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Message: [QUOTE="Powellfan, post: 3285724, member: 4819"] I feel like I have a lot of thoughts on the Colgate game, but I'll try and keep it brief. Offensively, lots of good developments. They seemed to struggle early on in the settled offense, but they scored on loose ball and unsettled situations which seemed to settle their nerves. The biggest thing I noticed is they seemed to be going at a rapid fire pace, the fastest I've seen them play in sometime. A few times it looked like they were going too fast for their own good, but I think as the season progresses they'll get better. Chase Scanlan is really really good. Better than advertised and I don't think the seven goals tell the whole story. He seemed to shoot the ball in a different area of the goal each time, in different ways. One of the most impressive plays he made wasn't even a goal, but a cross field laser of a pass that ended in a Buttermore goal (felt like he should have gotten an assist, but Buttermore made a quick dodge to get a better angle). Also he can really shoot the ball from deep. I was expecting big things from him this year, but have to say those expectations have grown. Lots of offensive players deserve praise, but Quinn and Trimboli really played well. Making tough shots and playing with a lot of aggression (especially Quinn, don't remember the last time a second line middie had 10 shots in a game). That second middie line in particular really is not afraid to shoot from deep - if Quinn keeps this up that second line is going to cause as much headaches as the first. Also special shout out to Rhefuss - what a difference from that start of last season. He looks a lot bigger this year than last and played with a lot of confidence. I hope he can keep being the distributor this team needs. I was a bit surprised by Cook and Dordevic's quiet game but I thought they didn't force things, which was good. I imagine there will be games where Dordevic is the one with four goals and Trimboli finishes with just an assist. As for the defense, I was most surprised by the play of Mellen - I've only seen him play that poorly in the playoffs last year against Loyola, and Griffin Brown is not Pat Spencer. Brown should have been a tailor made matchup for Mellen, but at least three times he beat him pretty straight up. Not sure if Mellen was indeed dealing with an injury, or just was overconfident about the matchup, but his play will have to improve. Again, as has been the MO of this defense, it seemed like switching and communication was a major issue - at least twice I saw someone slide and get scolded by the defender they were trying to "help". I saw some really nice individual plays by defenders, but not sure what the real "system" is. Concerning, but it is only the first game of the year. They'll have one game against Binghamton, but then some real heavy hitters come in to play with Army, Rutgers and even Hobart. I don't think they have the time to experiment with personnel - I think they need to make some tough decisions and let the guys who are going to play, gel. On a brighter note, I was impressed with the play of Helmer and Murphy, Helmer made a great groundball play in traffic and Murphy picked off a difficult pass on man-down that saved a goal. [/QUOTE]

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