Hobart Preview

[Powellfan]

I have been waiting for Jeremy to post something on the Statesmen, hopefully this will prompt him.

Very explosive offense comes to the Dome this Friday, albeit one that has not faced the stiffest competition. I'm not going to lie, I have not seen a second of Hobart lacrosse this year, but I can't say their results don't jump off the page. Based on stats it does not look like they do anyone one thing poorly (besides fouling perhaps). Two FOGOS combining for a 55% winning percentage, goalie saving shots at a 62% clip, and six players with 7+ points in three games. But again, that schedule (Canisus, Siena and Colgate). And while it might not be fair, they have some interesting scrimmage results, beating the UVa backups by a few, but also losing to Michigan and Towson, both teams are struggling in the early goings this year.

Last year Hobart came in with a lot of hype and Syracuse took care of them pretty easily, at Hobart. This year is at the Dome - I do think Hobart let their emotions get the best of them last year, it will be interesting to see how they approach this match-up. Again, I can't speak to the individual talents of the Statesmen, but they definitely have firepower on the offensive side of the ball. Last year Phaup won 13-20 face-offs but Hobart have two new guys in that role. Porter also had a really good game with 16 saves. I don't think SU has been playing up to potential on offense, so hopefully this game will provide players such as Dordevic, Lipka and Buttermore an opportunity to get going. I certainly think the attack will be looking to make a statement. Tough game for the Orange, but definitely one they should win, and really one they kind of need to with a rough second half schedule (including three straight road games).

 

[Orangello]

If the close defense can stymie Holden and Knox, I like our chances. They initiate through those two. Feel like they have the advantage at attack but I believe we have a big advantage with our first and second mid lines. Their goalie is OK but he has not faced anything like our offense. That said, Vegas has Cuse at -4.5 and they nailed the Army game (Cuse -2). We need to play from in front and don't allow them to jump out to a 3-4 goal lead. I think this one is close through the 4th.

 

[ivorytower]

For whatever this is worth.

Cuse 21 Colgate 14
Hobart 21 Colgate 13

 

[DoctahLexus]

Fortunately Hobart lost their excellent fogo from last year. Phaup has shown his dominance against FOGOs with a worse clamp than his. I know it's early but currently third in the nation in win percentage! I see Hobart struggling to keep up in the second half with that in our back pocket.

I have only seen brief 4 minute highlight videos that Hobart puts on youtube. From that Holden looks like the dodging star. I feel good about Kennedy against him after seeing how well he did against Nichtern. Besides Holden they have a ton of excellent outside shooters. Better than ours frankly (aside from Trimboli and Buttermore when he is on). A lot of guys who can just underhand rip it in typical Upstate NY lacrosse fashion. Not sure if any of them our fast enough to draw a ton of slides (a major strength of our middies). Most capable in that department is probably Ryan Archer from JD. I remember him blowing past a couple guys as a freshman two years ago. They had some other middie who scored 1 v 1 against a short stick last year, but that may have been Knox dodging from up top who plays attack now I believe.

As Ivory Tower mentioned, the Colgate results show us that we can't just go into this lightly. Fortunately there are some factors in the Colgate game that should be better for us now. We had no Dami, who excelled in the Army game both on ball and offball. Mellen was both out in the second half and we were not prepared for it like we will be tomorrow. We had a good deal of first game nerves as well which should be calmed on game 4, especially after the confidence boost of only allowing 7 goals against Army. I feel good but we simply have to shoot better than we did against Army. That game was unacceptable from both an accuracy and shot selection standpoint. Also it would be nice for man up to figure it out!

 

[ivorytower]

Man up? Was a strength last year at 49% , what's incredulous is so few opportunities in first three games . 1-5 ...Contrast that with 12-23 on man up for a winless Colgate overhear 4 games. Boggling discrepancy and hard to explain.

On the other end, man down d is 4-10. Have to improve there as well. At 33% last year

 

[DoctahLexus]

Man up? Was a strength last year at 49% , what's incredulous is so few opportunities in first three games . 1-5 ...Contrast that with 12-23 on man up for a winless Colgate overhear 4 games. Boggling discrepancy and hard to explain.

On the other end, man down d is 4-10. Have to improve there as well. At 33% last year

Would basically like to see a guy who can actually shoot lefty well in the top left position (Buttermore instead of Dordevic) and would also love to have Scanlan in the middle instead of Cook. I feel like Cook could do better as a wing facilitator on GLE on the right instead of finisher in the middle. I know it is a small sample size but it still just hasn't looked promising at all.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Guys my apologies on the lack of a preview as I am dealing with a personal issue. Will see about getting something out tomorrow morning if at all possible

 

[orange79]

Guys my apologies on the lack of a preview as I am dealing with a personal issue. Will see about getting something out tomorrow morning if at all possible

No apologies needed. Take care of the things that are more important.

Your previews are gold, but we'd rather you're around later for the Memorial Day preview.

 

[ivorytower]

Guys my apologies on the lack of a preview as I am dealing with a personal issue. Will see about getting something out tomorrow morning if at all possible

Im with orange79, take care of whats important. Hope all well