2021 PSU WLAX Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
ugh, I was planning to watch most of the match. I was going to miss just a bit of the start, as I was going to a high school LAX match. The HS match ended up being held up for 1 hour due to lightning, so I was later than I expected getting home, and only saw the last 4-5 minutes of the PSU match.
Apparently, JHU was up 10-2. PSU came storming back, and got it down to 11-9, JHU. They had the ball, and had a point-blank shot, but were stoned by the JHU goalie. Then PSU ended up getting two cards in the final 3 minutes of the game, and as such was playing down 2 players for some time. PSU nearly got a turnover, which they desperately needed.
A shame that PSU was 1 and done in the B1G tourney, when they are hosting the tourney.
Apparently, JHU was up 10-2. PSU came storming back, and got it down to 11-9, JHU. They had the ball, and had a point-blank shot, but were stoned by the JHU goalie. Then PSU ended up getting two cards in the final 3 minutes of the game, and as such was playing down 2 players for some time. PSU nearly got a turnover, which they desperately needed.
A shame that PSU was 1 and done in the B1G tourney, when they are hosting the tourney.
Not a huge surprise, but when the NCAA tournament bids were announced on Sunday, PSU was not invited to the dance.
NW won the B1G tourney, and got an automatic bid. Other B1G teams that made the tourney were JHU, Maryland, and Rutgers. Those were the 4 teams that were in the B1G tourney semifinals.
UNC is the #1 seed, NW is the #2 seed, Syracuse is the #3 seed, and BC is the #4 seed in the NCAA tournament.
NW won the B1G tourney, and got an automatic bid. Other B1G teams that made the tourney were JHU, Maryland, and Rutgers. Those were the 4 teams that were in the B1G tourney semifinals.
UNC is the #1 seed, NW is the #2 seed, Syracuse is the #3 seed, and BC is the #4 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Yeah, this season, and this NCAA Tournament, are somewhat unusual.
Drexel is making it's first appearance in the NCAAs. They've been building something for some time. During that time, they've been doing well in the CAA, but would generally have trouble against their stronger OOC teams. They did play some OOC matches this season, and bested Lehigh in the season opener (19-17), bested Temple (19-11), lost to Loyola (MD) (12-17). They also beat conference few Towson 2X in the regular season, then beat them in the CAA Tourney (15-14, OT), and then lost to JMU in the Conference tourney final, 12-13, OT)
The records of many of the teams in the NCAAs is a surprise. Amongst they at-large teams there is Duke is 9-7, Hofstra is 6-6, UVA is 8-8, Towson is 9-8, Rutgers is 6-8. Amongst the Conference automatic qualifiers, High Point is 10-7, and Mercer is 7-7. The returning NCAA champ, Maryland, is 9-6.
UNC and NW have seemed to be the two dominate teams this season, but unlike previous years, it's hard to compare a lot of the top teams, as many of them did not participate in OOC games.
It could be an interesting tournament. Or, the top 4 seeds will be in the final four. Only time will tell.
So far, you've been mostly correct. R1 one had a few close matches, but the higher seeds won all their matches, and the "powers that be" also won all their matches.
R2 (today) only had one result that didn't follow that pattern (well, it followed half of the pattern).
#7 Duke defeated perennial power Maryland, 13-12
The other R2 results are:
#1 seed UNC over James Madison, 14-9
#8 seed Stony Brook over Rutgers, 20-8
#6 seed Florida over Jacksonville, 17-3
#5 seed Notre Dame over UVA, 13-8
#4 seed Boston College over Temple, 21-11
#3 seed Syracuse over Loyola (Maryland), 20-8
#2 seed Northwestern over Denver, 19-4
The quarterfinal matches are:
#1 seed UNC vs. #8 seed Stony Brook
#2 seed Northwestern vs. #7 seed Duke
#3 seed Syracuse vs. #6 Florida
#4 seed Boston College vs. #5 seed Notre Dame
So basically, through two rounds the tournament has gone chalk, and Maryland is the only traditional power that is out of the tournament. (You could make an argument for UVA being a traditional power, so that would make two such teams that are out through two rounds.)
All of the quarterfinal matches take place on May 22
@Nittany Ned2 -- I meant to post something yesterday about how the final four went chalk, with the 4 seed playing the 1 seed in a semi, and the 2 seed playing the 3 seed in the other semi.
I didn't get a chance to watch the quarterfinal matches this weekend, but I was surprised by the score of the UNC match. It appears that Stony Brook gave the Tar Heels more of a match than I had expected.
It is kind of interesting in the 1st decade of the NCAA WLAX championships (from 1982 onward) the winners were:
UMass
Delaware
Temple
New Hampshire
Maryland
PSU
Temple
PSU, and
Harvard
Since 1993, the winners have been:
UVA, Princeton, UMD, NW, and UNC, with only 1 exception -- James Madison won the championship in 2018.
BC has been trying to break into the list of champions, as they were runner-ups the past three seasons (there was no season in 2020). Syracuse has a proud tradition of LAX, but the closest they've been to being champions is their runner-up status in 2012 and 2014.
Expanding a bit to your broader point, I see that the traditional powers in high school GLAX in my area have all advanced to the semifinals of their district competition. Even when they change coaches, certain programs just seem to continue to dominate as if nothing had changed. (A couple of years ago, I spoke with the head coach of one of the traditional powers in HS in this region. The number of girls that had tried out for her team was insane -- like 3 or 4 times as many as many other high schools have in their high school program. Success breeds success.)
Absolutely shocking that the top two seeds, UNC and Northwestern were both upset today. Boston College vs Syracuse in the championship on Sunday.
Ned,
I had something else I had to do this afternoon. I just finished watching the UNC - BC match. Unbelievable. I'm friendly with the mom of one of the UNC girls, so I've had some inside info throughout the season on the team. They seemed invincible (well, though not as much during the tourney), so I expected their only challenge would be in the finals, where they'd likely face NW. So much for that prognostication.
Rachel Hall, the GK for BC, was incredible. Her teammates played quite well, but if Hall didn't have such an incredible game, BC would have lost.
Alas, I will have to miss the final due to a prior commitment.
@Nittany Ned2,
I DVRed the championship match, and just finished watching it.
The 1st half was awesome to watch. Two programs that have been trying to break into the ranks of NCAA champions in WLAX, and who upset the favorites in the semifinals. They both played like they really wanted to win, and it was a 1-goal lead at halftime. The second half was good, but a combination of good goal keeping by Rachel Hall for BC, some great shots by BC, and BC winning most of the draws (which didn't happen in the 1st half), led to a rather lopsided 2nd half.
The girl that scored the 1st goal for Syracuse, I saw her play several times in high school, and even joked with her one time that she should have picked PSU instead of Syracuse. Also, I know one of the ladies that reffed the championship, so it was nice to see the two of them in their respective roles. I presume that you knew several of the players on both teams that played high school LAX in MD.
Congratulations to Boston College on winning the championship.
I DVRed the championship match, and just finished watching it.
The 1st half was awesome to watch. Two programs that have been trying to break into the ranks of NCAA champions in WLAX, and who upset the favorites in the semifinals. They both played like they really wanted to win, and it was a 1-goal lead at halftime. The second half was good, but a combination of good goal keeping by Rachel Hall for BC, some great shots by BC, and BC winning most of the draws (which didn't happen in the 1st half), led to a rather lopsided 2nd half.
The girl that scored the 1st goal for Syracuse, I saw her play several times in high school, and even joked with her one time that she should have picked PSU instead of Syracuse. Also, I know one of the ladies that reffed the championship, so it was nice to see the two of them in their respective roles. I presume that you knew several of the players on both teams that played high school LAX in MD.
Congratulations to Boston College on winning the championship.
Well look at this ... I saw this girl play in high school. She was really good, though injuries hurt her college career. Her mom was a legendary player back in the day, and still coaches GLAX in the Philadelphia suburbs. (The mom is also the reason that the rule for shooting space or dangerous shot (I forget which one) was adopted. Her shot was like a rocket.)
I'm somewhat surprised that Missy didn't hire one of the many PSU WLAX alums that are now active in college or high school coaching, though I'm sure she had her reasons.
I'm somewhat surprised that Missy didn't hire one of the many PSU WLAX alums that are now active in college or high school coaching, though I'm sure she had her reasons.
Neither Corinne Drost nor Mike Molsky appear to be returning as the assistants, as neither are currently listed on the WLAX coaching staff at GoPSUsports. Those two replaced Tara Hohenshelt and Amy Altig in the summer of '19. While Altig left for the HC job at Delaware and I don't know the reasons for the departures of the other three, the recent churn in assistant coaches is a bit disconcerting.
funny you should say that. I've heard a few whispers that there is/was some turmoil in the program.
Neither Olivia Dirks nor GK Taylor Suplee are listed on the fall 2021 WLAX roster posted at GoSPUsports.
Pretty nice for Katie. She was quite a player for PSU, and is also from the Philadelphia area.
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