Defensive Middie Lines

[gopherlax27]

Let me preface my comments by reminding everyone that I play attack...but I haven't noticed more teams running defensive middie lines. I know that we have a line, and they are a great asset to us because not only do they play tremendous D but they allow our other middies to stay fresh and save up more energy on O. I know that for some schools, it tough to get enough guys to even show up, but why aren't more teams running these lines? IT seems to me that if teams have athletics players with little lacrosse experience, that this gives them an opportunity to develop their game from the ground up and to only have the responsiblity of playing D. I would be interested to hear people's thoughts on this.

PS - I'z be at da wolves game yesterday wit mi lady, and LeBron was much tight. (Ali G reference)[/quote]

[Champ]

For the most part at Duluth, we have a line that we want in on defense, but will not run the risk of losing ground to change to that line. The goal is to have every line able to play good D so you don't need to worry about switching.

I still know exactly what you mean, and last year we had a really predominant line that was defense. A little less this year.

[lzanc37]

While I played the last three years at UWSP I realized that all the middies need to know how to play defense. One is never going to know who is going to be on the field. Our biggest weakness was middie defense. We always had one middie line that played tough defense, but the rest of the time we got killed up top by the offensive middies of the other team. Developing all the middies into good defensive players should be a prioity for all teams.

[anklebreaker]

Having a D line is important in a sence, but truly all of your middies should be able to play D. Most teams who tend to have D middie lines because they want to keep there best O players fresh. Also teams have a D line so that there is more playing time to go around, and if you can find 3 or 4 guys that don't mind taking that role it can be a very benificiall to your team. This is also a matter of clock management in that you need to call for horns and your O middies need be ready to fly in and out, and here comes the one downfall for most teams comunication and it a lot of that.

[The1]

Who in here would rather score a goal than shut someone down on a one on one? I think most people would rather tickle the twine. But, I realized when playing in big games, stopping someone and creating a possesion can be much more valuable. I dont think enough middies take pride in their defense, plus it doesnt show up in the score book. If you are playing a team with a more high powered offense, your only choice is to step up your D, and try to keep up when you can.
I would rather shut someone down huge, that way you are an asset both when you are up late in a game, or down late in the game, and that is where playas are made.

My 2 cents.

[Champ]

I think most people would rather tickle the twine.

Tickle the Twine. I like that. a lot.