Army West Point Athletics
Wednesday, Feb. 24 - The view from Michie
February 24, 2010 | General
Good afternoon BKBers, Dallas Miller here with a weather-focused blog inspired by the wintry mix of conditions from the lacrosse game yesterday.
Nestled along the banks of the Hudson, Michie Stadium sits next to Lusk Reservoir and overlooks the winding river valley. In the summer, it's easy to glean why West Point is such a strategic location, as you can literally see for miles.
In the winter months, as was the case for yesterday's men's lacrosse game opposite visiting Bryant, the view from Hoffman Press Box at Michie is different. Very different.
As the game clock wound down to the opening faceoff, a pair of snowplows raced back-and-forth across the field's artificial turf, first clearing a path between the hashes (like they do for a shootout at hockey games), and slowly working their way outwards toward the sidelines. The heavy slush-snow combination abated just minutes before the game began, but left those in attendance contemplating the addition of ice-lacrosse to the Winter Olympics' schedule.
The sleet gave way to a blanket of fog in the first quarter, as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 3-1 lead over the Black Knights. In the second quarter however, the fog lifted, both on the field and in Army's efforts, as the home team answered with a barrage of three straight goals to take a 4-3 lead into the locker room.
With the weather clearing to reveal a picturesque and snow-covered West Point in the second half, Bryant once again evened the score and reclaimed the lead with 5:27 left in the third quarter as a miserable sideways misty rain began to soak Army's spirit.
The Black Knights, spearheaded by a pair of goals from Garret Thul, cut through the falling mist to go up by one, but Bryant (head-coached by a man who could probably tell you a thing or two about stormy conditions) refused to give quarter, and notched the game winning goal with just 78 seconds remaining.
The snow returned as our AC staff readied to leave the stadium, once again covering West Point in an all too silent sheet of white. Victory number two would have to wait, perhaps until the weather cleared once more.
