Here are some shockers (sarcasm… I’ve literally been saying this all season; I really do wish that I was wrong):
-Leo is our only All American (he’s a stud)
-Mule should not have been playing. Leo didn’t move down to attack until the 2nd half and we were down 4 goals. Our offense, again, looked So much better with Leo on attack, because Leo is a Much better player then Mule, he can dodge, and also because he draws a long stick which frees up our middies
-Being a good passing team is great, but, if we’re not in man-up, then you still have to initiate the offense with a dodge, and we had No dodgers at attack without Leo. Otherwise we just pass the ball around in a circle, like we did in the 1st half. Leo on attack all game (and all season) would have been that missing piece
-Spallina is overrated. He can get all the points he wants against non-top 10 teams, but he’s useless against a top 10 team (Towson was not a top 10 team). There’s a reason why he has not even been an all-ACC attackman the past 2 seasons. He cannot beat a good defender one-on-one. He plays like a defender because he actually likes to hit, but can’t overpower good D1 defensemen (it’s not gonna happen). He should spend the off-season with the SU track team trying to improve his speed because he has plenty of skill (playing box in the off-season again won’t help him), and he just needs speed…
-Jake Spallina got beaten for 2 goals today. All Denver did was attack our SSDMs (smart coaching)
-We had solid goalie play, solid face offs, and solid D (except why was Fraterrigo out there at all on D? He lost his man for a goal on a fast break), so this loss is 100% on the offense (primarily Coach March and Gait)
-Denver is a good team, but they were an especially well-coached team. Denver didn’t have better players than us. We got Way out-coached on our offensive end, which is worrisome, because new players won’t help and the same thing will happen in years to come if we have the same offensive coaching staff. Coach Odierna showed what a difference a great coach makes to a team. What an improvement our Defense made this year! Congrats to our D and Coach Odierna! Gait can delegate all he wants, but, ultimately, he’s the head coach, so he’s the one responsible for the team’s performance. If he wants to delegate the offense (and the defense), then what does he really do other than using his name to get recruits?, but then he really needs to hire an excellent offensive coordinator. If Gait brings in a great offensive coach next year (like he did with Coach Odierna for the D this year), then we can make a push for a chip these next 2 years
