Seems like a big liability. First being a danger to other athletes and second now that every team knows he is unhinged, they will send in guys that don’t play much to get under his skin.
This is probably a discussion for another thread, but is it just me or have save percentages dropped considerably. I feel like 6-8 years ago, the top goalkeepers would all be at least at .500%. Now, it feels like the entire country is sub .500.
I have a few theories: far more penalties now given the way the game is called. In addition, far more teams are playing heavy zones which increases field blocking and decreases the number of shots that actually make it to the cage.
I could be wrong! Just a thought I had seeing all these goalkeeping stats.
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I think those are two very valid causes. The 2 meter box around the goal has also increased shots from close range - especially 6v5; I don’t have the numbers but anecdotally seems to be the case.
I didn’t think we would see the day when a UCLA men’s team coached by Adam Wright would allow more than 10 goals per game but that’s what’s happening this season. Wright, perhaps the greatest American defensive coach of this century, has a reputation for sacrificing some offense to avoid giving up easy goals. Nevertheless, this year’s team has allowed 161 goals in just 16 games, including 19 goals in regulation against Stanford on Saturday. Compare those numbers to UCLA’s unbeaten 2015 team, which allowed just 164 goals in 30 games (5.47 goals per game). Cal was the only team to score 10 or more goals against UCLA that year, scoring 11 goals in the MPSF championship game that went to overtime. UCLA’s 2015 team was led defensively by goalie Garrett Danner (the first American goalie to win the Cutino Award), center defender Anthony Daboub (should have been an Olympian), center defender Chancellor Ramirez (should have been an Olympian), Danny McClintick (like having a coach in the water), Jack Fellner (a great one-on-one defender), and Jack Grover (played on the defensive lines).
I don’t know how much of the increased scoring against UCLA this season is attributable to the perimeter defense (losing Chase Dodd to graduation was a big loss), goaltending, center defender play, or the rule changes enacted since 2015 (the rule changes alone can’t account for almost 5 goals per game). I’m curious to know what others think.
One point to the first person to tell us which NCAA championship team allowed fewer than 5 goals per game.
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would be interesting to know what the average score has become since introducing the 0 meter rule.
Some general changes to increase goals. Are these eliminating exploits that UCLA was abusing better than anyone else? Maybe. Increasing scoring per game is/was a goal of the powers that be
- The pool has gotten smaller.
- The calls at 2M have changed dramatically. 10 years ago, set players may get very few touches because of the drops.
- More exclusions called.
- Allowing the wings inside 2M
- The increase in goals from the post on 6-5
- Increased 5Ms
- Better outside shooting
- Back then you could only shoot directly outside 5M, not pop and fake and drive and shoot.
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I can’t pinpoint the exact year but I’d say early 80’s Stanford.
As far as UCLA’s defense this weekend. I’m not sure if they were trying a different look or what. I did notice on some occasions that the 2md was putting hands up to avoid the exclusion. Likely in the hope the crash would get there for the steal. It worked out horribly. I think some of the issue is in the crashers and some of it is on the defenders. Stanford did an exceptional job on their entry passes when UCLA was playing zone. I would expect to see a different defense the next time they play. I’d personally employ the hard drop that they liked to use against Papa.
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Agree with the timeframe - UCI 1982?
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I’m going to go with USC in 2011. Joel Dennerley was an absolute beast and had 4 elite years on some great defensive USC championship teams. I remember watching the 2011 championship game and UCLA just could not do anything on offense. USC took their 4th in a row winning the championship game 7-4. I think that team is a pretty good bet for this question
One point to Rb for correctly mentioning a Stanford team from the early 1980s. One half of a point to 2pointer and H20polo10 for naming two excellent defensive teams and NCAA champions. The answer I was looking for is Stanford’s 1980 team coached by Hall-of-Famer Dante Dettamanti and featuring, among others, three future Hall-of-Fame players (Jody Campbell, James Bergeson, and Alan Mouchawar) and a player who was later inducted into the Hall of Fame as a coach (John Tanner). The best player on the team was John Gansel, the only 4x 1st team All-American goalie. Gansel chose to stop playing water polo after graduating from Stanford to attend medical school. Stanford’s 1980 team allowed just 4.4 goals per game.
USC’s 2008 team allowed just 4.76 goals per game.
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In case anyone didn’t notice, week 6 WPEX poll is open.
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Heard that SMC fought back to tie the game at 8-8 end of 3rd. SJSU looked gassed and 4/5 SJ players sitting on 2 exclusions. If true, SMC could have had a shot at 2-0 for the weekend (rematch with UCSB, 14-16 loss earlier in the season) - too bad several SMC players dove in during the melee and were disqualified from UCSB game
Not exactly. Quite a bit more to the story.
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Has anyone heard about suspensions? Seems surprising if there are none but perhaps because it was not a league game that matters.
Anything you can share? I assume we may not hear about suspensions, if they happen. You will be able to tell by the box score of future games. It would be a mistake to not follow their written guidelines. The rules should not become exceptions.
There was another game, MIT vs. Iona, a bit out of the limelight, that also had issues. MIT forfeited the game in the third quarter. Does anyone know what happened? I’ve heard something, but not sure those are the facts.
However it was a league opponent so it does matter should be 5 games for the punching San Jose player and 2-4 games for the guys who jumped in but seems like the punching San Jose player got team player of the week somehow.. just at a loss on that one.
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MPSF Conference play for the big 4 started this past weekend.
Four interesting games.
I was curious as well. I saw that the coach informed the ref they would forfeit the game but didn’t know why.