Powellfan
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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Posted this in laxpwer but would appreciate the input of posters on this board!
First off as we kick off another year of Syracuse lacrosse, thank you to the seniors for a fun and exciting four (to five) years. Always grateful to the players for their time and effort they put into Syracuse Lacrosse.
Been a frustrating few years now for fans of the Syracuse Orange. What looked so promising after an unexpected National Title game run in 2013 has led to season after season with not even a Final Four appearance. The 2019 season looks bright however, with the team losing only 2 starters (Bomberry and Maddona), and two additional contributors (Simmons and Lane). The Orange should be in good position to make a deep tournament run, but they will have a tough schedule to contend with. My favorite part of the offseason is trying to predict what next year's starting lineup will look like, so here it goes!
Attack: Solomon, Rhefuss and Voigt
To be honest a pretty underwhelming attack unit. The attack unit has been an issue since Dylan Donahue left, with not one Orange player being name All-American in two years. Doesn't look like this group will produce one either, but, we shall see. Rhefuss is the straw that stirs the drink, and he's put up some very nice games - but you watch him and realize that he relies almost completely on his speed. He needs to develop more moves and not be scared to take on physical contact. I've probably said enough on here about "Trick or Treat" Nate Solomon - he'll have a game where he looks unstoppable followed by a game where he looks like he's playing in quicksand. He needs to be more consistent, but I haven't seen anything in these past three years that makes me think he can elevate his game to All-American status. Voigt is a nice player who would compliment the passing of Rhefuss and dodging of Solomon - but, as a "finisher" he's also the type of player that needs his teammates to succeed. It he were playing with a Ben Reeves/Jeff Teat superstar I think he'd be a lot to contend with. Other players who could step in are sophomore Owen Seebold who played some last year but didn't register a point and freshmen Griffen Cook and Mikey Berkman. Cook's game reminds me a lot of Solomon and Seebold's a lot of Rhefuss. Of course the big question mark is Austin Staats, whose status remains up in the air, but would really be a boon for the program.
First Midfield: Dordevic, Trimboli, Curry
Second Midfield: Carlin, Lipka, Quinn
The strength of the team next year should be the midfield, with all three starters returning. If there were a player you'd pick to be the next "star" of the program you'd have to pick Dordevic - coaches were calling for him late in games when he was just a freshmen. He has a great rollback but needs to diversify his shooting and work on his passing. Curry is not far behind and has legit barn-burning speed. Seemed like he got yo-yoed a lot last year, between second and first midfield and attack. Hopefully he stays in one place this year. Trimboli is the leader of this unit and can't beleive he comes in third - he would have had a very good season last year but he had a tough three game dry spell at the end of it. The second line also looks pretty good on paper - Lipka was the unspoken "super frosh" last year putting up good goal numbers despite missing some games. Carlin has a no-no-no-yes! quality to his game, though I wish he'd take better shots and look for his teammates more. Quinn looks to have all the physical attributes with a big shot, but didn't see much time last year. The wild card would be Jacob Buttermore who had a big game last year against Colgate. They bring in two UA All-Americans in Peter Fiorini and Matt Magnan. Personally I thought they played too many guys last year, and the chemistry never formed. They should be able to put together two very good lines, but I hope they stick with a top six and stop the revolving doors (i.e. McKinney getting regular rotations with the first line).
F/O: Varello, Phaup, Washington, Martin, Garlow.
Face-off was up and down last year with Varello showing up big in some games, and not showing up at all in others. They lose backup Seth Deslise but return a whole host of other guys. Should be interesting competition, would be frustrating to have five FOGOs on the roster and still not have a good face-off %.
SSDM: Dearth, Helmer, Oladunmoye, Hutchings, Murphy
The obvious weak spot of last year's defense. Never seemed in synch and the coaches seemed to play a new rotation every week. For me the good news is they all fit the physical profile needed (all but one are over 6'2), and each have a year under their belts. Dearth I think could be a big x-factor for this team if he can be a threat in transition. Again, I hope the coaches shorten the bench and pick 4 or five and try and develop them instead of throwing things at the wall to see what will stick.
LSM: Kennedy, Fusco
The team has a potential star in Kennedy who came on the scene when Tyson Bomberry was hurt last year. A threat in transition and key on groundballs he took the starting LSM spot from Fusco late in the year when the close defense was healthy. Fusco is still a very good LSM and provides leadership for the team. Fernandez showed really bright promise last year before injurying his knee against UVa. He could also help out on the face-off X. Freshman Jacob Walthor is supposed to be a very offensive minded LSM. This unit is deep.
Close Defense: Mellen, Cunningham, Bomberry
I am not sure what happened to this unit last year, but they really struggled in big games. Probably has to do with the weakness of the defensive midfield, but this unit never looked quite right. Mellen has the potential to be a first team All American but sometimes I don't think he trusts his teammates. Cunningham is very solid and doesn't get beat often - nothing spectacular but he is a good compliment to the other two. Bomberry had early season injuries and just never looked like his sophomore self as the season went along. Also had a hard time with penalties. They have some good young backup players in DiPietro and hopefully Jerry Staats. If they put it all together they have huge potential, but they need a kick-start of some sort.
Goalie: Porter, Klan, Strang
The number two last year was Porter, and he looked very strong in his few appearances. Not sure how he is with clearing, or directing a defense for a full 60 minutes, but the little I have seen from him I have liked. Klan comes in with big credentials being a U-19 player, but was a clear number three last year. They'll have two more goalies next year as well to give them a total of five keepers, which seems a little high.
I am sure I left some guys off but I am doing my best not to list every guy on the team. It is very experienced team coming back, but also still very young (only Solomon, Bomberry, Carlin and Cunningham will be seniors this year). So it will be interesting to see how the coaches manage minutes to try and keep everyone happy. With so few players graduating last year, this could be a gigantic roster yet again. I hope the coaches are able to asses and play the best players as quickly as possible. Thankfully they will (hopefully) have a full fall ball session this upcoming season. Probably not enough of that fiasco was made last year, given they were breaking in so many new players and had three scrimmages they had to cancel.
Here's to hoping the Orange can put it all together in 2019!
First off as we kick off another year of Syracuse lacrosse, thank you to the seniors for a fun and exciting four (to five) years. Always grateful to the players for their time and effort they put into Syracuse Lacrosse.
Been a frustrating few years now for fans of the Syracuse Orange. What looked so promising after an unexpected National Title game run in 2013 has led to season after season with not even a Final Four appearance. The 2019 season looks bright however, with the team losing only 2 starters (Bomberry and Maddona), and two additional contributors (Simmons and Lane). The Orange should be in good position to make a deep tournament run, but they will have a tough schedule to contend with. My favorite part of the offseason is trying to predict what next year's starting lineup will look like, so here it goes!
Attack: Solomon, Rhefuss and Voigt
To be honest a pretty underwhelming attack unit. The attack unit has been an issue since Dylan Donahue left, with not one Orange player being name All-American in two years. Doesn't look like this group will produce one either, but, we shall see. Rhefuss is the straw that stirs the drink, and he's put up some very nice games - but you watch him and realize that he relies almost completely on his speed. He needs to develop more moves and not be scared to take on physical contact. I've probably said enough on here about "Trick or Treat" Nate Solomon - he'll have a game where he looks unstoppable followed by a game where he looks like he's playing in quicksand. He needs to be more consistent, but I haven't seen anything in these past three years that makes me think he can elevate his game to All-American status. Voigt is a nice player who would compliment the passing of Rhefuss and dodging of Solomon - but, as a "finisher" he's also the type of player that needs his teammates to succeed. It he were playing with a Ben Reeves/Jeff Teat superstar I think he'd be a lot to contend with. Other players who could step in are sophomore Owen Seebold who played some last year but didn't register a point and freshmen Griffen Cook and Mikey Berkman. Cook's game reminds me a lot of Solomon and Seebold's a lot of Rhefuss. Of course the big question mark is Austin Staats, whose status remains up in the air, but would really be a boon for the program.
First Midfield: Dordevic, Trimboli, Curry
Second Midfield: Carlin, Lipka, Quinn
The strength of the team next year should be the midfield, with all three starters returning. If there were a player you'd pick to be the next "star" of the program you'd have to pick Dordevic - coaches were calling for him late in games when he was just a freshmen. He has a great rollback but needs to diversify his shooting and work on his passing. Curry is not far behind and has legit barn-burning speed. Seemed like he got yo-yoed a lot last year, between second and first midfield and attack. Hopefully he stays in one place this year. Trimboli is the leader of this unit and can't beleive he comes in third - he would have had a very good season last year but he had a tough three game dry spell at the end of it. The second line also looks pretty good on paper - Lipka was the unspoken "super frosh" last year putting up good goal numbers despite missing some games. Carlin has a no-no-no-yes! quality to his game, though I wish he'd take better shots and look for his teammates more. Quinn looks to have all the physical attributes with a big shot, but didn't see much time last year. The wild card would be Jacob Buttermore who had a big game last year against Colgate. They bring in two UA All-Americans in Peter Fiorini and Matt Magnan. Personally I thought they played too many guys last year, and the chemistry never formed. They should be able to put together two very good lines, but I hope they stick with a top six and stop the revolving doors (i.e. McKinney getting regular rotations with the first line).
F/O: Varello, Phaup, Washington, Martin, Garlow.
Face-off was up and down last year with Varello showing up big in some games, and not showing up at all in others. They lose backup Seth Deslise but return a whole host of other guys. Should be interesting competition, would be frustrating to have five FOGOs on the roster and still not have a good face-off %.
SSDM: Dearth, Helmer, Oladunmoye, Hutchings, Murphy
The obvious weak spot of last year's defense. Never seemed in synch and the coaches seemed to play a new rotation every week. For me the good news is they all fit the physical profile needed (all but one are over 6'2), and each have a year under their belts. Dearth I think could be a big x-factor for this team if he can be a threat in transition. Again, I hope the coaches shorten the bench and pick 4 or five and try and develop them instead of throwing things at the wall to see what will stick.
LSM: Kennedy, Fusco
The team has a potential star in Kennedy who came on the scene when Tyson Bomberry was hurt last year. A threat in transition and key on groundballs he took the starting LSM spot from Fusco late in the year when the close defense was healthy. Fusco is still a very good LSM and provides leadership for the team. Fernandez showed really bright promise last year before injurying his knee against UVa. He could also help out on the face-off X. Freshman Jacob Walthor is supposed to be a very offensive minded LSM. This unit is deep.
Close Defense: Mellen, Cunningham, Bomberry
I am not sure what happened to this unit last year, but they really struggled in big games. Probably has to do with the weakness of the defensive midfield, but this unit never looked quite right. Mellen has the potential to be a first team All American but sometimes I don't think he trusts his teammates. Cunningham is very solid and doesn't get beat often - nothing spectacular but he is a good compliment to the other two. Bomberry had early season injuries and just never looked like his sophomore self as the season went along. Also had a hard time with penalties. They have some good young backup players in DiPietro and hopefully Jerry Staats. If they put it all together they have huge potential, but they need a kick-start of some sort.
Goalie: Porter, Klan, Strang
The number two last year was Porter, and he looked very strong in his few appearances. Not sure how he is with clearing, or directing a defense for a full 60 minutes, but the little I have seen from him I have liked. Klan comes in with big credentials being a U-19 player, but was a clear number three last year. They'll have two more goalies next year as well to give them a total of five keepers, which seems a little high.
I am sure I left some guys off but I am doing my best not to list every guy on the team. It is very experienced team coming back, but also still very young (only Solomon, Bomberry, Carlin and Cunningham will be seniors this year). So it will be interesting to see how the coaches manage minutes to try and keep everyone happy. With so few players graduating last year, this could be a gigantic roster yet again. I hope the coaches are able to asses and play the best players as quickly as possible. Thankfully they will (hopefully) have a full fall ball session this upcoming season. Probably not enough of that fiasco was made last year, given they were breaking in so many new players and had three scrimmages they had to cancel.
Here's to hoping the Orange can put it all together in 2019!