Men's lacrosse felled by underdog Cardinals

Author: Jeb Burchenal

As of Sunday, the buzzword in the sports world has been "bracket." March Madness has returned and everyone is trying to isolate that key 3-14 upset. Division I basketball and Division III lacrosse are clearly quite different, but Wesleyan showed that any upset is possible as the 17th ranked Cardinals won a big, early-season NESCAC match-up against the 4th-ranked Panthers 8-7.

Players reiterated that Middlebury played well, "but couldn't capitalize" as Pete Smith '10 put it. "They didn't outplay us, we just didn't take advantage of our opportunities."

Wesleyan never trailed on their home turf, but the game was never out of hand either. The Cardinals jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first half after a 13-minute scoreless stalemate to open the game.

The Panther offense came to life in the second half, but costly turnovers with the game on the line proved too much to overcome. With the score 8-7 in favor of the Cardinals, Dave Campbell '09 won a critical draw and Zach Harwood '10 was able to come away with the ball. Matt Ferrer '09 fired over the cage but the Panthers successfully backed up the shot. With only 33 seconds remaining, the Panthers turned the ball over behind the Cardinal goal. This costly turnover was undone as a Wesleyan junior gave the ball back with 15 seconds left. Middlebury got the ball into the hot hand, but Wesleyan's defense stood up to the test and did not allow Ferrer a turn to get another shot.

Wesleyan managed to fire 35 shots during the course of the game. That may speak to the "bend, don't break"-style defense the Panthers are running, but also to their opponents' relentless attempts to jump on goalie Pete Britt '09. In his second full season as a starter, Britt is proving his mettle. He made 14 saves while giving up eight goals, but Russ Banker '10, on the sideline due to injury, was quick to point out that "Britt kept us in the game."

In a low-scoring contest like this, Banker also praised Mike Quinn '09 as a "pillar out there on defense." Quinn provides the size and strength the Middlebury is lacking in the post-Bambrick and Guay era.

On the offensive side, Ferrer was the star for the Panthers as he buried five goals on the game. Russ Folansbee paced the Cardinals with three first-half goals and added another assist in the second half.

The general sentiment was that everything was on point except for execution. Containing catalyst Mike Stone '09 might have been one thing that led to this lack of offensive production.

Over the years, writers have been trying to identify the "good loss." Many love the idea because of its duality: if they are right, they are geniuses; if they are wrong, nobody remembers.

Athletes need to turn every game, practice and workout into a positive experience if they hope to be a champion. They need that fire that that manifests as anger after a loss, and the refuse-to-lose mentality when they win. But turning a negative into a positive does not mean the 'good loss' is anything but a myth. This game should leave the Panthers hungry to prove themselves this coming weekend against Conn. College.