ripcurl1

i was selected for the 2005 expansion draft and then again in january for the complete draft. i didn't get signed. ive been offered 2 tryouts over the past year as a free agent since chicago last fall. 2 out west. it would be fun but i don't care for the west coast. been there done that. for other reasons , family and job wise, i don't want to be travelling that far. atlanta will have a team soon with the market there and that is what i am banking on. whether i get signed or not i get my name out there. im not getting my hopes up b/c d3 players usually get overlooked or traded. i played against a lot of these guys in college and since in post collegiate tournies like vail and ocean city and i did well everytime. my teammate from college who was d3 defender of the year and 4 time all american plays for chicago. kevin finneran is an owu alum and former indoor and outdoor pro player. weve had some things in talks. i know i can compete with their goalies. a lot of whom graduated in the early 90s. plus ive lived there for 3 years and i like it. i enjoy playing with music city. i don't know how that works with club. i think you can play out of season, but not in. im just looking at it in terms of exposure for having teams here in the south. congrats to mba. you guys had a heck of a season. its been a while since you guys had the gold but it couldn't happen for a better guy than harvey. great player great coach.

obviously you don't know much about being a goalie or lacrosse in general. probably just a parent. to an extent what you said is true. having a good defense helps. you have to look at the overall picture. kay and mba's goalie both played solid in the semis and finals. in the finals both had around 15 saves each and none were easy. most were one on one and within 5-7 yards. plus they outlet well. plus you have all the coaches getting to see all the talent. some of these other goalies can't handle the ball well. you also need to look at the quality of teams they play against or put that into perspective if they don't. same with barnes. these three did well against all semi final teams during the regular season. the mba goalie is not the most spectacular goalie, he makes the saves he has to and gets the ball up field. when you see low save counts for games that doesn't mean he or anyone played poorly but it doesn't mean he played great. but he did have shaky games against some lower guality teams like Louisville Trinity and houston. Didn't play all that well against Ravenwood the first time around or MUS. as far as kay goes he deserved 2nd, should have been co first team. head to head match up kay gave up 4 with around 15 saves, barnes gave up 9 with around 10 saves, but for being a first year starter he played well. his only bad game was against MUS the first time. Had 6 saves total. However He made 2 saves down the stretch one on one that preserved the win with less than five minutes to go. he had 16 saves against gilman, the #12/13 team in the COUNTRY. No one else even played a team close to that level this year. Held Lassiter to 6 goals and had 17 saves, they just won the GA State Championship. Also ranked as a honerable mention team in the country by Inside Lacrosse. Shut down MUS in the semi finals. Double digit saves while allowing 3 goals. he clears the ball exceptionally well. His overall GAA for the year was 5.31. If you look back to a previous column I said in college the goalies who make all american are the ones with the low GAA, not save percentage. save percentage and save counts can be misleading b/c of quality of schedule, gaa CANNOT. you also have a clean slate going into the playoffs b/c the temp is different and people want to see what you can do when the pressure gets turned up. he played well from start to finish this year. Against bad teams he allowed 2 goals or less. Against good teams he played incredible, even in the losses. He makes the saves he has to and he makes a ton of the ones he shouldn't. leads the defense well. Outlets well. In college if you have a gaa at 5.31 your team is most likely playing memorial weekend if not on memorial day for the championship.

they held them to four goals. two per half. shot selection wasn't the best in the second half, but other than that ravenwood didn't muster much. attack didn't do anything and their goalie only had around 4 saves for the game. mccallie should have won by a lot more. defense and goalie play was great.

no way. can't stop anything high. ok at best

quarterfinal game locations are based on seeding. 1 and 2 seeds will have home field advantage.

you could have a low to high that that just missess or a bounce shot that hits the crease line or inside the crease and goes just over the pipe. at some point it is in the direct path and could be saved. just because he reacts late and it goes over doesn't mean the shot was not on goal. the same in hockey. Even in the NHL those guys make saves that are right at pipe level or a little above or wide and it is considered a save. its a judgement call but if its way high or to the side then no. like i said you have to consider it like a pitcher in baseball throwing a curve or breaking ball.

saves are not shots on goal minus goals scored. saves are when the goalie makes a save, even if he gets hit or deflects it, that are on goal. a shot that bounces and goes over the top bar or just to the side are considered on goal. a shot that goes right over the top skimming the top or on the sides is on goal. you have to consider it like a pitcher throwing a curve or breaking ball. it might start outside the strike zone but it eventually comes back in. if a goalie runs out 10 yards and the guy trys to dunk it over him and he jumps up and stops it that is a save. saves do not reflect 100% that someone is a good goalie. to an extent it does but guys get hit due to poor shooting and thus get the high save count when they play a much stronger team or in mismatched games. problem is you have some coaches who are bad coaches and cant rationalize those things. playing goalie and coaching in college i can tell you that when it comes to all american candidates, especially for goalies save percentage is a small portion. i always told myself if you are in the low to high 60s you're in good shape. my senior year i was #2 in the country in save percentage 69.9% among d3 goalies. thats not what got it for me. they look at the schedule and they look at the big games(win or loss) and the playoffs. All of those games I was over 15 saves. I was averaging 67-88% save percentage against those teams, some of which were losses but they were by 1-3 goals, not 10-15. However its my gaa which was a little below 6. Thats what wins the game, not how many you save but how little you let in. its the same with scoring. especially in d3 where you have some horrible teams and none of them are good but you got someone who has like 70 goals, 30 assists. did they play anyone that was a quality team. no. same with goalies. the guy ahead of me was from a school where all the schools in the conference were at the bottom of d3. someone could have 30% save percentage but have a 4.56 gaa. especially if you have a superior defense who doesn't give up a bunch of shots. the team with the fewest allowed wins and thats what they look at. does this kid help his team win. they also look at clearing to but mainly its gaa when you get to college.

these goalies haven't even played good teams. if they can't help their teams to wins in the big games then they are not deserving of all state status, at least not 1 or 2 team. these goalies get 15+ put up on them by mus, mccallie, and mba every year.

Baylor lacrosse will start up again for the 2007 season as a Division 2 program. They are currently bringing in a new AD to replace Austin Clark and they are apparently looking for someone who is big on lacrosse so they can bring in the northeast kids with lots of money. Its going to take some good coaches however and a good junior school feeder program to build a consistant team. Thats part of the reason it folded after the '99 season. That and a lack of support on campus from athletic administrators, alumni and trustees. There is also going to be a new club team out of Cleveland, TN which is a comination of Cleveland and Bradley Central students. They will be coached by Rob Bowers who's a long island boy and was a standout defensman in college. They will also be a Division 2 program to start off. Both schools will play more of a JV schedule with some D2 games mixed in for their first season. Notre Dame will have a hard time fielding a lacrosse program due to all the soccer enthusiests. There are rumors circulating that Red Bank and Soddy Daisy are wanting programs soon. They both have football coaches who recognize the importance of lacrosse for their football players. Corey is spelled with an "e" Liles.

Ron Ansley's gay?

As far as this schedule thing goes you need to keep some things in mind. Nequa is not that great of a program and other than Loyola Academy, Lake Forest and New Trier who are up in the northshore area of Chicago, the rest of the programs in Illinois are not that great. Good or okay, but not great. Those three teams have been the perennial powerhouse programs for the past 15-20 years years. Some of you guys are too young to remember or know. Dublin Coffman is another team that is good but they're not great. They have had a few good years here and there but far in between. Upper Arlington and Thomas Worthington are the powerhouses. That's how its always going to be. Islip is a joke. Play West Islip and there you go, thats a great team. As far as Avon goes they are not the same caliber that they were in the 90's. Don't get me wrong, their good, but Gilman comes from the top conference and recruiting hotbed in the country, the MIAA, and they finished runner up to McDonough (Last years National Champion) last year in the championship and they beat them in the regular season. Gilman is a Top 20, if not Top 5 or 10 team every year. Avon, Coffman and Nequa are not. Gilman is one the most storied programs in boys high school lacrosse. The other teams in their conference with the exception of Severn, Mt. St. Joseph, Spalding and Friends are generally all ranked in the Top 20 each year(St. Pauls, St. Marys, Calvert Hall, Boys Latin, Loyola, & McDonough). MUS and McCallie always go out and play the hardest schedules. Thats why they are battle tested come May. This year McCallie has the edge. Both teams play Lassiter, but McCallie also has Lovett (GA), St Marks (TX), Winter Park (FL), & Charlotte Latin (NC) who all played for or won State Championships last year and the past 4-5 years. As far as predictions for the end of year go the trophy will stay in Chattanooga. McCallie is loaded this year. They will have what will be one of if not the best defenses ever with Huffaker, Jackson, Jones and 8, I repeat 8 other long poles on Varsity. They play solid team d and they have the edge with clearing, communications and stick skills. Average is 6'3'' 220. I'll keep the goalie selection a secret but he's good. His defense will take the pressure off of him this year and he will play well. Gilman will be a good test. Offensively its sick. They have 4-5 solid face off guys who will run first or second line. A lot of young talent has been added to this veteren offense and don't be surprised to see 3 or 4 freshman starting games by the end of the year. The next few years look good. When it comes down to it you have to look at the attack. With experience this team is led by Kolpini, Hughes and Hayes. These guys know when to push it and they know when to slow it down. They don't force the ball they just play it smart. The loss of Brafford and Gregor is erroneous. You are looking at 5-6 potential All American Candidates. They will have two minimum. Barring any disciplinary actions or injuries we will have East v/s West in the finals with MUS and McCallie playing for the third time in a row. However the third time won't be the charm as MUS plays the role of the bridesmaid yet again. This one will not be close. Too much fire power. McCallie by 8. 9

really, he was making out with a red headed deaf girl with braces 9

If you bank on 40 guys, give or take 1 or 2 guys, with all of the necessary equipment, supplies, game fees for officials, etc, you need to raise around 10,000-15,000 dollars minimum to really get it off the ground and provide all that you need. It may seem like a lot but with what you are paying for it goes fast. For example the basic cascade helmet runs around $100, with 40 guys thats $4,000. Some sponsers like Warrior and Brine are very apt to cutting great deals for new teams b/c it makes their company look good and its free merchandising. You need to go to the the coach's conference in Philadelphia this fall. All of the reps will be there and you can talk to the right people to make some deals. The US Lacrosse Foundation provides pretty good financial assistance each year to start new programs or help those in need. Go to uslacrosse.org to get information and forms. ayers

or maybe he had too many shots at the bar sat. night

COOPER

HAS ANYONE SEEN COOPER. HELLO, COOPER, WHERE YA AT CHIEF.

there is an e in corey, get it right layton

chris morrison smokes pole

rabil's mother was iroqouis, raised on the 7 nations.

it has now been confirmed mccallie goalie corey ayers will play at the next world games for the irish national team. ayers and rabil will be competing against each other as former high school teammates at mccallie.

Rabil has been selected to the iriquois national team for the next world games. j.l.

MUSIC CITY WILL WIN IT ALL, REDTWIN GOT CUT FROM GEORGIA'S LAX TEAM