More times than not (just about all of the time) it is the team with the best Team Defense and solid goalie play that wins The Championship. UNC Midfielders are pretty darn good as well.
While that’s a nice sentiment I am not sure that’s actually true . Looking at some past years results there have been a few shoot outs and I don’t really count the pre-shot clock low scoring games as being about defense as much as stalling in many cases . I think a well balanced team is what gets you thru the whole tournament .[/quote]
Just another person who spouts nonsense with no basis on reality, facts or actual results. Each of the past 6 National Championships were won by teams that held their opponents to fewer goals than their season average. Team Defense and Good / Great Goaltending is what wins championships.
2014 National Championship: Maryland over Syracuse. Syracuse held to 12 goals, their season average was 14.4.
2015 National Championship: Maryland over UNC. UNC held to 8 goals, their season average was 13.5.
2016 National Championship: UNC over Maryland. Maryland held to 7 goals, their season average was 14.7.
2017 National Championship: Maryland over BC. BC held to 13v goals, their season average was 16.
2018 National Championship: JMU over BC. BC held to 15 goals, their season average was 15.7
2019 National Championship: Maryland over BC. BC held to 10 goals, their season average was 16.8.
Shot Clock or no Shot Clock, it is Defense that wins championships. There were no "shoot outs" and BTW, most would consider "stalling" a defensive tactic. Also 5 of the 6 years the team that won The National Championship played Man to Man Defense.... JMU an aberration on many fronts....[/quote]
You really are a bit slow and spouted so many nonsensical points its difficult to keep up.. You are trying to use stats from a single game to decide where a teams strengths are and anyone who has even a bit of statistical knowledge knows that makes no sense. Lets look at those teams over the course of their season to see where they stacked up.
offense defense
2016 UNC 5 25
2017 MD 1 17
2018 11 6
2019 5 5
Your attempt to try and credit a teams defense when their offensive teammates are stalling is sad. Looks like a top ten offense is a better predictor of success than your desperate attempt to say only defense matters . Again well balanced teams win the championship .[/quote]
No, a team doesn’t simply need to be “well balanced” in order to win, the team needs to be exceptional at every position. That said, I will bet on the team that plays the best defense.
