Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Going to be interesting down the stretch. Many teams have a legit chance to win it all. Watch the goal scorers all that you want. The team that plays the best team defense (including riding /re-defending and goalie play) will win the National Championship.



I agree. Way too much attention is focused on goal scoring stats. It starts in High School where there are no defensive stats, there are still way too many parents that never see the "whole" game and love to see their kid make an individual effort to score a low percentage goal.
You can see it with a lot of the weaker college teams, they still use poor offensive strategy and try to power through the defense with an individual effort and take a weak shot. Unfortunately sometimes that works and people celebrate that goal.


Virtually every team, including all the top 20 D1 teams, has players that try and power through the defense and take weak shots all the time. Unfortunately, all too often they are rewarded with an 8 meter shot, so they will keep on doing it until refs start calling charges


Many teams may have a selfish player or two but the better teams do not rely on that style of play to win games. When the competition heats up (during the playoffs) selfish play will usually be exposed and ultimately hurt the team. Teams that are built from back to front (D up through the midfield including the draw) and play smart team lacrosse will have more success. Teams that have smart "goal scoring" attackers are not the same as teams that have selfish middies and or attack who will take foolish shots, charge, hold the ball too long, turn it over etc.... The crazy thing is: Mommy and Daddy don't see it. The only thing they see is their daughter going to the goal (and they think that is good). Have you ever been standing next to one of them when their daughter attempts to run through multiple defenders, falls down and loses the ball? The dad will say "she is the only one doing anything out there" or something to that effect. Doesn't matter if it is HS or College, selfish play will always hurt the team and coaches who allow it will not be very successful come playoff time.