Harvard Gameday…

[BillSU]

Mullen 25 won faceoffs Harvard 4 Without him we are a wanting team.

 

[23Zone]

Mullen MVP

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

Obviously we're not gonna fix it this year but I hope the staff comes up with a new game plan to address it in fall ball and next season. So frustrating to watch it on a team so talented

Too much box influence, imo. Don’t need to value the ball in box given the rebound potential and all the others possessions. Also dont love how one-handed Joey has become. He doesn’t have the athleticism to get to his right as much as he wants. He has great hands though and could keep a defender more honest if he used both hands.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[0.2 YNdeeR]

Give credit to Spallina and Hiltz on that last goal, took their time and Hiltz rectified a horrendous game. Also I like that Gary didn't call a TO there

Have to tip your hat on this one. We did not play our best LAX and H came prepared. First half we were tentative on offense and slow on D. They beat us on on dodges, their defense was sharp, they gave us fits on the clear, they were better in goal. We re-focused after half, and I liked our poise for all but the last 20 seconds of regulation. There was no panic. Our attack wore them down. Mullin gave us extra opportunities, and then for some unknown reason we decided to give up the ball at the end of regulation and let them tie the score. Heckuva come back to get a temporary lead in the 4th, and great feed by Spellina for a 5-hole goal by old man Hiltz. Harvard played extremely well.

 

[Gettysbrg10]

The Mother's Day Miracle...good lord

In my sports fandom career I don't think I've seen a more confusing team. After a sample size of 17 games I still don't know if we're good or not...Are we good? Whenever I think we've figured things out we regress. McCool looked lost in the first half tonight - shocking considering how well he'd been playing.

I knew it was going to be rough game when I saw Gait sporting that tie dye, baby blue golf shirt on the biggest game of the year. To go from wearing a suit...to the coach's equivalent of a Hawaiian shirt? My man looked like he knew an L was coming and already booked a flight to Cancun tomorrow morning.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Just announced.

Cornell Noon

Syracuse 2:30

Got that one right, for a change

 

[cuselaxss26]

I do worry bout mccool. As his 3 bad games (30% or under) have all been vs ivies. Harvard (29% 2x) cornell (30%). Hopefully it isn’t an ivy thing when he stinks. But am bit concerned he hasn’t show much vs them since going against another ivy team.

 

[Powellfan]

 

[DomeHolmes]

Under the radar hero was Deere burying those 2 slam dunk goals on the man-up

Under Under the radar hero was Elijah Brown/ Pat March, on that goal. He flashed toward Spallinas side, drawing the defenses eyes to him, leaving Deere free. Nicely designed play.

Honorable mention to Leo on the winning goal. His screen prevented a slide, AND hindered Hiltz’s long pole from getting an angle to stop him.

 

[Powellfan]

 

[karhre2003]

These game day threads are pure gold. I don't usually read them until after the game and the H0T Takes and instant reactions to what's going on from play to play / goal to goal reads like a bi-polar case study. Keep it up lady's and gentlemen. One of my favorite parts of game day.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[DomeHolmes]

As someone that doesn’t understand lacrosse like many of you, it was an exciting and uplifting win. Tough loss for Harvard but what a win for SU. Was the final play a set play for Hiltz?

It was not a set play according to Hiltz. But if you watch the replay, you can see what he’s talking about. The defender glances away for just a second and that’s all he needed to get a step. If the defender was playing Hiltz tighter, the opportunity wouldn’t be there. It was just good awareness by Hiltz to cut and Spallina find him.

 

[CuseBlood44]

Wow that surprises me. Great crowd but I thought it would be a closer number to the ND game earlier this season. But hard to tell on tv obviously.

it was a picture perfect day / weekend, first time in months that it finally feels like summer and people have off work. Can’t really blame anyone for not wanting to sit indoors. Crowd was loud and electric during the comeback, those who make it to every game will have to chime in here but I bet the number of times that environment of crowd engagement has occurred in the sport can be counted on one hand

 

[Shenexon]

It was not a set play according to Hiltz. But if you watch the replay, you can see what he’s talking about. The defender glances away for just a second and that’s all he needed to get a step. If the defender was playing Hiltz tighter, the opportunity wouldn’t be there. It was just good awareness by Hiltz to cut and Spallina find him.

Thanks…

 

[Powellfan]

 

[Delmar]

This probably isn’t a good time to start another thread about doing away with the faceoff, is it?

 

[DomeHolmes]

What…a…game! Wow. What a horrible first half and what a great second half!

“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky then good”. I wouldn’t say that we were ‘lucky’, but without those penalties on Harvard, which led to our 4 man up goals (especially the non-releasable penalty in the 4th against Spallina in which we scored 3 man-up goals!) and without Mullen dominating at face-offs, then we lose this game. Harvard was actually the better team today, but whatever.

The bad:
-the 20 turnovers! Considering that we’re #3 in the country in fewest turnovers per game (interestingly, Princeton is #2) and even though English and Hiltz are #1 and #2 on our team in turnovers, even for them, today their turnovers were atrocious (6 for English and 5 for Hiltz)
-Harvard beat us badly in their 1v1 matchups, on both offense and defense. Teams have attacked and beaten our SSDMs all season, but today was the first time all season that all of our long poles got beaten badly (worst game of the year for our long poles on defense; obviously the 2 goals by our long poles on offense were huge though)
-our 1st half clearing was frustrating to watch
-McCool struggled (but he still had some great 2nd half saves)
-our 6v6 offense was really bad. We need more players that can win a 1v1 matchup

The good:
-Spallina’s passing is brilliant (he can’t dodge, he’s a subpar shooter, and his only move of posting up on the crease and doing the behind-the-back shot hasn’t worked in a long time, but if we can get him by himself, then his vision is elite)
-Rhoa’s outside shooting was amazing today. He’s been literally MIA for over a month now, but he picked a great time to finally show up again
-Mullen was a beast
-Our offense cannot dodge, but if you give us a man up, then our passing is brilliant. Our man up team/our box lacrosse team passes it beautifully, and it won this game for us today (in addition to Mullen). Coach Gait coaches our man up team, too, so congratulations to him!

Unfortunately, if our offense has this many turnovers and cannot score in 6v6, if our long poles get beaten in 1v1s this badly again, and if McCool struggles again, then our season ends next week. Princeton is a similar but better team then Harvard (a great offensive team, they actually have the #1 man up team in the country, and they have one of the best goalies in the country, but they’re also vulnerable at face-offs and their defense is just ok) so if we can limit our turnovers and missed clears, dominate the face offs, draw some penalties and score in man up, play better 1v1 D, and play better in goal, then we can make it a game! Go Cuse!

I’m not so sure Harvard was the better team. Our defense did get beat a few times. Sometimes with the usual inexplicable slides. However, we had (I believe) seven more shots on goal than they did. (Usually a good sign of how well you’re playing, not necessarily how you’re scoring)

We hit three or 4 pipes, Elijah Brown missed a wide open goal, and their goalie made three ridiculous saves, while our goalie was unusually bad.

Basically, they were about as “fortunate” as they could be with their goalkeeping, and we were about as unfortunate as we could be.

 

[36'sq.]

The Mother's Day Miracle...good lord

In my sports fandom career I don't think I've seen a more confusing team. After a sample size of 17 games I still don't know if we're good or not...Are we good? Whenever I think we've figured things out we regress. McCool looked lost in the first half tonight - shocking considering how well he'd been playing.

I knew it was going to be rough game when I saw Gait sporting that tie dye, baby blue golf shirt on the biggest game of the year. To go from wearing a suit...to the coach's equivalent of a Hawaiian shirt? My man looked like he knew an L was coming and already booked a flight to Cancun tomorrow morning.

Your 3rd paragraph here, I don't know what to say. Incredible analysis, I don't know if I thought while rewatching the '89 Championship on VHS with Leif telling us about the rules on shots/retaining possession 78 times as a kid...I'd ever read this about Gary Gait. Or see it! Amazing.

 

[SUlax88-09]

I’m not so sure Harvard was the better team. Our defense did get beat a few times. Sometimes with the usual inexplicable slides. However, we had (I believe) seven more shots on goal than they did. (Usually a good sign of how well you’re playing, not necessarily how you’re scoring)

We hit three or 4 pipes, Elijah Brown missed a wide open goal, and their goalie made three ridiculous saves, while our goalie was unusually bad.

Basically, they were about as “fortunate” as they could be with their goalkeeping, and we were about as unfortunate as we could be.

I’m not trying to argue with you, seriously, but if the face-offs are equal and if both teams have the same amount of penalties, then you really think we win that game? I definitely don’t. I don’t think it would even have been close. We couldn’t stop them, at all, and we had a very hard time scoring in our non-man up (6v6) offense. McCool had some ridiculous saves, too. Regardless, exciting game and great win

 

[FloridaCuse]

Hiltzy writes with his right hand?

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[FloridaCuse]