Holy Cross Game Preview (3/20/21, 12 PM)

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[orange79]

Not a surprise on Clary, but it sucks nonetheless.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Sucks but I had a feeling it was worse then what he initially let on. This likely opens the door for Page and Drago

 

[DoctahLexus]

He looked really really good. Had the speed we needed on the wing. Even looked good in 1 v 1 D. This sucks.

 

[JeremyCuse]

He looked really really good. Had the speed we needed on the wing. Even looked good in 1 v 1 D. This sucks.

Agreed, a big loss. He looked good on the wing vs Virginia. Really hope we try some fresh blood versus Holy Cross, Barlow has not looked good there.

 

[MD Cuse Fan]

Yeah certainly sucks for Clary (i'm guessing he tore his ACL if he's out for the year?) but this roster has a bunch of poles on the roster, certainly there has to be 1-2 that can play. Agree about Barlow he's ok but just doesn't seem fast enough.

 

[ivorytower]

Injuries suck.

Hurts depth and versatility at three positions.

Woody appears so far to be a capable 4th ssdm . Wise shift

 

[Powellfan]

After much hubbub, the Syracuse Orange have an opponent for this weekend in The College of the Holy Cross. The Crusaders don't come in as a particularly intimidating foe, and if we are being honest, SU should defeat this team by solid margin. Still, feels worth taking a look from the team from Worcester, MA.

Holy Cross comes in at a 1-2 record with their lone victory a 1 goal win over Sacred Heart in their first matchup of the year. They have since dropped a one goal game to Colgate and lost 16-6 to BU. BU did give Army a game, so that result might not be as bad as it initially looks. Three games isn't a lot to draw from, but looking at their stats from last year and this, they look to have a pretty balanced offense. Their top six have between nine and five point this season, and last year, between 17 and 11 (HC played seven games last year finishing 4-3). So they don't have one player they rely on. They did lose four of their top seven scorers from last year, including their top point producer in Kevin Kodiz. It does not look like HC was able to take advantage of brining back fifth year players. Dean DiDanno leads the team in scoring this year with seven goals and two assists (he was second on the team last year), but also a team leading 12 turnovers this year, which at four per game are a lot. Overall this is a unit that SU should be able to handle.

The Crusaders have a first year starter in goal in AJ Fox and he is the only one to man the pipes so far this year. He's surrendering 12.39 goals a game but has a respectable 52% save percentage. He's a big kid standing 6'2 198, and had 17 saves against Sacred Heart, but he'll have to have one heck of a game to keep HC in this one. At the face-off X, they employ two main FOGOS, each taking about the same amount of draws. Conor DePiero has an impressive winning percentage of 57%, but his counterpart Brendan McKenzie has taken two more face-offs (39 to 37) and has a 43% winning percentage. It seems that DePiero had a VERY good game against BU, going 14-15 which accounts for his impressive stat line. He was sub .500 in the other two games, but that is an impressive performance against the Terriers. He is also only a freshman.

Overall Holy Cross should be an easy win. They brought in an impressive coach in the offseason in JL Reppert, but he got a late start and I think it's hard to expect much from him in this first year. As an SU fan, I think your hoping/expecting this game to see the benches clear by the fourth quarter, but there are still things that the Orange need to work on before their big matchup with Duke:

-While the Stony Brook game was over in the third quarter, Syracuse was still pretty sloppy with the ball with lots of unexpected turnovers. Guys making bad passes, guys getting stick checked from behind while shooting, strange passes in the clearing game. SU still hasn't played that much against other opponents so this will be a good opportunity to see different looks and go up against someone other than their teammates.

-If there is one thing that worries me right now its face-offs. Phaup was great in wins against UVA and Stony Brook, pretty good in a loss to Army and pretty bad in the win over UVM. Again, not sure what the Crusaders are bringing to the X this weekend but hoping that he can get a bit of a rest. It is really important for this team to find out who their plan B is - whether its getting Varello more reps to work out his issues, or find someone else to develop, hoping that person gets plenty of reps this Saturday.

-The second midfield has been solid this season with Lucas Quinn and Owen Seebold showing flashes. But they need to be more consistent. It would also be great to see Jacob Buttermore break out of his slump. I think this unit needs to get more runs together, and that means keeping it to a three man rotation. The Griffin Cook at midfield experiment isn't working and this unit needs to more reps together to get better consistency.

-Lastly, the defense shouldn't face a very stiff challenge this week, but they also have their own set of issues, mostly off-ball and with short sticks. They've been playing a sort of relaxed zone it seems this year, not being overly aggressive and staying pretty close to the goal. This works when you have a goalie like Drake Porter, and they are clearly comfortable with offenses getting off certain shots. They still need to work on communicating and sliding when appropriate. Again, Holy Cross isn't going to test things very much, but getting another game in with more reps should only help.

Alright, really didn't think that would be this long, my apologies. Hopefully I haven't jinxed the Orange with my overconfidence, but I am usually pretty hesitant and nervous about most every game and I'm not feeling that way about this matchup. I think this is mostly about Syracuse being able execute and play the way they want. They have shown a tendency to play up or down to opponents this season, but getting more actual game experience should help them execute in the bigger games. Keep playing well until it becomes muscle memory. Hoping for the team to come out sharp and focused, and not looking ahead to next Thursday.

 

[JeremyCuse]

After much hubbub, the Syracuse Orange have an opponent for this weekend in The College of the Holy Cross. The Crusaders don't come in as a particularly intimidating foe, and if we are being honest, SU should defeat this team by solid margin. Still, feels worth taking a look from the team from Worcester, MA.

Holy Cross comes in at a 1-2 record with their lone victory a 1 goal win over Sacred Heart in their first matchup of the year. They have since dropped a one goal game to Colgate and lost 16-6 to BU. BU did give Army a game, so that result might not be as bad as it initially looks. Three games isn't a lot to draw from, but looking at their stats from last year and this, they look to have a pretty balanced offense. Their top six have between nine and five point this season, and last year, between 17 and 11 (HC played seven games last year finishing 4-3). So they don't have one player they rely on. They did lose four of their top seven scorers from last year, including their top point producer in Kevin Kodiz. It does not look like HC was able to take advantage of brining back fifth year players. Dean DiDanno leads the team in scoring this year with seven goals and two assists (he was second on the team last year), but also a team leading 12 turnovers this year, which at four per game are a lot. Overall this is a unit that SU should be able to handle.

The Crusaders have a first year starter in goal in AJ Fox and he is the only one to man the pipes so far this year. He's surrendering 12.39 goals a game but has a respectable 52% save percentage. He's a big kid standing 6'2 198, and had 17 saves against Sacred Heart, but he'll have to have one heck of a game to keep HC in this one. At the face-off X, they employ two main FOGOS, each taking about the same amount of draws. Conor DePiero has an impressive winning percentage of 57%, but his counterpart Brendan McKenzie has taken two more face-offs (39 to 37) and has a 43% winning percentage. It seems that DePiero had a VERY good game against BU, going 14-15 which accounts for his impressive stat line. He was sub .500 in the other two games, but that is an impressive performance against the Terriers. He is also only a freshman.

Overall Holy Cross should be an easy win. They brought in an impressive coach in the offseason in JL Reppert, but he got a late start and I think it's hard to expect much from him in this first year. As an SU fan, I think your hoping/expecting this game to see the benches clear by the fourth quarter, but there are still things that the Orange need to work on before their big matchup with Duke:

-While the Stony Brook game was over in the third quarter, Syracuse was still pretty sloppy with the ball with lots of unexpected turnovers. Guys making bad passes, guys getting stick checked from behind while shooting, strange passes in the clearing game. SU still hasn't played that much against other opponents so this will be a good opportunity to see different looks and go up against someone other than their teammates.

-If there is one thing that worries me right now its face-offs. Phaup was great in wins against UVA and Stony Brook, pretty good in a loss to Army and pretty bad in the win over UVM. Again, not sure what the Crusaders are bringing to the X this weekend but hoping that he can get a bit of a rest. It is really important for this team to find out who their plan B is - whether its getting Varello more reps to work out his issues, or find someone else to develop, hoping that person gets plenty of reps this Saturday.

-The second midfield has been solid this season with Lucas Quinn and Owen Seebold showing flashes. But they need to be more consistent. It would also be great to see Jacob Buttermore break out of his slump. I think this unit needs to get more runs together, and that means keeping it to a three man rotation. The Griffin Cook at midfield experiment isn't working and this unit needs to more reps together to get better consistency.

-Lastly, the defense shouldn't face a very stiff challenge this week, but they also have their own set of issues, mostly off-ball and with short sticks. They've been playing a sort of relaxed zone it seems this year, not being overly aggressive and staying pretty close to the goal. This works when you have a goalie like Drake Porter, and they are clearly comfortable with offenses getting off certain shots. They still need to work on communicating and sliding when appropriate. Again, Holy Cross isn't going to test things very much, but getting another game in with more reps should only help.

Alright, really didn't think that would be this long, my apologies. Hopefully I haven't jinxed the Orange with my overconfidence, but I am usually pretty hesitant and nervous about most every game and I'm not feeling that way about this matchup. I think this is mostly about Syracuse being able execute and play the way they want. They have shown a tendency to play up or down to opponents this season, but getting more actual game experience should help them execute in the bigger games. Keep playing well until it becomes muscle memory. Hoping for the team to come out sharp and focused, and not looking ahead to next Thursday.

Think you pretty much nailed it on what to look out for.

I would just echo that faceoffs should be very interesting especially with that Holy Cross fogo coming off a dominating performance and will be interesting to see if Savage or another FOGO besides Varello gets multiple draws.

2nd midline will also be interesting specially if we see more of Ferris there or if he gets some run as the 4th attackmen with the 2 starters.

Lastly I am hoping to see Page and or Drago get some extended run at LSM, not sure Barlow can hold up the entire ACC schedule as the backup.