By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 10/11/08
The 2nd annual Nick Colleluori Classic not only has become of the more popular and successful fund-raising events for cancer, it also attracted 13 colleges in one of the largest Fall Ball tournaments of the season.
Little emphasis was placed on the scores of Saturday’s games – which began at 9 a.m. and run until 9 p.m. – but coaches did find plenty of positives as they close the Fall season and begin to look at the coming spring campaign.
Penn’s Brian Voelker: “We got everybody in and I thought we did some good things and some things that weren’t so great. Some of the young guys played well in the Bellarmine game and then again in the Penn State game. Hofstra kind of got after us in the first half. It was great to play three different games and to see how we can improve.”
Voelker will be armed with many key returnees, including last year’s freshmen sensations, Al Kohart and Corey Winkoff. Voelker said his Quakers have hopes of competing for the Ivy League title this spring.
“I think we all have big plans at this time of year,” Voelker said. “We think we’re good and think we can make some noise in the Ivy League. But we’ve got to play. We’ve got to get guys to step up and get some leaders.”
Villanova’s Michael Corrado said: “We had three competitive games, and everyone ‘s gotten an opportunity to play. We’ll go back this week and watch some films. We have one more weekend; next week we play Siena and Binghamton at Binghamton.”
St. Joseph’s Pat Cullinan: “I thought we did very well against Cabrini and Villanova and we got to do our (player) evaluations. We used some different combinations. We had a great game against Loyola, other than an 8-minute lapse it was a pretty competitive game. Overall, I am really happy about the day and what we were able to accomplish.”
Lehigh’s Kevin Cassese: “As far as our team I’m extremely pleased; the guys played hard. That was our goal. We don’t care about any scores. We want the same intensity from the first whistle to the last.
“In general, it’s an exciting time to be a Mountain Hawk. We’re trying to improve on a 6-9 record and get over the hunp and go back to the Patriot League championships.
Cassese, a former Duke standout in his second year, is one of the youngest coaches in Division I. But he has high goals.
“Well, honestly, I’m an impatient guy,” he said. “I’m a young guy but an impatient guy. If we can do it this year, that would be to my liking.
Penn State’s Glenn Thiel: “Our offense didn’t play very well at all; we couldn’t pass and we couldn’t catch. But it was a great experience.”
Widener’s Jamie Lockard: “We wanted to come in here and play hard and I think we did that,. Sometimes, we didn’t play too smart, but the guys went out there and competed and I think it was good we got a lot of guys in. We’ll be young this year; we lost six seniors so we’ll be using a lot of sophomores and juniors. It’s good to get them in here making a lot of mistakes. They’ll be able to learn from that “
Haverford College’s Mike Murphy: “We want to make sure we know what we’re doing in all phases of the game. We have guys shooting for positions and this is how we do it.”
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