FINAL PENN 15 TEMPLE 2
That was the most dominating game I've seen in my two years of covering Penn Women's Lacrosse. I'll throw up the postgame quotes later.
2:22 Penn 15 Temple 2
Sophomore Megan Smith gets her first goal of the year.
3:55 Penn 14 Temple 2
Temple scores again. As a friend of mine just mentioned, this is similar to Penn's loss to Northwestern last year in the final four when they lost 12-2. NU just came out swinging and never looked behind, leading 8-0 at the break. In the sceond they did give up two goals, but they always looked in charge.
8:07 Penn 14 Temple 1
Rudloff scores off a Lombardo pass, although it was an ugly goal that only trickled in.
13:13 Penn 13 Temple 1
Junior Samantha Bird gets her second goal of the year off a Lehman assist.
18:36 Penn 12 Temple 1
Warren gets her second goal, this one off a free position shot. Manson almost got her fifth assist, but it was waved off since the penalty was called before the goal was scored.
20:45 Penn 11 Temple 1
Speaking of Szelest, the first shot she faces go past her to the lower left, as Temple is finally off the board. The scoreless streak is stopped at an astonishing 69:15.
24:52 Penn 11 Temple 0
Sophomore Bethany Warren scores off a Manson pass after the senior streaked down about 50 yards. That's now Manson's sixth point as she has four assists and two goals. Aftewards coach Karin Brower takes her out. Has she played her last regular season minutes? Also, Waxman was taken out during that stretch, and replaced by sophomore Emily Szelest.
Halftime Penn 10 Temple 0
The half ends with Penn dominating, scoring .07 below its season average and shutting out the Owls. With the shutout half, Penn has now gone an incredible 62:35 without giving up a goal. That's more than an entire game!
During the half a friend of mine was in the men's room and heard the following conversation from two Temple fans:
-"Rough Game"
-"I didn't think it would be so bad"
-"Well they're not No. 1 for nothing"
2:19 Penn 10 Temple 0
Well I guess DeLuca liked scoring instead of assisting. She got her second goal of the game off an assist from Manson. With its next goal Penn will have passed its scoring average for the year.
3:44 Penn 9 Temple 0
DeLuca gets her first goal of the game in addition to her two assists.
8:42 Penn 8 Temple 0
Senior Allison Ambrozy off a junior Hannah Rudloff assist gives Penn its eighth unanswered goal, causing Temple coach Bonnie Rosen to sub in the backup goalie.
13:15 Penn 7 Temple 0
Sophomore Courtney Lube has scored two goals over the last seven minutes. A temple shot did go off the crossbar.
20:00 Penn 5 Temple 0
Sophomore Barb Seaman scores off a Manson assist. Although in the last four minutes Temple did get off their first couple of shots, all saves by goalkeeper Waxman or widely off target.
Lube from Manson
23:59 Penn 4 Temple 0
Manson scores, taking the lead over Lehman, this time with an assist from fellow senior Chelsea Kocis. Temple takes a timeout as their save percentage is still 0%.
25:35 Penn 3 Temple 0
Two different people get in yet again, as freshman Giulia Giordano keeps her hot streak going off a pass from junior Kaitlyn Lombardo. It's now been three shots, three goals for the Quakers, and 0/0 for Temple.
26:28 Penn 2 Temple 0
And before I finished that last update Penn had scored yet again off senior Rachel Manson's 26th goal with an assist to sophomore Ali DeLuca. Maybe Manson and Lehman will trade off goals to see who'll lead the team in goals.
28:42 First Half Penn 1 Temple 0
Before I even finished typing the introduction, Penn had already scored off of senior Melissa Lehman's team-leading 26th goal.
Welcome once again to Franklin Field for the Women's Lacrosse team's last regular season game, a non-conference tilt against 13-5 Temple. The No. 1 Quakers (13-1, 7-0 Ivy) are definitely the favorite in the this game, but Temple is no slouch, having won the A-10 Conference tournament, and the automatic bid to the NCAAs that comes with it. Nonetheless, this game is less important than either the win over then No. 1 Northwestern last Sunday, or the win at then No. 2 Princeton in mid April, so I probably won't update as often as I did for those games. Nonetheless enjoy.
Welcome to Franklin Field where the No. 5 Quakers (12-1, 7-0 Ivy) will take on undefeated No. 1 Northwestern (15-0).
1st Half 23:51 Northwestern 1 Penn 0
The first six minutes are pretty even, but nine seconds into the seventh minute NU's Meredith Frank gets an unassisted goal. just over
21:53 NU 1 Penn1
Penn ties it up with a shot by freshman Giulia Giordano. It came after a Rachel Manson pass.
21:44 NU 2 Penn 1
But literally 10 seconds later Northwestern goes the length of the field off the draw control and gets its second goal of the year.
18:04 NU 3 Penn 1
Northwestern works the ball around behind the net, and a quick pass from Hannah Nielsen sets up Frank for her second goal of the game.
16:38 NU 3 Penn 2
After Penn finally gets the ball back in NU territory, a few long range passes leads to a Courtney Lube goal off a sharp Kaitlyn Lombardo feed to right in front of the goal.
12:30 NU 3 Penn 2
Not much has happened since the last goal, although Penn's Sarah Waxman made a couple of nice saves, including one on her knees.
The crowd is pretty big, I would say the largest women's lacrosse game turnout I've seen save the final four. I'd say upwards of 1,000. I guess Penn athletics' bobblehead promotion worked. Included in the crowd is the Penn Band, making its second W. Lax appearance this year.
Surprisingly there's a lot of NU fans. Whether bandwagon or actual Wildcat fans it's hard to tell, but they do have a handful of players from the Md-NY corridor, so it's not inconceivable some parents would make the trek to West Philly.
10:46 NU 3 Penn 3
A crisp, sharp pass from Lombardo right to the center of the crease (just like the last one) gives senior Rachel Manson the Quakers' tying goal. So far the biggest positive has been Lombardo's passes.
9:52 NU 4 Penn 3
Off a free position shot Alex Bowen drives to the goal, feigns running past it, turns around and puts the Wildcats back on top.
9:17 NU 4 Penn 4
Off a free position shot senior Melissa Lehman rips a shot from pretty far out that goes straight to the upper right corner of the goal. And we have another tied game. Let's see if Penn can finally take a lead.
7:04 NU 4 Penn 4
Yet again Lombardo has a crisp pass to the middle, but the ensuing shot is saved by NU goalkeeper Morgan Lathrop, leading one fan to say "Now that's a save!"
6:15 NU 5 Penn 4
Northwestern gets yet another goal Frank off a Nielsen assist.
4:30 NU 6 Penn 4
Bowen gets her second goal, after running around the front of the Quakers D and ripping a shot to the upper left corner. NU was very patient on that possession, passing the ball around several times before Bowen's run in front of the goal.
2:37 NU 7 Penn 4
Penn gets a penalty for decking a Wildcat player right before she'd shoot. On the ensuing free position shot Bowen wings a hard shot right at the goal, and Waxman is unable to save it. Ok I'll take responsibility for jinxing the Quakers after saying "let's see if Penn can finally take a lead" when it was 4-4
Something finally goes right for Penn, as Waxman gets a high save. Penn's charging down the field and with :37 left gets its fifth goal of the game, this time from Lombardo off a Manson assist.
0:00 NU 7 Penn 5
With zeros showing on the clock, the refs huddle to see if there was a foul before the clock expired. They put a second back give a free position shot to NU who then proceeds to... get saved by Waxman.
Well this half was significantly better than either of the ones against NU last year. In the first game, at Evanston, Ill,, March 9, the Quakers were down 6-3 and even worse, it was 8-0 at the break in the last year's final four at Franklin Field. The number one thing Penn has to do is keep up the offense. While they were able to hang with NU for most of the half, they couldn't string enough goals together to take the lead. While keeping up the Wildcats certainly is an improvement from last year, they need to do more if they want to finally beat NU for the first time in five tries.
Penn athletics has really gone all out today. The jumbotron on the west scoreboard actually has video (first regular season Lax game I've seen that at). They also actually had some halftime entertainment other than the Penn Band as two teams of young girls played lacrosse on the field.
Second half 29:17 NU 7 Penn 5
Melissa Lehman goes the length of the field, but her one-on-one shot hits the crossbar. Manson recovers and Penn's still on the offensive.
28:32 NU 7 Penn 6
Less than a minute later on the same possession Allison Ambrozy takes a pass and wings it into the goal. And Penn is within one.
27:19 NU 7 Penn 7
A Giordano shot is nicely saved by Lanthrop at 27:39 , but less than 30 seconds later senior Chelsea Kocis ties it up with a goal at 27:19.
26:29 NU 7 Penn 8
Giordano gets her second goal and Penn is leading Northwestern for the first time since their lone win against the Wildcats in 2003.
24:00 NU 7 Penn 9
Kocis scores yet again, this time off a free position shot, and Penn is up by two. I'm surprised NU coach Kelly Amonte Hiller hasn't taken one of her two timeouts. I know if I was the University of Maryland grad I certainly would take one to stop the Quakers' increasing momentum and confidence.
21:54 NU 7 Penn 10
In this recent stretch NU has been fouling a lot, clearly a sign the players are frustrated. Well it doesn't help them, as Giordano sprints around the goal and rips a shot from an awkward angle into the net. Her hat trick goal gives Penn a three goal lead.
This ties NU's largest deficit of the season, although the other two times they were down by three was either at halftime or in the first. The 10 goals are tied for the fourth highest total the Wildcats have given up this year.
12:36 NU 7 Penn 10
Waxman gets a nice save, just the second shot of the half for NU. And in honor of Waxman the Penn Band is singing a version of "Dayman" from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia with the lyrics: "Waxman. Fighter of Northwestern. Keeper of the goal."
The Quakers are being uber patient on offense, trying to waste as much clock as possible. Penn's Tarah Kirnan gets a key groundball after Penn almost gives up a turnover.
7:51 NU 7 Penn 11
Ambrozy shoots high, and it gets saved, but she after it gets knocked around it goes in. Maybe I saw it wrong though, since Manson is given an assist.
6:00 NU 7 Penn 11
A Kocis shot hits the post.
4:42 NU 7 Penn 11
NU misses a free position shot, leading to the same fan who shouted "now that's a save" to say "Oh My God!"
0:00 NU 7 Penn 11
Well Penn has done it. They've beaten the formerly undefeated, three-time national Champion Northwestern Wildcats of 36 game wining streak fame, and a 92-5 record over four plus seasons. This has got to be the Penn athletics highlight of the year so far.
Not too much to report out there in Ivy basketball country, but on Thursday Dick "Hoops" Weiss, writing for the New York Daily News, had a few Ivy points of interests in his "Hoops on Hoops" blog.
First, as stated in a brief in Friday's DP, John Gallagher has been hired as an assistant coach to Glen Miller. But in addition to reporting on that, Weiss says that the Quakers are interested in Larry Loughery, a former St. Joseph's Prep player who recently transferred to Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn.
Update: Loughery is coming to Penn
He also notes that Columbia hosted a Sports Ethics Symposium, but put Weiss and fellow NY Daily news columnist Pat Plunkett on the wait list despite sending out publicity emails. I wonder how that event compared to the one Columbia hosted a few years back called "A Culture of Losing."
The last Ivy note is about Cornell coach Steve Donahue. There was a lot of talk about Brown's coach Craig Robinson leaving, and in the end he did go to Oregon State. But Donahue has also gotten some coaching buzz after leading the Big Red to their first Ivy title since 1988. While not reporting any rumors, Weiss himself believes Bucknell might be a good fit for Donahue because it offers scholarships and Cornell has yet to expand its financial aid like some of the other Ivy schools have.
It would have been nice if the Quakers had at least taken their faint hopes of winning the Gehrig Division crown back to Meiklejohn Stadium for Sunday's doubleheader. But according to this scoreboard, they dropped the first of their four-game set with Columbia, 5-4, which clinches the Division title outright for the Lions. Penn needed to win all four to stay in the hunt. Now they have three more games to go, all of them somewhat moot.
For a team with seven sophomores and freshmen and no seniors in the 10-man rotation, Villanova will look a bit different in the next couple of years.
The Wildcats had been as busy as any other college team last week. On Wednesday, Villanova lost one of the biggest recruits of the year to Memphis in Tyreke Evans.
This came days after Villanova landed a big transfer in Duke freshman Taylor King, and then two days later lost freshman guard Malcolm Grant to Miami.
In 9.7 minutes per game, the 6-foot-6 forward averaged 5.5 points and 2.0 rebounds for the Blue Devils. For the Wildcats, Grant averaged a similar 12.7 minutes per game and 5.6 points, but started four times and shot 47 percent from beyond the arc.
Grant played a significant role in the beginning of the season for Villanova, but gradually he fell out of favor with Jay Wright. After dropping 22 points in a 64-63 win over Pitt, Grant played zero minutes in the NCAA Tournament (against Clemson, Siena and Kansas), and one in the two games in the Big East Tournament.
After the women’s lacrosse team beat Princeton 9-5 yesterday to clinch at least a share of the Ivy title I interviewed sophomore Ali DeLuca, seniors Sarah Waxman and Rachel Manson and coach Karin Brower. Unfortunately I couldn’t include all of their quotes in my recap due to limited space in the DP, so over the next couple of days I’ll post some material here to the Buzz. First up was THE RUN. Second was THE IMPACT ON THE RANKINGS. Lastly here is PLAYERS' REACTIONS.
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Upon winning their second straight Ivy League title, the women's lacrosse team was quite ecstatic. Despite their experience winning the league last year, the Quakers still had a very emotional response to clinching the league yet again.
"Oh my god, this is the most amazing feeling ever" sophomore attack Ali DeLuca said.
Even senior Sarah Waxman, last year's All-American goalkeeper who leads the nation this year with a 6.23 goals-against-average, was quite emotional. After the game she barely could contain the tears, tears of joy.
"I am weeping; my emotions are all over the place," Waxman said. "I'm speechless... This is the happiest day of my whole life, I'll never forget it ever.
"We're one of the hardest working teams here at this school. This means so much to the senior class, who've put so much into this truly believing we can turn this program around. I don't know enough words to explain this."
Waxman's classmate and co-captain Rachel Manson also was quite flabbergasted after winning. While I interviewed her she literally was at a loss of words saying, "I can't even think or concentrate right now. It feels amazing."
Beating Princeton at Princeton -- for the first time in 22 years -- for the Ivy League title made the win even more remarkable for the team. This was especially true of DeLuca, who is a native New Jerseyan.
"It's weird coming here," said DeLuca, who hails from nearby Hillsborough, N.J. "We scrimmaged here in the fall, but I've never actually played in Princeton's stadium. I remember coming here in high school and watching Princeton games. So it was an amazing feeling just to be able to play in this stadium and win here."
UPDATE: THE QUAKERS JUST BEAT BROWN 12-5, AND NOW ARE OFFICIALLY IVY LEAGUE CHAMPIONS WITH A RECORD OF 12-1, 7-0 IVY.
After the women’s lacrosse team beat Princeton 9-5 yesterday to clinch at least a share of the Ivy title I interviewed sophomore Ali DeLuca, seniors Sarah Waxman and Rachel Manson and coach Karin Brower. Unfortunately I couldn’t include all of their quotes in my recap due to limited space in the DP, so over the next couple of days I’ll post some material here to the Buzz. First up was THE RUN. Now, THE IMPACT ON THE RANKINGS
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With the win over previously undefeated Princeton, the women’s lacrosse team will look to move up in the rankings when next week’s polls come out Monday. Right now the Quakers (11-1, 6-0 Ivy) are No. 6 in both the Inside Lacrosse media poll and the IWLCA coaches’ poll.
After beating Princeton (10-1, 4-1), the consensus No. 2 team in the nation according to both polls, the question isn’t really whether or not they’ll move up, but the question is how many spots.
Well, it’s only certain they’ll move up if they win at home against Brown Saturday. But that shouldn’t be a problem for the Quakers. Brown (5-7, 2-3) has only beaten the bottom two teams in the Ivy League (Dartmouth and Columbia), and all of its non-conference wins are over mediocre America East teams (their best win is over 9-7 Sacred Heart).
Another certain thing is that it’ll be nearly impossible for the Quakers to surpass three-time defending national champion Northwestern and become the No. 1 team. The unanimous No. 1 Wildcats have won all 13 of their games, and even if they were to lose either of their games this weekend (home against No. 17 Johns Hopkins and No. 11 North Carolina), there’s a good chance a 13-1 Northwestern with only a loss to a top 20 team would still maintain the top spot.
The teams currently ahead of Penn are the same in both polls, although their order is different. In the media poll, the three, four and five slots are Maryland (12-1), Syracuse (11-2) and Virginia (11-3), respectively. In the coaches’ poll the Cavaliers and the Orange are switched.
While beating No. 2 would be the best win of the week barring a Northwestern upset, Penn is not the only top-six team to earn a quality win this week. The Terrapins did beat No. 8/9 Georgetown handily, 14-7, so unless the Terps lose to 4-12 Virginia Tech Saturday, they likely would claim the Tigers’ No. 2 spot.
Virginia also got a quality win, beating No. 12 George Mason by a decisive 12-3 margin.
Syracuse doesn’t have any quality wins this week, as they’ve only beaten 7-8 Colgate and play 6-8 Loyola (Md.) Saturday.
At a minimum, Princeton should drop to six, and Penn would move up to five. More likely, Penn would leap frog at least Syracuse, regardless of the Orange’s game at the Greyhounds. At the same time, on just the strength of beating an undefeated team at their place, it’s still possible the Quakers would jump as high as third or even second.
While the Quakers don’t analyze the rankings too much, they still believe their impressive win over Princeton warrants a jump in the polls.
“9-5, that’s a decisive win,” senior attack Rachel Manson said. “If we don’t move up in the polls, that’s laughable.”
Coach Karin Brower, who has repeated on several occasions that she doesn’t look at polls, still believes the team should move up, plain and simple.
“It’s black and white,” she said. “We should be No. 2.”
Last year Penn was in a similar situation late in the season. On April 2, the Quakers were ranked 12/11, and after beating No. 10 Penn State at Happy Valley they jumped to No. 6 in both polls on April 9. Then after beating No. 14 Dartmouth, they moved up to 5/3. Finally after beating No. 15 Princeton the Quakers earned the four spot from Inside Lacrosse and the second spot from the coaches.
More importantly than regular season rankings, however, is seeding in the national tournament. The top four seeds are guaranteed home games for the first two rounds of the sixteen team tournament. The Final Four and championship games are played at a predetermined spot (this year it’s at Towson; last year it was at Franklin Field).
Last year, after finishing the regular season ranked third by Inside Lacrosse and second by IWLCA, the Quakers did earn a top seed, drawing the four seed.
Just like with the regular season polls, this year’s Quakers believe that by beating Princeton and earning the Ivy League’s automatic bid they deserve a high seed.
“I think we’re going to have a really good seed for the tournament,” Manson said. “And I think this proves that last year wasn’t a fluke. We’re here every year to dominate the Ivies. This is the beginning of a dynasty.”
Next up: Players' reactions
UDPATE: Well only the minimum happened. The coaches' poll has yet to be released, but in the media poll, Penn only moved up a spot to number 5. Ahead of them are Northwestern, Maryland, Syracuse and Virginia, respectively. One reason for the little movement is that no team ahead of Penn lost. Also, looking at laxpower.com's power ratings, Penn is eighth, behind the above four teams as well as Duke, Boston University, and surprisingly Princeton. This last part is also surprising, since the Tigers not only lost to Penn last week, but also lost 13-12 to Dartmouth on Saturday. This probably hurt Penn's chances of leap frogging a team like Syracuse since their win over the Tigers was slightly diminished. I'll post the coaches' poll later today when it comes out.
Update 2: Although it didn't get updated until 8 am today, the IWLCA coaches' poll finally got updated and there's some good news for the Quakers (12-1). The "more likely" scenario occurred here, as the Quakers jumped over 13-2 Syracuse and now are the No. 4 team behind Northwestern (15-0), Maryland (14-1) and Virginia (12-3). Syracuse (13-2) is No. 5, followed by Princeton (10-2) at No. 6, just like the media poll.
After the women’s lacrosse team beat Princeton 9-5 yesterday to clinch at least a share of the Ivy title I interviewed sophomore Ali DeLuca, seniors Sarah Waxman and Rachel Manson and coach Karin Brower. Unfortunately I couldn’t include all of their quotes in my recap due to limited space in the DP, so over the next couple of days I’ll post some material here to the Buzz. First up, THE RUN.
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With the score 3-1 Penn at half time of the women’s lacrosse game against Princeton yesterday, the game was still very much in the air. Even though Penn had dominated the first half by holding onto the ball for at least 20 of the 30 minutes, Princeton was just a run away from taking back control of the game.
At the same time, the Quakers were pretty confident they’d be the team to pull away in the second.
“Going into the game and at halftime there never was a doubt in anyone’s mind that we weren’t going to win this game,” senior attack Rachel Manson said.
Still coach Karin Brower had to say something at halftime to make sure the Quakers followed through on their confidence.
“Our goal has been to play for 60 minutes,” she said. “I told them we played a great 30 minutes but we need to think like it’s 0-0. We got 30 minutes to beat Princeton and remember this for the rest of our lives.
“I think that defensively keep up what we were doing. They were very patient, playing good one-on-one defense and weren’t doubling early. Keep working on denying cuts. On offense we just wanted to be patient. And in the second half it just opened up for us.”
And open up it did. Within just the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Quakers scored five goals, while surrendering zero. During the stretch Princeton held the ball for less than two and a half minutes and only got off three shots, two of which were off target. By the end of the run the game had gone from a 3-1 tight-knit match, to an 8-1 dominating performance.
“I thought it was important to come out hard at the first whistle of the second half,” Manson said. “Just to put them away and make sure they’re not going to comeback, they’re not going to win this game. So I think it was really pretty awesome that we scored at the beginning of the second half and we kept that run going. And if they scored we either answered back or got a stop. We never let them back in it.”
While she’d never take responsibility herself, if you had to credit just one player for the run, it’d have to be Manson. The product out of lacrosse power St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes in Alexandria, Va. scored the first two goals of the run (she also had the game’s first goal). The first goal in the run came off of a free position shot that bounced its way past Princeton goalie Kaitlin Perrelle, and the second was off of a heads up play when she cradled a rebound off of Perrelle and shot it right back into the net.
But the best goal of the run was scored by sophomore Ali DeLuca. Senior Chelsea Kocis, weaving behind the Princeton goal, threw up a pass over the goal that DeLuca jumped for, snagged out of mid-air, cradled and shoot, all without touching the ground, just like an Alley-oop.
Despite the increased scoring in the second half, some Quakers didn’t really feel they had changed their game plan after the break.
“It wasn’t anything different,” goalkeeper Sarah Waxman said. “In the first half we had the ball a lot, and we were patient and they just didn’t have the ball at all … People bash our attack as well. But I think that run we went on is another example of how our attack is good.”
With the lead much larger than it had just been 10 minutes ago, a significant degree of pressure was lifted from Waxman after the run.
The run “was like a gift from God,” the senior captain said. “But any good goalie is going to tell you they don’t let the momentum of their team dictate their play. So it was 0-0 to me the entire game. But in the back of my head when we scored I’d be like, ‘ok, we’re up by six goals.’ It’s also a lot easier to talk to people going back to the draw [after a goal].”
Regardless of its impact on Waxman, the run in it of itself was significant. How significant? Without it, Penn would’ve lost by one goal, 5-4.
Next up: Impact on the rankings
After a season that lasts five months, players are, needless to say, exhausted. Still, college basketball teams have already started up workouts and semi-practices to get ready for the 2008-09 season.
Saint Joseph's men's coach Phil Martelli has a lighter, more unconventional approach.
"What we've been doing for the last two-and-a-half to three weeks is just shooting," Martelli said. "We do some heavy lifting to try to get some bulk, but we try to stay off of their legs. We don't let them play any pickup, and we very rarely will play one-on-one."
Pumping iron is a huge part of any college basketball team's offseason regiment, and the Hawks are no different. Players are often known to drop a lot of weight during the season.
"That's something that we pay a lot of attention to, [but] we weren't as bad this year," Martelli said.
Hello everyone,
Zach Klitzman here blogging live from Princeton University's Class of 1952 stadium as the women's lacrosse team faces its New Jersey rivals in a game that will determine the Ivy League title.
Princeton has been on tear this season, ripping off 10 straight wins to bring its record to 10-0, 4-0 Ivy. Penn has also been on a long winning streak, winning eight in a row since losing at Stanford 10-8 March 9. They're 10-1 overall and 5-0 in Ivy play. I'll provide highlights throughout the night, although I'm also the DP's photographer for the night, so I'll be taking photos for the majority of the game.
27:00 first half, Penn 0 Princeton 0
Within the first three minutes both Penn and Princeton have ripped off shots, but both have been saved by the goalies.
24:00 Penn 0 Princeton 0
With 24:05 Princeton's Marine Graham was defending Ali DeLuca when she hit the deck, apparently with an injured ankle. Of note, the Washington D.C. native sang the national anthem prior to the game.
Immediately after DeLuca takes the ball, drives to the goal, but the shot is saved again by Princeton goalkeeper Kaitlin Perrelle.
18:50 Penn 1 Princeton 0
With 18:50, Penn sets up the offense, and after working the ball from behind the net, Kaitlin Lombardo passes it to senior Rachel Manson who shoots, scoring her 101st career goal. Penn 1 Princeton 0. Ok, with a timeout called by Princeton, there's now a pause in the action. So I'm going to head down to the field to take some photos. So the next update will be at halftime.
Halftime Penn 3 Princeton 1
Well it's halftime here, and if you're a Penn fan you're going to be happy. The score stands at 3-1 Quakers, despite an even 6-6 in shots. After the Manson goal, Princeton tied it back up at 1 when senior Ashley Amo scored with 15:42 left in the half. However, the rest of the half was all Penn, as senior Melissa Lehman (12:30) and sophomore Ali DeLuca (1:00) both scored.
Overall the game has been very deliberate. I've only seen about 20 games of lacrosse, but without a doubt this is the lowest scoring I've seen. Penn, which dominated in time of possession, has purposely been deliberate with the ball, waiting until the best available shot before shooting. Hence just the six shots per side. (How ironic that in a Penn-Princeton game it's the Tigers who are pushing the tempo while the Quakers are going at a slow tempo).
As we wait I wait as well describe the crowd. On this nice day the turnout is pretty good, as the main side of the '52 Stadium is mainly filled. I'd estimate about 500 people are in attendance. Among them is the Princeton band, who as I write this, is playing their alma mater... actually it's 99 Red Balloons.
27:33 Penn 4 Princeton 1
With 27:33 it's Manson again, this time scoring off of a bounce shot. It's her 102nd goal in her career and it ties the largest deficit Princeton has faced this year as the lead is now 4-1.
26:46 Penn 5 Princeton 1
Less than a minute later a Penn pass overshoots its target, hitting of Perrelle. But Manson is there again, scooping the ball out of the air and earning a hat trick with a put back. Penn now leads 5-1.
25:18 Penn 6 Princeton 1
And again, another short spurt before another Penn goal. Senior Chelsea Kocis, weaving behind the Princeton goal, throws up a pass and DeLuca jumps in the air, cradles the ball and shoots, all without touching the ground. Call it an Alley-oop goal for the sophomore product out of Hillsborough, N.J. This three goal spurt in under 5:00 minutes forces Princeton to take its second timeout of the night. During the timeout the Princeton band plays Eye of the Tiger, begging the question is this song more appropriate for Princeton because of its nickname or Penn for the connections the song has to Philly.
22:01 Penn 7 Princeton 1
Another three minutes go by, and this time a freshman is the difference. Off an Ali DeLuca pass, freshman Giulia Giordano ripped off a shot.
Just two minutes later Giordano scores yet again, this time off a free position shot at 20:39. The score now stands at 8-1.
And as the clock approaches the 20:00 minute, Penn goalie Sarah Waxman is now 67% on her way to her 99% prediction of winning this game coming 100% true.
Final Penn 9 Princeton 5
Sorry for the delay, I was shooting photos and interviewing players. But the final score was 9-5 Penn. The Quakers (11-1, 6-0) have now clinched at least a share of the Ivy League title and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament that comes with it.
Quick stats: Ali DeLuca 3 goals, 2 assists, Rachel Manson three goals, Sarah Waxman 8 saves.
A full recap will appear in tomorrow's DP and more info will be posted later to this Buzz.
There has been vast debate among fans as well as experts about whether Villanova shooting guard Scottie Reynolds will make a good NBA player. Some people view him as a first-round pick, and others believe he'll be playing the majority of his career overseas.
But that time might not come yet.
According to a spokesman from Villanova athletic communications, they "have no announcements planned for Scottie relative to the NBA and fully expect him to be a part of the men's basketball team in 2008-09."
Villanova would not make Reynolds available for comment.
After a spectacular freshman season, Reynolds was good in 2007-08, but he wasn't Superman. The First-Team All-Big 5 selection averaged 15.9 points per game and hit 38.3 percent from three, but perhaps as a result of having to take the team on his back in the early parts of the season, he shot only 41.2 percent from the field and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.06.
Coming off of the NCAA Tournament run, should Reynolds go to the league? Leave your comments below.
Penn grad Mark DeRosa cheated Philadelphia out of a victory.
DeRosa, the Chicago Cubs second baseman, hit a solo homerun with his team up on the Phillies 3-2 in the sixth inning Friday night. The problem was, it didn't actually happen.
The shot went less than a foot outside of the left foul pole, but the umpires saw it otherwise, and while arguing the call, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel got tossed for the first time this season. The Cubs would go on to win in the 10th frame, 6-5, on a run scored on an error that should have ended the inning on a 6-4-3 double-play.
According to a couple media sources, Brown men's basketball coach Craig Robinson will be the new coach at Oregon State.
Barack Obama's brother in law took home an impressive 11-3 record in the Ivy League this year, losing only to Cornell (twice) and Yale in overtime. The Bears lost to Ohio in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational, 80-74.
Oregon State is a member of the Pacific 10, one of the best conferences (if not the best) in college basketball, but the Beavers went a miserable 6-24 record, and an even more pathetic 0-18 in the conference, losing their last 21 games. Yes, you heard me right, 21 games.
The Beavers lost at home to Washington, not a tournament team, 97-59. Their best win last year was against Idaho State. Needless to say, the man who may be leaving Brown after only two years has his work cut out for him.
Is this a good move for Robinson? Was he, in a way, using Brown, just coaching there for two years before leaving? Leave your comments below.
The Penn men's lacrosse team is young, but it's learning how to win close games.
After getting trounced by No. 8 Cornell at Franklin Field, the Quakers scored 28 seconds into overtime to beat Dartmouth, 9-8.
The Red and Blue have allowed three more goals than they have scored in the Ivy league, yet have come out with a 3-1 Ivy record. In all, Penn has played in four one-goal games, and has won four games (three in the league) by two goals or less.
After building up a 7-1 lead, Dartmouth stormed back by netting four goals in a row, and then tying it up at eight with just over two minutes to go. In overtime, though, Justin Lynch won the opening faceoff, and Penn called timeout to set up a play. A shot went awry, but just seconds later, Corey Winkoff found Garvey Heiderman for the game-winner.
The Quakers have a nice conference record, but have tough tests to go against Brown and Princeton if they want to win the league or make the NCAA Tournament.
While running on the treadmill at Pottruck today, I caught a few minutes of the college basketball skills competition on ESPN. La Salle's Darnell Harris took home the three-point contest title, knocking off Chris Lofton of Tennessee. Harris' strategy was to shoot set shots, barely lifting his feet off the ground, to prevent himself from tiring out. Highlights of the contest and an interview with Harris can be found here. And would you guess which team held him to his lowest, single-game three-point total in non-conference play this season...
Job-seeking coaches, be wary. Tim Floyd called Indiana's athletic director recently (to get a leg up on the job, or merely to schedule a game, we'll never know) but apparently had the wrong number. Presto, chango -- public relations disaster!
So, Craig Robinson, if you want to talk to Providence about that job, take a bit more care beforehand and don't end up like this poor guy.
-- This post appeared in conjunction with the joke issue on April 10, 2008 --
Just days after Brown basketball coach Craig Robinson left for Pac 10 bottom-dweller Oregon State, according to a source within the Penn basketball program, the Bears have an offer on the table to Penn coach Glen Miller, and there's a good chance he's going back to Providence.
Robinson, who posted an 11-3 Ivy League record and earned a berth into the College Basketball Invitational, left after only two years at Brown.
Miller struggled to a 8-6 league mark, breaking the streak of three-straight conference titles for Penn.
The Bears want to get their head coach locked up for next season, and don't want to let a disgruntled Miller stay at Penn a minute longer than he has to.
Miller declined to comment when called on his cell phone, but the source (who would only go by the first name of "Vasu") said the coach was stressed out, and fed up with "a number of things, the lack of [expletive] athletes, the egos on the team, losing to cow colleges like Columbia, Joe Gill, the crappy facilities and a junior varsity program that was able to beat the varsity team in a scrimmage, and let Miller know about it for weeks after."
Apparently coming to Penn thinking he would receive the calls that Penn and Princeton typically get, Miller still got jammed up his ass by several officials on occasion this season.
Miller also has been disappointed with the city of Philadelphia, calling it, in a December 2006 interview, "filthy, dangerous and with an inadequate subway system that is inefficient, expensive and that's lack of funding is the only thing worse than the manner in which it is run." Miller also agreed with women's coach Pat Knapp's assessment that "The D.C. Metro is like a Formula 1 racing car, and SEPTA is like a bicycle."
If Miller does decide to leave, Penn will have a long, tough search process ahead of it. It has been reported that the list of possible successors to Miller should include: Perry Bromwell, Chris "Bubba" Sparxxx, LaShawn "Obie" Trice, Friedrich Ebede, Stephen "I'm better at sports and smarter than you" Danley, Isiah Thomas, The 'stache, The Hawk (which will never die), Tim Legler's hot Eagles cheerleader wife and Mike Jarvis.
Raise your hand if you had four No. 1 seeds in your Final Four. I did, actually -- two years ago. But I was promptly ridiculed by my friends for having a cheap bracket, and I haven't done the same thing since. Shows what I know.
Obviously, I was less surprised by Kansas's win over tenth-seeded Davidson than by Memphis's over second-seeded Texas. (I'm still of the mindset that free-throw shooting matters, but the Tigers reminded me that it doesn't matter if the game isn't close.) In the grand scheme of all things basketball, though, Davidson's loss was far more important. Every year's Tournament is a testing ground to see how the rest are holding up to the best in college basketball, whether all this parity we keep hearing about is a reality. In that sense, Stephen Curry's sudden transformation back into mortal man was far more jarring, because what might have become a great Tournament for midmajors turned into a banner Final Four for the elite of Division I.
We had a midmajor in the Elite Eight and had Western Kentucky, whose success came at the expense of another midmajor, Drake, in the Sweet Sixteen. That's better than last year, when Butler was the only midmajor to win two games (I don't count Southern Illinois and UNLV) but not the sea change that enthusiastic promoters of the game want us to believe.
So yes, San Diego and Siena won games. And yes, Davidson almost became the next George Mason. But this March has been by no means a step up for midmajors. Four No. 1's in the Final Four is an insult to the injured. It's hard to be a fan of the little guy right now and celebrate.
After watching last night's games on the elevated court that Wheeling talked about a few posts earlier, I really hope that this idea doesn't start catching on. I don't like it at Vanderbilt, but the arena is small and intimate enough to make for a raucous and exciting environment. But at a huge stadium like Ford Field, the fans are way too removed from the action. The same was true in Houston, where CBS analyst Billy Packer observed that what should have been a home court advantage for the Longhorns wasn't really an advantage at all because the Texas faithful were barely audible on the court.
The entire setup also looked pretty ridiculous. Players and coaches sat on chairs below the court, and players jumped off of the court and over their bench to track down loose balls as if they were cliff diving. It couldn't have been too safe, either.
The beauty of the college game, and even of the NBA to a certain extent, is that the fans can get very close to the action. We take this for granted at the Palestra, where every seat has a front row feel. It's unfortunate that the NCAA feels the need to use football stadiums as basketball venues. Sure, you can sell more tickets that way, but you're just making more money off of some hardworking college kids. At least let them enjoy the experience to the fullest and give them a suitable arena for a basketball game.
Finally, on a somewhat unrelated note, how great of an institution is Davidson? Not only do they do your laundry for free (okay, it's part of the tuition, but still), but in light of the school's impressive run, Davidson's Board of Trustees pledged to pay for any student to go to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games in Detroit. Transportation, tickets, and lodging were all included. Of course, the student body is very small, making an operation like this one feasible. But in a tournament full of greed, it's refreshing to see a school that has its priorities straight. And how sweet is Stephen Curry's shot?
You know the drill. Here's your dose of pregame reading before the 'Cats and the Jayhawks tip off in about five hours. Enjoy the game.
PS: I apologize that these links aren't opening up in new windows. Josh Wheeling and I thought we had this one figured out, but lately the links have started opening in the same window anyway. We'll try to fix it soon.
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