PSU Women's LAX 2nite on BTN, 7 pm EDT ...

[Tom McAndrew]

taking on Maryland, at Maryland. The winner of the game will end the regular season in 1st place in the B1G women's LAX conference, and get the top seed in the conference tournament.

PSU has really been on a roll of late. I believe they are 12-3, and have won their last 9 games. Their latest game was against NW, who they defeated at NW.

Heading into 2nite's game, Maryland is ranked #1 in the country, and PSU is ranked #8.

Any time you take on the #1 team in the country, it's a tough matchup. If I recall correctly, Maryland was rated #1 in the country before the season started, and has not dropped from that perch all season long.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Damn, I thought it would be a tough game for PSU, but not this tough. Maryland is playing crazy good, and up 4-0 early in the match.

 

[CattyGuy51]

There is definitely a huge gap between Maryland and PSU.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

There is definitely a huge gap between Maryland and PSU.

Could be, though it's hard to say for sure at this point. Taylor Cummings is dominating on the draws for MD. Both teams have been very efficient when they won the ball on a draw, or on a turnover. PSU actually is scoring on a higher percentage of their shots at this point, but with MD winning most of the draws, they're getting far more opportunities to take shots.

Currently 7-3 in favor of MD.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Tom, R u at the game?

NN2,

Unfortunately, I am not. I've gotten texts and Instagrams from PSU fans at the game. I'm watching it on BTN, which sure beats having to follow via texts and GameTracker.

 

[fairgambit]

I'm giving this lacrosse thing a chance. I've actually given it many chances. I can accept the men's game, but girls beating on each other with sticks.....well....hey, we just scored again! Damn, this ain't so bad...8-7!

 

[fairgambit]

Oh boy!....hang on to your hats.

We're hanging on Ned!

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Cummings is such a freak on the circle. If you cant win that battle you don't have a prayer.

I read about her when she was in HS, but this is the 1st time I've watched her on TV. PSU has made some nice changes on the draws in the 2nd half, but Cummings was on another planet on the draws in the 1st half. It's rare that a girl can have one hand on the bottom of the stick, and another at the bottom of the crosse, and still win so many draws. A lot of the draws in the 1st half didn't go very high, and Cummings was cat quick in plucking them out of the air.

I've been even more impressed with her defense during the game. She is just an amazing player.

It appears that PSU started matching up Ally Heavens against Cummings toward the end of the 1st half, and she's had her pretty much by herself in the 2nd half. She's gotten both of the charges called against Cummings in the match.

It's nice for you to have seen so many of these girls in high school/at tournaments.

PSU has made a nice comeback, and now trails by 1, 8-7.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Excellent effort by PSU. They are legit for NCAAs. Cummings killed PSU early, and helped MD to get to a huge lead. PSU got it down to 1, but never could tie it up or take the lead.

Outside of Cummings, I didn't think there was a lot of difference in the talent level of the 2 teams.

 

[Evan Ceg]

Entertaining game.. Missy's team is almost, not quite on the Terps level.

I watched the BTN's "Up Close" after the WLAX game and it was excellent. Followed both the Penn State and Maryland MLAX teams for a week leading up to their game at Maryland on April 4 (12-5 Terps). Good profiles of both head coaches and several team members. Helps you appreciate that there are terrific, intense competitions in college sports beyond football and basketball. Lacrosse is a game on the rise nationally.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

A little sloppy at the end though.

Agreed. PSU couldn't get a clean shot when they needed with 3 - 4 minutes to go. Then they started pressing, and made several unforced errors -- something which they had avoided through most of the game.

How about Missy gettin all fired up there? Pretty uncharacteristic.

She is usually very low key. The team, the coaches, their families, etc. were really up for this game. Missy has been working really hard the past several years to build PSU back to a team that contends every year, like they use to be. I don't think they're very far from that point.

Having torn an ACL myself. It hurts me to see any kid go down like that. I hope emi's ok.

I did check with several folks that were at the game, but nobody I spoke with knew for sure the specifics of Emi's injury. Like you, I do hope that her injury was minor, and won't prevent her from playing in the B1G tournament, and the NCAAs.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Tom, have you heard anything on Emi?

No, I have not. I asked a few folks that should be able to learn to keep me appraised, but I've yet to hear from them.

I watched the video again and it really looks like nothing...but don't let that fool you. That's the mystery of female ACL tears. They almost always look like nothing.

That's true, but the flip side(s) is also the case. I've seen ACL tears where the play seemed innocent, but the player's reaction was a strong indication of a tear. I've also seen plays where the play/injury seems pretty traumatic, and the player's reaction is one of great pain, only to find out later that there was no serious injury, and the player's reaction was a combo of hearing a pop and bearing terrified of what that meant.

I'll certainly post something if I learn what diagnosis she got.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

diagnosis is no tears to any ligaments, and she expects to play in the B1G tourney. Caveat that I believe this diagnosis is based on an examination, but not on a MRI.