Cornell Thoughts

[essorcaltun]

What a huge game this is, TV has opened games for many more to see these type of games but we sure are lucky to live in Cuse (these parts) when it comes to getting high quality teams to watch play. Cornell looked unbeatable vs Harvard, when that offense is clicking it's pretty to watch and scary to think of stopping. Cuse D has had periods when they look inpenetrable. Both teams can be impressive, both teams have been beat, can't wait to see this one. Been looking forward to the Teat-Mellen match up for quite some time, two talented players, should be very interesting and entertaining.
Go Cuse...big one, gotta have it!!!!!

 

[upperdeck]

when cornell wins just a few draws they score. but even Sat they didnt win a draw the entire first half and still lead comfortably. They also take a crazy number of bad penalties so they really struggle just getting enough possessions.

 

[MD Cuse Fan]

Syracuse needs to take the advantage they seem to have at the face off x, to put pressure on the Cornell defense because as good as the defense has played at times this year I expect the Big Red will probably hit double digits.

 

[Orangelax]

Syracuse needs to take the advantage they seem to have at the face off x, to put pressure on the Cornell defense because as good as the defense has played at times this year I expect the Big Red will probably hit double digits.

And please don't allow ourselves to dig 5+ goal deficit before we make a comeback attempt

 

[DoctahLexus]

This game is more winnable than at UNC in my opinion. This team is clearly hurting without Christian Knight in goal, Pulver on D, and a competent FOGO. Looks like their experiment with the Aussie FOGO has not gone well at all. Their FOGO Rasimowicz is currently at 40%, putting him at 66th in the nation, and 26% less than our MVP and savior, the Phaup man. After seeing Phaup completely dominate poor faceoff lines, due to his excellent ability to protect the ball after winning the clamp, I feel confident we will win over 80%. He completely shrugged off any attempt by Army or Rutgers to accept they would lose the clamp and just go all out for a loose ball, whether they faced off with a pole, double poled the wings, or what have you. Face offs alone gives us a huge advantage. Add that they just played on Saturday, the home field, the desire for revenge, and I feel cautiously optimistic.

 

[JeremyCuse]

This game is more winnable than at UNC in my opinion. This team is clearly hurting without Christian Knight in goal, Pulver on D, and a competent FOGO. Looks like their experiment with the Aussie FOGO has not gone well at all. Their FOGO Rasimowicz is currently at 40%, putting him at 66th in the nation, and 26% less than our MVP and savior, the Phaup man. After seeing Phaup completely dominate poor faceoff lines, due to his excellent ability to protect the ball after winning the clamp, I feel confident we will win over 80%. He completely shrugged off any attempt by Army or Rutgers to accept they would lose the clamp and just go all out for a loose ball, whether they faced off with a pole, double poled the wings, or what have you. Face offs alone gives us a huge advantage. Add that they just played on Saturday, the home field, the desire for revenge, and I feel cautiously optimistic.

Good points, I don't totally disagree but while UNC has some really intriguing Freshmen and a Frosh goalie who is playing out of his mind I can't agree that this is a more winnable game. UNC has no player close to the level of Teat or even Petterson if I am being honest and with playing so many Frosh players their offense is up and down.. Not saying UNC can't or wont beat us because they certainly can but UNC has a lot of issues that their frosh goalie covered up the last two games. UNC commits a staggering amount of penalties and gave up a ton of man up looks to both Duke and UVA. Outside of Rowlett they don't have a ton of great defenders even though the entire starting close D is essentially seniors at this point. UNC has been playing a lot better since getting ambushed by Maryland but I think SU matches up fairly well with UNC and thats a game I would have us favored in more then against Cornell despite the huge advantage at X at least on paper.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I should note that one aspect of the UNC game that does give me pause is how SU matches up with their attack. They are running 3 smaller quicker type attackmen and running converted attack guys at midfield including Timmy Kelly and Alex Trippi. I don't see a matchup for Bomberry that jumps off the screen as the biggest attackmen that started against UVA was listed at 5'10. They do have a 6'3 attackmen who started one game and plays as essentially the 4th attackmen so he's good there but this might be a game where we have to bump Kennedy down to cover Nicky Solomon so Mellen can take Andy Matthews or vice versa.

 

[CuseAlum87]

Good points, I don't totally disagree but while UNC has some really intriguing Freshmen and a Frosh goalie who is playing out of his mind I can't agree that this is a more winnable game. UNC has no player close to the level of Teat or even Petterson if I am being honest and with playing so many Frosh players their offense is up and down.. Not saying UNC can't or wont beat us because they certainly can but UNC has a lot of issues that their frosh goalie covered up the last two games. UNC commits a staggering amount of penalties and gave up a ton of man up looks to both Duke and UVA. Outside of Rowlett they don't have a ton of great defenders even though the entire starting close D is essentially seniors at this point. UNC has been playing a lot better since getting ambushed by Maryland but I think SU matches up fairly well with UNC and thats a game I would have us favored in more then against Cornell despite the huge advantage at X at least on paper.

UNC is certainly dangerous, but they still take bad penalties and turn the ball over. Freshman goalie is good but came back down to earth a bit against the Cavs, 52% save percentage. Cornell scores no matter who they play. It's about can they make any stops. Hobart put up 16 on them.

 

[JeremyCuse]

UNC is certainly dangerous, but they still take bad penalties and turn the ball over. Freshman goalie is good but came back down to earth a bit against the Cavs, 52% save percentage. Cornell scores no matter who they play. It's about can they make any stops. Hobart put up 16 on them.

Cornell's D has been bad to downright awful. They made some changes this past weekend apparently by moving Tarbell to close D and putting their LSM who had been playing close back to LSM. Still they appear to have major issues as they have given up a lot of goals which their issues at the C are surely playing a role. Cornell is an interesting team, the record is so so but like us against UVA they outplayed Penn for pretty much the entire game before blowing it late. That offense has the ability when its cranked up to take over a game which is always a concern. They are mostly an experienced team with guys familiar playing against SU and in the Dome save for Ierlan and a few others. UNC while not as young as the commentators would have you believe does play a ton of frosh and they tend to turn the ball over and make a lot of dumb mistakes which young players have a habit off. That UNC game is one where if SU limits the mistakes they should win. If they start turning it over like UNC and playing like they did against ND, all bets are off.

 

[sholokov2]

Cornell's D has been bad to downright awful. They made some changes this past weekend apparently by moving Tarbell to close D and putting their LSM who had been playing close back to LSM. Still they appear to have major issues as they have given up a lot of goals which their issues at the C are surely playing a role. Cornell is an interesting team, the record is so so but like us against UVA they outplayed Penn for pretty much the entire game before blowing it late. That offense has the ability when its cranked up to take over a game which is always a concern. They are mostly an experienced team with guys familiar playing against SU and in the Dome save for Ierlan and a few others. UNC while not as young as the commentators would have you believe does play a ton of frosh and they tend to turn the ball over and make a lot of dumb mistakes which young players have a habit off. That UNC game is one where if SU limits the mistakes they should win. If they start turning it over like UNC and playing like they did against ND, all bets are off.

watched harvard vs Cornell. FOs did not seem to matter because CU took the ball back during many of their FO losses. Harvard's D was terrible. They left the middle open from the x, lost dodgers regularly and looked disheartened halfway through. Teat toyed with shorties and seemed immune to doubles. My point is CU does not seem to require more than mediocre defense from their close D's. They score quickly and often.
Fiatelli is as dangerous as Teat from behind. I think they demand two exceptional close D's and I don't see SU having two. One advantage SU may have is their capacity to score in both settled and unsettled situations. They might be able to keep up offensively. If they do not, Katie bar the ...

 

[JeremyCuse]

watched harvard vs Cornell. FOs did not seem to matter because CU took the ball back during many of their FO losses. Harvard's D was terrible. They left the middle open from the x, lost dodgers regularly and looked disheartened halfway through. Teat toyed with shorties and seemed immune to doubles. My point is CU does not seem to require more than mediocre defense from their close D's. They score quickly and often.
Fiatelli is as dangerous as Teat from behind. I think they demand two exceptional close D's and I don't see SU having two. One advantage SU may have is their capacity to score in both settled and unsettled situations. They might be able to keep up offensively. If they do not, Katie bar the ...

There a tough matchup for pretty much every defense unless they are turning it over at an alarming rate or the opponent is playing keep away via the X. Their starting attack is one of the best in D1, on par with Virginia. They absolutely love to attack via the crease and if you can't shut that off (see Hobart and Havard) there going to score close to 20 goals on you. Cornell's O weakness if they have one is their midfield. They don't have an elite player like Aiken at UVA and they can get shut down by better defenses. From a match up standpoint a lot depends on whether SU is going to shut off Teat or play him straight up. We shut him off last year in the NCAA tourney with pretty good results to be honest but Petterson absolutely torched us. Bomberry will likely take Petterson and has to stay home on him around the crease and almost refuse to slide unless he absolutely has to. Again if I were SU I would bump Kennedy down to take on Piatelli. Nothing against Cunningham who has played admirably this year but in my mind Kennedy is our second best all around defender and as good as he is causing terror at LSM we need him more at close and as I noted Cornell's midfield isn't exactly murderers row. SU will surely pole Donville with Fusco/Fernandez.

One other thing to keep an eye on is how physical Cornell plays. Thought that tourney game was last year was one of the more physical recent games I had seen in a long time. The officials in that game let Cornell get away with a lot. Not blaming them for the loss but I was definitely surprised how loose the game was called after it going in the opposite direction the last two years. I suspect they may try to hack away at Phaup if he starts dominating at the X, Desko will need to be on the officials early and often.

 

[DoctahLexus]

There a tough matchup for pretty much every defense unless they are turning it over at an alarming rate or the opponent is playing keep away via the X. Their starting attack is one of the best in D1, on par with Virginia. They absolutely love to attack via the crease and if you can't shut that off (see Hobart and Havard) there going to score close to 20 goals on you. Cornell's O weakness if they have one is their midfield. They don't have an elite player like Aiken at UVA and they can get shut down by better defenses. From a match up standpoint a lot depends on whether SU is going to shut off Teat or play him straight up. We shut him off last year in the NCAA tourney with pretty good results to be honest but Petterson absolutely torched us. Bomberry will likely take Petterson and has to stay home on him around the crease and almost refuse to slide unless he absolutely has to. Again if I were SU I would bump Kennedy down to take on Piatelli. Nothing against Cunningham who has played admirably this year but in my mind Kennedy is our second best all around defender and as good as he is causing terror at LSM we need him more at close and as I noted Cornell's midfield isn't exactly murderers row. SU will surely pole Donville with Fusco/Fernandez.

One other thing to keep an eye on is how physical Cornell plays. Thought that tourney game was last year was one of the more physical recent games I had seen in a long time. The officials in that game let Cornell get away with a lot. Not blaming them for the loss but I was definitely surprised how loose the game was called after it going in the opposite direction the last two years. I suspect they may try to hack away at Phaup if he starts dominating at the X, Desko will need to be on the officials early and often.

Pretty much agree on the midfield but Fletcher is a serious speed demon. He torched our SSDMs last year and I am guessing he will be the one who gets the pole whenever possible. He will definitely draw some slides. I actually wouldn't be surprised if his lacking stats (7-9) are due to other teams poling him whenever they can. We even put Scott Firman on him when he was a freshman and playing attack. Still think Cunningham will be the man for Piatelli. He has been consistently solid against teams second best dodging attack option. From what I have seen of Piatelli he is an excellent low angle shooter/finisher who is lethal coming around GLE, but is not necessarily a lethal Michael Kraus type of speed/finalizer dodger. I trust Cunningham who has held his own in recent games more than I do Kennedy playing a position he hasn't all season. Any lack of skill compared to Kennedy that Cunningham has on 1 v 1 dodges he more than makes up for with his experience with the team defense/slides as a close D guy.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Pretty much agree on the midfield but Fletcher is a serious speed demon. He torched our SSDMs last year and I am guessing he will be the one who gets the pole whenever possible. He will definitely draw some slides. I actually wouldn't be surprised if his lacking stats (7-9) are due to other teams poling him whenever they can. We even put Scott Firman on him when he was a freshman and playing attack. Still think Cunningham will be the man for Piatelli. He has been consistently solid against teams second best dodging attack option. From what I have seen of Piatelli he is an excellent low angle shooter/finisher who is lethal coming around GLE, but is not necessarily a lethal Michael Kraus type of speed/finalizer dodger. I trust Cunningham who has held his own in recent games more than I do Kennedy playing a position he hasn't all season. Any lack of skill compared to Kennedy that Cunningham has on 1 v 1 dodges he more than makes up for with his experience with the team defense/slides as a close D guy.

Agree on Fletcher, he is very good player and your right his lower then expected stats maybe due to him getting the pole each game. Donville has 26 pts on the year and actually has 1 more assist (10) then Fletcher does put your point is a good one. I could definitely see SU polling him now that you mention it. As for Cunningham/Kennedy, Brett has plenty of experience bumping down to close both last year and this year. Rogers bumped him down in the second half of the Rutgers game to mark Mullins and he shut him out the rest of the game. I think he also saw some time at close vs ND but I can't be 100% on that. Cunningham has done a good to really god job this year marking most teams#2 and has certainly earned his keep. However, he struggles with attackmen who like to dodge from X or GLE and was victimizing by Kraus a few times on that, though Piatelli isn't on that level as you noted. I do agree with potential communication and slide issues but Kennedy rarely gets beat 1 on 1 and with Petterson around I think SU is likely to be hesitant to slide anyway. I certainly don't expect Desko to start Kennedy at close but I think he and Rogers have to be prepared to make a move if were struggling to contain the attack unit.

 

[upperdeck]

Petterson is the one to worry about.. he had 5 shots sat.. scored 5 goals.. Teat often doesnt try to score just tries to cause havoc and get people open.

really if SU wins the faceoffs they should win, Cornell will score on 50% of their shots because that is what they do, but they will also take penalties and lose possessions at the X.

The Penn game will haunt cornell, really had that one won but took too penalties late and let penn steal it..

 

[Powellfan]

I think, as good as Cornell's offense has been, the key to the game has to be the Orange offense. Cornell will score, that much is certain. Syracuse has to play smart and absolutely cannot make a plethora of mistakes like they've done in earlier games this season. Possessions cannot end with a missed pass or a shot clock violation. They have to take advantage of the possession advantage they will seemingly have. My question is what kind of pace do they play? Something tells me Desko will want to play with a slower pace - but I feel like the offense and the team as a whole plays better when things are uptempo and frenetic. Have to value possession, but can't be so obsessed with it that they end up wasting it.

Other question is how they chose to guard Teat - seems like teams have stopped face-guarding him 'Cuse did better on defense last year when they employed that strategy. The shifty/quick attackmen of Cornell have me worried against Cunningham and Bomberry but they did better than expected against Duke.

For some reason I get the sense that because of the advantage Syracuse will have at the face-off X, the big win against Hobart, the new helmets, people are feeling overconfident. Make no mistake this is a huge game against a team that has proven it can score lots of goals despite not having the ball much. Also Cornell is right there on the bubble with Syracuse and this game could have huge implications on the tournament. Have to hope SU comes out focused and ready to go.

 

[upperdeck]

about 1/3 of the teams have faced teat this year.. The big difference is other guys have stepped up with the passing and scoring.. the D and the X are holding them back. i think if you use Mellon to face teat you are wasting someone who can help , because Cornell will let teat stand around and rely on the rest of the offense and now the best SU D is just sitting out of the play and also not able to cause any turnovers.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Agree on Fletcher, he is very good player and your right his lower then expected stats maybe due to him getting the pole each game. Donville has 26 pts on the year and actually has 1 more assist (10) then Fletcher does put your point is a good one. I could definitely see SU polling him now that you mention it. As for Cunningham/Kennedy, Brett has plenty of experience bumping down to close both last year and this year. Rogers bumped him down in the second half of the Rutgers game to mark Mullins and he shut him out the rest of the game. I think he also saw some time at close vs ND but I can't be 100% on that. Cunningham has done a good to really god job this year marking most teams#2 and has certainly earned his keep. However, he struggles with attackmen who like to dodge from X or GLE and was victimizing by Kraus a few times on that, though Piatelli isn't on that level as you noted. I do agree with potential communication and slide issues but Kennedy rarely gets beat 1 on 1 and with Petterson around I think SU is likely to be hesitant to slide anyway. I certainly don't expect Desko to start Kennedy at close but I think he and Rogers have to be prepared to make a move if were struggling to contain the attack unit.

I would be supportive of a move if things aren't going well, but I guess I feel like he will do ok. Honestly thought he did a fine job against Kraus overall, but there was one time where Kraus dodged on him from up top and completely destroyed him. Surprised that you don't see more of attack taking their man up top and dodging from there. Hopefully that is not exploited today as he did not look comfortable there. I guess that is a good case for Kennedy too actually. Fortunately we haven't shied away from making half time changes.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I think, as good as Cornell's offense has been, the key to the game has to be the Orange offense. Cornell will score, that much is certain. Syracuse has to play smart and absolutely cannot make a plethora of mistakes like they've done in earlier games this season. Possessions cannot end with a missed pass or a shot clock violation. They have to take advantage of the possession advantage they will seemingly have. My question is what kind of pace do they play? Something tells me Desko will want to play with a slower pace - but I feel like the offense and the team as a whole plays better when things are uptempo and frenetic. Have to value possession, but can't be so obsessed with it that they end up wasting it.

Other question is how they chose to guard Teat - seems like teams have stopped face-guarding him 'Cuse did better on defense last year when they employed that strategy. The shifty/quick attackmen of Cornell have me worried against Cunningham and Bomberry but they did better than expected against Duke.

For some reason I get the sense that because of the advantage Syracuse will have at the face-off X, the big win against Hobart, the new helmets, people are feeling overconfident. Make no mistake this is a huge game against a team that has proven it can score lots of goals despite not having the ball much. Also Cornell is right there on the bubble with Syracuse and this game could have huge implications on the tournament. Have to hope SU comes out focused and ready to go.

SU is going to have to score as you noted because that Cornell offense is definitely on the same level as UVA with a weaker midfield. SU did hold them to 10 goals last year which included the 4 goals they got on the EMO. SU's defense is better then last years version but its hard to count on a repeat of only allowing 10 goals. SU is extremely familiar with Cornell and Teat so you would hope that would give us at least some help in slowing them down. Biggest concern for me is Ierlan standing on his head and turnovers. Went back and looked at my post from the tourney loss last year and SU had 15 turnovers and struggled to adjust to how physical Cornell was. I don't think physicality will be any sort of issue this year but SU also needs to avoid a repeat of the UVA game as Cornell is deadly on the EMO and they killed it with it last year. SU only scored two goals last year in the second half against Cornell, now Knight and Pulver are no longer around and this years Cornell D has been fairly bad but we need the SU offense to really play well.

Overall I think SU has a slight edge in this game but that Cornell offense is worrisome. SU outplayed Cornell for 3+ quarters last year but the Big red found away to get it done late. SU needs to play smart, keep the turnovers to the minimum, and if we have a big advantage at the X like last year, make Cornell pay for it. I suspect they will be trying to ambush Phaup and our guys clearing like last year when we had 15 tunovers.

 

[tbonezone]

at least we're inside. freezing rain up north.

 

[sholokov2]

at least we're inside. freezing rain up north.

SU played its best all around game in a few years. Excelled in all phases. Aggressiveness and effort were as good as I can remember. Irelan made a bunch of tough stops. Can SU maintain this level of excellence against a good UNC team? If so, they should be a cinch for the tournament.