Archive for May, 2008
May 31, 2008 — The perils of unchecked power
What does one of the finest places to watch a field hockey or women’s lacrosse game in America have in common with a small park tucked in a residential neighborhood in the nation’s capitol and a 400-acre ranch in Texas?
Over the last two months, these three places have been the sites of some pretty egregious abuses of governmental power in the name of “protection.” In all three cases, shaky or nonexistent evidence was used as a pretense to allow a government entity to exercise unchecked power in those areas.
First, as we have discussed on this blog previously, the closing of Lions Stadium at The College of New Jersey was based on the pretense of lead being found in an artificial turf carpeting in a park in the northern part of the state near an industrial site. A random sampling of turf surfaces revealed an elevated level of lead, forcing the nationally-ranked women’s lacrosse team off its home pitch for the rest of the season.
And, as we have said previously, no cases of lead poisoning have ever been linked to exposure to artificial turf or artificial grass ever since Monsanto invested AstroTurf in the mid-1960s.
Now, in Washington, D.C., Fort Reno Park, a 33-acre green space in the northwest quadrant of the city, was suddenly closed on May 15th with rolls and rolls of orange plastic fencing.
What prompted the suddent shutdown of the park? A photo, taken from a satellite some 90,000 feet in the air, showed high levels of arsenic in the soil, and the United States Geological Survey ordered an immediate shutdown with one photographic piece of evidence.
After two weeks of testing, no arsenic was ever found. The park was reopened.
Finally, in Texas, there was a ruling late in the week regarding a number of children taken away from their families in a case regarding a polygamist sect. A raid called Texas Child Protective Services a month ago was executed against the sect on the word of a 16-year-old girl who alleged she was being sexually abused by a 50-year-old man in an arranged marriage.
After all this time, however, the 16-year-old has not been found. Meanwhile, the state of Texas has been taking care of more than 400 foster children who are now obligated to be returned to their parents because the Texas Supreme Court ruled that Child Protective Services overstepped its powers.
Now, mind you, I’m not here to defend the rights of polygamists, pedophiles, or people using lead in their paint in this blog. What I do see, however, is a dangerous trend in order and good government.
You see, in my studies in public administration, my first course in graduate school had the underlying principle of “constitutional competency.” It’s not enough for the government actor to ask, “Is it right?” or “Is it moral?”, but whether it undermines the very underpinnings of what gives government its authority over us in our everyday lives.
In these cases of shaky premises or even false pretenses listed above, unchecked power and constitutional incompentency can only lead to abuse of power.
It’s something to keep in mind this election year.
May 30, 2008 — A lesson in fortitude
If Nicole Bouchard had listened to her high school lacrosse coach or had been discouraged at her progress as a Division III walk-on player, she might not be in the position she is today: the leading scorer in the history of Castleton State’s women’s lacrosse program.
This story shows why good, positive coaching matters more than anything in this age of athletics.
May 29, 2008 — A prayerful entry into lacrosse
Yesterday, a team which could very well be the seventh women’s lacrosse team in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation announced the hiring of a head coach.
Fresno State announced the hiring of Sue Behme to take over a fledgling program that will play its first game in less than a year.
Now, I’m not writing off the program before it even begins, but I have to question some of the timing. The addition of a new team in the MPSF has immediate benefits for the likes of Denver, Stanford, and Oregon. These three teams which will likely contend for the 2009 post-season tournament title, since the MPSF is now large enough for an automatic qualifier berth to the NCAA Division I Tournament.
I believe Fresno State is starting at an extreme disadvantage right now; the recruiting season is long gone not only for incoming freshmen, but even for next year’s seniors in high school. Why Behme is being made to assemble a team in less than four months for fall-ball is beyond your Founder’s comprehension.
“As soon as the kids start the first day of class, I can set something up because that’s when it’s legal to do that,” she told a press conference yesterday in California. “It’s a comprehensive recruiting effort and once I’m finalized here, we’ll also promote the ability and availability for the kids who’ve used their eligibility up in other sports and say they’re here for grad school. There are a lot of options.”
Fresno State will, I believe, take a much longer time to build towards competitiveness because of its late start, as well as the fact that the lacrosse program may find itself competing against a nationally-ranked program in women’s softball right on the same campus.
The Bulldog nine, led by head coaching legend Margie Wright, has cast a two-decade-long shadow on campus, sending numerous players to the Olympics and winning an NCAA title in 1998.
It’s a tough ask for the lacrosse team to match that kind of success, but with more than 127 high school varsity and club teams in the state, there is sure to be a decent pool of players available, even at this stage.
May 28, 2008 — One small detail
Today marks a climax in the high-school girls’ lacrosse season in New Jersey.
Two fine matches mark today’s action as Moorestown (N.J.) plays Medford Lakes Shawnee (N.J.) and Marlton Cherokee (N.J.) playes Medford Lenape (N.J.).
If you want a good preview, read this story by Tom Rimback of the Burlington County Times.
But here’s the thing. These games are scheduled to start 15 minutes apart, and they are also to be held a mere six miles apart; Lenape on the north side of Rt. 70, and Shawnee on the south side.
Is it too much to ask whether these high-profile state tournament games couldn’t have been bundled as a doubleheader? Three out of the four schools participating are from the same school district, and it should have been easy to do something for the fans of the game; an evening doubleheader would have been an absolute sensation.
Unfortunately, an opportunity has been lost here.
May 27, 2008 — Don’t postpone unbridled joy
Last Friday, I watched the final seconds expire as Northwestern defeated Syracuse 16-8 to make it into the national championship game of Division I women’s lacrosse.
The players weren’t congratulating each other on a job well done — they were throwing sticks up in the air, squealing, and jumping up in the air as if they had won the title.
“Whoa,” I said to an observer nearby. “They’re going to expend themselves emotionally; they’ve got another game to play.”
Boy, was I wrong.
After the final horn sounded on Sunday, there was yet another outpouring of joy and happiness on the artificial grass of Johnny Unitas Stadium, and it was an outpouring that lasted well after the players left the field. Indeed, in front of the stadium, the parents’ tailgate overflowed into the little two-lane road beside the front entrance.
When team members arrived, the emotions reached the same peak as it did in the seconds following the win. Corks and flashbulbs popped, generations of families rejoiced, and even the campus police were called in to keep the celebrations on the sidewalk and out of the roadway.
I guess when you think about it, part of what has made Northwestern great in the last four years is not only the execution of the game, but the team’s approach to it: play with an unrestrained passion, and you will celebrate with unbridled joy.
Isn’t that what college athletics all about, folks?
May 26, 2008 — The goalie glut
Your Founder has been to a number of Final Fours over the years, and has seen many great performances by players of all stripes, heroic performances by substitutes, and great coaching.
But over this past weekend at Towson, I have never seen such excellence, polish, and daring by four goalies such as Penn’s Sarah Waxman, Northwestern’s Morgan Lathrop, Syracuse’s Liz Hogan, and Duke’s Kim Imbesi.
Waxman, the happy-go-lucky senior who clicks her heels together when she is introduced, directs her defense like a second coach on the field. Northwestern’s Lathrop made some extraordinary stops in the Final Four, including on a free position with no time remaining in the first half.
Hogan, a freshman, acquitted herself well in her first national semifinal appearance before her defense let her down, while Imbesi had a pair of consecutive highlight-reel saves, including one in which she was moving the wrong way before making a last desperate lunge to stop a follow-up shot.
I hope someone from U.S. Lacrosse was in the stands to see these four outstanding young women, and will give them an opportunity to make the 2009 World Cup in Prague.
May 25, 2008 — An additional wrinkle to lacrosse’s perfect storm
At Towson University this evening, Northwestern won its fourth straight NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse championship with a 10-6 win over a very game opponent, the University of Pennsylvania.
Northwestern had built its initial success on athleticism — a term which head coach Kelly Amonte-Hiller used frequently four years ago in describing the team as it was on the brink of capturing its first national title. But as the program has matured, distinct characteristics have emerged as to how Amonte-Hiller and her coaching staff have tapped into her players’ traits.
First, Northwestern has team speed. It’s not just one, three, or four players taking the ball upfield, but sometimes seven attacking the arc with the same daring and verve as the Maryland dynasty of the 1990s. Over the past four years, I haven’t seen very many opponents beat a purple-clad Northwestern field player in a dead sprint.
With that speed comes a second characteristic of this dynasty, outstanding fitness. Amonte-Hiller is rumored to have some of the most stringent fitness testing in the sport, and it has allowed the Wildcats to break open close games after halftime. While other teams tire late, Northwestern keeps going.
Third, Northwestern has a speed-of-thought advantage over its opponents. In the wood-stick days of lacrosse, you could see a play developing and a player could be wide open for three or four seconds before the ball got to her for an open shot. With Northwestern, the time from recognition to the ball leaving a player’s stick is almost instantaneous. It’s as if the team was built around the capabilities of the offset stick head.
That’s partially because of the fourth Northwestern characteristic, the mental game. In a throwback to Amonte-Hiller’s days at the University of Maryland, Northwestern, as does a number of successful women’s lacrosse programs, employs a sports psychologist to allow the players to get the most out of themselves mentally. As a result, they trust each other and support each other like an extended family.
A fifth Northwestern characteristic came this year in the form of a technological breakthrough. If you took a close look at most of the molded heads that the Northwestern team used, there is a distinct V shape at the head of the pocket. Two leather strips channel the ball towards that V to aid in accuracy.
The product is a Brine head designed by Kelly Amonte-Hiller, which will be made for sale to the general public this fall. Given some of the millimeter-perfect passing and shooting on display over the weekend, I think the new head had to have been a factor.
Now, many teams across America have been borrowing pieces and parts from the Northwestern model. Syracuse’s speed of execution was, at times, masterful on Friday night. Penn works as hard on its fitness as Northwestern does — and perhaps even harder. A handful of teams are as quick or even quicker that Northwestern, and other teams currently use sports psychologists.
But Amonte-Hiller has put all of that together this season, and the Wildcats are worthy champions.
Thing is, the team only loses one starter, and has an incoming recruiting class which could rival the University of Maryland’s Class of 2001 — Carney, Adams, Comito, Wellington, Carrington, Martinez, Crawford, Egan, McNamara, and Mulligan — in how it impacts the game.
May 24, 2008 — In NCAA semis, draw controls the key
Last night at Towson University, the semifinals of the NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse tournament were held. As per usual, a big, big key for Northwestern and Penn in winning their games were draw controls.
Danielle Spencer (three goals, two draw controls, two caused turnovers) and Hillary Bowen (six goals, five draws) were absolutely masterful as the Wildcats, leading by only one at the interval, scored the first nine goals of the second half to win the semifinal 16-8.
Northwestern midfielder Maggie Bremen was assigned to mark Syracuse leading point-scorer Katie Rowan, and held her pointless.
What was also a hallmark of the game was some of the millimeter-perfect passing and shooting on the part of both teams. Hannah Nielsen (four assists) attempted numerous passes which would have been unthinkable even during the Maryland dynasty. Syracuse executed a gorgeous sequence off a wing free position that showed that the Orange was able to match Northwestern in speed of thought, which bodes well for Syracuse’s program down the road.
In the other semifinal, Duke lost its fourth straight national semifinal after extra time, 9-8, to the Penn Quakers. The Blue Devils had a 7-4 second-half lead, but Penn midfielder Allison Ambrozy (seven draw controls) managed to win the ball back on draws.
There were some unforgettable plays in this game. Kim Imbesi, the Duke goalie, had a magnificent segment in the first half when she made two point-blank saves, the second of which while she was falling down. In the second half, Melissa Lehman (three goals) made an ankle-breaking cut to the goal that made the entire crowd rise up, even though the ensuing shot was missed.
Late in the match, Pennsylvania freshman Giulia Giordano was magnificent in the center of the park. She had a key draw control in the second half of extra time, then she made the necessary play on a free position shot with 47 seconds remaining. At the center-left hash, she spotted teammate Rachel Manson lined up on the left edge of the fan, right on the crease. Giordano’s dump-down was caught and finished, and the Quakers got the next draw to run out the clock.
Now, it should be a fascinating final tomorrow between Penn and Northwestern. Observers have said that last night’s game was the best game the Wildcats had played this season, but Penn showed earlier this year that they had the capacity to take Northwestern out of its game.
There was a sequence last night in the first half when Duke, for about five minutes, tried numerous different cuts and sequences, but Penn’s defensive seven kept moving their feet and never allowed the Duke attackers an open look.
It was not the most important juncture in last night’s game against Duke, but it could show that Penn has the necessary defensive discipline, speed, and tactics to dethrone the three-time defending NCAA champions.
May 23, 2008 — The Final Four: Inside Northwestern
Finally, let’s look at the three-time defending national champions.
Northwestern Wildcats
How they got here: Won the American Lacrosse Conference championship and its AQ berth.
Road to Towson: Beat Notre Dame 15-7 in the second round, then outlasted Princeton 18-11 in the quarterfinal round.
“Statement” win: Defeated North Carolina 16-3 on April 20.
Against the Final Four field: Beat Duke 15-11, beat Syracuse 19-7, lost to Penn 11-7.
One of these things is not like the others: Northwestern is the only team from outside the Eastern time zone left in the tournament. The Wildcats are the only team to have played all of the other members of the Final Four field.
When Northwestern Has The Ball: One of the most diverse attacking teams since the days of Adams, Carney, Comito, Sommar, Hobbs, Jenkins and Judd, the Wildcats have Hannah Nielsen (48 goals, 56 assists), Hilary Bowen (72-19), Danielle Spencer (56-6), Katrina Dowd (38-5, Casey Donohoe (36-3), and Meredith Frank (25-8 ) spearheading the offense.
When Northwestern Doesn’t Have The Ball: Christy Finch has caused almost 70 turnovers this season and has vacuumed 56 ground-ball pickups. Goalie Morgan Lathrop (6.86 goals-against average) has been splendid.
The Skinny: Northwestern has scored more than 16 goals per game on average, and has held defenses to 38.3 percent shooting. The Wildcats have been shooting an impressive 43 percent from the 8-meter arc.
The Judgment: The Penn game on April 27th showed that Northwestern simply cannot show up and have the other team fold. How well Lathrop operates behind the defense of Finch, Caroline Tesar, and Sara Harrington will determing whether the Wildcats will win a third straight national championship, starting tonight.
May 22, 2008 — The Final Four: Inside the University of Pennsylvania
Today, let’s have a look at last year’s Final Four host.
Penn Quakers
How they got here: Won the Ivy League title and its AQ berth with a 7-0 record.
Road to Towson: Defeated Colgate 16-7 in the Round of 16, then recorded an 8-5 win over tournament dark horse Boston University
“Statement” win: Defeated North Carolina 8-7 on March 1, topped Northwestern 11-7 on April 27
Against the Final Four field: Beat Northwestern 11-7
One of these things is not like the others: Penn’s Karin Brower is the only head coach in the Final Four not part of the Cindy Timchal coaching tree. Penn also did not compete in a conference tournament this year.
When Penn Has The Ball: Rachel Manson (32 goals, 20 assists), Melissa Lehman (30-11), and Ali DeLuca (23-14) are the attack threats. Freshman Giulia Giordano (19-9) has done well of late.
When Penn Doesn’t Have The Ball: The Quakers’ DeLuca leads the team in draw controls (39) and caused turnovers (25). The team has not had a single player sent off the pitch this year. Goalie Sarah Waxman has had a miniscule 5.97 goals-against average this year, and opponents are only shooting 34.6 percent.
The Skinny: Penn’s improvement has continued this season after last year’s memorable run to the Final Four. One particular defensive statistic speak to the Quakers’ chances: in the April 24 win over Northwestern, the defense held off the high-powered Wildcat offense to four shots in the second half, and no goals in the final 32 minutes and 34 seconds.
The Judgment: Though Brower is not part of the Timchal coaching tree, she learned from Princeton head coach Chris Sailer, having been part of the staff at Nassau for three seasons. If Waxman and the Penn defense can play the same way it did against Northwestern, the Quakers would have to be considered the favorite.
