2021 Tournament

[Nosey Ned]

Congratulations to Colorado College. They acquitted themselves very well and showed they belonged in the Tournament. Good game and congratulations on a very nice season!

[kuzandrat]

He's always good and does his research on players. He has good notes and brings some color
to the games and has an interesting broadcast voices well.

As for the game the heat must have got to RIT and they looked like they were keeping
some gas in the tank for Sunday rather than going full throttle. They are better than
they played today- that's for sure IMO.

That’s Rocky doing the play by play! Rocky is the
PA announcer for the rit men’s hockey games for forever! Also does PA for the baseball redwings and Amerks games. He’s our gem in Rochester! Even heard him do the intros at a friends wedding! Go Rocky!

[ah23]

Lynchburg vs. Christopher Newport
Stating the obvious: Lynchburg is really good. Their 'special teams' (goalie and faceoff) are pluses in this one, and they likely have multiple All-Americans running around on both offense (Lewis/Dean/Rogers/etc.) and defense (Gallagher/Darminio). CNU's defense has ratcheted things up lately, but Lynchburg is miles ahead of Stevenson on the offensive end. Additionally, to echo what a few others have pointed out: CNU's offense has been s h a k y at times, with lots of unforced errors and generally clunkiness on Sunday. They could live with that against an opponent without a particularly threatening offense, but that will not be the case on Saturday. If CNU gets generous and starts donating possessions Lynchburg will win this one going away. If CNU cleans things up/shakes off the rust, this game gets more interesting.

I think we'll see something not far off from CNU-Salisbury III. The Captains are (maybe?) peaking at the right time. They'll hang around with defense and goalie play, but they won't be able to keep Lynchburg in check forever - or maybe even for much time at all. Ultimately, their inability to win faceoffs (LU's Quintin Ricci is 30-41 across their two matchups) and string together possessions/goals will be their downfall. Lynchburg will get its offense going; CNU won't be able to keep up.

Lynchburg 14
Christopher Newport 9

Tufts vs. York
This is a fascinating matchup; two title contenders with contrasting styles that both had to grind to dispatch top ten opponents last weekend.

Worth pointing out again: against ranked teams since 2018, York is 5-7 when giving up 10+ goals and 14-2 when holding opponents to single digits. That is a huge disparity. York simply does not like getting into shootouts and trading goals; it's not who they are. They will not beat Tufts if this becomes a Big 12 football game.

Fortunately, the Spartans have the pieces to avoid that kind of game. York has arguably the best goalie in the country and a FOGO winning 66.9% of his faceoffs. In related news: the last time we saw Tufts in the quarterfinals, Amherst smothered them with a hot goalie (Gib Versfeld: 14 first half saves, 19 total) and dominant faceoff play (Dylan Finazzo 17-26, Kyle Helfrich 10-25). As simple as that 'analysis' may be, I think it at least shows that the major pieces are there for York to throw a grenade in the Tufts machine this Saturday.

To be fair to Tufts, the Jumbos have changed quite a bit since 2019. Their offense is more diverse/difficult to stop than either the 2018 or 2019 versions; they are less reliant on finishing plays with either a stepdown shooter or crease finisher and more positionless/able to initiate from anywhere. I do think their shot selection can be suboptimal (they can get too comfortable with high-difficulty looks) and that could get them into trouble against great defenses/goalies. It hasn't happened yet...still waiting for a team to truly slow them down. Babson's Mac Mowat had 29 saves in their First Round matchup, and York is much better than Babson.

When York is on offense, they will have to [middle school coach voice] keep the ball moving and avoiding dodging into a settled Tufts defense. The Jumbos have great on-ball poles and d-middies, but I thought they looked kind of slow at times when sliding/rotating against SJF. Maybe that was just a decision to slide late and trust 1v1 matchups, but it did jump out. York has plenty of talent on offense - it's just a matter of maximizing possessions and not letting Tufts turn the game into a track meet. If Helfrich gets clobbered at the dot, this could go south for the Jumbos. If not...well...Tigers vs. Jumbos on Sunday.

As much as the former goalie in me wants to pick the netminder who is seeing everything right, I just can't imagine York holding the Tufts offense down. At some point the diving fadeaways are going to hurt Tufts, but not this week. Sparty controls possession but can't put the Jumbos away.

Tufts 16
York 12

[YCOLaxFanSU]

After both 1st quarters, RIT-Colorado College may be the most competitive game of the day. Hope I'm wrong.

[ah23]

He's always good and does his research on players. He has good notes and brings some color
to the games and has an interesting broadcast voices well.

Very hard disagree on this. He has the laid back play-by-play cadence down (whether or not you like that is just a matter of opinion; I personally hate it) but adds basically nothing to the broadcast as far as lacrosse substance is concerned. Either doesn't know or doesn't call out basic whistles/plays on the field. It's better than pure silence (e.g., SJF's broadcast), but man...drably announcing what I can see with my eyes is the bare minimum.

[ah23]

I expected Tufts to win, but this is pretty crazy. They are straight up toying with one of the best defenses in the country.

[Nigel]

I expected Tufts to win, but this is pretty crazy. They are straight up toying with one of the best defenses in the country.

I think York forget to throw the grenade.

Either they're having a really bad day or they're not one of the best defenses in the country. Warm up the bus.

[ah23]

I expected Tufts to win, but this is pretty crazy. They are straight up toying with one of the best defenses in the country.

I think York forget to throw the grenade.

Either they're having a really bad day or they're not one of the best defenses in the country. Warm up the bus.

Forgot to pull the pin. Think it's a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B. I don't think York is actually this bad, but man...Tufts is making York look awful on both sides of the ball.

Meanwhile, code red for Lynchburg. I want the Hornets because I want Salisbury-Lynchburg II a lot more than I want Salisbury-CNU IV, but CNU came to play.

[Wall Ball]

Holy S<€%# CNU. What a game. Congratulations Captains.

[ergit]

Holy S<€%# CNU. What a game. Congratulations Captains.

Great finish. And celebration too...

[ah23]

Alex Brendes having the wherewithal to pull out the dead fish celebration after the biggest goal of his life is an all-time moment. Incredible moment

[DeepPocket]

Kudos to Tufts. They imposed their will. #39 on faceoffs did very well from what I saw.

[Nosey Ned]

Alex Brendes having the wherewithal to pull out the dead fish celebration after the biggest goal of his life is an all-time moment. Incredible moment

Agreed... great game. And I loved the celebration - the dead fish! I laughed out loud seeing that!

As was said week 1 .... a win in February is not equal to a win in May. Unfortunately we won’t get the rematch we all expected. Congratulations to the Captains yes, of course... but I’m not sure I like the idea of a team having to beat another team for a 4th time to advance. But hey, that’s what the Gulls will have to do. Game on!

[YCOLaxFanSU]

They are straight up toying with one of the best defenses in the country.

That defense never exactly played a top offense this year.

[ah23]

They are straight up toying with one of the best defenses in the country.

That defense never exactly played a top offense this year.

You're right, but York has a very consistent track record over the past few years. They are always very, very good on defense. I assume by your username you know their results against ranked teams in recent years - they almost always put the clamps on people. I give them the benefit of the doubt even though they didn't play any very good offenses in 2021.

[riptide45]

Yet again we have RIT v Tufts. Gotta think if tufts plays like they did today and RIT plays like they did we’ll see another undefeated #1 RIT season ending at the hands of Tufts.

[richard]

York had opportunities in the first half. They were either stonewalled or off target. By the middle of the third they had given up. Tufts kept on rumbling. Not sure what was meant by RIT playing the way they did today. It looked fine to me. Colorado played pretty well. RIT stayed the course and won going away.

[SouthernLaxGenius]

Instead of RIT being overvalued, maybe we under valued Colorado College and what they brought to the table

[SouthernLaxGenius]

Holy S<€%# CNU. What a game. Congratulations Captains.

+1

Who (other than the CNU faithful) saw this coming?

D III Playoffs at its finest.

We want more!

[smoova]

Instead of RIT being overvalued, maybe we under valued Colorado College and what they brought to the table

+1