JeremyCuse
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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Pretty good opening performance for the team outside of the D which was out of sorts way to much but when you replace two starters and the third leaves early that will happen. Lots of positive and some negatives I wanted to touch on.
Biggest thing I took away from this weekend is how daunting this schedule is going to be after Bingo. Army absolutely dusted an overrated Umass team and Hobart probably could have put up 35 on a really bad Canisius team. Both bring potent offenses to the Dome which the D will need to be ready for or we could be in for a wild ride in February. Army especially looks daunting (though their game vs Rutty this weekend will tell us a lot more). Hopkins flashed some young talent, UVA looked as good as ever offensively (zone O needs work) and Duke showed its still Duke. Two other future opponents play each other on Sat when Cornell travels to Albany in god knows what kind of weather. Important game for both teams especially Cornell with their daunting schedule.
Anyway back to the team that counts. Offensively I thought we played pretty well after coming out to anxious to try and score in the first few minutes. We only had a few real bad possession from what I could recall and it also didn't seem like March was opening the playbook if you catch my drift. Scanlan adds a unique offensive set we haven't seen in a while. Reminds me a little bit of Bomberry when he was at Denver in that he has an excellent midrange game ala a middie but is a hell of a better dodger then Bomberry and has the shot location and moves of someone like Mariano and Salcido. Just seems to be at the right place a lot and seemed so comfortable taking those shots even though he was wide open on a few of them. I though Cook played fine, he didn't turn the ball over, played within himself and didn't look to do to much. As someone else noted the spacing on his dodges wasn't the best and a few times he ran into another players defender because of the lack of room but the confidence is night and day and his riding is the best since Ryan Powell. SU forced at least 5 or 6 violations on the clear which was great to see and several led to goals.
I thought Rehfuss was excellent but as I believe Powellfan noted I think with him its always been the consistency that worries you. He would have a big game like this (7 assists) and then not have that many the rest of the month. I think with Scanlan drawing so much attention he can play that #2 or #3 role that he excels at. I have to admit I wonder what the attack unit would look like if Zawada hadn't de-committed at the last minute but its hard to argue that this current attack unit doesn't have a ton of potential if Cook and Rehfuss bring it every week. Shout out to Seebold as well who not only got a goal but was a one man keep away machine against Colgate, due took a beating and didn't turn it over. I still don't know if he will ever see meaningful minutes here but that was impressive and he may have found himself a late game role.
From a midfield standpoint the depth of this unit was on display big time. When guys like Fiorini, Kim and Magnan can't even see the field you know there is a lot going on in front of them. I thought Dordevic pressed early but then settled in and played within himself. He made a nice save on one of his shots and Dordevic shot wide on a wide open look late in the first half but once he breaks the ice I expect he will have a few monster games. Trimboli was excellent, dude is nearly automatic when he has time and room and has a knack of getting himself open for step downs. He get's overshadowed a bit but we will definitely miss him next year. Curry was Curry, two real nice goals but long periods where you didn't know he was on the field. Hard to stand out all the time with this much talent and only one ball but he has so much talent I just feel like were leaving to much meat on the bone so to speak.
Second mid line was just as productive as the 1st and have some real scorers on it. Buttermore is one of my favorite players and would be on the 1st mid line and literally any other college in the country. I still get sick that he didn't redshirt his frosh year, imagine two more years of him on this team versus just one. Speaking of Buttermore I think he has to get at least 1 run with the 1st line mids a quarter. I hate to bump anyone from that line but him with a short stick is such a mismatch. Quinn finally broke out and looked like the UA we signed a few years ago. He looked comfortable and confident and clearly not afraid to shoot. My only concern is that he doesn't get to shot happy like last year versus Colgate, but he was definitely impressive. Lipka drew the pole a lot but was able to get free for multiple looks but couldn't put anything on cage. He struggled with this last year to in some games and I think its just his MO, hes either on (see that goal against Army last year to seal it) or he's way off. Coming back from injury he has some rust to shake off obviously but that 2nd line is Dangerous and hast multiple different skill sets. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the third line which I assume is Kim, Fiorini and Magnan. Hopefully they get a lot of run Sat as I don't see many more opportunities after that game.
Not going to get into a long diatribe but clearly the defense was not good. Mellen was uncharacteristically beat on a few speed dodges and even Dearth got scored on trying to check over the top. I haven't re-watched the game yet but if I can recall correctly (Ivory and laxsummit feel free to correct me) the main guy who hurt us in the 2nd half was their top middie and even with the pole he was still doing damage. Not a great game for Fernandez who unlikely Kennedy isn't a real big guy. I thought Helmer played pretty well but he could have been victimized a few times late in the half as well. Colgate got a few goals off of fast re-starts and obviously the man down unit was a disaster so that takes some sting out of the overall D performance. Kennedy looked good at close, Colgate's main guy had I think 1 goal and that may have been after they switched Kennedy onto Mellen's guy, he looks like a lockdown guy out there for sure. I didn't see enough of Dipetro to give a full review so hopefully someone else can do that. Murphy looked decent from what I saw but again I would defer. I thought Aviles looked very promising and appeared to play a good amount. I though Barlow was very active and got some runs on the wings. Drake had a few of his ridiculous door stop saves but struggled a bit on some deeper looks I thought he should have made a save on but you could say that about 95% of the goalies in D1. Low shots are still an issue but he's going to have some monster games this year you just know it.
Assuming Mellen's injury isn't overly serious and Dami is back this or next week we should hopefully see everyone back at full strength by Army. I think with it being the first game for a new lineup guys were out of sorts a bit and we looked less athletic then we really are. Kennedy was definitely missed at LSM but he can't be two places at once and I think will ultimately be more valuable at close especially if Mellen is out for any period. One thing the staff may want to look at is giving Helmer the start at LSM and using Fernandez as the backup. Dearth looked like Matt Abbott on clear and was his usual terrorizing self.
From an intangible standpoint its hard to tell how much SU put out in this game. Not taking anything away from Colgate who played well on offense but you didn't get the picture SU was really showing all that much. SU subbed the second line pretty much every other possession and was running a bunch of SSDM's. Still that doesn't excuse the overall D performance and the Mellen injury/play was concerning. Offense will be tested more in the second half of the schedule but early returns are very positive. Phaup was outstanding at the X and the wing play I though got better in the second half but was a bit spotty. We don't seem settled on who we want on the wings yet. Varello wasn't bad but hes the Lax version of Paul Harris in that its always one step forward one back with him. He had 3 or 4 violations and GB's continue to be a major issue. He also seems to just lose track of the ball on some draws even when he has won the direction of it. Still he looked better in the later part of the game and we will need him for sure as Colgate tried to be as physical as possible with Phaup and I expect other teams will follow suit.
Bingo should give the team one last chance to work out the kinks and then its pretty much a top 20 schedule for the remaining 10 games. Most know I am no fan of only playing 12 teams and I think we over scheduled yet again but it is what it is. The Army game in two weeks is really setting up to be a dandy and a game SU needs to win when you look at what the backside of the schedule is shaping up to be. That said lets hope for a big scoreboard win Sat and plenty of PT for the young guys.
Biggest thing I took away from this weekend is how daunting this schedule is going to be after Bingo. Army absolutely dusted an overrated Umass team and Hobart probably could have put up 35 on a really bad Canisius team. Both bring potent offenses to the Dome which the D will need to be ready for or we could be in for a wild ride in February. Army especially looks daunting (though their game vs Rutty this weekend will tell us a lot more). Hopkins flashed some young talent, UVA looked as good as ever offensively (zone O needs work) and Duke showed its still Duke. Two other future opponents play each other on Sat when Cornell travels to Albany in god knows what kind of weather. Important game for both teams especially Cornell with their daunting schedule.
Anyway back to the team that counts. Offensively I thought we played pretty well after coming out to anxious to try and score in the first few minutes. We only had a few real bad possession from what I could recall and it also didn't seem like March was opening the playbook if you catch my drift. Scanlan adds a unique offensive set we haven't seen in a while. Reminds me a little bit of Bomberry when he was at Denver in that he has an excellent midrange game ala a middie but is a hell of a better dodger then Bomberry and has the shot location and moves of someone like Mariano and Salcido. Just seems to be at the right place a lot and seemed so comfortable taking those shots even though he was wide open on a few of them. I though Cook played fine, he didn't turn the ball over, played within himself and didn't look to do to much. As someone else noted the spacing on his dodges wasn't the best and a few times he ran into another players defender because of the lack of room but the confidence is night and day and his riding is the best since Ryan Powell. SU forced at least 5 or 6 violations on the clear which was great to see and several led to goals.
I thought Rehfuss was excellent but as I believe Powellfan noted I think with him its always been the consistency that worries you. He would have a big game like this (7 assists) and then not have that many the rest of the month. I think with Scanlan drawing so much attention he can play that #2 or #3 role that he excels at. I have to admit I wonder what the attack unit would look like if Zawada hadn't de-committed at the last minute but its hard to argue that this current attack unit doesn't have a ton of potential if Cook and Rehfuss bring it every week. Shout out to Seebold as well who not only got a goal but was a one man keep away machine against Colgate, due took a beating and didn't turn it over. I still don't know if he will ever see meaningful minutes here but that was impressive and he may have found himself a late game role.
From a midfield standpoint the depth of this unit was on display big time. When guys like Fiorini, Kim and Magnan can't even see the field you know there is a lot going on in front of them. I thought Dordevic pressed early but then settled in and played within himself. He made a nice save on one of his shots and Dordevic shot wide on a wide open look late in the first half but once he breaks the ice I expect he will have a few monster games. Trimboli was excellent, dude is nearly automatic when he has time and room and has a knack of getting himself open for step downs. He get's overshadowed a bit but we will definitely miss him next year. Curry was Curry, two real nice goals but long periods where you didn't know he was on the field. Hard to stand out all the time with this much talent and only one ball but he has so much talent I just feel like were leaving to much meat on the bone so to speak.
Second mid line was just as productive as the 1st and have some real scorers on it. Buttermore is one of my favorite players and would be on the 1st mid line and literally any other college in the country. I still get sick that he didn't redshirt his frosh year, imagine two more years of him on this team versus just one. Speaking of Buttermore I think he has to get at least 1 run with the 1st line mids a quarter. I hate to bump anyone from that line but him with a short stick is such a mismatch. Quinn finally broke out and looked like the UA we signed a few years ago. He looked comfortable and confident and clearly not afraid to shoot. My only concern is that he doesn't get to shot happy like last year versus Colgate, but he was definitely impressive. Lipka drew the pole a lot but was able to get free for multiple looks but couldn't put anything on cage. He struggled with this last year to in some games and I think its just his MO, hes either on (see that goal against Army last year to seal it) or he's way off. Coming back from injury he has some rust to shake off obviously but that 2nd line is Dangerous and hast multiple different skill sets. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the third line which I assume is Kim, Fiorini and Magnan. Hopefully they get a lot of run Sat as I don't see many more opportunities after that game.
Not going to get into a long diatribe but clearly the defense was not good. Mellen was uncharacteristically beat on a few speed dodges and even Dearth got scored on trying to check over the top. I haven't re-watched the game yet but if I can recall correctly (Ivory and laxsummit feel free to correct me) the main guy who hurt us in the 2nd half was their top middie and even with the pole he was still doing damage. Not a great game for Fernandez who unlikely Kennedy isn't a real big guy. I thought Helmer played pretty well but he could have been victimized a few times late in the half as well. Colgate got a few goals off of fast re-starts and obviously the man down unit was a disaster so that takes some sting out of the overall D performance. Kennedy looked good at close, Colgate's main guy had I think 1 goal and that may have been after they switched Kennedy onto Mellen's guy, he looks like a lockdown guy out there for sure. I didn't see enough of Dipetro to give a full review so hopefully someone else can do that. Murphy looked decent from what I saw but again I would defer. I thought Aviles looked very promising and appeared to play a good amount. I though Barlow was very active and got some runs on the wings. Drake had a few of his ridiculous door stop saves but struggled a bit on some deeper looks I thought he should have made a save on but you could say that about 95% of the goalies in D1. Low shots are still an issue but he's going to have some monster games this year you just know it.
Assuming Mellen's injury isn't overly serious and Dami is back this or next week we should hopefully see everyone back at full strength by Army. I think with it being the first game for a new lineup guys were out of sorts a bit and we looked less athletic then we really are. Kennedy was definitely missed at LSM but he can't be two places at once and I think will ultimately be more valuable at close especially if Mellen is out for any period. One thing the staff may want to look at is giving Helmer the start at LSM and using Fernandez as the backup. Dearth looked like Matt Abbott on clear and was his usual terrorizing self.
From an intangible standpoint its hard to tell how much SU put out in this game. Not taking anything away from Colgate who played well on offense but you didn't get the picture SU was really showing all that much. SU subbed the second line pretty much every other possession and was running a bunch of SSDM's. Still that doesn't excuse the overall D performance and the Mellen injury/play was concerning. Offense will be tested more in the second half of the schedule but early returns are very positive. Phaup was outstanding at the X and the wing play I though got better in the second half but was a bit spotty. We don't seem settled on who we want on the wings yet. Varello wasn't bad but hes the Lax version of Paul Harris in that its always one step forward one back with him. He had 3 or 4 violations and GB's continue to be a major issue. He also seems to just lose track of the ball on some draws even when he has won the direction of it. Still he looked better in the later part of the game and we will need him for sure as Colgate tried to be as physical as possible with Phaup and I expect other teams will follow suit.
Bingo should give the team one last chance to work out the kinks and then its pretty much a top 20 schedule for the remaining 10 games. Most know I am no fan of only playing 12 teams and I think we over scheduled yet again but it is what it is. The Army game in two weeks is really setting up to be a dandy and a game SU needs to win when you look at what the backside of the schedule is shaping up to be. That said lets hope for a big scoreboard win Sat and plenty of PT for the young guys.
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