Saturday, March 3, 2007

CSU 11  COLORADO COLLEGE  6

Sunny but chilly, maybe about 40.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A WEEK MAKES

Last weekend played out the paradox of athletic competition.  On Friday night we experienced a depth of lowness that I had not felt since 1996, the first game of my 'triumphant' return to Colorado, and my first game at CSU.   I was going to come and show the world what I could do with any team given to me.  Well, I had to choke down that blowout sandwich along with my lack of humility that day.   The final was something like 25-9, and I was very much 0-1.  That whole year was very hard.  We ended with a good won-lost record (10-3) when all was said and done, but make no mistake, we sucked, and we were beating only the doormats. 

LIKE A RUBBER BALL I COME BOUNCING BACK

Then last Sunday we rebounded and defeated our friendliest bitter rival, Sonoma State quite handily.  Well, that win made me feel better, of course, but I was still shaken (not stirred) by how badly we lost to Oregon.  I was still not a believer, not sure if that Oregon thing couldn't happen again.  We rebounded against Sonoma, and I think now that it was almost natural that we did do that, but I had no idea how our team would show up today.  Our practices have been far from perfect lately.

When we first arrived on sight this morning things didn't feel right to me.  Everyone seemed caught up in our uncertainty, and the unity/energy thing wasn't feeling that strong.  I was desperately asking myself how I could raise our team confidence level because I hated where I thought it was.  I had my worried look going for sure.

The first minutes of the game saw us take a lead, and then it went back and forth until CC led at the half, 5-4, and they went into the break with momentum gained from the lead they had just taken.  In fact we had to batten down the hatches to keep it from being 6-4 Tigers at the half.  They pressured our goal hard at the close of the half.   It was looking a lot like a fairly low scoring one goal kind of game to me, but then…….

In the second half today we outscored CC 7-1, and clearly played our most solid, best lacrosse since last May.  I now feel a little better, and even though we may not be 'back' where I may have first perceived us to be, but at least I know we are in the right ball park again, and yes, that maybe we don't suck.

DEFENSE FIRST

I have always thought of our team in terms of defense first, as in if we play good enough defense, the offense will have ample opportunities to score and the scoreboard will take care of itself.  We had not shown enough of that team defense to allow me to ever relax about much of anything.  Well, today I saw some good team defense, doing things like making the stick check just in time as the Tiger tried to get off a shot on cage, or getting a lift on a shooter's elbow so that our goalie could more easily see the ball (slower) and make the routine save, a save which gains us ball control as well as keeping the ball out of our net.

Part of our team defense has always been about the goalie.  In our team defense he (goalie) is more or less supposed to make a bunch of saves.  We want to encourage the other team to take shots we want them to take.  I think saves are a good way to get the ball for your team, at least that's how it works in my perfect world. 

HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE THAT?

In the second half today we really began to get production from our goalie du jour, Tyson Ehinger (G - #18 – Jr.) and our whole defense responded and it was good.  We had not been getting goalie production, even in practices for the most part.  They were all probably too worried about their ranking in the depth chart to perform at their best.  The 'funny' part is that Tyson wasn't even part of the original 7 or 8 guys fighting for the goalie spot this past fall.  He showed up (again) after Christmas and I had him playing midfield until last Sunday because it (goalie dilemma) was all too much for me as it was and I didn't want to distract everyone by throwing him into the mix.  Oh yeah, no distraction this.  NOT!

HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES

Danny Stevens (C -#32 – A - 2007) led us offensively with 2 goals and 2 assists.  His back-to-back goals late in the game put the Tigers to bed, and he had three points on our last 4 goals to help shut the fourth quarter door.  Nine players scored goals for us.  This is a good thing. 

GET THAT OUT OF HERE

Ian Wilson (#35 – D – Sr.) and Andrew Stein (#10 – D – Fr.) anchored the defense, and our clear was finally fine, and even though CC did try to pressure us in our own end quite a bit.  We broke the heat on this day with fundamental stuff like catching, throwing, and moving to the ball well.  It was very much a team win, and some guys stood up for others who may not have been having the greatest game or whatever.

TOMORROW IS DEFINITELY ANOTHER DAY, and ANOTHER CHALLENGE

So now, nut that I am, and after Tyson's momentum building second half, I think I'll start Lance Simmons (#45 – G- So.) in goal tomorrow against a very fine, much improved, Loyola Marymount team that came from California to play us.  Lance earned this start in my mind, and perhaps I was wrong in not letting him play today, but I am just trying to do things that I feel are best for the team, or, give us the best chance.  I went with my gut today, but I think all of us were on the same page when I made the announcement this morning about who would start against Colo. College.  So, what am I supposed to do when Garrett comes back from injury?  I will cross that bridge when I get there.

LINE THEM UP

I know this LMU Lion team will be primed for an upset.  They did not play a game today, and it is no lie, we spent a great deal of energy today and it might be difficult for us to get it back up where it needs to be tomorrow.  Oh well, we will just have to deal with all that then.  We do have a scouting report, so that might help a little.  They are the first of the five California teams that we will play IN COLORADO this year.  How cool is that?

HOLD THAT TIGER

Colorado College is a solid, well-coached, mid-range Division III lacrosse team.  We are a bunch of clubbers that never had a real practice on the practice field until yesterday.  We are okay, but we are not oozing talent here.  In fact I would say we likely could be doing a lot more squeezing than oozing this year. 

At any rate we beat them Tigers pretty good at their place today.  For now I am good with that.  Onward and upward is the direction I would like to keep going.

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