Okay, finally some real results to talk about. Weekend action from NL March Invitational and Spring Thaw. Rankings are US Club Lacrosse FWIW. Results from Tourney Machine:
Hawks 16-0 NXT (68)
Hawks 15-2 Barnstormers (nr)
Hawks 11-4 Freedom (14)
Crabs 16-0 Barnstormers (nr)
Crabs 6-5 Freedom (14)
Crabs 16-1 NJ Express (89)
ML 6-11 Freedom (14)
ML 7-1 NJ Express (89)
ML 8-6 NXT (68)
NL 3-6 DCE (24)
NL 3-9 Red Hots (4)
NL 8-6 Clippers (56)
NL 4-5 FCA (not sure why but nr; if I'm guessing I put them 10-15)
NL 4-10 Leading Edge (3)
FCA 3-5 Leading Edge (3)
FCA 5-4 NL (19)
FCA 8-3 Clippers (56)
91 3-10 Red Hots (4)
91 8-2 NJ Riot (59)
91 3-8 Nationals LC (nr)
Clippers 6-8 NL (19)
Clippers 4-9 Leading Edge (3)
Clippers 3-8 FCA (nr)
DCE 6-3 NL (19)
DCE 4-9 Leading Edge (3)
DCE 2-4 Red Hots (4)
DCE 12-6 Nationals LC (nr)
Observations
--Level of competition was higher at NL March Invitational. Hard to gauge Crabs/ML/Hawks versus some of the teams they played other than Philadelphia Freedom.
--Clippers went 0-3 but overachieved, kept it close versus some good teams.
--NL needs to fix things quickly, 1-4 at their own tournament, still having trouble scoring.
--Expected bigger margin of victory from FCA.
--DCE looking like a top 4 Hoco team at the expense of NL and ML. Early Hoco playoff predictions are (1) Hawks, (2) FCA, (3)/(4) DCE/Crabs.
Usual caveats that the weather was terrible and that teams are still experimenting with schemes and personnel.
I think for HOCO, DCE will a team to watch. With a close score of 2-4 against Red Hots National. Still think Hawks will win it, but the game to watch will be FCA vs DCE.
