Powellfan
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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After a bit of a layoff, Syracuse welcomes the Jaspers to the Dome tomorrow night. I'm not going to do a huge writeup here. I don't mean to be dismissive of Manhattan, but SU should win this one pretty easily (a 16-3 game last year) . I think it's the way in which SU performs in this game that will be most telling.
Manhattan comes into this one with a 4-3 record, but haven't really played anyone near SU's level (though they only lost to undefeated Fairfield in OT). Their goalie is the player to watch in this one - he has a 60% save percentage and has put up some huge save totals this year so far (19 vs Vermont, 21 vs Fairfield and 15 vs Stony Brook - all loses however). He did finish under 50% last year against SU (12 saves to 16 goals). After that though, there isn't much to write home about for the Jaspers. Their leading scorer has 20 point on the year, and both their leading FOGOs are under 50% for the year. On paper this is a game that SU should dominate.
And frankly SU better, because this is the last "easy" game on the schedule. Things seriously ramp up after this game with a tussle against the dangerous but inconsistent Colgate, followed by ACC play and Cornell. SU needs to iron out whatever lingering issues they have in this game since this will be the last time they can reasonably expect to try anything new without the risk of serious blowback. The big question for me relates to Trey Deere and if he can add some scoring juice to the attack while Finn Thomson is out. I don't necessarily think they need to force things, but I think it's important that the team "gets him going" so he can gain some confidence before Colgate, and if needed Virginia the following week. Hoping SU can put in a total team effort to gain some momentum and have the backups in by the fourth quarter. Also perhaps most importantly, avoid injuries at all cost.
Manhattan comes into this one with a 4-3 record, but haven't really played anyone near SU's level (though they only lost to undefeated Fairfield in OT). Their goalie is the player to watch in this one - he has a 60% save percentage and has put up some huge save totals this year so far (19 vs Vermont, 21 vs Fairfield and 15 vs Stony Brook - all loses however). He did finish under 50% last year against SU (12 saves to 16 goals). After that though, there isn't much to write home about for the Jaspers. Their leading scorer has 20 point on the year, and both their leading FOGOs are under 50% for the year. On paper this is a game that SU should dominate.
And frankly SU better, because this is the last "easy" game on the schedule. Things seriously ramp up after this game with a tussle against the dangerous but inconsistent Colgate, followed by ACC play and Cornell. SU needs to iron out whatever lingering issues they have in this game since this will be the last time they can reasonably expect to try anything new without the risk of serious blowback. The big question for me relates to Trey Deere and if he can add some scoring juice to the attack while Finn Thomson is out. I don't necessarily think they need to force things, but I think it's important that the team "gets him going" so he can gain some confidence before Colgate, and if needed Virginia the following week. Hoping SU can put in a total team effort to gain some momentum and have the backups in by the fourth quarter. Also perhaps most importantly, avoid injuries at all cost.
