Yale v UVa - should VA bother showing up?

[HowieT3]

UVa blew up the House That Ralph Built, U-Hall, today at 10 AM.

And Ralph got to push the button!

And Ralph's first collegiate game was against {trumpet fanfare} JHU.

[calourie]

If reversion to the mean holds, Starr may actually save some Monday. Otherwise UVa has a good shot if faceoff wins > 45%. Starr sucks.

bearlaxfan, that’s disappointing language from you about a college sophomore. I was at the game and although I’m sure #23 would want some of the shots back, most of those goals did not look saveable. For example, the 3 EMO goals or the three FOGO unassisted fast break goals. Penn State can SCORE—they got 21 goals past Stover, a 1st Team All-American, earlier in the tournament, and Edelman of Rutgers, a 3rd team All-American, gave up 18 and saved 40% in the Big 10 tournament.

I'm not one to site individual players for sub-par play, nor one to question coach Shay about much of anything, nor for that matter one to question fellow Yale poster Orfling to the same extent, but I wouldn't have minded seeing one of Yale's three reserve goalies get a shot at slowing down the Penn State shooters. I personally like having Starr in the cage over the other three as a general rule simply because of his presence and seeming ability to rise to the occasion. That being said, the coaches did replace Starr just before half time in the Brown game when he wasn't seeing the ball well, and Starr responded by closing out the season with a pretty good stretch of games. I assume Shay and Baxter left him in today for all sorts of reasons beyond my non-existent pay grade, so I will leave it at that. For the most part the Bulldogs played better defense in half 2 until the game was more or less out of reach than they did in the first half which rendered the lack of saves moot.

[TheBigIguana]

I do feel like the Penn St. Penn and Yale side of the bracket was way better than the other side and that in a 7 game series all 3 of those teams would beat Duke and Virginia but we don't have a series we have one game and Virginia is more than good enough to beat Yale in a one off. I wouldn't bet on it but it can clearly happen.

[ICGrad]

We already watched the 2019 National Championship game. It was Penn-Yale III in the quarterfinals.

Yup

If those morons on the selection committee could get their heads out of their asses for once, and actually put in a little time in making the selections and seeding the tournament, we'd have the all-Ivy final we deserve.

[Mid-Lax]

Can't have that, too much TV money at stake. The final 4 stage was set for 2 ACCs, 1 Big 10, and whatever. The goal was Big 10 vs ACC. Darn Ivy snuck into the finals again.

[Mid-Lax]

Let me also write, this is a terrible title for the Yale vs UVA Thread

[rasheed]

Good lord - who needs Vegas and the mafia when you have this type or jockeying for position pre-game. Essentially the "line should be, if UVa wins, it shouldn't count because the other side was stronger and anyone can win a one-off." heck yea! Kickass sportsmanship, tight there! Hope you're not teaching your kids this stuff.

[OCanada]

I didn’t think the seeding was optimal either but I haven’t studied the criteria enough to know.

I do know there is a value to playing the first game. It used to be the highest rated seed played first. Now ESPN can pick who they want to play the first game. Advantage the winner of that game. I think it’s absurd the NCAA gave that up.

I do think it very possible had Penn been in the other side they would have made the FF

[wgdsr]

I do feel like the Penn St. Penn and Yale side of the bracket was way better than the other side and that in a 7 game series all 3 of those teams would beat Duke and Virginia but we don't have a series we have one game and Virginia is more than good enough to beat Yale in a one off. I wouldn't bet on it but it can clearly happen.

what i remember without looking it up is yale had all of one top 10 win plus cornell close by.
penn's were just against yale and then a couple against cornell.
and the one cross game had duke beating penn? so they'd be down 0-1 in a 7 game series, needing to win 4 of the next 6.

i think most folks would've liked to see "fresh" games. but the conspiracy theory against the ivy doesn't really hold up when the setup basically did the same to the acc.

penn yale was a great game. hope we get another one on monday.

[Fanlax999]

I'm rooting for UVA...I was never a UVA fan when Starsia was around...but gotta root hard for Lars and his team. they looked great against Duke. could have won it earlier with a couple of shots. The ball bounced a few times their way in the end.

This game might in the 20s since both teams are fast and great shooters. Gonna be a great game.

Off topic, but since the NBA went to a shortened clock (I think 15 seconds from 24) if the offense gets the rebound on their missed shot, I think that would be great for LAX as well. A shorter possession clock for getting the ball back on offense would be a great change. Makes the game move along faster than having a team drain the clock for another 80 seconds potentially, which kills pace of the game.

[TheBigIguana]

I do feel like the Penn St. Penn and Yale side of the bracket was way better than the other side and that in a 7 game series all 3 of those teams would beat Duke and Virginia but we don't have a series we have one game and Virginia is more than good enough to beat Yale in a one off. I wouldn't bet on it but it can clearly happen.

what i remember without looking it up is yale had all of one top 10 win plus cornell close by.
penn's were just against yale and then a couple against cornell.
and the one cross game had duke beating penn? so they'd be down 0-1 in a 7 game series, needing to win 4 of the next 6.

i think most folks would've liked to see "fresh" games. but the conspiracy theory against the ivy doesn't really hold up when the setup basically did the same to the acc.

penn yale was a great game. hope we get another one on monday.

I'm not claiming a conspiracy. I understand why it was seeded like it was I just think Penn and Yale are better teams. Virginia is 7-1 in 1 goal games which is typically a sign of good luck more than skill. Duke is well coached and has some good players but I thought their attack wasn't that strong. To me Yale and Penn are more complete teams.

[wgdsr]

fair enough. the break in my post was then addressing thoughts from other guys (and not the 1st comments on the matter).

tomato, tomato. some of the points you bring up... had me pull up their schedules. yale played in 6 one goal games. penn in 7, and 2 other 2 goal games. that's a lot of close games. one penn game that wasn't close was against duke, where they lost 7 to 17.

as far as complete teams, uva has some solid units, imo, on both sides of the field. yale, who is left, seems like they get more tilt from their faceoff. not a typical yale d and to me they have more questions there than virginia does.
there may be more guys on yale that pop a goal in tomorrow.

we've all been fortunate to see a great tournament so far. love to see more of the same monday.

[TheBigIguana]

fair enough. the break in my post was then addressing thoughts from other guys (and not the 1st comments on the matter).

tomato, tomato. some of the points you bring up... had me pull up their schedules. yale played in 6 one goal games. penn in 7, and 2 other 2 goal games. that's a lot of close games. one penn game that wasn't close was against duke, where they lost 7 to 17.

as far as complete teams, uva has some solid units, imo, on both sides of the field. yale, who is left, seems like they get more tilt from their faceoff. not a typical yale d and to me they have more questions there than virginia does.
there may be more guys on yale that pop a goal in tomorrow.

we've all been fortunate to see a great tournament so far. love to see more of the same monday.

The one goal game thing was more about record than number played. UVA 7-1 Penn 4-3 Yale 3-3. Who is the outlier? It's a small sample but this is a basic sports statistics thing. Close games tend to even out to around .500 so a team being 7-1 points mostly to luck. Not that UVA isnt a bad team but if they lose 2 of those OT games they probably aren't playing RoMo in round 1. The whole dynamic changes. Fortune has definitely smiled on them and they get a chance to win the title as a result. No shame in it.

[wahoomurf]

YA MON! Them HOOS are on the bus back to C'ville.They stopped at Homewood to watch the women''s final...and hit the toilets."Handsome Dan" is going to add to the indignity by peeing on the Championship Trophy while the Whiffenpoofs lead the crowd in a lusty chorus of "Bulldog Bulldog Bow Wow Wow".

BOOLA BOOLA!

[The Orfling]

orfling: agreed, not my best moment, poor phrasing. He was not good today; I will stand by that. 2 saves into the 4th qtr, both were shots that basically hit him in the body.
If he were playing at even an HM All-American level, say 53-55%, Yale wouldn't need to break a sweat to win the championship, despite the downtick in their defensive efficiency.

bearlaxfan, I always read your posts because you are knowledgeable and thoughtful, and I appreciate this. I also agree with your overall point re: this as an area of potential vulnerability for the Elis. My (not very original) theory is that to win a championship you need 2 out of 3 of a transcendent scorer; great goaltending; and a dominant FOGO. We’ll see which out of those three things are present tomorrow. Thanks and all the best to you.

[bearlaxfan]

orfling: agreed, not my best moment, poor phrasing. He was not good today; I will stand by that. 2 saves into the 4th qtr, both were shots that basically hit him in the body.
If he were playing at even an HM All-American level, say 53-55%, Yale wouldn't need to break a sweat to win the championship, despite the downtick in their defensive efficiency.

bearlaxfan, I always read your posts because you are knowledgeable and thoughtful, and I appreciate this. I also agree with your overall point re: this as an area of potential vulnerability for the Elis. My (not very original) theory is that to win a championship you need 2 out of 3 of a transcendent scorer; great goaltending; and a dominant FOGO. We’ll see which out of those three things are present tomorrow. Thanks and all the best to you.

T Y. I'm at the D3 final, 6-6 almost halftime. Exceptional 'tending on display, both sides.

[GSP]

Hilarious how the jock-sniffer, keyboard warriors, who, a week ago were claiming that Penn State was unbeatable, are now claiming that Yale is!

The Laxbro know-it-all crowd will swarm the Board with their claims of omniscience of all things lacrosse BEFORE a game and then, depending on the outcome, either single handedly type away with the same hand that they use to hold the skin-mag, about their Laxbro fan-boy genius if they win or they will slink away in absolute silence if the team they back loses.

How about, you just respect the players and the game enough to hold off on the pants-pissing long enough to allow both Teams to actually play the game without denigrating either. Best to be magnanimous in either victory or defeat. Honor the game! I know that is sooo "old school" in the era of self-aggrandizement and selfies!

[DMac]

Good to hear from you, GSP, you're fun guy to have around.
Seems as if you're in to sniffing quite a bit. Am wondering,
can you smell your own stench?

[lefty1]

Duke was favored. Penn State was heavily favored. No one knows anything until they play the game.

Duke was also ranked #2, for some reason.
Meanwhile, one could argue Maryland could very easily be playing tomorrow against Yale. A blown call sorta crushed the spirits of those Maryland seniors and although we chat at length about Yale, Penn was phenomenal as well.
Would have loved to have seen a PSU/Penn game.

[lefty1]

I do feel like the Penn St. Penn and Yale side of the bracket was way better than the other side and that in a 7 game series all 3 of those teams would beat Duke and Virginia but we don't have a series we have one game and Virginia is more than good enough to beat Yale in a one off. I wouldn't bet on it but it can clearly happen.

what i remember without looking it up is yale had all of one top 10 win plus cornell close by.
penn's were just against yale and then a couple against cornell.
and the one cross game had duke beating penn? so they'd be down 0-1 in a 7 game series, needing to win 4 of the next 6.

i think most folks would've liked to see "fresh" games. but the conspiracy theory against the ivy doesn't really hold up when the setup basically did the same to the acc.

penn yale was a great game. hope we get another one on monday.

I'm not claiming a conspiracy. I understand why it was seeded like it was I just think Penn and Yale are better teams. Virginia is 7-1 in 1 goal games which is typically a sign of good luck more than skill. Duke is well coached and has some good players but I thought their attack wasn't that strong. To me Yale and Penn are more complete teams.

Yes, my top 3 teams were Yale, Penn & Penn State.
Had seen all 3 teams play and just wow. Different level.