Player-of-the-Week

By Patrick

What a crazy weekend of lacrosse; UNC topped Hopkins in OT...Colgate topped Army in double-OT...Sacred Heart upset Villanova in 5 OTs...and UVA needed a record-setting 7 OTs to escape Maryland. Each of those games had a number of clutch performers, and made choosing this week's Player-of-the-Week very difficult. In the end, however, it was not an overtime hero that made our final cut, rather it was the brightest star from a 14-13 Syracuse win over upset-minded Loyola. That's right, this week's top performer needed only the standard issue four quarters - no overtime - to stake his claim to the award.

We're happy to recognize Syracuse's Dan Hardy as this week's HomeField/Overtime Media Player-of-the-Week. Finding his team trailing the Loyola Greyhounds 12-8 with 12 minutes left to play, the senior midfielder sparked a game-changing run for the Orangemen. Hardy scored 3 goals, including the game-winner with just over a minute remaining, as Syracuse outscored Loyola 6-1 down the stretch and completed their frantic comeback. For the game Hardy finished with 4 goals and 1 assist, matching career highs for both goals and points in a game.

Congratulations to Dan and the rest of the Orangemen on an exciting win in Baltimore, and good luck as they prepare for a tough matchup against Princeton this weekend.

(Photograph courtesy of SU Athletic Communications)

HomeField Podcast on Inside Lacrosse

By Reece

Last week, Joe and I had a great call with Jon Brand at Inside Lacrosse and it's now up on the Inside Lacrosse home page as the TeamHomeField Podcast under Top Headlines.

You can download the podcast via iTunes here or go directly to the Inside Lacrosse post here.

Thanks Jon and IL.com for putting this together!

And look for more podcasts from HomeField and Inside Lacrosse at InsideLacrosse.com.

There's Better Stuff Out There

By Joe

I just heard that on Sportscenter's "Top 10", #3 was in fact a Lacrosse player from Hoftsra scoring behind the back. For a brief second I was pumped that a college lacrosse player got recognized nationally for something he did during the game. It was definitely well deserved, and was a real nice shot.

However, does anyone else think that a behind the back shot, from a few feet out is a little over rated by now? To me, catching the ball on the crease and wildly whipping the stick behind your head, instead of in front of your face, seems like child's play. I say child's play not because I want to say its easy, but because my little brother did it... when he was 7. Hell, he did an around the world, on the run when he was 8!

I don't mean to diminish what happened. Like I said, it was a great shot. But my point is, Lacrosse content needs to be more readily available. Sportscenter should be able to get film of atleast 70% of lacrosse games played during the week. This way, truly remarkable, once in a lifetime lacrosse plays can be honored on Sportscenter. Not the, "this is the only game we have on film, so to meet our Lacrosse quota for the year we'll throw this play in our Top 10".

There should be a way for Sportscenter to easily get access to certain media, that they otherwise wouldn't be able to. And not just for College Lacrosse. How about High School lacrosse, or DIII Soccer, or even club rugby? This media is out there, someone, somewhere is filming this stuff. I'm not saying everyone wants to see it, but I'm sure someone does. Be it parents, local news, or national media. There's gotta be a way to make this available to the specific people who want to see it.

I know what your thinking, "That's what YouTube is for!" ... DUMB! To show what I mean, I went to YouTube and typed in "UAlbany Lacrosse 2009", and the first result was this video:

Now, that certainly wasn't what I wanted to see. And I definitely never wanted to hear that song. What I'm saying is, there are tons of Albany fans, parents, and alumni that would love to regularly see Albany Lacrosse games or highlights that otherwise wouldn't be able to. I wonder who's going to be the first to provide that?

Happy Birthday HomeField!

By Reece

One year ago, on March 20, the spring equinox, my birthday, I left my childhood home on Cape Cod and headed straight for the Brown lacrosse office in Providence. My mission? To deliver HomeField to the public for the very first time. I set up shop with the coaches and logged in to HomeField and HomeField was born!

[An early version of our logo]

It was ugly, and not fully functional (whatever that meant to us at the time), but what features HomeField did have, worked enough to give it an audience. Coach Thompson and Coach Wilson poked a bunch of holes in it right away, and I ran into a few glitches myself, but the vision was there. The coaches saw the value. They understood what we were trying to accomplish and how it could help them improve their team.

[A layout design screenshot from a year ago]

I left Providence with a head full of feedback and ideas, called Dan and probably talked to him for half of my drive down to NYC. Then called Joe and retold everything to him for the rest of my ride! I moved into a new apartment and settled into the city, where Dan, Joe and I would continue to build HomeField...

So we're pretty proud to say that HomeField has reached the ripe age of one year old! In start-up years, where companies are born in a flash and die just as instantly, that's practically ancient. We've come a long way - from that first private alpha with Brown, then opening up to new teams over the summer, finally launching a public beta in the fall and now this spring we have paying customers! - but we still have a long way to go, and we're excitedly looking forward.

Thanks to everyone who helped us make HomeField possible along the way. Here's to year two!

Player-of-the-Week

By Patrick

Another week of lacrosse games are in the books and with them, another long list of incredible performances. Generally speaking, it's easy to recognize the great individual efforts from players on the winning team, while similarly noteworthy performances from players on the losing side are cast into the shadow of their victorious counterparts. Occasionally, however, a player exhibits such skill, displays so much heart and intensity, that when the final whistle blows - regardless of the game's outcome - it is undeniable who the game's true star was. This week we at Overtime Media and HomeField recognize such a performance in naming Johns Hopkins attackman Chris Boland as our Player-of-the-Week.

In a heart-breaking 16-15 defeat at the hands of top-ranked and undefeated UVA, Boland was nothing short of spectacular. The junior finished with 6 goals and 2 assists, including several acrobatic finishes around the crease, as he kept his team in this high-scoring thriller. The effort was a revelation for Boland, whose 6 goals and 8 points were both career highs, and it appears the talented junior may be ready to fulfill the promise he showed as a three-time All-American at the nearby Boy's Latin School.

Congratulations to Chris, and best of luck to Coach Pietramala, his staff, and all of the Blue Jays. UVA may have survived the weekend in Baltimore, but these two teams could very well cross paths again before the season is over.

(Photograph courtesy of Johns Hopkins Sports Information)

Dhani Tackles The Globe

By Reece

I don't watch much TV. Actually, next to none - except for sports when I get the chance - but I did stumble across a show recently that really caught my attention. If you're into sport/competition and foreign travel, then you have to check out Dhani Tackles The Globe on the Travel Channel.

The show follows Dhani Jones, an NFL linebacker, around the world as he explores "the ways in which traditional sports help to define culture." In the first episode, Dhani went to Thailand to train for Muay Thai fighting. Having been to Bangkok myself, I can say the show did a great job displaying Thailand and Muay Thai while Dhani trained for his own fight.

Ever wondered if an NFL player would dominate in rugby or other sports? Find out in future episodes: Rugby in England, surf lifesaving in Australia, and hurling in Ireland.

The next episode is tonight at 9pm. Check it out!

UPDATE: Watch this video of Dhani doing a mural in the ESPN offices. The NFL meets high art.

Customer Service Success

By Reece

I got an email from a player yesterday looking for help. He mistakenly created his own personal HomeField organization instead of joining the team his coach created. Not a big deal at all, I was happy to fix it, and even happier to see how much it meant to him.

"Thanks a lot! This is exactly what happened, and your solution worked perfectly. Thanks for all the help, and because of you, I wont have to bug my coach. Thanks again for all the help!"

Get Excited and Make Things!

By Reece

Originally posted by http://magicalnihilism.wordpress.com/

I love this poster.

Dan found this originally, but I had to pass this on, because it's what we're all about.

Player-of-the-Week

By Patrick

Beginning today, the team at HomeField and Overtime Media will be naming a player-of-the-week award from the previous week's games. Suggestions from fans, teammates, and coaches are welcome throughout the week, but for this first award we've made the selection all on our own.

We're proud to congratulate the goalie for the Hobart Statesmen, Max Silberlicht, as the first-ever HomeField Player-of-the-Week. The junior net-minder was instrumental in leading Hobart to their fifth straight win on Saturday against #11 Georgetown. The Hoya's could not solve Hobart's stingy keeper as Silberlicht finished the game with 16 saves and only 8 goals against for an outstanding .667 save percentage. What's even more impressive is that entering the 4th quarter, Silberlicht helped his team build a comfortable 13-2 lead, while deflecting 14 shots for an insane .875 save percentage through the first 45 minutes of play.

Once again, congratulations to Max and the entire Statesmen program. At 5-0, they look like a team that could be making some serious waves in May.

(Photograph courtesy of KEVIN COLTON/HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH)

HomeField Update - Growing The Community

By Dan

Today I went live with some significant updates to HomeField. Although they may seem like small additions - a user forum, feedback widget and self-signup - these updates will help us expand and engage with the growing HomeField community of coaches and athletes.

Our users could always gives us feedback on HomeField, and they did, via email and phone calls. But now with the addition of a really slick feedback widget from UserVoice, coaches and players alike can see what others have requested, make suggestions of their own and vote for ideas they really like. UserVoice also helps us interact with the community. We can discuss the features they ask for and let them know the status of a feature when it gets integrated into HomeField.

We've also created a user forum for the HomeField community. It's a place where coaches can go to discuss their experiences with HomeField. Whether it's camera recommendations, tips on compressing and exporting video form their favorite editor or a question about the trade functionality of HomeField, the forum will allow coaches to help coaches (and we will stop by regularly to offer our input, of course). Complaints, caveats or gotcha's are also welcome. We want the user forum to help our users and to help us improve their experience. We love seeing the HomeField community grow, and we're looking forward to all your feedback.

Lastly, but certainly not least, coaches can now sign up for HomeField on their own. We've opened the gates and would love to see anybody and everybody who is interested in getting an edge on their opponents sign up now!

No-brainer

By Joe

I just got off the phone with a Soccer Coach who also turned out to be the chairmen of his league. I told him a little bit about our company, and gave him the quick 10 minute demo of HomeField. His response... "Well.. I mean, this is a no-brainer. Sign me up!"

This isn't the first time I've received a response like this, either. With very little explanation from me, he realized that not only is HomeField an invaluable asset to his team, by giving them 24/7 access to his game film and scouting reports, but it will also be a substantial time and money saver for his league.

As he understood right away, I could setup his entire league (ten teams), with HomeField accounts in under 5 minutes. They could be instantly exchanging game film with each other within seconds. They won't need extra hardware, they won't need to install software, and they won't need their Universities to build server space.

Coaches, do you have a computer? Do you have the internet? Yes?! Then what are you waiting for... this is a no brainer!!!

SIGN-UP!!!!

Albany Upsets #13 UMass

By Reece

Congrats to the Albany men's lacrosse team on a great upset over UMass tonight. The unranked Danes beat the Minutemen, ranked #13, 12-9.

Why are we happy for them? Because Albany uses HomeField to prepare for their games. Funny how that works. Better preparation = upset win over ranked team.

Parity and Preparation

By Patrick

Today’s word-of-the-day? PREPARATION.

The exciting results of this past weekend's lacrosse shows how critical it is to give your team every possible edge against the opposition.

In D1 lacrosse, there were 25 men’s games, five of which were decided by 1 goal (1 in OT), and another six were decided by just 2 or 3 goals. Additionally, there were 21 D1 women’s lacrosse games. Eight of those games were decided by 1 goal (3 in OT!). Three more games were decided by just 2 goals...

This is exciting stuff! St. John’s pulled off a huge upset, edging out Georgetown by a goal, 10-9; Bucknell and Cornell held off Army and Navy, respectively, by one-goal margins; and Brown suffered a heart-breaking, double-overtime defeat at the hands of Hofstra. On the women’s side, Boston University pulled off the overtime win, Holy Cross pulled off the double-overtime win, and Cornell pulled off the TRIPLE-overtime win. Sounds like a lot of coaches lost some hair this weekend.

As the sport of lacrosse continues to expand, every team is able to find talented players for their roster. Parity is here to stay. That’s why we're seeing St. John’s top Georgetown and St. Joe's beat Rutgers (first ever series wins for both). The rosters are balancing. So, how do you pull out the win?

Preparation. Your team needs to be ready for every play - it may be the one goal difference in the game. Give them access to the scouting reports and video they need with HomeField.

Email us and we'll get you started today.