MARAUDERS AT GUELPH RECAP

The Marauders headed to Guelph last night to take on the Gryphons for the first time this season. With a 14-9 loss the Marauders move to a 2-4 record to meet the halfway mark for the 2013 season. Carter Williams led the Marauders with four points (4+0).

Guelph’s Taylor Brown would open up the scoring in the first, but shortly after Carter Williams put in his first of the night on the man up. Mark Phillips put in his first of the game and the second for the Marauders with another power play goal to bring McMaster up by one. Guelph would score once more before ending the first to tie the game at 2.

Through out the second McMaster would score three more times before Guelph started their six-goal streak that would go from the second and into the third. Williams broke up the streak as he tossed in a goal just in time to end the third.

Guelph put in another four goals through out the final quarter, while McMaster would put in another three including Alex Goacher’s first of the season.

This Sunday will be the Alumni game at McMaster's Alumni field, before next week when they host the Brock Badgers on Wednesday at 8:30pm. For live game updates follow McMaster Lacrosse on twitter (McmasterLax).

MARAUDERS HEAD TO GUELPH IN HOPES TO BREAK STREAK.

The Marauder’s are back on the road Wednesday for a game against the 3-1 Guelph Gryphons in hopes to break the losing streak. Guelph is coming off a loss after their game against the Badgers, while McMaster is coming off a two game losing streak after the weekend. The teams have yet to meet up this season but last year Guelph was 2-0 against the Marauders.

Guelph’s last game was just over week ago in St.Catharines when they headed to Brock. Jordan Critch led with three points after giving a few helpers out, but the leading goal scorers were Curtis Knight and Seamus Shanahan who both put in two. Knight currently leads the Gryphons in goals with 13 so far this season. Ryan Serville who had a two-point performance last game is currently sitting in the top five for the OUA West with 19 points (11+8).

Mark Phillips currently leading the Marauders in goals and points with eight goals, put in four against the Voyageurs this past weekend. Phillips is currently within in the top 20 for goals through out the OUA west. Mitch Iszkula also with a four point-performance against Laurentian (1+3) also put in the lone goal against the Mustangs on Friday Night.

Mcmaster’s next home game will take place on October 2 at 8:30 when they host the Brock Badgers at Alumni Field.

MARAUDERS MOVE TO 2-3 AFTER TOUGH WEEKEND.

The Marauders started off their weekend by hosting the Western mustangs Friday night in a rematch. With just a single goal from Mitchell Iskula in the first, Mcmaster fell to a 12-1 loss. The Marauders were able to hold the Mustangs to a 3-1 lead going into the second half of the contest but Western would then have _ straight goals to take home the win and move their record to 3-1.  Mcmaster’s Max Yavitt would make 18 stops through out the night.

Saturday morning the Marauders hit the road and headed to Sudbury for their second game within less than 24 hours. Mark Phillips and Mitch Isakula led the Marauders with 4 points each; Phillips putting in four goals, while Isakula would put in one and three helpers. 

Laurentian would win the opening draw and put the first points on the board with a goal from Philip Romanent. It would be his first of 4; leading the Voyageurs in goals throughout the contest. The Voyageurs would lead for a large portion of the game until the fourth when Phillips and Justin Beatty would both put one in to tie the game at 8 to end the fourth and go into over time.

Laurentian would come out in the over time to score two in the first half, and hold Mcmaster. In the second half of overtime the Marauders would pull the goalie, leaving an open net for Matt Volpe to score the third and final goal of over time. The Voyageurs would take the win at home and send the Marauders home with a tough 11-8 loss.  

After this weekend, the Marauders move to a 2-3 record. The Marauders head to Guelph on Wednesday to meet up with the 4-3 Gryphons for a 7:00 game. Their next home game will be against the Brock Badgers on Wednesday October 2^nd.

QUICK NOTES - CHIEFS VS EAGLES

* Last season the Chiefs won a total of 2 games … and after Thursday nights match up against the eagles move to a 3-0 record.

* Eagles had a total of 7 turnovers through the night … before Thursday nights game they had a total of 2 so far this season.
* Three of the turnovers were due to Michael Vick including a pick 6 to Eric Barry.
*Vick was sacked six times
*The Chiefs and Eagles have now met up 8 times in the past (4-2 overall in favour of eagles)
*Philadelphia has never scored less than 21 points at home against the Chiefs,  until last night when they were held to 16.
*The Chiefs have started a season 3-0 seven times before this year … 6 of the 7 they made in into playoffs.

MCMASTER HOSTS WESTERN IN REMATCH FRIDAY NIGHT

Friday Night the Marauders host the Western Mustangs at Alumni Field in a 7pm contest. The last time these two met up was earlier this month when the Mustangs came out on top with a 13-2 win in London.

Leading the Mustangs was Dylan Ham with a 7-point performance (6+1) followed by Shane Morlack with 6 point (3+3).  As for the Marauders the two goal scorers were Jamie Batten and Mark Phillips with one each.

Last week the Mustangs took on the Brock Badgers to bring their win streak to two games. Leading the Mustangs was Sam Neeb who put in three goals as well as a helper for a total of four points. Ryan McCory, who currently leads western in points and goals had a three point performance (2+1). McCory had a three-point game against the Marauders after putting in a hat trick.

Mcmaster hosted Laurentian last Sunday night and managed to get back into the win column after rallying in the fourth. Carter Williams currently leads Mcmaster with a total of 8 points this season (5+3). Williams put in four points (2+2) against the Voyaguers followed closely by Justin Beatty with a three-point game.

After Mcmaster’s win last Sunday night; Mcmaster and Western go into Friday’s game both with a 2-1 record and tied in the standings. The match up will be the first of two for the Marauders this weekend as they are on the road to take on the Voyageurs at Laurentian Saturday night.

FIVE NATIONALS DRAFTED IN NLL DRAFT 2013

After the National Lacrosse League’s draft last night, five more Nationals will be playing in the Indoor league this winter. The Minnesota Swarm picked Jason Noble second overall, before Dillon Ward went third overall to the Colorado Mammoth. Ward was the highest picked goalie since 1999 when Gee Nash went second overall. Cameron Mann joins Ward with the Mammoth as he was picked in the fourth round (32nd overall). Tucker Durkin joins three other Nationals in Philadelphia, after being picked up the Wings in the third round. Reid Acton was picked in the third round by the Swarm and will join Noble in Minnesota.

Nationals playing in the NLL this winter:

Rochester Knighthawks:
Joe Walters
Cody Jamieson
Stephen Keogh
Sid Smith

Philadelphia Wings:
Brodie Merrill
Jordan Hall
Kevin Crowley
Tucker Durkin

Edmonton Rush:
Jeremy Thompson

Minnesota Swarm:
Jason Noble
Reid Acton

Colorado Mammoth:
Dillion Ward
Cameron Mann

Watch for your Nationals this winter in the NLL, with the league opener on December 28^th with three match ups … including all of your Nationals! The Wings are in Buffalo to take on the Bandits; Colorado will host the Rush, and the defending back-to-back Champions will take on the Swarm in Rochester. To keep track of all of your Winter Nationals make sure to follow the Nationals on twitter (@NationalsLax) 

MCMASTER VS LAURENTIAN

The Mcmaster Marauders hosted Laurentian in a Sunday night match up. Mcmaster coming off of a tough loss earlier in the weekend to Western was looking to rebound and get a win at home, which is exactly what they did. 

The Marauders fought through the entire night in order to come out with a one goal win over the Voyageurs in this penalty filled match up. Starting off the scoring for McMaster was Cameron Rose, who would put in just one goal for the night. Justin Beatty would also put one in to end the first quarter with the marauders up by one. 

The Marauders led for a majority of the first half until Laurentian’s Bob Pollock would toss two in a row to end the half with the voyageurs up 5-4.  Laurentian would lead just once more in the fourth before Beatty found the back of the net, nearing the end of the fourth. Jamie Batten would put in the final goal of the contest, giving the marauders their one point edge and the win.

The Marauder’s next game will take place at home on Friday September 20^th against the Western Mustangs at 7pm. 

NFL - Jets QB Drama continues into the Regular Season.

Through out the pre season the New York Jets were on the radar for who their starting quarterback would be .. Rookie Geno Smith or Mark Sanchez. Nearing the end of the pre season Sanchez suffered an injury to his right shoulder (throwing arm) and would start rehab before deciding whether or not to have surgery. A surgery would result in him out for the duration of the 2013 season.
Geno Smith would start the season, with a 18-17 win over Tampa Bay. In his debut game, he threw one touchdown, two turnovers including one interception and a fumble. Smith had a total of 256 passing yards and 47 rushing.

Thursday night the Jets would lose to the Patriots by three, which would start Sanchez on why he shouldn't be out for the season, and earned the QB1 spot. Within the fourth quarter thursday night Smith had three turnovers on his last three drives throwing three interceptions. Bringing his total for the season to 4. Although Sanchez believes that he earned the spot as starting QB and will not be out for the season.. Rex Ryan doesn't seem to agree.
Head Coach, Rex Ryan says that if they believed that he would return to the Jets he would be put on the IR. However; he has not named who would be QB1 due to when the injury occurred.

If Geno Smith can turn the Jets around and give them a positive record, there is no reason that they would need to put Sanchez back in the starting position. If Sanchez wants the Qb1 spot back.. he needs to earn it. It's great to have the confidence needed to run the team, but after last season and the lack of faith the team had leaving last season will not help him. In order to be successful as a QB, you need to not only be confident in your abilities but your team needs to be confident as well.

THREE NATIONALS ON U.S. TRAINING ROSTER

This season the Hamilton Nationals’ rookies had great years, from breaking records to being selected to the All-MLL team. Three of the rookies from the Nationals headed to the Team USA Tryouts in Baltimore just a week after being in Philadelphia for Championship Weekend. Garrett Thul, Tucker Durkin and Mike Poppleton were three of eight Hamilton players to attend the tryouts, but were the only three that will continue on the trimmed down 52-man training roster.

With just one week between the end of the Nationals season and the tryouts, Durkin said it was more of a mental preparation than a physical one.

“I just kind of rested, tried to get ready, and mentally I just thought about the things I learned this summer from Brodie and from the Canadians. I tried to use that to my advantage and it went really well,” said the 2013 All-MLL Team defenseman.

Team USA invited 96 players to try out for what will end up being a 23-man roster to play in the 2014 Championship. Poppleton said that making the training roster was a huge honor.

“I would hate to be in the war room when the coaches were picking from this list because there are so many different factors and so many good players,” said the Johns Hopkins product. “They’re all awesome athletes so it’s a privilege.”

Lastly, Thul, who was an important piece of the Nationals’ offense this season, was almost speechless but said it’s a great opportunity and an honour. The West Point grad finished seventh on the Nationals with 13 points and was tied for the team-lead with three two-point goals.

“I don’t even know how to describe it just yet,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to having the opportunity to show everyone what I’ve got and compete at the highest level of our sport”

Thul, Durkin, and Poppleton will join the rest of the training roster in a series of events throughout the fall and winter that will end with a Champion Challenge that will determine the 23 spots on the roster. The annual event will be hosted on January 24th to the 26th at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.