Interesting stat

[Blake]

The PNCLL's Division B has four of the top five scorers in the entire MCLA (Both A and B)

1. Cody Hart (ACI) - 8.75 ppg
2. Gary Smith (UNLV) - 7.67 ppg
T3. Colin Burke (ACI) - 7.5 ppg
T3. Andy Young (WWU) - 7.5 ppg
5. Jamison Whitehead (SOU) - 6.67 ppg

Take a look for yourselves here: MCLA ppg

[I'm back baby!!!]

actually we have five of six, for some reason they have me listed at 22 points which is 5.5, but i really have 26, and am at 6.5

[Hi-Line Lax]

Thank goodness for Willamette and L & C

[Dr. Jason Stockton]

Thank goodness for Willamette and L & C

In all fairness, I haven't looked at everyone's stats. . .but Jamison Whitehead has put up his numbers against some big-time opponents - Western Oregon, Dominican, Cal, UC Davis and St. Mary's to name a few. . .

Every league has teams that allow serious point-scoring. . .it's always most impressive when you see numbers being put up in a close game against a good opponent. . .

[woulax23]

Thank goodness for Willamette and L & C

Actually i just took a quick look at Andy Young's stats for the season and he put up 8 against a Whitman team that is apparently very solid this season, as they played you guys, the defending PNCLL champs, pretty tight. He also managed to outscore everyone on your team when you guys played this weekend so i think the man deserves some respect from a team that he just played very well against. I also think it is a little arrogant to belittle a guy like Cody Hart who, no offense to Albertson's players, is not surrounded by the best sticks in the league and has still put up some powerful numbers in most of his games in the PNCLL. What do you expect these guys to do, disrespect a team by not bringing their best effort to a game. It's not their fault that they were scheduled against a couple of programs who might not have the most outstanding players in the league. You just have to chalk it up to a couple of less experienced defenses, and if these players are not worth the hype then it will show up as they play stronger opponents. I think it is a great achievement because every conference in the nation has bottom dwellers but not every conference is putting out these kinds of numbers. I say good job guys, keep it up.

[woulaxfan]

not only that Nyc, but the mcla also chalked you guys up an extra loss.

http://www.collegelax.us/team.php?id=194

Says there WOU lost to linfield ??

[TheNino57]

I don't think that Mr. Flynn meant his comment the way some are interpreting it. I can't help but feel that some players are trying to pad their stats agains the weaker teams. Kevin can correct me if I'm wrong here but I don't know him to be someone who will publicly slam people.

[TheBearcatHimself]

Thank goodness for Willamette and L & C

Ummmm....for starters that's not the epitome of class. I'm glad that after all the hard work I've done to make this club fiscally responsible and eliminate the "beer league" mentality that the team used to have we are still belittled by the "have's" talent-wise. I know you are not a mean person Hi-line based on your other posts, but come on, until last weekend when our numbers were severely limited by factors outside the lacrosse field, we had come a long way to competing with every team we played. I did not make the decision for the teams to keep their starters in for four quarters against us...they did that themselves. When a team is clearly in a weakened condition it is up to the opponent to use judgment on what is acceptable or necessary.

I know a lot of people just think that Willamette and Lewis and Clark don't appreciate lacrosse and have a "why the hell do they play anyway" perception of us. I play because I love the game; I have rebuilt the club here at Willamette in the last season because I want my school to be represented well; and I for one will not stand by and have the best lacrosse team in the league taking pot-shots at us because we happen to be at the bottom of the league THIS season. In the future, if Montana is at the bottom I will make sure no one denigrates their name by insulting them and questioning their passion for the game. What we lack in talent we make up for in commitment and sportsmanship. I can only hope the rest of the league feels the same.

[woulax23]

word will....... i hope you keep your club going in the right direction, i noticed a huge difference in the way you guys played last night from last season. Your guys seemed to know what was going on a little bit better and the sticks on your offensive side seemed much improved. I think that the fact that you guys played southern in ashland the night before and that you guys had less numbers than we did really played into the final score, but i applaud the steps you guys have taken this season.

[TheBearcatHimself]

Thank you Josh, and more to the point may be the fact that Southern and Western and Albertson have grown in talent exponentially?? I felt we had grown alot, but clearly these teams have skyrocketed in the talent department, I remember just 24 months ago when we were losing by 2 and 3 goals to these same teams. It just takes time for the talent to even out, and in many cases it ebbs and flows.

[Kyle Berggren]

I haven't talked to Hi-Line about it, but I assume his post was in regards to running up scores... Not a shot at either program. 5 years ago L&C won the PNCLL B (5 sounds right, could have been 6)... There are ups & downs, but if someone's statement can be interpreted in 2 ways, please give them the benefit of the doubt. Take it from someone that quite often speaks without thinking, this thread has turned drastically away from it's intention, & no one looks good participating in it.

[Hi-Line Lax]

I wasn't intending to say something bad about Willamette and L & C, or about the players in our league that put up big numbers. My point was that the monster games that these kids all put up against WU and L & C (10+ point games) is the reason that they are all on top of the national scoring... it takes a 5ppg player and makes him an 8ppg player when there are only a handful of games and one is a 10+. I was trying to show why players in our conference have higher ppg than other conferences without explaining myself in a ton of words.

Sorry if you took offense to my earlier statement.

[Dr. Jason Stockton]

Sorry if you took offense to my earlier statement.

I certainly took no offense Kevin-- I understand the sentiment behind your post -- It is common for guys to score 10+ points when their team wins 25-2. . .just wanted to point out that Jamison and a couple of the other guys also put up some major points against really solid B teams and some A teams. . .

[TheBearcatHimself]

I'm sorry if I took the post the wrong way, I simply didn't want to leave my team without a voice on the subject.

If there is a way to bring this back to the original topic: I would say that from my standpoint we live in a very offensive part of the lacrosse universe. As the game has begun to grow out here in the West, the first thing that people are going to naturally focus on is how to score and how to score often. All through the high school level I see an emphasis on scoring and stick handling with the short sticks. But what takes a lot of time to develop are sound individual defensive skills and strategies. A team defense can be relatively simple, but even that takes much practice to master.

As evidenced by the fact that the first team All-League D were the exact same people for the B division the last two years (I think, correct if I'm wrong) I think there is clearly a lack of defensive individual standouts in the West, and the PNCLL in particular. What will come along with development and strong coaching at the high school level will be better d-poles who have the individual skills to plug-in to strong team programs and shut down these premier offensive talents.

My two cents...

[rocky13]

I agree with most of what your saying bearcat, offensive skills are emphasized from the high-school level on but i personally think that from what i saw in the league the last two years (i'm not in the league this year so this may not apply), but the pncll always has had some of the best goalies and d-men around, well the B Divison 1st team didnt change if you look under them there was some very quality long sticks (Dan Snell from southern to name one) and a deeeeeppppp stable of goalies. Once again this may have changed since i'm not as up on the league as i was, but i thought i'd speak out.