Player of the week

By Reece

I took over the Player of the Week duties from Patrick (call it veto power from the CEO), but no matter who writes it this week, one thing is for sure, you know the player of the week is coming from the Brown University Bears...

This match-up between #13 Brown and #2 Cornell was highly anticipated as Cornell was in position to take the Ivy Championship away from Brown on Stevenson Field in Providence during the lacrosse alumni weekend which brought back fans and alums from all over including the entire 1973 Brown Bears.

Brown State alums going nuts in the 4th quarter.
Bonus: How many Overtime Media founders can you find?

The game was a total battle, tightly fought all the way through - the biggest story being the notable goaltending of Jordan Burke who made 18 saves on the day, 7 which came during the final quarter. But strong goaltending was not enough to beat the Big Red... an outstanding performance by the Bears defense - Fallon, Cassil, Westerman, Greenberg, Hardy, Melvin, Foote - kept Cornell in check, in particular holding Max Seibald to just one goal. The midfield got it done with guys like Walsh, Seligman, and Williams battling for tough ground balls and getting the ball started on offense. Finally, the attack put the game away with outstanding, multiple goal performances from Feinberg, Hollingsworth and Muldoon. And all these guys executed on an excellent game plan from Coach Tiffany and his staff. At the end of the day, the score was 11-9 Bears, and the fans went nuts, rushing the field to celebrate with the team.

Bruno the Bear dancing atop the scoreboard.

If it seems like everyone had a big hand in the win, it's because they did. This was the most complete, team performance I've seen in a college lacrosse game in a long time. It was the epitome of an M.O. that the Bears follow called "Brown State." Brown State is gritty, edgy, tough... and "a little weird" to quote Coach Tiffany's post game speech. It's what connects the guys from the class of '73 to the players of 2009 and everyone inbetween.

So the HomeField player of the week award won't go to Jordan Burke, Matt Cassil or Andrew Feinberg. It goes to every one of the players on the 2009 Brown State squad who won a battle for the ages and their chance at a second Ivy title in a match against Princeton this Saturday.

GO BRUNO!

The 2009 Brown senior class.

Photos via BrownLacrosse.org Check it out for more game blogs and photos.

Disclaimer: Is this award biased? You betcha! Reece and Dan are 2005 Brown alums. But it's still well-deserved. Another Brown mantra? Expect nothing. Earn everything. Bears - you earned it!