This might be somewhat anticlimactic but I had a couple minutes and thought I would share some details from the Cortland Semi-Final game. The point of these is to give you some insight into the game, so please take the opening paragraph as insight and not excuses (only excuses if we lost!).

Interesting way to prepare for a Semi-Final game. Wednesday game vs. Nazareth. Thursday off for final exams. Friday, get a Cortland film (of a not so well played Quarterfinal game vs. Hamilton) at Noon watch for 2 hrs, then practice 2-4 attempting to make a couple of Cortland adjustments on the fly. Saturday practice 12:30-1:30 in between exams, several key players missing or leaving early due to exams. Meet at dinner at 4:30 on campus and depart when everyone has finished exams and made it to dinner. Pull into Syracuse late Saturday, play Sunday. Not how it is written up in the "how to" manual of preparing for this type of game, but appropriate for our guys. They were able to get their work done through Saturday afternoon and we knew we could gut it out in the game without great prep.

The game started at our pace with our middies generating several fast break opportunities early, one ending in a goal on a feed from Leach to Charley Howe for a 10 yard shot. It looked as if the game would be at our pace and we were going to be sharp. The tide turned, however, and Cortland took over, dictating the pace of play. On their offensive end they were inverting short sticks, controlling the ball and keeping the ball away from the likes of John West, Ed Brown and Caleb Holmes. They were patient, but also effective at getting quality shots. They went on a 4-0 run and had all the momentum. On their defensive end they employed a slide strategy we do not see often and it limited our ability to generate quality shots from our middies, forcing our attack to create, which has not been our style. Their goalie is one of the best in the country and is a big kid, and I think his size and positioning may have created some poor shooting as well. We were late into the 2nd Quarter and down 4-1 without many great offensive opportunities and on our heels a little on defense.

Late in the 2nd Quarter Freshman Jon Sisto fed Mike Saraceni on the crease for a man up goal. Then Charley Howe dodged and dove to score our 3rd goal with only 8 seconds left in the Quarter. Those two goals had an enormously positive impact on our mental state heading into halftime. Imagine heading into halftime with 1 goal and not many great chances! We made a couple subtle adjustments at halftime both on offense and defense that would have been easy to work on before the game if we had more of an opportunity to prepare and they were effective in the second half.

On defense, we worked out on a strategy to run our long sticks out to the ball when they attempted to invert our short sticks. So, we could get our long sticks on the ball, either taking the ball away or at least forcing the tempo. Cortland then spent a lot of time and energy simply attempting to get the ball to short sticks instead of generating offense. The strategy worked well and we were much more comfortable on defense.

On offense, we changed the angle of our dodge and our off ball pattern to attack their slides better and the result was an early great look from Howe to a wide open Saraceni on the crease. They were an excellent, big defensive team, so goals would prove to be difficult to come by, but at least our guys knew they had a chance.

The rest of the game was back and forth. We went up 5-4, then they took the lead 6-5. The 3rd Quarter ended with the score tied 7-7. Our 6th and 7th goals were both scored unassisted by Charley Howe, who played a great game for us, ending with 4 goals and 2 assists. Cortland took the lead in the 4th, then Howe found a cutting Jon Sisto who ripped an upper corner, off stick shot for the tying goal.

The end of the game and the first OT saw Cortland generating better opportunities for goals. There were several time outs during which Rit worked out match ups with the defense to try to get poles on their best guys. I was just telling the offensive players not to get uptight by the pressure they were putting on our defensive end, it only was going to take one goal to win, all the "oohs and aahs" and close calls didn't mean a thing if they didn't score. At the end of the 1st OT West missed an ill-advised check on their top middie who swung from behind the cage and walked in on Krieger who stuffed him to keep us alive! Krieger was excellent all day, making 17 stops, none bigger than the several great ones in the OT's!

In the 2nd OT, Frissora had one great opportunity when he outran two Cortland players to get a loose ball on our defensive end and then ran the length of the field to get an 8 yard shot opportunity, but missed the cage. I was not sure that we would ever get a better look at the cage. Frissora got the ball back behind the cage and worked the left hand pipe around 10 yards high or so vs. a short stick. He had become more comfortable during the game coming from behind the cage as it disrupted their usual slides. At one point during this 1 v. 1 a long stick slid from the crease, Frissora pulled away from the double, hesitated while the long stick ran back to the crease, rocked back to the middle of the cage for a left handed, underhanded shot just under the crossbar for the game winner! (the shot reminded me of the Ian McCray underhanded shot under the crossbar to beat Bowdoin in OT in the '92 ECAC finals. Both Mike against Cortland and Ian against Bowdoin had launched similar shots into orbit during the game, but stuck it under the crossbar at the right time!) As Mike lay on the ground in exhaustion (and no doubt, relief and joy), the Panthers rushed the field!

The game ended in dramatic fashion, but the highlight of the day occurred after we had our handshake with Cortland and our guys were milling around the field waiting to be released to the locker room by the NCAA rep. As Cortland walked in front of our bench, our guys lined up and starting clapping loudly for them as they passed. This was not prompted by a coach, this was a spontaneous gesture of appreciation for their effort by our players. I have received several emails and phone calls from Cortland parents and coaches expressing their appreciation for that gesture. I am more proud of that kind of gesture than how we played on the field.

I have to go, so not a long Salisbury scouting report. Suffice to say that they are talented at each position and deep at each position. They are aggressive on defense, aggressive in transition and then patient and skilled on settled offense. They also have a great face off guy. They are well prepared by their coaching staff as well. So, great match up for the championship game. Great challenge for our guys, one they are ready to meet. Ravens Stadium should be a great venue, and it is exciting to be in Baltimore for the finals as well. It will be important for us to enjoy those aspects of the trip until Sunday morning, then click into the no-nonsense "Day To Day" approach the team has taken all year. Look forward to seeing many of you. Thanks for all of your support and enthusiasm during the season.