Crimson And Cream Machine

Lacrosse Mania is exploding here at the Machine. Our emails and comments surrounding the team and their matches are increasing with every post and the best thing is that the Bedlam match is this weekend!

Here are some photos from this past Saturday's 16-6 win over Kansas State courtesy of assistant coach Tim Matheson.

More to come on this later but for our lacrosse enthusiasts out there OU snapped a three game losing streak by beating Kansas State 16-6 on Saturday. As soon as the full report comes out we'll pass on more information.

The Kansas State Lacrosse team will be in Norman on Saturday to take on the Oklahoma Sooners and then following that they'll play the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

Things get started at 1:00 when the Wildcats and Sooners hook up and then at 4:00 OSU gets their chance at the Wildcats. The best thing is that it's all free!

Hello to all here on Crimson and Cream Machine. My name is Nick and I am the newest addition to the blogging staff here at the Machine. I have been a die hard Sooner fan since I was in 8th grade, nine years ago and now even more so since I go to school here at OU.

I am in my fourth year here trying to get my Bachelors in Business Admin. I am as big of an OU fan as anyone out there. I think that they are going to win every game at everything. My favorites are Basketball and Football.

I also am a featured blogger over at FanIQ.com in addition to being a commissioner for the Oklahoma Basketball and Football leagues. I am really looking forward to helping make the Machine one of the best team specific blogs on all of the Internet. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me and Boomer! Sooner!

One of our Readers, CrimsonBlood, has taken us down the lacrosse trail and man it is heating up! We've moved from posting score updates into the diaries section to actually being contacted by one of the assistant coaches of the team. While our interest in the sport had been sparked already, Coach Matheson agreed to share his insights on the sport and tell us first had about Oklahoma's team and why we should get out and support them.

Tell us about the sport. If someone had never seen Lacrosse before what should they expect to see?

Coach Matheson: Lacrosse is the fastest game on two feet. It is a combination of soccer, hockey and basketball. The field is roughly the size of a soccer field. There is body checking like in hockey, it can be a rough sport, although there are seldom any injuries even though it is a very physical game. Each game consists of 4 - 15 minute quarters. A typical game last about 2 hours from start to finish. For a history lesson on lacrosse, you can go to USLacrosse.

Lacrosse is a new sport at OU. How is the program going and what does the future hold for fans of the sport and Sooner fans in general?

Coach Matheson: OU actually had a team in the early 1980's. I played for OSU and we played the OU squad several times a year. However, for some reason the program stuttered and finally when away around 1986. Alex Perry, the teams President came to a few of us 3 years ago while we were playing on a men's team. He told us he wanted to get a team going at OU and wanted our help coaching. Alex along with Andy Roop, our school advisor , have worked really hard to get this off the ground. We are getting a lot of interest from players around the US who are interested in coming to OU just because we have a lacrosse team and want to continue player. We are still building a solid base and in the next 2-5 years should see a very good squad of players. Hopefully we will have something similar to the University of Texas who actually have two teams, a starting team and a development team. This is the first year we have been really competitive within the league and hope to make it to the championships next year.

Who are some of the names on this year's teams that OU fans should take note of?

Coach Matheson: It is hard to give credit to just a few individuals since this is truly a team sport. If the defensive or offensive unit does not function well, the team as a whole will not be able to compete very well. But the fans love action. On defense I would keep my eye on #45 Alex Perry. He is usually knocking the ball out of an opponent's stick and bringing it back to our offensive end. David Floyd #13 is a big, hard hitting defensemen and Austin Fennema # 24 is a tall, fast defenseman who will continue to improve the next two years. In addition to the defense ( long poles ) there is also # 3 Phil Isaacs who plays on the face off line as well as some defense. He will be getting more playing time on defense since we have suffered a couple of injuries lately. On offense it is usually the attack that score, but our midfielders are getting into the scoring zone lately as well. The top high scorers this year so far are as follows: #8 Adam Hawbaker 11 goals, #12 Ray Wilcox 10 goals, #10 Cory Euhus 6 goals, #22 Hollis Meyer 6 goals. Others to watch are #28 Chrispy Hoover, #9 Kevin Neil and #17 Matt Dzura.

You are off to Dallas this weekend for games against North Texas (Friday) and SMU (Saturday) what is the best way for OU fans to follow the team when they are on the road?

Coach Matheson: www.oulacrosse.com. There they can sign up for the newsletter that comes out after every game at a minimum. For people in the area, they can email one of the coaches for directions.

Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Nebraska are all on the schedule. Is there a conference champion for Lacrosse?

Coach Matheson: Yes, there is a championship each year, usually in late April. Go to Lone Star Alliance for details.

The games are free to attend but tell us where we would need to go to watch them and the best way to get information on the team.

Coach Matheson: Most home games are played on the intramural field on the corner of Jenkins and Timberdell. But since we had all the rain last weekend, we play games rain or shine, that field is now under repair. The rest of our home games will be played on the large intramural fields just to the east one block. During our Face-off Classic Tournament in March, we will also be playing some games in the soccer stadium. We even have a night game scheduled. For last minute changes and information, you can always check out our web page. Here is the remaining schedule for 2008:

Sat 02/23/08 North Texas University of North Texas 1:00 PM away

Sun 02/24/08 SMU Dallas, TX 12:00 PM away

March

Sat 03/01/08 Kansas State University Norman, OK 1:00 PM home

Sat 03/08/08 Oklahoma State Norman, OK 1:00 PM home

Face-off Classic Weekend all home games

Fri 03/28/08 Texas Tech Norman, OK 8:00 PM

Sat 03/29/08 Stephen F. Austin Norman, OK 1:00 PM

Sat 03/29/08 University of North Dakota Norman, OK 8:00 PM

Sun 03/30/08 Nebraska Norman, OK 12:00 PM

April

Sat 04/12/08 University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR 1:00 PM away

We'll be broadcasting live here from Crimson and Cream Machine beginning at 9:30 CST. Obviously basketball has given us a lot to talk about the last two games and baseball starts tomorrow. The NFL combine is upon us and spring football is just around the corner.

Other than that, what do you want us to talk about? The show will be available on podcast tomorrow.

The following news article was sent to me by one of our readers. I have to admit that I know absolutely nothing about the sport other than the fact that its fun to watch and requires a lot of athleticism.

NORMAN, Okla. -- February 12, 2008-- The OU Lacrosse team split the weekend with a win and a loss in a pair of matches with New Mexico and seventh-ranked Ft. Lewis College.

OU first faced a tough Ft. Lewis team Saturday afternoon as Ft. Lewis jumped out ahead quickly, scoring 12 goals in the first half. The Sooners put up three points in each half, but could not put together a run to match the high-scoring Skyhawks. Sooner goals were scored by Kelly West and Cory Euhus with one each, and Ray Wilcox and Adam Hawbaker with two apiece. The final score was 22-6.

Sunday proved to be a much stronger showing for the Sooners. OU defeated New Mexico 13-10 in a tight match. Captain Adam Hawbaker was a leading playmaker, scoring six goals for the Sooners. Goals also came from Matt Dzura, Hudson Seidel, Kevin Neal, each with a pair, and Ray Wilcox with one goal. Goalie Connor Zwinggi had 15 saves on the day.

The Sooners return to Norman to play LSU Feb. 16 at 1 p.m. This will be the first home game for OU and will take place on the intramural fields on Jenkins.

I guess I'm going to have to do my best to keep up with the team this season. Feel free to add any additional thoughts or comments on the sport or the Sooners.

Mark Schlabach has updated his Top 25 college football teams for 2008. Oklahoma checks in at number 2.

Willie Warren will become Jeff Capel's secondMcDonald's All-American recruit to land at Oklahoma.

There may be more questions than answers surrounding men's basketball right now. I've got my own set of questions we'll get to later on.

Will the Sooners use two place kickers next season? Looks like there might be a good chance.

I'm finally back from all my travels and looking forward to being around for a while! One of the things I have missed is the Sooner Nation broadcast and the interaction with you the readers. Last night's return to the internet airways was fun and refreshing as we talked about several topics from the world of sports.

Obviously we have an Oklahoma slant (After all the show is called Sooner Nation) so we spent considerable time talking football recruiting, spring football position battles, Sooner basketball (Where will the Sooners pick up the 5 wins needed to make the dance?) along with other headlines from the NBA, NFL and MLB.

So, check out the show by clicking the play button below (takes about a minute to begin playing) and feel free to email any ideas or future show topic suggestions to crimsonandcreammachine@yahoo.com. As always we love hearing from our readers.

Were the Sooners better than the Cowboys on Monday night or did they just get lucky?

Sooners Finally Crack the Top 25 but it is in RPI not the AP or Coaches Poll. OU checks in at #24 this week.

I've received a few emails about the lack of a Sooner Nation broadcast last night. First let me say that I am grateful that the show is missed. Now let me add that I am out of the country and a broadcast just wasn't feasible last night as I don't have all the necessary equipment or the time while on this trip.

Let me instead offer you the opportunity to listen to some of the rebroadcast of previous shows. Just scroll down on the widget below and click on the show you'd like to hear. In just a few seconds you'll be listening to the rebroadcast. A new show will air this coming Thursday night at 9:30 CST. Until then, BOOMER SOONER!!!

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