PNCLL Week #2 (2/8-2/14) -- Predict, Scores & Discuss

[Dan Wishengrad]

Friday, Feb. 10th
Washington 14 Pacific Lutheran 13 (OT)

Saturday, Feb. 11th
Oregon 20 Stanford 8
Western Washington 7 Western Oregon 6
Oregon State 8 Boise State 5

Sunday, Feb. 12th
Oregon 22 Boise State 4
Washington 8 Puget Sound 5
Stanford 13 Oregon State 11
Western Oregon 15 Lewis & Clark 1

Highlights of the second week include a couple OOC games, the PNCLL debut of Boise State, the first conference match-ups of the season in both A and B Divisions, and the return to action by defending champ Oregon, the MDIA's 7th-ranked team heading into the season.

Western Oregon hits the field for the first time in 2006, hosting a pair of divisional foes. The Wolves earned a playoff spot in their innaugural season, exceeding many observers expectations for a first-year program. All-Star Josh Butterwegge returns to spark the Wolves' offense, apparently without Middie Nyc Hayden (who is not rostered). Kennan Clarke patrols the close defense in front of Goaltender Steve Blair for WOU. Saturday the Wolves entertain the Vikings of Western Washington, who will prove a worthy test of Western Oregon's development in the team's second- season.

Sunday the Pioneers of Lewis & Clark play at WOU. L&C has rostered only 12 players to this point, which translates to an awfully lonely bench and a need for the every Pio to be an iron-man. Who will play where is unknown at this writing, as none of the three returning All-Stars for Lewis & Clark appears to be playing with the team in 2006.

Kyle will be along later to spotlight the A Division games.

[TheNino57]

Oregon/Oregon State- Mess the Cardinal up and represent the Northwest!

Boise State- Good luck in your PNCLL Debut!

[camthrax]

I see the ducks and beavers hammering Stanford bad.

I agree with Dan Wishengrad, WWU vs. WOU should be interesting. Western Oregon seems to be making great strides as a program, considering they now have a former DII player and several members of the Sprague High School team that beat them 6-4 last spring (Im sorry I couldnt resist mentioning this). Its nice to see a program in the mid-willamette valley go somewhere. Its really not the easiest place to develop lacrosse at any level.

[Chris Long]

Friday

PLU 11, '25 Core Guys' 9

Saturday

UO 24, Stanford 4
WWU 13, WO 4
OSU 21, BS 4

Sunday

UO 28, BS 2
'25 Core Guys' 12, UPS 6
OSU 18, Stanford 8
WO 9, L&C 6

Tough to determine how well Boise State will fare - that is a long trip, especially for a team in their first year in the league.

[Ballaholic]

i dont think 28-2 is a fair prediction, UO will blow out BSU but they will play better than most expect. Also, i think BSU will give OSU a decent game.

[Dan Wishengrad]

I want to acknowledge Chris Long's accurate picks for Week#1. He had GU over UPS 12-4 (actual score 14-3); Chris had SFU over WWU 18-7 (actual score 17-7) and he did, indeed, pick PLU to upset GU 8-6 (actual 11-10, OT). 3-3 on picks, and very close on all counts to the actually spread.

Get thee to Vegas, young man!

[Dr. Jason Stockton]

Nice picking Chris. . .last week, anyway. . .

I really think Stanford will put up a little better fight against UO and OSU than the game scores you predicted. I agree that OSU and UO should both go 2-0 this weekend, but I also think BSU will have a much better showing than the two blowouts you predicted. Yes, BSU is new to this league, but they're not a "start-up" program, and I think by year's end they'll be fighting for a playoff spot.

By the way Chris, did you take the Steelers -4 in the Super Bowl?

[WOULAX21]

I see the ducks and beavers hammering Stanford bad.

I agree with Dan Wishengrad, WWU vs. WOU should be interesting. Western Oregon seems to be making great strides as a program, considering they now have a former DII player and several members of the Sprague High School team that beat them 6-4 last spring (Im sorry I couldnt resist mentioning this). Its nice to see a program in the mid-willamette valley go somewhere. Its really not the easiest place to develop lacrosse at any level.

I love the support that we are getting and we are hoping to make a better showing against WWU than everyone is expecting. P.S. Not to be making excuses, but while we played sprague our goalie was out and playing attack as well as our DII D-pole was playing face off middie and our leading scorers sat the first half. But it was a good ole time!

[DontSpillDaBeansWish]

How big is the BSU squad?

[TheBearcatHimself]

Western Oregon seems to be making great strides as a program, considering they now have a former DII player and several members of the Sprague High School team that beat them 6-4 last spring (Im sorry I couldnt resist mentioning this). Its nice to see a program in the mid-willamette valley go somewhere. Its really not the easiest place to develop lacrosse at any level.

This is a little unfair mentioning the Sprague game. Oregon and Washington's high school lacrosse talent is not represented in the B Division ranks hardly. Also Sprague was a quality team last year, making the state playoffs. But before you guys pile on me for being ignorant or something, think about this: these high school kids play everyday all season and get much more work on their stick skills than most of our B division brethren. At Willamette we have had some informal scrimmages with South Salem, a state quarterfinalist team last year, and believe me, if we had an official game we would lose by ALOT (hold back your snickering, I know we suck at WU).

The fact of the matter being that throughout the B division you must deal with adding players who have never played before, usually adding them around this time and having about one month or less to literally teach them as much about the game as you can, all while getting them the physical practice and muscle memory they need. Add in college life and a demanding schedule? I think many if not all teams would get a good run from our local high school teams, go ahead and say I'm an idiot, but if you go to the playoff games for high school, these kids are good, and I know they are not going to college at WU, L&C, WOU, etc. Few exceptions exist, but sadly we must often "create" our talent, whereas the A division has much more leeway in "choosing" their talent.

Oh yeah, WOU is an impressive program and I don't care if they lost to Sprague. Keep it up guys, look forward to seeing your progress on the field.

My apologies for ranting on your weekly "Scores" thread ahead of time

[Timbalaned]

Kyle will be along later to spotlight the A Division games.

So was that going to be before or after the games...

[WOULAX21]

Thanks for the props Willamette. See you this season.

[Kyle Berggren]

It was going to be today after I meet with a client at 8 am... I'm that guy.

[Kyle Berggren]

Friday,

Hot off an OT win against an improved Gonzaga squad, PLU travels to Seattle to face the Huskies. PLU has been a consistent competitor in the PNCLL for the last several years, and amidst some coaching changes in the off-season, start 2006 1-0. The Huskies have their own coaching controversy going on as well. We don't dive to far into it, but the 2005 Coach of the Year & his staff is gone, and a predominant lax figure in Matt Cone has stepped in to take over the team. This will be there first test this season, and with plenty of talent at the school, we'll all be waiting patiently to find out the fate of the Huskies.

Saturday,

Stanford travels to play at our 2004/5 PNCLL Champion Oregon Ducks. I'm not sure what to say about this game. Oregon, a top 10 USL-MDIA team will play an unranked Stanford opponent. As usual, overlooking a team could be dangerous, but as their first OOC game, of the season, Oregon will want to set the tempo from the start. This is the 3rd team in this thread with a coaching change, Joe Kerwin is stepping up as the Head Coach this season. Oregon has too many starters coming back to list in my little time here right now, but with an All-American candidate between the pipes and plenty of firepower on the offensive end, this game may get pretty ugly by the end of the 4th.

Boise St. @ Oregon State, my pick for best game of the weekend. BSU has plenty of talent all over the field, including a very young talented attack, but OSU isn't missing much. As Oregon High School Lacrosse has grown, OSU has stepped up their dedication and their program strength has improved as well. They've been quietly among the PNCLL's best, losing a close game to Oregon early last season without their leading scorer, Tyler Tipton. OSU maybe too much for BSU on paper, but its early in the season anything can happen. Both teams are currently unranked...

Sunday,

Next BSU is on to play Oregon. Saturday's matchup will be a much better indication of how this game will turn out then my guess from earlier. Oregon vs. Oregon State in the box game earlier this season was a 1 goal game, but that was box and this is field. In the past, BSU has not fared well against the MDIA elite in the RMLC. Oregon is of that caliber and always improving. We'll find out if BSU has improved at a faster rate, and can make this a game in Eugene.

Still in Eugene, Oregon State will face Stanford. Tipton will try and lead the Beavs past one of the WCLL's least competitive teams in 2005 (1-10 overall). I don't know much, and I know even less of the 2006 Stanford team that is travelling to the PNCLL, but I do know BSU should have tried to haggle a game in against them in Eugene while they were there (if they didn't)....

It's early in the season, and we have is great expectations for the overall quality of teams in the PNCLL and their improvements. This week will be the first week for many to show their improvement from 2005 (Stanford too), and new coaches to get a chance to shine. Good luck to all, sorry to delay my part of the weekly thread until Thursday.

[NCInDaPlaceTaBe]

They've been quietly among the PNCLL's best, losing a close game to Oregon early last season...

I don't remember a "close" game againt OSU early last season, maybe I'm missing something...clarification?