2023 Fall Ball | Page 5 | Syracusefan.com

2023 Fall Ball

The Orange pinnie on Kempney would indicate that he’s playing SSDM. He has a ton of offensive skill but I’ve always seen this as his ideal role. We’ve had quite a few successful SSDMs with his build, traits, & football background from Section 3 alone. Jovan as a frosh, Steve Ianzito, & fellow Carthage native Tom Grimm, who scored a million goals in HS & who Kempney has trained with immediately come to mind.

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W'boro'Cuse315 said:
The Orange pinnie on Kempney would indicate that he’s playing SSDM. He has a ton of offensive skill but I’ve always seen this as his ideal role. We’ve had quite a few successful SSDMs with his build, traits, & football background from Section 3 alone. Jovan as a frosh, Steve Ianzito, & fellow Carthage native Tom Grimm, who scored a million goals in HS & who Kempney has trained with immediately come to mind.

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This has been my question all fall, and I think he will excel there and hopefully help our transition game with his offensive ability. Needed some upstate blue collar blood at SSDM.
 
W'boro'Cuse315 said:
The Orange pinnie on Kempney would indicate that he’s playing SSDM. He has a ton of offensive skill but I’ve always seen this as his ideal role. We’ve had quite a few successful SSDMs with his build, traits, & football background from Section 3 alone. Jovan as a frosh, Steve Ianzito, & fellow Carthage native Tom Grimm, who scored a million goals in HS & who Kempney has trained with immediately come to mind.

View attachment 232120
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I thought the same thing when I saw the picture, though very astute of you to notice the jersey color, that should have been obvious.

Very much like this for Kempney. Through no real fault of his own, he is pretty far down the depth chart for offensive midfielders. Thomson, English, Birtwistle, Stevens, Leo, Rhoa are pretty entrenched as the top six middies. Then you still have veterans like Elija-Brown, Cortes, Tenaglia who are in the mix, and throw in freshmen like Hottle, Kellogg and McCarthey and it's a very crowded group. If he wants to play I think a move to SSDM is the best move. He looks like a guy who has a lot of the tools to be successful (size and speed). Plus he really looked to me like a guy who needed seasoning last year. If he can gain some confidence on defense, there's no reason he can't eventually transition back to offense. He won't get that game experience waiting for a blowout on the bench.

Curious who the top SSDMs are right now - Rice, Titus and Rosa seem like the obvious choices. After that I think at least a few new guys need to emerge. I've spotted freshman Hunter playing defense, as well as Michael Page (former LSM). Jake Spallina, Kempney also now are in the mix. Nathan LeVine came in as SSDM and they updated his position from midfield back to SSDM this year. I like the idea of Sageder or Clary converting to short stick, but I think both have been spotted using long sticks in practice.
 
I figured we would be seeing Stevens, English and Thomson on the first line (they will be dripping in Canadian swagger juice) and then Birtwistle, Leo and Rhoa on the other line. Either way they put them together, that is a filthy group of midfielders. This entire roster is starting to take shape and give me a lot more hope that they can at least make the tournament and give themselves a chance.

ONE THING I REALLY LIKE, I like the idea of Stevens on the wing with Matt Wright playing LSM opposite. Wright was part of a faceoff unit last year that tore it up for The Mount and he was a big reason for that. Stevens is probably a top 5 shorty wing, for sure a top 10. I'd imagine even our fogo's from last year would have benefited from not having Aviles flank them. He was as soft as you come as an SSDM in my opinion. He had gotten better by last season, but still nothing to write home about, and his wing play was questionable on draws. Makes sense why Aviles left. He was going to lose the bulk of the wing runs as well as some of those defensive shifts where Stevens is likely to get stuck on the field. He was probably looking at close to a 40% decrease in burn, with quite literally zero chance he would ever get any offensive looks.

I'm still a bit worried about the defense, but having all the guys back from last year where the inexperienced guys all got thrown to the wolves and everyone had to guard guys that were "kind of" out of their league, this year should be different. They added quality depth through the portal, we get our #11 back and both LSM transfers will likely contribute. The experience the young guys got last season should help a lot this year.

The guy I'm most excited about though is Mule. He's the perfect addition to this attack. I think it would be nice to see him playing X with Spallina up on the wing. But him and Spallina will be interchangeable. I just think Mule is better fit for running at X between his style of play and experience and I'd rather have Spallina above GLE more often.
 
Any chance they run Mule out of the box, hoping to get a shorty matchup and then inverting?
 
LaxFactor said:
I figured we would be seeing Stevens, English and Thomson on the first line (they will be dripping in Canadian swagger juice) and then Birtwistle, Leo and Rhoa on the other line. Either way they put them together, that is a filthy group of midfielders. This entire roster is starting to take shape and give me a lot more hope that they can at least make the tournament and give themselves a chance.

ONE THING I REALLY LIKE, I like the idea of Stevens on the wing with Matt Wright playing LSM opposite. Wright was part of a faceoff unit last year that tore it up for The Mount and he was a big reason for that. Stevens is probably a top 5 shorty wing, for sure a top 10. I'd imagine even our fogo's from last year would have benefited from not having Aviles flank them. He was as soft as you come as an SSDM in my opinion. He had gotten better by last season, but still nothing to write home about, and his wing play was questionable on draws. Makes sense why Aviles left. He was going to lose the bulk of the wing runs as well as some of those defensive shifts where Stevens is likely to get stuck on the field. He was probably looking at close to a 40% decrease in burn, with quite literally zero chance he would ever get any offensive looks.

I'm still a bit worried about the defense, but having all the guys back from last year where the inexperienced guys all got thrown to the wolves and everyone had to guard guys that were "kind of" out of their league, this year should be different. They added quality depth through the portal, we get our #11 back and both LSM transfers will likely contribute. The experience the young guys got last season should help a lot this year.

The guy I'm most excited about though is Mule. He's the perfect addition to this attack. I think it would be nice to see him playing X with Spallina up on the wing. But him and Spallina will be interchangeable. I just think Mule is better fit for running at X between his style of play and experience and I'd rather have Spallina above GLE more often.
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Agree with a lot of this. I think there is a chance we see Stevens as a second line middie in addition to his wing play/occasional ssdm runs as a result of being on the wing. He also may play on man up. Leo I think is too good a dodger to keep off the first line. Gets separation as well as anyone on the team and is just getting started. Has some good tendencies with feeding and finishing in tight spaces like our guys with more indoor lax experience. We will see how that shakes out.

Only thing I kind of strongly disagree with is the Avilies grief. It is the hardest position in the sport and if you are starting at ssdm there will be times that you get overpowered and beat, especially with a schedule like ours. Thought he was the best at physical play of our top three ssdms last season in Aviles Rice and Murphy. Rosa the strongest/most physical of the 4 but his lesser foot speed made him the easiest target of the top 4. We struggled with Aviles out of the lineup in games like the first UNC game. Dont think it is fair at all to call him soft. I do agree that he was not always the best off the wing and Stevens will be an upgrade there specifically, but one of our hardest tasks this season will be finding a quality replacement for him at ssdm. Dont think the reason he left was the addition of Stevens, who is leaning heavily in the offensive direction. If he stayed here he was going to likely start at ssdm once again.
 
Powellfan said:
I thought the same thing when I saw the picture, though very astute of you to notice the jersey color, that should have been obvious.

Very much like this for Kempney. Through no real fault of his own, he is pretty far down the depth chart for offensive midfielders. Thomson, English, Birtwistle, Stevens, Leo, Rhoa are pretty entrenched as the top six middies. Then you still have veterans like Elija-Brown, Cortes, Tenaglia who are in the mix, and throw in freshmen like Hottle, Kellogg and McCarthey and it's a very crowded group. If he wants to play I think a move to SSDM is the best move. He looks like a guy who has a lot of the tools to be successful (size and speed). Plus he really looked to me like a guy who needed seasoning last year. If he can gain some confidence on defense, there's no reason he can't eventually transition back to offense. He won't get that game experience waiting for a blowout on the bench.

Curious who the top SSDMs are right now - Rice, Titus and Rosa seem like the obvious choices. After that I think at least a few new guys need to emerge. I've spotted freshman Hunter playing defense, as well as Michael Page (former LSM). Jake Spallina, Kempney also now are in the mix. Nathan LeVine came in as SSDM and they updated his position from midfield back to SSDM this year. I like the idea of Sageder or Clary converting to short stick, but I think both have been spotted using long sticks in practice.
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Trujillo will see some time.
 
LaxFactor said:
I figured we would be seeing Stevens, English and Thomson on the first line (they will be dripping in Canadian swagger juice) and then Birtwistle, Leo and Rhoa on the other line. Either way they put them together, that is a filthy group of midfielders. This entire roster is starting to take shape and give me a lot more hope that they can at least make the tournament and give themselves a chance.

ONE THING I REALLY LIKE, I like the idea of Stevens on the wing with Matt Wright playing LSM opposite. Wright was part of a faceoff unit last year that tore it up for The Mount and he was a big reason for that. Stevens is probably a top 5 shorty wing, for sure a top 10. I'd imagine even our fogo's from last year would have benefited from not having Aviles flank them. He was as soft as you come as an SSDM in my opinion. He had gotten better by last season, but still nothing to write home about, and his wing play was questionable on draws. Makes sense why Aviles left. He was going to lose the bulk of the wing runs as well as some of those defensive shifts where Stevens is likely to get stuck on the field. He was probably looking at close to a 40% decrease in burn, with quite literally zero chance he would ever get any offensive looks.

I'm still a bit worried about the defense, but having all the guys back from last year where the inexperienced guys all got thrown to the wolves and everyone had to guard guys that were "kind of" out of their league, this year should be different. They added quality depth through the portal, we get our #11 back and both LSM transfers will likely contribute. The experience the young guys got last season should help a lot this year.

The guy I'm most excited about though is Mule. He's the perfect addition to this attack. I think it would be nice to see him playing X with Spallina up on the wing. But him and Spallina will be interchangeable. I just think Mule is better fit for running at X between his style of play and experience and I'd rather have Spallina above GLE more often.
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I like a lot of this, though I do agree with DrLexus regarding Aviles. He was perhaps not the best at being a face-off wing but he was still a pretty good player for the Orange. He would look great one moment (the momentum turning goal against UNC) and then kind of disappear another (I can think of at least one moment when he got alligator arms on a loose ball). That said, I have to imagine he would still be the team's number one SSDM if he stayed, I can't imagine that he was worried about losing playing time even if wasn't going to be the top short stick wing player.

I do have high hopes for the face-off crew, with Kohn and Mullen as the FOGOs. Did you mean Matt Wright or Steven Schmitt? I think Schmitt is the big addition to that side of the field, 97 groundballs and 13 points is kind of insane. With Stevens on the other side, you couldn't ask for a better "glow-up" in terms of face-off wings. They will be good at getting the ball off the carpet and also being a threat in transition. Kohn put up points at Tufts and Mullen is a very good athlete.

Still a bit worried about the SSDM position but that might just take some time to figure out.
 
Powellfan said:
I like a lot of this, though I do agree with DrLexus regarding Aviles. He was perhaps not the best at being a face-off wing but he was still a pretty good player for the Orange. He would look great one moment (the momentum turning goal against UNC) and then kind of disappear another (I can think of at least one moment when he got alligator arms on a loose ball). That said, I have to imagine he would still be the team's number one SSDM if he stayed, I can't imagine that he was worried about losing playing time even if wasn't going to be the top short stick wing player.

I do have high hopes for the face-off crew, with Kohn and Mullen as the FOGOs. Did you mean Matt Wright or Steven Schmitt? I think Schmitt is the big addition to that side of the field, 97 groundballs and 13 points is kind of insane. With Stevens on the other side, you couldn't ask for a better "glow-up" in terms of face-off wings. They will be good at getting the ball off the carpet and also being a threat in transition. Kohn put up points at Tufts and Mullen is a very good athlete.

Still a bit worried about the SSDM position but that might just take some time to figure out.
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Stevens, Titus, Wright, and Schmitt are all ball hawks. Not sure why you wouldnt just rotate them to keep them fresh? I don't get the sense it's like playing attack, goalie, or faceoff, where there's a rhythm you need to settle into.
 
Shrmdougluvr said:
Stevens, Titus, Wright, and Schmitt are all ball hawks. Not sure why you wouldnt just rotate them to keep them fresh? I don't get the sense it's like playing attack, goalie, or faceoff, where there's a rhythm you need to settle into.
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Sorry, I didn't meant to imply that it would only be Stevens and Schmitt on the wings for face-offs. Like you said SU should be able to go two deep pretty easily with their wings. Curious if Wright or Schmitt would be the first option as the long stick.
 
Powellfan said:
Sorry, I didn't meant to imply that it would only be Stevens and Schmitt on the wings for face-offs. Like you said SU should be able to go two deep pretty easily with their wings. Curious if Wright or Schmitt would be the first option as the long stick.
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I could be wrong ( have been plenty) but I believe that Wright and Schmitt will be 1 and 2 at LSM this year with both seeing plenty of time. I think this unfortunately bumps Sagedar back to the back up of the 1-2 punch of Wright and Schmitt. In a perfect world the staff would approach him about taking a RS this year but I don't know what interest if any he would have. Hate to burn another year for only a small amount of PT when he will likely be the #1 LSM next year.
 
LaxFactor said:
I figured we would be seeing Stevens, English and Thomson on the first line (they will be dripping in Canadian swagger juice) and then Birtwistle, Leo and Rhoa on the other line. Either way they put them together, that is a filthy group of midfielders. This entire roster is starting to take shape and give me a lot more hope that they can at least make the tournament and give themselves a chance.

ONE THING I REALLY LIKE, I like the idea of Stevens on the wing with Matt Wright playing LSM opposite. Wright was part of a faceoff unit last year that tore it up for The Mount and he was a big reason for that. Stevens is probably a top 5 shorty wing, for sure a top 10. I'd imagine even our fogo's from last year would have benefited from not having Aviles flank them. He was as soft as you come as an SSDM in my opinion. He had gotten better by last season, but still nothing to write home about, and his wing play was questionable on draws. Makes sense why Aviles left. He was going to lose the bulk of the wing runs as well as some of those defensive shifts where Stevens is likely to get stuck on the field. He was probably looking at close to a 40% decrease in burn, with quite literally zero chance he would ever get any offensive looks.

I'm still a bit worried about the defense, but having all the guys back from last year where the inexperienced guys all got thrown to the wolves and everyone had to guard guys that were "kind of" out of their league, this year should be different. They added quality depth through the portal, we get our #11 back and both LSM transfers will likely contribute. The experience the young guys got last season should help a lot this year.

The guy I'm most excited about though is Mule. He's the perfect addition to this attack. I think it would be nice to see him playing X with Spallina up on the wing. But him and Spallina will be interchangeable. I just think Mule is better fit for running at X between his style of play and experience and I'd rather have Spallina above GLE more often.
Expand...
insane to call aviles soft or that he left because he was going to lose some wing runs, or that he was in line for a 40% decrease in burn. all totally wrong. with all due respect it sounds like u have no idea what youre talking about and are just blabbing

stevens is very very very good on the wings but you do not want him to get stuck on defense...if hes getting stuck there a lot, then that is bad. he hasnt played much defense since his freshman year at princeton. its something of a misnomer that hes a true 2-way guy. but his ability on the wing is legit
 
nyclax said:
insane to call aviles soft or that he left because he was going to lose some wing runs, or that he was in line for a 40% decrease in burn. all totally wrong. with all due respect it sounds like u have no idea what youre talking about and are just blabbing

stevens is very very very good on the wings but you do not want him to get stuck on defense...if hes getting stuck there a lot, then that is bad. he hasnt played much defense since his freshman year at princeton. its something of a misnomer that hes a true 2-way guy. but his ability on the wing is legit
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Aviles is a very good player, I don't know an SU fan who wouldn't have wanted him back. Hop would be wise to run him as a true 2 way middie and let him play some O even though they have their own crunch of trying to find PT for all the O guys they brought back/in.

Aviles issue is he struggles to stay healthy and is not a great wing player. If Hop plays him correctly he could have a big year.
 
DoctahLexus said:
Agree with a lot of this. I think there is a chance we see Stevens as a second line middie in addition to his wing play/occasional ssdm runs as a result of being on the wing. He also may play on man up. Leo I think is too good a dodger to keep off the first line. Gets separation as well as anyone on the team and is just getting started. Has some good tendencies with feeding and finishing in tight spaces like our guys with more indoor lax experience. We will see how that shakes out.

Only thing I kind of strongly disagree with is the Avilies grief. It is the hardest position in the sport and if you are starting at ssdm there will be times that you get overpowered and beat, especially with a schedule like ours. Thought he was the best at physical play of our top three ssdms last season in Aviles Rice and Murphy. Rosa the strongest/most physical of the 4 but his lesser foot speed made him the easiest target of the top 4. We struggled with Aviles out of the lineup in games like the first UNC game. Dont think it is fair at all to call him soft. I do agree that he was not always the best off the wing and Stevens will be an upgrade there specifically, but one of our hardest tasks this season will be finding a quality replacement for him at ssdm. Dont think the reason he left was the addition of Stevens, who is leaning heavily in the offensive direction. If he stayed here he was going to likely start at ssdm once again.
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I agree with your remarks on Aviles. Like all the ssdms, he suffered from a generally bad d. But he was a fine tough athletic middie who could bring the ball into the offensive end quickly and set up the o by threatening to go to the goal. I will miss him. Not sure why the bad reviews above.
 
Soudns like if Boyden keeps playing like he did during IL's visit he'll wrap up that third starting attack spot for UVA. I think that makes the most sense, seems like a guy who could very easily stand in for Dickson in terms of finishing ability. They said the second attack unit was made up of Millon, Deringer and Sunderland. I have to imagine some of those guys get moved to midfield at some point.

UVA will once again be huge on defense, they replace Sausted at 6'5 with Fulton who stands 6'6. Some love for Ryan Colsey, curious if he will see time this year. Have to imagine it will be at midfield. No mention of the new FOGOs they brought in, which I thought was odd seeing as they brought three of them in. Meizan is still waiting to hear back about his eligibility. No surprise but sounds like UVA will once again be very very good next year.

 
Powellfan said:
He’s got one goal so far tonight.

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I gotta see the play again.. but the announcers were saying the behind the back put back was English also

It didn’t look like him but maybe they are right and I’m wrong but it looked like 23 not 27
 
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