Denver Gameday...

[tbonezone]

I don't think a lot of fans realize how often those missed shots are due to defensive pressure and frustration. Credit to Denver IMO.

true. but even i learned in the 9th grade don't even shoot on an empty cage without the back up.

 

[wvlax]

Absolute clunker of a game. Denver was playing not to win at the end, and still managed to pull it out.

 

[PhatOrange]

a pipe is just a missed shot. Weird thing lacrosse folks fixate on.

for me it’s because a regulation goal pipe is 1.5 inches wide and an inch in the good direction is likely a goal. Game of inches sometimes

 

[Cuse All-In]

Reminded me of ND game plenty chances to get it back to tie game but can’t finish.

Denver played brilliant defense. March can't adjust and the team lacks elite dodgers IMO.
Spallina is who he is - he's simply not able to take over a game against strong teams.

I will be interested to see how Denver handles ND - my guess is ND will dodge their way to double digits.

 

[SUlax88-09]

Here are some shockers (sarcasm… I’ve literally been saying this all season; I really do wish that I was wrong):
-Leo is our only All American (he’s a stud)
-Mule should not have been playing. Leo didn’t move down to attack until the 2nd half and we were down 4 goals. Our offense, again, looked So much better with Leo on attack, because Leo is a Much better player then Mule, he can dodge, and also because he draws a long stick which frees up our middies
-Being a good passing team is great, but, if we’re not in man-up, then you still have to initiate the offense with a dodge, and we had No dodgers at attack without Leo. Otherwise we just pass the ball around in a circle, like we did in the 1st half. Leo on attack all game (and all season) would have been that missing piece
-Spallina is overrated. He can get all the points he wants against non-top 10 teams, but he’s useless against a top 10 team (Towson was not a top 10 team). There’s a reason why he has not even been an all-ACC attackman the past 2 seasons. He cannot beat a good defender one-on-one. He plays like a defender because he actually likes to hit, but can’t overpower good D1 defensemen (it’s not gonna happen). He should spend the off-season with the SU track team trying to improve his speed because he has plenty of skill (playing box in the off-season again won’t help him), and he just needs speed…
-Jake Spallina got beaten for 2 goals today. All Denver did was attack our SSDMs (smart coaching)
-We had solid goalie play, solid face offs, and solid D (except why was Fraterrigo out there at all on D? He lost his man for a goal on a fast break), so this loss is 100% on the offense (primarily Coach March and Gait)
-Denver is a good team, but they were an especially well-coached team. Denver didn’t have better players than us. We got Way out-coached on our offensive end, which is worrisome, because new players won’t help and the same thing will happen in years to come if we have the same offensive coaching staff. Coach Odierna showed what a difference a great coach makes to a team. What an improvement our Defense made this year! Congrats to our D and Coach Odierna! Gait can delegate all he wants, but, ultimately, he’s the head coach, so he’s the one responsible for the team’s performance. If he wants to delegate the offense (and the defense), then what does he really do other than using his name to get recruits?, but then he really needs to hire an excellent offensive coordinator. If Gait brings in a great offensive coach next year (like he did with Coach Odierna for the D this year), then we can make a push for a chip these next 2 years

 

[Fanalways]

Absolute clunker of a game. Denver was playing not to win at the end, and still managed to pull it out.

Lacrosse team played like most other Syracuse teams. No fire until it was too late. What's up with that?!

 

[orangecuse]

Rough game overall. DU was the more effective team today. Lots of disappointing moments, but nice to see SU show some life at the end.

Can we take a step forward next year?

If one believes that improvement is linear vs. nonlinear, especially relative to our soph class, then maybe. However, one thing, IMO, is pretty clear, we lack speed, and I'm not convinced that that is something that can be improved easily or at all from a natural progression standpoint.

Quint has stated on several occasions (other than perhaps Leo) this year how we lack speed, a guy that can create on his own, beat his man and cause a problem. It was quite apparent today that we lacked there big time, especially Spallina and Hiltz, whom both were seemingly MIA. Hiltz scored his lone goal late in 4Q, when, for the most part, the outcome wasn't really in doubt.

Quint also alluded to this today, early 2Q I believe, relative to Denver's basic type strategy, that being, they weren't going to switch off their guy, slide, etc., as they believe SU doesn't have any dodgers that they fear can win those match ups, at least not consistently.

So, IMO, if we are going to take the bigger step needed to feel confident in getting to championship weekend next season, we need to significantly increase our speed and dodging capabilities.

 

[blust2i3d4]

Absolute garbage refs. How many penalties can you miss.

Two questionable goals that there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn.

Multiple pipes.

A few missed close ones. Stevens has to cash that one at the end.

Out hustled on ground balls.

Dropped passes.

Seemingly no urgency.

Everything just seemed to go Denver’s way.

It is sports. Better teams could lose. There are too many variables.

 

[OrangeinBoston]

Same story every year, disappointing

Not true. The team is on a 3-year upward trend from the cellar that Desko left behind.

 

[OrangeinBoston]

Gary is a delegater, I've got no problem, he's not a micromanager coach and trusts and believes in who he has hired to run the O and D. You'll see some successful basketball coaches run the Xs and Os during TOs. I'm sure he encouraged them after the assistant coach was done.

This is the way good CEOs manage, and they provide input when needed.

 

[LaxAddict38]

I’m sorry but I have found Pat March’s in-game adjustments against quality opponents to be very sub-par.

If our initial game plan doesn’t work we stick with it for waaaay too long. How do we start that game with Mulé and not make a change sooner? This isn’t rocket science, move the chess pieces around when things aren’t working.

8 goals against G-Town in 2021 tournament and 8 goals today. His two biggest games as a coach. I am just not bought in on this guy, I’m sorry.

 

[orangecuse]

This is the way good CEOs manage, and they provide input when needed.

Don’t like this analogy here or in sports relative to a head coach, etc. Unlike a CEO, especially relative to a corporation, etc., a head coach isn’t anywhere close to being so far removed from the day to day operations level of the business. Really night and day in my opinion.

 

[Cuse181]

Not true. The team is on a 3-year upward trend from the cellar that Desko left behind.

I just mean it continues to be faceoffs that kill this team in big moments

 

[ks orange]

The wonderful thing about losing against a well-coached team in the tournament: it certainly clarifies what holes need to be filled and issues need to be addressed in the off-season. As I asked in a previous post, will the recruiting trail and the portal be so generous this year?

 

[Bayside44]

Idk a lot of pipes and a missed doorstep from Steven's. Not sure it was bigger stronger faster

Yeah exactly. 5 pipes, we gagged on some trail checks and a few cheapie goals. After Denver's frist flag the refs decided they didn't need to throw em anymore. Even then it was 10-8.

Denver managed the game very well and their goalie stepped up big early.

 

[OrangeinBoston]

Don’t like this analogy here or in sports relative to a head coach, etc. Unlike a CEO, especially relative to a corporation, etc., a head coach isn’t anywhere close to being so far removed from the day to day operations level of the business. Really night and day in my opinion.

Barging in constantly is how you lose good assistants. You can bet Gait was listening in, and would have jumped in if necessary.

 

[PhatOrange]

The Spallina push in the back was clear as day and should’ve been a 30 second T. That was a huge no call.

I have to go back and watch but I thought the faceoff win where Mullens shot was saved, it looked to me like he took a big slash to the head just before that. There were a couple of other no call sticks to the heads against us. They didn’t look like brushes. I get letting them play but you can’t ignore the rule book either.

 

[CousCuse]

The Spallina push in the back was clear as day and should’ve been a 30 second T. That was a huge no call.

I have to go back and watch but I thought the faceoff win where Mullens shot was saved, it looked to me like he took a big slash to the head just before that. There were a couple of other no call sticks to the heads against us. They didn’t look like brushes. I get letting them play but you can’t ignore the rule book either.

Lax refereeing is very factional. In this case Denver is a Big East team who people in that faction want to go to the finals weekend. I don't think people in any of the opposing factions want Syracuse back as a super power.

 

[PhatOrange]

The offense is fine I just wish they would pass, pick and weave up instead of just weaving. Like today sometimes the guys struggle to get over the top and downhill when there’s no pick.

 

[SULAXAHOLIC]

March maybe good at recruiting in this modern era but he couldn’t hold a candle too what Desko and Donahue use to do as far as in game adjustments I also don’t like that he made very little in the way of player adjustments. Desko use to constantly rotate 4 attackman we have kids on the bench who can play who never saw the field to keep 5th year transfers on the field

 

[clayman32]

The Spallina push in the back was clear as day and should’ve been a 30 second T. That was a huge no call.

I have to go back and watch but I thought the faceoff win where Mullens shot was saved, it looked to me like he took a big slash to the head just before that. There were a couple of other no call sticks to the heads against us. They didn’t look like brushes. I get letting them play but you can’t ignore the rule book either.

Yeah and if I remember correctly Denver went down and scored on that possession after the clear as day push no call.

 

[clayman32]

I’m sorry but I have found Pat March’s in-game adjustments against quality opponents to be very sub-par.

If our initial game plan doesn’t work we stick with it for waaaay too long. How do we start that game with Mulé and not make a change sooner? This isn’t rocket science, move the chess pieces around when things aren’t working.

8 goals against G-Town in 2021 tournament and 8 goals today. His two biggest games as a coach. I am just not bought in on this guy, I’m sorry.

Gait coached in the women’s national title in 2021. It was Desko then.

Edit: I’m not sure how I missed that you were talking about March. My bad.

 

[Cuse4455]

I like Odirena I thought his defense was light years better, our offense tho... great against avg defenses but against top teams it struggled for stretches. We have a lot of skilled lacrosse players but we don't have game breakers, or guys with speed (excluding English). Need SSDMs and atleast one really good scorer.

 

[CrazyPeople]

Insult to injury was how well local players; Dan Anderson - CBA, and Jack Dibenedetto - Nichols Buffalo, played against us.

The Orange had their chances, certainly a winnable game especially in that 4th quarter.

The one thing I really can't get past and is inexcusable for both March AND Gait...Michael Leo not being moved to attack earlier in the year, game, etc. and leaving Mule out there.

 

[PhatOrange]

I like Odirena I thought his defense was light years better, our offense tho... great against avg defenses but against top teams it struggled for stretches. We have a lot of skilled lacrosse players but we don't have game breakers, or guys with speed (excluding English). Need SSDMs and atleast one really good scorer.

Yep. It helps to have an alpha. We don’t. Schnellenbeger today took the ball in OT and said I’m going to the rack and scoring and he did. The hard dodge down the right alley and roll back lefty finish was sweet. We don’t have a guy who can do that.

I love Leo though. I think he’s our best attackman and English our best mid.