MLAX:#13/14 Spiders(10-2,5-0) v Air Force(8-5,4-1) 2pm Saturday

[32counter]

Venue:6,600 feet above sea level.Temp at faceoff 44F Noon CT.

Video link:

http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/videos/live.html

Live StatsClick Here


This will be a very tough game for the Spiders.They have to come out early out of the gate and not rely upon Chemotti halftime adjustments as has been the case against lesser competition.The SoCon regular season championship and 1st seed in SoCon tourney is up for grabs among AF,Furman and UR.

No one on the UR LAX team has ever gotten a W v AF.

02/05 @ Duke W 11-10
02/11 @ Denver L 6-14
02/18 @ Marist L 4-10
02/25 vs Canisius W 15-10
02/26 vs Cleveland State W 16-2
03/04 @ Boston University L 6-8
03/11 vs Detroit Mercy W 13-8
03/18 @ Mercer W 14-6
03/25 vs Jacksonville W 10-9
03/28 @ Marquette L 6-7
04/01 vs Bellarmine W 20-2
04/08 @ Furman L 7-8
04/15 @ VMI W 14-4


# Player Pos Yr Hometown Goals Assists
12 Chris Walsch A Jr Finksburg, MD 28 13
4 Nick Hruby A Jr Coppell, TX 27 10
5 Grant Gould M Jr Upper Arlington, OH 17 4
3 Jack Flynn M So Sterling, VA 9 5
26 Matthew Schwartz A Fr Mahtomedi, MN 7 6
35 Cameron Carter A So Baltimore, MD 5 8
28 Marcus Ward M Sr Columbus, OH 10 1
36 Andrew Tien A Jr San Diego, CA 8 3
8 Austin Smith M Sr Golden, CO 7 4



# Goalie Yr Hometown Saves GA %save
22 Paxton Boyer Fr Highlands Ranch, CO 51 67 43%
10 Mitch Rose Sr Garnet Valley, PA 21 21 50%
46 Fitzhugh Lee So Lutherville-Timonium, MD 7 6 54%






AF v Furman highlights:







A QUICK LOOK AT AIR FORCE: Air Force has the best scoring offense (10.92) in the SoCon and the second-best winning percentage (0.615), man-up offense (0.359), scoring margin (3.38), scoring defense (7.54), clearing percentage (0.897) and face-off winning percentage (0.574) in the conference. The Falcon scoring-defense is ranked fourth in the nation. Air Force has outscored all opponents this season, 142-98, while taking 514 shots to all opponents’ 305.

OFFENSE: Air Force’s top-three scorers, Walsch, Nick Hruby and Grant Gould, combine for 79 goals and 28 assists this season. Walsch leads the conference in goals per game (2.46), while Hruby is second in the conference (2.23) in the same category. Walsch, a native of Finksburg, Maryland, has started in all 46 career games; registering at least a goal in 41-of-46 games played. The three-year starting attacker notched his 100th goal in a season-high five-goal performance against Bellarmine. In the same game, he tied Teddy Hatfield of Richmond for the conference’s most individual points in a single-game (8). He is second in the conference in points per game (3.54). He leads the team in goals (32), assists (14) and points (46) this season. Walsch also leads the team in career G-A-P (104-61-165), career hat tricks (19), career game-winners (7) and is third on the team in career ground balls (66). The Tewaaraton watch list player has led Air Force in goals and points every year since joining in the 2014-15 season.

At face-off, Harper has taken the reins with a .621 win-percentage; the highest face-off winning percentage in the conference and seventh best in the nation. Harper was credited as the conference Defense Player of the Week, Feb. 28, for his part in a landslide win over Cleveland State where he registered a .762 face-off win-percentage on the game. He played a major role in Air Force climbing out of a four-point first-half deficit against Jacksonville by winning nine-of-eleven (.820) second-half face-offs. He went seven-for-seven in first period face-offs against Furman, finishing the game winning 14-of-19 face-offs (.737). Most recently, Harper registered a 0.875 face-off win-percentage as he dominated the face-off X against VMI, winning 14-of-16 face-off attempts.

DEFENSE: Air Force’s defense combines for 82 caused turnovers; Brandon Jones leads the pack with 16 to his credit. The Upper Arlington, Ohio, native anchors an Air Force defense that averages 7.53 goals allowed per game, which is good for fourth in the country. Jones also ranks third in the SoCon in ground balls per game (4.77) and sixth in caused turnovers per game (1.23). Nicholas Accardi and Joe Matarazzo account for 21 caused turnovers; 12 and nine, respectively. In the last three games, Air Force held Bellarmine, Furman and VMI to only 14 goals (4.67 GAA per game).

 

[spider fan]

Trying to put last year's very tough 9-8 loss out of my thinking....................

 

[AnnapSpider]

We really need a fast start. At that altitude the players legs will start feeling like
lead by the 4th qrt.

 

[Ulla1]

We are 0-3 against AF; time to put that string to rest! Roll Spide!!!!!!!

 

[32counter]

 

[SFspidur]

Spiders jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but now down 4-2 at the half and AF dominating shots 27-7. At least the Falcons are missing the net a lot with their shots.

 

[Ulla1]

Can we please man up and kick some AF butt! Let's go Spiders!

 

[Ulla1]

Five unanswered goals by AF; they are putting us away! Doggone it!

 

[SpiderVol]

Down 6-2. Doesn't look good. No hustle at all.

 

[spiderstudent17]

How does the tiebreaker work if there's 3 teams tied for first?

 

[CarolinaSpider]

Our defenders seemed to be a step slow and beat easily. Either they
were that more quicker or we were just off today.

 

[32counter]

Let's get by Furman next weekend.MIT is now developing an algorithm in our favor assuming the top 3
end up 1-1.2nd and 3rd seed will have a tough game between them for sure.Try goal differential:

AF +1
Furman +1
UR -2

with UR and Furman yet to play.

 

[AnnapSpider]

Our defenders seemed to be a step slow and beat easily. Either they
were that more quicker or we were just off today.

Read my earlier post. The altitude can be a killer.

 

[spider fan]

Altitude is a huge challenge - takes awhile to acclimate. Don't know final stats but AF had a lot of shots on goal and really made it tough on long sticks and Pugh who played a great game. We also had too many turnovers. Air Force and the Hoos are both 4 and 0 against us. Pairings for tourney uncertain at this point but we may well see Air Force again. They beat Duke in Durham and are a very good team. In watching the game the Air Force Captain was waxing poetic about the virtues of his team. Did find some solace in the fact the Air Force promo featured President John F. Kennedy - a Navy man - !

 

[32counter]

We all knew about the altitude factor particularly at 6,600 feet above sea level.Nothing revelational especially if you have played golf there anytime.It was highlighted in the First Line of this thread-Venue:6,600 feet above sea level.Ask Duke when they played UNLV in Denver in 1990.Tark had the Rebels train in hyperbaric chambers.103-73 no contest.Great to witness
in McNichols Arena.

AF had 43 shots:18 shots on goal
UR had only 19 shots :12 shots on goal

In the 2nd period,UR had 5 turnovers,AF had 18 shots,6 on goal and 4 goals.Benny had 2 saves.He was getting bombarded.

AF had 9 more ground balls than UR through the 3rd period

Way too much possession for AF in their offensive end with 43 shots.

Pugh gave up 9 goals but had 9 saves.AF offense scored 5 goals within 10 feet of Pugh.Our sliding and man coverage was inadequate.

Moran did a complete turnaround in 2nd half and won 60% of X for the game.

At 4:52 of the 4th Q the score was 7-6.Dennis was called for pushing (30sec) at 4:17.AF scored at 3:52 to make it 8-6.Backbreaker.

When AF went up by 4 in the 3rd,we scored 3 in a row but couldn't tie.

 

[urfan1]

Anybody know any accepted training techniques to prepare for the occasional competition at elevation

 

[Spidermaniac]

We all knew about the altitude factor particularly at 6,600 feet above sea level.Nothing revelational especially if you have played golf there anytime.It was highlighted in the First Line of this thread-Venue:6,600 feet above sea level.Ask Duke when they played UNLV in Denver in 1990.Tark had the Rebels train in hyperbaric chambers.103-73 no contest.Great to witness
in McNichols Arena.

AF had 43 shots:18 shots on goal
UR had only 19 shots :12 shots on goal

AF had 9 more ground balls than UR through the 3rd period

Way too much possession for AF in their offensive end with 43 shots.

Pugh gave up 9 goals but had 9 saves.AF offense scored 5 goals within 10 feet of Pugh.Our sliding and man coverage was inadequate.

Moran did a complete turnaround in 2nd half and won 60% of X for the game.

At 4:52 of the 4th Q the score was 7-6.Dennis was called for pushing (30sec) at 4:17.AF scored at 3:52 to make it 8-6.Backbreaker.

When AF went up by 4 in the 3rd,we scored 3 in a row but couldn't tie.

Whole different game to play them at home.

 

[iSpider]

Anybody know any accepted training techniques to prepare for the occasional competition at elevation

We need to build a training field on a built-up earthen mound 6,600 feet tall. We have unused land across from the Robins Center just south of the fraternities which would be the ideal spot.

 

[urfan1]

We need to build a training field on a built-up earthen mound 6,600 feet tall. We have unused land across from the Robins Center just south of the fraternities which would be the ideal spot.

I can see it now, our own space needle with tread mills on the top floor.