Cornell Gameday...

[LAcuse]

Agreed. When he's on, he's great. It's just so maddening that you never really know what you're going to get game to game.

yah, he's "like a box of chocolates" man!

 

[DMVCuseLax]

The biggest problem with playing at a venue without replay capabilities is that refs can’t review hits like this. This should have been locked in for 2 to 3 min in my opinion. Similar to what was called against Cornell against PSU. After we turned the ball over on the man-up, I could hear the Cornell players chirping at Leo. Judging by the way their defense was talking, it definitely seemed like a dirty, targeted play.

 

[kismet35]

Rough game for the boys… Weather and stadium were kinda suspect. Lights and speakers didn’t even come on until the third quarter or whatever. Should’ve just played at Hofstra—Mitchell Field has always been a crappy venue.

A lot of factors at play here. We were in it for the most part. In the Dome, it would’ve been 50/50—maybe even leaning in our favor. Jimmy wasn’t seeing the ball too well—there were a few stick-side goals where the ball was swinging from left to right from behind and then pumped cross field to the left, forcing him to rotate left when the ball was switched to the back side, which unfortunately opens up a small window. Thought they were going to pull Jimmy in the second quarter… I saw Ippoliti taking some warm-up shots. He came around but the ball wasnt falling our way on the inside...Some easy goals that were just bad bounces.

Honestly, the game could’ve gone either way.

Some little things I noticed from being there—might be petty—but Cornell’s sideline setup was tight, organized, and clean. Extra sticks, staff, and crew all had their spots. Might not mean much to most, but those small details add up and really help with team cohesion. Again, little things matter and could make a difference… just what I saw. Extra sticks- in order, next in line and there. Cuse had there stuff all over. Again, no biggie when it comes to skill but the little things matter.

Overall, it was a great time. Good for the sport and a super fun environment. My boys in Cuse were hurting though—they couldn’t stream the game because the Corrigan site was allegedly down.

Go Cuse regardless! Had fun at the tail gate and after the game...The team will bounce back and come back hungry. Got to catch up with some of the players I know after the game—spirits are high.

 

[cusefan88]

The biggest problem with playing at a venue without replay capabilities is that refs can’t review hits like this. This should have been locked in for 2 to 3 min in my opinion. Similar to what was called against Cornell against PSU. After we turned the ball over on the man-up, I could hear the Cornell players chirping at Leo. Judging by the way their defense was talking, it definitely seemed like a dirty, targeted play.

NCAA shouldn't allow games at venues that don't provide replay. That seems crazy. The rules and regulations should be the same for every game.

 

[kismet35]

NCAA shouldn't allow games at venues that don't provide replay. That seems crazy. The rules and regulations should be the same for every game.

I could be wrong but I think teams can agree to not implement "reviews" for a game...Where both coaches agree pre-game that reviews of goals are not allowed.

 

[36'sq.]

NCAA shouldn't allow games at venues that don't provide replay. That seems crazy. The rules and regulations should be the same for every game.

Yup, it should either be standardized, or not used.

I was watching the MI at Rutgers game yesterday. There was a d-man cross check to the head on an attackman, ref went and looked at a tiny tablet with maybe an undergrad scorekeeper person trying to scroll to the actual play. What?

Ref left it at the penalty called on the field, 1 minute hit to head when to me it looked like what is now called at least a 2 minute no release.

Just like the actual rules of the game, from shot clock to getting it in the o-box, you need to standardize things. Or not use them. If you can't have the refs looking at the same level of replays, they should have review at all.

 

[Powellfan]

I didn't get to watch the entire Cornell game, so this post isn't the most informed, but it seemed like the things that worked against Notre Dame, just fell flat against Cornell. On offense, Anderson got the party started against both UVA and Notre Dame - he made two nice dodges against the Big Red, but both were stuffed. Leo scored some "heat check" shots against Notre Dame, but against Cornell those same shots looked rushed and ill-advised. On defense, the ultra aggressive, slide happy, late-ish hits that weren't taken advantage of by Notre Dame (or not called by the officials) were by Cornell.

Some of this is down to adapting to your opponent (do not slide off of Kirst, not rocket science), and some is bad luck (missing out on a groundball on defense which leads to an open shot by the offense), and some is just really poor play (whatever they were doing on man-down defense). Early, it looked like the offense was rushed and panicked. Both Leo and Hiltz took early shots without working the ball around, on back to back possessions. That's not how this offensive operates when they are locked in. And in a game where you're not supposed to dominate possessions, doubly harmful. The defense was ultra slide happy. I don't know, to me it looked like Syracuse was simply afraid of Cornell in this game, desperate to make a big play. Surprising, given how well they were playing recently.

Team needs to play better in all facets. I don't totally blame McCool for this one, as he was left out to dry for at least the first three goals Cornell scored. He didn't help his cause with a really bad long distance shot he gave up to a second line middie, but I can't totally lay this game at his feet.

Also the penalties are getting old. I understand playing aggressive, but you need to understand the game scenario and how officials are going to call a game. This team cannot afford to give really good offenses that many extra chances to score. Have to, have to play smarter. Coaches need to reign this sort of thing in. It's too late in the season for this sort of slop.

Okay, I perhaps get too low when losses happen and not happy enough with victories, but this season is almost over and I think we've seen this team play up to their potential only a handful of times. There is no juggernaut out there to fear, and this team has no "obvious" defects. But there is something holding them back, these sort of mental errors that have been rearing their head all season. This looks like a team skating by, and not a team grabbing the season by the collar. Hopefully the team reaches it's full potential and peaks at the right time, but they need to start doing it now.

 

[cuselaxss26]

absolutely absolute no if ends or butts have to beat duke. Got to n prob be nice to also beat unc. Mostly cause i’ll be there n would make trip worth it even more lol

 

[LetsGoOrang]

absolutely absolute no if ends or butts have to beat duke. Got to n prob be nice to also beat unc. Mostly cause i’ll be there n would make trip worth it even more lol

I went to the Duke-UNC game on Saturday and neither team looked great offensively, the goalie play and defense was good. The faceoffs were about even although UNC's Wambach does win a lot to himself. Not a lot of pressure on the clears by either team. Amazingly there was only 1 penalty which was an off sides on Duke. The Orange should not have too much trouble beating either team based on what I saw.

 

[Powellfan]

I went to the Duke-UNC game on Saturday and neither team looked great offensively, the goalie play and defense was good. The faceoffs were about even although UNC's Wambach does win a lot to himself. Not a lot of pressure on the clears by either team. Amazingly there was only 1 penalty which was an off sides on Duke. The Orange should not have too much trouble beating either team based on what I saw.

There’s been talk of both Duffy and Dom Petro suffering injuries. Did something happen to either player in this game or did they just look hurt?

 

[JeremyCuse]

There’s been talk of both Duffy and Dom Petro suffering injuries. Did something happen to either player in this game or did they just look hurt?

Duffy has allegedly been nursing something and doesn't look 100%. UNC losing on Sat to ND wouldn't be the worse outcome, would keep that ND win in the top 7 or so though SU would need to hold up its end the following week.

First I am hearing about a Petro injury.

 

[cuselaxss26]

apparent duffy n petro we’re both possibly not going to play vs duke. Didn’t practice most of week but did last day of practice. Duke def took some shots on duffy where he was slow to get up , even one time was down long enough to have to come off field for bit( per rules mostly).

Either way can’t hope they don’t play gotta win no matter what. Problem truely is the real n true syracuse team (ND game besides first 5mins or whatever) has to show up from here on out. Can’t have mental lapses or just dumb penalties. We have to win the ground ball battle or every 50/50 play. Have to be least 50% or more on faceoffs n goalie play. Shooting has to be id say for every player least 35-40% also. Gotta know on offense when to push n to slow it down specially if just played a lot of D. Guys have got to hustle all out hustle every single play. Grant he had great game but to many times i’ve seen hiltz jog to run out ball or just in general. Know he’s kinda that player n is good. But these are the little things other teams do all the time n why good things happen to them. Have to leave it all out on field and play like there isn’t a toma.

Duke is gonna be desperate themslves and will come to play as they need a win. We started season by getting fast starts n spuddering at end. Then switch to slow starts n solid at the end. Now it’s time to fine the perfect start fast n finish stronger. Defense has to stop sliding when there is absolutely no need for it. If guy isn’t beat or no angle to shoot do not slide or even half slide just creating offense. Kirst was open way too much for player of his caliber.

Honestly thought dwan should just shut him off to point. We let other teams offense control pace or where they wanna go instead of us controlling it. Be on ur man ready to check hands if bout to pass or catch. Don’t let them have loads of space to get running start. Even when their stalling as waiting for their subs go out on them make them have to move n waste their energy. Have got to be smart but aggressive n physical with these teams. Lastly mCcool has got to make every save he suppose to or should while also stealing least 4-5 a game he shouldn’t. Fate is in their own hands beat duke n prob in tounry beat duke n unc your def in tounry n prob a seed. Now go get it done n don’t settle for anything less then that. LFG

 

[LetsGoOrang]

There’s been talk of both Duffy and Dom Petro suffering injuries. Did something happen to either player in this game or did they just look hurt?

Duffy did get banged up a couple of times and briefly left the game. I don't remember Petro getting hurt.

 

[DoctahLexus]

I didn't get to watch the entire Cornell game, so this post isn't the most informed, but it seemed like the things that worked against Notre Dame, just fell flat against Cornell. On offense, Anderson got the party started against both UVA and Notre Dame - he made two nice dodges against the Big Red, but both were stuffed. Leo scored some "heat check" shots against Notre Dame, but against Cornell those same shots looked rushed and ill-advised. On defense, the ultra aggressive, slide happy, late-ish hits that weren't taken advantage of by Notre Dame (or not called by the officials) were by Cornell.

Some of this is down to adapting to your opponent (do not slide off of Kirst, not rocket science), and some is bad luck (missing out on a groundball on defense which leads to an open shot by the offense), and some is just really poor play (whatever they were doing on man-down defense). Early, it looked like the offense was rushed and panicked. Both Leo and Hiltz took early shots without working the ball around, on back to back possessions. That's not how this offensive operates when they are locked in. And in a game where you're not supposed to dominate possessions, doubly harmful. The defense was ultra slide happy. I don't know, to me it looked like Syracuse was simply afraid of Cornell in this game, desperate to make a big play. Surprising, given how well they were playing recently.

Team needs to play better in all facets. I don't totally blame McCool for this one, as he was left out to dry for at least the first three goals Cornell scored. He didn't help his cause with a really bad long distance shot he gave up to a second line middie, but I can't totally lay this game at his feet.

Also the penalties are getting old. I understand playing aggressive, but you need to understand the game scenario and how officials are going to call a game. This team cannot afford to give really good offenses that many extra chances to score. Have to, have to play smarter. Coaches need to reign this sort of thing in. It's too late in the season for this sort of slop.

Okay, I perhaps get too low when losses happen and not happy enough with victories, but this season is almost over and I think we've seen this team play up to their potential only a handful of times. There is no juggernaut out there to fear, and this team has no "obvious" defects. But there is something holding them back, these sort of mental errors that have been rearing their head all season. This looks like a team skating by, and not a team grabbing the season by the collar. Hopefully the team reaches it's full potential and peaks at the right time, but they need to start doing it now.

This game was a little discouraging since we have never been fully outplayed by a team until now. Yes it would have been a little different if McCool was closer to an average game, but overall it felt like they outplayed us at every part of the field. It's similar to how I felt after the Duke game in the ACC tourney last year, which also had some questionable goalie play.

HOWEVER, the team was on a really quality streak for the last 6 games. Showed some composure late in the game against Hop, did not panic after the rough start against UVA and completely outplayed them for 3 quarters, and beat ND in a similar fashion to how Cornell beat us. I think ND is a high quality win, despite them not having that super high level win under their belt. They did double up Duke who just barely lost to UNC, and also destroyed a Michigan team that is now 3-1 in the Big 10. Beating them as convincingly as we did is a good sign. I would not say we have looked like a team "skating by" in the weeks leading up to this game.

My main worry going forward is fatigue. We looked like a tired team on both ends of the field, like we were feeling the effects of several intense matchups in the weeks prior. Certainly tougher matchups than Cornell had in recent weeks. Glad we are finally getting Thomson back to hopefully ease the burden on the offensive end. Take care of business against Duke and I will be willing to write off the Cornell game as one where we just never found our footing.

 

[36'sq.]

Agreed.

As it seems to be Corrigan’s network, he can say the first stupid thing that comes into his mind, no matter how inane or politically incorrect it is.

A friend of mine who absolutely doesn't follow college lacrosse texted me yesterday with a "funny announcer clip"...it was Corrigan saying something really, really stupid. A trite, unoriginal, dumb, worn-out, old jab at Hunter Biden.

It's sad, frustrating, and depressing that my friend doesn't even pay attention to college lacrosse, but somehow this meat head announcer came across his social media network or one of his ill-informed right-leaning pals sent it to him and he sent it to me.

 

[Powellfan]

This game was a little discouraging since we have never been fully outplayed by a team until now. Yes it would have been a little different if McCool was closer to an average game, but overall it felt like they outplayed us at every part of the field. It's similar to how I felt after the Duke game in the ACC tourney last year, which also had some questionable goalie play.

HOWEVER, the team was on a really quality streak for the last 6 games. Showed some composure late in the game against Hop, did not panic after the rough start against UVA and completely outplayed them for 3 quarters, and beat ND in a similar fashion to how Cornell beat us. I think ND is a high quality win, despite them not having that super high level win under their belt. They did double up Duke who just barely lost to UNC, and also destroyed a Michigan team that is now 3-1 in the Big 10. Beating them as convincingly as we did is a good sign. I would not say we have looked like a team "skating by" in the weeks leading up to this game.

My main worry going forward is fatigue. We looked like a tired team on both ends of the field, like we were feeling the effects of several intense matchups in the weeks prior. Certainly tougher matchups than Cornell had in recent weeks. Glad we are finally getting Thomson back to hopefully ease the burden on the offensive end. Take care of business against Duke and I will be willing to write off the Cornell game as one where we just never found our footing.

When I say, "skating by", I see a team right now that, to me, just isn't playing up to it's potential. Add in the fact that teams like UVA, Hopkins, Duke, and even Notre Dame to a certain extent are "down" this season, its starting to feel like a huge missed opportunity. This team had the most amount of players named IL Midseason All Americans (we can argue the meaning of such a list later), yet sit seventh in most rankings. What is missing? They have talent all over the field, this team isn't unbalanced. Thomson is a big injury but other than that they've had good health. What is it? Maybe it's just me, I just feel very unsteady about this team.

The Maryland game was tied at halftime, but it always felt like the Terps were dictating the terms of that game. Cornell came out gangbusters and exploited everything Syracuse did wrong. The Harvard loss still leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. And yes, that loss has "aged" much better than I thought it would, but the inability to exploit such a massive face-off disparity was perhaps the most frustrating loss in 10+ years - I'll go all the way back to Hobart loss in 2013). It's easy to Monday Morning QB, but even some of the wins - against non tournament teams in Hopkins and UVA were much closer than that probably should have been for a team with as much talent as Syracuse.

I don't know, maybe my expectations are too high. These next two games will prove a lot. If this team ends up being a road team in the playoffs and lose a first or second round game, I'll be very disappointed in how this season played out.

 

[DoctahLexus]

When I say, "skating by", I see a team right now that, to me, just isn't playing up to it's potential. Add in the fact that teams like UVA, Hopkins, Duke, and even Notre Dame to a certain extent are "down" this season, its starting to feel like a huge missed opportunity. This team had the most amount of players named IL Midseason All Americans (we can argue the meaning of such a list later), yet sit seventh in most rankings. What is missing? They have talent all over the field, this team isn't unbalanced. Thomson is a big injury but other than that they've had good health. What is it? Maybe it's just me, I just feel very unsteady about this team.

The Maryland game was tied at halftime, but it always felt like the Terps were dictating the terms of that game. Cornell came out gangbusters and exploited everything Syracuse did wrong. The Harvard loss still leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. And yes, that loss has "aged" much better than I thought it would, but the inability to exploit such a massive face-off disparity was perhaps the most frustrating loss in 10+ years - I'll go all the way back to Hobart loss in 2013). It's easy to Monday Morning QB, but even some of the wins - against non tournament teams in Hopkins and UVA were much closer than that probably should have been for a team with as much talent as Syracuse.

I don't know, maybe my expectations are too high. These next two games will prove a lot. If this team ends up being a road team in the playoffs and lose a first or second round game, I'll be very disappointed in how this season played out.

With that mid season AA list, along with its value being questionable, it only has 3 cuse players on the actual top 3 teams. The other 5 were in the honorable mention category, which is a long list. Having “the most amount of IL mid season AAs” does not tell the whole story there.

The way I see it we were still working out a lot of decisions with the lineups in February. Lots undecided with the second middie line, Anderson/Deere, etc. Yes we have lots of guys we play with quality experience and a proven track record, but importantly, we also had a lot of guys who had almost literally zero. We have lots of players that have improved since February as they get that experience. Not just Anderson, but Michael Grace, Hottle, Deere, McCool, Ochoa, Chuck K, and others have all looked better as they adjusted to major D1 minutes. These were all guys with very little experience at this level. We discussed it earlier in the year, but take away the 2022 recruiting class and our transfer English, and our depth in terms of recognized talent (whether IL rankings or putting up big numbers) drops pretty significantly. LSMs, the second middie line, reserve ssdms, backup FOGO, and other depth spots have been a mixed bag for that reason. Losing experienced guys like Thomson and Birtwistle hurts extra with that in mind.

Some of our top talent has also unfortunately been prone to inconsistency. Spallina, Leo, Rhoa, McCool and I would say even Dwan fall in that category. But in the end our only loss after February is to the number one team in the country after a long stretch of tough opponents. I wish we were a little more convincing in some of those games but it is still a good sign that we did not drop a loss to Hop UVA and Colgate and beat ND convincingly.

We have not missed an opportunity...yet!! I do not know what missed opportunity you are feeling, but the time for missing opportunities has not even arrived yet as far as I'm concerned. I do not think a loss to Cornell means we are that same team we were in February. The way things are trending I think we still close out the year strong with wins over Duke and UNC, who are not on Cornell's level. Then we at least make the final four.

 

[FloridaCuse]

When I say, "skating by", I see a team right now that, to me, just isn't playing up to it's potential. Add in the fact that teams like UVA, Hopkins, Duke, and even Notre Dame to a certain extent are "down" this season, its starting to feel like a huge missed opportunity. This team had the most amount of players named IL Midseason All Americans (we can argue the meaning of such a list later), yet sit seventh in most rankings. What is missing? They have talent all over the field, this team isn't unbalanced. Thomson is a big injury but other than that they've had good health. What is it? Maybe it's just me, I just feel very unsteady about this team.

The Maryland game was tied at halftime, but it always felt like the Terps were dictating the terms of that game. Cornell came out gangbusters and exploited everything Syracuse did wrong. The Harvard loss still leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. And yes, that loss has "aged" much better than I thought it would, but the inability to exploit such a massive face-off disparity was perhaps the most frustrating loss in 10+ years - I'll go all the way back to Hobart loss in 2013). It's easy to Monday Morning QB, but even some of the wins - against non tournament teams in Hopkins and UVA were much closer than that probably should have been for a team with as much talent as Syracuse.

I don't know, maybe my expectations are too high. These next two games will prove a lot. If this team ends up being a road team in the playoffs and lose a first or second round game, I'll be very disappointed in how this season played out.

Maybe . . .it's not top of the profession coaching from the head coach.

 

[JeremyCuse]

When I say, "skating by", I see a team right now that, to me, just isn't playing up to it's potential. Add in the fact that teams like UVA, Hopkins, Duke, and even Notre Dame to a certain extent are "down" this season, its starting to feel like a huge missed opportunity. This team had the most amount of players named IL Midseason All Americans (we can argue the meaning of such a list later), yet sit seventh in most rankings. What is missing? They have talent all over the field, this team isn't unbalanced. Thomson is a big injury but other than that they've had good health. What is it? Maybe it's just me, I just feel very unsteady about this team.

The Maryland game was tied at halftime, but it always felt like the Terps were dictating the terms of that game. Cornell came out gangbusters and exploited everything Syracuse did wrong. The Harvard loss still leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. And yes, that loss has "aged" much better than I thought it would, but the inability to exploit such a massive face-off disparity was perhaps the most frustrating loss in 10+ years - I'll go all the way back to Hobart loss in 2013). It's easy to Monday Morning QB, but even some of the wins - against non tournament teams in Hopkins and UVA were much closer than that probably should have been for a team with as much talent as Syracuse.

I don't know, maybe my expectations are too high. These next two games will prove a lot. If this team ends up being a road team in the playoffs and lose a first or second round game, I'll be very disappointed in how this season played out.

Meant to respond to this earlier in the week but have been swamped. I think this post pretty much nailed the concerns with the team right now. This current SU team is uber talented and can win a title but it's hard to know what your going to get from quarter to quarter with these guys much less week to week. The comment on feeling unsteady is the perfect description. Just really hard to trust these guys against a fellow top 10 team.

In Syracuse's 4 matchups against other top 10 teams they are 1-3 and have played well for maybe 4 total quarters out of 16. Maryland they played a close 1st half but as you noted never looked good. Harvard good 1st quarter but after that it was a mess save for the X, Good 3+ quarters against ND which was their best performance and then against Cornell they were up and down all game and never really looked like themselves. Even in the ND game the 3rd quarter was a jumbled mess but luckily ND was just as bad and the Defense still held up.

As you noted this team has talent everywhere but something just feels off about it. Not sure they have played a full 4 qtr game this year save for maybe Jax or Towson. Playing good week in and week out at this level is beyond tough and SU has some flaws that good teams will exploit but it does feel like this team even with a very solid 9-3 record should be more consistent on the field. With Thomson back hopefully that adds some help but not sure what they do now with Anderson or if they leave him and move Thomson to middie.

Gait has to find away to get more consistency out of this team. As it stands now they could reach the final four or lose in the 1st round and neither scenario would surprise me one iota and that's not a good sign.