaventure is that they've won basically all of their non-conference games against teams in leagues below them (CAA/BE/ASUN/MAAC/AE/PL). That means when they play each other in their conference play their metrics will be boosted by playing one another, in a way that usually won't be the case for mid-major leagues. However to truly make a dent against the Top 3 leagues for a bid you gotta win some of the games against them. Beating Hopkins would have been huge for SJU.

[10stone5]

Exciting Philly 4 lacrosse,

Penn - St Joe’s of course came right down to the wire,
Zach Cole showed how well he can play against the top
tier teams, though admittedly Penn are working in new
face off men with underrated Zusi graduating.

St Joe’s has the one top tier game left to demonstrate their
ability to compete against Duke,
before they hone in on their A-10 schedule.

Richmond has Georgetown and UMass has a couple top tier OOC
teams left to play,

Massey Ratings has the A-10 teams in the 25 to 40 range which
that’s a good proxy for where team’s RPI could land,
I think St Joe’s and Richmond have a solid chance of being
top 20 RPI teams heading into the tournament.

[Farfromgeneva]

HP/Bart over line will probably start with a “5” at this rate…

[10stone5]

Taylor Wray should have called time just as that
St Joe’s player was getting ready to crank that final
shot - they could have set up a better final shot.
Penn would have still had about 20 seconds left
had they won the faceoff.