The smoke had barely cleared from the Launch’s poor performance last Saturday in Ohio.  A non-competitive loss to the Machine 19-7 left the team at 2-3, and in a familiar spot of looking up at the teams in a playoff position.  It only took one game for the team to fall from a tie for 3rd into a tie for 6th . . . such is the reality in a league that only plays 14 regular season games.  One bad loss is really no different than an OT loss if you just look at the standings but last week’s performance was all too familiar to many games played last season. And a team that had looked so much better earlier in the season now faces a crossroads.  The roster has turned over quite a bit already from last season and if this week’s game was closer to reality than the earlier results hinted at then that crossroad might have a lot more options than just right and left. Those who follow Inside Lacrosse’s coverage of the Launch over the years know that they tend to take a dim view of past season performances.  Which made this write up today from IL’s Kyle Devitte all the more interesting:  

“Florida Launch: A Top Picks: All of them. I literally and figuratively cannot believe that I am typing this, but the Florida Launch remade their entire team in this draft and that team is AWESOME. With their first three picks the Launch picked three starters in Dylan Molloy (Brown), Nick Mariano (Syracuse) and Sergio Salcido (Syracuse). An entire offense remade and reassembled with three picks. Mariano and Salcido already have chemistry and Molloy is the most dynamic attackman to enter the league since Lyle Thompson. Then they picked Tim Muller (Maryland), Ryan Drenner (Towson), Jarrod Neumann (Providence) and Alex Tulett (Brown) to get an entirely new defense and a five-tool attackman in Drenner. The Launch weren’t done. In the fifth round Florida picked the best goalie in the draft in Benny Pugh (Richmond) and snagged the best player on the board in round seven with UNC’s multi-faceted midfielder Michael Tagliaferri. The only position they didn’t address was face-off but they still have Chris Mattes coming in to take draws with an NCAA championship ring around his finger.”

  Yes Launch fans, even IL is now getting on the Launch bandwagon . . . Let’s take a look in video highlights just what the Launch accomplished Sunday . . .   1st Round Dylan Molloy, Nick Mariano and Sergio Salcido   Dylan Molloy   Dylan’s 2016 Highlight Film from his Tewaaraton Award winning year.   Nick Mariano   https://youtu.be/Zs0sNkz2GqE An interesting look at the #4 overall pick . . . younger players should pay attention to the analysis!   Sergio Salcido   Homecoming for the #8 pick, and he and Mariano don’t even need to develop a chemistry.   2nd Round Tim Muller   MVP of the Final Four . . . kind of says it all right there   3rd Round Jarrod Neumann   Go to the 2:02 mark to see his interview   Round 4 Ryan Drenner and Alec Tullet   Ryan Drenner   A pretty darn good run in the NCAA tourney, nearly making the championship game   Alec Tullet   Can really handle the long pole   5th Round Benny Pugh   #1 ranked goalie coming into the draft   7th Round Mike Tagliaferi     8th Round Mike Lynch   Five goals for Mike Lynch in this one   9th Round & 10th Round Conor Whipple and Grant Hughes Actually, the only video of Conor on YouTube is at least three years old . . .   The coming weeks will be VERY interesting.  Stay tuned. Denver showed last season what possibilities exist in a late season run. Can the Launch pull it off too . . .