Weekend Watch: Leveraging Losses
Opinion
| Arizona
| Boston College
| Bridgewater
| Cal Poly
| California
| Chapman
| Dominican
| Florida
| Georgia Tech
| Montana State
| NDSU
| St. Johns
| USC
| Utah State
| Virginia Tech
(Photo by Kevin Schoonover)
by Jac Coyne | MCLA.us
LA CROSSE, Wis. – Cal and Georgia Tech entered last weekend undefeated and the No. 2 and 3 teams in the country, respectively.
They left the weekend with a (technically) upset loss before the calendar even flipped to March. That's typically not how title contenders draw it up.
All coaches hate losing. You just don’t get into the profession if losses don’t leave an emotional mark.
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In February, where the stakes aren’t as catastrophic as May, losses can be put to work. Setbacks can be quite useful.
After Cal lost a one-goal game in Berkeley to Concordia-Irvine – a quality, Top 10 team riding a hot FOGO and goalie – Bears coach Ned Webster admitted that the emotions of a loss can come in waves.
It started with the postgame huddle with Webster telling his players he was proud of the way they fought back from a sizable second-half deficit to have a chance to win at the end.
“Those are qualities we can harness and carry with us for the rest of the season,” Webster said. “But then you wake up at 3 a.m. staring at the ceiling, grinding your teeth.”
Alas, the pendulum swings back, and the process starts anew.
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“The next day you watch the film and clip it up. You share reels with your O and D to show all the dozens of little things we did not do to play to our standard,” Webster said. “I hate losing, but ultimately – and especially in February – losing is a blessing. We are better because it happened.”
Georgia Tech’s loss to Clemson was a bit different in that the Tigers, another Top 10 outfit, took it to the Wreck with a seven-goal victory. Allowing 15 goals is a rare occurrence for the typical stingy Tech defense, which raised some red flags.
Yellow Jackets coach Ken Lovic certainly had a feeling of unease after the loss, but, like Webster, time allowed him to gain a wider perspective.
“Usually after a game like Clemson, once I have time to dive into the film, it does allow the loss to resonate more and give me a larger picture of what happened,” he said.
But he still doesn’t like it.
“As a competitive guy, every loss is a bad loss,” Lovic said. “I look at it as it’s only a ‘good’ loss if we as a team take something from it. And are able to grow as a team to remedy our faults?”
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— 2022 MCLA National Tourney (@MCLA_Tournament) February 28, 2022
Again, the timing of these losses is integral in leveraging them into a long-term positive. The later into the season we move, the more important it is to actually learn those early-season lessons.
Because before you know it, the season is over.
“We’ve been very fortunate the last few seasons with some success, and for the last two seasons we ended our season with losses with no follow up game,” Lovic said. “In 2020, we were excited to bounce back from the UNH game when the season ended. Then last year, our only loss was to BYU at the Invitational. It’s really hard to have that sitting on your plate for months.”
That’s down the road a little bit. For now, all of the early-season losses can be taken in stride and used as a positive.
And sometimes after a February loss, it’s good to have a sense of humor.
After the Concordia-Irvine loss, Webster brought up a funny anecdote.
“I love the story Matt Brown told about Dave Huntley after Canada got blown out by the USA in the first game of the World Games however many years ago, knowing they’d eventually see them in the gold medal game a week or so later.
“Huntley said laughing, ‘We’ve got ‘em right where we want ‘em!’ They made adjustments and won gold.”
GAMES I’M FOLLOWING
No. 8 Florida at No. 6 Georgia Tech, 7 p.m. – Friday
The Gators are one of the hottest teams in the country while the Yellow Jackets are licking their wounds after the Clemson wipeout. Florida knows that this game is important for its program as it attempts to ascend to Tech’s level. I expect goals to be at a premium in this one.
No. 7 Boston College at No. 4 Cal, 7:30 p.m. – Friday
The Golden Bears are now on a two-game skid after another one-goal loss to a quality Santa Clara team on Tuesday evening. They will attempt to right the ship against Boston College, which is embarking on its third road-trip of the season and feeling pretty good about itself. It should be a physical affair.
No. 10 North Dakota State at No. 17 St. John’s, 8 p.m. – Friday
Here are a pair of teams not used to being in this spot. The Johnnies are 0-3 and the Bison are 2-2. A loss knocks neither them out of the postseason discussion, but it will certainly increase the anxiety level.
No. 15 USC at No. 23 Dominican, 1 p.m. – Saturday
This is a nice matchup of up-and-coming programs who can put an important feather in their cap with a triumph. It’s been two weeks since the Penguins loss to Minnesota while the Trojans won a narrow contest with UCSB last weekend. Seems like a toss-up.
No. 18 Chapman at No. 11 Cal Poly, 1 p.m. – Saturday
Buckle up. An 0-3 Panther outfit going up against a 2-2 Mustangs unit should have these guys playing on a razor’s edge. I'm thinking shootout.
The boys are back in town! The Panthers are looking to go 2-0 this weekend before spring break. #H2P pic.twitter.com/nElzRu8Lg9
— Pitt Men's Lacrosse (@pittlacrosse) March 4, 2022
No. 12 Montana State at No. 3 Utah State, 1 p.m. Saturday
There is no hotter D-II team – or one with a stiffer defense – than Utah State. Alas, Montana State has some accomplished scorers who can put up goals. Great contrast in styles. Also, the Aggies need this one if they want to make the RMLC playoffs.
No. 23 Bridgewater State vs. North Dakota State & St. John’s
Rhode Island is rightfully receiving all of the attention out of the CLC after the Rams' successful trip to Alabama, but Bridgewater still has something to say about the conference AQ – or maybe even an at-large if this weekend goes well enough.
No. 13 Virginia Tech at No. 10 Arizona, 7 p.m. – Saturday
The Hokies and Wildcats are very similar. They are a Top 3 team in their respective conference, which means they could very well be scrapping for one of the last at-large bids to nationals in May. And you know what happens when two even teams with similar resumes are put up against each other? The committee usually goes with the one that won the head-to-head. Big game.