Georgetown 10, Loyola 14

[AustinHoya03]

Anybody go to the game on Saturday? What happened?

[JohnJacquesLayup]

I made the second half at Loyola. We had the lead at 7-6 in the 3rd I think, and in a matter of a couple minutes were trailing 9-7. We pulled Kass out of goal and opted for Rich. Not much changed, and we never really threatend. Loyola can be really streaky as they proved against Rutgers a couple weeks back, and they pulled the same thing on us.

Do you know where the latest polls have placed us after this game?

[AustinHoya03]

johnjacqueslayup said:

Do you know where the latest polls have placed us after this game?

#7 in the new coaches' poll, according to Laxpower. Thanks for the recap.

[CAHoya07]

Makes the UMass game at the Yard this Saturday all the more important. Game of the year, at least of the regular season.

[JimmyHoya]

And the last time we'll have to say D'Andrea.

After 17 yeas in goal for us, the only thing he's improved is his inconsistency.

[hoya4ever]

jimmyhoya said:

And the last time we'll have to say D'Andrea.

After 17 yeas in goal for us, the only thing he's improved is his inconsistency.

I think that's unfair. He was put in after many goals had already been scored for one. Second, he only started practising as our regular goalie only after MK got hurt. Sure he would stand in once a week before that but thats not much practice. I think he has done great leading and motivating the guys. Plus, no one has ever had perfect years or even straight games.

Many judge the goalie by the goals he allowed but you also have to look at how are midies and D were doing. A goalie can't do it all himself. It's not like Loyola was having a bad day offensively, either. Plus they are 4-1 ECAC tied for top place. I would say that's a good team no matter what their ranking.

[JimmyHoya]

When you've had at least one all-american longstick and some near Tawaarton trophy winners every year you've been in the cage as well as what is typically viewed as one of the best defenses in the country year after year and yet the goalie inconsistency never, ever goes away, I think it's more the goalie then the defense.

I love D'Andrea's near perfect games. It's the random 8 goal bursts he can never stop and the overall mediocrity he provides otherwise that gets me. Our slower defensive pace and lack of true fire power just can't handle that against the better teams. I admire his effort over the past 5 years, but I won't be sad to see him go.

[Oh My!]

Jimmy-

You are WAY out of line here. Rich actually played quite well Saturday, & has all season. I was at the game, and of the 3 goals he allowed, 2 resulted almost directly from him leaving the crease to double-team. Of his 2 saves, one of them could easily be regarded as one of the top 5 in the country this year----about 10 yards in front of the crease, he stopped a poin-blank shot & deflected it (w/ stick or shoulder, I think) about 50 feet in the air----simply fantastic. On consistency, he has been very consistent this year. He has given up 13 goals in 137 minutes in the cage, or 5.69 per 60-minute game. I realize it's quite a stretch to extrapolate to the whole season, but that would rank #2 in the nation through this week.

As for the 17 years comment, I looked at your profile, and you would have been TWO 17 years ago. It's not as if playing 4 consecutive years of college lax is as outrageous as Maurice Williamson's LSU career (or are you too young to know that name?).

[JimmyHoya]

Wow, somebody doesn't get sarcasm. *shakes head*

Let me ask you, you watch lacrosse much? Or more specifically, you watched D'Andrea the last few years? He's not very good.

There were two issues with the team last year. 1. We'd out shoot every freakin' team we played but we couldn't get any on cage (we out shot Maryland last year 56-38 and scored 6...yes 6 goals...in the first game last year and it didn't get too much better) and 2. D'ANDREA WAS THE BIGGEST QUESTION MARK, EVER. You never knew what you were going to get. Think Bad/Good Bowman. One second he's making a gutsy save, the next he's a matador!

That ball could have gone 500 feet in the air. It doesn't make it any more "fantastic". His stats are skewed this year by the the absurdly good game he had his second time out this year. I'll give him credit for it. It was the best game of his career, but it certainly isn't indicative of his whole career.

I think the very fact that Urick wants Kass, a sophmore, to start and moved D'Andrea to short stick defense when he decided to return for one more year pretty much says it all. Many wanted Kass in their from the minute he stepped on campus last year. Kass has had a decent season...giving up 8.3 for 24th in the nation. Certainly not great, but not that bad either. D'Andrea? He was letting in nearly 10 a game last year!!

And no, I don't know who Mauriec Williamson is. Do tell.

[nychoya3]

D'Andrea has performed admirably since coming in for Kass. Regardless of what happens in goal the rest of the way, he deserves credit for handling a potentially difficult situation with impressive resolve. I read that Kass looked beat up before he left - still not 100% it would seem.

Lacrosse goalies are difficult to judge, IMO. So much depends on the defense.

Kass was the top recruit in the nation last year - they needed to get him on the field.

It does seem like Rich has been here for a long time. You got to give Jimmy that much.

[Oh My!]

OK, I'll bite. I may be dating myself quite a bit, but I have followed GU Lacrosse almost as long as you've been alive. You could say I am closely affiliated with the program through my alumni relationships. Since you asked, I have probably attended (& yes, watched) 20-25 of Rich's games in goal as a Hoya. I would never try to argue him as one of the greatest goalies of all time, but he has had a decent career. I would also not argue Rich over Miles, and even Rich (Yes, I do know first-hand) supports the decision. He has enjoyed playing D-middie & might even prefer it to goalie. Heck, he almost got his first collegiate goal earlier after a clear when he hit the pipe. As 4ever noted, he went into the goal at Loyola with NO warmup time. He had maybe thrown 2 passes to an assistant coach behind the bench before getting sent in after another Loyola goal. He only faced shots that day between the 3rd & 4th quarters, and that practice was at the opposite goal that he defended in the 4th (which was facing the sun, mind you). As for history----study up. Rich's GAA in 2005 was 7.83, which is lower than Miles this year. Also, if you compare 2006 save %age, Rich's is slightly better. AGAIN, I agree that Miles is likely the perfect guy for starting on this team, but with him as hurt as he is, I MUCH prefer the Rich in question over the other backup goalie Rich.

Quick note, however, for 4ever.........Rich has been facing shots in practice periodically since before Miles got hurt. Signifies to me that the staff has plenty of faith in Rich (& rightfully so).

Oh, I almost forgot.....the one great goal scored against Rich could not have been seen, let alone saved by ANY goalie. My position in the bleachers was the exact angle of the shot, and Loyola had a perfect screen set in front of Rich. The shot was rifled by him from ~15 yards, and I doubt he saw it, as the screener didn't move until the ball was out of the shooter's stick.

[hoya4ever]

Totally agree with you vegasrain. I have watched the sheer majority of the practices and games this year and though Rich is more than happy to help the team he does like playing middie, you can almost see it in his face. Even without his skills at goalie I would hesitate to say anything against a fifth year who is helping out this much. I have enormous respect for his leadership and dedication. Just a great kid.

[FairfaxHoya]

Anyone want to explain why our ranking took such a beating after a loss to another nationally prominent team like Loyola?

[hoya4ever]

Because they were 18 spots below us at #20. Personally, no I wouldn't have given us such a dive. I was especially dissapointed by the coaches poll. I mean seriously these people know that every team will lose to one they could have won against, not a reason to drop so many spots. Lets pull it up this Saturday against UMass and we'll show everyone where we belong.

[AustinHoya03]

Loyola lost 12-13 at Fairfield yesterday. Guess they are a streaky team.