Monday, May 26, 2003

NCAA FINAL – Virginia. 9 - Johns Hoplins 7

The University of Virginia won the Men's Division I Lacrosse final today in anything but Cavalier fashion. It was a mud fight. There was no precipitation during the game, but it was absolutely treacherous footing from the previous eight days of rain. The NCAA rules on cleat length left the players a little short on traction on this soft, NFL playing surface of the Baltimore Ravens. It looked like they put new sod in the creases since the semis, so it was better for goalies than it had been the other day. Any way you look at it, that field is trashed and will need to be redone.

The Cavaliers hung tough all game after taking I think a 5-0 lead in the first half. Hopkins made a run to close the Virginia gap to 7-5 by halftime, but the early and large lead ultimately proved too huge to overcome as defense ruled the second half. Hopkins got an EMO goal to cut it to two with about two minutes left in the game, but then they could not get the ball on the face-off, or really at all after that. In the end, I thought the differences were that Virginia showed more overall maturity, and their goalie made some spectacular stops at big moments. Both goalies were great, but that Tillman Johnson was huge again today, as he was for UVA on Saturday against Maryland. Virginia also had that guy from Canada with the lefty cannon who looked about thirty. He was a "man among boys" as he scored some huge goals today.

I kept thinking of what I would say to my team if I were in similar situations as the ones I was watching on ESPN. One thought I had more than once was to just move the ball aggressively on offense until a defender falls down, then create a mini-break out of it. On defense, packing -it-in was definitely the order of this muddy day.

Sooner or later, one of the two doing battle in a given one on one, mano a mano match-up was going to slip on that field. Virginia was patient and mature in several instances, as the long pole simply waited for the Blue Jay attacker to dodge and fall down before he ever threw a check, making it an easy take-away, and then it was on to an easy clear.

On defense, the Blue Jays went to the zone after they fell behind early. They were very successful in slowing down the talented run and gun Cavs with it, but they were already in big trouble. They were chasing. Slowing the game down with the zone may have actually helped both teams in a way. It surely gave Hopkins its best shot at a comeback. However, the Hopkins zone also allowed Virginia to have long offensive possessions. Even though they (UVA) weren't getting many good looks at the goal against the zone, huge hunks were coming off the clock, giving the UVA defense ample time to rest and recover before the next time the Jays got a chance to attack. I loved watching this game. It was a war.

LET''S HEAR IT FOR THE GOALIE BOYS

I enjoy seeing the goalie make a "comeback" in lacrosse. For years it seemed that goalies weren't as important or dominant as they had been when I played "back in the day". Eight or ten saves had been pretty a good one game effort there for a while. Now defenses are being designed so that a goalie can be more successful.

It is not as easy as it had been to open up a defense and get good shots from good angles, and close to the goal. It is difficult now to win with only individual offensive match-ups as the main goal scoring strategy. It is getting harder for an individual dodger to take over a game. Team defense is HERE, at least for now. Help is always coming. The goalie is seeing more shots that he has a chance to save, the so-called "Popcorn".

I know I want our defense to "star" the goalie. We want to dictate where shooters shoot from more than who actually shoots the ball. This concept can help the goalie a great deal as he sees shots from certain spots and improves at stopping them. (I might feel differently if most every player we had to defend could shoot 90 mph on the run like those guys today,.... but I might not).

In our defensive scheme I want the goalie to get most of the interviews, but he also better understand what makes him receive all that attention, because his defense surely must be working right for the goalie to be 'Happy Savemore'.

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