JeremyCuse
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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It's already been noted multiple times but again Syracuse clearly was under-seeded by this tourney committee, Marquette and Loyola ahead of SU is laughable but at this point it is what it is.
From an SU standpoint I think the actual opponents we drew were fairy favorable. SU knows Albany like the back of its hand and I think they may matchup very well. Not saying Albany couldn't win because they absolutely could but it's hard to see where SU isn't stronger in most areas save for goalie. As far as Maryland they are an excellent team and the #1 seed for a reason but in a choice between Denver, ND and them I am probably taking Maryland slightly over ND, (no desire to see Denver). Not going to get to much into Maryland as I don't want a repeat of 2014 on Sunday but that would be a very interesting game.
As for the Albany game a few quick points that I will expand on later in the week.
Riordan is Albany's best player by far and a dame good goalie. His history against SU however, is not great. He was part of that win as a Frosh against us but he has been peppered badly by SU the 3 games since that time and especially the last two years where SU scored in the high double digits fairly easily. If the game is close late or god forbid SU somehow lost I would put my money on it being due to Riordan standing on his head and giving SU a ton of trouble. If he isn't on his game it's hard to see Albany winning. He will probably need upwards of 15+ saves if Albany is going to have a shot.
From Syracuse's perspective there's a lot of potential advantages at least on paper. The biggest one obviously being at the faceoff X. Albany's true frosh faceoff guy Ornstein showed some flashes against Williams after he got Ambushed in the first half and is a big kid with some skill. He actually had a few dominant performances the last few weeks and holds the #1 and 2 spots for most wins in a game 25 and 26 respectively, in Div 1. The problem for Albany is that he did that against poor faceoff guys and teams who had no answer. Last Thursday against Harford and their top end faceoff guy Ornstein and Albany was annhiliated as Hartford won 20-24 with Ornstein going 0-4 and last years starter Connor Russel back from injury going 1-5. The guy who took the most faceoffs Troy Reh was 3-13 and I believe he is the third option guy on the depth chart. Albany is likely to try and throw each guy at Williams and hope they can catch lightning in a bottle and or wear Ben down over the course of a game. It's not hard to think that Ben will be at least be at 60% when the guy from Hartford was just at 83%. Give Albany credit though despite that huge disparity they only lost by 1 in OT so they will be prepared for a big discrepancy at the X.
Defensively for Syracuse I think the matchups from the first matchup will probably be the same. Mellen on Fields, Mullins on Reh, McDermott on Oakes, and Firman on Maloney. Albany is going to need its midfield to really have a productive game as Mellen and Mullins were all over Fields and Reh in the first game and while Fields will likely breakthrough for a few goals this time It's difficult to see either Reh or Fields having a monster game. Albany's other problem is that Oakes has struggled against SU the last few years as he is pure finisher at this point and his lack of ability to dodge or create his own shot is the type of player McDermott covers best. Again not saying Albany can't surprise and have a good offensive game but again I think SU matches up extremely well. Will get into it more in my preview but I do see one potential issue for SU in this game that involves Molloy and a let down game.
Offensively for SU there are a lot of positives which I will touch on in my preview so let me look at it the other way here. Biggest concern in this game from an offensive standpoint for the Orange is depth scoring, Evans, and Dejoe. I list depth of scoring because outside of the top 6 its hard to know from game to game if SU will get anything from the second or third mid line. Obviously the second and third mid lines had a field day against Colgate but will that translate into confidence for the rest of the season or do the two back up lines revert back to their struggles? Its' going to be critical that SU get some scoring form outside the top 6 especially if they advance past Albany. If I was Desko I would scrap the third line and use a second line that rotates in Westin, Lane, Carlin, Piroli and whosever practicing better between Simmons and McKinney both of whom have been underwhelming the past month. Would love to see Piroli get some run on the second mid line, really could open things up as he is as close to 100% as he has been since the Siena game.
I will leave the other two listed for the actual preview but again it comes down to consistency, SU is going to need one of Evans and Dejoe to bring some scoring in the tourney, if both of them are off and or Evans is really struggling this offense could start to struggle like we saw for large stretches in the middle of the season.
Will get more in depth on each issue later in the week.
From an SU standpoint I think the actual opponents we drew were fairy favorable. SU knows Albany like the back of its hand and I think they may matchup very well. Not saying Albany couldn't win because they absolutely could but it's hard to see where SU isn't stronger in most areas save for goalie. As far as Maryland they are an excellent team and the #1 seed for a reason but in a choice between Denver, ND and them I am probably taking Maryland slightly over ND, (no desire to see Denver). Not going to get to much into Maryland as I don't want a repeat of 2014 on Sunday but that would be a very interesting game.
As for the Albany game a few quick points that I will expand on later in the week.
Riordan is Albany's best player by far and a dame good goalie. His history against SU however, is not great. He was part of that win as a Frosh against us but he has been peppered badly by SU the 3 games since that time and especially the last two years where SU scored in the high double digits fairly easily. If the game is close late or god forbid SU somehow lost I would put my money on it being due to Riordan standing on his head and giving SU a ton of trouble. If he isn't on his game it's hard to see Albany winning. He will probably need upwards of 15+ saves if Albany is going to have a shot.
From Syracuse's perspective there's a lot of potential advantages at least on paper. The biggest one obviously being at the faceoff X. Albany's true frosh faceoff guy Ornstein showed some flashes against Williams after he got Ambushed in the first half and is a big kid with some skill. He actually had a few dominant performances the last few weeks and holds the #1 and 2 spots for most wins in a game 25 and 26 respectively, in Div 1. The problem for Albany is that he did that against poor faceoff guys and teams who had no answer. Last Thursday against Harford and their top end faceoff guy Ornstein and Albany was annhiliated as Hartford won 20-24 with Ornstein going 0-4 and last years starter Connor Russel back from injury going 1-5. The guy who took the most faceoffs Troy Reh was 3-13 and I believe he is the third option guy on the depth chart. Albany is likely to try and throw each guy at Williams and hope they can catch lightning in a bottle and or wear Ben down over the course of a game. It's not hard to think that Ben will be at least be at 60% when the guy from Hartford was just at 83%. Give Albany credit though despite that huge disparity they only lost by 1 in OT so they will be prepared for a big discrepancy at the X.
Defensively for Syracuse I think the matchups from the first matchup will probably be the same. Mellen on Fields, Mullins on Reh, McDermott on Oakes, and Firman on Maloney. Albany is going to need its midfield to really have a productive game as Mellen and Mullins were all over Fields and Reh in the first game and while Fields will likely breakthrough for a few goals this time It's difficult to see either Reh or Fields having a monster game. Albany's other problem is that Oakes has struggled against SU the last few years as he is pure finisher at this point and his lack of ability to dodge or create his own shot is the type of player McDermott covers best. Again not saying Albany can't surprise and have a good offensive game but again I think SU matches up extremely well. Will get into it more in my preview but I do see one potential issue for SU in this game that involves Molloy and a let down game.
Offensively for SU there are a lot of positives which I will touch on in my preview so let me look at it the other way here. Biggest concern in this game from an offensive standpoint for the Orange is depth scoring, Evans, and Dejoe. I list depth of scoring because outside of the top 6 its hard to know from game to game if SU will get anything from the second or third mid line. Obviously the second and third mid lines had a field day against Colgate but will that translate into confidence for the rest of the season or do the two back up lines revert back to their struggles? Its' going to be critical that SU get some scoring form outside the top 6 especially if they advance past Albany. If I was Desko I would scrap the third line and use a second line that rotates in Westin, Lane, Carlin, Piroli and whosever practicing better between Simmons and McKinney both of whom have been underwhelming the past month. Would love to see Piroli get some run on the second mid line, really could open things up as he is as close to 100% as he has been since the Siena game.
I will leave the other two listed for the actual preview but again it comes down to consistency, SU is going to need one of Evans and Dejoe to bring some scoring in the tourney, if both of them are off and or Evans is really struggling this offense could start to struggle like we saw for large stretches in the middle of the season.
Will get more in depth on each issue later in the week.