Class of 2023 New Transfer: Christian Mule (NY: Half Hollow Hills West) Attack / Grad Transfer from Lehigh

[Powellfan]

 

[Powellfan]

Christian Mule' - Men's Lacrosse - Lehigh University Athletics

Christian Mule' (2) A - WHY LEHIGH? “The reason I choose Lehigh was because it gives me the opportunity to excel in the classroom, as well as on the field. Its

lehighsports.com

 

[illestcuse]

Good job on Gary and co. Even coach Spallina and Cole Kirst who I’m sure played a role here. Definitely someone I wanted to bring in and I’m sure will have a great career here with Spallina and Hiltz.

 

[DMVCuseLax]

He may have to play MF.

 

[Whitey23]

3rd in the country in assists too.

 

[OttosDad]

He may have to play MF.

Maybe but gotta think it’s him or Finn that bump to attack. Who is better suited for middie? I’m not all that familiar with Mulè. Is he a viable dodging threat from up top?

 

[nyclax]

He may have to play MF.

that would be a waste of his skill set. run a two QB system where both he and spallina can facilitate from behind or around goalline extended. keep thomson at midfield/4th attackman. the offense is twice as dangerous when there are two quarterbacks. see virginia 2021 or yale 2018

this inevitably will impact deere's playing time as a freshman

 

[DoctahLexus]

Oh me oh my. Insane grab by the staff. Certainly in the category of so good that the positives outweigh the negatives (taking a younger guys spot, transfer reputation, etc). Wonder if we make room for him at attack or not. Could technically have spallina on the right side while he is the x man, but probably more likely he is a starting middie.

Transfers are a part of the scene now with the covid year and you have to play the game or they will just crush on one of your rivals rosters. Not something I love about the current scene. Personally I really hope that it is over and done for us on the offensive end. Again, only one ball. I had from a reliable source that Griffin King wanted to transfer to cuse and now he is headed elsewhere so clearly we aren’t just taking all comers.

I’m sure NIL is a factor, but it is clear that people like our style and want to play for us. Other top schools were certainly offering playing time and money for this guy but we still got him. We are here to take over!

 

[Laxfanshutt]

Oh me oh my. Insane grab by the staff. Certainly in the category of so good that the positives outweigh the negatives (taking a younger guys spot, transfer reputation, etc). Wonder if we make room for him at attack or not. Could technically have spallina on the right side while he is the x man, but probably more likely he is a starting middie.

Transfers are a part of the scene now with the covid year and you have to play the game or they will just crush on one of your rivals rosters. Not something I love about the current scene. Personally I really hope that it is over and done for us on the offensive end. Again, only one ball. I had from a reliable source that Griffin King wanted to transfer to cuse and now he is headed elsewhere so clearly we aren’t just taking all comers.

I’m sure NIL is a factor, but it is clear that people like our style and want to play for us. Other top schools were certainly offering playing time and money for this guy but we still got him. We are here to take over!

What if they start playing with a 3rd line.. did it sparingly this year

 

[Whitey23]

Hard to see a player of his caliber transferring to play out of position.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

Oh me oh my. Insane grab by the staff. Certainly in the category of so good that the positives outweigh the negatives (taking a younger guys spot, transfer reputation, etc). Wonder if we make room for him at attack or not. Could technically have spallina on the right side while he is the x man, but probably more likely he is a starting middie.

Transfers are a part of the scene now with the covid year and you have to play the game or they will just crush on one of your rivals rosters. Not something I love about the current scene. Personally I really hope that it is over and done for us on the offensive end. Again, only one ball. I had from a reliable source that Griffin King wanted to transfer to cuse and now he is headed elsewhere so clearly we aren’t just taking all comers.

I’m sure NIL is a factor, but it is clear that people like our style and want to play for us. Other top schools were certainly offering playing time and money for this guy but we still got him. We are here to take over!

I think he plays man up and second line middie. He's not starting over Hiltz or Leo imo. He seems to be an exceptional passer and that is something the second line mids were lacking this year.

 

[DoctahLexus]

I think he plays man up and second line middie. He's not starting over Hiltz or Leo imo. He seems to be an exceptional passer and that is something the second line mids were lacking this year.

Think it is more likely we find a way for him to play attack rather than second line. He is a serious talent and we will want him out there as much as possible. Would love to see us truly incorporate a third middie line with all these skilled players.

 

[Powellfan]

Joey is pumped:

 

[Faegan]

I think it just creates a lot of options with inverts, which is something that is more and more common. I have not coached youth in a few years, but even back then good club teams were inverting middies at the 7th and 8th grade level. These kids are not averse to being used creatively on the field.

 

[PhatOrange]

47 game starter. 73 points in 2023 Finished 29-44 this season. Indicates he's a feeder.

2023 Notables:
Hobart 5-1
Cornell 1-0
Navy 3-2
Army 0-3
Georgetown 4-3
Loyola 2-1
Army 0-3

I have to believe he slides into attack with Spallina and Hiltz. Gives Syracuse a different look offensively. Syracuse's offense to me was sort of positionless though. We were not looking for big alley dodgers (Kirst was it), it's leaning more towards the pairs concepts with lots of picking and slipping, drawing, dumping. He should be able to play any of the 6 spots. If there's a knock it's his size 5-9 170. You have to like adding some veteran experience though.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I think he plays man up and second line middie. He's not starting over Hiltz or Leo imo. He seems to be an exceptional passer and that is something the second line mids were lacking this year.

As NYC noted playing him at middie would be a waste. This move tells me Syracuse will keep Thomson at middie and Mule will slide into the attack spot vacated by Kirst. You don't bring in the nations 3rd highest assist guy and run him on the 2nd mid line. I'd be pretty surprised if he wasn't running on the starting attack line in the fall.

 

[SULAXAHOLIC]

Definitely an exciting addition I don’t see it changing the team much without an improvement at the face off and on defense. Time will tell if that gets addressed I’d love to hear they were bringing in a top fogo or a stud pole or SSDM.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Definitely an exciting addition I don’t see it changing the team much without an improvement at the face off and on defense. Time will tell if that gets addressed I’d love to hear they were bringing in a top fogo or a stud pole or SSDM.

Staff understands how much it was hurt at the X this spring. There will be an addition via the portal.

 

[DoctahLexus]

As NYC noted playing him at middie would be a waste. This move tells me Syracuse will keep Thomson at middie and Mule will slide into the attack spot vacated by Kirst. You don't bring in the nations 3rd highest assist guy and run him on the 2nd mid line. I'd be pretty surprised if he wasn't running on the starting attack line in the fall.

I don’t think putting him at starting middie or a role like Kirst where it’s half middie half attack would be a waste. As long as he is out there frequently.

 

[DoctahLexus]

I don’t think putting him at starting middie or a role like Kirst where it’s half middie half attack would be a waste. As long as he is out there frequently.

To put another way- Tommy Schelling went from putting up numbers similar to Mule at Lehigh to having a 20 point middie season at Duke. Obviously Kirst worked out perfectly for us and his numbers were a bit lower than those guys at Lehigh, but the competition jump clearly can be a potential factor.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I don’t think putting him at starting middie or a role like Kirst where it’s half middie half attack would be a waste. As long as he is out there frequently.

It's possible he sees sometime at middie but with the addition of Stevens and English you really have 2 midlines set and plenty of young frosh who could push for PT.

 

[SULAXAHOLIC]

I’m sure the staff understands maybe I should be more excited about the incoming freshman at face off.

 

[Powellfan]

 

[Powellfan]

I know I am probably overly obsessed about right handed vs left handed, but I do wonder how the coaches take that into consideration when constructing the offense? Hiltz is a lefty and dominates that high wing side of the field. He almost never plays at X. Spallina is your typical X attackman although he can play the wing as well. I am not a Lehigh lacrosse expert and won't claim to know what sort of style Mule plays but he is a lefty. I've seen a few highlights and he pops up all over the field, but mostly on the wing, or the crease.

What is perhaps most interesting about him as a player is that for the first three seasons, and especially his sophomore and junior seasons, he was primarily a goal scorer and not a feeder (he had a high of 14 as a soph). Once Schelling left for Duke he filled that quarterback role for the Mountain Hawks. I'm very curious if he reverts to that finisher role, or if they try and use him as a playmaker. I think they have to try and use him as a pass first player to take some heat off Spallina. Attack seems like the spot for him but I'm not sure at all how it works since it seems like Hiltz already occupies his side of the field.

All that said, and there are a ton of qualifiers, it looks like SU has replaced the productivity of Kirst, Simmons and Cook, who combined for 87 points last year, with Mule, English and Stevens who combined for 122. I don't expect Mule to score another 70 points with the bump up in competition, but that's still really promising (especially when you consider English was hurt for seven games).

 

[nyclax]

To put another way- Tommy Schelling went from putting up numbers similar to Mule at Lehigh to having a 20 point middie season at Duke. Obviously Kirst worked out perfectly for us and his numbers were a bit lower than those guys at Lehigh, but the competition jump clearly can be a potential factor.

part of it was the competition and part of it was because matt danowski is bad at his job and consistently puts guys in positions that fail to maximize their skill sets. remember when he had dyson williams running out of the box and taking alley dodges at midfield? LOL