Middlebury 2010

2009 Recap: A loaded offense. A solid faceoff guy. An underrated senior goalie with strong leadership qualities on the field. What was this team missing? Oh yeah, a defense. Oops. Close your eyes kids, this one got ugly. For the second year in a row, the perennial juggernaut that is the Middlebury lacrosse program fell flat on its face when it really mattered. There was no NESCAC championship for the Panthers, who lost despite having the single best player in DIII lacrosse whose uncanny ability to rip rope in the waning seconds of close games was put on display time and time again. Unfortunately for the Panthers, there were far too many of those close games including Bates, Amherst Trinity, Conn and Williams coming within three goals of beating them. Perhaps this is a testament to the depth of the NESCAC, but it seems to be more that Middlebury is slipping given the results of the past two years. They only won two NESCAC games convincingly all year, a 15-10 victory over Colby and their victory over Wesleyan in the NCAA tournament.

2010 Trend: Downward

What's hot: Certainly not the weather in Middlebury nor the expectations for this program. They have lost a TON on offense, which was the key to their degree of success last year. In lieu of rolling out Mike Stone and company to rain rubber down on opposing goalies, the Panthers are going to have to rely on a more balanced approach that incorporates a slower pace of play than in the past in order to give this young defense a chance to forge some kind of identity. Obviously, there is still a fair amount of talent in the program given the ease with which Middlebury can recruit. It's just that Middlebury needs to play things a little closer to the vest because of the combination of Middlebury's recent decline and the increased parity in the NESCAC. Which brings me to...

What's not: If I were a Middlebury alum, I'd be afraid, very afraid. Two years, two very talented teams, zero NESCAC championships. The bar is set so high for this program that this result cannot be construed as acceptable given the context. I have no beef with Dave Campbell, but he is fast-approaching a point where his job could and should be in jeopardy. Teams as talented as the past two Panther teams shouldn't have so many problems winning big games. What could happen with an even less talented team this year? I smell the potential for a disaster followed by Campbell being told to exit stage left. This is not a guarantee or even the most likely scenario, but something that has to be considered. In my opinion, Middlebury has reached a pivotal point in determining its role in the NESCAC and it seems like the Panthers are about to step back and become one of the ten teams in the NESCAC as opposed to being the singularly dominating force of past years.

What we should be talking about: Whether or not Coach Raba sent Coach Campbell a thank you card after winning the NESCAC championship; How freaking good Mike Stone was; The chances that David Hild scores an unassisted goal this year (I'd say about 1:100,000); How freaking good Mike Stone was; Is Pete Smith capable of carrying a heavy load on offense?; How freaking good Mike Stone was; How much Midd will miss Pete Britt; The impact of not being able to make Tom Petty jokes anymore; How freaking...oh you get the idea