Week 8 Games

[wheelz33]

MSU 13
CMU 10

MSU went up six goals in 1st quarter. CMU did great job fighting back taking lead in the third. MSU finished in the fourth. CMU coaches Elzinga and Madigan look like they have put the past behind this team. CMU Senior Burr (OLSM) and Junior Kerr (Notre Dame Prep) had outstanding games. MSU Juniors Kegley, Schimpke, Stephanoff lead the other side.

A lot closer of a game then i thought it would be.

cmu - state is ALWAYS a close game. i think state has only won by a goal the last couple years. cmu is always feisty.

[wheelz33]

Unfortunately, there's no question that Oakland has fallen off. Granted that Michigan is quite capable of frustrating any team at this point, Oakland was reduced numerous times last night to long passes, deep into the attack zone that had little chance of being completed. Most of their midfield passes on the clear were intercepted cleanly by Michigan's longstick defenders.

Four years ago, when Oakland defeated Michigan in the CCLA semi-finals the offensive pair of Joe Opron and Billy Binge was particularly potent. After Binge graduated in 2005 and Opron in 2006, the power of the team markedly dropped.

there is no question that when oakland last those two players they lost a large part of their firepower. they may never return to that status. its not everyday players of that talent come through a program like oakland. (and by a program like oakland i mean a smaller school then say michigan or state...)

[Zeuslax]

Carnegie Mellon - 23
RHIT - 4

[lgriemsman]

I do not want to take anything away from those two great players, but there was another loss that I think had something to do with what we are seeing today. Dwayne Hicks is now over at Eastern and with limited resources he always seems to make a program better.

[wheelz33]

I do not want to take anything away from those two great players, but there was another loss that I think had something to do with what we are seeing today. Dwayne Hicks is now over at Eastern and with limited resources he always seems to make a program better.

excellent point. that loss slipped my mind. hicks has done some great things at eastern.

[oaklandlax]

About Oakland and the talent poll, yes it has dropped off a bit since I played there. I was one of the guys that helped get Oakland going. With Oakland being a commuter school it’s hard to get kids to stay home and play lacrosse. When I started I had a lot of friends that went a way for a semester. I was able to convince some of them to come back and play here at Oakland and get things started. It was guys like Binge, Opron, Stensen, Gregg and Kosek who really helped this program grow. You throw a good program coach in there like Dwayne Hicks and you have a good partnership. My senior year we had a great season and went to the national tournament (first time in schools history), but we did it with 14 guys that came home from playing at a D1, D2, or D3. The program had another 3 solid seasons, but after the ‘06 season they lost a big senior class… 9 guys. The team started the rebuilding process. Will OU ever be a strong team in the CCLA again? Who knows. Is there enough talent around OU where they can get a few solid players? Absolutely. Will Oakland be their school of choice? That is in question since the recruiting process in the area is getting harder with other teams starting to do well in the CCLA not to mention that UofD has D1 program. The landscape is going to continue change with other Michigan colleges adding men’s lacrosse. The UofD program has already taken 2 key players from OU who were slated to play this season. I think it’s going to take another year or two, but with Coach Hebert I know that this team will once again compete. Nobody likes losing and Hebert is no exception, so I am sure he will find a group of guys with “the will to win” again soon. I think the players need to care a bit more also. You get a handful of guys that care, but it takes a whole team to buy into a system or game plane.



As for the UofM game…Personally, being a coach I would have never run up the score like that. Coach Tierney is one of the best coaches to ever coach the men’s game and he was one that always stopped at 19 if they out classed the rival. His view was that it showed a lack of class when you’re winning by a large insurmountable margin. I think that the score shows a lack of judgment by UofM, but who knows where the coach’s head was during the game. I have a ton of respect for the UofM program, but when a team does something like this… it makes me question the intent. 28 to 0… Seriously, I want to hear from the person that thinks this is justifiable. I know we all play the game to win, but even the Pros in all sports turn it down after the game has been comfortably decided. Don’t even bring up Belichick… he’s an exception and that is why everyone talks about him. On the other hand, shame on Oakland for not scoring a single goal… not 1… ZERO… are you kidding?!



Just to wrap this up. Our sport has been based on tradition and shaking hands at the end of the game. Would you / COULD you walk down that line if you played for EITHER of these teams after that game?



Respectfully

Towbey Kassa

[Jolly Roger]

Looks like everyone on the Michigam roster got to play and a lot of them are in the scorebook. 19 guys scoring, more than half the goals assisted.

1 Attack Krauss, Peter Sr 3 3 6
16 Attack Yealy, Trevor Fr 5 0 5
45 Attack Ein, Joshua So 4 1 5
13 Midfield Morales, Robert Sr 2 2 4
19 Midfield Ichikawa, Roy Fr 3 0 3
5 Attack Bell, Doug Sr 2 1 3
18 Attack Beltrani, Alexander So 1 2 3
26 Attack McGowan, Wesley Jr 2 0 2
7 Midfield Hammitt, Mark Sr 1 1 2
9 Attack Zorovich, Kevin So 1 1 2
44 Midfield Tintchev, Svetlin So 1 0 1
27 Attack Huspeni, Matthew Jr 1 0 1
23 Attack Lehman, Thomas Sr 1 0 1
10 Midfield Perng, Powell Fr 1 0 1
46 Defense Petoskey, James Jr 0 1 1
41 Midfield Rogers, David So 0 1 1
11 Midfield Mierendorf, Matthew Sr 0 1 1
17 FOS Kohlitz, Brekan Sr 0 1 1
3 Midfield Goldberg, Jamison So 0 1 1

Are you sure your not disappointed that your brother gave up 18 in a half?

The argument is if Oakland had a large roster and was handily winning a game, would their coach ask the 4th and 5th line players, who almost never see the field, to ease up?

Tough spot for both teams.

[oaklandlax]

Are you sure your not disappointed that your brother gave up 18 in a half?

I don't really have time to respond, I will respond later, but of course I am a bit disappointed with my bro cause I think he is one of the better goalies in the CCLA, but last time I checked lacrosse was a team game so cant put the blame on one person.

[Jolly Roger]

Maybe I should have phrased it " that your brother was put in a situation in which he..."

[Mikelaw84]

As a former player and current coach I see merit in respecting your opponent, especially when the game is no longer in limbo. However, you cannot justify clearing your bench, and then telling players who rarely see minutes in tight games that they must pass the ball around and keep the score low. These players work just as hard and often harder than those who see starting minutes and deserve the opportunity to take full advantage of their playing time.

In my estimation, it shows less respect to your opponent to attempt to limit scoring than to give them anything less than your best effort (and this is coming from someone who has been on both sides of this issue).

[Gvlax]

As a former player and current coach I see merit in respecting your opponent, especially when the game is no longer in limbo. However, you cannot justify clearing your bench, and then telling players who rarely see minutes in tight games that they must pass the ball around and keep the score low. These players work just as hard and often harder than those who see starting minutes and deserve the opportunity to take full advantage of their playing time.

In my estimation, it shows less respect to your opponent to attempt to limit scoring than to give them anything less than your best effort (and this is coming from someone who has been on both sides of this issue).

agree

[UMD Lax]

Not to stir things up anymore, but when I played for Dearborn we were part of a handful of lopsided losses. One of those was a 25-0 loss to Oakland in 2002. How is that any different than what you are mentioning above? Not 100% sure, but you may have been a part of that team. I recall playing the game hard all the way through and still shaking hands at the end. Oakland was a great team and we couldn’t do anything about it.

I was not at the Michigan / Oakland game and do not know what the game was like. If the bench was cleared and the game was played respectfully, I don’t see the problem. I think the problem is when other teams intentionally try to rub it in. For example, another lopsided loss we had during the first years of our program - the opposing team switched their starting attack to defense and starting defense to attack. The whole 4th quarter was ISO’s from the new defensive attack guys, and then you have attackmen coming down the field with long poles shooting every other play. This was after the team was already up 20 goals.

Like Mikelaw84 mentioned, I don’t think playing keep away is the right option either. It’s a tough situation, but finishing the game respectfully and clean is probably the only positive solution.

[Andy Sharp]

Tonight's Calvin @ Saginaw Valley came has been cancelled due to reports of 2” of accumulation, horizontal snow coming at 30 mph, and 25 degree temps with no chance of it melting before game time.

We're shooting to move it to April 1st.

[wheelz33]

while i can also recall a specific instance where oakland did not stop at 19, it was also about 5 years ago, making it irrelevant to the current players today.

with regards to the michigan oakland game, i would hope (and assume knowing the program) that the michigan team just emptied its bench and got them some quality playing time against a respectable opponent. while im all for team class, etc. the coaches also have a responsibility to the team and its future. all the guys on the bench pay dues and practice. sending them in and telling them to play keep away sucks as a player looking for some pt, and also doesnt benefit the future of the program. those younger guys need some game experience.

but i hate defending too michigan too much, so i just want to throw it that it might be possible that michigan is not too worried about the feelings of the oakland players. the "dominant" program of the ccla has "only" won two of the last four ccla championships. the other two have of course gone to oakland. michigan seems to have a chip on their shoulder about this fact, and has been playing some great lacrosse because of it. but they also might not be worried about stopping at 19 to the program thats beaten them out for the title...

[The Phantom]

The tackiest thing I have seen in the CCLA was a playoff game about 4 years ago. The team (not to be named) called a time out to set up a EMO play, up by 8 or 9 goals with about 2 minutes to play in the 4th and broke their huddle with a 1..2..3..SCORE!

Those of us that were there in the stands all that it was pretty low-budget. Oh Yeah.

In defense of Coach Paul, I read in Maxim that 29 was the new 19.