Post by Commissioner on Mar 29, 2021 20:44:43 GMT -5
Time to catch up on the other spectator sport--even if there are no spectators this year.
I've often commented that for mid-majors to make the move to be national powers requires so many things to go right. The Titans won the MAC tournament in 2013 to reach the NCAA tournament, where they led heavily favored Notre Dame 7-3 going into the final period, only to lose 9-7. The Titans finished 2nd in league play in 2014 and 2015, so it's hardly inconceivable that they could have stolen a couple more NCAA bids, but didn't. In 2018 they were second in the league again, and appeared to have the NCAA bid in hand in the conference tournament final, when they gave up a couple of late goals to Canisius and then lost in overtime. In 2019 they were second again. It's not that hard to imagine Titan lacrosse with 4-5 NCAA bids in the past 8 years, recognized as a major player. Instead, we've been good, but not quite good enough.
Anyway, on to this year. The Titans were picked ... 2nd in the MAAC pre-season poll. The Titans got one first place vote, with all the rest going to Marist.
Titan Long Stick Midfielder Paul Manuszak was a unanimous prs-season all-conference selection (interestingly, he was the only unanimous pick for all-conference, but not the pre-season pick for POY). Attacker Brett Erskine, defenders Alex Akins and Sam McClain, and faceoff specialist Alex Jarzembowski were also pre-season all-conference selections.
We opened the season with a game against ... Marist, except it didn't count as a MAAC game--as with college hoops, the schedules are all screwed up. So the league scheduled one game for each team against a league opponent but not to count in the standings, as a sort of warm up before conference play. Good for us, as Marist outscored the Titans 6-2 in the final period to win 15-11.
In conference play, the Titans have beaten Siena and St. Bonaventure at home, but lost to Manhattan on the road. Manhattan is in first place at 3-0. The Titans Ryan Birney was MAAC offensive player of week on March 17, after the win over St. Bonaventure, and Will Edell was Freshman of the Week that week. I'm no lacrosse expert, but this appears to be a very talented Titan squad.
The Titans play this Friday at Canisius.
I've often commented that for mid-majors to make the move to be national powers requires so many things to go right. The Titans won the MAC tournament in 2013 to reach the NCAA tournament, where they led heavily favored Notre Dame 7-3 going into the final period, only to lose 9-7. The Titans finished 2nd in league play in 2014 and 2015, so it's hardly inconceivable that they could have stolen a couple more NCAA bids, but didn't. In 2018 they were second in the league again, and appeared to have the NCAA bid in hand in the conference tournament final, when they gave up a couple of late goals to Canisius and then lost in overtime. In 2019 they were second again. It's not that hard to imagine Titan lacrosse with 4-5 NCAA bids in the past 8 years, recognized as a major player. Instead, we've been good, but not quite good enough.
Anyway, on to this year. The Titans were picked ... 2nd in the MAAC pre-season poll. The Titans got one first place vote, with all the rest going to Marist.
Titan Long Stick Midfielder Paul Manuszak was a unanimous prs-season all-conference selection (interestingly, he was the only unanimous pick for all-conference, but not the pre-season pick for POY). Attacker Brett Erskine, defenders Alex Akins and Sam McClain, and faceoff specialist Alex Jarzembowski were also pre-season all-conference selections.
We opened the season with a game against ... Marist, except it didn't count as a MAAC game--as with college hoops, the schedules are all screwed up. So the league scheduled one game for each team against a league opponent but not to count in the standings, as a sort of warm up before conference play. Good for us, as Marist outscored the Titans 6-2 in the final period to win 15-11.
In conference play, the Titans have beaten Siena and St. Bonaventure at home, but lost to Manhattan on the road. Manhattan is in first place at 3-0. The Titans Ryan Birney was MAAC offensive player of week on March 17, after the win over St. Bonaventure, and Will Edell was Freshman of the Week that week. I'm no lacrosse expert, but this appears to be a very talented Titan squad.
The Titans play this Friday at Canisius.