2022--The Season in Review

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

There will be lots and lots to unpack from the '22 season. The year women's lacrosse got back to a semblance of normal. Janine Tucker and Chris Sailer wave goodbye after decades of coaching and hundreds of wins. Announcements of Stony Brook and JMU moving conferences--and a new rivalry is born in the AAC! Finally some in conference competition for Gainesville State. The emergence of the Arizona State Golden Tridents. Yale makes things interesting in the Ivy for a while. Syracuse begins a new era with Kayla Treanor as head coach. The Terps got back to looking like, well, the Terps. And scores of other stories.

Stay tuned all you buckaroos--you dudes and dudettes.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

Michigan salvaged their season well by bumping the Irish from the big dance. They started their season with 7 straight wins including a serving notice victory over the then #5 Blue and Gold. Yet the middle of the season saw the Wolverines lose their way dropping 6 of 9 and 4 straight to miss the Big 10 tournament. On the strength of their wins over ranked opponents they were awarded a dance card which was legitimized with their win over the Irish in the first round. I was surprised and pleased the Wolverines won a tournament game. I wasn't sure how the rest of the year would go after witnessing this scene in the 13-8 loss at Rutgers. Nielsen standing over her player scolding and the player not making eye contact wasn't a good look.



I thought maybe the team had started to tune out coach Nielsen. No doubt her fiery intense personality might get a little wearying over the course of a season let alone a career. I hope it's not the case. Michigan is one of the teams I always root for. On the whole I'd say it was a decent season at 11-7. They scheduled good competition outside the conference though they didn't do well inside the Big 10 finishing at 2-4 regular season, 2-5 overall.

Who will be returning? Two grads will not be back, one of whom is excellent GK Weissman. One significant 5th year in Caitlin Muir and 8 seniors are also eligible to move on. How many return might be an indication as to the enjoyment level of the players.

We'll see what '23 brings.

[wlaxphan20]

Michigan salvaged their season well by bumping the Irish from the big dance. They started their season with 7 straight wins including a serving notice victory over the then #5 Blue and Gold. Yet the middle of the season saw the Wolverines lose their way dropping 6 of 9 and 4 straight to miss the Big 10 tournament. On the strength of their wins over ranked opponents they were awarded a dance card which was legitimized with their win over the Irish in the first round. I was surprised and pleased the Wolverines won a tournament game. I wasn't sure how the rest of the year would go after witnessing this scene in the 13-8 loss at Rutgers. Nielsen standing over her player scolding and the player not making eye contact wasn't a good look.



I thought maybe the team had started to tune out coach Nielsen. No doubt her fiery intense personality might get a little wearying over the course of a season let alone a career. I hope it's not the case. Michigan is one of the teams I always root for. On the whole I'd say it was a decent season at 11-7. They scheduled good competition outside the conference though they didn't do well inside the Big 10 finishing at 2-4 regular season, 2-5 overall.

Who will be returning? Two grads will not be back, one of whom is excellent GK Weissman. One significant 5th year in Caitlin Muir and 8 seniors are also eligible to move on. How many return might be an indication as to the enjoyment level of the players.

We'll see what '23 brings.

That is a whole lot to take away from just a split second clip of a coach and a player interacting. Looking at their other box scores, it looks like yellow cards were a bit of an issue for Michigan in their first 11 games (24 cards total), particularly in the game just before this Rutgers one against Northwestern. It was a close game (Michigan lost 12-9 but it was a close game throughout) but Michigan had 5 yellow cards with 4 of them coming before halftime. 4 of NU's goals were scored in man-up situations. I imagine that it was probably a point of emphasis for Michigan to stop putting themselves at a disadvantage by racking up YC's. In the clip above, we are half way through the 1st quarter and Michigan has already received their second yellow card. I really can't blame Nielsen for being frustrated. We really don't know if #14 never made eye contact because we saw the interaction for all of 0.5 seconds, but she was probably frustrated with herself too. To be completely honest, I don't see anything wrong with Nielsen's demeanor at all. Being on the receiving end of that as a player is never fun, but I don't think what we are seeing is that bad. Is she scolding her player or holding them accountable? We don't even know what is being said. Not a good look? Players tuning Nielsen out? Fiery intense personality might get a little wearying? I don't know anything about the player-coach dynamics at Michigan, but those are not speculations I would make just from that clip alone.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

Michigan salvaged their season well by bumping the Irish from the big dance. They started their season with 7 straight wins including a serving notice victory over the then #5 Blue and Gold. Yet the middle of the season saw the Wolverines lose their way dropping 6 of 9 and 4 straight to miss the Big 10 tournament. On the strength of their wins over ranked opponents they were awarded a dance card which was legitimized with their win over the Irish in the first round. I was surprised and pleased the Wolverines won a tournament game. I wasn't sure how the rest of the year would go after witnessing this scene in the 13-8 loss at Rutgers. Nielsen standing over her player scolding and the player not making eye contact wasn't a good look.



I thought maybe the team had started to tune out coach Nielsen. No doubt her fiery intense personality might get a little wearying over the course of a season let alone a career. I hope it's not the case. Michigan is one of the teams I always root for. On the whole I'd say it was a decent season at 11-7. They scheduled good competition outside the conference though they didn't do well inside the Big 10 finishing at 2-4 regular season, 2-5 overall.

Who will be returning? Two grads will not be back, one of whom is excellent GK Weissman. One significant 5th year in Caitlin Muir and 8 seniors are also eligible to move on. How many return might be an indication as to the enjoyment level of the players.

We'll see what '23 brings.

That is a whole lot to take away from just a split second clip of a coach and a player interacting. Looking at their other box scores, it looks like yellow cards were a bit of an issue for Michigan in their first 11 games (24 cards total), particularly in the game just before this Rutgers one against Northwestern. It was a close game (Michigan lost 12-9 but it was a close game throughout) but Michigan had 5 yellow cards with 4 of them coming before halftime. 4 of NU's goals were scored in man-up situations. I imagine that it was probably a point of emphasis for Michigan to stop putting themselves at a disadvantage by racking up YC's. In the clip above, we are half way through the 1st quarter and Michigan has already received their second yellow card. I really can't blame Nielsen for being frustrated. We really don't know if #14 never made eye contact because we saw the interaction for all of 0.5 seconds, but she was probably frustrated with herself too. To be completely honest, I don't see anything wrong with Nielsen's demeanor at all. Being on the receiving end of that as a player is never fun, but I don't think what we are seeing is that bad. Is she scolding her player or holding them accountable? We don't even know what is being said. Not a good look? Players tuning Nielsen out? Fiery intense personality might get a little wearying? I don't know anything about the player-coach dynamics at Michigan, but those are not speculations I would make just from that clip alone.

Maybe so – but in this age of increased awareness of mental health among players, I don’t know how much longer we’ll be seeing things like this.

[wlaxphan20]

Michigan salvaged their season well by bumping the Irish from the big dance. They started their season with 7 straight wins including a serving notice victory over the then #5 Blue and Gold. Yet the middle of the season saw the Wolverines lose their way dropping 6 of 9 and 4 straight to miss the Big 10 tournament. On the strength of their wins over ranked opponents they were awarded a dance card which was legitimized with their win over the Irish in the first round. I was surprised and pleased the Wolverines won a tournament game. I wasn't sure how the rest of the year would go after witnessing this scene in the 13-8 loss at Rutgers. Nielsen standing over her player scolding and the player not making eye contact wasn't a good look.



I thought maybe the team had started to tune out coach Nielsen. No doubt her fiery intense personality might get a little wearying over the course of a season let alone a career. I hope it's not the case. Michigan is one of the teams I always root for. On the whole I'd say it was a decent season at 11-7. They scheduled good competition outside the conference though they didn't do well inside the Big 10 finishing at 2-4 regular season, 2-5 overall.

Who will be returning? Two grads will not be back, one of whom is excellent GK Weissman. One significant 5th year in Caitlin Muir and 8 seniors are also eligible to move on. How many return might be an indication as to the enjoyment level of the players.

We'll see what '23 brings.

That is a whole lot to take away from just a split second clip of a coach and a player interacting. Looking at their other box scores, it looks like yellow cards were a bit of an issue for Michigan in their first 11 games (24 cards total), particularly in the game just before this Rutgers one against Northwestern. It was a close game (Michigan lost 12-9 but it was a close game throughout) but Michigan had 5 yellow cards with 4 of them coming before halftime. 4 of NU's goals were scored in man-up situations. I imagine that it was probably a point of emphasis for Michigan to stop putting themselves at a disadvantage by racking up YC's. In the clip above, we are half way through the 1st quarter and Michigan has already received their second yellow card. I really can't blame Nielsen for being frustrated. We really don't know if #14 never made eye contact because we saw the interaction for all of 0.5 seconds, but she was probably frustrated with herself too. To be completely honest, I don't see anything wrong with Nielsen's demeanor at all. Being on the receiving end of that as a player is never fun, but I don't think what we are seeing is that bad. Is she scolding her player or holding them accountable? We don't even know what is being said. Not a good look? Players tuning Nielsen out? Fiery intense personality might get a little wearying? I don't know anything about the player-coach dynamics at Michigan, but those are not speculations I would make just from that clip alone.

Maybe so – but in this age of increased awareness of mental health among players, I don’t know how much longer we’ll be seeing things like this.

Seeing things like what? A coach having what appears to be a stern word with a player?

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

Michigan salvaged their season well by bumping the Irish from the big dance. They started their season with 7 straight wins including a serving notice victory over the then #5 Blue and Gold. Yet the middle of the season saw the Wolverines lose their way dropping 6 of 9 and 4 straight to miss the Big 10 tournament. On the strength of their wins over ranked opponents they were awarded a dance card which was legitimized with their win over the Irish in the first round. I was surprised and pleased the Wolverines won a tournament game. I wasn't sure how the rest of the year would go after witnessing this scene in the 13-8 loss at Rutgers. Nielsen standing over her player scolding and the player not making eye contact wasn't a good look.



I thought maybe the team had started to tune out coach Nielsen. No doubt her fiery intense personality might get a little wearying over the course of a season let alone a career. I hope it's not the case. Michigan is one of the teams I always root for. On the whole I'd say it was a decent season at 11-7. They scheduled good competition outside the conference though they didn't do well inside the Big 10 finishing at 2-4 regular season, 2-5 overall.

Who will be returning? Two grads will not be back, one of whom is excellent GK Weissman. One significant 5th year in Caitlin Muir and 8 seniors are also eligible to move on. How many return might be an indication as to the enjoyment level of the players.

We'll see what '23 brings.

That is a whole lot to take away from just a split second clip of a coach and a player interacting. Looking at their other box scores, it looks like yellow cards were a bit of an issue for Michigan in their first 11 games (24 cards total), particularly in the game just before this Rutgers one against Northwestern. It was a close game (Michigan lost 12-9 but it was a close game throughout) but Michigan had 5 yellow cards with 4 of them coming before halftime. 4 of NU's goals were scored in man-up situations. I imagine that it was probably a point of emphasis for Michigan to stop putting themselves at a disadvantage by racking up YC's. In the clip above, we are half way through the 1st quarter and Michigan has already received their second yellow card. I really can't blame Nielsen for being frustrated. We really don't know if #14 never made eye contact because we saw the interaction for all of 0.5 seconds, but she was probably frustrated with herself too. To be completely honest, I don't see anything wrong with Nielsen's demeanor at all. Being on the receiving end of that as a player is never fun, but I don't think what we are seeing is that bad. Is she scolding her player or holding them accountable? We don't even know what is being said. Not a good look? Players tuning Nielsen out? Fiery intense personality might get a little wearying? I don't know anything about the player-coach dynamics at Michigan, but those are not speculations I would make just from that clip alone.

Maybe so – but in this age of increased awareness of mental health among players, I don’t know how much longer we’ll be seeing things like this.

Seeing things like what? A coach having what appears to be a stern word with a player?

We shall see...

[njbill]

I just took a quick lipreading course this afternoon.

In the 0.5 second clip, the coach said, "are you OK?" The player said, "yes."

[8meterPA]

Michigan salvaged their season well by bumping the Irish from the big dance. They started their season with 7 straight wins including a serving notice victory over the then #5 Blue and Gold. Yet the middle of the season saw the Wolverines lose their way dropping 6 of 9 and 4 straight to miss the Big 10 tournament. On the strength of their wins over ranked opponents they were awarded a dance card which was legitimized with their win over the Irish in the first round. I was surprised and pleased the Wolverines won a tournament game. I wasn't sure how the rest of the year would go after witnessing this scene in the 13-8 loss at Rutgers. Nielsen standing over her player scolding and the player not making eye contact wasn't a good look.



I thought maybe the team had started to tune out coach Nielsen. No doubt her fiery intense personality might get a little wearying over the course of a season let alone a career. I hope it's not the case. Michigan is one of the teams I always root for. On the whole I'd say it was a decent season at 11-7. They scheduled good competition outside the conference though they didn't do well inside the Big 10 finishing at 2-4 regular season, 2-5 overall.

Who will be returning? Two grads will not be back, one of whom is excellent GK Weissman. One significant 5th year in Caitlin Muir and 8 seniors are also eligible to move on. How many return might be an indication as to the enjoyment level of the players.

We'll see what '23 brings.

That is a whole lot to take away from just a split second clip of a coach and a player interacting. Looking at their other box scores, it looks like yellow cards were a bit of an issue for Michigan in their first 11 games (24 cards total), particularly in the game just before this Rutgers one against Northwestern. It was a close game (Michigan lost 12-9 but it was a close game throughout) but Michigan had 5 yellow cards with 4 of them coming before halftime. 4 of NU's goals were scored in man-up situations. I imagine that it was probably a point of emphasis for Michigan to stop putting themselves at a disadvantage by racking up YC's. In the clip above, we are half way through the 1st quarter and Michigan has already received their second yellow card. I really can't blame Nielsen for being frustrated. We really don't know if #14 never made eye contact because we saw the interaction for all of 0.5 seconds, but she was probably frustrated with herself too. To be completely honest, I don't see anything wrong with Nielsen's demeanor at all. Being on the receiving end of that as a player is never fun, but I don't think what we are seeing is that bad. Is she scolding her player or holding them accountable? We don't even know what is being said. Not a good look? Players tuning Nielsen out? Fiery intense personality might get a little wearying? I don't know anything about the player-coach dynamics at Michigan, but those are not speculations I would make just from that clip alone.

Maybe so – but in this age of increased awareness of mental health among players, I don’t know how much longer we’ll be seeing things like this.

like what?

[Seacoaster(1)]

Like telling your player that she needs to be more careful with her stick, to use her feet to play defense, and to avoid yellow cards that put our team a women down. Can’t have that. Hannah Neilson is mean. All from maybe four seconds of a fraction of the interaction between mean coach and player.

[wlaxphan20]

Like telling your player that she needs to be more careful with her stick, to use her feet to play defense, and to avoid yellow cards that put our team a women down. Can’t have that. Hannah Neilson is mean. All from maybe four seconds of a fraction of the interaction between mean coach and player.

Sounds just like that Cathy Reese

[8meterPA]

Like telling your player that she needs to be more careful with her stick, to use her feet to play defense, and to avoid yellow cards that put our team a women down. Can’t have that. Hannah Neilson is mean. All from maybe four seconds of a fraction of the interaction between mean coach and player.

Sounds just like that Cathy Reese

If that interaction is a litmus test , boy do I have stories....

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

Without a doubt, this 17-11 win over Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA's was the pinnacle of the Wolverines '22 season:

Last night the Wolverines knocked Notre Dame out of the tournament on the shores of Lake Michigan, fittingly enough. It was a clear and sparkling case of a goaltender winning a game for her teammates.

Consider the numbers:

Arielle Weissman made 17 saves on the 28 shots she faced.

In these other categories, it is apparent that Weissman was the explanation.

Notre Dame won the free position shots battle 9-4; draw controls 19-13; turnovers 13-20 and shots on goal 28-20.

[Justalaxdad]

I just took a quick lipreading course this afternoon.

In the 0.5 second clip, the coach said, "are you OK?" The player said, "yes."

THIS

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

In the end, Duke got their comeuppance for the cupcake out of conference schedule. Didn't help them in either the ACC tournament where they were trounced 19-11 in the first round by Notre Dame, and then dragged up and down the field 19-6 by Maryland in the NCAA 2nd round. They obviously tried to take advantage of their ability to schedule their own opponents and in the end it didn't help them. They were unseeded in the NCAA's and looked like a team totally unworthy of even being mentioned among the elite of 2022 after being blown out in 3 of their last 4 in spite of the nice win over BC, which ultimately has to be considered the pinnacle of '22 for Duke. It will be interesting to see what Duke's OOC looks like in '23.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

One of the great action photographs from 2022--snapped during Yale's 20-15 win over Army ending their 10 game win streak.

[LarryGamLax]

Agree with wlaxphan20 about ONW and another one of his "clips"...Seriously? You actually said that Hannah Neilsen scolding her player is not a good look? What in HELL is a good look?
In the ONW world, coaches cannot be angry or upset with player's play on the field. Players can't make mistakes without hearing the word 'choke' attached to it. It's bizarre and ridiculous and shows great disrespect to the athletes and the sport.
It seems that all we can do is pushback when he goes on a clip-tirade and hopefully bring some knowledge and facts to the discussion(for lack of a better word.

[njbill]

clip-tirade

I hope you trademark that. You can make some money.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

... shows great disrespect to the athletes...

Wait a second, let me get this straight – the guy who repeatedly ripped Rachel Hall is pointing his finger at me about disrespecting athletes??

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

Michigan salvaged their season well by bumping the Irish from the big dance. They started their season with 7 straight wins including a serving notice victory over the then #5 Blue and Gold. Yet the middle of the season saw the Wolverines lose their way dropping 6 of 9 and 4 straight to miss the Big 10 tournament. On the strength of their wins over ranked opponents they were awarded a dance card which was legitimized with their win over the Irish in the first round. I was surprised and pleased the Wolverines won a tournament game. I wasn't sure how the rest of the year would go after witnessing this scene in the 13-8 loss at Rutgers. Nielsen standing over her player scolding and the player not making eye contact wasn't a good look.


I thought maybe the team had started to tune out coach Nielsen. No doubt her fiery intense personality might get a little wearying over the course of a season let alone a career. I hope it's not the case. Michigan is one of the teams I always root for. On the whole I'd say it was a decent season at 11-7. They scheduled good competition outside the conference though they didn't do well inside the Big 10 finishing at 2-4 regular season, 2-5 overall.

Who will be returning? Two grads will not be back, one of whom is excellent GK Weissman. One significant 5th year in Caitlin Muir and 8 seniors are also eligible to move on. How many return might be an indication as to the enjoyment level of the players.

We'll see what '23 brings.

in this age of increased awareness of mental health among players, I don’t know how much longer we’ll be seeing things like this.

This right here. Read between the lines.

...for the record, I have heard about some whoppers too.

As an aside, I think we can start to expect more whoppers over the next 3-5-7 years. I have talked to a handful of coaches (of varying ages and backgrounds) who have left the sport in recent years and they all sang the same song. The athletes are changing and coaches are having to manage more off the field because of it. Given the lack of bandwidth (small staffs, pay, recruiting, etc.) the juice was no longer justifying the squeeze. This isn't a backhanded shot at the athletes. They are just saying that the 18-22 year old athlete today is significantly different than the 18-22 year old athlete from 12-15-20 years ago.

[wlaxphan20]

... shows great disrespect to the athletes...

Wait a second, let me get this straight – the guy who repeatedly ripped Rachel Hall is pointing his finger at me about disrespecting athletes??

You do know there is a difference between assessing actual game play and statistics and backing it up with evidence versus the complete fabrication of stories from a 5 second video clip, don't you?