Impressions from the Semifinals (Updated Again)
Some thoughts from the semifinals from Saturday.
*Virginia's shortstick defenders played very well. The unit accounted for three goals and one assist against Syracuse. The goals were from senior Will Barrow, sophomore Max Pomper and freshman Rhamel Bratton (he went from defense to offense on the play). Sophomore Mike Thompson had the assist.
Barrow in particular did a good job defending Syracuse MF Steven Brooks in overtime. Brooks has scored several crucial goals this year either at the end of regulation (Georgetown, Virginia) or in overtime (Johns Hopkins).
During the game, the shorsticks were the primary defenders on only one Syracuse goal. A couple Orange goals came against offensive middies from UVa, a couple came against a zone, some on extra-man, etc.
*The total goals in the Syracuse-Virginia series dating from 1995 is 292-292.
*As longtime lacrosse journalists Eddie and Chuck Timanus pointed out in the final minute of the Duke-Hopkins game, since the NCAA went to the Final Four format in 1986, never have both semifinals gone to overtime.
*Both of Matt Danowski's goals against Johns Hopkins came while he was being defended by shortsticks.
*A crucial goal from Johns Hopkins came from SSDM George Castle. He scored on a six-on-seven situation (Duke had an extra defender after having been called for offside). Castle hit the upper corner on the shot.
*The Blue Jays are wearing specially-ordered shoes from Nike. The shoes have the checkerboard design that senior Kevin Huntley painted onto his cleats.
*Hopkins flew to Boston in a charter plane that later took the Kansas City Royals to their next destination.
*ADDED: In a surprisingly insensitive move, Salisbury players stole the NCAA Division III trophy and went on a victory lap seconds after their 19-13 victory over Cortland on Sunday. Then they went into the stands to celebrate with their fans. The whole time, Cortland waited patiently in a huddle for the post-game handshake. Then the NCAA officially awarded Salisbury the trophy to further delay the handshake.
Still Cortland waited. Finally, the handshake took place. Anyway congrats to Salisbury on another undefeated season and another national championship.
*The Salisbury thing was actually prompted by TV. According to Paul Ohanian of US Lacrosse (and the former SID at Salisbury), the TV folks wanted Salisbury to do their victory lap before their coverage ended. Not sure about Salisbury going into the stands.
Anyway, it's too bad for the losing team to sit there and wait for 10 minutes for a post-game handshake after having lost a national title game just for TV.
By Christian Swezey |
May 25, 2008; 3:14 PM ET
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Posted by: patrick | May 25, 2008 6:50 PM
You'd think that with as many titles as Salisbury has, they'd know how to act like they've been there before.
Posted by: Mike | May 25, 2008 7:05 PM
As I recall, Eddie Timanus had his fifteen minutes of fame as a successful Jeopardy! contestant.
Posted by: cica | May 25, 2008 8:39 PM
What happened to Duke? They didn't look or play like a #1 team.
And what came over Hopkins? Was it the special shoes or the chartered flight?
I think it was the heart of a champion coming through when it counted most - a clutch performance.
Go Hopkins!
Posted by: Ledbootz | May 26, 2008 8:02 AM
Mike--
You exactly read my mind about Salisbury. One reason I was late filing my advance story to the paper yesterday was that I got caught up watching Salisbury. They have an amazing team and are a ton of fun to watch.
But the postgame actions were surprisingly classless and smacked of triumphalism.
If it were the team's first national title they could be forgiven. But as you pointed out, it isn't. Stealing the trophy before it is presented is borderline funny--especially given how seriously the NCAA takes itself.
But taking the impromptu victory lap and then going into the stands before shaking hands with the opponent was way over the line and in very poor taste.
Posted by: Christian | May 26, 2008 9:50 AM
Awesome school and awesome team!!! Berkman started coaching the team my freshman year. His son Kylor, the POY for Div III and MOP for the tourney was 2 at the time and a mascot of our freshman dorm as Berkman's wife was our Area Dir.
Berkman's teams have shown nothing, but class in his 20 years at Salisbury.
This is not news....give me a break!
Posted by: Berkman = Class | May 27, 2008 2:10 PM
Christian - the D1 bias is pretty obvious here but thank you for updating your blog to reflect that Salisbury did not do the lap on their own but were asked to by the media. In past years Salisbury has always shaken hands before the victory lap and pictures.
Couple Salisbury haters here...Gettysburg/WAC alumni perhaps?
Posted by: Bay Bridge | May 27, 2008 5:15 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Re: Salisbury -- once again, class shows itself...as does lack of it. What else to expect from the "outhouse" of the state of Maryland?