Hobart Game Preview (3/6/22, 4pm) | Syracusefan.com

Hobart Game Preview (3/6/22, 4pm)

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The Orange and Statesmen battle it out for the Kraus-Simmons trophy this weekend. The Orange enter the game with a bushel full of questions after their third loss of the season. Against Army the offense was stifled in the fourth quarter by a zone defense, the defense is struggling with ball retention and turnovers, and we seem to have stumbled into a goalie controversy. Hobart comes in with a 2-1 record, with wins against Lehigh and Canisius and loss midweek to Cornell.

Hobart is an offensively focused program that likes to push the pace and doesn't seem to care who is shooting the ball. They are led on offense by JD product Ryan Archer who leads the team with 16 points. I imagine Kennedy, who, after struggling with Brendan Nichtern in the opening quarter against Army, actually buckled down and probably won the matchup the rest of the game, will draw that assignment. Tommy Mott who has 12 points will probably get Caccamo, and middie John Herihly who has 11 will draw the pole. Derek Maddona is another good middie and CNY product who has six goals in two games. Again, the statesmen are balanced, their top six scorers have between 15 and 23 shots on the season. The biggest concern for me is the fact that unlike most years, it looks like Hobart has a FOGO - Adam Shea has a 56% win percentage which might not stand out much, but he battled Mike Sissleberger of Lehigh to an even day at the dot, which is almost unheard of. If the Orange can't win the face-off battle and keep turning the ball over, it could be a long day for the Orange. For Syracuse, who starts in goal? Gavin has started all games but was pulled in the first quarter against Army. Thompson looked strong for most of the game but still finished saving 9 of 12 shots. That's also not good enough.

On offense you have to imagine Syracuse is getting a crash course in zone defense as they looked abysmal against it vs Army. Hobart doesn't have the best defense in the world, as Kevin Holtby is saving just over 50%. Syracuse should be able to win their individual matchups but who knows if Hobart throws a zone out? Syracuse can't seem to get everyone on offense on the same page. If Dordevic is having a good game, seems like the rest of the team just sits around and watches. If Curry is having a hard day, no one seems to be able to pick up the pieces. Army was not sliding against the Orange for the first three quarters, so that helps explain why there weren't manny assisted goals (just three on the day), but this team still has an issue when it comes to passing the ball. Curry and Berkman lead the team in assists with just five a piece, which is a little over one a game. Someone needs to emerge as more of a ball distributor if this team is going to succeed. Will Gait and co try and go to their bench more this game? I'm not sure I would describe Hobart as a run and gun team, but they certainly don't wait around much - this is a game that the Orange can't just rely on three players at midfield for. Poor Mateo Corsi has two goals on just three shots and an assist with no turnovers. Tyler Cordes has a goal and three assists with barely any playing time. Don't these guys deserve to see more time?

We usually look at the schedule preseason and see Hobart as a win - this year that might not be the case if the Orange keep on the path that they are on. Syracuse has to start cleaning up the sloppiness on both sides of the ball. This might be the Statesmen best chance at a victory in a long time. They will certainly come in pumped up as a good amount of their roster is CNY guys - I'm sure a bunch of them are out to show Syracuse they should have recruited them. If SU does indeed lose this game its pretty much season over, and time for a lot of reflection.
 
bad and good:
- bad turnovers especially passing led to a lot of the problems wed. how fixable that is is tbd. can they, o and d, pass? turnovers have been just a one game problem so far. i'm actually surprised, thought gait offense was going to see a lot more early, tho expected them to be of the going-for-it variety.
- still can't shake kennedy's slide off nichtern. but that's the type of thing that can be cleaned up. if you want to get more aggressive, send a slide when o man turns head away from middle or rolls. stop sliding into his eyes. film will help, petro loves film.
- i said pre-season finding assists will be difficult. without hiltz doubly so. berkman looks capable but if they're not going to use him maybe they need a finisher in there? and if berkman doesn't get a larger role, it'll have to be by committee, likely. just one or 2 more per game, really, but that's 3 to 6 more chances. use berkman.
- are the cuse looking to run? that can help also with assists. olexo's emergence and the cut and look to cook, dami's run & maybe it means more transition?
- dodging's not all bad news. cuse has dodgers. bracket 1st and 2nd or 2nd and 3rd periods and they scored 10 goals in a half against army, some pretty good on ball defenders and goalie. they made sizable runs at umd and uva. shooting can get better but it was more than decent pre-zone.
- which brings... zone O. and manup. whoa. ish needs to change there, or it's a problem if anyone can throw up a zone facsimile.
- faceoffs pretty good so far.
- kennedy's last 3 quarters on ball are encouraging
- believe you have 2 goalies might actually mean you have 2 goalies, not none. d has to do better at creating more distance and bad angle shots. it's usually one guy breaks down. need all 6 every time down, not 5.
 
bad and good:
- bad turnovers especially passing led to a lot of the problems wed. how fixable that is is tbd. can they, o and d, pass? turnovers have been just a one game problem so far. i'm actually surprised, thought gait offense was going to see a lot more early, tho expected them to be of the going-for-it variety.
- still can't shake kennedy's slide off nichtern. but that's the type of thing that can be cleaned up. if you want to get more aggressive, send a slide when o man turns head away from middle or rolls. stop sliding into his eyes. film will help, petro loves film.
- i said pre-season finding assists will be difficult. without hiltz doubly so. berkman looks capable but if they're not going to use him maybe they need a finisher in there? and if berkman doesn't get a larger role, it'll have to be by committee, likely. just one or 2 more per game, really, but that's 3 to 6 more chances. use berkman.
- are the cuse looking to run? that can help also with assists. olexo's emergence and the cut and look to cook, dami's run & maybe it means more transition?
- dodging's not all bad news. cuse has dodgers. bracket 1st and 2nd or 2nd and 3rd periods and they scored 10 goals in a half against army, some pretty good on ball defenders and goalie. they made sizable runs at umd and uva. shooting can get better but it was more than decent pre-zone.
- which brings... zone O. and manup. whoa. ish needs to change there, or it's a problem if anyone can throw up a zone facsimile.
- faceoffs pretty good so far.
- kennedy's last 3 quarters on ball are encouraging
- believe you have 2 goalies might actually mean you have 2 goalies, not none. d has to do better at creating more distance and bad angle shots. it's usually one guy breaks down. need all 6 every time down, not 5.

All good points and hard to disagree with any of it.

Turnovers, Berkman and that third attack spot, Zone and Man up offense and whether or not to run seems to be the 4 key areas right now.
 
The Orange and Statesmen battle it out for the Kraus-Simmons trophy this weekend. The Orange enter the game with a bushel full of questions after their third loss of the season. Against Army the offense was stifled in the fourth quarter by a zone defense, the defense is struggling with ball retention and turnovers, and we seem to have stumbled into a goalie controversy. Hobart comes in with a 2-1 record, with wins against Lehigh and Canisius and loss midweek to Cornell.

Hobart is an offensively focused program that likes to push the pace and doesn't seem to care who is shooting the ball. They are led on offense by JD product Ryan Archer who leads the team with 16 points. I imagine Kennedy, who, after struggling with Brendan Nichtern in the opening quarter against Army, actually buckled down and probably won the matchup the rest of the game, will draw that assignment. Tommy Mott who has 12 points will probably get Caccamo, and middie John Herihly who has 11 will draw the pole. Derek Maddona is another good middie and CNY product who has six goals in two games. Again, the statesmen are balanced, their top six scorers have between 15 and 23 shots on the season. The biggest concern for me is the fact that unlike most years, it looks like Hobart has a FOGO - Adam Shea has a 56% win percentage which might not stand out much, but he battled Mike Sissleberger of Lehigh to an even day at the dot, which is almost unheard of. If the Orange can't win the face-off battle and keep turning the ball over, it could be a long day for the Orange. For Syracuse, who starts in goal? Gavin has started all games but was pulled in the first quarter against Army. Thompson looked strong for most of the game but still finished saving 9 of 12 shots. That's also not good enough.

On offense you have to imagine Syracuse is getting a crash course in zone defense as they looked abysmal against it vs Army. Hobart doesn't have the best defense in the world, as Kevin Holtby is saving just over 50%. Syracuse should be able to win their individual matchups but who knows if Hobart throws a zone out? Syracuse can't seem to get everyone on offense on the same page. If Dordevic is having a good game, seems like the rest of the team just sits around and watches. If Curry is having a hard day, no one seems to be able to pick up the pieces. Army was not sliding against the Orange for the first three quarters, so that helps explain why there weren't manny assisted goals (just three on the day), but this team still has an issue when it comes to passing the ball. Curry and Berkman lead the team in assists with just five a piece, which is a little over one a game. Someone needs to emerge as more of a ball distributor if this team is going to succeed. Will Gait and co try and go to their bench more this game? I'm not sure I would describe Hobart as a run and gun team, but they certainly don't wait around much - this is a game that the Orange can't just rely on three players at midfield for. Poor Mateo Corsi has two goals on just three shots and an assist with no turnovers. Tyler Cordes has a goal and three assists with barely any playing time. Don't these guys deserve to see more time?

We usually look at the schedule preseason and see Hobart as a win - this year that might not be the case if the Orange keep on the path that they are on. Syracuse has to start cleaning up the sloppiness on both sides of the ball. This might be the Statesmen best chance at a victory in a long time. They will certainly come in pumped up as a good amount of their roster is CNY guys - I'm sure a bunch of them are out to show Syracuse they should have recruited them. If SU does indeed lose this game its pretty much season over, and time for a lot of reflection.

Good stuff as always

IF Hobart doesn't come out playing a zone it will be coaching malpractice. The potential good news is that Hobart's defense has struggled this year and its hard to SU not having the advantage at most spots especially against Hobart's shorties.

I agree about, Shea good FOGO who I think will give us trouble. Hobart's had wing play issues as well so its weakness vs weakness in that area. Disagree slightly with the matchups. Archer is the #1 but he's a smaller guy whose lsited at 5'10 but he's more like 5'8. Mott is listed 6'2 and is definitely 6 foot +, to me it seems like Kennedy on Mott is the better matchup with Caccamo on Archer who has had two good games in a row defensively. For the midfield Madonna is there #1, he left one game hurt and missed another completely. He's has a cannon and is not afraid to shoot early and often. He had a hat trick against SU in 19 in the first half. SU put Kennedy on him after that and he was shut down, I think Olexxo will be on him from the jump. Hobart can score in bunches so if SU is turning it over like a summer league game again then we could be in disasterous trouble. That said they can also go cold for long stretches, key is to slow down Archer and MOtt as they play inside out and like to initiate from the attack versus midfield. Hobart has a bunch of Sec 3 kids who will likely see the field, all guys who didn't have SU offers who will be looking to put it on us ie Delano, Rosa's brother and the third attackmen Dattellas. I'd like to think Murphy can match up pretty well with Datellas but we will see.

From an SU offensive standpoint I have no idea what to expect. Gait's comments that he's not sure what more they can change up offensively in his PC on Wed was less then encouraging. At some point its not the sets its the personnel. Have to see a third attackmen besides Berkman and guys like Corsi, Birtwistle, Cordes etc need extended run same for Buttermore. Hobart has historically struggled to stop SU from the midfield, it won't happen but having Dordevic bump back to middie for a few runs with Curry and Quinn could cause a lot of problems for Bart assuming we can get competent attack play.

Personally I need to see something different offensively Sunday, if its more of the same I am officially concerned about this staff and what their trying to do offensively. A Gait and March offense should not have this many issues, Hiltz or no Hiltz.
 
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Hobart gave Cornell a good game , in recent yrs our advantage has been depth of talent that wore Hobart down in 2h but different year. They like to run so perhaps we use more bodies to keep fresh. More Corsi please .Who starts for Cuse in goal doesn't matter, both are good. Haven't seen Hobart 's fogo Shea but he was good last year and held his own with Sisselberger, so likely be a good battle between two good fogos ,need short stick wings to help. Hobart best player is Archer who is another attackamn on tewaarton watch so expect BK on him , not sure if Murphy or Cac draw Mott who is taller n has good speed .Cac got bailed twice by goalie on some early dodges. Herlihy and Madonna are two good mids, not sure which gets pole but gotta get Rice on other . Hobart has lost some very good players who went on to play for top programs , wonder if any of their senior talents stars have any remaining eligibility,
 
I love his answer to the question "what perfect behind-the back shot" ... while he didn't say it, I think it was implied ... instinct. It seems to be one element missing.
 
Hobart gave Cornell a good game , in recent yrs our advantage has been depth of talent that wore Hobart down in 2h but different year. They like to run so perhaps we use more bodies to keep fresh. More Corsi please .Who starts for Cuse in goal doesn't matter, both are good. Haven't seen Hobart 's fogo Shea but he was good last year and held his own with Sisselberger, so likely be a good battle between two good fogos ,need short stick wings to help. Hobart best player is Archer who is another attackamn on tewaarton watch so expect BK on him , not sure if Murphy or Cac draw Mott who is taller n has good speed .Cac got bailed twice by goalie on some early dodges. Herlihy and Madonna are two good mids, not sure which gets pole but gotta get Rice on other . Hobart has lost some very good players who went on to play for top programs , wonder if any of their senior talents stars have any remaining eligibility,
hobart was down 15-7 with 10 min left. it went from 5-3 hobart to 15-7 cornell in about 1 quarter. Cornell has started slow every game though. Hobart made a nice run in the last few min to get a decent score out of the game.
 
Im being correctly corrected, my bud who attended updated me thru 1h n I looked at final score. Did not realize that there was that BigRed stretch

Cornell had similar start and spurts with OSU today.
 

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