Bear Lax Banquet Honors and the penultimate BLTF for 2012

The 2012 Lacrosse BanquetThe 2012 Lacrosse Banquet

From reports of the event, the Captains’ parents did a spectacular job organizing and hosting this annual year end event. Kudos to Monica Brown, Marty Schnider and Anne Marie Strabo!!!!

Coach Bordley captivated the crowd with his recollections of this eventful season and introduced all of the player classes (’15 [1], ‘14[9], ’13[17],’12 [10]).

The awards were as follows:

• Co-MVP’s : Alex Joyce and Hank Brown,

• Most Valuable: Offense : Charlie Schnider,

• Most Valuable Defense : Mark Strabo,

• Most Improved  Player: Alex Povich

• Khari Batten Award : Matt Potolicchio

• Boiardi Award : Sellers “Artie” Garrett

• All IAC : Strabo, Joyce, Schnider, Brown and Laco.

• Under Armour : Charlie Schnider and Alex Joyce.

• Yet to be announced: All Met, Gazette and Tewaarton

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BLTF 5/20/12 by John NicholsBLTF 5/20/12 by John Nichols

D-I

NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals:

Saturday, Navy Marine Corps Stadium, Annapolis MD

In the first game, Maryland (Kellen Miller) punched their ticket to Boston by upsetting #2 seed Johns Hopkins.  Maryland built an early lead and controlled the game to coast to a relatively easy win.  The win marks the first time since 1973 that the Terrapins have beaten the Blue Jays twice in one season.  Maryland now moves on to play Duke in the second semi-final game this coming Saturday.  This marks the second consecutive appearance in the Final Four by Maryland.

In the second game, Denver (Harrison Archer) got their third shot at #1 seed Loyola.  The Pioneers dropped the first two contests, but took Loyola into overtime in the ECAC semi’s, so the Pioneers figured to have some measure of momentum on their side.  Down 10-7 with 8 minutes remaining, Denver mounted a comeback to pull within 1 with 2:43 remaining.  Despite some shocking incompetence on the part of Loyola while they attempted  to stall until the end of the game, the  Pioneers could not get the tying goal and the Greyhounds hung on to advance to the Final Four.  Loyola will face Notre Dame in the first semi-final game this coming Saturday in Boston.

Sunday, PPL Park, Chester, PA

Duke (Josh Offit) and Colgate turned out to be not much of a game at all.  After Colgate built an early lead, the Blue Devils went on a 9-0 to go up 11-4 at the half.  The second half was more of the same and Duke won 17-6.  Josh scored one goal in the game.  Duke will now face Maryland in the semi-finals in Boston.  Last year, Maryland beat Duke in the semi’s and the two teams split games earlier this season.

A furious rally by Virginia failed to catch the Notre Dame Fighting Irish who were able break open a close game by scoring 4 straight goals after the score was tied at 8 in the fourth quarter.  # 4 seed Notre Dame will now take on #1 seed Loyola in the first game of the semi-finals this coming Saturday.

D-I Final Four Preview

In game 1, #1 seed Loyola will play #4 seed Notre Dame.  These two teams last met in 2010 in a regular season game which Notre Dame won 11-9.

Maryland will face Duke in the second game, which will be the rubber match after the teams split games earlier this season.  This paring ensure that there will be a Bear with a shot at the NCAA crown on Monday.

I will miss watching these games as I will be walking my daughter Paige down the aisle of First United Methodist Church in Charlottesville at the same time game 1 faces off on Saturday.

Bears vs. Bears NCAA D-I Tournament Flashback-2005

The 2005 Men’s Lacrosse Championship weekend featured four teams with significant Bear representation:

• ·        Virginia—Matt Ward and Chris Ourisman

• ·        Johns Hopkins-Jake Byrne

• ·        Duke-David Evans, John Walsh and Peter Lamade

• ·        Maryland-Ian and Brendan Healy

These players had been a big part of the Bears’ run of 37 consecutive wins and back-to-back national #1 rankings over the 2001 and 2002 seasons. 

UVA, featuring Matt Ward and Chris Ourisman faced Johns Hopkins and Jake Byrne in the semi-finals.  The Blue Jays got out to an early lead and, up 5-2 midway through the 3rd period, seemed to be easily on their way to the finals and a shot at an undefeated season.  Then a huge thunderstorm swept through Philadelphia, causing havoc on the field and a suspension of the game.  UVA rallied to score the go-ahead goal with 12 seconds left as Matt Ward netted his fourth goal of the game after UVA held the ball for over 3 minutes to get that final goal.  While it looked like the ‘Hoos were on their way to the finals, the Blue Jays got a quick face-off win, fed the ball into their offensive zone to Jake Byrne who scored the game tying goal (and his second of the game) with just 0:01 showing on the clock.  Hopkins went on to score with 50 seconds left in overtime after both teams had opportunities to put away the game throughout the overtime period. 

The other semi-final game was far less dramatic as Duke (David Evans, John Walsh and Peter Lamade) squared off against Maryland (Ian and Brendan Healy).  Duke surrendered the first goal of the game then scored 9 straight to run away with an 18-9 win.

The Duke-JHU final was close game.  Duke scored the first goal of the game but could not extend their lead beyond 2 goals at any point in the game.  Down 8-6 early in the third quarter, Hopkins scored 3 unanswered goals to take a 9-8 lead.  The last of those goals was scored at the 13:35 mark of the fourth period by Jake Byrne.  That final 13:35 was not the stall ball we have all become too used to of late.  Each team had 5 possessions, none longer than 2:41.  The two teams took 9 shots, 4 of which resulted in saves, and committed 5 turnovers and 2 penalties.  Hopkins was successful in killing off the last 2:29 of the game to hold on for the 9-8 win.

D-III

On Wednesday, Tufts (Nick Rhoads and Mark Findaro) hosted RIT in a quarter-final game.  The Jumbos got the 15-13 win to advance to the D-III semifinals for the third straight year.  Nick Rhoads was 17 for 31 on faceoffs, took 3 shots in the game and got 2 ground balls.  Mark Findaro scored his 3^rd goal of the year (and career!).  That was the second goal of a four goal run by Tufts that put the game virtually out of reach.  The win over RIT gave the Jumbos the right to face #1 North seed Cortland State on Sunday.

Tufts graduation ceremonies were also scheduled or Sunday so the seniors on the lacrosse team will miss the school’s full ceremonies, but Tufts held a special graduation ceremony for them.  The picture below, courtesy of Joe Findaro, shows the full complement of senior laxers with sticks and diplomas.  Congratulations to all!

Tufts season came to an end on Sunday as the Jumbos fell 12-10 to Cortland State.  The Jumbos dominated early and were up 9-4 early in the third quarter.  Then Cortland state went on an 8-1 run to put the game away.  Nick Rhoads was 14 for 25 on face-offs, scored a goal and got 9 ground balls.  Mark Findaro took 2 shots and had 2 ground balls.  Cortland who will now face Salisbury, the #1 South seed and defending D-III champs.

With the loss, Nick and Mark wrap up their collegiate careers.  Over the past four years, the Jumbos have become a D-III power, winning the D-III championship in 2010 and returning for the championship game in 2011.  Over his four years at Tufts, Nick was a dominant force at the face-offs, winning 874 of 1584 face-offs (55.2%), never finishing a season with less than 53% wins at the X.  He was also a ground ball machine, average over 6 per game over the last four years.  For Mark Findaro, 2012 turned out to be a great year.  He scored three goals and dished out one assist to get the first points of his Tufts career.  Congratulations to these two great Bears for their many accomplishments at Tufts!

D-III Conference Honors for:

Nick Rhoads—Nick made the first team All-NESCAC this year.  Nick led the conference in ground balls and had the third best face-off record in the conference, winning 59.9% of his face-offs.

Tommy Minkler—Tommy made the second team All-North Coast Athletic Conference.  Tommy was one of 3 freshmen, all from Ohio Wesleyan, earning all-conference honors.  Tommy scored 24 goals and dished out 21 assists for the Battling Bishops, averaging 3 points per game.

Drew Hayhurst—Drew made the second team All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.  Drew started 14 of the Tiger’s 17 games this year, had 21 ground balls and 3 caused turnovers.