CCLA-B Team Previews

[Andy Sharp]

Hey, I figured I'd give it another shot, since the last preview thread got locked, and I finally have something to add regarding Calvin.

Tuesday we had our sign-ups and after processing the entrants, here is what we have to report. We have several significant departures, but this year there seems to be abundant interest among incoming freshman, we had 57 to go with our ~28 returnees. Not all of them have experience, but that's no different than previous seasons.

Here are a few highlights that have become apparent so far:
- a sophomore defensive transfer from DIII
- an attackman from the Edmonton, Alberta with significant box experience
- 5 guys from Ontario
- a former All CCLA attackman returning as a junior
- a player's younger brother who's not-so little in at defense
- 3 experienced middies from Maryland, Delaware, and Cincy

There are threats of one or two guys going overseas for the semester and with practice yet to start we have little to a forecast with, but we can say that they come from far and wide.

1 Alberta
2 California
1 Delaware
2 Florida
1 Iowa
8 Illinois
2 Indiana
1 Massachusetts
2 Maryland
1 Maine
43 Michigan
1 Montana
1 North Carolina
1 North Dakota
3 New York
4 Ohio
5 Ontario
1 Pennsylvania
1 Texas
1 Wisconsin
1 West Virginia
Plus 2 children of missionaries raised in Kenya and Philippines

Anyone else in Div B have a better idea of who has arrived this fall?

I have noted two guys from East Grand Rapids HS that went out to Colorado State (1 red shirt Fresh Att and the other a starting Def as a Soph) have returned to Grand Rapids and are considering playing for Grand Valley State.

10/14 UPDATE
We're down to around 40 guys and everyone is right it's difficult to get guys playing time. I'm going to begin scheduling non-MDIA games right now to make sure we get enough playing opportunities come spring.

[brick15]

Im sure our president can ellaborate on exactly what we have. But we(IUP) also had our sign up last night and it looks like we have about 55 players this year. 20 of our 24 last season players returning. all of our players have lacrosse experience of atleast 2 year besides 5. we have always had players from only PA at IUP but this year we will have 2 from maryland and 1 from virginia adding to our PA crowd. it is looking bright for IUP this year and we are really exciting to get back into playing.

[Zeuslax]

Spoke with the guys at Ferris last night. They had 32 new guys come out for their first practice last night with 21 returning from last year. Looks like the league keeps getting better and better. They also drew guys from all over.

[culax]

it must be nice to have so many bodies for practice. with 40 or 50 or 60 players do you hold tryouts and have to make cuts? having finished each of the last 2 seasons at creighton with about 17 or 18 healthy players i have the opposite problem. how big will the final rosters be at calvin, iup and ferris? is it hard to get everyone enough playing time?

[brick15]

Who knows what we will end up doing. Im sure like always at IUP 10 or so will not play so we will play with a roster of 40. we are not at the level I dont think to make cuts.

[Zeuslax]

The decision is still up in the air. This is really the first year with unmanageble #'s. Some of the things being proposed are, making cuts, or keeping everyone and having a travel team. Or possibly a combination of the 2.

The numbers are a catch 22.....You love to see it. Talent is increased for sure, but your propositioned with a whole new set of issues. For example, seniors who've been with the team for 4 yrs. get cut? Things of that sort.

[mholtz]

We tried to carry 60 once for a fall season (used the fall as tryouts).

It was a practice, and logistical nightmare.

Unless you have a large number of coaches, and multiple fields, you can only have so many practice reps that each person can get. It seemed like a blessing to us to have that many people (we now have many more) at tryouts in the fall, but it ended up being much harder to maintain than we orginally thought.

just my $0.02.

[jimh3983]

As the new head coach of IUP Men's Lax, I'm very excited about the numbers we have going into the fall. This should make for very competitive fall practices with people fighting for top spots on lines. We have doubled our numbers in one season and I can't wait to coach these guys tonight at the first practice.

[tjmvp9]

The growth among many of the teams in the CCLA is definitely encouraging and should make for awesome competition this season. I am just curious as to what all of you think is the cause of it. Is it the overall growth and increase in the popularity of the sport, or do you think it can be attributed to something else (perhaps specific to your locations)? I know at IUP, our growth has been fairly steady, with a larger number of incoming players every year as the sport spreads across the state. We traditionally draw mostly from PA because we are part of the state school system. This year we were expecting our largest class ever, and so far it seems to be meeting expectations.

Andy, I am also wondering if your incoming players are typically from areas that spread out (because of the seminary school?), or is this year out of the ordinary for you?

I am excited for this year, it should be a great one. Good luck to all in the fall.

[mholtz]

The growth among many of the teams in the CCLA is definitely encouraging and should make for awesome competition this season. I am just curious as to what all of you think is the cause of it. Is it the overall growth and increase in the popularity of the sport, or do you think it can be attributed to something else (perhaps specific to your locations)?

I'd bet it's Yes, and Yes... Probably both a combination of the growth of the game, and the success of teams last year. Success builds more interest in the program, and draws better players. But you also cant discount the fact that the sport is growing all over.

[Andy Sharp]

Andy, I am also wondering if your incoming players are typically from areas that spread out (because of the seminary school?), or is this year out of the ordinary for you?

Calvin does typically have a more geographically diverse team. It can likely be attributed to active alumni (parents) and the influence of pastors who studied at the nearby Calvin Seminary. You go to most towns and they have a Christian Reformed Church, there are some 1,021 all over the US and Canada.

The funny thing is, we don't get as many experienced players from Michigan as one might expect. We get lots of guys from here, but most have never played HS ball.

I've spoken with the captains regarding numbers; we plan to be encouraging about the possibilities and honest about playing time. Those that make the commitment have a spot on this team, we won't be cutting.

I am proud that 3 of our 4 captains never played in HS and have become very important to this team. There are plenty of good athletes who didn't have the opportunity to play until they get to college and if you can keep them interested the first year or so, they can get up to speed . . . if you look at every class we have true rookies who are likely to be all-conference before they leave.

If we do get into the Spring with "too many guys" I will look into finding some games on the side to create more game time minutes.

[UMD Lax]

U of M Dearborn only lost 3 players to graduation and 2-3 transferred to Ann Arbor. This leaves us with 18 returning players and we are expecting about 5 new guys with High School Experience. We are hoping for a roster size of 25-30 by the spring season. We will have a better idea in a week or so when we have our next meeting.

Being a commuter campus in southeast Michigan it’s hard to attract from outside the area. However, as more local high schools are developing programs we are starting to get a larger incoming class with experience each year. Four seasons ago I think we only had two players with any high school experience. This is quickly changing and I hope to see the same numbers as you guys are seeing in the next few seasons.

We also hired a new Head Coach, Tim Gallagher who as high expectations and many ideas leading into this season. With this addition and excellent support from our Athletic Department I think UMD only has room to grow.

[Andy Sharp]

#1 Calvin
#2 Indiana U of PA
#3 Taylor
#4 Grand Valley State
#5 Dayton
#6 Grove City
#7 Ferris State
#8 Carnegie Mellon
#9 U of MI - Dearborn
#10 Hope

North teams in Blue
South teams in Red

[jimh3983]

A lot of good discussion, changes, and improvements at the Fall Meeting. Looks like it is going to be a successful year for the CCLA administratively and competitively. IUP can't wait for 2006.

[Zeuslax]

I agree with the above. Great meeting! It was the first time ever that I left a CCLA meeting feeling very postive about the board and the topics coved. I thought Robbie did an incredible job. Of course excited about Carnegies acceptance into the league.