|
Post by bfoley82 on Feb 26, 2023 0:46:48 GMT -5
17-6 final. Total bloodbath. Need Sluka to suit up. It was progress...they were only down 12-0 at halftime and shots were only 36-7. Holy Cross won the second half 6-5. ;-)
|
|
|
Post by bison137 on Feb 26, 2023 2:09:21 GMT -5
In a battle of top 10 teams, visiting Maryland easily beat Princeton 11-5 before a full house at Class of '52 stadium. One of the Tigers was penalized for an illegal stick and his goal disallowed. Have never seen that call before in my many years of watching college lax. i’ve seen it a few times over the years. The most memorable time was in 2015 when Navy’s face-off man had just scored the go ahead goal in the fourth quarter vs Bucknell. Bucknell requested a stick check and it was found to be illegal. Not only did it negate the go-ahead goal but it set up Bucknell for two goals of their own during the three minute non-releasable penalty. They ended up winning by one.
|
|
|
Post by saderfan5 on Feb 27, 2023 22:04:24 GMT -5
This is going to be long. Seeing the team go viral on social media being clowned for wearing SWEATPANTS in a game forced me to take a step back and do a deep dive of our program.
Coach Reppert has been here since 2021. His record to date is 3-22. For context, since Coach Burke was acting head coach (Quinnipiac game in 2018 - end of 2020 season due to COVID) he coached Holy Cross in the same number of games (25) and had a record of 13-12. During this stretch Holy Cross had wins over Harvard (2x), Brown, Navy, Lehigh, and Vermont - all programs routinely ranked in the top 20. I understand the pushback will be a difference in talent/players, but moreso say this to raise the point/remind everyone that Holy Cross Lacrosse can be competitve. The number of excuses that have been recently raised frankly are nausiating to read/listen to. Would more scholarships/getting the team to be fully funded help enormously? Of course. Would Coach Reppert having a team full of his recruiting classes help? Possibly. Would having a full-time director of operations allow the asst coaches more time to focus on X's & O's? Yes. These are all very achievable goals that we should aim to have soon. However, there becomes a point where you need to play with the cards you were dealt.
As I previously stated after our 2022 season, "we were ranked 67th out of 72 D1 teams in scoring offense and 70th out of 72 in scoring defense with a 1-13 record. I guess it can't get much worse than that?" I think I might of been wrong. My hope after last season was that Coach Reppert would allow some sort of continuity to be formed in the lineup so that chemistry could be formed. That has not happened in the slightest. We have 45 players on our roster, according to the box score the last two games we played 28 against Mercer & 34 (yes you read that correctly) against Dartmouth. I won't insult any of your intelligence to explain how utterly ridiculous that is in a Division 1 game & how 0 chemistry is formed from this. I mean seriously, does Coach think this is rec league basketball where all the traffic cone kids who can't dribble have to play for half a quarter? You're not at Maryland anymore coach, the guy at the end of the bench is not a top 100 recruit. Our top players can compete, our depth is not there and may never be there in comparision to some of our opponents, and that's fine.
Over the course of a season you would like to see the number of turnovers per game drop from high teens to hopefully high single digits. This drop mainly comes from an improvement of stick work & experience/confidence for younger players over the course of the year. Again, a game considered "sloppy" turnover wise ranges from 15-18 turnovers. Our turnover's so far this season - 21, 17, 23, 25, 31. You tell me how our player development game to game is going. When you mix and match the lineup every game allowing zero chemisty/confidence and play the entire team besides 9 players and 2 backup goalies in your 5th game that's what will happen. I heard from an inside source that the blame for the first 4 games was being put all on our two leading scorers this past week and that multiple starters were put on the scout team and benched for the first half of the Dartmouth game. As a refresher the halftime score was 12-0 this past weekend. Shockingly the solution to this "selfish problem" was to play #31 McIntire our clear cut best player who scored 3 goals on 4 shots. You think we could've used him in the first half? How about #14 DiNanno our most dynamic player who has started since his freshman year? 4 assists in the 2nd half. Think we could've used him? Last time I checked Division 1 Lacrosse games weren't Science experiments Coach Reppert. You play to win the game. You got a problem with players? Run them during the week. This is the type of behavior from a coach who thinks he's invinsible and has job security, you're 3-22. Play your best players. I'm sure by now he has lost the locker room.
From my memory, for a good stretch Holy Cross was considered a tough team to place against and would always embrace playing in the elements. I incorrectly assumed that tradition would continue. Coach Reppert in his postgame press conference against Dartmouth (why we posted a press conference after losing by 11 goals is beyond me) said and I quote, "the weather was interesting, so we had to fight through some of that adversity." In all my years of watching college lacrosse I have NEVER seen a team wear sweatpants in an actual game. By wearing sweatpants we became the laughing stock of college lacrosse across all social media platforms. If you don't think that matters for recruiting you're very very mistaken. Clearly we have an emphasis of not caring at all about social media considering since September 1st our Instagram has posted 12x with one being a Tik Tok "Who is the Best Dancer" post. The social media under Coach Lattimore and Coach Burke would constantly pump out content which in this day and age surely lead to recruiting traction. This is an area that takes no skill and can easily help increase exposure for the program that our coaching staff for whatever reason decides not to take advantage of.
To sum all of this up, I think Coach Reppert is doing a great job of nose diving our program. I would hope after this season AD Hughes who of all sports knows lacrosse best (played in college) takes a look in the mirror/trajectory of where this is going. I can assure you there's alums chomping at the bit to do everything they can to make this program a Patriot League contender. I realize a lot of you will mention the turnover of head coachs at Holy Cross being a concern. In my eyes, what transpired the past two weeks are inexcusable. We lost to a Mercer team by 9 goals who has a 1st year head coach, then turn around and lose to Dartmouth at home by 11 goals in sweatpants. The players are not exempt from the blame here, but this is getting to an embarassing level and the man at the helm is not driving the ship the right direction. At some point Coach Reppert can't continue to fall back on his resume with stacked teams at Maryland filled with top 50 recruits. Changes need to be made...how did we go from the 2020 team having the best start to a season since 1981 to posters on here in 2023 caling for Holy Cross to cancel the program?
|
|
|
Post by Sons of Vaval on Feb 27, 2023 22:14:32 GMT -5
Will we win a game this year?
|
|
|
Post by longsuffering on Feb 28, 2023 2:43:29 GMT -5
This is going to be long. Seeing the team go viral on social media being clowned for wearing SWEATPANTS in a game forced me to take a step back and do a deep dive of our program. Coach Reppert has been here since 2021. His record to date is 3-22. For context, since Coach Burke was acting head coach (Quinnipiac game in 2018 - end of 2020 season due to COVID) he coached Holy Cross in the same number of games (25) and had a record of 13-12. During this stretch Holy Cross had wins over Harvard (2x), Brown, Navy, Lehigh, and Vermont - all programs routinely ranked in the top 20. I understand the pushback will be a difference in talent/players, but moreso say this to raise the point/remind everyone that Holy Cross Lacrosse can be competitve. The number of excuses that have been recently raised frankly are nausiating to read/listen to. Would more scholarships/getting the team to be fully funded help enormously? Of course. Would Coach Reppert having a team full of his recruiting classes help? Possibly. Would having a full-time director of operations allow the asst coaches more time to focus on X's & O's? Yes. These are all very achievable goals that we should aim to have soon. However, there becomes a point where you need to play with the cards you were dealt. As I previously stated after our 2022 season, "we were ranked 67th out of 72 D1 teams in scoring offense and 70th out of 72 in scoring defense with a 1-13 record. I guess it can't get much worse than that?" I think I might of been wrong. My hope after last season was that Coach Reppert would allow some sort of continuity to be formed in the lineup so that chemistry could be formed. That has not happened in the slightest. We have 45 players on our roster, according to the box score the last two games we played 28 against Mercer & 34 (yes you read that correctly) against Dartmouth. I won't insult any of your intelligence to explain how utterly ridiculous that is in a Division 1 game & how 0 chemistry is formed from this. I mean seriously, does Coach think this is rec league basketball where all the traffic cone kids who can't dribble have to play for half a quarter? You're not at Maryland anymore coach, the guy at the end of the bench is not a top 100 recruit. Our top players can compete, our depth is not there and may never be there in comparision to some of our opponents, and that's fine. Over the course of a season you would like to see the number of turnovers per game drop from high teens to hopefully high single digits. This drop mainly comes from an improvement of stick work & experience/confidence for younger players over the course of the year. Again, a game considered "sloppy" turnover wise ranges from 15-18 turnovers. Our turnover's so far this season - 21, 17, 23, 25, 31. You tell me how our player development game to game is going. When you mix and match the lineup every game allowing zero chemisty/confidence and play the entire team besides 9 players and 2 backup goalies in your 5th game that's what will happen. I heard from an inside source that the blame for the first 4 games was being put all on our two leading scorers this past week and that multiple starters were put on the scout team and benched for the first half of the Dartmouth game. As a refresher the halftime score was 12-0 this past weekend. Shockingly the solution to this "selfish problem" was to play #31 McIntire our clear cut best player who scored 3 goals on 4 shots. You think we could've used him in the first half? How about #14 DiNanno our most dynamic player who has started since his freshman year? 4 assists in the 2nd half. Think we could've used him? Last time I checked Division 1 Lacrosse games weren't Science experiments Coach Reppert. You play to win the game. You got a problem with players? Run them during the week. This is the type of behavior from a coach who thinks he's invinsible and has job security, you're 3-22. Play your best players. I'm sure by now he has lost the locker room. From my memory, for a good stretch Holy Cross was considered a tough team to place against and would always embrace playing in the elements. I incorrectly assumed that tradition would continue. Coach Reppert in his postgame press conference against Dartmouth (why we posted a press conference after losing by 11 goals is beyond me) said and I quote, "the weather was interesting, so we had to fight through some of that adversity." In all my years of watching college lacrosse I have NEVER seen a team wear sweatpants in an actual game. By wearing sweatpants we became the laughing stock of college lacrosse across all social media platforms. If you don't think that matters for recruiting you're very very mistaken. Clearly we have an emphasis of not caring at all about social media considering since September 1st our Instagram has posted 12x with one being a Tik Tok "Who is the Best Dancer" post. The social media under Coach Lattimore and Coach Burke would constantly pump out content which in this day and age surely lead to recruiting traction. This is an area that takes no skill and can easily help increase exposure for the program that our coaching staff for whatever reason decides not to take advantage of. To sum all of this up, I think Coach Reppert is doing a great job of nose diving our program. I would hope after this season AD Hughes who of all sports knows lacrosse best (played in college) takes a look in the mirror/trajectory of where this is going. I can assure you there's alums chomping at the bit to do everything they can to make this program a Patriot League contender. I realize a lot of you will mention the turnover of head coachs at Holy Cross being a concern. In my eyes, what transpired the past two weeks are inexcusable. We lost to a Mercer team by 9 goals who has a 1st year head coach, then turn around and lose to Dartmouth at home by 11 goals in sweatpants. The players are not exempt from the blame here, but this is getting to an embarassing level and the man at the helm is not driving the ship the right direction. At some point Coach Reppert can't continue to fall back on his resume with stacked teams at Maryland filled with top 50 recruits. Changes need to be made...how did we go from the 2020 team having the best start to a season since 1981 to posters on here in 2023 caling for Holy Cross to cancel the progplace That was a thorough analysis. Thank you. Reinforces the notion that Holy Cross is a special place that absolutely positively needs a special coach to build a winning program here. With Coaches SK and BN in basketball coming from Notre Dame and Marquette and Coaches LaChapelle and Berard coming from hockey powers BU and Providence and all flopping, at least record wise at Holy Cross, I hope Kit and team are conducting as thorough an analysis as you. A career assistant with an impressive power conference resume can excite players and recruits but when HC interviews them the AD is flying blind trying to project whether they can actually build a winning program or not. It's mostly been not. Stick with someone who has built a winning program in a lower division.
|
|
|
Post by crusader99 on Feb 28, 2023 8:05:26 GMT -5
Surveying current and former players is essential. There is a disconnect with decision makers either from the Board level when coaching decisions (hiring, firing or retaining) are made, funding or within Athletic Administration. The new AD and his recently hired Assistant from BC (also with lacrosse experience, albeit on the Women’s side) offer an opportunity to change course.
We have programs with current coaches having more than a half a decade and 100+ games under their belts and mediocre, at best results measured against any objective criteria, even those unique to HC. As the above post reveals, a viable passion exists for these programs and the College. That passion should be harnessed, embraced and surveyed as one of the best sources, IMO, for actual data from those who played under the coaches steering the less than successful programs to assist in solving the issues that linger, particularly when a program, such as Mens lacrosse, had recent success, by HC standards.
Football, W Hoops, M/W Hockey have all improved with new coaches. While the Mens Hoops needs attention, the Olympic field sports should not be given a pass. Improving from year to year should be one standard and with the passage of time, a criteria for retention. Hoping we see that improvement on Father K field this Spring.
|
|
|
Post by bfoley82 on Feb 28, 2023 8:10:46 GMT -5
This is going to be long. Seeing the team go viral on social media being clowned for wearing SWEATPANTS in a game forced me to take a step back and do a deep dive of our program. Coach Reppert has been here since 2021. His record to date is 3-22. For context, since Coach Burke was acting head coach (Quinnipiac game in 2018 - end of 2020 season due to COVID) he coached Holy Cross in the same number of games (25) and had a record of 13-12. During this stretch Holy Cross had wins over Harvard (2x), Brown, Navy, Lehigh, and Vermont - all programs routinely ranked in the top 20. I understand the pushback will be a difference in talent/players, but moreso say this to raise the point/remind everyone that Holy Cross Lacrosse can be competitve. The number of excuses that have been recently raised frankly are nausiating to read/listen to. Would more scholarships/getting the team to be fully funded help enormously? Of course. Would Coach Reppert having a team full of his recruiting classes help? Possibly. Would having a full-time director of operations allow the asst coaches more time to focus on X's & O's? Yes. These are all very achievable goals that we should aim to have soon. However, there becomes a point where you need to play with the cards you were dealt. As I previously stated after our 2022 season, "we were ranked 67th out of 72 D1 teams in scoring offense and 70th out of 72 in scoring defense with a 1-13 record. I guess it can't get much worse than that?" I think I might of been wrong. My hope after last season was that Coach Reppert would allow some sort of continuity to be formed in the lineup so that chemistry could be formed. That has not happened in the slightest. We have 45 players on our roster, according to the box score the last two games we played 28 against Mercer & 34 (yes you read that correctly) against Dartmouth. I won't insult any of your intelligence to explain how utterly ridiculous that is in a Division 1 game & how 0 chemistry is formed from this. I mean seriously, does Coach think this is rec league basketball where all the traffic cone kids who can't dribble have to play for half a quarter? You're not at Maryland anymore coach, the guy at the end of the bench is not a top 100 recruit. Our top players can compete, our depth is not there and may never be there in comparision to some of our opponents, and that's fine. Over the course of a season you would like to see the number of turnovers per game drop from high teens to hopefully high single digits. This drop mainly comes from an improvement of stick work & experience/confidence for younger players over the course of the year. Again, a game considered "sloppy" turnover wise ranges from 15-18 turnovers. Our turnover's so far this season - 21, 17, 23, 25, 31. You tell me how our player development game to game is going. When you mix and match the lineup every game allowing zero chemisty/confidence and play the entire team besides 9 players and 2 backup goalies in your 5th game that's what will happen. I heard from an inside source that the blame for the first 4 games was being put all on our two leading scorers this past week and that multiple starters were put on the scout team and benched for the first half of the Dartmouth game. As a refresher the halftime score was 12-0 this past weekend. Shockingly the solution to this "selfish problem" was to play #31 McIntire our clear cut best player who scored 3 goals on 4 shots. You think we could've used him in the first half? How about #14 DiNanno our most dynamic player who has started since his freshman year? 4 assists in the 2nd half. Think we could've used him? Last time I checked Division 1 Lacrosse games weren't Science experiments Coach Reppert. You play to win the game. You got a problem with players? Run them during the week. This is the type of behavior from a coach who thinks he's invinsible and has job security, you're 3-22. Play your best players. I'm sure by now he has lost the locker room. From my memory, for a good stretch Holy Cross was considered a tough team to place against and would always embrace playing in the elements. I incorrectly assumed that tradition would continue. Coach Reppert in his postgame press conference against Dartmouth (why we posted a press conference after losing by 11 goals is beyond me) said and I quote, "the weather was interesting, so we had to fight through some of that adversity." In all my years of watching college lacrosse I have NEVER seen a team wear sweatpants in an actual game. By wearing sweatpants we became the laughing stock of college lacrosse across all social media platforms. If you don't think that matters for recruiting you're very very mistaken. Clearly we have an emphasis of not caring at all about social media considering since September 1st our Instagram has posted 12x with one being a Tik Tok "Who is the Best Dancer" post. The social media under Coach Lattimore and Coach Burke would constantly pump out content which in this day and age surely lead to recruiting traction. This is an area that takes no skill and can easily help increase exposure for the program that our coaching staff for whatever reason decides not to take advantage of. To sum all of this up, I think Coach Reppert is doing a great job of nose diving our program. I would hope after this season AD Hughes who of all sports knows lacrosse best (played in college) takes a look in the mirror/trajectory of where this is going. I can assure you there's alums chomping at the bit to do everything they can to make this program a Patriot League contender. I realize a lot of you will mention the turnover of head coachs at Holy Cross being a concern. In my eyes, what transpired the past two weeks are inexcusable. We lost to a Mercer team by 9 goals who has a 1st year head coach, then turn around and lose to Dartmouth at home by 11 goals in sweatpants. The players are not exempt from the blame here, but this is getting to an embarassing level and the man at the helm is not driving the ship the right direction. At some point Coach Reppert can't continue to fall back on his resume with stacked teams at Maryland filled with top 50 recruits. Changes need to be made...how did we go from the 2020 team having the best start to a season since 1981 to posters on here in 2023 caling for Holy Cross to cancel the program? I told you guys that Holy Cross played some horrible lacrosse against Providence but no one listened. And they nearly won that game...
|
|
|
Post by snapper on Feb 28, 2023 17:03:06 GMT -5
This is going to be long. Seeing the team go viral on social media being clowned for wearing SWEATPANTS in a game forced me to take a step back and do a deep dive of our program. Coach Reppert has been here since 2021. His record to date is 3-22. For context, since Coach Burke was acting head coach (Quinnipiac game in 2018 - end of 2020 season due to COVID) he coached Holy Cross in the same number of games (25) and had a record of 13-12. During this stretch Holy Cross had wins over Harvard (2x), Brown, Navy, Lehigh, and Vermont - all programs routinely ranked in the top 20. I understand the pushback will be a difference in talent/players, but moreso say this to raise the point/remind everyone that Holy Cross Lacrosse can be competitve. The number of excuses that have been recently raised frankly are nausiating to read/listen to. Would more scholarships/getting the team to be fully funded help enormously? Of course. Would Coach Reppert having a team full of his recruiting classes help? Possibly. Would having a full-time director of operations allow the asst coaches more time to focus on X's & O's? Yes. These are all very achievable goals that we should aim to have soon. However, there becomes a point where you need to play with the cards you were dealt. As I previously stated after our 2022 season, "we were ranked 67th out of 72 D1 teams in scoring offense and 70th out of 72 in scoring defense with a 1-13 record. I guess it can't get much worse than that?" I think I might of been wrong. My hope after last season was that Coach Reppert would allow some sort of continuity to be formed in the lineup so that chemistry could be formed. That has not happened in the slightest. We have 45 players on our roster, according to the box score the last two games we played 28 against Mercer & 34 (yes you read that correctly) against Dartmouth. I won't insult any of your intelligence to explain how utterly ridiculous that is in a Division 1 game & how 0 chemistry is formed from this. I mean seriously, does Coach think this is rec league basketball where all the traffic cone kids who can't dribble have to play for half a quarter? You're not at Maryland anymore coach, the guy at the end of the bench is not a top 100 recruit. Our top players can compete, our depth is not there and may never be there in comparision to some of our opponents, and that's fine. Over the course of a season you would like to see the number of turnovers per game drop from high teens to hopefully high single digits. This drop mainly comes from an improvement of stick work & experience/confidence for younger players over the course of the year. Again, a game considered "sloppy" turnover wise ranges from 15-18 turnovers. Our turnover's so far this season - 21, 17, 23, 25, 31. You tell me how our player development game to game is going. When you mix and match the lineup every game allowing zero chemisty/confidence and play the entire team besides 9 players and 2 backup goalies in your 5th game that's what will happen. I heard from an inside source that the blame for the first 4 games was being put all on our two leading scorers this past week and that multiple starters were put on the scout team and benched for the first half of the Dartmouth game. As a refresher the halftime score was 12-0 this past weekend. Shockingly the solution to this "selfish problem" was to play #31 McIntire our clear cut best player who scored 3 goals on 4 shots. You think we could've used him in the first half? How about #14 DiNanno our most dynamic player who has started since his freshman year? 4 assists in the 2nd half. Think we could've used him? Last time I checked Division 1 Lacrosse games weren't Science experiments Coach Reppert. You play to win the game. You got a problem with players? Run them during the week. This is the type of behavior from a coach who thinks he's invinsible and has job security, you're 3-22. Play your best players. I'm sure by now he has lost the locker room. From my memory, for a good stretch Holy Cross was considered a tough team to place against and would always embrace playing in the elements. I incorrectly assumed that tradition would continue. Coach Reppert in his postgame press conference against Dartmouth (why we posted a press conference after losing by 11 goals is beyond me) said and I quote, "the weather was interesting, so we had to fight through some of that adversity." In all my years of watching college lacrosse I have NEVER seen a team wear sweatpants in an actual game. By wearing sweatpants we became the laughing stock of college lacrosse across all social media platforms. If you don't think that matters for recruiting you're very very mistaken. Clearly we have an emphasis of not caring at all about social media considering since September 1st our Instagram has posted 12x with one being a Tik Tok "Who is the Best Dancer" post. The social media under Coach Lattimore and Coach Burke would constantly pump out content which in this day and age surely lead to recruiting traction. This is an area that takes no skill and can easily help increase exposure for the program that our coaching staff for whatever reason decides not to take advantage of. To sum all of this up, I think Coach Reppert is doing a great job of nose diving our program. I would hope after this season AD Hughes who of all sports knows lacrosse best (played in college) takes a look in the mirror/trajectory of where this is going. I can assure you there's alums chomping at the bit to do everything they can to make this program a Patriot League contender. I realize a lot of you will mention the turnover of head coachs at Holy Cross being a concern. In my eyes, what transpired the past two weeks are inexcusable. We lost to a Mercer team by 9 goals who has a 1st year head coach, then turn around and lose to Dartmouth at home by 11 goals in sweatpants. The players are not exempt from the blame here, but this is getting to an embarassing level and the man at the helm is not driving the ship the right direction. At some point Coach Reppert can't continue to fall back on his resume with stacked teams at Maryland filled with top 50 recruits. Changes need to be made...how did we go from the 2020 team having the best start to a season since 1981 to posters on here in 2023 caling for Holy Cross to cancel the program? Misery loves company. Take comfort that the baseball program is as bad if not worse and the alumni are just as frustrated.
|
|
|
Post by nycrusader2010 on Mar 4, 2023 12:11:25 GMT -5
HC athletic program is a total dumpster fire outside of football and WBB right now. Nice to see some "green shoots" coming from the Men's Hockey program.
|
|
|
Post by Sons of Vaval on Mar 5, 2023 16:59:34 GMT -5
Another loss, 13-6.
42 goals for, 86 goals against.
|
|
|
Post by crusader12 on Mar 6, 2023 21:43:41 GMT -5
They may not win a game this year I fear. This team has had 0 wins a couple of times this millennium. Time to drop the program?
|
|
|
Post by bfoley82 on Mar 6, 2023 22:57:31 GMT -5
They may not win a game this year I fear. This team has had 0 wins a couple of times this millennium. Time to drop the program? Lowell is probably the best bet since the River Hawks won only two games last year. But HC only beat them by a goal last year....
|
|
|
Post by crusader99 on Mar 7, 2023 6:05:26 GMT -5
They may not win a game this year I fear. This team has had 0 wins a couple of times this millennium. Time to drop the program? Attending a game should be a prerequisite prior to this type of post. I am not saying the results are acceptable. Army is a top 20 team and made more plays than our guys, who were in the game with the score 6-3 at halftime. As is well stated from a prior, knowledgeable poster, there were too many turnovers (23) and not enough shots on goal (14) of which six (6) found the back of the net. Less TOS and more SOG…. Whether that is a function of a better scheme, a tighter rotation or player recruitment, is up for discussion. Dropping the program is not.
|
|
|
Post by bfoley82 on Mar 7, 2023 7:35:45 GMT -5
They may not win a game this year I fear. This team has had 0 wins a couple of times this millennium. Time to drop the program? Attending a game should be a prerequisite prior to this type of post. I am not saying the results are acceptable. Army is a top 20 team and made more plays than our guys, who were in the game with the score 6-3 at halftime. As is well stated from a prior, knowledgeable poster, there were too many turnovers (23) and not enough shots on goal (14) of which six (6) found the back of the net. Less TOS and more SOG…. Whether that is a function of a better scheme, a tighter rotation or player recruitment, is up for discussion. Dropping the program is not. A good question is why have they never been good in the history of the program?
|
|
|
Post by saderfan5 on Mar 7, 2023 22:18:16 GMT -5
Attending a game should be a prerequisite prior to this type of post. I am not saying the results are acceptable. Army is a top 20 team and made more plays than our guys, who were in the game with the score 6-3 at halftime. As is well stated from a prior, knowledgeable poster, there were too many turnovers (23) and not enough shots on goal (14) of which six (6) found the back of the net. Less TOS and more SOG…. Whether that is a function of a better scheme, a tighter rotation or player recruitment, is up for discussion. Dropping the program is not. A good question is why have they never been good in the history of the program? **Hold my beer** I will start by saying I'm not delusional, and realize that the Men's Lacrosse team does not have the best record historically. HOWEVER, for you to say that they've "never been good in the history of the program" is factually incorrect. But it makes sense coming from someone like you...a true pioneer of the game of lacrosse having millions of people read your Inside Lacrosse articles back in 2009. Based off seeing you in-person, it would probably make sense to focus on your physical health versus antagonizing 18-22 year old young men, who will undoubtedly be more succesful than you in any avenue of life they end up choosing, while having their employer match their 401k. However, it's unfair of me to question your lacrosse expertise as I'm sure you were a big time player back in the day. A true menace. Back to Holy Cross never being "good in the history of the program." Your words, not mine. Sharpen your pencil and take some notes BFoley, class is in session, and I'm about to teach you a lesson. Refer back to page 27, titled the "2015 Season". Do you consider beating two top ten teams in the same season as bad? Last I checked beating #8 Loyola & #9 Army while cracking the Inside Lacrosse top 20 rankings twice not 'bad'. But you're the expert taking pictures in adverse weather, so you tell me. Do you find joy in posting on this site? Actually, better question why are you so poorly misinformed? Refer to page 34, "2017 Season" is beating Navy at Navy Marine Corp stadium in the Patriot League tournament by 4 goals 'bad'? Refer to page 39, "2019 Season" is beating Harvard, Brown, Navy, and Lehigh all consistent top 20 programs 'bad'? Refer to page 45, "2020 Season" is beating Harvard for the 3rd straight season and having the best start since 1981 considered 'bad'? Have we had up and down seasons? Sure we have. However, compared to other programs on campus the Men's Lacrosse team competition wise is playing the best year in and year out, and has proven to be succesful. Not to mention, there's been coaching changes on average every 2.5 years. Frankly, as I have said previously, I hope Reppert is gone. But I can't stomach reading your hate week in and week out BFoley. It's one thing coming from someone who knows what they're talking about versus someone like yourself that couldn't catch a football if your life depended on it. If it was up to me, I'd send you to the minor leagues (D3) and not have Holy Cross Athletics buy your photos again based on how you speak about our programs. You should probablly zoom out (pun intended) and take a look at yourself in your Toyota Camry rearview mirror and ask yourself why you think you're on some sort of pedestal. This isn't like the late night online poker you play in your mom's basement, you can't snap your fingers and get a new hand (recruiting class). Holy Cross Lacrosse will be back, albeit after some necessary tweaks from AD Hughes.
|
|
|
Post by bfoley82 on Mar 8, 2023 1:49:21 GMT -5
A good question is why have they never been good in the history of the program? **Hold my beer** I will start by saying I'm not delusional, and realize that the Men's Lacrosse team does not have the best record historically. HOWEVER, for you to say that they've "never been good in the history of the program" is factually incorrect. But it makes sense coming from someone like you...a true pioneer of the game of lacrosse having millions of people read your Inside Lacrosse articles back in 2009. Based off seeing you in-person, it would probably make sense to focus on your physical health versus antagonizing 18-22 year old young men, who will undoubtedly be more succesful than you in any avenue of life they end up choosing, while having their employer match their 401k. However, it's unfair of me to question your lacrosse expertise as I'm sure you were a big time player back in the day. A true menace. Back to Holy Cross never being "good in the history of the program." Your words, not mine. Sharpen your pencil and take some notes BFoley, class is in session, and I'm about to teach you a lesson. Refer back to page 27, titled the "2015 Season". Do you consider beating two top ten teams in the same season as bad? Last I checked beating #8 Loyola & #9 Army while cracking the Inside Lacrosse top 20 rankings twice not 'bad'. But you're the expert taking pictures in adverse weather, so you tell me. Do you find joy in posting on this site? Actually, better question why are you so poorly misinformed? Refer to page 34, "2017 Season" is beating Navy at Navy Marine Corp stadium in the Patriot League tournament by 4 goals 'bad'? Refer to page 39, "2019 Season" is beating Harvard, Brown, Navy, and Lehigh all consistent top 20 programs 'bad'? Refer to page 45, "2020 Season" is beating Harvard for the 3rd straight season and having the best start since 1981 considered 'bad'? Have we had up and down seasons? Sure we have. However, compared to other programs on campus the Men's Lacrosse team competition wise is playing the best year in and year out, and has proven to be succesful. Not to mention, there's been coaching changes on average every 2.5 years. Frankly, as I have said previously, I hope Reppert is gone. But I can't stomach reading your hate week in and week out BFoley. It's one thing coming from someone who knows what they're talking about versus someone like yourself that couldn't catch a football if your life depended on it. If it was up to me, I'd send you to the minor leagues (D3) and not have Holy Cross Athletics buy your photos again based on how you speak about our programs. You should probablly zoom out (pun intended) and take a look at yourself in your Toyota Camry rearview mirror and ask yourself why you think you're on some sort of pedestal. This isn't like the late night online poker you play in your mom's basement, you can't snap your fingers and get a new hand (recruiting class). Holy Cross Lacrosse will be back, albeit after some necessary tweaks from AD Hughes. The 2015 Season saw Holy Cross finish 6-7 and 3-5 in Patriot League play. To me, that isn't good but I don't know what I am talking about. 2017 Season they went 5-10 overall with a 4-4 mark in PL play. 2019 Season they went 7-7 with a 4-4 mark in PL play. None of these years should be considered successful at any program. But you might have different standards than me. The program has NEVER appeared in the D-1 NCAA Lacrosse Tournament even though they have had a team since 1958. In Patriot League play, Holy Cross has never finished above .500 since the start of the league in 1991. The program has never had a single player named to an All-American team. (Couple of Honorable mentions but never to a team). All these things are not success in my book but factually correct.
|
|
|
Post by Sons of Vaval on Mar 8, 2023 8:33:55 GMT -5
I think there’s a big difference between putting together 60 minutes of good lacrosse and scoring a big win against a ranked opponent and being good consistently over the course of a season.
If we are being honest with ourselves, this program has never been good in the history of the Patriot League. We’ve been anywhere in between the worst in the country and average.
But good? Sure, good for a game or two in certain years where we’ve risen to the occasion. But a legitimately good team for a season? Don’t think so.
|
|
|
Post by hcpride on Mar 8, 2023 13:29:40 GMT -5
We’ve had a pretty bad men’s lax program for the last thirty years. (Of course we’ve grabbed an upset win here and there during that time.) No doubt -and for what it’s worth - we have other programs here with similar issues.
|
|
|
Post by WheelerOnly on Mar 8, 2023 20:44:05 GMT -5
Maybe save the personal attacks for DMs; in my opinion they degrade the experience on the forum for others.
The team’s record is what it is. I agree they had a few years where they were arguably a good team. “Good” is subjective … the record those years is what it is.
It’s not that hard to answer the underlying question of why HC lacrosse has struggled: resources and instability.
In the Patriot league era, during which I played, the athletic department has always given the program fewer resources than our competition. Whether it’s having part time coaches when everyone else had full time coaches, money for assistant coaches, scholarships, you name it. I don’t have the per program spending numbers in front of me, but HC is always at the bottom of the PL … and the gap is significant.
Instability. Turnover in the coaching ranks has been crazy since HC joined the PL. What other PL program has had so much turnover? What other D1 program? History: Logan ‘92-‘95; Combs ‘96-99; McCaffry ‘00-04; Pacal ‘05-11; Morrisey ‘11 -‘14; Lattimore ‘15-18; Burke ‘19-20; Reppert ‘21- present.
That’s insane. How can you build a successful program with that kind of instability? That’s on the HC administration and it’s related to the resources issue. If you provide the resources to hire/retain a good coach and give that coach resources to compete, you get different results.
It’s a small miracle that the team has ever had any “good” years, let alone won a PL game.
And now some people think it’s a good idea to make another coaching change. Yeah, that’ll solve all the problems!
We now have an experienced coach. More financial support is rumored to be coming in the form of scholarships … up to 8 I’ve heard. Looks like there are some good recruits in the pipeline.
Maybe Reppert turns out not to be the right guy, but I think it’s too early to know. When I have more time, I’ll whip up a more detailed post on that topic.
|
|
|
Post by coneyislanddogs on Mar 8, 2023 21:44:23 GMT -5
Resource issues clearly exist. Instability has obviously been an issue for the program. Still, I can’t get over these loss margins.
Criticizing the institutional shortcomings of a program has its rightful place here. Coaching is a part of that argument. What’s probably less welcomed/appreciated is what I’m about to say: the players on the field need to perform at a higher level.
There are good players on this team from good programs. At some point, hopefully soon, some of them realize they aren’t 10 goals worse than players on a Macon, GA program. Stop the Instagram promo videos and hit the gym/wall/multi-million dollar indoor turf field.
Executing beyond -not equal to- expectations is usually how you succeed in sports and life. These men are capable of more right now.
|
|
|
Post by matunuck on Mar 9, 2023 10:45:27 GMT -5
Does our lacrosse program currently offer athletic scholarships?
|
|
|
Post by Sons of Vaval on Mar 9, 2023 13:41:51 GMT -5
Resource issues clearly exist. Instability has obviously been an issue for the program. Still, I can’t get over these loss margins. Criticizing the institutional shortcomings of a program has its rightful place here. Coaching is a part of that argument. What’s probably less welcomed/appreciated is what I’m about to say: the players on the field need to perform at a higher level. There are good players on this team from good programs. At some point, hopefully soon, some of them realize they aren’t 10 goals worse than players on a Macon, GA program. Stop the Instagram promo videos and hit the gym/wall/multi-million dollar indoor turf field. Executing beyond -not equal to- expectations is usually how you succeed in sports and life. These men are capable of more right now. Do you really think that’s the problem here? Players either not putting in the work or just going through the motions during a game? Could be a component of the struggles, but I’d put that far down the list. I’m going to make the assumption (might be an incorrect one), that it’s not lack of effort from the players that’s the problem. I do think that perpetually having a losing culture is tough to rid. Going into games with a defeatist mindset might be happening. When double digit losses continue to pile up, I’m sure the team is collectively questioning their abilities. My guess is that our talent and coaching is a tick below our peers (not exactly rocket science).
|
|
|
Post by coneyislanddogs on Mar 9, 2023 15:37:15 GMT -5
Yes, I do think player performance is a bigger problem than posters here like to bring up. We can break down the institutional challenges the lax team faces all we want and I agree with just about all of them. But putting that aside I just can’t believe that our players on the field are 10 goals worse than Mercer players. Mercer lost to UNC by 22 goals. I actually think it’s insulting to the players to claim that’s in the realm of an acceptable result due to the challenges the program faces.
I agree with the defeatist attitude you bring up. I think that’s more what I meant than effort (although I stand by my statement that some of the social media posts need to stop). All this chatter about disadvantages (that players do hear) doesn’t help unless you harness that in a positive way. Right now it feels like that’s not happening.
|
|
|
Post by princetoncrusader on Mar 9, 2023 15:53:58 GMT -5
I believe the men's program has 2 scholarships, at least that's what one of those former head coaches told me.
|
|
|
Post by longsuffering on Mar 9, 2023 16:21:43 GMT -5
I believe the men's program has 2 scholarships, at least that's what one of those former head coaches told me. What's the best way for a coach and athletic administration to handle dividing two scholarships into a roster of forty-five?
|
|