Few quick thoughts on where we stand and concerns going forward

[JeremyCuse]

Rough few weeks for sure coming of the big ND win. Injuries, mistakes and inconsistent play have all been major issues the last few weeks.

Season isn't over and you don't want to panic but it's also clear this season hasn't gone anywhere near as well as we had hoped. A few things I am pondering after the Duke loss:

I hate to beat a dead horse but the lack of discipline continues to absolutely haunt this team. The amount of penalties this season has simply been way to many and the two offsides calls this past Saturday have become a staple of Gait teams and is completely unacceptable with a veteran laden team at this point in the season. Turnovers have been very good this year so you have to give the staff and team credit there but unfortunately that was also a mess on Saturday. Two straight games where SU has turned the ball over 15+ times, hard to win.

Offensively you can give the team somewhat of a pass. Hiltz is hurt, Leo is not 100%, Thomson clearly not 100% and Anderson is seeing elite defenses for the first time and struggling. Still this team does continue to take low angle shots, struggles to remember to change angles and has developed a bad habit of not finishing great looks. I am also perplexed that the staff continues to run the current 2nd midline out there when they have struggled immensely. There aren't a ton of options with Birt lost for the year and the shuffling at attack but at some point you have to try someone different. Deere as much as he isn't a midfielder should get some run at least he is a threat to score. I'd also give one of the frosh a run over McCarthy, he simply is zero threat out there right now and has to be shooting about 8%.

Defensively I think they have been pretty good overall but suffer from some bad lapses and shockingly inconsistency. Grace has played well but he has really struggled the last few games and was victimized by Malever. I believe he was also on Goldstein for long portions last week ( correct me If am wrong). Dwan has also had some issues he struggled with Kirst (understandable) and was out of position a few times this past Saturday when he was on Malever and just overall hasn't looked himself since the ND game. Not sure if he's injured or he's a hit a wall a bit or what but we need him to play he's capable of ASAP especially with what's coming to the Dome on Saturday as I assume he will draw little Petro. The loss of Levine is a huge blow, he has played I think very well this year. Hopefully it wasn't what it looked like but much like Birt's injury that screamed ACL. Assuming it is an ACL, they should move McCarthy full time to SSDM. He has looked good there in limited time and has the size your looking for.

Johnny Mullen continues to be a warrior out there but the lack of depth behind him is clearly causing problems. Duke went to their 3rd guy to try and cause problems while Johnny took all but 1 draw with Richiusa taking only 1 and losing it. Angelo has struggled in his frosh year and Richiusa unfortunately hasn't looked much better. Roster cap or not with no FOGO in the 2025 class SU will have to hit the portal for help at the X as SU loses all of its backup FOGO's save for Angelo.

Overall my biggest concern is that this staff has some issues that will simply never get corrected. Much like the Dino Babers era the lack of discipline is beyond evident and hasn't improved at all with a better team from year 1 when Gait took over. Three more penalties this past weekend including 2 ridiculous offsides. There's absolutely no excuse to be having the same issues now that you did in year 1 vs Albany in a rain storm in a lost season. It also seems to be mission impossible to get this offense to understand time and place or sense of urgency or when its not time to try a highlight reel goal. Gait keeps preaching valuing the ball and patient in his PC's but its pretty much the opposite week in and week out (see English's shot attempt down 3-0 this past week). Turnovers and clearing have been pretty good to really good this year but turnovers have been a mess the last two weeks (coincidence games were outside?) and clearing has now suddenly become an adventure even going back to the ND win. This staff also seems very reluctant to utilize any sort of depth when guys are hurt or clearly fatigued. This roster has 50+ people, your telling me no one else can run on the 2nd mid line? A guy like O'farrell or McIntee can't see some runs to try and get some new blood out there?

I don't profess to have all the answers but this team has way to much talent to be this inconsistent. Going from pre-season #2 and a final four favorite to essentially a bubble team is a very bad look. We also struggle to make in game adjustments be it vs Harvard or the last few weeks when things go South we usually can't stop it or slow it down. Gait also doesn't ever call a TO it seems when these runs are happening. Season isn't over and I suspect they will play better at home this Saturday but I also think it's more then fair to question whether this current staff is gonna work out. March maybe the fall guy if this team crashes and burns to end the season but Gait needs to take a new approach in how he coaches. The current free wheel loosey goosey everything is gonna work out (Axe's article from yesterday) is not working when his teams continue to have the same issues year in and year out even with significantly more talent (see year 1 vs year 4). I am not out on Gait but unless something massively changes this team is unlikely to get back to the quarters much less a final four. Hall of fame player or not, if there's no deep run in year 5 SU has to consider pulling the plug.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

We've been sloppy all season.

Wouldn't surprise me if we're "one and done".

Also wouldn't surprise me if we win both the ACCT and the Natty.

 

[JeremyCuse]

We've been sloppy all season.

Wouldn't surprise me if we're "one and done".

Also wouldn't surprise me if we win both the ACCT and the Natty.

Me either and therein lies the problem.

 

[FloridaCuse]

We've been sloppy all season.

Wouldn't surprise me if we're "one and done".

Also wouldn't surprise me if we win both the ACCT and the Natty.

At this point it would surprise me if we won the Natty. Would take a major turnaround from the last 2 weeks and play like we did the first half v ND for almost 4 quarters every game. We could get to the Final Four depending on the bracket but it won't be easy to even get by the first round, whether we're at home or on the road. I'm not sure any ACC team makes the Final Four, except maybe ND if they play like they did in the 2nd half vs UNC.

 

[FloridaCuse]

Rough few weeks for sure coming of the big ND win. Injuries, mistakes and inconsistent play have all been major issues the last few weeks.

Season isn't over and you don't want to panic but it's also clear this season hasn't gone anywhere near as well as we had hoped. A few things I am pondering after the Duke loss:

I hate to beat a dead horse but the lack of discipline continues to absolutely haunt this team. The amount of penalties this season has simply been way to many and the two offsides calls this past Saturday have become a staple of Gait teams and is completely unacceptable with a veteran laden team at this point in the season. Turnovers have been very good this year so you have to give the staff and team credit there but unfortunately that was also a mess on Saturday. Two straight games where SU has turned the ball over 15+ times, hard to win.

Offensively you can give the team somewhat of a pass. Hiltz is hurt, Leo is not 100%, Thomson clearly not 100% and Anderson is seeing elite defenses for the first time and struggling. Still this team does continue to take low angle shots, struggles to remember to change angles and has developed a bad habit of not finishing great looks. I am also perplexed that the staff continues to run the current 2nd midline out there when they have struggled immensely. There aren't a ton of options with Birt lost for the year and the shuffling at attack but at some point you have to try someone different. Deere as much as he isn't a midfielder should get some run at least he is a threat to score. I'd also give one of the frosh a run over McCarthy, he simply is zero threat out there right now and has to be shooting about 8%.

Defensively I think they have been pretty good overall but suffer from some bad lapses and shockingly inconsistency. Grace has played well but he has really struggled the last few games and was victimized by Malever. I believe he was also on Goldstein for long portions last week ( correct me If am wrong). Dwan has also had some issues he struggled with Kirst (understandable) and was out of position a few times this past Saturday when he was on Malever and just overall hasn't looked himself since the ND game. Not sure if he's injured or he's a hit a wall a bit or what but we need him to play he's capable of ASAP especially with what's coming to the Dome on Saturday as I assume he will draw little Petro. The loss of Levine is a huge blow, he has played I think very well this year. Hopefully it wasn't what it looked like but much like Birt's injury that screamed ACL. Assuming it is an ACL, they should move McCarthy full time to SSDM. He has looked good there in limited time and has the size your looking for.

Johnny Mullen continues to be a warrior out there but the lack of depth behind him is clearly causing problems. Duke went to their 3rd guy to try and cause problems while Johnny took all but 1 draw with Richiusa taking only 1 and losing it. Angelo has struggled in his frosh year and Richiusa unfortunately hasn't looked much better. Roster cap or not with no FOGO in the 2025 class SU will have to hit the portal for help at the X as SU loses all of its backup FOGO's save for Angelo.

Overall my biggest concern is that this staff has some issues that will simply never get corrected. Much like the Dino Babers era the lack of discipline is beyond evident and hasn't improved at all with a better team from year 1 when Gait took over. Three more penalties this past weekend including 2 ridiculous offsides. There's absolutely no excuse to be having the same issues now that you did in year 1 vs Albany in a rain storm in a lost season. It also seems to be mission impossible to get this offense to understand time and place or sense of urgency or when its not time to try a highlight reel goal. Gait keeps preaching valuing the ball and patient in his PC's but its pretty much the opposite week in and week out (see English's shot attempt down 3-0 this past week). Turnovers and clearing have been pretty good to really good this year but turnovers have been a mess the last two weeks (coincidence games were outside?) and clearing has now suddenly become an adventure even going back to the ND win. This staff also seems very reluctant to utilize any sort of depth when guys are hurt or clearly fatigued. This roster has 50+ people, your telling me no one else can run on the 2nd mid line? A guy like O'farrell or McIntee can't see some runs to try and get some new blood out there?

I don't profess to have all the answers but this team has way to much talent to be this inconsistent. Going from pre-season #2 and a final four favorite to essentially a bubble team is a very bad look. We also struggle to make in game adjustments be it vs Harvard or the last few weeks when things go South we usually can't stop it or slow it down. Gait also doesn't ever call a TO it seems when these runs are happening. Season isn't over and I suspect they will play better at home this Saturday but I also think it's more then fair to question whether this current staff is gonna work out. March maybe the fall guy if this team crashes and burns to end the season but Gait needs to take a new approach in how he coaches. The current free wheel loosey goosey everything is gonna work out (Axe's article from yesterday) is not working when his teams continue to have the same issues year in and year out even with significantly more talent (see year 1 vs year 4). I am not out on Gait but unless something massively changes this team is unlikely to get back to the quarters much less a final four. Hall of fame player or not, if there's no deep run in year 5 SU has to consider pulling the plug.

Excellent analysis. My big question is the same as it is for Syr MBB - is Gary a good coach. Not all good or great players are necessarily good or great coaches, not even all-time great players.

One additional point about the offense -- it seems we rarely take a bounce shot that first hits the turf. Am I missing something? I see other teams take those type of shots a lot and it seems that we don't. Are our players not taught to do that. Every time we take a bad shot (e.g., don't change levels) I can hear Ryan Powell on prior year's ACCNX TV broadcasts pointing it out.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

I think the Spallina class gives SU fans an inflated sense of our standing with respect to peer programs. The reality is that Maryland and Duke have stacked top recruiting classes year after year (including portal additions), and even Harvard has several bona fide blue chippers. Cornell is buoyed by having the last of the 5-6 year players. In short, there is a ton of parity out there and match ups, injuries, and sharpness (a few missed ground balls, bobbled passes, halfhearted slides, missed gimmies, etc.) will play huge roles for all teams with respect to how things play out. The concept that we should be better because of Spallina, Dwan, Fig, Leo, etc., is understandable, though misguided IMO.

I agree that at times this team is too slick for its own good, Gait is too slow to call timeouts when the field tilts, and we lack a real agent of chaos out there who can just make things happen or put other teams on their back heels (either defensively or offensively).

 

[DoctahLexus]

With our preseason ranking, it was always just a calculation based on how much prominent talent other contenders from last season were losing. We lost relatively less than a lot of teams and that propelled us to a higher preseason rank, but we still did have question marks like pretty much every team in the top 10. It was not all the pundits thinking cuse would be a wagon. Unfortunately, a lot of those question marks have turned into problems for this years team. Middie/ssdm/rope unit depth has been the main test, losing Kohn Olexo Wright and Stevens all at once. Also we had to rework things with our depth due to Mule/Stevens leaving, which then got further compounded by Birtwistle and Thomson going down early in the year. With the rope unit, I believe McKinney, Kolby White, and Kempney have all been out with long term injuries as well. Replacements of all of those guys have been a serious mixed bag. That leads to extra minutes and stress on the experienced vets, which is why I think our performance is petering out in this late season stretch of tough games. Fatigue leads to sloppy play. It does not excuse every play that English made on Saturday, for example, but it explains his overall performance a lot.

That does not excuse everything with discipline. Dwan head hunting has been an issue all year, for instance. Terrible behaviour from a three year starter/captain. As fatigued/hurt as they are down the stretch, weak impatient shooting from the starting middie line has been a killer all year too. We are putting too much faith in middies dodging against short sticks and not enough in our attack to make plays. Starting more plays with the three attack would be good for both our efficiency and middie fatigue. But some of this increased slop in recent games is an effect of our lack of depth, or lack of faith to use our depth. Part of that is us still trying to close the gap in recruiting with our ACC peers.

 

[ForCuseSake]

Rough few weeks for sure coming of the big ND win. Injuries, mistakes and inconsistent play have all been major issues the last few weeks.

Season isn't over and you don't want to panic but it's also clear this season hasn't gone anywhere near as well as we had hoped. A few things I am pondering after the Duke loss:

I hate to beat a dead horse but the lack of discipline continues to absolutely haunt this team. The amount of penalties this season has simply been way to many and the two offsides calls this past Saturday have become a staple of Gait teams and is completely unacceptable with a veteran laden team at this point in the season. Turnovers have been very good this year so you have to give the staff and team credit there but unfortunately that was also a mess on Saturday. Two straight games where SU has turned the ball over 15+ times, hard to win.

Offensively you can give the team somewhat of a pass. Hiltz is hurt, Leo is not 100%, Thomson clearly not 100% and Anderson is seeing elite defenses for the first time and struggling. Still this team does continue to take low angle shots, struggles to remember to change angles and has developed a bad habit of not finishing great looks. I am also perplexed that the staff continues to run the current 2nd midline out there when they have struggled immensely. There aren't a ton of options with Birt lost for the year and the shuffling at attack but at some point you have to try someone different. Deere as much as he isn't a midfielder should get some run at least he is a threat to score. I'd also give one of the frosh a run over McCarthy, he simply is zero threat out there right now and has to be shooting about 8%.

Defensively I think they have been pretty good overall but suffer from some bad lapses and shockingly inconsistency. Grace has played well but he has really struggled the last few games and was victimized by Malever. I believe he was also on Goldstein for long portions last week ( correct me If am wrong). Dwan has also had some issues he struggled with Kirst (understandable) and was out of position a few times this past Saturday when he was on Malever and just overall hasn't looked himself since the ND game. Not sure if he's injured or he's a hit a wall a bit or what but we need him to play he's capable of ASAP especially with what's coming to the Dome on Saturday as I assume he will draw little Petro. The loss of Levine is a huge blow, he has played I think very well this year. Hopefully it wasn't what it looked like but much like Birt's injury that screamed ACL. Assuming it is an ACL, they should move McCarthy full time to SSDM. He has looked good there in limited time and has the size your looking for.

Johnny Mullen continues to be a warrior out there but the lack of depth behind him is clearly causing problems. Duke went to their 3rd guy to try and cause problems while Johnny took all but 1 draw with Richiusa taking only 1 and losing it. Angelo has struggled in his frosh year and Richiusa unfortunately hasn't looked much better. Roster cap or not with no FOGO in the 2025 class SU will have to hit the portal for help at the X as SU loses all of its backup FOGO's save for Angelo.

Overall my biggest concern is that this staff has some issues that will simply never get corrected. Much like the Dino Babers era the lack of discipline is beyond evident and hasn't improved at all with a better team from year 1 when Gait took over. Three more penalties this past weekend including 2 ridiculous offsides. There's absolutely no excuse to be having the same issues now that you did in year 1 vs Albany in a rain storm in a lost season. It also seems to be mission impossible to get this offense to understand time and place or sense of urgency or when its not time to try a highlight reel goal. Gait keeps preaching valuing the ball and patient in his PC's but its pretty much the opposite week in and week out (see English's shot attempt down 3-0 this past week). Turnovers and clearing have been pretty good to really good this year but turnovers have been a mess the last two weeks (coincidence games were outside?) and clearing has now suddenly become an adventure even going back to the ND win. This staff also seems very reluctant to utilize any sort of depth when guys are hurt or clearly fatigued. This roster has 50+ people, your telling me no one else can run on the 2nd mid line? A guy like O'farrell or McIntee can't see some runs to try and get some new blood out there?

I don't profess to have all the answers but this team has way to much talent to be this inconsistent. Going from pre-season #2 and a final four favorite to essentially a bubble team is a very bad look. We also struggle to make in game adjustments be it vs Harvard or the last few weeks when things go South we usually can't stop it or slow it down. Gait also doesn't ever call a TO it seems when these runs are happening. Season isn't over and I suspect they will play better at home this Saturday but I also think it's more then fair to question whether this current staff is gonna work out. March maybe the fall guy if this team crashes and burns to end the season but Gait needs to take a new approach in how he coaches. The current free wheel loosey goosey everything is gonna work out (Axe's article from yesterday) is not working when his teams continue to have the same issues year in and year out even with significantly more talent (see year 1 vs year 4). I am not out on Gait but unless something massively changes this team is unlikely to get back to the quarters much less a final four. Hall of fame player or not, if there's no deep run in year 5 SU has to consider pulling the plug.

I’d hoped the goofy substitution patterns, and ensuing clearing & riding issues caused, would be less obvious with Petro’s departure.

And while Odierna has done a fine job improving the defense, the lingering offsides and clearing issues remain.

It’s the most bizarre contradiction Gary’s otherwise free flowing laissez faire approach - all middies must run off immediately after a goalie save/change in possession!! And I think it’s the biggest reason why the team averages at least one offsides call per game.

I think it was Hiltz who had a great check to cause a TO on a ride against ND. Outside of that I struggle to recall a ride that forced an error around or before midfield.

 

[upperdeck]

I think the Spallina class gives SU fans an inflated sense of our standing with respect to peer programs. The reality is that Maryland and Duke have stacked top recruiting classes year after year (including portal additions), and even Harvard has several bona fide blue chippers. Cornell is buoyed by having the last of the 5-6 year players. In short, there is a ton of parity out there and match ups, injuries, and sharpness (a few missed ground balls, bobbled passes, halfhearted slides, missed gimmies, etc.) will play huge roles for all teams with respect to how things play out. The concept that we should be better because of Spallina, Dwan, Fig, Leo, etc., is understandable, though misguided IMO.

I agree that at times this team is too slick for its own good, Gait is too slow to call timeouts when the field tilts, and we lack a real agent of chaos out there who can just make things happen or put other teams on their back heels (either defensively or offensively).

Cornell doesnt have any 5-6 yr players. They have a couple who played 4 over 5-6 years though. But also they might have won one in the Covid years had it not all got lost.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Cornell doesnt have any 5-6 yr players. They have a couple who played 4 over 5-6 years though. But also they might have won one in the Covid years had it not all got lost.

Pretty much the same difference. Kirst Long Kelleher Dalton Sheehan and others would all be gone now if they did not take time off of school in 2021.

 

[upperdeck]

Big difference. Some kids actually played 6 yrs.

they also could have RS at most of the schools the last 4 yrs if things had gone the injury way.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Big difference. Some kids actually played 6 yrs.

they also could have RS at most of the schools the last 4 yrs if things had gone the injury way.

Point is they would not be playing in college now if not for the spring semester they took off in 2021. They are a year older than your average senior today.

 

[cuselaxss26]

Syracuse is based on ball movement mostly. Just watching duke highlights as couldn’t make myself watch full game again. But the ball movement after the duke run seemed to die. We just tried dodging shorties. Even just spinning ball around perimeter will get D spinning n open up lanes. Ball has to stay hott tho not die in sticks. Have to cut off ball set picks off ball.

I also wonder also why we don’t bounce shoot it specially on natural grass which ball can do amazing things. Stop with poor angles or these super outside shoots for guys who don’t have the power. Inside finishing some panic n just trying to get it off quickly. Should be able to feel where D is n if on ur back good chance if take half second to throw fake or pump their either gonna push u in back (flag) or ur gonna score. English had least 2-3 chances right on crease n didn’t convert one. Def rushed two one was that between legs not looking. Both he had time to spin see goalie n even throw fake.

Defense who is our guy to take ball away? Fig is good cover guy and takes his chances taking ball when come. Dwan would be my guess of someone to able to throw take away checks. With his size n length but he is to far off his guy. He needs to throw the checks when playing the body. And he should be playing the body not just trotting with them. He does need to stop head hunting or getting flagged specially at worst times. Would love to see rice push it n take his O guy to rack. We have to start exploiting other teams weakness or disadvantages like they do us.

I’ll be at the unc game this week. I hope they bounce back and win. But don’t feel very confident. As clearing as not been great for us n unc runs 10man. Just chucking half field at net isn’t gonna work all the time. Gotta be able to clear ball. Also have to ride ourselfs. Duke was struggling struggling clearing the ball but had no issues vs us. We let them to many times just walk it right over. Have to play the game every aspect of it the game. Score goals take ball away on D make saves win face offs clear ball n ride the ball.

 

[cuselaxss26]

Anyway like said will be heading up to cuse friday morning with the rents, wife n 7yrd son. Be at game saturday sitting in c101 row H. Hoping the wife n son there be good luck as during Nd game we started kicking butt when they sat down to watch with me n then i wouldn’t let them leave till game was over. Maby they had nothing to do with it but i wasn’t taking chance. But hopefully they be good luck charms. My dad not much he is psu fan lol.

But anyway just curious if there is anything friday night going on or friday afternoon that maby we should check out when we up there. As said be leaving early early morning friday prob spend sometime at mall . So my dad can spoil crap out of my son. But wasn’t sure if maby some kind of event or happing was going on friday day before game that would seem like fun. Let me know!

 

[upperdeck]

Point is they would not be playing in college now if not for the spring semester they took off in 2021. They are a year older than your average senior today.

every cornell kid from canada is already older than most SRs and so is every kid that RSs usually. are they the only team with kids who took more than 4ys to finish a career.

the choice was sit out or only play 3 yrs

 

[Powellfan]

Rough few weeks for sure coming of the big ND win. Injuries, mistakes and inconsistent play have all been major issues the last few weeks.

Season isn't over and you don't want to panic but it's also clear this season hasn't gone anywhere near as well as we had hoped. A few things I am pondering after the Duke loss:

I hate to beat a dead horse but the lack of discipline continues to absolutely haunt this team. The amount of penalties this season has simply been way to many and the two offsides calls this past Saturday have become a staple of Gait teams and is completely unacceptable with a veteran laden team at this point in the season. Turnovers have been very good this year so you have to give the staff and team credit there but unfortunately that was also a mess on Saturday. Two straight games where SU has turned the ball over 15+ times, hard to win.

Offensively you can give the team somewhat of a pass. Hiltz is hurt, Leo is not 100%, Thomson clearly not 100% and Anderson is seeing elite defenses for the first time and struggling. Still this team does continue to take low angle shots, struggles to remember to change angles and has developed a bad habit of not finishing great looks. I am also perplexed that the staff continues to run the current 2nd midline out there when they have struggled immensely. There aren't a ton of options with Birt lost for the year and the shuffling at attack but at some point you have to try someone different. Deere as much as he isn't a midfielder should get some run at least he is a threat to score. I'd also give one of the frosh a run over McCarthy, he simply is zero threat out there right now and has to be shooting about 8%.

Defensively I think they have been pretty good overall but suffer from some bad lapses and shockingly inconsistency. Grace has played well but he has really struggled the last few games and was victimized by Malever. I believe he was also on Goldstein for long portions last week ( correct me If am wrong). Dwan has also had some issues he struggled with Kirst (understandable) and was out of position a few times this past Saturday when he was on Malever and just overall hasn't looked himself since the ND game. Not sure if he's injured or he's a hit a wall a bit or what but we need him to play he's capable of ASAP especially with what's coming to the Dome on Saturday as I assume he will draw little Petro. The loss of Levine is a huge blow, he has played I think very well this year. Hopefully it wasn't what it looked like but much like Birt's injury that screamed ACL. Assuming it is an ACL, they should move McCarthy full time to SSDM. He has looked good there in limited time and has the size your looking for.

Johnny Mullen continues to be a warrior out there but the lack of depth behind him is clearly causing problems. Duke went to their 3rd guy to try and cause problems while Johnny took all but 1 draw with Richiusa taking only 1 and losing it. Angelo has struggled in his frosh year and Richiusa unfortunately hasn't looked much better. Roster cap or not with no FOGO in the 2025 class SU will have to hit the portal for help at the X as SU loses all of its backup FOGO's save for Angelo.

Overall my biggest concern is that this staff has some issues that will simply never get corrected. Much like the Dino Babers era the lack of discipline is beyond evident and hasn't improved at all with a better team from year 1 when Gait took over. Three more penalties this past weekend including 2 ridiculous offsides. There's absolutely no excuse to be having the same issues now that you did in year 1 vs Albany in a rain storm in a lost season. It also seems to be mission impossible to get this offense to understand time and place or sense of urgency or when its not time to try a highlight reel goal. Gait keeps preaching valuing the ball and patient in his PC's but its pretty much the opposite week in and week out (see English's shot attempt down 3-0 this past week). Turnovers and clearing have been pretty good to really good this year but turnovers have been a mess the last two weeks (coincidence games were outside?) and clearing has now suddenly become an adventure even going back to the ND win. This staff also seems very reluctant to utilize any sort of depth when guys are hurt or clearly fatigued. This roster has 50+ people, your telling me no one else can run on the 2nd mid line? A guy like O'farrell or McIntee can't see some runs to try and get some new blood out there?

I don't profess to have all the answers but this team has way to much talent to be this inconsistent. Going from pre-season #2 and a final four favorite to essentially a bubble team is a very bad look. We also struggle to make in game adjustments be it vs Harvard or the last few weeks when things go South we usually can't stop it or slow it down. Gait also doesn't ever call a TO it seems when these runs are happening. Season isn't over and I suspect they will play better at home this Saturday but I also think it's more then fair to question whether this current staff is gonna work out. March maybe the fall guy if this team crashes and burns to end the season but Gait needs to take a new approach in how he coaches. The current free wheel loosey goosey everything is gonna work out (Axe's article from yesterday) is not working when his teams continue to have the same issues year in and year out even with significantly more talent (see year 1 vs year 4). I am not out on Gait but unless something massively changes this team is unlikely to get back to the quarters much less a final four. Hall of fame player or not, if there's no deep run in year 5 SU has to consider pulling the plug.

I think we've spent a lot of the season essentially saying, "this guy should play more, no this guy should play more, no no, THIS guy should play more". It seems like whenever Anderson has a bad game, we wonder why Deere isn't playing. Whenever Deere is playing, we ask why Anderson isn't. It's been going on all season. And I am just as guilty as anyone. I don't think the answer is "who should be playing", but rather why didn't the team get better in the offseason?

Not all of this is on the coaches (hindsight) - but I have to wonder why they didn't hit the portal harder. After having the best transfer class the year prior, the Orange essentially sat out the offseason this year, brining in just two players (one a backup). Another poster mentioned that we might be higher on this team based on the junior class, but we don't have the depth because our other classes lag behind our rivals. I think there is a lot of truth in that statement. The only way to counteract that is to hit the portal. The Orange did it last year, why not this year? Was it the admin who said the roster has to get smaller? Was Gait over confident in the players he already had? A combination of the two?

It's not always a silver bullet. Teams like Hopkins (injuries) and Virginia brought in a decent amount of players through the portal and it didn't work out. And on the whole it doesn't look like this transfer class is stellar, but there are some good players out there who could have made a difference at SU this year. It's frustrating, to me at least, that SU didn't supplement a very good roster this offseason.

 

[ColdAnger]

I think we've spent a lot of the season essentially saying, "this guy should play more, no this guy should play more, no no, THIS guy should play more". It seems like whenever Anderson has a bad game, we wonder why Deere isn't playing. Whenever Deere is playing, we ask why Anderson isn't. It's been going on all season. And I am just as guilty as anyone. I don't think the answer is "who should be playing", but rather why didn't the team get better in the offseason?

Not all of this is on the coaches (hindsight) - but I have to wonder why they didn't hit the portal harder. After having the best transfer class the year prior, the Orange essentially sat out the offseason this year, brining in just two players (one a backup). Another poster mentioned that we might be higher on this team based on the junior class, but we don't have the depth because our other classes lag behind our rivals. I think there is a lot of truth in that statement. The only way to counteract that is to hit the portal. The Orange did it last year, why not this year? Was it the admin who said the roster has to get smaller? Was Gait over confident in the players he already had? A combination of the two?

It's not always a silver bullet. Teams like Hopkins (injuries) and Virginia brought in a decent amount of players through the portal and it didn't work out. And on the whole it doesn't look like this transfer class is stellar, but there are some good players out there who could have made a difference at SU this year. It's frustrating, to me at least, that SU didn't supplement a very good roster this offseason.

I like and mostly agree with your take but it takes two to tango. Maybe these portal kids preferred other options despite what SU had to offer.

I think it is fair to place some of the blame on this junior class. They were/are highly regarded and have underperformed expectations. It is possible that they were/are overrated.

I think it is also fair to place some of the blame on the coaching staff. It is clear from his comments that Coach Gait prefers a cerebral, free-flowing, player-led, ball movement style of offense. Does he have the roster to play that style? Do these players need to be constrained in those critical moments? Do you owe it to the program to modify your philosophy for success within a season, game or tournament? I have not seen evidence of this type of modification.

All that said, the entire season and everything we think about this team and this coaching staff has yet to be determined. Everything is in front of them. Should be fun. Hope it is also joyous.

 

[PhatOrange]

Syracuse is based on ball movement mostly. Just watching duke highlights as couldn’t make myself watch full game again. But the ball movement after the duke run seemed to die. We just tried dodging shorties. Even just spinning ball around perimeter will get D spinning n open up lanes. Ball has to stay hott tho not die in sticks. Have to cut off ball set picks off ball.

I also wonder also why we don’t bounce shoot it specially on natural grass which ball can do amazing things. Stop with poor angles or these super outside shoots for guys who don’t have the power. Inside finishing some panic n just trying to get it off quickly. Should be able to feel where D is n if on ur back good chance if take half second to throw fake or pump their either gonna push u in back (flag) or ur gonna score. English had least 2-3 chances right on crease n didn’t convert one. Def rushed two one was that between legs not looking. Both he had time to spin see goalie n even throw fake.

Defense who is our guy to take ball away? Fig is good cover guy and takes his chances taking ball when come. Dwan would be my guess of someone to able to throw take away checks. With his size n length but he is to far off his guy. He needs to throw the checks when playing the body. And he should be playing the body not just trotting with them. He does need to stop head hunting or getting flagged specially at worst times. Would love to see rice push it n take his O guy to rack. We have to start exploiting other teams weakness or disadvantages like they do us.

I’ll be at the unc game this week. I hope they bounce back and win. But don’t feel very confident. As clearing as not been great for us n unc runs 10man. Just chucking half field at net isn’t gonna work all the time. Gotta be able to clear ball. Also have to ride ourselfs. Duke was struggling struggling clearing the ball but had no issues vs us. We let them to many times just walk it right over. Have to play the game every aspect of it the game. Score goals take ball away on D make saves win face offs clear ball n ride the ball.

The English btw the legs or whatever it was, was my favorite. As Sherm said; missed bunnies. They matter when things get real.

 

[DoctahLexus]

I like and mostly agree with your take but it takes two to tango. Maybe these portal kids preferred other options despite what SU had to offer.

I think it is fair to place some of the blame on this junior class. They were/are highly regarded and have underperformed expectations. It is possible that they were/are overrated.

I think it is also fair to place some of the blame on the coaching staff. It is clear from his comments that Coach Gait prefers a cerebral, free-flowing, player-led, ball movement style of offense. Does he have the roster to play that style? Do these players need to be constrained in those critical moments? Do you owe it to the program to modify your philosophy for success within a season, game or tournament? I have not seen evidence of this type of modification.

All that said, the entire season and everything we think about this team and this coaching staff has yet to be determined. Everything is in front of them. Should be fun. Hope it is also joyous.

With offensive transfers, even if we did kick the tires with some guys, we were not in a position to offer much in the way of guaranteed playing time the way schools like UVA MD and Duke were. More often then not guys do not want to transfer from a more prominent role to a reserve role. I would not have minded a couple more at the midfield spot, but I also had faith that our returning/incoming guys could get it done. Still do think that our offense at 100% health is one of the strongest in the country. As long as we can get Hiltz close to 100% they can still bounce back. Hiltz being essentially out of the picture would be a back breaker though.

 

[SULAXAHOLIC]

Trey Deere needs to get on the field the kid produces. I did not like his body language after his last goal at Duke. Maybe I’m reading into it too much but he normally celebrates with his team after every goal. This time he ran straight off the field with hardly any celebration . I get what their trying to do with Anderson but he is not producing and Trey is.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I like and mostly agree with your take but it takes two to tango. Maybe these portal kids preferred other options despite what SU had to offer.

I think it is fair to place some of the blame on this junior class. They were/are highly regarded and have underperformed expectations. It is possible that they were/are overrated.

I think it is also fair to place some of the blame on the coaching staff. It is clear from his comments that Coach Gait prefers a cerebral, free-flowing, player-led, ball movement style of offense. Does he have the roster to play that style? Do these players need to be constrained in those critical moments? Do you owe it to the program to modify your philosophy for success within a season, game or tournament? I have not seen evidence of this type of modification.

All that said, the entire season and everything we think about this team and this coaching staff has yet to be determined. Everything is in front of them. Should be fun. Hope it is also joyous.

I agree I think your looking at blame all around versus just one aspect. I do think most of the JR class seeing extended minutes has played pretty well but they are plagued by inconsistency and the Thomson injury really hurt because they had really just gotten rolling again after the Maryland struggle. That said they have been as noted very inconsistent be it Leo or Rhoa having multiple games where they couldn't put a shot on cage or hit a corner or Joey going from 8 pts to 1, defense with its slides etc.

I place more of the blame on the coaching staff at this point because a lot of the same issues are apparent year after year despite there being a lot of roster turnover from year 1 to now and the current roster clearly being much more talented. As you noted the staff especially March/Gait don't appear to have adjusted the free-flowing green light, highlight style of offense even when it's clear time and situation are clearly calling for a more restrained approach or valuing the possession etc. Gait also seems to have this don't worry it will all work mantra even in the face of evidence that certain philosophies and strategies are clearly not working. As you noted it's still all in front of them but this far into the season the die seems pretty well cast.

 

[wgdsr]

I agree I think your looking at blame all around versus just one aspect. I do think most of the JR class seeing extended minutes has played pretty well but they are plagued by inconsistency and the Thomson injury really hurt because they had really just gotten rolling again after the Maryland struggle. That said they have been as noted very inconsistent be it Leo or Rhoa having multiple games where they couldn't put a shot on cage or hit a corner or Joey going from 8 pts to 1, defense with its slides etc.

I place more of the blame on the coaching staff at this point because a lot of the same issues are apparent year after year despite there being a lot of roster turnover from year 1 to now and the current roster clearly being much more talented. As you noted the staff especially March/Gait don't appear to have adjusted the free-flowing green light, highlight style of offense even when it's clear time and situation are clearly calling for a more restrained approach or valuing the possession etc. Gait also seems to have this don't worry it will all work mantra even in the face of evidence that certain philosophies and strategies are clearly not working. As you noted it's still all in front of them but this far into the season the die seems pretty well cast.

generally i've been hesitant on here to put many comments other than some gameplay this year. preseason tho i noted within a lot of optimism (warranted) and hype that the flash from years ago, which this cuse team is certainly capable of, was what i was going to be watching as inevitably tough games came up. whether they were going to dial that down. why? because to me they're low percentage plays if it's the dna. if your team isn't a 1990 juggarnaut, at points it's likely to bite. and if they were seriously going to challenge, thought they needed to figure it out what they were doing with that early in big games. the margins are too tight nowadays.

as you say, the die is cast and now we'll see whether that works for this year. they do play some gorgeous lacrosse at times. not like the flash doesn't work sometimes. maybe almost back to back hiltz and english? threw some pressured back handed flip assists that helped them escape a disaster in charlottesville.

anecdotal -- how many times i saw shellenberger throw a btb shot? i recall zero. cormier? zero. a rare pass maybe. this year? an around the world in transition that was very costly. more btb shots than i've seen in decades. results were almost all bad. including how the team has fared, maybe not a coincidence.

i do think that the path forward is recruiting. they need to start winning more there. they can do it with canucks, upstate, haudenosaunee, the island and have some advantages. i also think gait's trajectory has been good and not one where a chopping block is imminent at any point soon. he's young-ish relative to "put him out to pasture" and not devoid of coaching success.

 

[Powellfan]

i do think that the path forward is recruiting. they need to start winning more there. they can do it with canucks, upstate, haudenosaunee, the island and have some advantages. i also think gait's trajectory has been good and not one where a chopping block is imminent at any point soon. he's young-ish relative to "put him out to pasture" and not devoid of coaching success.

The recruiting has gotten better under Gait. Outside of Hiltz, and prior to the Spallina class, the last few years of Desko's tenure was pretty lackluster.

2019 - Three Top 100 players, non higher than 67 (Levandowski who didn't last past fall ball). Also famous flip-apocalypse with a number of highly ranked players decommitting.
2020 - Three Top 100 players again, but after Hiltz at two next highest is Birtwistle at 47, and Harrison Thompson at 100.
2021 - Just two players in the Top 100, Blake Borges the higher of the two at 89 (Rice was 99). Yikes.

Then of course the famous class of 2022 - 10 players ranked in top 100 including three in the top 10.

Gait's first recruiting class in 2023 didn't live up to that last Desko class, but far supersedes what Desko was putting together prior to that. Seven Top 100 recruits, with five star Deere the highest at 17. That's almost as many Top 100 recruits as Desko pulled together in the years between 2019 and 2021. Pretty good.

2024, not as good on paper as 2023, but a strong five players in the Top 100, including another five star in Anderson.

The next two years incoming look strong, but it's easy to see a pattern developing. Five Top 100 recruits in both the 2025 and 2026 class, with three five stars (Hahn, Peck and James). Again, vast improvement compared to the Desko years (again outside of 2022). IL has the 2025 class ranked 6th, and 2026 ranked 5th. That's good! However, the entire ACC, minus UNC in 2026 (they rank one spot behind the Orange) are ahead of Syracuse in both years.

Notre Dame, Duke and Virginia are basically doubling up the number of Five Stars Syracuse is getting each year, and supplementing with a bunch of four stars. I've made this point before, but they have to seek an edge outside of high school recruiting if they want to compete with the rest of the ACC. I still feel strongly they need to mine the transfer portal pretty aggressively to make up the ground they are losing with high schoolers, if they want to make the final four. High School recruiting needs to be the focus, but can't put all the eggs in that one basket.

 

[wgdsr]

The recruiting has gotten better under Gait. Outside of Hiltz, and prior to the Spallina class, the last few years of Desko's tenure was pretty lackluster.

2019 - Three Top 100 players, non higher than 67 (Levandowski who didn't last past fall ball). Also famous flip-apocalypse with a number of highly ranked players decommitting.
2020 - Three Top 100 players again, but after Hiltz at two next highest is Birtwistle at 47, and Harrison Thompson at 100.
2021 - Just two players in the Top 100, Blake Borges the higher of the two at 89 (Rice was 99). Yikes.

Then of course the famous class of 2022 - 10 players ranked in top 100 including three in the top 10.

Gait's first recruiting class in 2023 didn't live up to that last Desko class, but far supersedes what Desko was putting together prior to that. Seven Top 100 recruits, with five star Deere the highest at 17. That's almost as many Top 100 recruits as Desko pulled together in the years between 2019 and 2021. Pretty good.

2024, not as good on paper as 2023, but a strong five players in the Top 100, including another five star in Anderson.

The next two years incoming look strong, but it's easy to see a pattern developing. Five Top 100 recruits in both the 2025 and 2026 class, with three five stars (Hahn, Peck and James). Again, vast improvement compared to the Desko years (again outside of 2022). IL has the 2025 class ranked 6th, and 2026 ranked 5th. That's good! However, the entire ACC, minus UNC in 2026 (they rank one spot behind the Orange) are ahead of Syracuse in both years.

Notre Dame, Duke and Virginia are basically doubling up the number of Five Stars Syracuse is getting each year, and supplementing with a bunch of four stars. I've made this point before, but they have to seek an edge outside of high school recruiting if they want to compete with the rest of the ACC. I still feel strongly they need to mine the transfer portal pretty aggressively to make up the ground they are losing with high schoolers, if they want to make the final four. High School recruiting needs to be the focus, but can't put all the eggs in that one basket.

thanks, that's all good to hear for them. the best way to help recruiting for 'cuse is to win. there would most definitely be a bump if they can close out the year strong.

portal, to me, is right back to pre-covid days. which i'm sure the orange will participate in. they have a long history of getting guys in that have juiced the team, probably moreso than any other program. like others mentioned, it's a lot of different factors, and one of them for 2025 is that 'cuse was mostly built. there was a reason cuse was #2 preseaso and it wasn't bc they lost in ot in the national champ game. same with the preseason hype for p'ton and cornell. guys were back.

the portal, however, is no longer deep, at least not now. there's a lot of risks to more than minor numbers there as well. you mentioned uva jumped... they brought in:
- a mid-major mid hoo had a v good 2 seasons at bryant
- another mid/att hoo had fallen out of the rotation
- a backup fogo hoo had gotten no run
and they had some room in the lineup. for whatever reason, the mids didn't impact a ton.

umd and duke, osu and probably rutgers will continue to bang the portal, but there's no reason why recruiting and having 4 year guys can't be a better option for 85-90% of the field time. something like ssdm or fogo help probably should be in abundance, but lately it really hasn't been.

anyway, that kind of trajectory is good. i wonder if gait's U-canada involvement might snag a few guys. it should, anyway. more guys with the haudenosaunee. they've finally got a semi-stream into the maryland market.

 

[kismet35]

The recruiting has gotten better under Gait. Outside of Hiltz, and prior to the Spallina class, the last few years of Desko's tenure was pretty lackluster.

2019 - Three Top 100 players, non higher than 67 (Levandowski who didn't last past fall ball). Also famous flip-apocalypse with a number of highly ranked players decommitting.
2020 - Three Top 100 players again, but after Hiltz at two next highest is Birtwistle at 47, and Harrison Thompson at 100.
2021 - Just two players in the Top 100, Blake Borges the higher of the two at 89 (Rice was 99). Yikes.

Then of course the famous class of 2022 - 10 players ranked in top 100 including three in the top 10.

Gait's first recruiting class in 2023 didn't live up to that last Desko class, but far supersedes what Desko was putting together prior to that. Seven Top 100 recruits, with five star Deere the highest at 17. That's almost as many Top 100 recruits as Desko pulled together in the years between 2019 and 2021. Pretty good.

2024, not as good on paper as 2023, but a strong five players in the Top 100, including another five star in Anderson.

The next two years incoming look strong, but it's easy to see a pattern developing. Five Top 100 recruits in both the 2025 and 2026 class, with three five stars (Hahn, Peck and James). Again, vast improvement compared to the Desko years (again outside of 2022). IL has the 2025 class ranked 6th, and 2026 ranked 5th. That's good! However, the entire ACC, minus UNC in 2026 (they rank one spot behind the Orange) are ahead of Syracuse in both years.

Notre Dame, Duke and Virginia are basically doubling up the number of Five Stars Syracuse is getting each year, and supplementing with a bunch of four stars. I've made this point before, but they have to seek an edge outside of high school recruiting if they want to compete with the rest of the ACC. I still feel strongly they need to mine the transfer portal pretty aggressively to make up the ground they are losing with high schoolers, if they want to make the final four. High School recruiting needs to be the focus, but can't put all the eggs in that one basket.

Totally agree with your standpoints. Gait does seem to be making strides on the recruiting front, especially compared to the 2022 class. That said, I always come back to the educational aspect. Syracuse will definitely be in the mix for most top players—we'll continue to get those kids who have loved Syracuse Lacrosse since the moment they first heard about the sport.

However, the educational appeal of attending Syracuse University does have its drawbacks. This isn’t a knock on the school at all—just stating the facts. Yes, there are some strong programs at Syracuse, but when compared to certain peer institutions, there’s a noticeable difference.

When a kid is looking for a strong academic experience and compares rankings, it becomes clear: Syracuse sits at #73 among (National Universities), while UNC is at #27, UVA at #24, Notre Dame at #18 and Duke at #6. Not to mention, some of the other ACC schools have top 20, name-brand business schools that really stand out and can definitely influence high school recruits.

Unfortunately, I think we’ll continue to see the same recruiting trend play out for years to come, regardless of who’s coaching. Call it a result of social media, or just the fact that today's parents are more tuned in to the long-term value of a college education. For many families, the decision comes down to education over just being a "lacrosse school."

Of course, some parents will let their kids make the call, but even then, they’re more informed than ever about the impact a college degree can have on a future career. For example, comparing Duke’s Fuqua School of Business to Syracuse’s Whitman School of Management—while Whitman has its strengths, it’s hard to compete with Fuqua or even Darden (UVA) when aiming for careers on Wall Street.

Personally, I’d encourage my kid to seek out the best educational opportunity available. Again, this isn’t meant to bash Syracuse at all—just sharing what I believe is shaping recruiting today.