Lax Factor Lacrosse Podcast

The Hobart Statesmen have been as good offensively as anyone over the last three seasons.  In 2019 Hobart averaged 13.94 goals per game, good for 9th in the nation. The covid shortened 2020 season saw Hobart sitting at #1 in scoring offense with 19.6 goals per game. A full goal per game more than the #2 team, Cornell. A huge improvement.

A big problem is the loss of Eric Holden. Hobart doesn’t have a lot of grad school options, so Holden is off to Maryland where he'll likely see time at midfield. He was a top-5 scorer in the nation in 2020 after 5 games with 20 goals and 8 assists. Losing Holden will sting for sure.

Also gone, standout goalkeeper Sam Lucchesi. An excellent goalie who had improved a ton in each of the last three seasons. He stopped 48% of his shots faced in 2018 as a sophomore. 52% in 2019 as a junior, and was sitting at 56.6% as a senior in the short season. Lucchesi ended up ditching college to play for the Bayhawks in the MLL

But there is still reason to be optimistic in Geneva. Ryan Archer (7g, 11a) and Jason Knox (18g, 3a) both return, as do 5 of their top 9 leading scorers from a season ago. Also back, John Herlihy (12g, 1a) and Derrek Madonna (7g, 2a), both capable scorers and ready to step up and get more touches.

Also returning, PJ Delpha (defense), Sam Mueller (defense) and Eoin Hurley (lsm). The goalie situation is unclear. But having three solid returners on the defensive end doesn't hurt. Hobart finished 43rd in scoring defense in 2020 giving up 12 goals per game. They'll need to make sure their defense plays strong and helps their new goalkeeper. Could end up being Holtby who got some time as the backup last year and looked solid.

So yes, anyone that is a true fan of the Statesmen would admit, they are feeling the sting of losing a guy like Holden. But he's far away, playing for a team that likes their state flag a touch too much. Hobart has plenty to work with in Upstate, New York, and I have a feeling they'll be just fine.

PREDICTION: 8 wins

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With the very exciting addition of coveted transfer Chris Gray, the outlook for UNC Lacrosse in 2020 was good, and they proved the hype was real by starting the season 7-0. Their offense jumped from 12 goals per game in 2019 to 17+ goals per game in 2020's shortened season.

Good news, they return almost everyone on the offensive side of the ball.  Bad news, the questions about the depth of their defense remain, and that could hurt the Heels if they don't figure that side of the ball out in 2021. Granted, they didn't get a chance to prove themselves defensively in 2020 as they never made it to the ACC portion of their schedule. But any true lacrosse fans know that's the only thing anyone can doubt about this team, because they are stacked all over the field.

Offensive production returning for North Carolina, Chris Gray, Nicky Solomon, Alex Trippi, William Perry, Tanner Cook, Justin Anderson, and the list goes on.  Caton Johnson and Will Bowen will anchor the defense and a plethora of other solid returns give Tarheel fans a lot of reasons to be optimistic at their chances of making it to Memorial Day Weekend.

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The Duke Blue Devils had a pretty good squad in the shortened 2020 season. Add Michael Sowers to the mix while also retaining the services of pretty much your entire 2020 roster, and that is a recipe for winning of the likes Duke hasn't seen in a few years.

I've always been very up front about the fact that I think Michael Sowers is one of the best college lacrosse players of all time. Now Duke has that guy. Couple that with JT Giles-Harris, a guy many argue is the best long pole in the country, and now the Blue Devils take the field every game with the #1 player in the country and the #1 defender in the country. That's going to make them tough to beat.

Guys that will compliment Sowers on offense, Joey Manown, Joe Robertson, Dyson Williams, Reilly Walsh, Nakeie Montgomery, Owen Caputo, Kevin Quigley, Sean Lowrie, Brendan O'Neill.  I mean the list goes on.  Teams will have to focus on Sowers, but others will feast as #22 draws eyeballs.

I'm not trying to predict Duke will win it all in 2021. Teams still have to play and win games. All I'm saying is that this team is in fact built to destroy, and it is going to take a total team effort from everyone they play to topple this giant in 2021.

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It's official, Joey Spallina, the #1 ranked player in the 2022 class as ranked by Inside Lacrosse has chosen Syracuse as his college destination.  Also announced by Spallina, he'll be rocking the #22 which was to a degree expected, and welcomed news.

Spallina is the real deal and can do it all. He can dodge and create, shoot with space, finish in any manner that is necessary to get the single.  Spallina is as close to a guaranteed success as you have when signing players. I expect him to have a huge impact from day one.

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The Chaos were potentially the worst team in the Premier Lacrosse Leagues Championship Series over group play, but after winning in the quarters, and then dropping the Archers in the semi's, they have a good shot of going from worst to first if they can beat the Whipsnakes in the second PLL Championship.

The Whipsnakes also pulled out a win in their semifinal game against the Redwoods, and it took overtime. Matt Rambo and Zeddy Ballgame (Williams) didn't factor, at least not on the scoreboard, but it didn't matter as the Whips got a huge game out of Brad Smith (1g, 5a) and LSM Michael Ehrhardt (two 2-Point Goals, 1 assist).

We saw some crazy goals as well wity Byrne sticking one between his legs and Ehrhardt sticking two DEEP deuces.

My prediction for the finals....The CHAOS, a team of destiny will be the Whips by a goal, 13-12 in Sunday's final on NBC (at 12:30 pm eastern).

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Everyone is talking about Matt Gaudet's trash talk and Garrett Epple retaliating and jacking Gaudet up. My view, you talk trash in the manner Gaudet was talking trash and you risk getting popped.  That's what happened, nothing more.  Sometimes if you put a bad attitude out into the world, you get a bad attitude back.  I'm not saying that Epple was justified in his actions.  I'm just saying I'm not surprised.  This is how male interactions have gone for 100,000 years and this is how we'll continue for another 100,000 years.

Game 7 of the PLL action needed overtime for the Redwoods to get their first win of the season on a Jones to Garnsey connection. Both goalies played well, Tim Troutner Jr. going for 15 saves on the day (71% save percentage) and Blaze Riorden went for 23 saves (77% save percentage). Scoring was spread out pretty evenly between both rosters, Myles Jones had a great game, 1 goal, 2 assists with the game winning apple and Ryder Garnsey scored that game winner and finished with 2 goals on the day.

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The opening weekend of the Premier Lacrosse League went down as expected. We saw a bunch of good games, all pretty close, and last nights Atlas/Archers game is being called by some, the best pro lacrosse game of all time. I don't buy that, but it was pretty exciting.

We saw Grant Ament score 3 goals with a dish in his first PLL outing.  Rob Pannell looked good going for a goal and 3 assists in his opener and then putting up 1 & 2 in his matchup last night against the Archers. Bryan Costabile also factored heavily for the Atlas which was good to see.

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We are going to see the Denver Outlaws take on the Boston Cannons in one Major League Lacrosse semi-final on Saturday and then the Connecticut Hammerheads face-off against the Chesapeake Bayhawks in the other semi.  Rematches, revenge, everything you want in lacrosse playoff games.

But we also get to watch some Premier Lacrosse League action this weekend as the PLL kicks off it’s covid season.  We have more lacrosse this weekend than we’re going to know what to do with, 4 games on Saturday and 2 games on Sunday.

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Pro lacrosse action kicked off this weekend with the Barrage getting dropped by the Bayhawks 16-11. It was a very welcome sight, seeing guys running around on the lacrosse field beating on each other again.

The winners of the weekend were definitely the Bayhawks (2-0) and the Outlaws (2-0).  Both teams handled their weekend foes and ended up 2-0 by Sunday evening.  Both teams looked sharp both offensively and defensively.

The Hammerheads took one on the chin losing 18-6 to the Outlaws on Saturday before having the day off on Sunday.  The Lizards also lost 2 games, but looked respectable and surprisingly tough on offense even without last years big cat Rob Pannell.

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Lacrosse is finally here!!! Major League Lacrosse is one of the first professional sports to get kicked off this summer through this COVID pandemic and I couldn't be more excited. We get to see Lyle Thompson and the Bayhawks take on Shayne Jackson and the Barrage. We get to see Mark Cockerton and Bryce Wasserman lead the Boston Cannons against the NY Lizards without Rob Pannel. And then in the nightcap, we see the Connecticut Hammerheads (formerly the Rochester/Dallas Rattlers) face off against last years runner up, the Denver Outlaws. Will Sands, Michael Kraus, Bubba Voigt and company vs Grant Jr, Brendan Kavenaugh and Aslanian (sweet name).

So we have lacrosse this weekend, and through the next 3 weeks between the MLL and the PLL, so let us all rejoice in the fact this is actually happening.

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