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Man Down Defense

Andrew Fink, Mount Ida CollegeChris Widelo, Mount Ida College

Anthony DiMaio, Mount Ida College

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• Located in Newton, MA. 5 miles outside of Boston.

• Division III Lacrosse Program– 6x North Atlantic Conference Champions– 3 NCAA tournament appearances– Moving to GNAC (Great North Atlantic

Conference) in 2011

• 2010 NCAA Statistical Champion: Man Down Defense - .907

Mount Ida College

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Man Down Defense

• Why is it important?

– Last year Mount Ida had 107 penalties totaling 90 minutes of penalty time.

• We played a total of 19 games totaling 1140 minutes of lacrosse

• 12.6% of the season was spent man down

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Man Down Defense

• Man Down Defense/Special Teams will make or break your team– Could be the difference between a win or a loss– When successful can be a momentum swing for

your team– Need to invest time into developing your MDD

as you do your offense and regular defense.• Personnel• Strategy• Practice

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Man Down Personnel

• Find the right players for the job– Don’t let their “position” get in the way

• Attributes of a good MDD player– Fast– Aggressive but controlled– Fearless– Experienced and quick thinker

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Man Down Personnel

• Attributes of a good MDD player (cont.)– Long– Good and quick hands– Good stick skills

• Develop back-up players for your MDD unit

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Man Down Strategy

• Hold ‘em vs. Bring It On– Your personnel and your opponent’s skill will

ultimately determine your strategy. – Develop both and look for opportunities to turn

your disadvantage into an advantage• Play to your strengths• Exploit opponents weakness

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Regular

• Basic Man Down Set – Box and 1– Effective against 3-3, 1-3-2, Wheel– Four poles on perimeter, zone, sticks to the

inside defending passing lanes– Defensive midfielder locked on crease– Defense rotates opposite ball on skip pass– Weak side defender helps crease/cutters

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Regular

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Regular

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Diamond

• Basic Man Down Set – Diamond– Effective against the 1-4-1– 3 poles on perimeter. Defensive midfielder and

4th pole on crease. – Engage from crease on drive from “X”– Topside pole sloughs in to help on crease

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Diamond

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Spartan

• Basic Man Down Set - Spartan– Effective against 3-3– 3 pole front across top, defensive midfielder

bottom left and 4th pole bottom right. – Weak-side defenders help backside when ball is

on the wing or at “X.”

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Spartan

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Alcatraz

• Advanced Man Down Set – Alcatraz– Shutoff best player/biggest EMO threat– Defensive midfielder locks on target– 4 poles in tight box zone

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Alcatraz

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Australia

• Advanced Man Down Set – Australia– Box and 1 set– When ball goes to “X,” left or right defender will

pressure ball– Top-side defenders help

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Australia

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Bingo

• Bingo can be used in in basic man down set or Diamond– Jumping the pass before EMO gets

settled/comfortable– Signal is sent in from bench or with defensive

midfielder to jump the pass on the 1st, 2nd or 3rd pass.

– Defender jumping the pass must press out hard and get stick on hands. Put the ball on the ground.

– Must be able to recover

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Bingo

Bingo3.wmv

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Bingo

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Questions

• Contact Information:

Andrew Fink, Head Coachaefink@mountida.edu

(617) 928-4731

Chris Widelo, Associate Head Coachcwidelo@mountida.edu