My Thoughts on the 2008 NCAA Lacrosse Championships

Well, it's over. Syracuse. Again.

Growing up it was Syracuse and Hopkins. It gets boring to watch after a while but they are still fun games and I always learn a lot by watching. Here's what I took away from this year.

1) High Percentage vs. Low Percentage Shots: I saw Duke take a lot of low percentage shots that Gvozden from Hopkins ate up. And then I watched Syracuse take a lot of high percentage shots that eventually went it. It comes down to this...your defense needs to usher the shooter out of high percentage areas so that the goalie has a chance to make the save. When I watched Leveille setting up in overtime I knew, if he hit the cage, that the game was over. As soon as he got position in the slot at around 8-10 yards I just knew that the second he got a shot off that it was going in. Bud Petit had no chance on that ball. It was perfectly placed off-stick low. At that distance poor Bud needed his feet to grow fast to make that save.

2) The best shooters, if given time and room, will pick their spots. Great shooters know where the goalie's weaknesses are. Off-stick hip, off stick high, off stick low. I watched Paul Rabil (I think) pretty much beat the entire Syracuse defense and then rip it into the top corner. In traffic! But I saw a lot of goals this year that were just awesome. We're talking inside the pipe. Off-stick. Great placement. The goalie has little chance of making those saves.

3) I didn't see one goalie with an overly long stick. They all pretty much were running in the 50-55 inch range. Nothing crazy long which is cool. I've believed in short sticks for goalies since high school.

4) Goalies need to work on their one on one defense: I saw Trevor Tierney get schooled at the Worlds when he went out to double the ball. I think it was Loftus from Duke who also did a poor job. Goalies need to work on their one on one defending. It's as easy as jumping into the defensive drills when you're a back up. I think if most of the goalies had worked a bit in practice instead of having a water break they would have had a chance to take the body and get those balls back for their teams. Goaltending is not just about stopping the ball. There are game scenarios where you need to get out there and play some defense. Be ready for that opportunity and take the body.

5) Nice to see both goalies in the finals wearing the sweats. Not sure if they are hiding any protective gear like football pads but they both know that a ball stings less when you're covered. And it was HOT in Foxboro. Gvozden even had long sleeves. So much for trying to look cool. Both those goalies are kind of skinny and the pants give the goalie some extra "meat" in the legs. If a shooter looks and sees two scrawny ankles guess where he's shooting? If he sees some beefy legs he'll think again.

That's it for now. I'm going to try and watch the game over the next day or so and write some more after that. Let me know what you thought of the games. Wish I could see the girls game to. Congrats to my old school-mate Kelly Amonte who coached her way to her fourth National Title in a row!

Nice job Kelly.

Jonathan -