Eighteen games have been played and brought Lafayette into the position to win a Championship. Winning the game last Saturday would have been big. We would have had a crowd of about 1,000 supporters, good parking, and the team could sleep in their own beds. Unfortunately that didn’t happen…forget about it..start thinking about the NEXT game and its not American. The Leopards will be playing Bucknell, a worthy opponent and you can believe they are thinking about the 2-1 loss they had to Lafayette several weeks ago, just as Holy Cross is thinking about their one goal loss to American about the same time.
The “learning” is over and it’s the “result” that counts from now on!!! One and done as they say. One loss and the season is over. Make no mistake about it, I believe the Leopards can win this tournament and even make a statement in the NCAA tournament, but it’s the Bucknell game at 2:30 that matters. Overall this is as fine a team Lafayette has had over the years, but Bucknell comes in with 12 straight appearances in the PL tournament. Several years ago, they were the PL regular season champion and lost to BU in the tournament at their place.
There can be no walking around, free hits must be defended and executed with alacrity. Neither team can give the other time to get organized. Records don’t count anymore, only the results this weekend. Eight years ago the Leopards won the championship against Bucknell at American. A year later American met the Leopards on Rappolt field and American lost on a penalty stroke.
It doesn’t matter what sport, in whatever season, tournaments are intense. It could be a World Series, the World Cup in soccer and field hockey, or the NCAA basketball tournament. There is no next game!!
More, later this week on Bucknel,l who beat Holy Cross 2-1 this past weekend to set up the field for the tournament along with the Lehigh win over BU!!
“Talent sets the floor, character sets the ceiling”—–Bill Belichick
Lafayette College Field Hockey 