Report scores, discuss games WCLL week 8

[Kojima]

Here's the problem for Chapman:

Losses-
#5 UCSB by 1
#25 UCLA by 8

Two divisional losses. If UCSB and UCLA win out their remaining Division games, Chapman can't even make conference playoffs.

The other players in this LA - WCLL Division are LMU and USC - both of who only have one divisional loss - LMU to UCSB and USC to UCLA. Hence, LMU and USC also have an opportunity to make some noise.

Anyway, point is. Chapman needs to worry about making playoffs before its ranking even matters - at least as far as Nationals go.

[WaterBoy]

Agreed that that's the problem for Chapman, but that's been no secret for a while. Talking with the UCLA head coach, we discussed that in order for his team to make playoffs this year, they had to win one of the two games against either Chapman or UCSB, which they accomplished exceedingly well by beating Chapman 16-8.

Whether or not they make the playoffs shouldn't really (in and of itself) affect whether they get certain rankings- they will miss out on the opportunity for more chances to improve their status, but missing playoffs alone shouldn't eliminate a team from nationals- it just tends to be the case.

Assume you had a division in the WCLL that had three teams that are consistent top ten performers (a league about the size of the RMLC hint hint). Since only two teams can make the playoffs from each division, one of those power teams would have to miss playoffs, but still should be a viable choice for nationals.

The fact that they've lost two division games shouldn't affect their national ranking any more than those two losses taken by themselves should merit.

[bullhighutewoozgriffclam]

Utah 9 Cal Poly8 OT

Sick lax all the way to the end.

[sohotrightnow]

Cal 11
LMU 5

[Brent Burns]

What's the word on the outcome of the North Texas-UCLA game?

[buffalowill]

Final: UCLA 14 North Texas 6

Bruins were up 11-1 at halftime
Thanks to the guys for making the trip from texas!

[lil lady lax fan]

Final from Irvine:
San Diego 14
UC Irvine 3

Toreros started out slow but picked up momentum in the second half.

[OState18]

Are you kidding? Oregon State lost to Stanford, and they aren't exactly world-beaters these days. This loss was definitely a surprise, especially since Texas lost to Oregon State.

So one one-goal loss (Texas to OSU) to an unranked team is going to really drop Texas that far in your mind, whereas playing the #7 and #6 ranked teams in the nation to a decent score might not counteract that? Chico lost by 9 to #20 Chapman (who will be moving up though) and by 5 to Cal Poly. Also, by your own reasoning, Chico only beat Stanford by 1 goal, so if you are going to compare scores or particular losses, it still comes out as not that big of a surprise that Texas won.

If you're referring to the 6-goal spread more than the win, then yes, it might be a little surprising to some people. However, as far as the win goes, going into it looked to be two teams that were decently matched.

Go Oregon State.

[Lions Middie]

LMU 10
Santa Clara 5

[camthrax]

Oxy 19, CSU Pueblo 5

[Dan Wishengrad]

Minnesota-Duluth 8
Cal-Poly 7 (OT)

Tough loss for the Mustangs, who had apparently taken an 8-7 lead on a Matt Anderson cannon shot from outside with 2:42 remaining. But UMD Head Coach Rob Graff requested a stick check which found Anderson's crosse to be illegal (the second such illegal stick flagged in this game), and Poly's goal was wiped off the scoreboard. UMD scored the game winner in sudden-death only three seconds after the penalty was released.

Despite the two OT losses, I was still very impressed with Poly's team. Penalties hurt the Mustangs in both close losses up here, although their Man-down unit was very strong and killed lots of opponent EMOs.