The washington fakehawks are pathetic. attendance #s are a lie. less than 1,000 pd. my how the mighty have fallen. - Mt washintin mike, commenting on this blog last week

Mt washintin mike! Don't be so down on the Washington Bayhawks fans. There were a legitimate 5,000 fans at the last two games I filmed. I miss the Gary Gait Baltimore Bayhawks too, but Baltimore did not support the team either -- not in the numbers needed to really succeed. But the game struggles in most towns. In any case, I watch lacrosse -- I comment on lacrosse. Here goes.

Who’s Good?

Andrew “Buggs” Combs

Combs is an assistant coach at Towson and son of Towson football’s Gordy Combs. He scored eight goals in the Bayhawks' 25-20 loss to the New Jersey Pride Saturday at George Mason University.

Check out video highlights of the Bayhawks-Pride game:

Stephen Peyser

The Johns Hopkins alum scored four goals and had an assist, earning game MVP Honors and my admiration. He was outstanding scoring on the run.

Rob Scherr

The All-Star keeper had a big game in the cage. Also a Hopkins alum, Rob recently began working for US Lacrosse, giving back to the game that he loves.

Merrick Thomson

The MLL's top goal-scorer added five goals and confounded his reputation as a Canadian style player (he is Canadian) with some very American time-and-space long-range goals.

Scott Urick

Scott Urick had an old-school, quick-stick game in college, which we loved, but those are the tools of the finisher trade. Those work when you’re not the best player on the team and the team is winning all the time, but Scott is and New Jersey needed leadership. So Urick changed his entire being on the field. He is a point guard now – a dangerous one. He hasn’t lost his finishing abilities but he starts the ball now and is relentlessly aggressive. The whole team reflected that Saturday. I love his game.

MLL scorers, generally

The score of this game was 25-20. The All-Star game, held in Denver two weeks ago was won by the West, 31-15. And the best goalies in the world are in the cage for these football-like scores. The small amount of teams and the large amount of great shooters means that every team has a bunch and every goalie is in big trouble. Just think about the Bayhawks. They start Connor Gill, Matt Ward and Combs. If this was the NBA, with many more teams, no team could afford both Gilbert Arenas and Dwyane Wade.

Gordy Combs' name was misstated in a previous version of this post. Baltimoresun.com regrets the error.

Posted by John Weaver at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

This past weekend, the now Washington Bayhawks returned to Maryland for a game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. They delivered one of the biggest crowds I’ve ever seen at a Bayhawks game with a reported 5,792 fans. These numbers don’t rival Denver or even Boston crowds, but 5,000 is pretty good for MLL games generally.

So the Annapolis numbers were good. But don’t think that means that the team should move to Annapolis. I noticed that tons of the license plates at the game were from Virginia. The 3,000 regulars at the games at George Mason University made the 40-minute trip and a couple thousand Anne Arundel County laxers showed up, too. Annapolis is a great day trip for anyone, so as a one-time thing, the Virginians hit the road for a home game -- but those Virginia numbers would dwindle should the team move. I saw only a smattering of the old Baltimore Bayhawks fans at the 2007 games in DC and even less now in northern Virginia. I think the team should play one game per year in Annapolis, honoring veterans in some way, and just keep that location special. Fans like a diversion, just not a desertion.

Expectations for pro lacrosse crowds are usually way too high. I remember driving up to cover a Bridgeport Barrage game played in a minor league baseball stadium. The setting was quaint. The seats were all close to the field and the 3,500 or so fans filled half the park. It seemed electric that night as the fans got into the lacrosse. The team had only played a few games in Bridgeport at the time and lots of the fans were already wearing Barrage stuff. To me, that was a great success. I envied the owner of that team. I believed, based on my knowledge of lacrosse and reading many books about the birth of pro sports and innovative executives like Branch Rickey, that this team was on the way to long-term success. It was the first time I thought the MLL might actually succeed financially. A few weeks later, I heard that the team would probably be moved because of the bad crowds in Bridgeport.

The Bayhawks (3-6) lost the game Saturday to the Cannons (6-3). Homegrown DC area stars Matt Ward and Brendan Healy scored two goals apiece and Ward added an assist for the Bayhawks, but Sean Morris led Boston with four goals. Morris, from UMass, was the Player of the Game.

Our friend Hunter Lochte looked good for Washington, as did Conor Gill and Kyle Dixon. But I thought the big star of the day was Boston rookie Paul Rabil, who had three goals from just inside the two-point line that just ripped past the keeper. He needs to get his timing and distance down so he is shooting two-pointers. In this version of the game, he will be the most valuable player in the league if he takes those from another foot away from the cage.

The Bayhawks return to George Mason Stadium in Fairfax, Va., on Saturday at 7 p.m. They will play Rob Scherr, Matt Danowski, Scott Urick, the Peysers and the New Jersey Pride (3-5) for their final home game. It’s only about a 50-minute drive from Baltimore at that time of day, so you can see some of the best lacrosse in the world if you care to. We’ll see you there!

Posted by John Weaver at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Congratulations to Team USA's U-19 team! They are World Champions, again. This is the U.S. team’s sixth straight gold medal with a record of 36-0. I’m not chest thumping. Every four years the team earns it and should be congratulated. The two contesting teams, USA and Canada, went to overtime in their last game so any outcome was possible.

Georgetown’s Craig Dowd continued his world dominance in the USA's 19-12 win over Team Canada for the 2008 ILF (International Lacrosse Federation) World Championship on July 12. Dowd had three goals and two assists after leading the team all week. Virginia goalkeeper Adam Ghitelman recorded 19 saves and Johns Hopkins’ Matthew Dolente won 22 of 30 faceoffs. Virginia’s Nick Elsmo (Severn) and Harvard’s Dean Gibbons each scored three goals for Team USA while Maryland’s Anthony Mendes, Hopkins’ Tim Donovan (Loyola) and Virginia’s Rhamel Bratton each had two.

An estimated 3,400 fans attended the Championship at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada

U.S. Goals: Dean Gibbons 3, Nick Elsmo 3, Craig Dowd 3, Anthony Mendes 2, Tim Donovan 2, Rhamel Bratton 2, Ryan Young 1, Matthew Dolente 1, Andrew Feinberg 1, Josh Amidon 1

U.S. Assists: Dowd 2, Young 2, Mendes 1, Donovan 1

Posted by John Weaver at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Within the last two months, the Big East started a lacrosse conference and the East Coast Athletic Conference expanded into the Midwest where the Great Western Lacrosse League once stood. The GWLL is dust in the winds of change. Before we get to my take on the big changes to the college lacrosse configuration, here’s how the new conferences will look in 2010.

The seven schools that will participate in the newly formed Big East Conference are Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Syracuse and Villanova. The teams will play each other once in the regular season. The conference hopes to receive an automatic bid to the 16-team NCAA tournament field.

The new ECAC Lacrosse League will include former GWLL members Air Force, Bellarmine, Denver, Ohio State and Quinnipiac and existing ECAC schools Fairfield, Hobart and Loyola. The conference already has an automatic bid.

The new Big East and ECAC are two strong lacrosse conferences that deserve an automatic bid and will likely place at-large teams in the tournament as well. I have no criticism of the new alignments and in the case of the Big East, all is finally right.

Anyone who saw the news in June about the formation of the new Big East conference must have noted that the conference raided the ECAC for its members. Georgetown, Rutgers and St. John’s were gone in a flash. That left the ECAC scrambling for new teams to keep the conference going and it left the Great Western Lacrosse League without its marquis team, Notre Dame.

Now the Big East can’t be blamed for going after the lacrosse teams from schools that are established as traditional conference teams in most sports. It can be blamed for taking so damn long to do it. Some blame the Atlantic Coast Conference for starting a conference, prematurely, with only four teams. But those teams have an identity that matches the other teams at their schools and that the fans can relate to. And while they don’t have enough teams for an automatic bid, they respect the sport and claim their teams. Players in the ACC are proud of it and the ACC is proud of its lacrosse.

The Big East’s argument might be that it was appropriate to wait for the proper number of playing members. Actually, the proper number of willing members is important too. Ten-time NCAA champion Syracuse brings unequaled clout and immediate standing to the conference, and I would be surprised if they weren't compensated in some way. Maybe I’m cynical but that’s how I perceive Syracuse athletics -- money first, kids next. It’s not the lacrosse people, who are some of my favorite people in the world. It’s the athletic department, which are not lacrosse people.

The ECAC has been a make-shift conference of ever-changing definition for years. This new configuration may last a few years but the conference is still a temporary entity as long as they rely on eventual Big Ten teams for their numbers. The Big Ten, like the Big East, will eventually have enough teams and form its own lacrosse conference, leaving the ECAC again with some recruiting to do. By then, more colleges may play and that shift of Big Ten teams may leave a perfect scenario for others to participate in the conference system, like in this case. It really is perfect for now.

The GWLL was perhaps the easiest conference ever to raid. They had an automatic bid to the tournament and only lost one team – Notre Dame. They had University of Detroit-Mercy coming in for 2009 and would have been just fine, as far as I can see. They would have had Air Force, Bellarmine, Denver, Ohio State, Quinnipiac and Detroit. But the GWLL was a "made-up conference," born from necessity, with no big financial structure and no staff that would fight for its very existence. The conference was just extra work for the teams and schools in it. It was a bloodless battle. It’s like they outsourced to the ECAC, as mercenary a conference as there ever was.

The only “victim” I see from all of this shifting is Detroit, which had a terrific path ahead of it with a GWLL schedule as a brand new college team. Now they will play one season of all away games, including GWLL teams, and then we’ll see. I use the word victim lightly. These guys will be fine and knew what was coming like all of us did. They embraced it just the same in Detroit. They even hosted the 2008 GWLL Tournament, seen exclusively on E-Lacrosse.

The GWLL was a misnamed conference anyway with the Rockies as its western barrier. It’s like in U.S. history when the “western frontier” was Ohio, then Missouri, and so on. One day we may get a "Great Western Lacrosse League" revival. Hopefully the teams assembling that conference will be real western teams on the Pacific Coast. History will repeat itself, as this will likely be a precursor to the Pac 10 and Big West lacrosse conferences, but it will not be soon. And by then, after so many iterations, the ECAC may be that far west, still seeking teams.

One more thing: Nobody ever thinks, when something ends, that it had a great purpose or that it was as necessary as it really was. But for those who had the vision of the GWLL and made it happen, all of lacrosse owes you a huge debt. The growth of our game was in your hands for a few years there and you carried it well. Three GWLL teams -- Denver, Ohio State and Notre Dame -- made the tournament field last year as a symbol of that success and growth. The league will be forgotten soon, but hopefully not its great and historic accomplishments.

Posted by John Weaver at 1:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Usually on the Fourth of July, I am in Vail, Colo., or some other exotic location covering lacrosse. I have been in Canada, Europe and Colorado for the last three holidays. This year I stayed home and actually watched no lacrosse. It was relaxing but I missed it. I actually wished for a few moments that I had made a trip this year, even with the high fuel prices and the rapidly crumbling reliability of the airlines. I imagined the game I’d most like to see on the Fourth – It was a Heroes vs. Heroes game on Long Island between a team of firemen and police officers and a team of alumni from the service academies.

There were some big stars in the game as many of the Long Island lacrosse families produce New York City firemen and policemen as prolifically as they do laxers. On 9/11, Long Island felt the pain as much as anyone or more. On the other team, I imagined captain John Fernandez, a superstar at Army, who is my greatest hero. The fact that he is on the field at all these days, playing the game he loves, makes my eyes swell.

Fernandez lost both of his legs, above the knee, in Iraq. I saw him at a Johns Hopkins-Army game the next year with his supporting wife (another hero) and was taken with them. He was the most positive person I had ever met and she was locked in next to him with unconditional love and pride. Seeing him in a wheelchair that day, shaking his hand and thanking him, touched me. It affected me. A few months later, still thinking about this man, I picked up the phone and dialed Jack Emmer, then the coach at Army and the only guy I knew who could hook me up with Fernandez. I had no idea how I could help, but I just unloaded my emotions on Emmer. I said that I was overwhelmed by Fernandez’s sacrifice and that I would lose money to help him.

I could not afford to pay writers that much, but I would pay Fernandez to write about any topic in lacrosse just to keep him in the game and help him out. How naïve I am. Emmer spits back at me something like “That’s nice, John, but captain Fernandez is out playing lacrosse right now.” I was, all at once, shocked and overjoyed. The young man had already been fitted with modern prostheses and had worked his way back to walking, running and even playing lacrosse. He needed no help from me. Just like with his service, he was the one helping me. I was changed in some small way – humbled, just knowing of his accomplishment. I could tell Emmer took some enjoyment in bursting my naïve, self-important bubble and even that too feels good after the fact. He deserved that blatant affirmation of his life’s mission; that joyful moment spawned from awful circumstances. Emmer coached servicemen most of his career, teaching sacrifice to men who used the lessons in battle to protect me.

So this Fourth of July, I'll simply thank the service academy players, coaches and staffs and the players who chose careers in law enforcement and public safety. You are lacrosse’s biggest stars.

Posted by John Weaver at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The 36th annual Vail Lacrosse Shootout finals were held all week and for the third straight year, the Baltimore Crabs won the national high school showcase. The final was on Wednesday afternoon. The Crabs held a 9-6 lead at the end of three periods in the Wednesday final, and then stopped the Colorado Favorites for a 13-6 victory. The High School division of the Vail tournament is called the Dr. Tom Watts Memorial Boys U-19 Tournament.

Chase Calkin faced off for Colorado, winning 11 of the first 18 draws, but Justin Radebaugh turned it around in the fourth quarter for Baltimore, winning 4 of 5 in the end. Tournament organizer and media guru Alex Smith said, “Possessions were key in this game and in the end, the Crabs simply took better care of the ball”.

Baltimore was led by attackmen Joe Cummings and Alex Capretta, who scored 2 goals and 2 assists each.

High School Girls

In the Girls High School Showcase’s Gold Division, Heros topped M&D Lax 6 in the Championship 7-6. M&D Lax and Heros are both from the Baltimore area. In the Silver division the Lady Blue Knights defeated Team Capital 12-7 in the Championship game. Team Capital was this year’s youngest team and many of the girls were using traditional wooden sticks. The Lady Blue Knights are from Ontario, Canada.

Elite Divisions

The Men’s and Women’s Elite division championships were held on Sunday and won by Team 21 and Dos Brisas Lax. Team 21, a Cornell squad with alumni, named after and commemorating Mario St. George Boiardi -- a Cornell/Landon lacrosse player who passed away while playing Binghamton in 2004. Team 21 upset Reebok 12-7 in the Men’s Elite final and Dos Brisas Lax beat Revolution 5 to win the Women’s Elite division.

Here’s a report on the action in the finals from Alex Smith, who’s a super goalie and helps run the Vail tournament for my good friend and his college coach at Colorado State, Flip Naumburg.

Men's Elite

Team 21 12, Reebok 7

Team 21 trailed Reebok 3-2 at the end of one quarter of play, but won every quarter thereafter, outscoring the defending champions 10-4 over the final three stanzas to win their first Vail Lacrosse Shootout Men’s Elite Championship by a score of 12-7. 21’s goaltending and defense was stellar, especially in the second half, as they held the high-scoring Reebok team to only two second-half goals.

The Cornell-based Team 21 got a huge effort from All-Tournament members David Mitchell and John Glynn, both of whom were on top of their games throughout the tournament. Jake Meyers recorded 17 saves for the victorious Team 21.

Glynn was exceptional throughout the tournament, using his shifty, elusive style of play to get to the goal and break down defenses. For his efforts, he was named the tournament’s Offensive Most Valuable Player. Meyers, who recorded more saves in each game as the tournament progressed, was named the Shootout’s Defensive MVP.

Team 21 did a great job shutting down Reebok’s Adam Donegar, who netted five goals in the semifinals. Donegar didn’t record a point in the Championship Game. Reebok had four players with two points in the game, including midfielders John Carrozza, Dan Fanelli and Anthony Muscarella and attackman Ryan Zordani. Team 21’s leading point-getter was Glynn, who had three goals and one assist, and Christian Pastirik, who ripped home a two-pointer to give him three total points on the day.

Reebok was certainly the favorite coming into the game, but Team 21 left little doubt as to who the better team was on this day.

Merrill Lynch/Lacrossewear defeated AIG-LIVESTRONG for 3rd place by a score of 8-4. The Lofers completed an eight-goal comeback to defeat LaxGrip in overtime in the fifth-place game, while Brine Elite rode the efforts of All-Tournament faceoff man John Rotolani to win the Consolation Championship over Rock-it Pocket 10-3.

Results:

3rd Place – Merrill Lynch/Lacrossewear 8, AIG-LIVESTRONG 4
5th Place – The Lofers 13, LaxGrip 12 (ot)
7th Place – Arizona Mermen 9, Club All-Stars 5

Consolation Championship – Brine Elite 10, Rock-it Pocket 3
11th Place – Rocky Mountain Oysters 12, Team Valhalla 4
13th Place – The Generals 9, 5280/Tap Room 2
15th Place – Team Gutman beat Team Rubi Rey
17th Place – Team Black Seal 5, Footclan/Team California 1

Men’s Elite All-Tournament Team

Attack
#16 Cooper MacDonnell – Merrill Lynch/Lacrossewear
#3 Mitch McMichael – LaxGrip
#16 Peter Milliman – AIG-LIVESTRONG
#4 Adam Stifel – Reebok

Midfield
#24 Matt Shearer – LaxGrip
#25 Adam Donegar – Reebok
#10 Max Ritz – Merrill Lynch/Lacrossewear
#26 Anthony Muscarella – Reebok

Defense
#19 Brian Kelly – Merrill Lynch/Lacrossewear
#32 Sean McCarthy – Reebok
#5 Pierce Derkac – Team 21

Face-off
#3 John Rotolani – Brine Elite

Long Stick Midfielder
#11 Justin Tay – LaxGrip

Goaltender
#23 Doc Schneider – Reebok

Offensive MVP
#20 John Glynn – Midfield – Team 21

Defensive MVP
#14 Jake Meyers – Goalie – Team 21

Women's Elite

Dos Brisas 14, Revolution 5

Led by Colorado native Carolyn Cryer, Dos Brisas breezed through the championship game, leaving little doubt to the outcome from the opening draw. Cryer, named offensive MVP, scored six first-half goals, while tournament MVP, Lindsay Gilbride, scored twice as Dos Brisas took a 9-2 first-half lead. There was no quit in Revolution, but they were clearly overmatched by the ladies from Dos Brisas. With the outcome no longer in doubt, Dos Brisas and Revolution played a fast-paced up-and-down second half, as Cryer finished the game with nine goals. Revolution was led with two goals apiece from Kate Dewey and Sarah Bullard as well as getting solid goalie play from Mollie Mackler, who finished the game with eight saves, many from point-blank range. In the end, the speed and finesse of Dos Brisas carried them to the 2008 championship.

In the closest game of the day, CRSLAX out lasted Lax Hut in this well-played third-place game. Gang Green had a relatively easy time with AOB in the first half, ending the half with a 5-2 lead. In the second, AOB could not quite catch Gang Green, which walked away victorious. Despite the efforts of the three sister combos, Team Xtreme fell to the young guns of Team 180 16-7 for 7th place.

All-Tournament Team

Sarah Bullard -- Revolution
Greta Meyer -- Gang Green
Kriti Dave -- Revolution
Beth Calder -- Team Xtreme
Nikki Kucharski -- Team 180
Jess Adam -- Dos Brisas
Lauren Uhr -- AOB
Stacey Saggesse -- Team Xtreme
Amanda Hughes -- CRSLAX
Aimee Dixon -- Revolution
Julie Wadland (Goalie) -- Gang Green

Offensive MVP: Caroline Cryer -- Dos Brisas
Defensive MVP: Rowas Smith -- Gang Green
Tournament MVP: Lindsay Gilbride -- Dos Brisas

Coach: Janet Holdsworth -- Minnesota

THE OLD GUYS:

The Vail Lacrosse Shootout host all ages. In the Masters Division (33+), or side, Jagermeister held off Middlebury 8-6 for the Championship while Mr. Boh/Nacho Mamas defeated another Middlebury group 13-6 in the Grandmasters (50+) title tilt. The Supermasters (40+) Division ended on Tuesday with an impressive performance by the Adidas Magic Wands, who defeated the FROGS 14-9 to win the Championship. E-Lacrosse friend Chris Mitzel, from the Adidas Magic Wands, was the MVP.

Don’t forget to check out the tournament blog on the home page of www.vaillacrosse.com and our daily batches of photos at www.vaillacrosse.com/2008/pictures.

Posted by John Weaver at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The United States under-19 men's team is now 4-0 after four rounds of preliminary competition at the International Lacrosse Federation World Championship at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam, British Columbia.

Team USA opened play with a tough contest against the descendants of the game’s founders. They pulled out a 20-15 win over the Iroquois as attacker Andrew Feinberg (Owings Mills, Md./McDonogh/Brown) led all scorers with five goals. Craig Dowd (East Northport, N.Y./Northport/Georgetown) scored four. The opening-day victory was a historic accomplishment for the U.S. program. The Americans have a perfect 30-0 record in U-19 international play since the first championship in 1988. Congratulations to the team and US Lacrosse for the long-term success of the program.

On Independence Day (here, not there), the U.S. crushed the once fellow British Commonwealth member Australia, 21-7. Dowd (East Northport, N.Y./Northport/Georgetown) stood out again, leading the way with four goals. Brian Logue of US Lacrosse reports that “defenders Peter Fallon (Baltimore/Gilman/Brown), John Lade (Randolph, N.J./Randolph/Villanova) and Bray Malphrus (Chevy Chase, Md./Georgetown Prep/Virginia), anchored a suffocating defensive performance, including a shut-out in the third quarter.”

Next, the U.S. team posted the most dominant victory in program history, defeating Japan, 27-0. It was the first shutout in U.S. U-19 history. The 27-goal win was also a record. Team USA won by 26 goals in a 30-4 victory over Japan in Tokyo in 1996.

Dowd was again the U.S. leader with two goals and five assists. Feinberg scored six goals and had an assist. US Lacrosse's Logue also reports that Japanese starting goalie Kosuke Nakai made 13 saves in the first three quarters. Backup keeper Takeshi Minowa made one save in the fourth quarter. Mathew Dolente won 15 of 21 faceoff attempts for the U.S. and teammate Nick Elsmo won four of five attempts.

The Sunday game between the Canadians and the Americans was much hyped and lived up to every bit of it as the U.S. came back in the fourth quarter to edge their northern hosts 16-15 in overtime on James Green’s goal.

I have friends with kids on both of these teams. They are all great kids, but someone had to win. Dowd is well on his way to a U-19 Player of the World title with another five goals and five assists in the game. He scored four in the fourth quarter to bring the Americans back from a 14-7 deficit. Green and Anthony Mendes added offensive punch for the U.S., with Green scoring his third goal of the game in overtime. Dolente took 15 of 29 faceoffs as he met his best competition in the combination of Kevin Crowley and Adrian Scorchetti. For the Canadians, Jayson Card, Mark Cockerton and Adam Jones led the scoring.

The game may set up a great final, but the Iroquois, who lost to the Canadians 15-12 on Saturday, may have something to say about the championship. We’ll have to wait and see.

Visit the official Web site for a tournament schedule and full results.

Posted by John Weaver at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)