Delaware Game Preview (3/16/24, 2pm)

[Powellfan]

The Syracuse Orange face-off against the Delaware Blue Hens in Chantilly, VA (for some reason) this Saturday. The Blue Hens come in with a record of 3-2, with the three wins against Lafayette, St. Johns and Monmouth. Their two losses came against the only top 20 teams they've faced this year, a 11-10 set back against Penn and a 13-8 loss to Michigan. I'll be honest and say I haven't seen much of anything on Delaware so this will mostly be a stats based deep dive.

Ben DeLuca always seems to have a good defense, and the offense has two very good players in Mike Robinson and JP Ward, both of whom lead the Blue Hens in scoring with 22 and 20 points respectively. Robinson is a lefty Canadian sniper who went to Culver and has 17 goals and five assists on the season. Ward has 12 and eight this year, but last year was one of the only players in D1 to finish with over 40 goals and 40 assists (he finished with 85 points). That said, in their two losses, Ward and Robinson have combined for just 10 points. That maybe wouldn't be so bad but the next leading scorer for Delaware on the season has just 10 points and half of those points came against Monmouth (freshman John McCurry). I expect Delaware to lean heavily on Ward and Robinson. I imagine Figuerias will take Ward and Dwan will mark Robinson. Syracuse's inability to mark Garrett Degnon of Hopkins makes me a little worried about how they will mark Robinson, though in theory the Blue Hens will have less threats on the field to distract Syracuse in this match up.

The wild card for Delaware is their FOGO OJ Morris, who owns a 69% winning percentage. However, he didn't play against Michigan and only went 1-5 against Penn. He's put up monster numbers in Delaware's three wins, but I am not sure that says much. Last year he played in eight games and had a 44% winning percentage. I am guessing that he comes back down to earth against Mason Kohn and Johhny Mullen, but it still remains something to watch for. Delaware's main backup this year has only gone 33% for what its' worth.

In goal Kevin Ellington owns impressive numbers with a 8.76 GAA and a 57% save percentage. Again, DeLuca always puts together a good defense. Against Penn he had a really good day and kept Delaware in the game, saving 58% with 15 saves, and allowing just 11 goals (Delaware went just 6-18 at the face-off that game). Michigan was not as kind, as he saved only 40% on the day and had nine saves. Syracuse will have to shoot well in this one and of course can't let the Delaware keeper get into a groove.

This is the second neutral field game in a row for the Orange. Of course the game within the game is that on Wednesday they face-off in their first ACC game of the year with a meeting from Duke. Syracuse can definitely not afford to sleepwalk in this one and has to focus on Delaware. I think a lot of us have been a bit dismissive of the Blue Hens, but again this Syracuse team, while explosive can be prone to lapses. If they aren't careful this could be a huge trap game. Losing this would make the rest of the season quite difficult from a resume building standpoint. This will likely be Delaware's last top 20 game for the season with Towson the most difficult remining game. I can't imagine their RPI at the end of the season will be very good. A win won't do much for the Orange, but a loss here could be devastating. I think this one will be a little more low scoring, something like 13-10, in Syracuse's favor. Go Orange.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Thank you sir! Tried to do some quick looking around on their faceoff situation. Assuming ILs info is all correct, it looks like OJ Morris was more of a reserve fogo last season who put up not that great numbers on the season overall (14-32). It looks like their main fogo last year graduated (Roland Hockenbery). Logan Premtaj appears to have been their main back up last season and took more faceoffs than Hockenbery in their final game of the season against Duke. It looks like he has only played against Michigan and Penn this season and he got worked over pretty good in those matchups (9-24 and 5-19).

Long story short I am not worried about their most experienced guy Prentaj, and while OJ Morris has done very well against weaker teams, it is a mystery why they do not play him against Michigan and he went 1-5 against Penn. Slightly more afraid of Morris I guess but not too worried about our day at the X.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Thank you sir! Tried to do some quick looking around on their faceoff situation. Assuming ILs info is all correct, it looks like OJ Morris was more of a reserve fogo last season who put up not that great numbers on the season overall (14-32). It looks like their main fogo last year graduated (Roland Hockenbery). Logan Premtaj appears to have been their main back up last season and took more faceoffs than Hockenbery in their final game of the season against Duke. It looks like he has only played against Michigan and Penn this season and he got worked over pretty good in those matchups (9-24 and 5-19).

Long story short I am not worried about their most experienced guy Prentaj, and while OJ Morris has done very well against weaker teams, it is a mystery why they do not play him against Michigan and he went 1-5 against Penn. Slightly more afraid of Morris I guess but not too worried about our day at the X.

It looks like Prentaj was hurt last week which is why he didn't play against Monmouth. Unclear if he will be back for the SU game. They were also missing one of their starting middies Jason Kolar, again unknown his status for Sat.

Like Powell I haven't seen a ton of Delaware this year beyond some highlight stuff so It's hard to get a real good feel. I think they are clearly the best non power team SU will see (save for Army) and can clearly beat SU if they don't show up.

Clearly as he noted Delaware goes as Robinson and Ward go. If you can limit them pretty good chance your gonna win or be in a godo position to do so. Let them run wild and you'll be in trouble. I am a bit unclear on the matchup. SU has tended to put Figuerias on each teams stop scorer which would put him on Robinson, however, they have also at times wanted Figuerias on the teams top QB type (see him marking Angelus last week) which would put him on Ward. Dwan erased Melendez last week (though Melendez apparenlty is not 100%) and has played very well for much of the season. I think you cudl make a case either way here. To me the bigger concern is SU staying on their matchups. To many times last week versus Hop, the Jays were able to get a shortly on Degnon in a few cases they didn't' even need a pick to do it. Powell correctly points out that SU cannot leave Robinson, whoever is marking him has to be slow to slide much more so then on Sat when Degnon got WAY to many quality looks.

Delaware has a lot of young mids and has been rotating them through per this weeks IL update (they were ranked 20). They have a decent amount of canadians out there (Deluca impact no doubt) and SU will need to be careful about ill timed and early slides leaving guys open. My initial thought is that SU really should be slow to slide and force Delaware to dodge and score. Ward can certainly do that along with Robinsion but they aren't Army, with multiple high end dodgers on both the attack and mid lines. SU really needs to stay sharp, they struggled with getting lulled to sleep a bit in the 2nd half vs Hop and have to keep the potential penalties to a minimum.

I keep waiting for Mark to have a monster game and he was a wall in the 1st half vs Hop but in the 2nd half felt like his inconsistent play showed up again. A few shots he had no chance but felt like he left a couple out there he probably should have had. Thought the SSDM's were pretty good against Hop all things considered. Delaware has a good offense, Robinson and Ward would start for most schools but SU's already played at least 2 if not 3 offenses who are better overall in Army, Hop and Maryland. Delaware's O is very upper class oriented, only non upperclassmen is the third attackmen who is a frosh as Powell noted.

From an O standpoint, SU will again have to earn its points. Delaware has a very solid defnese though it is replacing its top pole in Owen Grant and its goalie. The current goalie Ellington has been pretty good with a 56% save % and has only really struggled against Michigan. He's also a SR so he knows the defense. He's listed at 5'7 so I suspect SU will be shooting high early. Tate Wasson appears to be their #1 cover guy and hell draw Spallina. The other two poles are a Sr and Frosh respectively. Much like their offense most of the starters are Seniors, with 2 of 3 close guys and their LSM Speers all Srs. All are about 6-6'1 so no monsters ala Army or UVA. Short sticks apepar decent but Hops are better and SU attacked them relentlessly on Sat with a decent amount of success. To me the key here is 1 - not turning the ball over and 2 - taking quality shots as Powell noted. Delaware is solid defensively but not as good as last year without Grant and I don't feel like they have a shut down defender. Deluca has been known to double pole, not sure if he will try it against SU as Hop tried and they eventually got forced out of it. Last week SU had not only all 3 middies going but they got big games from Mule and Hiltz, they are very difficult to play with when those guys are on. Would really like to see Hiltz have 2 good game in a row. This should also be a game Leo plays a big role offensively especially if Delaware doesn't double pole.

Intangibles are interesting. Delaware is good on teh man up 9 for 15 and solid on the man down allowing only 5 goals on 13 attempts. Their clearing at only 85% though which could be an area SU looks to attack. Opponents are clearing at 88%, something to watch for their on both ends. Turnovers will likely play a big role on Sat. Delaware was pretty good to start but has turned it over 20 and 17 times the last two games against Mich and Monmouth respectively. 17 against Monmouth is particularly troubling.

Faceoffs are a bit of a mystery. OJ Morris as noted has real good numbers but only took 5 draws vs Penn and none against Michigan (hurt maybe?). If Prentaj is out again it seems like he will surely take a majority of the draws. Feels like Kohn and Mullen should be 60%+ here, at least on paper.

I don't love the schedule having this game righ tafter Hop and right before a mid week matchup with Duke but it is what it is. SU has played fairly well in these games to date save for a quarter + against High Point. Biggest concern here is SU again has one of those quarters early where they seem out of sync and dis-interested and end up in a battle for 4 quarters. Getting the monkey off their back versus top 10 teams last week should help against the ACC foes and Cornell but hard to say how it will impact Sat. First 10 mins should tell a lot, hope they are locked in.

 

[690West]

Apparently game is on Live Sports | Stream Games, News, & Articles - Join Today - FloLive

Not sure if it’s free or not. If not, I wonder what the single game cost is

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Apparently game is on Live Sports | Stream Games, News, & Articles - Join Today - FloLive

Not sure if it’s free or not. If not, I wonder what the single game cost is

If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

LAX TV/Streaming Action for Mar 12-17

Tuesday, March 12 Time Game Network 1 p.m. High Point at Hampton FloSports 3 p.m. North Carolina at Wagner Wagner Athletics 4 p.m. Richmond at Bucknell ESPN+ 4 p.m. Canisius at St. Bonaventure ESPN+ 7 p.m. Detroit Mercy at Ohio State BTN+ Wednesday, March 13...

syracusefan.com

 

[690West]

If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

LAX TV/Streaming Action for Mar 12-17

Tuesday, March 12 Time Game Network 1 p.m. High Point at Hampton FloSports 3 p.m. North Carolina at Wagner Wagner Athletics 4 p.m. Richmond at Bucknell ESPN+ 4 p.m. Canisius at St. Bonaventure ESPN+ 7 p.m. Detroit Mercy at Ohio State BTN+ Wednesday, March 13...

syracusefan.com

Holy crap. There’s a 100 post thread already!! Long live flosports!!

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Holy crap. There’s a 100 post thread already!! Long live flosports!!

It's either $15 or $30.

Or Timmy and Kyle on the radio.

 

[Cuse4455]

I'll just look for Xtremes score updates lol. Not paying for ONE game..

 

[LaxAddict38]

Here’s the fact - if we drop this game it will be an RPI murderer, think Colgate 2019. If we had beaten Colgate (or just not played them at all) Cuse was a top 4 seed with a home game. But that game put them away at Loyola against Pat Spencer, and we all remember that game.

The reason for this is the extremely weak CAA that includes Hampton. The Hampton addition, while good for the sport, has tanked the RPI of every team in an already mediocre conference, which is why the CAA draws a play-in game every year.

Trap game, coming off spring break in NC, RPI threat. We are the better team by any metric, Need to win or it will cost us later.

 

[DMVCuseLax]

Here’s the fact - if we drop this game it will be an RPI murderer, think Colgate 2019. If we had beaten Colgate (or just not played them at all) Cuse was a top 4 seed with a home game. But that game put them away at Loyola against Pat Spencer, and we all remember that game.

The reason for this is the extremely weak CAA that includes Hampton. The Hampton addition, while good for the sport, has tanked the RPI of every team in an already mediocre conference, which is why the CAA draws a play-in game every year.

Trap game, coming off spring break in NC, RPI threat. We are the better team by any metric, Need to win or it will cost us later.

The team is aware that Delaware is a very good team. They are focused.

 

[ClvrUsrnm]

The team is aware that Delaware is a very good team. They are focused.

There will be lapses, either right out of the gate or later when they’re up comfortably. We’ll freak out. They’ll still win 18-10.

 

[jr4750]

Any of you wonderful board members going? I’m excited to be there.

 

[FloridaCuse]

It's either $15 or $30.

Or Timmy and Kyle on the radio.

BEWARE FLOSPORTS!! I just signed up for the Flosports stream of Saturday's Delaware v Syracuse game. The only way I was able to get the $14.99 monthly fee was signing up through the link on the University of Delaware Men's Lacrosse Schedule website - 2024 Men's Lacrosse Schedule - University of Delaware Athletics. Other places I tried the link to Flosports for the game -- such as cuse.com and usalaxmagazine.com -- came up with a monthly fee of $29.99, even though a few days ago the Cuse link gave me the lower price and earlier today the USA Lax Magazine did also. [Now that I've signed up, any of the Flosports game streaming links I click on for the game take me to the page for streaming the game.]

Secondly - if you do sign up and you then go to the page to stream the game: DO NOT CLICK ON A GREEN COMMAND THAT SAYS "CONTINUE". It is a virus that locks up your computer. I made the mistake of clicking on it and I'm still cleaning up my computer. [I immediately closed down my computer and on my cellphone searched for a fix and found Microsoft instructions for "How do I get rid of the Windows Defender Security Notification that is locking up my computer". I have a Windows laptop. Interestingly I did a full computer scan using Norton and it came up with no threats. I assume because I did not click on any of the links on the notices that locked my computer.]

Good Luck! Go ORANGE!

 

[CuseAlum87]

BEWARE FLOSPORTS!! I just signed up for the Flosports stream of Saturday's Delaware v Syracuse game. The only way I was able to get the $14.99 monthly fee was signing up through the link on the University of Delaware Men's Lacrosse Schedule website - 2024 Men's Lacrosse Schedule - University of Delaware Athletics. Other places I tried the link to Flosports for the game -- such as cuse.com and usalaxmagazine.com -- came up with a monthly fee of $29.99, even though a few days ago the Cuse link gave me the lower price and earlier today the USA Lax Magazine did also. [Now that I've signed up, any of the Flosports game streaming links I click on for the game take me to the page for streaming the game.]

Secondly - if you do sign up and you then go to the page to stream the game: DO NOT CLICK ON A GREEN COMMAND THAT SAYS "CONTINUE". It is a virus that locks up your computer. I made the mistake of clicking on it and I'm still cleaning up my computer. [I immediately closed down my computer and on my cellphone searched for a fix and found Microsoft instructions for "How do I get rid of the Windows Defender Security Notification that is locking up my computer". I have a Windows laptop. Interestingly I did a full computer scan using Norton and it came up with no threats. I assume because I did not click on any of the links on the notices that locked my computer.]

Good Luck! Go ORANGE!

I told you! I think it was some Hopkins fans who had an awful experience with Flosports.

 

[FloridaCuse]

I told you! I think it was some Hopkins fans who had an awful experience with Flosports.

Yes you did. Thank you again. Because of your warning I immediately checked my credit card account and confirmed that I was only charged for the $14.99 for the one month and not for a full year. Thanks.

 

[FloridaCuse]

BEWARE FLOSPORTS!! I just signed up for the Flosports stream of Saturday's Delaware v Syracuse game. The only way I was able to get the $14.99 monthly fee was signing up through the link on the University of Delaware Men's Lacrosse Schedule website - 2024 Men's Lacrosse Schedule - University of Delaware Athletics. Other places I tried the link to Flosports for the game -- such as cuse.com and usalaxmagazine.com -- came up with a monthly fee of $29.99, even though a few days ago the Cuse link gave me the lower price and earlier today the USA Lax Magazine did also. [Now that I've signed up, any of the Flosports game streaming links I click on for the game take me to the page for streaming the game.]

Secondly - if you do sign up and you then go to the page to stream the game: DO NOT CLICK ON A GREEN COMMAND THAT SAYS "CONTINUE". It is a virus that locks up your computer. I made the mistake of clicking on it and I'm still cleaning up my computer. [I immediately closed down my computer and on my cellphone searched for a fix and found Microsoft instructions for "How do I get rid of the Windows Defender Security Notification that is locking up my computer". I have a Windows laptop. Interestingly I did a full computer scan using Norton and it came up with no threats. I assume because I did not click on any of the links on the notices that locked my computer.]

Good Luck! Go ORANGE!

FYI - I alerted the SU Athletic Dept of this problem and they have now changed the link to "Watch" the game on Cuse.com to the same link that is on the Delaware website. So if anyone purchases the stream be sure the cost is only $14.99/mo., not $29.99/mo.