Men's Lax wins 14-7 over Rutgers

[GUHoya07]

Just got back from the game. It was tied at 4 and then 5-4 us at the half. We really started playing well in the 2nd half and put them away, nice win.

[CAHoya07]

Good win over a crappy Rutgers team. Also, pretty decent turnout on a cloudy, rainy Senior Day.

[hoya4ever]

I love the Hoya crowds. They are, how shall I say, imaginative in their insults? There were some people sitting behind me saying stuff ranging from "Go back to exit 9" to making insults out of the letters in "RUTGERS." I thought it was the coolest thing. These people were at least parents (age wise).

[FLHoya]

hoya4ever said:

I love the Hoya crowds. They are, how shall I say, imaginative in their insults? There were some people sitting behind me saying stuff ranging from "Go back to exit 9" to making insults out of the letters in "RUTGERS." I thought it was the coolest thing. These people were at least parents (age wise).

GIVE ME YOUR JERSEY NUMBER 32!!

Always one opposing lax fan that'll give you a little something.

The weather cooperated just enough to keep the umbrellas down for most of the game--actually not a bad watching weather with a temp around 55-60 and a breeze. The field--well, doubling with the women's lax team isn't helping, you can definitely tell where the crease is for those games. It looks like GU actually shifts the end lines depending on the team, so the women's crease is behind and to the far side from the men's crease. The sideline was definitely closer to the stands today than at the Loyola game. And the quik-dry stuff or whatever they use on pitcher's mounds made an appearance.

That was a really interesting gesture on Senior Day to play the Canadian National Anthem for Brodie Merrill wasn't it?

At one point this game was 4-4 near the end of the first half, then most of the second was a total mismatch--GU absolutely owned possession and even clearing the zone was a pain for Rutgers. Some pretty nasty wipeouts too, Pete Cannon scored one in the third where he put a move on a defender up high and the guy just slipped and fell on his butt.

Lots of goals on stuff I don't see a ton at the home games, finding a lot of cutters down the middle at the goal today (this is painful to try to describe lacrosse for someone with no background whatsoever prior to watching games at GU). Bunch of real laser shots from deep and angles to the far side of the net no less.

And Rich D'Andrea had the greatest goaltending performance since the dawn of competitive lacrosse. Well, I'm exaggerating a lot, although he did play well. I was watching next to his family who were really nice to me and said they appreciated mine and 007's sense of humor and wanted us back at all the games. Man, though, of all the positions that must be agonizing for a parent to watch their kid play, lacrosse goaltender has got to be way up there. I mean, 22 times in the first half their kid had a little rubber ball shot in his direction at insane speeds with little padding. And he made some nice kick saves too--but the poor parents are gasping and worrying on every shot and near shot...it's pretty amusing I gotta say.

[nychoya3]

Yep, Hoya lacrosse fans are great. Actually, lacrosse fans generally are great. I went to the first round of the NCAAs last year, and 75% of the crowd was kids and their families, all wearing their school jackets, and the other quarter is related to the players on the field. Everyone just loves the sport.

D'Andrea was indeed great from what I saw on the video feed. I love the video feed. Actually, Rutger's goalie was possibly even better - he made a stop on Brodie that was simply miraculous. Still, a really nice performance in the second half - Corno dominating the face offs, Merill keying the transition, and Cannon(s), Casey, and co. controling things inside.

Hopefully, Rutgers beats UMASS and we take PSU so we can get a share of the ECAC title. Either way, I think we have the talent to make a run this year, and we're playing as well as anyone who isn't Duke or Hopkins.

[Joe Hoya]

Maryland is about to beat Duke (leading 9-3 with less than three minutes to go) in the ACC championship. Does this help us at all, considering Maryland put it to us pretty good in the first game of the year? Does it hurt us because we lost to Duke? How does this affect our RPI?

Seriously...what kind of effect could this have on our tournament seeding?

[nychoya3]

Maryland won 9-5. If I had to guess, it hurts us a little in seeding since Duke won't fall below us, but Maryland may now jump us, having beaten the 3 and 2 seeds in consecutive games. With wins over those two and GU, they are probably well situated to be seeded somewhere from 3-6, I bet.

Probably doesn't matter much, really. I just want to avoid playing at Hopkins in the second round, because that's damn near unwinnable. We can take everyone else.

[hoya4ever]

OK, so apperently UMass downed Syracuse 14-3 in OT, a deja-vous from the 2003 season. ncaasports.com/lacrosse/mens/story/8433222

What does this mean for us? Do we have to play against UMass again in the playoffs? Are they becoming a good team? What about seeding?

[nychoya3]

It was 14-13 over Cuse. Yeah, they're a very good team. I REALLY hope they lose next week so we can be solidly slotted into the 6th or 7th seed, which keeps us out of Baltimore for a second round matchup with Hopikins. Maryland winning probably jumps them over us, even though they have 5 losses. UVA falls, but still probably stays above us. Navy, Duke, and Hopkins are all solidly above us right now. I don't really know enough to make a prediction, but I think we're competing with UMass, UVa, and maybe Cornell for the 5th through 8th seeds, and I'm just hoping we don't get that last slot.

Here's the latest poll, with GU in 8th. Selection show is next Sunday.

www.insidelacrosse.com/page.cfm?pagerid=2&news=fdetail&storyid=90618