Harrison Wins Tewaaraton

[CyLaxKeeper00]

Just came back to USLIA after lurking in Laxpower's Men's College Forum. Most clearly felt that Harrison was the right choice, yet there were also some who felt that Brodie was the better choice. Well, New Jersey Pride will feel good about having Kyle, and the Bayhawks will feel that Brodie is a steal.

Rob is right that Danko will have his chance of getting his hand on the Tewaaraton Trophy next year or in his senior year. Imagine if he wins it and his Duke female counterpart, Chrest wins it next year. That will make Duke the only school to have two Tewaaraton Trophy winners.

I guess I can start going to Pride games again. I wonder if he'll be suiting up next home game.

[slider]

Pigpen touched on it in his post, but the reason Harrison is the right choice was his performance in big games during the season. Hopkins won several OT games on their way to being the first undefeated champion since '97. In those games, Harrison was the difference. He was truly amazing in their biggest games of the year. He is as complete a player as we've seen in the last ten years. He took f/o's, was their go-to guy on offense, and when they needed a defensive stop, he was on the field. Hopkins' offense suffered through injuries all season. They were starting two freshmen in their first group. Through it all, Harrison consistently came through with the goals they needed against the toughest schedule in the country. In my mind, there is no question about this one.

Danowski and Merrill are both great players and if it weren't for a complete player like Kyle in the mix, I think we could have had a great offense vs. defense argument between those two.

[KerrLax]

Why does everyone speak of Kyle Harrison as such an amazing face-off guy? He isn't that good, and he's not even the best on his team (Peyser consistantly performed better than Harrison).

[emo]

Harrison is second in all-time face-off percentage at Hopkins. I'd say that's pretty good.

[KerrLax]

I definately didn't know that, but everytime I've seen him play he doesn't dominate the X.

[hoyaslax18]

true harrison didnt dominate the face off X all the time, but the reason why that skill factors into his award is because facing off adds to his all around prowess. i just found out from this post that he was second all time for Hopkins face offs which is tremendous, but how many middies these days face-off, score, play D, clear, etc. recently in lacrosse we have seen the midfield become very (over?) specialized. the fact that harrison can be a face off assett, even if he didnt dominate every game that may have been televised, in addition to his other skills, makes him stand out as a the premier middie in the league.

and we all know that middies are the backbone of any great team...

[jessexy]

I was all for Harrison, but now second guess myself after the championship game. His no angle shot when they were trying to run the time down, and miss on the open net kind of scared me a bit.

duh, he had the sickest goal of the whole game on that dodge in the 3rd quarter, when he blew a shot by the best goalie in the game and he didnt even see move. he is the best player in the NCAA. merrill is #2. merrill gets more highlights because he is clearly the best player on his team. but his team has less talent than Hopkins. He stands out more cuz of that. Harrison couldnt be stopped all season. he deserved it. and he earned it.

[PigPen]

I knew it was just a matter of time before Jessexy chimed in on this one.

[asulax42]

I hear the arguement that he wasn't one of the top players in the stats, but doesn't mean he isn't deserving of the award. He is a great defender as well, I think that is being overlooked by a lot of people, also he goes after groundballs really hard. Just because he didn't put up ridiculous numbers doesn't make him less worthy of the award. Also, the fact that he led his team to a national championship says something about his leadership as well.