Early Season College Observations
- Many times
it is the offense or the defense that is crucial to a win either
by getting more shots on goal or preventing shots on goal (SOG).
And, on the best teams that should be a goal - to win the SOG
battle - more times than not that is the determining statistics
(almost above the score which is clearly the king of stats).
A sample of spring of Feb 28, 2009 Division I games shows just
how important save percentage is in tight games. The
winning goalie had > 50% save
percentage in 8 of 11 and in the others the loosing team lost
the SOG differential. Further with the exception of USMA
and SJU these goalie save percentages were not great. Part
of that is because goalie are blocking too many shots that yield
rebounds where the offense sticks that loose ball in. I would
even say that some goalies lost there games (or at least the
combination of keepers and defenses did) - JHU, Duke, Colgate
and Navy. Maybe solid goalie play is as important aa
face-offs after all. Goal tending without rebounds is a
key factor also. So keep working with your keeper on the
keys to getting that save percentage up (watching the ball, not
the shooter; being ready early, going (hands and feet) to every
shot) and to minimizing rebounds (wrists to the back of the
shaft and elbows bent a bit throughout the save).
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Teams & Score
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Saves
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Comment
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Towson 11, Air Force 8 |
Wheeler (TU) 14,
Sanders (AF) 10 |
Goalie the difference maker |
St Johns 10, G'town 9 |
St Johns 15, G'town 14 |
SJU Goalie a big factor |
UVA 13, 'Cuse 12 |
UVA 10, Galloway (SU) 13 |
SU gave up too many SOG |
UNC 14, Lehigh 6 |
UNC 7, Lehigh 11 |
LU goalie needed offensive help |
Princeton 14, JHU 8 |
Gvozden (JHU) 9, Fiorito (PU) 11 |
JHU goalie sub-par |
UMD 11, Duke 8 |
Phipps (UMD) 13, Schroeder (DU) 8 |
Goalie play the big difference |
UMBC 13, Colgate 9 |
Blevins(UMBC) 13 Harringto(CU) 10 |
Goalie a difference maker |
Bucknell 8, Navy 7 |
Sciubba (BU) 13, Wickham(UNA) 6 |
Goalie a difference maker |
Hofstra 11, Brown 10 |
Hofstra 9, Burke (BU) 15 |
BU needed more SOG |
Loyola 8, Penn St 7 |
Hagelin (LU) 10, Adams(PSU) 12 |
PSU needed more SOG |
Cornell 9, Army 8 |
Harer(CU) 12, Paleskey (USMA) 22 |
USMA needed more SOG |
Equipment - Recently I have noticed that a lot of
younger players are playing with the helmets mis-aligned. The
cross bar is in front of their eyes. That makes it tough to watch
the ball. So adjust it so they see out the top holes in the face
mask when they are in their proper stance. Other equipment tips;
use shin guards and light sweat pants if the keeper has been hit (and is
healing) or is shy in stepping to low shots. If your keeper is
slow stepping or false stepping (resetting a foot backward before coming
forward) check for flat feet. If they have fallen arches, try
Spenco Arch Supports 3/4 Orthotics (www.spenco.com, available on
Amazon.com for about $20). I use them (after recommendation from a
seasoned sports trainer) and they have helped my arch and helped turn my
slew-footed-ness back to toes forward for walking and playing.
Further, we have had other goalies use them successfully. A big
improvement for getting to the ball on each shot.
Copyright Weston Lacrosse 3/1/09
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