Completely agree that Michigan will be able to hold their own against Denison. Think the biggest difference between MCLA and D3 is depth and feel that isn't a problem at Michigan

The problem is that many laxers in traditional areas have a hard time grasping the idea that MCLA programs are getting better. The “club” label makes them dismiss any and all MCLA programs. They refuse to recognize the talent at some of these programs – especially when the talent comes from emerging areas. Perhaps this attitude is one of the best examples of lax's stereotypical snobbery?

Coach Paul said in an interview “All of our recruits have NCAA offers, and more of them have D1 offers as word has gotten out about us. We seem to be competing directly against Ivy League teams a lot now.”The bigger lacrosse story might not be that Michigan is competing with/beating NCAA teams but the possible Salisbury like dynasty they may be embarking upon. The arguments will switch from is Michigan good enough to are they too good for the MCLA much the same was said about Salisbury during their 70+ game winning streak.Of course streaks are made to be broken but the D3 playing field is far more balanced than the MCLA playing field. I'm more interested in Michigan going unbeaten again or losing than I am in defending the MCLA's level of play which as a whole isn't close to D3. If last year's Michigan team can beat a down on its luck Ohio Wesleyan team in a spring scrimmage, this year's Michigan team can certainly beat a reloading Denison team in the fall.

I was at the fall tournament that Stevenson hosted last year in Maryland and saw them scrimmage Michigan. The Wolverines held their own just fine, and last I checked Stevenson spent most of the year ranked higher than Denison. There did not seem to be a huge difference between the two teams.

So easy to cast hate online.

The notion of the Ivy League/Wall Street/New England lifestyle protecting itself, well said

One different degree of people purposely/indirectly hindering the growth of lacrosse is coaching at the high school level in growing areas.For example, my alma mater is the best high school program in Pittsburgh. Great feeder system, great coaches, great parent support. No secrets to success there. However, there were 8 coaches on the sideline for varsity games. One coach was an assistant at Washington & Jefferson, a recent graduate of Washington College and Maryland native. Another coach was a recent graduate of Salisbury and Pittsburgh native albeit from Peters Township, a high school not as traditionally strong as mine. (How they got along, I'll never know).Of course as a proud alum I loved it.But as a fan of the game, it was a case of the rich getting richer. A high school team doesn't need that many coaches and when other teams are struggling for quality coaches it almost seems selfish. Why Peters Township didn't work harder to bring back a D3 national champion to be on their sideline is beyond me.

BYU vs. Utah box scorehttp://byuboxscore.blogspot.com/If you were told a goalie was only going to have one save and his team was going to win by 10, would you believe it?

Disagree that Michigan's attack is better than Denison's for this reason. Denison plays against better competition every weekend and their attack puts up monster “Yealy” like numbers.Brady Burton has scored 47, 52, and 53 goals in his first three seasons. Burton's 7 goals against Colorado College last year and 8 goals against Ohio Wesleyan in 08 are far more impressive than Yealy's 8 against Eastern Michigan.Denison returns a junior who finished with 40 and 10 and a sophomore who tallied 9 and 14. Again the point being their numbers were against better teams.Might even say that with Denison's loss of first team All-NCAC Jimmy Minor, a 412 native, that Michigan has the better poles, with Harry Freid and co. returning.Is this scrimmage this weekend? I forget where I saw the date.

One different degree of people purposely/indirectly hindering the growth of lacrosse is coaching at the high school level in growing areas.

For example, my alma mater is the best high school program in Pittsburgh. Great feeder system, great coaches, great parent support. No secrets to success there. However, there were 8 coaches on the sideline for varsity games.

One coach was an assistant at Washington & Jefferson, a recent graduate of Washington College and Maryland native. Another coach was a recent graduate of Salisbury and Pittsburgh native albeit from Peters Township, a high school not as traditionally strong as mine. (How they got along, I’ll never know).

Of course as a proud alum I loved it.

But as a fan of the game, it was a case of the rich getting richer. A high school team doesn’t need that many coaches and when other teams are struggling for quality coaches it almost seems selfish.

Why Peters Township didn’t work harder to bring back a D3 national champion to be on their sideline is beyond me.

BYU vs. Utah box score
http://byuboxscore.blogspot.com/

If you were told a goalie was only going to have one save and his team was going to win by 10, would you believe it?

“Denison is a top 10 D3 team. No way would a club team come in [and] compete with them.” Completely agree just look at Ithaca vs. Chapman the last two years. In all seriousness though, Denison should be pretty nasty this year, they had a freshman starting to light things up on attack the last few games of the year when they were playing their best (and not just any freshman, a San Diego freshman with that so-cal swagger).I also think Michigan might be in for a little bit of a let down from last year graduating some leaders. They'll still of course be top 5 easy, but I cant see them being as dominant as the past two seasons. I hope they can show well in the scrimmage with Denison, games like these can be huge for the MCLA either positively or negatively.

Did you guys decide on team gloves yet?

Where did you see highlights from that game? I remembered the Stevenson AAs from that day, and sure enough there is a press release from the Mustangs (below). They really played up the Michigan scrimmage as the biggest of the day, which goes against what people usually say about varsity teams not emphasizing scrimmages against club teams. The release kind of indicates how I remember it, a very close but somewhat sloppy scrimmage until late when both teams started subbing and Michigan's subs weren't able to score. My overall impression, starters vs. starters (or at least what I assume was starters vs. starters) was a pretty even contest.Michigan does not have a release on it that I could find, which is unusual for them.Release here: http://gomustangsports.com/sports/mlax/2008-09/…

“Denison is a top 10 D3 team. No way would a club team come in [and] compete with them.” Completely agree just look at Ithaca vs. Chapman the last two years.

In all seriousness though, Denison should be pretty nasty this year, they had a freshman starting to light things up on attack the last few games of the year when they were playing their best (and not just any freshman, a San Diego freshman with that so-cal swagger).

I also think Michigan might be in for a little bit of a let down from last year graduating some leaders. They’ll still of course be top 5 easy, but I cant see them being as dominant as the past two seasons. I hope they can show well in the scrimmage with Denison, games like these can be huge for the MCLA either positively or negatively.

Did you guys decide on team gloves yet?

Deciding this week between the Vengeance gloves, K18s and the Maybachs. Direct prices from Maverik are going to be tough to beat but there are a lot of loyal Brine kids on the team.

To quote some guy that might have been famous, “Make me an offer”

Peter@lacrosseallstars.com

Where did you see highlights from that game? I remembered the Stevenson AAs from that day, and sure enough there is a press release from the Mustangs (below). They really played up the Michigan scrimmage as the biggest of the day, which goes against what people usually say about varsity teams not emphasizing scrimmages against club teams. The release kind of indicates how I remember it, a very close but somewhat sloppy scrimmage until late when both teams started subbing and Michigan’s subs weren’t able to score. My overall impression, starters vs. starters (or at least what I assume was starters vs. starters) was a pretty even contest.

Michigan does not have a release on it that I could find, which is unusual for them.

Release here: http://gomustangsports.com/sports/mlax/2008-09/news/101608

Exactly what we wanted, Stevenson vs. Michigan from last fallhttp://web9.streamhoster.com/elacrosse/st20082.wmv

I’m shocked Stevenson wouldn’t a played its game on a better field.

You’ll also find highlights of Rabil being covered by a D3 long stick middie. Poor kid.

Looking forward to that match up. Perhaps the biggest MCLA fall ball event ever?

It was a charity event at a park big enough to host so many teams. Stevenson’s home facilities are pretty nice, but not big enough for that kind of event. Park fields are usually not so great.

Looking forward to that match up. Perhaps the biggest MCLA fall ball event ever?

My buddy plays close-d/lsm at denison I’ll ask him his take on the scrimage after they play. I’m assuming everyone on both sides is going to play which would be hard to judge who actually wins, which will obviously bring up the who cared who didn’t care argument. I personally believe that Denison will win strictly based on the amount of quality teams they play every year. Not to take anything away from UM who clearly has a quality program. Being someone from the east coast playing on a midwest mcla team, I know first hand it is hard for east coasters to give respect to club teams. It is hard to compare teams when these d3 vs. club team games are only scrimages.

Nothing like a hawks game, everytime i hear chelsea dagger i get chills. Too bad Brower got rocked.

its easy to say that it really means nothing, but i can tell you a D3 team like Denison would be incredibly embarrassed to lose to a MCLA team like Michigan and will do everything to prevent that from happening.

I agree completely, they wouldn’t want to lose whether they consider a scrimage or not.

Just scored Blackhawks @ Penguins tickets for December. Thrilled

Forgot about Elyachar, unsung hero for them defensively. Or rather, unsung on a national scale. They knew how important he was to their defense.

One thing from watching that video is, it’s fall ball. If you had told me that Stevenson team was going to beat Salisbury twice I would have deleted you from my facebook among other horrible things.

Stats were pretty iffy for the scrimmage. Our normal stat keeper (Domineau Wiley probably one of the best in the nation) was out of town, so the stats were spotty. There were more saves than that, and there was virtually no stats taken for Utah. We will have our A game rolling for stats this weekend vs. Simon Fraser

Sure no one wants to lose in a scrimmage regardless of the division.Think about it from the D3 perspective especially if they lose, what else could they be losing?Confidence in the coaching staff, from the schoolConfidence in the coaching staff, from the boostersMoney from the boostersRespect from recruitsThere is a lot more at stake for an NCAA program especially as Name suggests (Indiana University MCLA) people don’t really respect the talent club teams possess. For MCLA teams these scrimmages are very much a win win scenario.

its easy to say that it really means nothing, but i can tell you a D3 team like Denison would be incredibly embarrassed to lose to a MCLA team like Michigan and will do everything to prevent that from happening.

I agree completely, they wouldn't want to lose whether they consider a scrimage or not.

Just scored Blackhawks @ Penguins tickets for December. Thrilled