JeremyCuse
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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Last game of the 6 game road gauntlet, if your Syracuse with what's coming up you really wanna get the W here someway somehow.
Game itself is a tough spot. When the schedule first came out there were a few games that stuck out to me as potential pitfalls beyond the obvious ones ie Princeton, G-town (before their issues) etc. Penn was one and this was the other. Denver at home is always tough, add in a weekday game and their schedule to date and they will really be looking to get a top10 win.
Denver's Defense is certainly legitimate. Three solid poles, decent SSDM play and an outstanding goalie in Manning. They have stifled pretty much every opponent save for Cornell who put up 13 and held a pretty good Utah O to 7 goals on a Herculean effort by Manning. For Syracuse there's real concern here about a repeat of the Princeton and Penn games where the Offense is just absolutely stuck in the mud. We saw some good things in the 2nd half of the AF game but you have to take the fact that it was AF and they played a god awful zone defense. From a Syracuse standpoint, the secondary scorers and 2nd midline really need to make an impact again. Be it Bear or McIntee/Hahn etc along with whoever is drawing the short stick defender on the 1st line. Leo keeps jumping between attack and mid so I suspect he will keep doing that again today. I believe (I could be wrong) he played more middie vs AF then he has in a while so that will be something to keep an eye on. I also think it's clear we need to see more of Tucker on the 2nd line as a guy who rotates in. I also find it baffling he's not on the man up unit. I liked what I saw from T-Mac vs AF as well. He needs a few runs with the 2nd line as well especially if the Offense is having issues as we expect it might today.
Now for some potential good news. Denver from an O standpoint has had major issues. 10 goals vs AF even in a win is no bueno neither is scoring 8 goals vs Utah. Now to be fair they did drop 15 vs Michigan in their win but Michigan until it went to a surprise zone last week vs ND had been one of the worst D teams in the country. They also scored 9 vs Cornell in a 13-9 loss a few weeks back. The game that sticks out is the 6-4 loss to OSU. Only allowing 6 goals to OSU is impressive as they have some real O weapons but only scoring 4 goals is almost unheard of. I'd suspect they will be looking to rebound after that kind of performance. From a Syracuse D standpoint I think the key is to force Denver to score in the 6 on 6. Now some of that comes down to SU being able to clear (always an adventure) and avoiding giving up transition or easy goals. Denver is 6 for 15 on the man up so not great but still it would behoove SU to keep the penalties to a minimum especially against a team like Denver coming off a very chippy game vs OSU.
For Denver their two man O players are both attackmen - Cody Malawsky and Marek Tzagournis. Both are tied with 17 points a piece on the year. Their top 3 scorers are all attackmen as it appears they have struggled to get consistent production from their mid lines. Chase Bruno a Sr leads the way at middie with 10 pts followed by Cornell Transfer Rory Graham with 9. From a Syracuse perspective, much like the Hop game I think SU matches up very well on paper. Dwan will likely draw Malawsky and Riley will draw Marek who is their man assist guy. When those two struggle to score Denver usually struggles to score. They just haven't been able to get any real depth of scoring though Daniel Clark a middie does appear to be coming on a bit with 6 pts in the last 2 games, SU will need to ensure he draws the pole. Now certainly SU's defense did not look great in the 1st half vs AF, to the point if AF could have stayed onsides they are probably winning at half. The SSDM group especially struggled. I am hoping they will be a bit more adjusted to the altitude 4 days after the AF game. I'd also advise the staff to hold off the McCool full field clear passes, this isn't the game you wanna be experimenting with that.
Denver has had some struggles at the X. They are under 50% on the year and against what you would consider "peer" opponents they went 7-19 against Cornell and 4-10 vs OSU. They did win more then 50% against Michigan but the Wolverines aren't great from the X this season. To put it in a better perspective they were exactly at 50% vs AF. Johnny should be north of 60% today and has gotten himself on a roll the last few games. Wing play continues to be less then stellar however which is very concerning.
So where does this all leave us? History tells us were likely looking at a repeat of the Penn game ie a low scoring rock fight. I think the Syracuse Defense has more than earned the benefit of the doubt but this offense I fear will likely play right into Denver's hands with the issues we have seen with not valuing possessions, poor passes, bad decision making, bad shot placement/not changing angles etc. I hope I am proven wrong in a big way but O we haven't been able to put together a complete performance since the St. Joes game. SU will have to balance not taking a bad shot but also not waiting for the perfect one either to put pressure on Manning consistently and force him to make 15,16,17+ saves. If your Syracuse you HAVE TO finish great looks and opportunities in a game like this.
From an intangible standpoint Denver does turn the ball over on average 16+ times a game, could be an area SU could get a few goals on to help open things up. Denver isn't a big team in drawing or giving penalties (16 both ways) but they do a great job on the man down, teams are only 2 for 13 this year, something to keep an eye on.
If your Syracuse I think the magic # to shoot for is 11. If you can get to 11 goals you should have an excellent chance of winning. Again force Denver to score in the 6 on 6 and force their secondary scorers to do the scoring.
Lastly I can't believe I have to pay for yet another stream. I am half tempted to go old school with the radio feed or Extreme game thread updates, lol.
Game itself is a tough spot. When the schedule first came out there were a few games that stuck out to me as potential pitfalls beyond the obvious ones ie Princeton, G-town (before their issues) etc. Penn was one and this was the other. Denver at home is always tough, add in a weekday game and their schedule to date and they will really be looking to get a top10 win.
Denver's Defense is certainly legitimate. Three solid poles, decent SSDM play and an outstanding goalie in Manning. They have stifled pretty much every opponent save for Cornell who put up 13 and held a pretty good Utah O to 7 goals on a Herculean effort by Manning. For Syracuse there's real concern here about a repeat of the Princeton and Penn games where the Offense is just absolutely stuck in the mud. We saw some good things in the 2nd half of the AF game but you have to take the fact that it was AF and they played a god awful zone defense. From a Syracuse standpoint, the secondary scorers and 2nd midline really need to make an impact again. Be it Bear or McIntee/Hahn etc along with whoever is drawing the short stick defender on the 1st line. Leo keeps jumping between attack and mid so I suspect he will keep doing that again today. I believe (I could be wrong) he played more middie vs AF then he has in a while so that will be something to keep an eye on. I also think it's clear we need to see more of Tucker on the 2nd line as a guy who rotates in. I also find it baffling he's not on the man up unit. I liked what I saw from T-Mac vs AF as well. He needs a few runs with the 2nd line as well especially if the Offense is having issues as we expect it might today.
Now for some potential good news. Denver from an O standpoint has had major issues. 10 goals vs AF even in a win is no bueno neither is scoring 8 goals vs Utah. Now to be fair they did drop 15 vs Michigan in their win but Michigan until it went to a surprise zone last week vs ND had been one of the worst D teams in the country. They also scored 9 vs Cornell in a 13-9 loss a few weeks back. The game that sticks out is the 6-4 loss to OSU. Only allowing 6 goals to OSU is impressive as they have some real O weapons but only scoring 4 goals is almost unheard of. I'd suspect they will be looking to rebound after that kind of performance. From a Syracuse D standpoint I think the key is to force Denver to score in the 6 on 6. Now some of that comes down to SU being able to clear (always an adventure) and avoiding giving up transition or easy goals. Denver is 6 for 15 on the man up so not great but still it would behoove SU to keep the penalties to a minimum especially against a team like Denver coming off a very chippy game vs OSU.
For Denver their two man O players are both attackmen - Cody Malawsky and Marek Tzagournis. Both are tied with 17 points a piece on the year. Their top 3 scorers are all attackmen as it appears they have struggled to get consistent production from their mid lines. Chase Bruno a Sr leads the way at middie with 10 pts followed by Cornell Transfer Rory Graham with 9. From a Syracuse perspective, much like the Hop game I think SU matches up very well on paper. Dwan will likely draw Malawsky and Riley will draw Marek who is their man assist guy. When those two struggle to score Denver usually struggles to score. They just haven't been able to get any real depth of scoring though Daniel Clark a middie does appear to be coming on a bit with 6 pts in the last 2 games, SU will need to ensure he draws the pole. Now certainly SU's defense did not look great in the 1st half vs AF, to the point if AF could have stayed onsides they are probably winning at half. The SSDM group especially struggled. I am hoping they will be a bit more adjusted to the altitude 4 days after the AF game. I'd also advise the staff to hold off the McCool full field clear passes, this isn't the game you wanna be experimenting with that.
Denver has had some struggles at the X. They are under 50% on the year and against what you would consider "peer" opponents they went 7-19 against Cornell and 4-10 vs OSU. They did win more then 50% against Michigan but the Wolverines aren't great from the X this season. To put it in a better perspective they were exactly at 50% vs AF. Johnny should be north of 60% today and has gotten himself on a roll the last few games. Wing play continues to be less then stellar however which is very concerning.
So where does this all leave us? History tells us were likely looking at a repeat of the Penn game ie a low scoring rock fight. I think the Syracuse Defense has more than earned the benefit of the doubt but this offense I fear will likely play right into Denver's hands with the issues we have seen with not valuing possessions, poor passes, bad decision making, bad shot placement/not changing angles etc. I hope I am proven wrong in a big way but O we haven't been able to put together a complete performance since the St. Joes game. SU will have to balance not taking a bad shot but also not waiting for the perfect one either to put pressure on Manning consistently and force him to make 15,16,17+ saves. If your Syracuse you HAVE TO finish great looks and opportunities in a game like this.
From an intangible standpoint Denver does turn the ball over on average 16+ times a game, could be an area SU could get a few goals on to help open things up. Denver isn't a big team in drawing or giving penalties (16 both ways) but they do a great job on the man down, teams are only 2 for 13 this year, something to keep an eye on.
If your Syracuse I think the magic # to shoot for is 11. If you can get to 11 goals you should have an excellent chance of winning. Again force Denver to score in the 6 on 6 and force their secondary scorers to do the scoring.
Lastly I can't believe I have to pay for yet another stream. I am half tempted to go old school with the radio feed or Extreme game thread updates, lol.
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