Lots of blame to go around from yesterdays loss to Loyola. The big ones that have stuck with me -
Defense - it was obvious from the start that Mellen was struggling to contain Spencer. Instead of trying a different matchup, trying zone, the Orange plan was instead to slide earlier to Spencer, playing right into their hands, as Spencer is, as evidence by being the ALL TIME LEADER IN ASSISTS a passer first. Give me a break. Given that Bomberry had better success against a "brute" style attackmen in Nanticoke, maybe give the biggest guy on defense a shot? Or something else, but don't under any circumstances, slide early to the guy. Plenty of blame needs to go to the coaching staff on that, but Mellen played as bad as one can. If he happened to be switched off of Spencer, he would panic and again, slide early to his preferred matchup leading to a wide open shot. Just bad all around. I think Mellen is great, but sometimes you have to realize when something isn't working.
Offense - how you go from scoring 9 goals in a half to only scoring three in the second is beyond me. But a big part of the reason why seemed to be the fact the offense stopped shooting low on Stover, and instead, like Kennedy and Trimboli did late, they went high on a tall goalie. Why go away from something that was working so well?
Mental breakdowns - of course the biggest reason for the loss I feel like belongs to the face-off unit, who were so good for 90 percent of the season, but just faded down the stretch. Heck, they were great in the first half of the game coming up with all the 50-50 balls, but then in the second half, they not only stopped winning the ball, but also gave the Greyhouds man-up opportunities. The Fernandez foul that gifted Loyola their 10th goal of the game was one of the worst I've seen.
I pride myself on having a positive outlook on the SU lacrosse program, but I think the days of expecting this coaching staff delivering a Final Four appearance, or a National Championship have passed. Right now is the program is the definition of treading water. My belief in Desko came down the fact that whatever he lost on the recruiting trail, he would make up for in his in-game abilities to coach players up to deliver on game days. But with the let-down against Colgate to start the year, and the failure to hold on against UNC, and UVA, and letting up in two straight Tournament games, not to mention the disaster that was the recruiting situation this off-season, makes me think it is finally time to walk away. I really think with a motivated, high energy coach SU could make its way back to winning National Titles. But that coach no longer appears to be Desko. No program is perfect, but this team was too talented to finish the way it did this year. It's foolish to think the Orange will go on to dominate the landscape again, but I think it's also foolish not to demand more. Hope things are turned around in a hurry.
At this point in time I don't think its worth it to shake up the staff - your asking a 62 year old to change up everything he knows in the hopes he hangs on for a few more years. Right now I think he's gotten comfortable, and that comfort has led to things coming to a standstill. It's time to jumpstart things.