Cornell Gameday...

[4evaOrange]

NO idea if they will to be honest. UNC is gonna be desperate next week ( I can't see them losing to UVA Sat) and they have the 1-2 punch at the X like we do. Their offense isn't nearly as good as Cornell's but their defense is way better than the one we saw tonight. At this point nothing would surprise me.

Watch us win both and the acct and get 1 seed and lose to NJIT in ncaat.

 

[AngryOtto]

This team needs DART

 

[4evaOrange]

This team needs DRUG

fixed

 

[DMVCuseLax]

We need a leader on the offensive end of the field. I thought the offense would be our strength but clearly it isn’t. We can’t pass and catch when the game is on the line which tonight shouldn’t have even been close in my opinion.

Does anyone know how many goals we gave up on man down? That unit has done well but we need to be able to adjust when the game is truly on the line.

Our offense needs to know when to turn off the tricky and just execute. Joey not starting with the ball in OT was piss poor.

Lastly Rhoa and Leo need to be on the same line. They create matchup issues. Rhoa needs to be on man up.

Time for some adjustments.

 

[illestcuse]

Leave it up to Gait and co. to blow a lead like that. March's punishment should be running up and down the Euclid steps 50x (minimum) for being stupid enough to get ejected in an important game like that. Same with everyone else that occurred those ridiculous penalties to allow them to get back in the game in the first place. Where is the leadership? Honestly...

 

[SUlax88-09]

Overall this loss tells me Gait as the HC is still very much in question, this is a game you can't lose in year 3 with this team and Cornell's shortcomings, sorry full stop.

Great stuff! Good for you for venting. You usually aren’t so critical, so I can feel your frustration. I hear ya, too. It was actually a great college lacrosse game, but such a frustrating loss.

I agree with all of your points, and I’ll add mine in a sec. Despite it all though, if Coach Gait just calls a timeout when there was a scrum at midfield and we had briefly the ball with 20 seconds left, then I think we win the game. We had the ball, and I was screaming at the TV “Call Time-out, Call Time-out”. No excuse for not calling it…

In terms of game analysis:
-English, Leo, Hiltz, and Spallina all played well (I’ve been critical of Spallina in big games, but I thought this was the best he‘s played against a good team)
-Kohn obviously dominated face offs
-Mark kept us in it with some big 4th quarter saves
-I hate to be a broken record, but our non-Rice SSDMs struggled again (Rice is such a stud though!). Even Hottle had a rough game. Stevens played more SSDM today, which I like, but he’s being asked to do too much and he’s getting tired. I’d take him off of our Man Up team
-There is a reason why Mule is drawing the SSDM, so why would we have him initiate our offense in crucial moments at the end of the game?
-I like our D Coordinator, our D is really solid, but I’m not a fan of our gimmicky Man Down team strategy. I said that we should get rid of it earlier in the year, and I still feel that way. They got destroyed today
-7 fourth quarter turnovers (the complete opposite of clutch)
-Cornell’s attack is awesome! Kirst, Long, and Goldstein are all great attackmen! Impressive.
-Again defending the darn pick play cost us. Not sure why Dwan left Kirst for the game winning goal (there was no need to switch, and certainly not if you’re guarding a Tewaarton Finalist!)
-Cornell’s back-up goalie, Knust (once their starting goalie) had some incredible saves in the 4th and in overtimes. I wanted Leo to take it 1 on 1 at the end, but we still got good shots (Rhoa, Thomson, and English all had great looks). Their goalie just made clutch saves. He had a 75% save percentage! Impressive

We’re probably not gonna beat Virginia, so UNC is like a playoff game. We will likely not be winning the Face Off battle against UNC, their freshman face off man is awesome!, so it’ll have to be a team effort. (Can’t we just get rid of Face-Offs altogether? I’m looking forward to watching the 6’s version of lacrosse in the Olympics mostly because there won‘t be Face Offs. The better ‘team’ should win)

 

[LaxAddict38]

Need to be able to clear against 10-man consistently or this will happen to us again. Copycat league and possessions are everything, we will get 10-manned again. Clearing vs. 10-man / aggressive ride should be a segment at every practice for next 2 weeks.

 

[JeremyCuse]

We need a leader on the offensive end of the field. I thought the offense would be our strength but clearly it isn’t. We can’t pass and catch when the game is on the line which tonight shouldn’t have even been close in my opinion.

Does anyone know how many goals we gave up on man down? That unit has done well but we need to be able to adjust when the game is truly on the line.

Our offense needs to know when to turn off the tricky and just execute. Joey not starting with the ball in OT was piss poor.

Lastly Rhoa and Leo need to be on the same line. They create matchup issues. Rhoa needs to be on man up.

Time for some adjustments.

Agree on the adjustments but the problem is the board has been calling for most of those moves since the maryland games yet the same lineup is rolled out there and the same issues keep cropping up. Gait allows to much freedom, we don't need a BTB pass nursing a one goal lead late in the 4th.

We also either won't or can't address the undisciplined play that has cost this team at least 2 wins. 9 mins of penalties or whatever it was is absurd and I know it was probably a horrible official but how the hell can March let himself get tossed there? We also seem incapable of defeating a 10 man ride, 6 or 7 failed clears at this point in the season is simply not acceptable, how many times are we gonna get victimized on that before we make an adjustment?

It's one thing to let the team run wild when its 2002/2004 and you have powell and the best O in the game, this isn't that team or program.

As for Rhoa and Leo I couldn't agree more but it won't happen, were enamored with Thomson running with the 1s and a second line with him and Stevenson drawing shorties screams disaster.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Great stuff! Good for you for venting. You usually aren’t so critical, so I can feel your frustration. I hear ya, too. It was actually a great college lacrosse game, but such a frustrating loss.

I agree with all of your points, and I’ll add mine in a sec. Despite it all though, if Coach Gait just calls a timeout when there was a scrum at midfield and we had briefly the ball with 20 seconds left, then I think we win the game. We had the ball, and I was screaming at the TV “Call Time-out, Call Time-out”. No excuse for not calling it…

In terms of game analysis:
-English, Leo, Hiltz, and Spallina all played well (I’ve been critical of Spallina in big games, but I thought this was the best he‘s played against a good team)
-Kohn obviously dominated face offs
-Mark kept us in it with some big 4th quarter saves
-I hate to be a broken record, but our non-Rice SSDMs struggled again (Rice is such a stud though!). Even Hottle had a rough game. Stevens played more SSDM today, which I like, but he’s being asked to do too much and he’s getting tired. I’d take him off of our Man Up team
-There is a reason why Mule is drawing the SSDM, so why would we have him initiate our offense in crucial moments at the end of the game?
-I like our D Coordinator, our D is really solid, but I’m not a fan of our gimmicky Man Down team strategy. I said that we should get rid of it earlier in the year, and I still feel that way. They got destroyed today
-Cornell’s attack is awesome! Kirst, Long, and Goldstein are all great attackmen! Impressive.
-Again defending the darn pick play cost us. Not sure why Dwan left Kirst for the game winning goal (there was no need to switch, and certainly not if you’re guarding a Tewaarton Finalist!)
-Cornell’s back-up goalie, Knust (once their starting goalie) had some incredible saves in the 4th and in overtimes. I wanted Leo to take it 1 on 1 at the end, but we still got good shots (Rhoa, Thomson, and English all had great looks). Their goalie just made clutch saves. He had a 75% save percentage! Impressive

We’re probably not gonna beat Virginia, so UNC is like a playoff game. We will likely not be winning the Face Off battle against UNC, their freshman face off man is awesome!, so it’ll have to be a team effort. (Can’t we just get rid of Face-Offs altogether? I’m looking forward to watching the 6’s version of lacrosse in the Olympics mostly because there won‘t be Face Offs. The better ‘team’ should win)

Part way through your post but wanted to clarify the lack of a TO. Remember this isn't the women's game, you have to get the ball in the box on your end of the field to call TO. Gait didn't' call one because he couldn't.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Syracuse lacrosse assistant Pat March ejected at Cornell

March was ejected in the first quarter for arguing with an official.

www.syracuse.com

March ejected for making contact with an official

 

[SUlax88-09]

Part way through your post but wanted to clarify the lack of a TO. Remember this isn't the women's game, you have to get the ball in the box on your end of the field to call TO. Gait didn't' call one because he couldn't.

Thanks, but Olexo briefly had the ball on our half of the field with 29 seconds left (we were up by 1), and Gait could have called Time Out

 

[JeremyCuse]

Thanks, but Olexo briefly had the ball on our half of the field with 29 seconds left (we were up by 1), and Gait could have called Time Out

Has to get in the box not just our side of the field.

 

[SUlax88-09]

Has to get in the box not just our side of the field.

Darn it. I see. Thanks. Olexo briefly had the ball on our half of the field (not in the box though) with 29 seconds left, and I thought Gait could have called Time Out. Guess I was wrong. Tough loss. Thanks again

 

[bjred]

North Carolina - Let me choke away two wins

Syracuse - Hold my beer, I’ll show you how to properly implode and give up a win

At this point going into the game against UNC, I’m not sure you want to be the team with the early lead.

Thanks to Mule for transferring in and giving it a go but at this point the bad plays outweigh the good plays. Granted the season is almost over but plug someone else in. Move Birtwistle or Leo and use some of that bench to fill their spots like Tenaglia or Cordes who have shown some speed or Kempney to stretch a defense with his shot. If you don’t want to move them then plug in Deere or Elijah-Brown.

I’m not as down on the junkyard dogs as others. Yeah there’s been some struggles but they’ve actually done a decent job at not giving up goals. But it is frustrating watching both them and the regular defense make poor decisions when it comes to clearing.

Last night was probably the worst the defense has looked all season. It honestly looked more like last years defense than what we’ve seen this year. Ill timed or half hearted slides, shorties getting beat, and struggles with picks. Hottle has been great pretty much learning as he goes but last night he kept overplaying the Cornell player, allowing them to easily cut back for a hands free shot. It felt like the season started with guys not trusting each other so we got the early slides and help when it really wasn’t needed. Then as the season went on, they started to trust what each other was capable of and the slides/help weren’t as quick and better timed. Now it feels like they’ve regressed back to the start of the year.

Hopefully this break till the UNC game allows them to recharge and refocus. Probably will need to win one of the final two to get into the ACC tournament, though taking both would be better.

 

[Laxfanshutt]

I’m just disgusted it last night.. I try to be positive but How do you put you hands on a ref especially on an offsides call
Way too many penalties on stupid things that shouldn’t be happening. Example Leo yelling at a ref after he scores a goal… no sense
Way too many stupid turnovers.. almost seem like they had the ball in the defense end the entire fourth quarter
Only scoring three goals in a second half is atrocious.. FINISH YOUR SHOTS!!!
Feel like right now. The only thing we really lost was a chance to be seated unless we win the next two games.
Definitely turned the UNC game into a must win.
The good news is we have 10 days to prepare for that game.. definitely need to straighten some stuff out

 

[nyclax]

i am surprised to see some blaming the offense...hard to blame them when they put up 17

this game was lost on the ground and in the middle of the field in the second half...looked like cornell wanted it more

2nd half + overtime stats:
Gbs 25-16 cornell
turnovers - 14 cuse, 8 cornell

they had multiple chances to ice the game and failed to do so...

finally they sure did look directionless on both ends of the field in the second half...whether or not that had something to do with march sitting in the locker room and more in-game management falling on gait's shoulders i dont know but they looked rudderless...like a raft floating in a storm...almost helpless

 

[GrowTheGame]

Such a painful loss, and once again Gary not calling a timeout at the end of the game costs us. I hope he seriously considers how he utilizes timeouts going forward in these situations.

Not that we’re great out of timeouts anyway… woof

 

[nyclax]

i believe march will have to sit out the next game as well per ncaa rules

 

[tbonezone]

damn i missed the game last nite. how'd it go ?

 

[OrangeXtreme]

We need a leader on the offensive end of the field. I thought the offense would be our strength but clearly it isn’t. We can’t pass and catch when the game is on the line which tonight shouldn’t have even been close in my opinion.

Does anyone know how many goals we gave up on man down? That unit has done well but we need to be able to adjust when the game is truly on the line.

Our offense needs to know when to turn off the tricky and just execute. Joey not starting with the ball in OT was piss poor.

Lastly Rhoa and Leo need to be on the same line. They create matchup issues. Rhoa needs to be on man up.

Time for some adjustments.

Cornell was 4-8 on EMO's.

However, we got a stop late in the game and Titus turned it over on the clear. Cornell scored a few seconds later while we were at full strength.

 

[ForCuseSake]

The attack does nothing during 10 man rides.

I thought there might’ve been a change in possession before Olexxo scooped it near midfield with 20 seconds left (there wasn’t).

I rewatched that sequence and saw Joey going hard to help at midfield. Hiltz shows up late but eventually charges in and Mule jogging into frame after the ball was going the other way.

If our attack is going to be 3 average dodgers, then I would prefer at least one to be a bigger physical presence (meaning bigger than 5’10).

They don’t ride very well and that disappoints me given SU’s history of scrappy, hard riding attackers.

On the 10 man, I want to see one of the close D run hard upfield with the ball to draw a rider. The casual sideline to sideline passing only helps the 10 man set up.

Don’t sub off, and send an attackman or two over midfield to get a pass from the close D. I would hope Spallina and Hiltz would do better in the middle with the ball than Rice and Lavine.

 

[ForCuseSake]

i am surprised to see some blaming the offense...hard to blame them when they put up 17

this game was lost on the ground and in the middle of the field in the second half...looked like cornell wanted it more

2nd half + overtime stats:
Gbs 25-16 cornell
turnovers - 14 cuse, 8 cornell

they had multiple chances to ice the game and failed to do so...

finally they sure did look directionless on both ends of the field in the second half...whether or not that had something to do with march sitting in the locker room and more in-game management falling on gait's shoulders i dont know but they looked rudderless...like a raft floating in a storm...almost helpless

For me it’s the fact they couldn’t score 4 after putting in 14.

Credit to Cornell for having the hustle and discipline in the second half.

But SU’s inability to pass and catch on offense, especially in the 4th and OT, is inexcusable.

Agree 100% that the offense looked directionless in the second half. I give more credit to Cornell’s offense and don’t think SU’s defense was as bad as others.

I have a problem with pressing out in OT but thought the defense was okay given the penalties and lack of offensive support after halftime.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

damn i missed the game last nite. how'd it go ?

There were horses, and a man on fire, and Pat March killed a guy with a trident.

 

[4evaOrange]

We went from one of the greatest wins in recent memory to one of the laziest worst horrid losses in recent history within a 2 week span.

That’s some Jekyll and Hyde stuff right there.

 

[CrazyPeople]

Syracuse lacrosse assistant Pat March ejected at Cornell

March was ejected in the first quarter for arguing with an official.

www.syracuse.com

March ejected for making contact with an official

Yikes, that is bad. Can't touch the officials. Even Tierney didn't go that far.