Denver Gameday...

[JeremyCuse]

this dude didn’t say single word since believe last time was beating duke. Not word n prob was waiting and waiting for something to chime in comment section on inside lacrosse in denver/cuse story line

MATTMERICA -- Another disappointing end for the 'Cuse. After hearing ALL YEAR from the 'Cuse apologists - that would be PC175, TexasTom, Syracuse2622 - it was only fair that the better team won. Where was Spilina? When he wasn't getting shut down by the Denver D he was giving the ball away. Maybe next year "Cuse can go deeper, but will be hard to forecast with the transfers and the 5th year guys all leaving.


I hate trolls and dudes who know nothing bout sport or even watch just hate to hate

Always gonna be a handful of morons who troll after losses. Nature of the beast at this level unfortunately especially with Cuse's past success. Good sign is they are still out there, when they stop then it's time to be concerned.

 

[SkyTopBus44]

I know I am guilty of making comments I regret after losses

 

[LaxAddict38]

The one thing I just cannot get over is Gait making the decision to pull Will Mark against Duke in the ACCT.

If it was a must win to keep the season alive I’d have fully understood it. But it wasn’t. We were already in NCAAs and locked in to a solid seed. It was effectively an exhibition.

So, Mark gets pulled for the first time in his five year career, then, 2 hours later, gets flack from his head coach in the presser… then, shockingly, doesn’t look like himself the next couple games.

You can blame the goalie, say he should be able to get over it, whatever. It’s an infamously mental position and I think Gait made a mistake on that decision and it ultimately cost the team.

Not saying it would have guaranteed a win against Denver, he played solid, but if Will was really on, like he was mid-season, we might be getting ready for the Final 4 right now.

 

[DoctahLexus]

The one thing I just cannot get over is Gait making the decision to pull Will Mark against Duke in the ACCT.

If it was a must win to keep the season alive I’d have fully understood it. But it wasn’t. We were already in NCAAs and locked in to a solid seed. It was effectively an exhibition.

So, Mark gets pulled for the first time in his five year career, then, 2 hours later, gets flack from his head coach in the presser… then, shockingly, doesn’t look like himself the next couple games.

You can blame the goalie, say he should be able to get over it, whatever. It’s an infamously mental position and I think Gait made a mistake on that decision and it ultimately cost the team.

Not saying it would have guaranteed a win against Denver, he played solid, but if Will was really on, like he was mid-season, we might be getting ready for the Final 4 right now.

1 save on 9 goals. Would be crazy not to pull him. We were still trying to win the game and a win would have given us a better seed. He has never been pulled because before then he has never done anything remotely close to that bad in goal before. And what was the flack in his press conference? His comments were totally fine! He was complimentary to Mark as a competitor, also puts blame on the rest of the defense for not applying pressure, and said he would certainly be ready for the next one. Only is talking about him because the press people asked him about pulling Mark directly.

It is a mental position, but you have to assume that pulling a struggling goalie in one game is not going to totally ruin their confidence for the rest of the year. We had to try something new in goal for that Duke game with the start Mark had. He rode with Mark despite him struggling in the Towson game, a playoff game with everything on the line. Shows he still supported the guy. If he pulled him early again against Towson I may agree with you.

 

[LaxAddict38]

1 save on 9 goals. Would be crazy not to pull him. We were still trying to win the game and a win would have given us a better seed. He has never been pulled because before then he has never done anything remotely close to that bad in goal before. And what was the flack in his press conference? His comments were totally fine! He was complimentary to Mark as a competitor, also puts blame on the rest of the defense for not applying pressure, and said he would certainly be ready for the next one. Only is talking about him because the press people asked him about pulling Mark directly.

It is a mental position, but you have to assume that pulling a struggling goalie in one game is not going to totally ruin their confidence for the rest of the year. We had to try something new in goal for that Duke game with the start Mark had. He rode with Mark despite him struggling in the Towson game, a playoff game with everything on the line. Shows he still supported the guy. If he pulled him early again against Towson I may agree with you.

I don’t agree with the sentiment that 1 save 8 goals allowed (it was 8, not 9) is an auto-pull. The shots were wide open as the cuse D didn’t get off the bus. He also is clearly the guy and you need him to play very well in order to make a run in the playoffs.

I’d imagine that if he had left him in to sort it out and recover, he could have, and potentially would never have lost his confidence like he clearly did going into playoffs.

I, personally, don’t think that it’s the right decision to pull a goalie, for the first time in his entire career, the game before the first NCAA tournament in his entire career. But to each their own.

 

[DoctahLexus]

I don’t agree with the sentiment that 1 save 8 goals allowed (it was 8, not 9) is an auto-pull. The shots were wide open as the cuse D didn’t get off the bus. He also is clearly the guy and you need him to play very well in order to make a run in the playoffs.

I’d imagine that if he had left him in to sort it out and recover, he could have, and potentially would never have lost his confidence like he clearly did going into playoffs.

I, personally, don’t think that it’s the right decision to pull a goalie, for the first time in his entire career, the game before the first NCAA tournament in his entire career. But to each their own.

Or he could have continued to not make saves and lost it even more. Getting pulled down 9-1 is not some crazy thing. It’s not like every shot was point blank wide open. You have to have confidence that your goalie can handle getting pulled without breaking down for the rest of the year.

 

[ForCuseSake]

1 save on 9 goals. Would be crazy not to pull him. We were still trying to win the game and a win would have given us a better seed. He has never been pulled because before then he has never done anything remotely close to that bad in goal before. And what was the flack in his press conference? His comments were totally fine! He was complimentary to Mark as a competitor, also puts blame on the rest of the defense for not applying pressure, and said he would certainly be ready for the next one. Only is talking about him because the press people asked him about pulling Mark directly.

It is a mental position, but you have to assume that pulling a struggling goalie in one game is not going to totally ruin their confidence for the rest of the year. We had to try something new in goal for that Duke game with the start Mark had. He rode with Mark despite him struggling in the Towson game, a playoff game with everything on the line. Shows he still supported the guy. If he pulled him early again against Towson I may agree with you.

I wasn't able to watch that game live. The highlights showed the following:

0-1 Kol fell asleep on Williams and he buries an unmolested rip from left wing
0-2 McAdorey blows by Kol (he blows by everyone) and dunks it from the doorstep
0-3 Man down unit gives up a ~14 yard step down rip from up top
0-4 McAdorey beats Caccamo from the wing and cranks coming across the middle (Mark maybe could've saved it but McAdorey had his hands completely free with no contact)
0-5 Sloat SU LSM (37?) was slow to pick him up coming out of the box, took a bad angle on Sloat's dodge (perhaps expecting help or a switch) and Sloat unloads an overhand rip running full steam straight down the middle of the restraining box (no slide).
2-6 McAdorey left completely wide open on right wing for a 10 yard low to high crank (definite miscommunication as to who had slide responsibility between close D & SSDM)
2-7 O'Neil bounce shot as he's dodging on Dwan. Not bad defense, first shot Mark should've saved.
2-8 Williams man up goal from left GLE (low angle). Mark got a piece of the bouncer but it got through
2-9 Mitchell left wide open on the crease by Jake Spallina for an easy dunk from a McAdorey feed from X.

As an ex-defenseman, I have a hard time saying 2 man up goals, 2 door step dunks, 3 wide open rips are Mark not seeing the ball well. McAdorey's goal to make it 0-4 used Caccamo as a slight screen but probably could've been saved. O'Neil's bounce shot to make it 2-7 should've been saved.

Everything else was really poor defensive support. The first goal McAdorey scored on McCool was more of the same - he beats his guy and nobody slid as he got topside from inside 10 yards to score a low bouncer far post.

Now if Mark were a first year goalie or young in his career, I could see a coach saying, "Not your fault and I'm not letting you get shell'd by crappy D." But Mark as a fifth year guy should've probably been given the full first half.

 

[DoctahLexus]

I wasn't able to watch that game live. The highlights showed the following:

0-1 Col fell asleep on Williams and he buries an unmolested rip from left wing
0-2 McAdorey blows by Kol (he blows by everyone) and dunks it from the doorstep
0-3 Man down unit gives up a ~14 yard step down rip from up top
0-4 McAdorey beats Caccamo from the wing and cranks coming across the middle (Mark maybe could've saved it but McAdorey had his hands completely free with no contact)
0-5 Sloat SU LSM (37?) was slow to pick him up coming out of the box, took a bad angle on Sloat's dodge (perhaps expecting help or a switch) and Sloat unloads an overhand rip running full steam straight down the middle of the restraining box (no slide).
2-6 McAdorey left completely wide open on right wing for a 10 yard low to high crank (definite miscommunication as to who had slide responsibility between close D & SSDM)
2-7 O'Neil bounce shot as he's dodging on Dwan. Not bad defense, first shot Mark should've saved.
2-8 Williams man up goal from left GLE (low angle). Mark got a piece of the bouncer but it got through
2-9 Mitchell left wide open on the crease by Jake Spallina for an easy dunk from a McAdorey feed from X.

As an ex-defenseman, I have a hard time saying 2 man up goals, 2 door step dunks, 3 wide open rips are Mark not seeing the ball well. McAdorey's goal to make it 0-4 used Caccamo as a slight screen but probably could've been saved. O'Neil's bounce shot to make it 2-7 should've been saved.

Everything else was really poor defensive support. The first goal McAdorey scored on McCool was more of the same - he beats his guy and nobody slid as he got topside from inside 10 yards to score a low bouncer far post.

Now if Mark were a first year goalie or young in his career, I could see a coach saying, "Not your fault and I'm not letting you get shell'd by crappy D." But Mark as a fifth year guy should've probably been given the full first half.

Pulling the goalie there is still not some unheard of thing when that is what goes down. You expect your goalie to make more than one save in that sequence, even with most being so high percentage looks. Those low angle ones for instance Mark can sometimes eat up without issue. When Cornell pulled their goalie against us he was hung out to dry on nearly all the shots similar to Mark. They still made the change and it had an impact. Gait made a similar decision. You get a new goalie in there who is lefty instead of righty that can potentially throw off or change the approach of the shooters and maybe it leads to a change in momentum.

Gait should not be assuming that pulling Mark is going to lead to some kind of mental collapse. He should be trying to win the current game, which was not an entirely meaningless contest. Feel like this is 20/20 hindsight since Mark played poorly against Towson and slightly below average against Denver. Gait had faith his goalie could bounce back from getting pulled. And his remarks were complimentary, not disparaging.

 

[LaxAddict38]

Pulling the goalie there is still not some unheard of thing when that is what goes down. You expect your goalie to make more than one save in that sequence, even with most being so high percentage looks. Those low angle ones for instance Mark can sometimes eat up without issue. When Cornell pulled their goalie against us he was hung out to dry on nearly all the shots similar to Mark. They still made the change and it had an impact. Gait made a similar decision. You get a new goalie in there who is lefty instead of righty that can potentially throw off or change the approach of the shooters and maybe it leads to a change in momentum.

Gait should not be assuming that pulling Mark is going to lead to some kind of mental collapse. He should be trying to win the current game, which was not an entirely meaningless contest. Feel like this is 20/20 hindsight since Mark played poorly against Towson and slightly below average against Denver. Gait had faith his goalie could bounce back from getting pulled. And his remarks were complimentary, not disparaging.

Apples to oranges. It was half time. Cornell was mid season. The goalie they pulled was a freshman who had been underperforming previously.

We pulled a mid-season 1st team AA after 12 bad minutes right before playoffs. Maybe hindsight is 20/20 but if you’re the coach it’s your job to know your players. You never know how a goalie will respond to the hook until it actually happens. Why throw that wrench in just before playoffs?

Clearly we have very different philosophies on this, and I’m not here to argue. Just a thought that I’ve had the past couple days and a decision that I didn’t agree with at the time and don’t agree with now.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Apples to oranges. It was half time. Cornell was mid season. The goalie they pulled was a freshman who had been underperforming previously.

We pulled a mid-season 1st team AA after 12 bad minutes right before playoffs. Maybe hindsight is 20/20 but if you’re the coach it’s your job to know your players. You never know how a goalie will respond to the hook until it actually happens. Why throw that wrench in just before playoffs?

Clearly we have very different philosophies on this, and I’m not here to argue. Just a thought that I’ve had the past couple days and a decision that I didn’t agree with at the time and don’t agree with now.

I understand your perspective. Maybe if Gait could do it all again he acts differently. Still think there is a possibility things get worse if you leave him in. Both short term in the game and long term for his confidence. But we can agree to disagree.

 

[MD Cuse Fan]

Did anyone officially get a count of the amount of pipes Cuse hit? I had about 5-6 by the end and as bad as I thought the offense was for stretches, they get a little bit more luck there and they still win this game.

 

[ForCuseSake]

Pulling the goalie there is still not some unheard of thing when that is what goes down. You expect your goalie to make more than one save in that sequence, even with most being so high percentage looks. Those low angle ones for instance Mark can sometimes eat up without issue. When Cornell pulled their goalie against us he was hung out to dry on nearly all the shots similar to Mark. They still made the change and it had an impact. Gait made a similar decision. You get a new goalie in there who is lefty instead of righty that can potentially throw off or change the approach of the shooters and maybe it leads to a change in momentum.

Gait should not be assuming that pulling Mark is going to lead to some kind of mental collapse. He should be trying to win the current game, which was not an entirely meaningless contest. Feel like this is 20/20 hindsight since Mark played poorly against Towson and slightly below average against Denver. Gait had faith his goalie could bounce back from getting pulled. And his remarks were complimentary, not disparaging.

I don’t know what Gait said to the media about Mark; I’m sure it had no bearing on how much he values his goalie.

Coaches pull goalies all the time for one reason or another so I also know it’s not unheard of.

But Mark’s performance in that first quarter didn’t warrant that quick of a hook IMO.

 

[tbonezone]

all american joey spallina takes 2 shots ? 0 on goal . zero assists. 3 to's. just saying . this is the big stage.
can't feel great about this game. hopefully motivation for next year. get him out from behind the cage !

 

[tbonezone]

ut Mark’s performance in that first quarter didn’t warrant that quick of a hook IMO.

is giving up 20 goals in a game you're stone cold and gonna lose better for your confidence than the early hook ?
and as far as Dwan's goals. hey they're cool. fun. but what i really want to see is you locking down your man.