Wild Weekend

Did you see some of the scores in D1 this weekend? For the majority, one goal games seemed to be the theme; Maryland over Duke 11-10, Princeton over Hopkins 11-10, Virgina over Syracuse 11-10, Notre Dame over Loyola 11-9. You talk about parity in college lacrosse, how about Drexel knocking off #3 Notre Dame last night! With scores like this at this point in the season, you can only imagine what it's going to be like down the stretch. The teams that are well conditioned and are clicking on both ends of the field will be the teams battling for a post season bid come May.

Tonight on ESPNU at 7:00 North Carolina (5-0) takes on Duke (2-2). This should be a great game, a real test for the 'Heels at this point in the season. Carolina is coming off of a win vs. UMBC while the Dookies suffered an OT loss vs. the Twerps. This game is always a heated battle, I remember it from my days playing at Carolina. No matter what the records are this is Carolina vs. Duke and it's a battle. These two teams are pretty evenly matched, but where I feel Carolina has the edge is in the goal and at the midfield. If Chris Madalon can make a couple of big saves early and set the tone, the defense will feed off of him. The offense is initiated by Duke's attack; Carolina needs to limit the touches by Crotty, Quinzani and Howell and not let them get into a flow. UNC is deeper and more talented at the midfield and they need to exploit the Duke midis when the opportunities are there. Whenever you can run three midfield lines and all three can execute on both ends of the field, it's hard to keep up...... especially in the fourth quarter. Sean Dulaney needs to keep stepping up offensively for UNC, there's no doubt he'll get the long pole but that hasn't stopped him in prior games. It's also Billy Bitter time, big games are where big players step up......I'm sure he's ready for the challenge and won't disappoint.

We've had some great weather here in New England over the past few days, temps reaching the high 50's. The high school season starts up next Monday, as players we need to make sure we're ready to go. Early in the season is a good time to break in your back back up stick as with temperatures still pretty low the last thing you want to do is have your #1 crack on you. Get out this weekend and hit the wall, make sure you're comfortable with your stick before you hit the field for the 1st day of practice/tryouts. Dial your stick up so it's throwing and shooting the way you want it, don't wait until it's too late!

Have a question for the Dean? Shoot me an email at bd@lax-school.com.

Make sure you're working hard these last few days before the HS season begins!

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GO HEELS!