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Message: [QUOTE="JeremyCuse, post: 1621387, member: 43"] A lot of things are up in the air at this point and Desko's comments about the midfield and Williams playing some offense are definitely red flags. Trying to get a handled on the two midlines is going to be tough but here are my thoughts. Attack - Donahue, Evans, Mariano, Player with the most tenuous hold - Evans Young guys who could play - Voight and Thorpe Dark Horse - Lane I think Donahue and Mariano will be on the field most of the time. Mariano put up good numbers at Umass despite little help. With Forkin transferring (odd decision), guys with Div 1 attack experience are limited expect Mariano to play a lot. Third spot is much more wide open, Evans will get first crack but he has been underwhelming at best his first two years. If he struggles look for Voight to get a crack. Haven't heard much about Thorpe since he got to SU last year but his skill level in high school was off the charts so I am throwing him out there as well. I like Solomon but I think he and Shewell are likely to redshirt unless they impress. Lane is interesting possibility, he played some middie last year but to me if he ever is going to see the field in meaningful time here it will be at attack. He looked way overmatched at the midfield and struggled mightily. Midfield 1st line - Barber, Piroli, Simmons/Westin 2nd Line - Romano, Salcido, Dejoe/Carlin/Ford 3rd Line - McKinney? Lane, Carlin/Ford? O'Sullivan? Midfield is unfortunately a bit of a mess right now. I know Barber played some attack in the fall but I don't see him anywhere but midfield barring an injury to Donahue or something like that. Barber has plenty of experience and having played attack at OCC for 2 years he's used to seeing a long pole defender. Piroli should slide right in at the starting midfield. A guy that can score and distribute he would actually make a lot of sense at attack but he has much more valuable at midfield with all of the question marks SU has. Third spot will have to be earned by someone and right now its anyones guess. The fact that none of the middies who redshirted last year separated themselves from the pack in the fall is very disheartening. SU simply cant afford for all of those guys to be recruiting misses with all that they lost to graduation this year and will lost next. Ford, Carlin, Schwasnick, McKinney, one or two of those guys needs to separate themselves from the pack to earn some meaningful minutes this year. With Barber and Piroli both Seniors some quality depth needs to be developed to step in if we don't want to have this same problem next year. Four people to keep an eye on at the midfield - Dejoe, Westin, Salcido, and Romano. Right now the dark horse to make one of the first two lines has to be Romano. UA recruit, ridiculous stats, heavy praise and a wide open lane, you couldn't ask for a better opening if your an incoming frosh. Hopefully he takes advantage. Westin and Dejoe have both shown flashes but haven't been able to put together any sort of consistency. Westin is really in a make or break it type situation as he was on the 2nd line last year but didn't have a lot to show for it. He needs to take that next step. Ditto for Dejoe who had a couple games where he showed he was more then a shooter but his playing time outside of man up was limited. Desko loves to reward senior middies with a good amount of PT, a spot on the 2nd mid line is there for the taking. Salcido has been an enigma he was the talk of pre-season camp last year and stared on the second line. Unfortunately he ended up being pretty much a disaster and by the later half of the year had lost his spot. Can he rise from the ashes? Can he slow himself down to the pace of the game? Has he learned from last years turnover issues? If your looking for two way out there dark horse candidates keep your eyes on Kevin Hutchings and Riley O Sullivan. Two frosh who will probably redshirt but again with so much unsettled the opportunities are there for a young player that in most years at SU would be unthinkable. [/QUOTE]

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