Ivy League 2019

[calourie]

Wow !!!! A game for the ages. Glad the Bulldogs won, but found myself really liking this Quaker team almost as much to the point I wouldn't have cared who matched up against PSU next weekend.

[AreaLax]

I was really rooting for Penn. Thought they were one the best teams Maryland played this season. They should be really proud of what they achieved this season.

[FannOLax]

There is a cliche about neither team deserving to lose. This last quarterfinal game was one for the ages, two Ivy League teams giving it their all, and it is cruel that one team had to lose. Penn had an amazing season and deserves any and all plaudits it receives.

[faircornell]

Great game! Hats off to both teams. Congratulations Bulldogs.

[DMac]

FannOLax wrote
There is a cliche about neither team deserving to lose. This last quarterfinal game was one for the ages, two Ivy League teams giving it their all, and it is cruel that one team had to lose. Penn had an amazing season and deserves any and all plaudits it receives.

Well said, heck of a game, the quarters have been some mighty competetive and highly entertaining games.

[QuakerSouth]

As they should be. 8 VERY solid teams, any of which could have claimed the trophy. 4 good ones left, and congrats to all on 4 excellent games this weekend.

[flyerfan17]

Just a preference but I would choose a lacrosse game played by the 2 top Ivy teams over the ACC any day. Great game. Mistakes for sure but an excellent show from Penn and Yale

[laxjuris]

Fantastic game. Feel bad for the Penn kids, who had the unenviable task of having to beat Yale 3x in one season—and they came oh so close to pulling it off.

PSU has to be the favorite to win it all, but if Ierlan dominates Arcieri next weekend, Yale has a decent shot.

[Sting The Corner]

Incredible back and forth game, both teams showed off talent and heart. One of the best tournament games I’ve ever seen. Too bad it had to happen in the Quarters rather than the finals. Neither Mathias nor Morrill get the recognition they deserve. Yale’s senior middies aren’t big names but they are very very good.

Yale and Penn would probably split a 10 game series this year, today the ball happened to bounce Yale’s way. Great for the Ivy League to show so well in 2019.

[middleAgedBear]

Amazing game, felt like the finals to me. Awesome season Penn, let’s go Yale!

[The Orfling]

As they should be. 8 VERY solid teams, any of which could have claimed the trophy. 4 good ones left, and congrats to all on 4 excellent games this weekend.

Great, great Penn team. Down by 2 with 50 seconds left and they take it to OT. Wishing, again, Penn and Yale not matched up in the quarters. Congrats to the Quakers on a fantastic season.

[calourie]

Lots of people on the Penn State bandwagon, but from my perspective Penn presented a tougher matchup for Yale this past weekend than PSU will this coming Saturday given the Penn presence of Gallagher at the X. Don't read me wrong here, I see all three teams as having the capability to beat whichever of the other they faced on any given day, but that based on past performance I see Yale as having a distinct edge at FOGO against PSU, the only distinct edge I can distinguish among the three.

The concomitant issue I see for the upcoming game isn't the obvious question of whether the Yale defense can stop the Penn State offensive juggernaut ( from all indications a definitive no) but the less considered reverse: does Penn State have the wherewithal to slow down Yale. Here is where I think the advantage Yale has with Ierlan comes into play in that I think the answer with that in mind becomes an equally definitive no. Which is to say I see the upcoming PSU-Yale matchup as having all the earmarks of another heavyweight slugfest comparable to the classic Penn and Yale engaged in this past weekend.

On a side note, congratulations to Penn for a truly outstanding season. In my mind, as of selection Sunday they should have been the three seed which would likely have seen them end up in the final four in Philley. They lose some very impressive seniors, but the players returning make them look like they will be a force to contend with next year and beyond.

[FannOLax]

First of all, Penn State is good, seriously good. Secondly, I agree with pretty much everything calourie says. Penn was an extremely tough match-up for Yale, thanks to Gallagher, yes, but also because Penn passed the ball well, had a slew of offensive weapons who could score and had Junkin in goal; if I just omitted any aspect about Penn that should have been mentioned, well, please allow me to say that Penn was a very good team and it's too bad we'll never know what would have happened had Yale and Penn been kept further apart in the brackets.
I do think that Yale's offense has improved considerably since the first game against PSU: Brandau has emerged and come into his own, the senior offensive middies have now adapted to life post-Reeves and the Bulldogs have now scored 19 goals in two consecutive games against high-level opposition. But again, Penn State is seriously good, and there are plenty of reasons why people have jumped on the PSU bandwagon. The defending national champions are underdogs; and who knows, that might not be a bad thing.

[faircornell]

FWIW I agree with the "Heavyweight Slugfest" analysis of the game coming up. I wonder if the 40 combined goal mark might be reached or surpassed.

[faircornell]

I was wondering if there were any insights on the USILA North South All Star Game. I saw that Princeton sent two players, as did other DI schools. I did not see any other Ivy players. I haven't followed this game in a while and may be very far behind the times.

[Voyuer]

I could ask that they did not play each other again until at least the Final Four. They are both to good for this to be a final 8 match-up. And to both be in the bracket with PSU vs all the other big names,with less game, this year is criminal.

Penn vs Yale match-up is looking more and more criminal. Could UPENN be the best team in the country??? Beat Yale 2 out of 3!! I would have had UPENN favored vs anybody, but Yale the 3rd time.

[The Orfling]

I could ask that they did not play each other again until at least the Final Four. They are both to good for this to be a final 8 match-up. And to both be in the bracket with PSU vs all the other big names,with less game, this year is criminal.

Penn vs Yale match-up is looking more and more criminal. Could UPENN be the best team in the country??? Beat Yale 2 out of 3!! I would have had UPENN favored vs anybody, but Yale the 3rd time.

To date, UPenn matched up best with Yale -- better than Penn State by far -- because Penn FOGO Gallagher matches up so well with TD Ierlan (50% at least, beat him in one of the games). I say "to date" because I don't know if UVA's freshman FOGO Lasalla might be the equal of Gallagher and give Ierlan fits on Monday, in which case UVA would match up with Yale very well indeed. (And I believe UVA is capable of getting the win even if Ierlan has a big day.)

Still disappointed Yale and Penn were put on that collision course for the quarters. Yale was #2 in the polls and Penn was #3 when Penn beat them by 1 goal. But the Selection Committee did not go with the polls and seemed to go for quality wins, of which UVA and Duke had more. (The Committee also seemed pretty locked in even before the Ivy Championship on Selection Sunday, which may have denied Penn the chance to get the bump in seeding.)

I continue to think the Ivy league will be loaded next year: Yale's got a lot coming back; Penn's got a lot coming back; Princeton still has Sowers and a ton of talent coming in; Brown had a strong year with a strong recruiting class coming in; and Cornell's got Teat and other great attacking threats as well as a great young goalie in Chayse Ierlan. Harvard and Dartmouth are maybe a step back but would be overlooked on any given day at a team's peril.

[QuakerSouth]

Congrats Orf, that Yale team is top shelf, and they get it done when they have to.

Yes, the Ivies will be loaded next year. Harvard will transition with a new coach, so who knows what to expect. They can't get much worse, so if anything, they could surprise on the upside. Dartmouth is due to break their Ivy losing streak, and they were better this past year. Just need some more depth to allow them to finish a game. The Ivy standings followed form this year, with each lower team losing the additional game to the team just above them. Not sure that follows form next year.

Bruno gave Penn all they could handle in the ILT, and were a different team at the end of the year. Princeton may have even been better than Brown at the end, but they didn't do what they needed to do to get that 4th ILT slot. They were getting dangerous, and will only be better next year. Penn, Yale, and Cornell will battle again for the top slots, and as always, their Ivy games will be real---as my old high school coach used to say--- donnybrooks.

I won't abjectly accept that the Ivy League is the 3rd best conference. Not by a long shot. I think its safe to say the BIG is not the second best this year at this point. And when a team like Hopkins can take PSU to the brink, well, enough said. There are 10-15 really good teams, and the Ivy will have 3-4 of them next year.

This conference has no reason to stand behind anyone in line. And as more and more good student athletes realize the Ivy value, and that they can play at the highest level, its just gonna get more competitive. I've said this 10 years ago on LP threads, and it has done nothing but come to fruition.

[Bluecollar]

As Orfling states it seemed like the seeding committee had made ups its mind (Browns AD Hayes made a similar comment in his selection night interview).

Its a damn shame as Im near certain now that the Penn-Yale III game was the defacto national title game. And near certain that Penn would be playing tomorrow had they been the 2 or 3 seed that they had earned.

Regardless: Great season for the Quakes and good luck to the Elis tomorrow, not that they will need it.

Final rankings, IMO, ought to be:

1. Yale
2. Penn
3. Penn State

Bluecollar

[QuakerSouth]

Blue,

Welcome back. UVa might have something to say about those rankings tomorrow! But I like what you have there.