Month: September 2019

Outrageous Behavior By Kent State Administrators

Tell Me It Isn’t So Joel

So, Temple and Maine travel to Kent State to play field hockey between each other. The Saturday game began early, but goes into overtime. According to Riley Field, a player for Maine, the first overtime ended at 10:45. And as people know, who are aware of the rules, in field hockey after the break, the second 10 minute overtime would continue in a “golden goal” format. If there is still a tie at the end it goes to a shootout.  So, I would estimate a total of 30 additional minutes max. remain to complete the game if a goal was not scored. I can arrange for the administration to receive a copy of the rules for their edification!!

However, there was a hiccup. It seems they were to play a football game at noon at the nearby stadium. It must have been a huge nationally televised game?? NOT….it was the big game against Kennesaw State. The field hockey field is adjacent to the 25,000 seat football stadium, Dix Field.( about 18,500 had paid for the football game) But to celebrate this marquee matchup, they were to have fireworks set off nearby the field hockey field. Now, perhaps the two football teams wouldn’t know it was time to start the game until the noise of the fireworks happened. I can’t imagine what would possess an intelligent person to do what happened next!.

The Kent State  “administration”, at 10:45 marched on the field hockey field, and stopped a game of which Kent State had invited both teams to play on their field. This was totally disrespectful and unnecessary.  It reflects badly on the University. I thought once a game begins only the referees can stop a game!!!

In case you’re wondering, the Athletic Director, whose job it is to enforce Title IX is Joel Nielsen. Or maybe the President of the University might appreciate a call. At the very least, Kent State should reimburse Maine and Temple for all expenses. in traveling to Ohio. Maybe the person responsible for this fiasco should consider another line of work that doesn’t require a sense of fairness. Just sayin!!!

The Traffic Was Just Too Much

While Lafayette was battling App State, Pam and I were battling RT 66 outside of DC. It was 6;45 by the time we got to Culpepper and by my GPS, it was calculating were to get to Lynchburg after the game. So we turned around and tried to follow the game on our cell phones. Since there was no live stream we had to be satisfied with live stats and that was a disaster as well.

As we turned onto Rt 17 toward Fredricksburg heading to 95 south, things started to get interesting after a score by Sam Di Maio (her second of the season). But then the signal dropped!! Somewhere on 95 near Washington it became tied at one. By the time we got on 295 heading for the tunnel near Baltimore the signal lit up again and it was 2-2. Pam got tired of driving, this now our seventh hour on the road, so I took over driving until we had to finally stop for gas. ( We like to stop outside of Pa, where regular gas is 2.29 a gallon). The glee at saving 40 cents a gallon quickly evaporated as I was finally able to view the final score.

Congrats to Felicitas for her second goal, and in fairness to the App State team they are  yet to be defeated. Meghan Smart, their junior star, as she has done previously, delivered the game winner with a little over 3 minutes left. ( It was her 4th and 5th goal of the season).

So there are no pictures. ( you can look at my previous post which has a picture of Meghan Smart) Outside of all that the stats seemed to indicate an even game. Unfortunately we will not attend the Liberty game, since we have a commitment we couldn’t change after we finally got the schedule this summer. But it is on ESPN plus, so we will be firing up the home theatre and Apple TV to view!! Go  Pards!!

I could have included some picture from previous games but……

A win against Liberty will do a lot to turn my funk around tonight. I believe we have a very fine squad of field hockey players. I would love to surprise the “Flames” on Sunday.

Meanwhile at other venues:

Delaware 4 American 0

Holy Cross 4 Merrimack 1

Lehigh 4 Towson 1

Lock Haven 3 Colgate 3

BU 2. New Hampshire 1

 

Bucknell plays VCU tomorrow.

Leopards Hit The Road..Next Up Appalachian State

Lafayette field hockey will play two opponents this weekend in Lynchburg Va., the home of Liberty University. The Leopards will be meeting two undefeated teams. First up on Friday will be Appalachian State who spent last weekend in the Washington, D.C. area going 2-0. On Sunday at noon Lafayette will be playing Liberty who at present is 1-0 and will play at 3pm against Richmond before the Mountaineer- Leopard game. The nationally ranked Liberty team beat JMU 5-1 on Sunday.

The Leopards would be making a mistake to overlook this confident, but tenacious Mountaineer squad. This is the best start Head Coach Megan Dawson has had since taking the job. In a press conference earlier this week she praised the Mountaineer defense… calling it gritty.

” We know we might be slight underdogs, but we will bring that gritty style to the game. It will be a tough game because teams will improve as they move on.” She is looking for more from her offense, especially in the area of penalty corners and given the new 4 quarter format, she predicted breakaways.” We are not cocky and see the weekend as a big test.”  She praised her unscored upon defense in particular.

Their leading scorer is number 13 Megan Smart who scored both game wining goals, and total of three out of the four goals all weekend…..all from the field!!

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Aside from the unscored upon moniker, the stats are similar. Both team have four goals on the season. The Leopards have taken 9.5 shots per game, the Mountaineers 11. The percentage of goals vs shots is  21 percent for Lafayette and 18 pct for App. State. Leopards however, have given up 30 shots ( skewed by the Syracuse game) to the Mountaineers 15 shots.

After the Syracuse game, like Dawson, Head Coach Jennifer Stone had praise for her defensive unit, ” I thought our defensive unit was incredibly strong and resistant.”  She also opined, that the recent experience has primed this team for the rest of the season.

I suppose, since both coaches see their teams strong defensively, we are destined for a high scoring game (ha! ha!). But I do think its time for our scorers to break out. I personally hope to see more shots from Lafayette, providing our players with rebounding scoring opportunities. But we shall see. In any case, we will need to bring our “A” game against this improving program.

Lafayette Nearly Upsets Syracuse

An aggressive Leopard Field Hockey team nearly pulled out the upset with a determined effort Monday night against Syracuse. It was the defense again, which would be the center of the  Lafayette game as they were able to turn away a skilled and speedy Syracuse attack.

Lafayette opened the first quarter with a goal from Caroline Turnbull off a penalty corner, assisted by Simone Hefting and Lisa van der Geest after only 3:47 had run off the clock. The Syracuse Orange were stymied again and again as the Lafayette Leopards turned away and controlled the game during the first half. Things were really going Lafayette’s way as Audrey Sawers made a terrific reverse shot on a difficult angle from the right side to make it 2-0 at 13:27.

However Charlotte DeVries, Syracuse’s star freshman, collected a rebound at 26:55 and planted a goal that made it 2-1 going into the half. That seemed to energize the home team and Syracuse changed their tactics by going for the long ball rather than trying to challenge the Lafayette defense in the middle of the field. This enabled Syracuse to control possession for the remainder of the game. At 34:05 Syracuse found Tess Queen assisted by DeVreis  and Carolin Hoffman during a penalty corner for their tying goal.

Lafayette had no shots during the remainder of the game but it was the Lafayette defense which turned away threat after threat despite being out shot 12-0 in the last 41 minutes. During the last 2 minutes of the half Lisa van der Geest was to be hit for a yellow card and the Leopards were to play short handed for the remaining half, and 3 minutes of the first overtime. It was an amazing effort by a defense which may be one the best in country.

Junior Claire Cooke takes possession of the ball from Lafayette College.
Lafayette defender Simone Hefting battles Syracuse attacker

The defense again was to be outstanding in overtime, turning away threat after threat, driving the game into a second overtime period. Laura Graziosi, shortly into the second overtime received a lofting pass in front of the cage and found herself one on one with Sara Park, Sara came out to defend and did get a glove on the ball, but it went in despite her efforts.

I have to lastly laud the Lafayette defense again, who played an outstanding game and nearly provided the plays that might have given the Leopards the upset.

Lafayette will travel to Lynchburg, Va to play  two games. On Friday they will meet App. State and Sunday it will play nationally ranked Liberty University.

Since Lafayette was playing an ACC opponent they benefited by video replay, reversing a decision, awarding Syracuse a penalty corner at a crucial point in the second half. I urge again that the PL adopt instant replay. Perhaps, at least for the playoff games, wherever that may be!!

An Afternoon Of Field Hockey, Syracuse v Umass Lowell and Maryland v New Hampshire

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Syracuse vs Umass Lowell

Umass Lowell has only been in Division One for a short time but they gave Syracuse all they could handle. Syracuse came away with with the statistic that counts, a one goal win. In every other category it was Umass who had the edge. Umass lead in shots ( 14-8), SOG (12-2), and corners (4-6). The majority of the game was a defensive battle with Umass carrying the game to the Orange. It looked for a moment that “The River Rocks,” would score the first goal in the fourth quarter but Hoffman from Syracuse made a spectacular diving save, stopping what looked like a goal dribbling into the net. Ironically this would lead to the winning goal by freshman Charlotte DeVries, (number 10) who was to beat a sole defender on the counter attack- break away. It was DeVries third goal of the season and second game winner. On Friday she not only got the tying goal against Vermont but the winner in overtime.

The  Syracuse freshman goal keeper Sara Sinck put in nearly 58 minutes and to date has an 88 percent save percentage between the two games.

Syracuse of course is Lafayette’s next opponent and the Leopards must find some way to contain DeVries who is the real deal. She was ranked the number 10 recruit in the country by Max Sports. Syracuse did not make the NCAA playoffs last year and came in last in the very tough ACC. However, they were ranked 18 th in the NFHCA pre- season poll. The 6pm game tomorrow will be Syracuse’s 3rd game in 4 days.

Maryland vs New Hampshire

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As I wrote earlier this year,  I would travel to other NCAA Division One games. I had the afternoon free and decided to make the short trip the University of Maryland who were to challenge the University of New Hampshire. Both were experiencing their second game. New Hampshire lost 4-2 to American and Maryland had beaten Richmond on Friday 5-1.

In a short conversation with Missy Meharg before the game she lauded her team who has great talent. Given the rule change to 15 minute quarters, she had the enviable concern of getting playing time to all who deserve it. She needn’t have been concerned because the 5-0 score and athletic domination of the game allowed her to sub in almost everyone included her goalkeeper. The stats tell it all. The Terps had 25 shots to UNH’s 6, along with a two corner advantage, 6-4.

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At the beginning of the game from the sidelines it seemed like UNH were like deers in headlights, before they settled in. However, the obvious athleticism of Maryland was to carry the day. I am sure Missy Meharg, the fine coach she is, will need to polish up their execution in coming weeks, as it is obvious to me that their best game is in front of them.

The first goal came at 2:36 on a penalty corner, the second at 21:54 on a chip shot and goal off another corner and rebound at 24:10. That was a warm up for the second half when the fourth goal  came at 50 minutes,  and short time later the last goal was put with an assist.

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Maryland’s preseason ranking is 2nd in country and based on their ability certainly deserve it. It is a young but deep team who will undoubtedly be there at the end in the playoffs. As always, there is a need to polish things up and the team will have 5 days to do that before traveling to Evanston, Ill. for the ACC/Big Ten Cup. They will first meet with Boston College. I have included several photos taken from the position  I try to occupy at every game I attend including Lafayette. Enjoy!!!

Since Maryland is a Big Ten school the game was played using  video replay which was used once reversing a referees decision.

In other games, PL and other future opponents were busy. American lost to Richmond in overtime 3-2, William and Mary topped Duke decisively 4-0, Bucknell got past Lock Haven 1-0, Liberty dominated JMU 5-1, and Northeastern tripped up Monmouth 3-2 in overtime.