2024 Preseason All Americans

[Powellfan]

Second Team: Jake Stevens
Third Team: Joey Spallina
Honorable Mention: Will Mark, Sam English, Jake Titus

 

[Powellfan]

 

[DoctahLexus]

Jack Titus honorable mention?? Had no idea anyone knew much about the guy, including us here. I guess this is unexpected good news! Someone somewhere is saying positive things about the guy. No idea who though.

 

[nyclax]

titus on there is nuts...how does he make it but jack boyden, another d3 to d1 guy, does not. wild..

the other four are very deserving, and cases can be made for olexo, thomson or mule as well...

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Will Mark only HM?

We'll see about that.

 

[UrbanaOrange]

Will Mark only HM?

We'll see about that.

Yeah, Will Mark HM. SMH

 

[DoctahLexus]

Titus thing is certainly weird as hell, but not a bad thing at all barring USA Lax mag throwing darts at a list of names to decide the ssdm honorable mentions. Someone is liking what they see, and that is a good thing for such an important position and an area we all agreed could be a problem next season. If Carter Rice and Titus can be a formidable starting unit that will be a huge boost for the D, even if the depth behind them is still questionable. This does not mean he is a guaranteed crazy success at this level, but it is intriguing that someone is hyping him up.

 

[Orangtiz]

Pretty surprised Olexo wasn’t named at all. You’re telling me he’s not a top 20 Close D or LSM in the country? Maybe I don’t follow the sport as a whole enough, but seems to me he would be.

Anyone know where he’s playing this year? Is it Close again or is he moving back to LSM?

 

[DoctahLexus]

Pretty surprised Olexo wasn’t named at all. You’re telling me he’s not a top 20 Close D or LSM in the country? Maybe I don’t follow the sport as a whole enough, but seems to me he would be.

Anyone know where he’s playing this year? Is it Close again or is he moving back to LSM?

Olexo might have had a better shot at making this if he stayed exclusively at LSM or Close. Not sure what position he plays this season, but he is an elite talent without question.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Pretty surprised Olexo wasn’t named at all. You’re telling me he’s not a top 20 Close D or LSM in the country? Maybe I don’t follow the sport as a whole enough, but seems to me he would be.

Anyone know where he’s playing this year? Is it Close again or is he moving back to LSM?

I've heard both spots but I think ultimately he ends up at close. I think in a perfect world for SU he plays at LSM as he can be a terror in transition and has the ability to play 1 on 1 with elite middies. He also played a lot of LSM this fall ( I know because he told me). However, SU brought in two excellent LSM's via the portal in Wright and Schmitt, neither projects to play close and neither came to sit when both were starters and in Schmitt's case I believe was the conferences LSM of the year. I can't see trying a 3 man rotation there, someone is barely gonna see the field.

I believe the lure of being able to pair him with Figuerias and have two potential lock down defenders at close along with likely Dwan will prove to much to resist.

 

[Orangtiz]

I've heard both spots but I think ultimately he ends up at close. I think in a perfect world for SU he plays at LSM as he can be a terror in transition and has the ability to play 1 on 1 with elite middies. He also played a lot of LSM this fall ( I know because he told me). However, SU brought in two excellent LSM's via the portal in Wright and Schmitt, neither projects to play close and neither came to sit when both were starters and in Schmitt's case I believe was the conferences LSM of the year. I can't see trying a 3 man rotation there, someone is barely gonna see the field.

I believe the lure of being able to pair him with Figuerias and have two potential lock down defenders at close along with likely Dwan will prove to much to resist.

Thanks for the insight. Any word on how Fig has looked leading up to his first college season? I know Spallina dropped a quote with some praise for him in the Fall.

This team really figures to have a lot of new faces on the defense despite returning a lot too. To your point, gotta think Wright, Schmitt, Titus, Fig are all going to be big time contributors on defense. Hopefully they can gel as a unit.

 

[Powellfan]

I believe the lure of being able to pair him with Figuerias and have two potential lock down defenders at close along with likely Dwan will prove to much to resist.

This is the lineup I am rooting for. I think Dwan would be a good complimentary defender who could also match up with the bigger bodies out there. Figuerias and Olexo could both potentially take away other teams top dodging threats. And it may just be me, but it seems like most teams these days are initiating most of their offense through the attack, and not the midfield. I'd rather have Olexo and Figuerias on say Shellenberger and Cormier, or O'Neil and Zawada (assuming he plays attack) or the Kavanaugh Brothers than I would have one of them on Shutz or McAdory or Dobson coming out of the box. If you are worried about transition offense, Schmitt from Mt. St. Mary's should have that department covered.

It would be pretty remarkable if SU had their entire close defense that started last year (Clary, Kol and Caccamo) return this year and none of them retained their starting spot. Clary was hurt a lot of last year and then was benched in the season finale vs Duke. Caccamo moved to LSM when Clary was hurt and Olexo had to guard the #1 attackman, but looked out of place. Kol struggled down the stretch. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if Kol does keep his spot and Olexo starts at LSM, but maybe I am putting to much into him being a captain.

 

[JeremyCuse]

This is the lineup I am rooting for. I think Dwan would be a good complimentary defender who could also match up with the bigger bodies out there. Figuerias and Olexo could both potentially take away other teams top dodging threats. And it may just be me, but it seems like most teams these days are initiating most of their offense through the attack, and not the midfield. I'd rather have Olexo and Figuerias on say Shellenberger and Cormier, or O'Neil and Zawada (assuming he plays attack) or the Kavanaugh Brothers than I would have one of them on Shutz or McAdory or Dobson coming out of the box. If you are worried about transition offense, Schmitt from Mt. St. Mary's should have that department covered.

It would be pretty remarkable if SU had their entire close defense that started last year (Clary, Kol and Caccamo) return this year and none of them retained their starting spot. Clary was hurt a lot of last year and then was benched in the season finale vs Duke. Caccamo moved to LSM when Clary was hurt and Olexo had to guard the #1 attackman, but looked out of place. Kol struggled down the stretch. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if Kol does keep his spot and Olexo starts at LSM, but maybe I am putting to much into him being a captain.

I expect Olexxo will start at LSM but eventually be bumped down, can't see his ability to play close and what SU has behind him at LSM (2 Seniors with AA potential) not eventually forcing SU's hands. As for he close defense, I suspect if Olexxo starts at LSM, the starting close trio is Figuerias, Dwan and likely Caccamo. The Caccamo spot is one I am not sure on, lots of potential options there. Gonna be some tough personnel decisions coming.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Think it will come down to who of Clary Caccamo and Kol can prove that their team defense errors last season were more a result of trying to play within Petros complex scheme, and not a result of their own bad decision making. They all made plenty of errors in team defense last season. I think if we are talking strictly 1v1 cover ability then Clary is the best of the three, but he may have been most likely to make an error in team play. Going in and out of the lineup due to injury did him no favors, but there were some seeerious head scratchers from him if you look at even just highlight tapes from our games last season.

There are a couple dark horse options on close D as well. Puckhaber the Gettysburgh transfer and Fratterigo (played in '22 but injured last year) could also push for time. Depth and competition is needed there. Our list of substitute options we could trust was a lot thinner last season.

 

[AD31]

Think it will come down to who of Clary Caccamo and Kol can prove that their team defense errors last season were more a result of trying to play within Petros complex scheme, and not a result of their own bad decision making. They all made plenty of errors in team defense last season. I think if we are talking strictly 1v1 cover ability then Clary is the best of the three, but he may have been most likely to make an error in team play. Going in and out of the lineup due to injury did him no favors, but there were some seeerious head scratchers from him if you look at even just highlight tapes from our games last season.

There are a couple dark horse options on close D as well. Puckhaber the Gettysburgh transfer and Fratterigo (played in '22 but injured last year) could also push for time. Depth and competition is needed there. Our list of substitute options we could trust was a lot thinner last season.

I haven't seen any tape of Schmitt but he is coming from playing in the MAAC which is a very weak conference. Just look at what Deleware did to Marist in the NCAA play in game. Marist won the MAAC and got blown off the field. I'm sure he a really good player but his stats u would think would be much different playing in the ACC. Getting CTs from guys on Sienna or Wagner is different then doing it to guys on Duke and ND. Again he might be just as good don't know until he's on the field. Some guys are just good and do it against whatever level of comp. Me personally I just love Olexos game as an LSM. I get it's probably best with him at close unless Clary was just injured last yr and is ready to go this yr. I also wonder is you guys did see Caccamo with a short stick in that pic? I mean if that's his way to get the most PT he might have been open to it and would really help solidify the SSDM group

 

[AD31]

More I think about really just need Schmitt to get GBs, especially playing wing and be solid in transitions. If ur a GB hawk then no matter what level u play at it u have a knack for it.. He did show he's very good at that playing for the Mount so he should be fine. Like I said I just love Olexo at LSM so would like to see him there.

 

[cuselaxss26]

Know he is captain but think kol starting at close would be mistake. He wasn’t great covering his guy specially off ball he was watching way to much ball not his man. Look at last few games specially uva on cutting scores most them kols guy cause he is staring somewhere else. I think smart play would be dwan fig n mixture of olexo, maby clary if healthy. Wouldn’t be against cacameo or younger talent (beck, kazinsky) or whoever. Then ur defense yet young but learns play tougher for couple years or least ur main two defenders. If anything think lsm should be solid either way with wright schmitch olexo even other transfer guys.

 

[nyclax]

i dont doubt that schmitt is good off the ground, but i am very skeptical of the mount's gb stats from last year...let's just put it that way. 97 in 16 games is clearly an outrageous number at first glance. it's 20 more than what their fogo was credited for, and he won 205 draws. and then they had another pole, mitch dunham, who had 75 gbs himself. two different defensemen with 75+ gbs in 16 games does not add up. either a very generous statekeeper at the mount or a lot of faceoff rakes that rolled out cleanly to their wings and were credited as groundballs. either way i would look at those numbers with grain of salt. doesnt mean he isnt a good gb player, he probably is. but 97 good?...i will admit i did not watch much mount film last year, but then again, who did lol

 

[DoctahLexus]

I haven't seen any tape of Schmitt but he is coming from playing in the MAAC which is a very weak conference. Just look at what Deleware did to Marist in the NCAA play in game. Marist won the MAAC and got blown off the field. I'm sure he a really good player but his stats u would think would be much different playing in the ACC. Getting CTs from guys on Sienna or Wagner is different then doing it to guys on Duke and ND. Again he might be just as good don't know until he's on the field. Some guys are just good and do it against whatever level of comp. Me personally I just love Olexos game as an LSM. I get it's probably best with him at close unless Clary was just injured last yr and is ready to go this yr. I also wonder is you guys did see Caccamo with a short stick in that pic? I mean if that's his way to get the most PT he might have been open to it and would really help solidify the SSDM group

Think that Caccamo photo is just a weird angle and he is holding a long stick. I highly doubt he gets moved to ssdm at this stage. He is a very solid cover guy too, but had some trouble with strait up speed dodgers last season. Did a great job covering Coulter Mackesy in the Princeton game but got burned by Lance Tillman a couple times in the UNC game. Dont think his game would translate to short stick.

 

[bjred]

It's practice, could be any number of things. Maybe a bad/weird angle. Or a drill/exercise that Odierna runs to have guys work on foot work/positioning and not relying on whacking/hacking with the pole. Or maybe they were joking around and one of the guys said he couldn't play defense with a short stick. That seems like a distinct head color so someone could look through all the pictures and see if it pops up somewhere else if they really need to know.

Either way, I'd have to agree with others that I can't see the coaches giving him a short stick and moving him unless it was really dire.

 

[Powellfan]

First Team: Jake Stevens
Third Team: Joey Spallina, Will Mark
Honorable Mention: Sam English, Saam Olexo,

No love for Jake Titus this time around, but nice to see Stevens and Mark be elevated from what US Lacrosse thought. Interesting that Stevens will most likely be a second line middie for SU, but is rated as a first teamer by IL. Obviously they are incorporating other things than just goals and assists, but not sure I've seen that before. Nice to see things like groundballs and defense be factored in more to the evaluation process.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]