WCLL Action (Jan 28-29) - Discuss Games/Report Scores

[WaterBoy]

Come on folks... start some buzz! Are you not all excited? The season is starting!

Let's hear some thought on this weeks games. It's a new season and it's hard for us to know all the info about the teams... this is our first look and frame of reference to see what's changed this year and how teams are performing.

Ok, here's a glimpse and some thoughts...

1/26- UC Irvine at UCLA- This one could be interesting, but I'll have to side with UCLA. Irvine started their season on full burn last year, puttin some hurt on their division B competition, but trailed off as the season progressed. UCLA is coming off of a rebuilding year, but I'm sure both teams will come out ready to go. Home field advantage and tip of the hat go to UCLA. If I were to guess the score? I have no idea. Shot in the dark says UCLA 11 to UCI 6.

1/28- Pepperdine at UCLA- I think this one could be more interesting. UCLA is two days off of a game, and Pepperdine just took LMU to the fourth quarter with a lead. Last year PU was better than UCI... so my guess would be that this one will be closer, on the flip side using that logic UCLA pounded LMU in the season closer last year (not sure how indicative that is, since neither team was vying for a playoff berth). Clear PU came to play this year, and as has already been said on message boards, they are going to be good if they play this way in division B this year. Closer game, Pepperdine more rested, UCLA on home turf... I would say once again UCLA 9 to 7.

UCSC at UCB- Big premiere day for the Slugs. Tough way to open too. Cal needs some improvement to getting back to being a WCLL powerhouse as it once was, but I think this shouldn't be too close. Don't get me wrong, I love the underdogs, but I think first season game against a Division A team shouldn't yield too much hope for the Slugs. I hope they put up a good show... Santa Cruz is a big school for being in B, and I hope that they bring out a lot of talent coming from players that put the sticks away after high school (I'm sure there are a lot of players there). I think this one goes to Cal. A low scoring team (they only found their way into scoring double figures twice last year out of 19 games), I give it to Cal at 12-5. Let's hope and support UCSC, and hope they make a splash into the league though.

GAME OF THE WEEKEND- LMU at ASU- This is the game of the weekend. This will be the beginning of reference points for the rest of the season. ASU found their way onto the preseason poll after being unranked at the end of the season last year. Now we find out if it's warranted (or begin to). Is LMU just not playing well so far, going fourth quarter against division B team? Is Pepperdine playing well? We don't know, but we should get some idea this weekend. ASU gets to defend home field for their first bout, and it should be an exciting one. ASU is certainly out to prove something this year, and if they hype on the boards is any indication, they have their act together from fall ball, which may give them some spring in the opener. LMU lauded their defense from the Pepperdine game, with their goalie making 17 saves, but I have a feeling ASU will take this one fairly smoothly. I would guess ASU 13-6.

These are all long winded, and I stayed away from games for the following week, since that will give me something else to do in the days coming, but you can expect another post after this weekend's games are done.

If you disagree, please comment. It will give me something to read.

[camthrax]

UCLA 12, Pepperdine 5
Heard from a friend that one PU player was ejected for fighting. I dont really know much more.

[westsidelax]

Cal 20, UCSC 4

Game started an hour late due to Santa Cruz being late, sloppy game in the rain, with Cal taking full advantage of UCSC's inexperience. Cal's freshmen attack cleaned up all of the garbage. Cal's offense looks to be more potent this year, and the defense still looks strong. Good effort put out by the banana slugs in their first game, tough playing an "A" school in their first game however.

[WaterBoy]

Thank you to those who took the time to post scores-

Just out of curiosity, were there any photos of the Cal game? I'd love to see the unis of UCSC since they're new. Just my sense of bored curiosity.

[lil lady lax fan]

Saturday, January 28, 2006 word-of-the-day:

Annihilation--noun--The total destruction of an opponent, both offensively and defensively. See also: massacre, bloodbath.

That is the description I would give to the game played yesterday between Claremont and Cal State Fullerton. The fact that it won't be included in their official tally was a non-issue for the Cougs. They totally dominated throughout the game shutting out the Titans in the first half while raking up 16 goals of their own. The Cougs' rookies had a chance to show what they've got, doing most of the footwork in the second half. They scored an additional 8 goals while only allowing the Titans one goal. Final Score: 24-1.

Cudos should go out to the captains and coaches of both teams. Claremont looked much better than they did last year at this time, handling the ball well and playing as a team. There were mistakes made, of course, but it's quite obvious they've got their priorities set and their focus on the big picture. Strong talent in both the experienced players and the new crop of rookies was evident throughout the game. Keep up the good work, Cougars!! Looking forward to watching as many of the games as I can possibly attend.

To the Titans credit, they played a good game, trying their darnedest against an opponent chomping at the bit to get to Nationals this year. They looked sharp and have scheduled games against many of the Division B teams in the WCLL. I hope that next year this game will be an "official" league match-up. Good luck to the Titans in their fothcoming games.

Claremont and Pepperdine will be opening up the Division B season next weekend at Pepperdine. Both teams will be primed for the game. Should be a thrilling start to the season.

And, as always: GO COUGARS!!!

[Lions Middie]

It was a much closer game than the prediction above guessed it to be. The Lions jumped out to an early 3-1 lead. They were up until half time when the score was tied 5-5. After the 3rd quarter ASU was up one but it was still a close game. ASU outscored the Lions 4-1 in the 4th to take it home 11-7. The Sun Devils had a few good players who ran their whole offense and the Lions couldn't seem to stop their one play. Game could have gone either way, I'd like to play them again, maybe in playoffs?

Good game all around, just dissapointing for us

[buffalowill]

Thursday: UCLA 18 UC Irvine 9
Saturday: UCLA 12 Pepperdine 5

really wierd thing about the "fight" in the Pepperdine game...didn't seem like it was over much at all (just frustration I guess), but I don't know what was going on prior
starting defense was a bit better against pepperdine saturday

[ucdlax]

UC Davis 19
Domincan 1

[WaterBoy]

What exactly is Dominican? I know it's a college in CA, and according to their website, they're a DII lacrosse school that finished with a record of 5-7 last year.

Is the squad that teams are facing a club team, or is it the real shebang?

Looking up scores from last year, they played four games against WCLL teams and scored a total of 5 goals (1, 0, 1, 3).

Are these games just scrimmages? I ask because the numbers put up against them were brutal last year (usually about 20 goals a game). I see that they had a roster of only 15 and clearly that could have some impact, but I was just wondering, since there are no game reports that I saw online.

[CATLAX MAN]

Dominican College in San Rafael was trying to start up a varsity lacrosse program, much like NDNU did. The plan was that they would build the program for a couple of years and play as an indepedent, perhpas NAIA like NDNU, and then hope to join the D2 or D3 ranks of the NCAA. Their team has not been competitive yet, as they have not had enough time to attract enough talent.

To make matters worse, from what I have heard through the grapevine, there has been a shift in the AD department and allegedly some partial schlarships have been pulled. The program appears to be falling apart before it actually got off the ground.

[ucdlax]

Dominican was a class act and they gave it 100 percent the whole game, however they definetely have some work to do...they had 1 shot the whole game, on man up, and after about 5 minutes into the first quarter they started to use the gilman clear...I was in goal and talked to some of the D-men and they said that half of the kids play lacrosse for PE credit and that very few of them have played much at all.