Initial Thoughts on the First Round

Navy Insider Dick Long has filed a postgame scouting report from Navy's 8-7 victory over UNC on Saturday night. I will have it up by 1 p.m. or so. For now, here are some initial thoughts from the NCAA first-round games.

*North Carolina and its roster of 20 high school all-Americans is out. Georgetown and its roster of 24 high school all-Americans didn't make the tournament. Notre Dame (15 high school all-Americans) and Navy (16) play on...

*The Johns Hopkins offense takes what the defense gives it. Yesterday, Hofstra gave it a short-stick defender on senior MF Paul Rabil and a zone defense when sophomore A Steven Boyle had the ball behind the goal. Results? Four goals for Rabil, three assists for Boyle. Last week, Loyola didn't slide to Michael Kimmel and Brian Christopher when they were driving with their off-hands. Those two combined for five goals.

*Also, Johns Hopkins had six assists yesterday. It had zero against Loyola. The last time Hopkins had zero assists came against Delaware in the Final Four last year. It responded with eight assists in the title game.

*Johns Hopkins was wearing new white helmets with "jays" written in script across the side. They also wore new helmets for the playoffs last year: Those were light blue with Neil Grauer's cartoon Blue Jay on the side...

*Maryland senior D Jacob Baxter started against Denver and helped take away the inside shots that the Pioneers wanted. Baxter's prowess on the crease helped hold Denver's attack to 3 for 16 shooting; the Poineers also went scoreless for more than 30 minutes. "We started him because he is a very good communicator," Coach Dave Cottle said.

*The games on ESPNU have looked really good thus far. Especially the Navy-UNC game. During the UVa-UNC regular season game at Fetzer Field, the cameras seemed like they were miles away; it was hard to follow the action. The angles for the Navy-UNC game Saturday were excellent, especially the elevated camera from behind the goal.

*The TV cameras behind the goal also did a great job catching Ohio State's impressive shooting performance. The Buckeyes shot 15 for 29; they were hitting corners like crazy. They also forced the Big Red to use three goalies...

*ESPN has to be loving the quarterfinal matchups. Virginia-Maryland and Hopkins-Navy on Saturday is the doubleheader for the purists; two of the sport's best rivalries before what might be a pretty good crowd, despite the Preakness. Sunday is for the viewers in middle America--big-name schools Ohio State vs Duke and Notre Dame vs Syracuse...

*Looking for a local angle for the quarterfinals from Ithaca, N.Y.? Georgetown Prep Notre Dame used five players from area high schools in its 8-7 overtime victory over Colgate yesterday. Senior Joey Kemp (Georgetown Prep) made eight saves, including an incredible save on a point-blank shot in overtime. Classmate Taylor Clagett (DeMatha) won 12 of 18 faceoffs. Sophomore Grant Krebs (St. Mary's-Annapolis) started at midfield and scored a goal. Among the reserves were freshmen Patrick Maloney and Kevin Ridgway from Georgetown Prep.

For the readers: What did I miss? Also, did anyone go out to watch the first-round games? I watched Ohio State-Cornell and Navy-UNC at Town Hall in Glover Park. By the end of the Navy game, there were quite a few people in the bar following the game. A couple even came in from off the street for the final two minutes after they walked by and saw the game on TV...

By Christian Swezey |  May 12, 2008; 11:48 AM ET  | Category:  Memorial Day Weekend
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