On Saturday we opened up the 2011 season with a decisive 14-6 win over the Bobcats down on Kohn field. We were able to get our transition game going early and were able to build a 9-2 halftime lead. It’s way too early to make any predictions about either team going forward but I can safely say that this wasn’t one of the stronger Bates teams we’ve seen in the past few years. They always play hard and are a scrappy team but we didn’t play our best against them and it was still a lopsided game.

The two best players on the field were our captain’s Dave Hild and Ryan Deane. Dave scored all six of his goals in the first half and showed why he’s going to be such a tough matchup for opponents all season long. He dodged for a couple, scored a few in transition, and was on the doorstep to collect some garbage as well. You’d be hard pressed to find someone with a better work ethic than Dave so for him to get out of the gate the way he did on Saturday was well deserved.

Ryan also had a heck of a game, finishing with 16 saves and only 6 goals against. He also put together a nice first half with 11 saves. Ryan has always been a great stopper but has improved out of the cage since last year. He’s making great decisions about when to come out and pick up a tough ground ball and has really improved his outlet passing as well. I’m unapologetically biased on this one but I believe that we have the best goalie in the conference.

Another guy who made an impact on Saturday was Mike Giordano, he had a nice goal in transition and also picked up three assists. He’s developing some good chemistry with Dave Hild and Tim Cahill and is poised to have a breakout season for us.

Defensively we played a solid game, we need to tighten some things up in terms of our execution but there’s no question that the talent is there. Our starting defensive midfield of Alex Giammarco, Alex Englert, George Curtis, and Sam Palmisano all did some good things and should be a good group going forward. At close defense I thought junior Henry Clark played an outstanding game as he’s very comfortable in our scheme right now. Henry isn’t going to wow anyone on the sideline with his blazing speed, strength, or takeaway ability but he’s usually in the right place at the right time. He’s also incredibly poised when we’re clearing the ball which can really settle things down at that end of the field.

Overall it was a great way to open the season, we have a lot of things to work on but I think we’re ahead of where we’ve been at this time in the past few years. One thing that will be interesting to keep an eye on is how the games are called this year in terms of penalties. We’re playing a physical brand of lacrosse these days and at least on Saturday, the officials up here in VT didn’t appreciate that style of play. Hopefully that’s something that works itself out over the next few weeks. Another issue going forward that I’ve mentioned before is our face off play. We were 7 out of 23 on the day with their top guy going 15-18 against us. He’s probably a top 4 face off specialist in the league but it wouldn’t surprise me if we see another 4 or 5 guys that are as good or better going forward. We simply can’t be giving away that many possessions against some of the better teams in the league.

Next up are the Chief Dogs from Springfield College who come to town on Wednesday. Even with all of the rain we’ve gotten over the past week it looks like we’ll still be on Kohn for this one. We’re expecting a tough, blue collar Springfield team to show up on Wednesday and I’m interested to see what our guys have in store for them. Should be a good one.