Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 8/9/10
It may be on paper, but nevertheless The Haverford School has a shot at winning a National scholastic lacrosse championship.
The Fords advanced to the finals of the LaxPower National Online Tournament (NOLT) today by defeating St. Paul’s (Md.) in a fictitious tournament based on results from the 2010 scholastic season. Haverford School, which shared the Inter-Ac League championship this year, now faces New York’s West Islip (4-0 winner over New York’s Jamesville DeWitt) in the national championship Wednesday.
The result of the NOLT have been determined through a panel of experts – Brett Manney, Ryan Rohde, George Baldassare and Mr. X – and by using the LaxPower computer Power Ratings (PR) as the fifth vote. The computer ratings were employed in creating a probability function such that the larger Team A’s PR differential vs. Team B, the greater the odds that they would win when a small group of random numbers was generated. This means that the computer may pick an underdog and that upsets are possible.
During the 2010 season, Haverford School defeated St. Paul’s in a real game, 13-9.
Here is the recap of the NOLT game between Haverford School and St. Paul’s:
(1) St. Paul’s (MD) 99.85 vs. (2) Haverford School (PA) 99.05
* BM: This is a matchup of possibly the best senior (St. Paul’s) versus junior (Haverford) classes in the nation. Haverford beat St. Paul’s in the first game of the season, but at the end of the year the Crusaders were rolling, and seniority helps them advance with an 11-9 victory. Pick: St. Paul’s
* RR: Very tight matchup and a repeat of the season opener. I like St. Paul’s offense and senior leadership taking to the Crusaders to the finals. St. Paul’s is a winner by one. Pick: St. Paul’s
* GB: Pick: Haverford School
* MX: Here is where strength of schedule really helps. Haverford had the 13th strongest schedule and St. Paul’s had the 3rd. A wash? Probably. Several common opponents here, and it will probably be one of the tighter games in the tournament. Haverford squeaks out another close game. Pick: Haverford School
* Computer: Pick: Haverford School
* Winner: Haverford School
