Rearview: STATEment

Photo by Kevin Schoonover

 By: E.J. Freeman | MCLA.us     

ATLANTA- Before we dive into the weekend, the MCLA sends their condolences to the Akmeshe family and the Texas lacrosse program following the tragic passing of freshman Sarp Akmeshe in a car accident last week.

For the second straight week, the Florida State Seminoles hosted a fellow undefeated team that, just like the Noles, had been garnering a lot of attention with their early season performance.  Last week the Clemson Tigers came to Tallahassee and the Seminoles jumped all over them early with a 7-3 first quarter en route to a 19-11 win.  This week’s foe was the Georgia Bulldogs.  The game followed a similar script with the Seminoles blasting the Dawgs 8-2 in the first quarter.  Granted, the Dawgs had played a close game against Auburn the night before, but to everyone watching, it was clear that Florida State is a buzzsaw at the moment.  Florida State made the MCLA National Championships Presented by New Balance last season and had a formidable offense led by a dynamic and complimentary attack unit.  Two of those three attackmen have graduated, only Tyler Morris remains from the group and he has been outstanding so far this season.  The Florida State statistics page is not littered with new players, but instead is mostly familiar faces with some new players mixed in as well.

So, how did Florida State lose two thirds of their stellar attack unit and somehow become more explosive on offense?  A huge part of that answer lies at the faceoff dot.  In 2025 the Seminoles as a team won 40% of their faceoffs and against many strong faceoff teams were non-competitive at the dot.  This year is a different story; coming into the weekend the Seminoles had won nearly 70% of their faceoffs.  So, rather than the Florida State defense facing the pressure of a massive possession disadvantage, it is instead their opponents.  The dynamic Florida State offense is able to come at teams in waves as they have possession after possession and so far defenses have not been able to hold up to the onslaught.  Their lowest goal total so far is 16 in an overtime win against Georgia Tech where the Jackets lead 11-6 in the third quarter, but the Seminoles came roaring back to force overtime and got the win.  So far, it seems as though if you want to beat the Seminoles you better be able to keep up on the scoreboard and one of the first things on the to-do list for their opponents will be to limit their faceoff advantage.

Picker Results

Thanks to Chris Marshall for stepping into the hot seat this week. Chris went a 3-2 for the week.  The guest picker jinx lives on as Chapman fell to TCU out in Orange.

Guest Picker Leaderboard:

Dylan Hess, Tim Haslam 4–1

Chris Marshall 3-2

J.J. Arminio 2–3

Fan Vote Upset of the Week

For the second week in a row over 90% of the voters picked Cal to lose.  This time the opponent was Colorado.  Once again it looked like the voters might be right early as the Buffs led 5-1.  To the Bears credit they fought their way back and got the win 12-10.  If they do this for a third straight week, we might have to look into some fan vote funny business in Berkeley.

Quick Sticks

Welcome back Lakers, Grand Valley State opened their season with a 25-0 win over Division I Buffalo.

UC- Santa Barbara is 4-0 and the Gauchos are allowing only 6.75 goals per contest.  That would be a stingy number in any era, but with a shot clock that figure is eye-popping.

Congratulations to North Carolina for their win over NC State.  Last year in their first MCLA season, the Tar Heels' only win came against High Point who moved to DII after the season.

Wake Forest handled UNC-Charlotte 14-5.  The ALC looks wide open in Division II this year. 

North Florida went to Miami and got the win 15-14.  So far, the Ospreys’ only loss has been to Florida Atlantic to open the season.

Speaking of Florida Atlantic, the Owls faced Tampa and lost 8-7. In Division II, the SELC is looking very competitive.

After an 0-2 start, Cal seems to have righted the ship with three straight wins including wins over Colorado and Colorado State this weekend.

St. Thomas took down Minnesota 11-4.

San Diego State hit the road to Cal Poly and won 11-7 over the Mustangs.

St. Johns continued their strong start to the year with a 15-12 win over Drury.

Liberty and Virginia Tech both beat UConn over the weekend.  The schedule ramps up a little going forward as they both host South Carolina next weekend.

Head coaches, be sure to send your nominations for Warrior Player of the Week and Pearl Goalie of the Week to info@mcla.us by noon Monday local time.