Week #12 4/18 - 4-24 Score Reports, Thoughts and Predictions

[umdulax1]

Just to add to fishman's comments,

Many teams if you agree upon it ahead of scheduling will do a home and away with your team thus saving you a possible road trip the following year. Schedluling early will help with this as well as you can get field time in the domes and not have to worry about the weather being an issue for the most part.

Not only is the OOC travel a great way for a team to gain more experience on the lacrosse field and gain respect on a national level, it is also an excellent way for the players to see parts of this country that they may otherwise not have had the opportunity.

[Hunt]

I would have to agree with Fischman and Coach Litman.

At Marquette we had a tough time finding teams that were "excited" to play us after the poor decisions we made in 2005. And even though we got on the ball early, trying to schedule games as early as the spring of 2006, we were not able to get them finalized until December or early January. This was frustrating, but understandable and we hope that next year will be easier.

With that said, we had the chance to travel down to Nashville, TN and Manhattan, KS to play five OOC games (we also got the chance to play against Sewanee University, which is going to Div. II in 2008 - it was a great game even though we lost 6-9). Nashville was an exciting and interesting place, and the team had a good time seeing such a cool city. And Manhattan, although not the most exciting city, was a great experience as we got to play in a beautiful stadium with new sprint-turf (or fieldturf, whatever you call it) and a working scoreboard. The competition was great at both venues and our team not only learned a lot from our games but enjoyed the chance to see other cities and teams that we wouldn't otherwise.
(Note that in Manhattan at K-State they were also having their "Fake-Patties Day" celebration, which meant a lot of drunk college kids walking around all day Saturday as we were playing - pretty funny to see).

No one enjoys the huge costs of traveling, or necessarily being in a car for 10+ hours like Fischman said. But it seems like for most teams that want to keep playing at a high level it is definitely worth it.

[henrij4]

It is also easier to get OOC games if you can offer another game with an inconfrence opponent, i konw that 2years ago we teamed up with Iowa State and where able to get K-State, Kansas, and Missouri State to travel up to Ames for our OOC games. Although its tough some times to get these southern opponents to travel here to play. And from my contacts with some michigan teams they may travel here if you can offer them at least two games or possibly three because in our league some schools are closer to one another than other conferences.

Just my thoughts and ideas

[Npaulseth]

On a side when is the St. John/Carleton game being replayed?

[laxalum16]

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but if the UMLL eliminated the OOC game requirement the league would only have one representative in the National Tournament every year. Due solely to the fact that nobody gives the UMLL or the majority of UMLL teams respect. To get an at-large bid you need to prove yourself on a national level. And in my experience playing in the UMLL, every OOC game played was a great learning experience and it improved my skills personally and helped to improve our team. My vote, the rule stays.

[msum26]

Report from St. Johns

St. John's 8
Moorhead 4


Corey Samora
MSU-Moorhead

[DwinsChamps]

Report from St. Johns

St. John's 8
Moorhead 4


Corey Samora
MSU-Moorhead

That's a close score. I'm sure that SJU played their backups, but they played their backups vs. UWEC and the final was 12-2 in that game. I know a loss is never great, but nice job Moorhead.

[garvinjj]

Report from St. Johns

St. John's 8
Moorhead 4


Corey Samora
MSU-Moorhead

That's a close score. I'm sure that SJU played their backups, but they played their backups vs. UWEC and the final was 12-2 in that game. I know a loss is never great, but nice job Moorhead.

I don't mean to sound sour about this, especially to a teammate, but St. John's didn't pull all their starters against UWEC. In fact, they probably should have since Ivory ended up hurt late in the fourth quarter when they already had the 10 goal lead. Not to take anything away from Moorehead, but I don't think those two games need to be compared anyway since UWEC and Moorehead played each other earlier. Also, as noted on the UMLL website, the teams agreed to play 12 minute running time which quite nearly cuts game time in half.

[DwinsChamps]

That's the fiestiness I like to see from you, Jordan. But since Moorhead's game was cut in half, isn't it conceivable that they'd score 8 goals in regulation play?

Nevertheless, I think that an 8-4 loss to St. John's, regardless of which athletes they put on the field, is commendable.

[Cameron pederson]

From the sources that I talked to, Moorhead traveled with only 13 guys due to Tuesday night being a prominent night for evening classes. Not that it really matters because a loss is a loss, but there are excuses both ways. Either way it was a nice showing for Moorhead. Not that I am biased or anything

[TexOle]

It is really tough playing games around class schedules. I had to miss class a few times for lacrosse games and it was not ideal. Most of my profs did understand, but I did realize that my focus was to be a full time student. I think that is a reason why some of the GLLL teams do not want to join the UMLL. If the UMLL expands much more they might be able to divide in to multiple divisions, but that is years down the road. The question is what did the Moorhead players learn from that game. They might have pulled some positives from the game that could help them in the tournament.

I wish every team the best this weekend. It should be a fun weekend of lacrosse. While we all have our favorites I know that we can agree the teams that win this tournament will do a fine job representing the UMLL in Frisco. (Former Dallas resident who is proud he does not live in Frisco) If any of the teams or parents have questions about Frisco and the Dallas area please let me know. I am happy to give suggestions as needed. I know a lot really good places to eat and fun places for parents and students.

[Joe_Foster]

It sounds like the "loss is a loss" subject is back since the Duluth-CSU game. Of course there is a lot you can pull from each game, biased or not. I know when I was in the league, we as a team payed too much attention to "who beat who by how much". I think that strayed us from concentrating on the game at hand. Each season the seeding comes down to tiebreakers. But I can tell you that judging your losses and how they compare only take you away from what your actually trying to accomplish. I know Duluth thinks about those "what if" chances they had in each of those games out west. But a well coached team will move on from it, and should Duluth play one the western opponents again, that one goal loss is not going to be on the forefront of their minds.