The LacroCity Weekend Primer 3/5/21
Beware the Slides of March
Welcome, subscribers, you are my lifeblood. Thank you for allowing me entrance into your day. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber so that I may stop checking to see which potatoes are on sale this week at my local grocer. Spoiler: it’s always the Russets.
Stat of the Week
I cringed as I wrote this, but the stat of the week is High Point’s Asher Nolting having 3 points and 12 turnovers against UVA on Wednesday. Look, I told you all that I would work to make turnovers matter, but I didn’t want it to go like this. Not like this...I honestly cannot remember the last time someone had 12 turnovers in one game. It’s a ludicrous number, but if we are to serve both sides of the sword, the sharpness must be equal. Next week’s stat will be more positive. Probably. Maybe.
Game to Watch
Penn State vs. Ohio State
Sorry Marylanders, the Jays and the Terps aren’t moving the needle this week. If that game isn’t a six-goal victory I’ll chug a packet of Old Bay mixed into a Natty Boh next time I’m in Baltimore. No, it’s another Big 10 matchup that takes the crown this week and it’s between two teams that are desperate for a victory. Nothing brings out the fire like sweet sweet hopelessness. It’s too early to call this a must-win game for either squad, but Penn State needs the dub a little bit more than the Buckeyes do.
Both teams have trouble with speed. Maryland kicked up their tempo in the second half to bury PSU. Rutgers never took their foot off the gas against the Buckeyes and ran over them like a family of lost toads last week. Expect this encounter to be more measured, with each team looking to adjust how they deal with offensive pressure.
Despite Penn State’s lackluster goal total so far, they run a number of effective sets and seamlessly transition betwixt them. They have struggled to get star Mac O’Keefe more involved, but look for that to improve this week. OSU snaps in and out of zone more frequently than their past opponents, and no one loves to see a zone more than a shooter.
The battle at the X may not determine the winner of this game, but it will be exciting to watch regardless. Gerard Arceri (perhaps the greatest Gerard since the guy who played Superboy in the 90’s TV show) has won 65% of his draws so far this season and Ohio State’s Justin Inacio has had just one game (last week’s blowout loss to Rutgers) where he went 18-36.
This game has the potential to devolve into a rock fight if both teams decide to grind out a win. It’s something they have both been guilty of in the past, but something tells me that the sheer need for a victory here will see one of these teams unshackle their shooters from the dank pit where they have been kept. Give us goals. We need goals.
One on One Match up to Watch
Lynchburg’s Quintin Ricci vs. Salisbury’s Brett Malamphy
The DIII game of the weekend features a game within a game as the Hornets will trot out their best hope yet to stifle the Emperor Palpatine of the X, Brett Malamphy. Ricci, a graduate student that played four years at Mary Washington, has won 20 of his 33 draws so far this season. The Seagulls haven’t played yet this season, but Malamphy was IL’s First Team choice for the Face-off position. (Full disclosure - I was a part of that process and the selection was unanimous). Last year, Lynchburg has four different players share draw duties, so not only do they have depth, but they have Ricci’s experience to throw at the Seagull FO unit. Make sure to catch this game at noon on Saturday.
Unit to Watch
Georgetown’s Defense vs. Marquette’s Offense
The Hoyas will be without defensive stalwart and first-team All American Gibson Smith for at least the next several games. However, he has been out for the last two games and their defense still has the best goals-against average (2.3) in the country. Everyone knows about the low goal total, but the G-Town D leads the nation in caused turnovers per game with 13.3 (40 in 3 games). They are - without question - the goliath in this match-up.
Marquette’s offense has fallen short in their first two games, falling to Villanova in their Big East opener 14-16 and 9-10 Denver. The good news is that the Denver score was indicative of a team on the rise, but the bad news is that Georgetown held the Villanova to one goal in their season opener. Freshman Devon Cowan leads the Golden Eagles in points with 6g, 2a but it was junior attackman Griffin Fleming that led the way against the Pioneers with 3g, 1a.
Devitte Matrix Leaderboard presented by Lacrosse Reference
The Devitte Matrix is a number that combines a player’s goals and assists and subtracts their turnovers. We’re trying to make it into an effective and more universal measurement of true offensive contribution. Like KDR in Call of Duty.
Chris Gray, UNC, 26 (5.3 DMPG)
Ryan Tierney, Hofstra, 23 (5.75 DMPG)
Ryan Smith, Robert Morris, 21 (4.2 DMPG)
Connor Shellenberger, UVA, 18 (3.6 DMPG)
Joe Robertson, Duke, 17 (5.67 DMPG)
Is Clark going to win this week?
Well, the short answer is, “No”. However, the NEWMAC has allowed the mighty Cougars to announce their in-conference schedule and this is it:
March 27th- @Babson
April 3rd- Emerson
April 10th- Coast Guard
April 17th- @Springfield
April 24th- @Wheaton
May 1st- NEWMAC Semifinals
May 8th- NEWMAC Championship
Finally! A season where we can’t possibly lose to MIT!
Because, uh, they’re not playing.