Ravaging Beast wrote:A couple more things to take into consideration when looking at the FSU v SFU game. SFU 26 players on their roster while FSU has 42 players (and a kid named Milt Champberlin...has to count for something). I remember seeing the old SFU teams in St. Louis with maybe 20 players. Looked very tough for them.
Weather may also play a major role. It's usually in the 90's in Dallas during the tournament. I looked at the weather in Vancouver and it isn't going to break 60 this week. I don't know if they use Celsius in Canada or not, but 60 degrees Fahrenheit is not that warm. When we were prepping for Dallas, we used to practice in full sweats to get ready for the heat. It worked pretty well.
I read an earlier post about Canadian style lacrosse. I never really factored that in. I've played against some Canadians and it definitely throws you off a little bit. So I'll give them that.
Anyways...I'm excited to see the Clan back at Nationals. I loved seeing a team with such a small roster work their butts off to keep up with the bigger teams. Good luck to SFU, but I just think they have the biggest upset potential.
There comes a point in roster size where it doesn't matter how many more guys you have, games don't get decided by your 5th string longpoles. This SFU team is legit, with all 26 players seeing playing time and contributing. In fact, SFU just cycled through attack and middie lines against Oregon, with everyone seeing field throughout the game, not just in garbage time. I doubt players 27-42 on FSU are going to make a difference.
The heat will definately be a factor. I remember struggling with it in St Louis and that sure ain't Texas heat. We'll see how SFU handles it. I'm sure its going to affect every team. One thing you may want to consider If you want an idea of the conditioning level of SFU: Oregon's coach after the PNCLL final,
"Sunday was a warm day, and on the turf of the football field it was warm enough to break a sweat with a light jog. When we took to the field, we were in our shooting shirts and they were in their full gear. Also they had fewer numbers than we had, so I thought that we were going to have the advantage on endurance. That ended up being a false assumption."
