2008 Lax World MCLA Division 2 Top 25 Poll (4/30/08) is out!

[Gvlax]

ft lewis proved themselves big time when it mattered most

[Laxer19]

Agreed, I believe Wally has got it pretty close. All I have to say is this will be one heck of a national tourney.
The 3-4-5 spots are really up and down right now. Dayton whomps SJU. UST crushes dayton. SJU loses to UST, then rebounds to pull the win over UST. However, I feel SJU should stay at 5 being that they have lost to both the (assumed) 3/4 teams. Pulling off the win against the current number 2 team.
SJU/UST game was pretty sloppy. SJU had more decent possesions where UST failed to really set up an offensive rhythm until the last 5 minutes.
Anyone know what the Westminny/Fort game was like?

[WallyLaxFan]

As far as my thinking in the final poll goes, Westmin is obviously going to stay at number 1. Grand Valley is likely going to get to #2, given the fact they beat Dayton and St. Thomas lost to SJU, not to mention the fact that Grand Valley beat St. Thomas in the regular season. St. Thomas will be at #3, I don't see how you could put Dayton ahead of them given that St. Thomas beat them pretty handily in the regular season. With St. John's tournament win, that puts them ahead of Elon into the #5 spot. I think Elon will be at #6, Ft. Lewis had a great weekend, but I don't know if it is good enough to get them ahead of #7. Emory will be at #8, but not high enough to get an AL bid. By winning their conference tournament, W. Oregon should move up won spot. Harding had a great weekend also, but I don't know if it is good enough to get ahead of W. Oregon.

[scooter]

As far as my thinking in the final poll goes, Westmin is obviously going to stay at number 1. Grand Valley is likely going to get to #2, given the fact they beat Dayton and St. Thomas lost to SJU, not to mention the fact that Grand Valley beat St. Thomas in the regular season. St. Thomas will be at #3, I don't see how you could put Dayton ahead of them given that St. Thomas beat them pretty handily in the regular season. With St. John's tournament win, that puts them ahead of Elon into the #5 spot. I think Elon will be at #6, Ft. Lewis had a great weekend, but I don't know if it is good enough to get them ahead of #7. Emory will be at #8, but not high enough to get an AL bid. By winning their conference tournament, W. Oregon should move up won spot. Harding had a great weekend also, but I don't know if it is good enough to get ahead of W. Oregon.

Why does Westminster stay #1? I think there is a legitimate case to put GVSU there, given the results of the weekend.

[emlax13]

So what are the odds that some team does not accept their bid to Dallas? I also find it ironic that Fort Lewis knocks Emory out of this tournament when Emory did it to Fort Lewis last year.

[Brew26]

Westminster stays in first because they have beat up on all of the top 25 teams they played except for the championship game where the team they were playing was fighting for a spot in Nationals and redemption for their loss to UNC.

GVSU is obviously second then.

St. Thomas would go to third with their strong overall season even after their loss to SJU in the ship.

St. John's takes fourth for their huge win against a strong St. Thomas team. They also have (+/- of -4 in goals against UST). You could say that SJU had a bad game against Dayton if you compare their records against other teams they played.

Dayton takes fifth for a loss in the ship but they had a good win against Emory which now is a team that probably will not make nationals. (+/- of -9 against UST)

(I think that Dayton/SJU could go either way)

Elon takes 6th because they were idle and Dayton beat Emory in a much more convincing way.

Fort Lewis takes 7th with an impressive showing in the playoffs but a bad loss to UNC.

Emory takes 8th for a good season but some bad losses to top teams at the end of the year.

WOU takes 9th with a strong finish to the year.

Harding takes 10th with a strong finish as well.

[WallyLaxFan]

Does anyone know the final for the WCLL DII championship?

[Sonny]

Westminster stays in first because they have beat up on all of the top 25 teams they played except for the championship game where the team they were playing was fighting for a spot in Nationals and redemption for their loss to UNC.

GVSU is obviously second then.

St. Thomas would go to third with their strong overall season even after their loss to SJU in the ship.

St. John's takes fourth for their huge win against a strong St. Thomas team. They also have (+/- of -4 in goals against UST). You could say that SJU had a bad game against Dayton if you compare their records against other teams they played.

Dayton takes fifth for a loss in the ship but they had a good win against Emory which now is a team that probably will not make nationals. (+/- of -9 against UST)

(I think that Dayton/SJU could go either way)

Elon takes 6th because they were idle and Dayton beat Emory in a much more convincing way.

Fort Lewis takes 7th with an impressive showing in the playoffs but a bad loss to UNC.

Emory takes 8th for a good season but some bad losses to top teams at the end of the year.

WOU takes 9th with a strong finish to the year.

Harding takes 10th with a strong finish as well.

There are only four At-Large bids for the Division 2 tournament. Bolded teams are AQ's. Southwestern and Framingham State also receive AQ's. Still waiting on the WCLL AQ too.

[scooter]

Westminster stays in first because they have beat up on all of the top 25 teams they played except for the championship game where the team they were playing was fighting for a spot in Nationals and redemption for their loss to UNC.

I would say that GVSU has the better resume. Aside from Fort Lewis, Westminster really hasn't played any D2 teams of note. It may just be me, but I'm not convinced they deserve to be the #1 team in the country. Who have the beat that says "we deserve to be #1"?

[Brew26]

Sonny I was just doing a top 10 poll. Sorry if I didnt clarify that. The AL's would be GVSU, Dayton, UST, and Fort Lewis. I just thought Emory would still be in the top 10 for the poll. And for the other AQ's, it would go the WCLL team as the next highest ranked team and Framingham as the final position in the poll going to Nationals.

As for Westi/GVSU, you cannot say aside from this team that they played twice. Westminster destroyed Fort Lewis and then beat them again. That is hard task for any team to do and Fort is not a bad team by any means. GVSU has played and beat the two top 5 teams they played by a margin of 4 goals total, which is a very strong resume and no one disagrees with that. Westminster has played five times against top 25 teams and have won by a total margin of 38 goals (around there), which is also a strong resume. Its a matter of personal thought.

As for Dayton and SJU, they will be getting a rematch either way it goes because it seems everyone thinks they should be 4 and 5 in the poll. Neither team I think will lose to Framingham.

[LPM21]

Biola dismantled UCSC 15-3...sleeper team IMO that hopefully represents the WCLL well at the National Tournament

[Laxer19]

I'm with Brew on this one. Although GVSU has been doing things to prove they are a top team, Westminny has been the top team, and has yet to do anything to convince us that they're not. 3 very close games to 3 top 25 D-1 teams, plus convincing wins over every d-2 team they have played with the exception of the Fort game. Not enough to drop them off the top spot. Gvlax, we know that GVSU is a great squad this year, but i dont think the hop to first is a posibillity. However, the national tourney decides who is really number 1.

[Gvlax]

you wont be seeing me asking for a number 1 spot.

[laxmid1077]

I dont think Westmin will fall off the high spot because a "W" is a "W" despite the score, especially when we get to conference playoffs time. What happened to UST today? Anyone have first hand comments? Dayton played an excellent game against GVSU in the second half of the game but GVSU was able to slow their momentum at the most opportunistic times. Two nice wins against #2 and #3 should help them out especially with UST losing to SJU. This NC tourney is looking to be filled with many rematches of regular season and playoff games. Should be very very exciting!!!

[TheBearcatHimself]

Biola dismantled UCSC 15-3...sleeper team IMO that hopefully represents the WCLL well at the National Tournament

Let's hope they were planning on dismantling them...