College: John Glesener on 2013 Tewaaraton list

John Glesener - Army Lacrosse

Army's John Glesener was named to the 2013 Tewaaraton list. He had been named on earlier Tewaaraton "watch lists," but this is the list from which the 10 finalists and the ultimate award winner will be chosen.

Being one of only 25 players on the list is quite an honor. But consider this: John is one of only 2 Sophomores on the list and is the only Californian. Puts smiles on the faces of the Scorpions Youth teams and the De La Salle Spartans – and all NorCal lacrosse fans, I suspect!

See the list here: http://www.tewaaraton.com/sites/default/files/downloads/2013-4.26-Tewaaraton-nominees-FINAL.pdf

High School: Perennial Boys' Lacrosse Powers in California

Whether you call them "Perennial Powers" or "Programs," those few teams which, year-after-year, are vying for the top spot in California Boy's Lacrosse constitute less than a handful. In fact, there are only two! But, San Ramon Valley and De La Salle are very close!

In each of the last seven years, either St. Ignatius or La Costa Canyon has been top dog in the Golden State. I'll contend these two are the only California teams to deserve the label "Perennial Power." How do I come to this conclusion?

In a period when California has been inexorably (though irregularly) rising in LaxPower's National rankings, one or the other of these two programs has been top dog in the State, using LaxPower as the data source. Here's the matrix:

Top Programs in California's Recent Boy's Lacrosse History

Year	Top team	Nat’l Rank	Power Rating	#2 Team	Nat’l Rank
2013	SI	16th	99.28	DLS	32nd
2012	LCC	24th	99.20	SI	25th
2011	LCC	32nd	98.85	SI	33rd
2010	LCC	16th	99.40	SI	21st
2009	SI	26th	98.85	COR	30th
2008	SI	27th	98.85	LCC	71th
2007	SI	22nd	98.85	FH Santa Ana	76th

In summary: For 4 of the last seven years SI has been the top dog in the State. In the other three years, LLC has been the top team. In the four years in which SI was top dog, LCC, Coronado, DLS, and Foothill-Santa Ana were the Bridesmaids. In the three years for which LCC was King of the Hill, SI was ALWAYS second! So, no team has been more consistent than SI, and no team has more #1 finishes. Still, as they say in the Mutual Fund business, "Past Performance is no guarantee of future results."

Here are two other indicators of similarity. These two teams both faced – and lost by a goal to – top Long Island teams in their finest years. In 2010, LCC lost 7-6 to #9 in the nation St. Anthony's, one of two Catholic powers in NY. In 2013, SI lost 5-4 to national #2 ranked Chaminade – the other Catholic power in NY. In those years, both LCC and SI were ranked #16 in the nation. For LCC it was #16 out of 3,095 teams, while SI is #16 out of 3,112 teams.

For SI, there has been incredible coaching stability. In every one of the seven years covered in this analysis, Chris Packard has been either an Assistant Coach or Head Coach.It is a great treat to play for a "program." There are a number of other schools who have aspirations to become "programs." Time will tell, but great coaches have a way of setting up paths which, sooner or later, become programs.

High School: excellent Game report on SI v Chaminade by an SI parent

An SI parent, whom I have known for many years, writes the best "After Action" game reports in the business. He has put up a review of the SI v Chaminade game. You can read it at: http://www.siprep.org/page.cfm?p=389

Once you land on the SI News site, click on the game link about the Chaminade game.

High School: LaxPower adjusts Power ratings after Si v Chaminade game

LaxPower, "The source for the Sport," adjusted its ratings for both SI and Chaminade within half an hour of the end the contest between those two teams today. St. Ignatius moved up a tenth of a point, from 99.18 to 99.28. Chaminade got dinged a couple of hundredths, moving from 99.89 to 99.87. In effect. Laxpower seems to be saying: "We had Chaminade just about right, but we had SI a little low."

As a consequence of LaxPower's re-calculations, Chaminade stays at #2 in the nation while SI moves up from 24th to 16th in the nation.

High School: Chaminade vs St. Ignatius delayed game reports

End of Q1 SI 1 Chaminade1
Cyrus Scott with 3 Saves
Joe Lang on a feed from Moore Harris for the SI goal

8:07 left in the 2nd quarter SI 1 Chaminade 3
Chaminade scores two quick ones off the FO

Still in Q2 Flyers pick up a loose ball and go for an unassisted goal. 4-1 Flyers

Flyers on EMO with Si in the Box for 2 minutes
SI time out with 1:52 left in the second quarter. Cyrus Scott great in the cage. Score still 4-1 Flyers.
SI facing a VERY stout defense – 13 unforced errors so far for the Wildcats.

Half Time: Score still Chaminade 4 SI 1
Observers say Cyrus Scott keeping SI in the game. Has at least 13 saves in the first half. SI playing lots of D. O needs to possess to give D a rest.

Start of Q3 David Fleming scores for SI Cham 4 SI 2. Seventeen minute scoring drought for the 'Cats has ended!

Flyers answer with a fast break goal. 5-2 Chaminade with 9 minutes to go in the 3rd.

Cyrus Scott keeping SI in the game. Two successive saves on the doorstep!
SI scores again on a rip by Matt Emery! Now 5-3 Chaminade.
David Fleming with his second goal! Now 5-4 Chaminade. 1:25 left in the 3rd.
Cyrus Scott with another BIG save to end the quarter. He's standing on his head! Chaminade 5 SI 4. Go 'Cats!
End of Q3: Chaminade 5 SI 4!

Q4 SI on defense:

Time out with 3:09 left in the game. Still Chaminade 5 SI 4.

SI in their huddle.

Now 31 seconds left. SI with the ball....

5 seconds left. Chaminade with the time out.

Final score Chaminade 5 SI 4. 

Box score from Long Island's Newsday:

GAME STATS

Chaminade	Goals	Assists	Points	Saves
Burke	0	1	1	0
Carney Mahon	0	1	1	0
Dan Fowler	0	0	0	9
Jack Tigh	1	0	1	0
James Roberts	1	0	1	0
Ryan Lukacovic	3	1	4	0
Sean Cerrone	0	1	1	0

St.Ignatius	Goals	Assists	Points	Saves
Emery	1	0	1	0
Fleming	2	0	2	0
Harris	0	1	1	0
Lang	1	1	2	0
Scott	0	0	0	16

Things to note in the Box Score: 1) Cyrus Scott with 16 saves, 2) the Flyers' Ryan Lukacovic was involved in 4 out of the Flyers 5 goals (3G,1A), 3) David Fleming stepped up, big-time, and 4) St. Ignatius had a respectable 50% of its goals assisted, while Chaminade had 80% of its goals come on assists.*
________________________________________________________________________________
* I have long believed that teams with high assist percentages win more often than those teams who don't. It has been an assertion of mine, with no proof. Recently, statisticians started mathematically modeling the components of success in lacrosse contests. Their work shows that the assist is the single most significant event in lacrosse games. More important than CTOs, more important than goals, more important than saves, and more important than ground balls. I believe the assist is the purposeful manifestation of a set of seemingly chaotic acts, i.e. off-ball movement, dodge-draw-dump, skip passes, give and goes, picks, screens, etc. All those activities seek, however imperfectly, to get a player into open, threatening space near the goal. That is, the assist is the result of continuous hard work by everyone on the offense. That motion, those activities, those coordinations without the ball, are the gist of getting a man freed up into threatening space. The assist is merely the natural last act in a long chain of actions. But it is a crucial last act!


I AM SO PROUD OF THE GUYS. They lose by one on the home field of the #2 team in the nation after traveling 3,000 miles to New York, jet-lagged, sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings, and all the other anomalies that impose a slight drain on players.

Great game by two fine teams. If Chaminade were to fly to SF, good as they are, I continue to believe the 'Cats win by two.

High School: Two pre-game articles on St. Ignatius vs Chaminade

Inside Lacrosse has written a short article on today's SI v Chaminade game. You can read it at:

http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2013/04/24/high-school-st-ignatius-prep-calif-travels-east-attempting-make-history

Lacrosse Recruits has another article today about the big East v West game. You can read it at:

http://lacrosserecruits.com/news/lacrosse/game-preview-st-ignatius-prep-ca-at-chaminade-ny/

By the way, the opening face takes place at 4:15PM EDT.

High School: St. Ignatius v Chaminade

St. Ignatius 2013

The big game is tomorrow. Two undefeated teams, one from Long Island - the mother of all hotbeds - and the other considered to be young guns from the West. Here are some sobering, but not depressing, facts: NO Western team has EVER defeated a top Long Island team or a top Maryland MIAA A team.

The last time I got my hopes up was in 2011, when Peter Worstell's San Ramon Valley Wolves travelled to Garden City (Coach Worstell's home town) and took on the then #5 ranked Garden City boys. Garden City prevailed, 14-7. Devin Dwyer, Garden City's X Attack, shredded SRV's defense, which was a VERY good Western defense. Devin Dwyer is now a highly rated Freshman at Harvard. His knowledge of the game's angles provided a lesson in Applied Geometry to the Wolves. Moreover, SRV had at least four players, I'd say 5, who were HIGHLY sought after by the top DI teams in the country: one to current #3 UNC, two to current #10 Penn State, and one to current #13 Syracuse.   No one in the West had ever had a stud like Michael Tagliaferri. He was one of four members of the World Champion 2012 US U-19 team who were, when selected, still in High School. The other three U-19 prodigies? All from the East Coast!

Here's the thing: A Western victory is gonna happen sometime. When that occurss, it will shake the Lacrosse world. Heck, it may be that some VERY GOOD East Coast teams will then have to come to visit the West Coast, to take on our boys – on our turf! Right now, we genuflect to the East. We are the ones who have to travel 3,000 miles, sleep in strange beds, forego home cooking, and generally get discomfited by the journey. I think that's worth at least two goals, but NO ONE on Long Island will be thinking of travel-distance adjusted scores. You've gotta be MUCH than an Eastern Power to beat them on their home turf.

Do I hope that SI will prevail against Chaminade? Hell yes! Do I think the odds are with us? No. Reason and hope aren't the best of bedfellows. I've lived in hope before. Still, this is a very good SI team, taking on the #2 team in the country. The Wildcats have their assets. SI has a VERY good coaching staff, a stout, smart, skilled defense, and, perhaps, the best overall offense the West has produced. I believe they can play with – and defeat – the vast majority of Long Island and Maryland teams. Can they beat a stacked Chaminade team with more than twice as many NCAA DI recruits as the Wildcats? The answer will only be known on the field and when the game ends, the Chaminade scoreboard will reveal the final score. Should SI prevail, get a picture of the scoreboard! That image would symbolize – forever – a shift in the tectonic plates of the Lacrosse world.

I will be rooting for the 'Cats – and hoping for the 'Cats – and even praying for the 'Cats to play their best. I refuse to be disappointed if they don't prevail and I will be VERY PROUD OF THEM if they do! If I could tell them one thing, it would be to remember that they are NOT playing for NorCal, they are NOT playing for California, they are NOT playing for the WEST. They ARE playing for their teammates, their coaches and their school. They are 34 strong and they are... RELENTLESS! AMDG, boys.

College: John Glesener named Patriot League Player of the Year

John Glesener, former NorCal strongman, was named the Patriot League's Player of the Year today. You can read the whole story at:

http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2013/04/23/patriot-league-2013-all-league-team-announced

College: NorCal's NCAA DI players

NorCal's NCAA DI Men's Lacrosse Players

Player	High School	School	Rating	Class	Rank
John Glesener	DLS	Army	71.22	2015	1
Rob Emery	SI	Virginia	65.07	2014	2
Griffen Goudreau	Bellarmine	Providence	57.65	2016	3
JW McGovern	SI	Yale	57.63	2016	4
Mike Hernandez	Piedmont	Michigan	57.22	2016	5
Jake Newman	Marin Catholic	Providence	52.96	2016	6
Tim Jacob	Bellarmine	Brown	51.53	2015	7
Connor Hunt	DLS	Cornell	51.51	2015	8
Ben Krebs	Foothill	Duke	51.38	2015	9
Niko Dutra	MV	Bryant	51.09	2014	10
Kyle Bell	SI	Canisius	50.42	2013	11
Will McKee	SI	Lehigh	50.34	2016	12
Jordan LaTendresse	SRV	Penn State	50.31	2016	13
Giancarlo Sangiacomo	SI	Providence	50.20	2014	14
Billy Mattimore	SI	Bucknell	50.11	2013	15
Will Frederick	SI	Loyola	50.00	2013	16
Chad Cohan	SI	Duke	49.23	2016	17
Bobby Gray	SI	Notre Dame	N/A	2016	N/A
Dax Cohan	SI	Duke	N/A	2014	N/A
Jordan Weiss	SRV	Penn State	N/A	2016	N/A
Michael Tagliaferri	SRV	UNC	N/A	2016	N/A

Bear Mistele                        UHS                    Navy                      N/A                      2016                N/A 

I have been able to identify 22 NorCal NCAA DI lacrosse players who are on college rosters this year and have used a ranking system developed by a founder of LaxPower to rate them. Of course, there are many ranking systems, including All-Conference, All-American, Tewaaraton, and many others. The system I used is likely no better or worse than many other systems that would produce different results – this one was just handy. 

I may be missing current NCAA DI players. If you know of a current DI player I have not listed, please add a comment and I will gin up the stats and add that player to the list. Players with an N/A rank are either injured, redshirted, or have not yet participated in at least 3 games. Some players will have college graduation years that do not correlate to their HS graduation year. This may be because they took a Post-Graduate HS year, they switched schools and started over in college, or other reasons of which I am not aware. 

John Glesener heads the list. For those who are unaware of John, he played for the Scorpions NCJLA teams and spent his Freshman year at De La Salle. His family then moved to upstate New York and, thus he did not complete High School in Northern California. I still think of him as a NorCal player. Rob Emery, nicknamed "the Cali Cannon" ranks second. Both of them are on the 2013 Tewaaraton Watch List.

Four Frosh come next, followed by three Juniors. Interestingly, to me, 11 of the 22 NorCal players are Freshmen. I believe this suggests several trends. First, NorCal players are being recruited more heavily than ever, due to the proven success of players like Roy Lang, Rob Emery, and John Glesener (all Tewaaraton Watch List performers). Second, the steady improvement in NorCal High School lacrosse via strong coaching and better athletes becoming attracted to the sport. Third, the exposure our players are getting (and the reputation they are creating) through NorCal recruiting Camps like California Gold and Travel teams such as the Alcatraz Outlaws and other top travel teams.

Essentially all the NorCal players with a ranking are in the top half of NCAA DI players.

GO NorCal!

Thanks to an anonymous poster for bringing Bear Mistele to my attention. Bear has gotten field time, but not yet enough to be rated. I'll add him to my watch list. Others?