Barrage enjoy "homecoming"

By Tom Hoffman

For players and fans, Thursday night's Barrage game at New Jersey was highlighted since, during this season as the so-called "traveling road show", this would be the closest game the team would play near Philadelphia. And there were a few Barrage jerseys mixed into the crowd of 1,956 that made their way to Yurcak Field for this key Eastern Conference matchup. All of this made the Barrage feel right at home as they played quite possibly their most solid game of the 2008 season in defeating the Pride 16-11. In keeping with the hometown feel, the Barrage's Peter Trombino, who played collegiately at nearby Princeton, had his best game in his brief MLL career with five goals, earning him game MVP honors.

After trailing 4-3 after the first quarter, the Barrage never looked back, outscoring the Pride 13-7 the rest of the night while putting their defensive clamps on the Pride's leading scorer Merrick Thomson. Thomson, who scored seven goals at Long Island the previous week, was kept off the scoresheet by the Barrage defense, who held Thomson to four shots, all off goal. Also of note in the game was the Barrage not being called for any penalties. For Brian Spallina, the league's penalty minute leader, this was his first penalty free game since last July against San Francisco. It was also a quiet night for Brian Dougherty in net as he only had to make 13 saves.

With a week off and three games to go, the Barrage are in good position to make a run at their third straight MLL title. A title that, if earned, might possibly be shared with their fans in Philadelphia next year.

Quotes

On being the "traveling road show":

Ryan Boyle: "It's been all right. We'll play anywhere as long as we can play together."

Kyle Sweeney: "It's going the best it can so far. It's not ideal but we're making it work."

Tony Resch: "Probably the toughest part of the traveling has been the lack of practice time, which as a coach is something you value. It does wear on you a little bit yet our guys have handled it well"

On the team's current play

Sweeney: "We're starting to play well at the right time of the season. We lost early, got it out of our system, we're moving in the right direction now."

Resch: "We're lucky to have guys who are very experienced, a veteran group. We've been able to work our way through it. We're playing some of our best lacrosse right now."

Barrage Game 9 (at New Jersey 7-10-08)

By Tom Hoffman

The Barrage (5-3) will seek to stay at the top of the Eastern Conference and put some distance between the rest of the pack when they travel to Yurcak Field at Rutgers University to face the New Jersey Pride (3-4) on Thursday evening. Gametime is at 7:30 PM and the game will be shown live on CN8.

History

The Barrage are 6-8 all time against the Pride and have won the last four meetings in the series. Last season both games were played at Yurcak Field. On July 12 the Barrage defeated the Pride 12-7 behind a hat trick from rookie Ian Dingman in what was a home game for New Jersey. The rematch on July 26 was the Barrage's home game for TV purposes and they needed overtime to defeat New Jersey 12-11 with Seth Goldberg scoring the OT winner.

Last Week

The Barrage jumped out to a 12-5 lead and held on to defeat the Boston Cannons 16-14 last Thursday at Harvard Stadium. The Barrage got hat tricks from Seth Goldberg, Roy Colsey, Matt Striebel and Ryan Boyle while Brian Dougherty earned his third Goalie of the Week award for 2008 with a 28 save performance. New Jersey took advantage of an offensive explosion in defeating Long Island 26-20 last Thursday evening at Mitchel Field in Uniondale.

Hot Wing outdoors

Merrick Thomson has been on fire for New Jersey this season. Thomson leads the Pride and Major League Lacrosse with 27 goals and his 32 points leads New Jersey and ties him for third in the league with Chicago's Kevin Leveille. Thomson earned Offensive Player of the Week honors last week for his seven goal, two assist game against Long Island. His seven goals also tied a New Jersey team record. Last Winter, Thomson scored 26 goals and 29 assists in earning a spot on the National Lacrosse League's All-Rookie team playing for the Philadelphia Wings.

Hey now, you're an All-Star

Rosters for the MLL's All-Star Game July 17th in Denver were announced and the Barrage have two representatives for the East team. Matt Striebel will be making his fourth All-Star appearance while Kyle Sweeney will be an All-Star for the third time. The All-Star Game will be shown live on ESPN2.

Next Game

The Barrage take a week off before returning to play on July 26 when they visit Los Angeles for a championship rematch with the Riptide.

Lax Philly Local Five - Season in Review

By Tom Hoffman

The 2008 college lacrosse season was quite a successful one for many local schools. Conference titles, playoff berths and national championships made their way to several teams from the Philadelphia area. But only five select schools get to be listed in this final poll so, following lots of review, here are the Lax Philly Top Five local Men's and Women's lacrosse teams for 2008 starting with:

5. Haverford (Men's Division III, final record 11-5)

For the Fords, easily their most successful season of lacrosse, one which culminated in their first ever berth in the NCAA Division III tournament. Despite falling in the second round to their neighbors at Cabrini, coach Mike Murphy's squad made plenty of noise in the always competitive Centennial Conference and will look to make even more in coming seasons with a number of top players to return. Among those to be back in 2009 will be leading goal scorer Brian Fleishhacker (46 in 2008) and point leader Max Hjelm (63 points as a freshman). One area of concern for 2009 will be in goal as Haverford loses Jake Mendlinger (8.69 GAA) to graduation.

4. Cabrini (Men's Division III, final record 17-3)

The Cavaliers wrapped up their eighth consecutive in the former Pennsylvania Athletic Conference and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tourney before falling to the eventual D-III champs from Salisbury. Steve Colfer's team will look to move even further next season with a talented group of returnees. Among those who will be back in 2009 will be Scott Reimer, who led Cabrini with 68 goals and 74 points as a junior, Casey Grugan (45 goals, 70 points) and goalies Bobby Chambers (5.96) and Kevin Chenoweth (6.35).

3. Drexel (Men's Division I, final record 13-4)

The only team in the final five that did not make the NCAA tournament, though many would argue that Chris Bates's squad was more than deserving of an at-large bid in 2008. That could come in 2009 though the biggest piece of the Drexel turnaround has graduated. Bates will need to find a goalie to replace three year starter Bruce Bickford, who once again was the name most spoken of when talking Drexel lax, finishing the season with a 6.99 GAA that led the Colonial Athletic Association. Whoever does earn the Dragons starting keeper job will have plenty of experience in front of him with returning longpoles Matt McCormick (First Team all-CAA) and Brendan Baker. Returning on offense will be leading scorers Colin Ambler (42 points) and Andrew Chapman (39 goals).

2. Penn (Women's Division I, final record 17-2)

After avenging their loss to Northwestern in the 2007 NCAA Semifinals, Karin Brower's Quakers reached the final this year and faced the Wildcats for the third time in a year. Though the final game though didn't go as well as their upset victory on April 27 it was still an impressive followup season for Penn. Sarah Waxman was impressive yet again in the Quakers net, earning first team All-America status along with teammate Rachel Manson. While both will not be back in 2009, returnees Ali DeLuca (26 goals, 40 points) and Guilia Giordano (20 goals as a freshman) on offense and Hilary Renna and Katie Mazer on defense will help ease the transition for Waxman's replacement.

1. West Chester (Women's Division II, final record 20-1, NCAA D-II National Champions)

After losing the last four D-II title games, the Golden Rams and coach Ginny Martino finally returned to the top of Division II women's lacrosse with their victory over C.W. Post on May 17. To get to the final, Martino's squad avenged their lone defeat of the 2008 season when they easily dispatched Limestone College, who defeated the Rams by a goal in West Chester's season opener. After yet another Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title (their fifth straight), the Rams earned many post season accolades, including Coach of the Year for Martino, and Player of the Year (PSAC and ECAC) for Stephanie Kienle. Kienle led the NCAA in scoring setting NCAA records in assists with 78 and points with 143 for single season marks, along with an all time mark of 389 points for her four year collegiate career. Kienle is the lone senior leaving, putting the program in good hands with Jackie Baker returning for her senior season, after posting 89 goals in 2008, as well as fellow All Americans Katy Crouse, Courtney Whiting and goalie Mary Beth Green. A second straight title could easily be headed to West Chester in 2009.

And with all of that the coverage for the 2008 season now concludes. With all that occurred in 2008, excitement is already here for 2009. Who will be the area's top players and teams next year? Be sure to look for the 2009 preview probably in February as well get to se who will be next year's candidates for the Lax Philly Local Five. To those who followed all season, hopefully you enjoyed the local coverage and will be back in 2009 to see who's on top in local NCAA college lacrosse. See you in the spring!