The College Lacrosse Championships at Gillette continued yesterday, and so does my coverage of them here! Sadly a ticket misprint led to me and my brother not getting to the first game until half time, and so I don't have a whole lot to say about Cortland's 9-7 win over Gettysburg. I do, however, have a lot to say about the later game, an 8-7 nail biting win by C.W. Post over Le Moyne.
Meaningless Stat of the Game: Le Moyne had, according to the scoreboard late in the 4th period, beaten C.W. Post 7 times in a row. That streak obviously ended yesterday.
Player of the Game: Without question, C.W. Post's Dan Sciulla. Early on I wasn't super impressed by him, he made the saves he had to and missed the ones that were real difficult (and had a deflection go in that wasn't his fault as well). But as the game went into crunch time, Sciulla turned into an absolute wall, keeping his team in the lead as well as giving them the momentum to score more. For example, at one point late in the game, Sciulla made a stop from a shot right on the crease that drove the crowd wild. However, as Sciulla picked up the ball, a defender of his had a terrible push in the back which gave possession back to Le Moyne. But Sciulla then made 2 more huge saves, and had 2 more (total is 5) before Le Moyne would score again. That's what you need from a Championship Keeper.
Play of the Game: For a while it was tempting to give it to the Le Moyne player who put in the 7th goal and gave his team a shouting chance. But with about 7 seconds left, Sciulla made a huuuuge save on a really good shot and then beat the ball to the line, ensuring possession and the victory. As C.W. Post chucked the ball down field, their fans absolutely erupted, a truly beautiful scene.
WTF Moment of the Game: One Long Pole Midfielder on C.W. Post, who will remain unnamed, cleared backwards every time he had the chance. This strategy works sometimes (and did for him 2/3 times), but it takes a lot more time and kills any break opportunity, so I didn't understand why he kept at it. The third time he tried, however, he was absolutely decked, and didn't try it again.
Short Term Memory of the Game: C.W. Post player Greg Cerar had a terrible push in the back, with possession, right in front of the referee. However, after his team killed the penalty, Cerar came right out of the box and scored almost immediately. He finished with 4 goals, the last on an empty net after his defender didn't lock off on him.
268 Home runs and One Goal: Brooks Robinson scored goal number four for Le Moyne. Nice to see old Hoover making an appearance at age 72.
Player of the Game if Sciulla didn't play like a house on fire AND Cerar didn't have 4 goals: Daniel DeCosta, C.W. Post. This kid had a huge effort play to beat a sleeping attackman to the line on a shot, a huge check that knocked down his man on a later possession, AND a sick sidelines play where he fell to the ground but still managed to keep the ball in his stick and pass it off despite immense pressure. DeCosta had moxie, and he was messing up Le Moyne's game all day long.
Today at 1pm is the D1 Final between Cornell and Syracuse. Hopefully it'll be a pretty exciting game like the D2 final was, but either way I'll let all you readers know how it went!
FIELD TRIP! D2 and D3 College Lacrosse Championships at Gillette Stadium
