JeremyCuse
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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Sorry I meant to get this out by yesterday but just ran out of time.
I purchased the feed for the game (kudos as the feed itself was great) and after the first half I wanted to smash my head against wall versus watching that again. The offense was completely out of sorts and we made mistakes I haven't seen this team make since the Bryant game. Sloppy passes, minimal to no ball movment, terrible turnovers, dropped passes with no one around, EMO's where we dont get a shot off etc etc. Give some credit to the SJU goalie who made a couple nice stops in the 1st quarter but after that happened it was almost like the offense shrugged its shoulders and wasnt sure what to do next.
There was way to much one on one offense in the first half from Rice and Staats. I love Kevin Rice but its clear all the extra defensive attention is having some affect on him. His accuracy on his shots are not Kevin Rice esque and he is making decisions that he has not made his first three years playing here. With Rice drawing the teams #1 Defensive option its not surprising he is seeing more scrutiny then he is used to and teams are now gameplanning around him and the attack. He even seemed to get visibly upset with an official late in the game which is very unlikely him. He just needs to continue to play within himself and not try and force the issue so much. Dont get me wrong he is still putting up great number and is clearly one of the leaders on this team but the increase in turnovers and the decrease in shot accuracy and shot selection are becoming more visible. Kevin is not the only one struggling in that aspect as Dylan shot's accuracy has been uncharacteristically off the past few games. He had a few looks the past few games that he usually buries that just went wide or high, I think he has at least 2 or 3 pipes as well. I suspect Dylan will get back on track shortly though JHU did a pretty good job defending him last year.
Staats had another nice scoring game against St. Johns and tried to take some of the pressure off of Rice by dodging from X a few times and trying to bully his way in like we have become accustomed to. One thing he really needs to stop though is the backward pass to nowhere. I know it works sometimes and was a highlight against Duke last year but at least once a game he turns it over trying to make a pass he has no business making. It happened twice on Saturday including one on an EMO when he tried that pass into about 3 St. johns players around the crease and of course we turned it over. That said he had some real nice goals on Saturday including one on a shot where he was falling down, if they ever put the highlights up on Youtube try and catch it. Having missed the JHU game last year im looking forward to see how Petro tries to defend him.
The first mid line continues to be an enigma. Galasso didn't look himself on Saturday and seemed like a different player from the one who dominated UVA the week before. He seemed a step slow and wasnt that involved in the offense despite drawing a shorty. Schoonie had a few nice moves to the cage and set up Lecky for a rocket goal in the fourth. Its nice to see someone besides Lecky dodge form the midfield and I still think hes primed for a breakout game soon. One thing I would like to see Schoonie do is try and make himself more available when Rice or Donahue initiate from X, he has shown an ability to shoot from the outside and if he could put in a few from distance it would open things up a bit more. Lecky for the second week was unable to have much offensive success as teams continue to pole im and overplay him on the dodge, I dont think he has had a shot off of a dodge on cage since maybe Cornell. That said he did bury about a 8 yard rocket from schoonie in the second half, thats the second step down goal he has had in the past few weeks. Like Schoonie he should look to make him self available for step down shots where he is at his most dangerous.
Liked what I saw from the second mid line, Evans finally starts to look like a top end player. He had two goals I think and hit a pipe on a third. He seems much more comfortable out there and even made a nice move on a dodge. Barber had 2 points and was johnny on the spot for a goal in the second half after a near turnover. Dejoe seemed a bit out of sorts, he dropped a pass on what would have been a pretty good look and then rifled an absolute missle high and wide. Hes so anxiouis to rip when hes open that he has issues with dropping passes, he just needs to take a second to collect hiimself and then rip, with his shot most of the time if its on cage its probably going to be a goal. McGinley and a few others gotta some run later in the game along with Salcido who still is really struggling to make an impact. One thing I would like to see Desko take a look at especially when the offense is struggling like that is to mix up the lines a bit. Maybe run a mixed first mid line of Galasso Evans and Schoonie or Maybe Lecky, Dejoe and Schoonie or Barber Galasso and Evans. Try some different combinations.
I thought the Defense was again excellent. Mullins really struggled in the first half against his former teammate in Dejohn and then seemd to turn it on after the second goal. He completely shut down Dejohn after that, he could barely get in front of the goal less get a shot off. Young continues to play sidekick to Mullins and pretty much shut down whoever he is guarding. I thought the SSDM were again very good, Grimm and Messina look light years better then last year, Messina really has improved form that disasterous Bryant game. Firman, McCartney, D'Agostino all cotinue to play well and each one seems to make a play when ther out there. Firman to me seems a candidate to bump down to close next year, kids always invovled in causing havoc. On thing we do need to work on is player recognition on our man down defense. We left the same SJU player open twice late in the third and he buried it, Glessner did the same thing to us in the Army game. I know on man down D you have to rotate with the ball but certain guys you just cannot leave open. This will be imperitive on Saturday is JHU is scoring a lot of its points via EMO and from the same couple of shooters.
Williams continues to be Danny Brennan incarnated, I dont know what else to say, the kid is so good find myself astonished/upset when he actually loses one. Hes been everything this team and fanbase could ask for, 1st team All American for sure. Wardwell continues to be solid, still struggles to stop mid range shots but has developed a nice ability to stop some point blank looks in close including another 2 again on Saturday. Still hasnt had a bad game in my book.
Big matchup this Saturday, JHU presents an interesting offense that could provide trouble. I will have a preview later in the week.
I purchased the feed for the game (kudos as the feed itself was great) and after the first half I wanted to smash my head against wall versus watching that again. The offense was completely out of sorts and we made mistakes I haven't seen this team make since the Bryant game. Sloppy passes, minimal to no ball movment, terrible turnovers, dropped passes with no one around, EMO's where we dont get a shot off etc etc. Give some credit to the SJU goalie who made a couple nice stops in the 1st quarter but after that happened it was almost like the offense shrugged its shoulders and wasnt sure what to do next.
There was way to much one on one offense in the first half from Rice and Staats. I love Kevin Rice but its clear all the extra defensive attention is having some affect on him. His accuracy on his shots are not Kevin Rice esque and he is making decisions that he has not made his first three years playing here. With Rice drawing the teams #1 Defensive option its not surprising he is seeing more scrutiny then he is used to and teams are now gameplanning around him and the attack. He even seemed to get visibly upset with an official late in the game which is very unlikely him. He just needs to continue to play within himself and not try and force the issue so much. Dont get me wrong he is still putting up great number and is clearly one of the leaders on this team but the increase in turnovers and the decrease in shot accuracy and shot selection are becoming more visible. Kevin is not the only one struggling in that aspect as Dylan shot's accuracy has been uncharacteristically off the past few games. He had a few looks the past few games that he usually buries that just went wide or high, I think he has at least 2 or 3 pipes as well. I suspect Dylan will get back on track shortly though JHU did a pretty good job defending him last year.
Staats had another nice scoring game against St. Johns and tried to take some of the pressure off of Rice by dodging from X a few times and trying to bully his way in like we have become accustomed to. One thing he really needs to stop though is the backward pass to nowhere. I know it works sometimes and was a highlight against Duke last year but at least once a game he turns it over trying to make a pass he has no business making. It happened twice on Saturday including one on an EMO when he tried that pass into about 3 St. johns players around the crease and of course we turned it over. That said he had some real nice goals on Saturday including one on a shot where he was falling down, if they ever put the highlights up on Youtube try and catch it. Having missed the JHU game last year im looking forward to see how Petro tries to defend him.
The first mid line continues to be an enigma. Galasso didn't look himself on Saturday and seemed like a different player from the one who dominated UVA the week before. He seemed a step slow and wasnt that involved in the offense despite drawing a shorty. Schoonie had a few nice moves to the cage and set up Lecky for a rocket goal in the fourth. Its nice to see someone besides Lecky dodge form the midfield and I still think hes primed for a breakout game soon. One thing I would like to see Schoonie do is try and make himself more available when Rice or Donahue initiate from X, he has shown an ability to shoot from the outside and if he could put in a few from distance it would open things up a bit more. Lecky for the second week was unable to have much offensive success as teams continue to pole im and overplay him on the dodge, I dont think he has had a shot off of a dodge on cage since maybe Cornell. That said he did bury about a 8 yard rocket from schoonie in the second half, thats the second step down goal he has had in the past few weeks. Like Schoonie he should look to make him self available for step down shots where he is at his most dangerous.
Liked what I saw from the second mid line, Evans finally starts to look like a top end player. He had two goals I think and hit a pipe on a third. He seems much more comfortable out there and even made a nice move on a dodge. Barber had 2 points and was johnny on the spot for a goal in the second half after a near turnover. Dejoe seemed a bit out of sorts, he dropped a pass on what would have been a pretty good look and then rifled an absolute missle high and wide. Hes so anxiouis to rip when hes open that he has issues with dropping passes, he just needs to take a second to collect hiimself and then rip, with his shot most of the time if its on cage its probably going to be a goal. McGinley and a few others gotta some run later in the game along with Salcido who still is really struggling to make an impact. One thing I would like to see Desko take a look at especially when the offense is struggling like that is to mix up the lines a bit. Maybe run a mixed first mid line of Galasso Evans and Schoonie or Maybe Lecky, Dejoe and Schoonie or Barber Galasso and Evans. Try some different combinations.
I thought the Defense was again excellent. Mullins really struggled in the first half against his former teammate in Dejohn and then seemd to turn it on after the second goal. He completely shut down Dejohn after that, he could barely get in front of the goal less get a shot off. Young continues to play sidekick to Mullins and pretty much shut down whoever he is guarding. I thought the SSDM were again very good, Grimm and Messina look light years better then last year, Messina really has improved form that disasterous Bryant game. Firman, McCartney, D'Agostino all cotinue to play well and each one seems to make a play when ther out there. Firman to me seems a candidate to bump down to close next year, kids always invovled in causing havoc. On thing we do need to work on is player recognition on our man down defense. We left the same SJU player open twice late in the third and he buried it, Glessner did the same thing to us in the Army game. I know on man down D you have to rotate with the ball but certain guys you just cannot leave open. This will be imperitive on Saturday is JHU is scoring a lot of its points via EMO and from the same couple of shooters.
Williams continues to be Danny Brennan incarnated, I dont know what else to say, the kid is so good find myself astonished/upset when he actually loses one. Hes been everything this team and fanbase could ask for, 1st team All American for sure. Wardwell continues to be solid, still struggles to stop mid range shots but has developed a nice ability to stop some point blank looks in close including another 2 again on Saturday. Still hasnt had a bad game in my book.
Big matchup this Saturday, JHU presents an interesting offense that could provide trouble. I will have a preview later in the week.
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