Maryland Gameday... | Page 26 | Syracusefan.com

Maryland Gameday...

Gettysbrg10 said:
Not to be that guy, but Carc talking about Kavovit on the broadcast last night really tugged at the heart strings. I can't imagine losing your best friend that way. Carc is the best. It's always a better game when him, Anish, and Quint are on the call.
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Lukewarm take: Anish, Carc, & Quint will forever be my “A-Team” for College Lax announcing. I recall the 1st season after Kav’s passing when Carc would get choked up on air talking about him & would have to go off-mic for a minute to compose himself. It was so raw, real, & beautiful.
 
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W'boro'Cuse315 said:
Anish, Carc, & Quint will forever be my “A-Team” for College Lax announcing. I recall the 1st season after Kav’s passing when Carc would get choked up on air talking about him & would have to go off-mic for a minute to compose himself. It was so raw, real, & beautiful.
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I recall the same. Aside from that, the three really know their jobs when calling a game. Quint can be a homer, but we can cut him some slack.
 
AD31 said:
I been impressed by Kittleberger at SSDM. He's got the best footwork out of all our shortys and just a freshman. He's gonna be a stud.
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He had some early semblances of Matt Abbott-style “punt return clears” last night as well. I expect him to continue to develop that aspect of his game as he gets more & more acclimated. Kittleberger also displayed a pretty good split dodge & heavy shot in his HS highlights.
 
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W'boro'Cuse315 said:
Lukewarm take: Anish, Carc, & Quint will forever be my “A-Team” for College Lax announcing. I recall the 1st season after Kav’s passing when Carc would get choked up on air talking about him & would have to go off-mic for a minute to compose himself. It was so raw, real, & beautiful.
Expand...
Not sure why anyone would laugh at this post
 
W'boro'Cuse315 said:
Lukewarm take: Anish, Carc, & Quint will forever be my “A-Team” for College Lax announcing. I recall the 1st season after Kav’s passing when Carc would get choked up on air talking about him & would have to go off-mic for a minute to compose himself. It was so raw, real, & beautiful.
Expand...
You know it’s a big game when espn sends both quint and carc to a game. Doesn’t seems likes it happens often in the regular season but boy did they have a gem to call Friday. The great thing about these guys is that they genuinely enjoy each others company. I have had some social interactions with them as a group and they are just a regular group a buddies hanging out and busting anish’s balls. Add in Dana, and she is the little sister with her big brothers ready to protect when none is needed whatsoever. I know they have some detractors but they do more for the game than almost anyone out there and should be in the lacrosse hall of fame for their general contributions to the game.
 
W'boro'Cuse315 said:
Lukewarm take: Anish, Carc, & Quint will forever be my “A-Team” for College Lax announcing. I recall the 1st season after Kav’s passing when Carc would get choked up on air talking about him & would have to go off-mic for a minute to compose himself. It was so raw, real, & beautiful.
Expand...

Anish, Carc, & Quint are my A-team hands-down. I love when they're doing a game.
 
The crying by that podcast or whatever it was after game with the 4 dudes n one talking bout cuse celebrating. Guess he missed the classy move by schaller where he purposely tripped joey when running to ride. As rewatching game right now n in 2nd qtr 10-11min mark right after hottle goes behind n comes up right side n gets saved. As joey goes to get ready to ride schaller sticks his leg out n trips joey right in front of ref also. Nothing to say bout that.
 
outoftownie said:
You know it’s a big game when espn sends both quint and carc to a game. Doesn’t seems likes it happens often in the regular season but boy did they have a gem to call Friday. The great thing about these guys is that they genuinely enjoy each others company. I have had some social interactions with them as a group and they are just a regular group a buddies hanging out and busting anish’s balls. Add in Dana, and she is the little sister with her big brothers ready to protect when none is needed whatsoever. I know they have some detractors but they do more for the game than almost anyone out there and should be in the lacrosse hall of fame for their general contributions to the game.
Expand...
They also genuinely love lacrosse. While I do appreciate that we have so many games available on tv these days, many of the announcers are young trying to cut their teeth in the broadcasting industry so they pick up the assignment. They are not really true fans of lacrosse. I am glad they have the opportunity to cover the games and learn about the sport so it is a good thing. However, it is nice when you have Carc, Anish, Quint and Dana who are genuinely interested in the sport. 3 out of the four played division 1 lacrosse and Anish learned the game at the best program in America as a student at SU.

Wish the game started at 7pm is my only gripe. Might have generated a larger audience both on the air and in the dome if it was a little later at a more standard time.
 
SkyTopBus44 said:
They also genuinely love lacrosse. While I do appreciate that we have so many games available on tv these days, many of the announcers are young trying to cut their teeth in the broadcasting industry so they pick up the assignment. They are not really true fans of lacrosse. I am glad they have the opportunity to cover the games and learn about the sport so it is a good thing. However, it is nice when you have Carc, Anish, Quint and Dana who are genuinely interested in the sport. 3 out of the four played division 1 lacrosse and Anish learned the game at the best program in America as a student at SU.

Wish the game started at 7pm is my only gripe. Might have generated a larger audience both on the air and in the dome if it was a little later at a more standard time.
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Yes, but 6pm was better than the usual ACCN Friday night game at 5pm. I wonder if this will encourage ESPN to show some Friday night lacrosse games on ESPNU.
 
Today's Expected Goals email by Lacrosse Reference


How did Syracuse beat Maryland​


For a while, the Syracuse–Maryland series had a clear pattern: Maryland kept winning.

But on Friday, that pattern broke. Syracuse won 11–9, their first win over the Terps in the last 9 attempts. The obvious question: statistically, what was different this time?

This wasn't a faceoff clinic. It wasn't a goalie standing on their head. It wasn't Maryland suddenly forgetting how to clear. The data points to something simpler and more repeatable:

Syracuse finally turned the 'little things' (especially groundballs) into a decisive edge, while playing just well enough everywhere else to let that edge decide the game. Below, I'll walk through what changed, with a bit of data to anchor each point.

The Groundball Story​

If you had to boil the game down to one number, it would be this:
  • Cuse groundball win rate vs Maryland (2026): 63.4%
  • Cuse groundball win rate vs Maryland (previous 8 meetings): 48.5%

That's a jump of nearly 15 percentage points. In terms of how unusual that is over these matchups, it's about a 3-standard-deviation swing (z ≈ 3.15) relative to their previous games vs Maryland. Statistically speaking, this was the single biggest change.

To put it differently: for years, Maryland either held their own or had the edge in the '50/50' stuff. In this game, Syracuse turned those 50/50s into something closer to 65/35.

You can think of it as a possession tax on Maryland. Every time a shot went wide or a ball got knocked loose, Syracuse was more likely than usual to scoop it and turn it into a new offensive trip. Over 60 minutes, that adds up to extra possessions, extra chances, and extra ways to survive imperfect play elsewhere.

The Offense: Good Enough, With Better Finishing​

Cuse's offense didn't suddenly become unrecognizable. It was a modest upgrade in a few places, with one notable twist in how they finished their chances.

  • Offensive efficiency (goals per possession) went from 0.28 in prior games to 0.31 in this one.
  • Shooting percentage climbed from 25.9% to 30.6%.
  • On-goal shooting% (goals per shot on goal) jumped from 44.4% to 52.4%.


So they weren't generating a ton more quality looks per possession; they were just doing a bit more with the ones they had. The on-goal shooting bump in particular is a non-trivial change: when they put the ball on cage, it went in more often than it historically has against Maryland.

Interestingly, they did this while being less assist-heavy than usual:
  • Assist rate vs Maryland (2026): 0.27
  • Assist rate vs Maryland (prior 8): 0.42

That's a large drop. It suggests more unassisted or semi-created goals — dodges, matchups, or scramble plays leading directly to shots — as opposed to the classic 'one more' passing sequences.

In other words, the offense didn't transform its identity, but it did two important things at once:
  • Converted more of its on-target looks into goals, and
  • Got enough individual playmaking to score without needing a high-assist, high-skill-chain possession every time.

When you pair those incremental offensive gains with a big possession edge on groundballs, you don't need perfection elsewhere.

Faceoffs, Goalie Play, and the Usual Suspects​

This is where the story gets more interesting. If you write the script beforehand — 'Syracuse finally beats Maryland' — you probably expect it to feature dominant faceoffs or a monster goalie performance. The data says otherwise.
  • Faceoff win rate vs Maryland (2026): 50.0%
  • Faceoff win rate vs Maryland (prior 8): 42.1%

So they did improve at the X — about +8 percentage points — but this was a draw, not a blowout. The head-to-head edge vs Maryland specifically was basically zero in this game (Cuse and Maryland each finished at 50%). That's a step forward from historically trailing there, but it wasn't the decider.

Same story in the cage:
  • Cuse defensive save% vs Maryland (2026): 47.6%
  • Prior 8 vs Maryland: 55.6%

Relative to their own history in this matchup, Syracuse actually got worse save percentage this time. They didn't win this one because their goalie stood on his head. In fact, the head-to-head save% 'edge' in this game slightly favored Maryland compared to prior years.

That's an important point philosophically: the storyline of this win isn't 'they got superhuman at the usual glamor stats.'

Turnovers and the Possession Game​

Turnovers were another quiet, but meaningful, area of improvement.
  • Cuse turnover rate vs Maryland (2026): 25.7%
  • Prior 8 vs Maryland: 27.3%

That's not a massive shift on its own — roughly 1.5 percentage points better — but when combined with the groundball spike, it matters. If you:
  • Lose the ball a bit less often, and
  • Win it back more often on the ground,
  • You expand the possession margin in small ways from multiple directions.


Add in that they were basically even at faceoff (instead of underwater there), and the overall possession picture tilts toward Syracuse more than it has in this series.

The clears and ride numbers stayed mostly in character:

  • Clear rate (defense): 94.1% vs 94.6% historically (effectively unchanged)
  • Ride rate (defense): 2.8% vs 5.4% historically (actually lower than prior games)

So it wasn't about suddenly becoming a hyper-pressing ride team or short-circuiting Maryland's clearing game. They were solid, but the real possession gains came from taking better care of the ball and dominating loose balls.

So What Actually Changed?​

If you stack the metrics and ask 'What looks most different in this game versus the last 8 head-to-heads?', three themes stand out:
  • Groundballs flipped the script. Syracuse went from basically even to decisively winning GBs. It's the single largest statistical shift.
  • They finished better on the chances they got. On-goal shooting percentage jumped, and overall shooting% was clearly better than their Maryland baseline.
  • They weren't dependent on being perfect in the traditional swing areas. Faceoffs were just 50/50. Goalie play, by their own previous standard vs Maryland, was actually worse. Clears and ride were stable. None of those needed to be heroic for Cuse to win.

Put together, this game looks less like a one-off coin flip and more like a version of Syracuse that:
  • Plays a steadier possession game,
  • Turns hustle plays (GBs) into a real advantage, and
  • Finishes just a bit more efficiently when it matters.

You don't always get your best faceoff day. You don't always get your best goalie day. What this game showed is that if you can bank a meaningful edge in the 'hidden' possession game — especially on the ground — you give yourself a margin of error big enough to finally beat a team that's had your number for years.[/td]
 
FloridaCuse said:
Today's Expected Goals email by Lacrosse Reference


How did Syracuse beat Maryland​


For a while, the Syracuse–Maryland series had a clear pattern: Maryland kept winning.

But on Friday, that pattern broke. Syracuse won 11–9, their first win over the Terps in the last 9 attempts. The obvious question: statistically, what was different this time?

This wasn't a faceoff clinic. It wasn't a goalie standing on their head. It wasn't Maryland suddenly forgetting how to clear. The data points to something simpler and more repeatable:

Syracuse finally turned the 'little things' (especially groundballs) into a decisive edge, while playing just well enough everywhere else to let that edge decide the game. Below, I'll walk through what changed, with a bit of data to anchor each point.

The Groundball Story​

If you had to boil the game down to one number, it would be this:
  • Cuse groundball win rate vs Maryland (2026): 63.4%
  • Cuse groundball win rate vs Maryland (previous 8 meetings): 48.5%

That's a jump of nearly 15 percentage points. In terms of how unusual that is over these matchups, it's about a 3-standard-deviation swing (z ≈ 3.15) relative to their previous games vs Maryland. Statistically speaking, this was the single biggest change.

To put it differently: for years, Maryland either held their own or had the edge in the '50/50' stuff. In this game, Syracuse turned those 50/50s into something closer to 65/35.

You can think of it as a possession tax on Maryland. Every time a shot went wide or a ball got knocked loose, Syracuse was more likely than usual to scoop it and turn it into a new offensive trip. Over 60 minutes, that adds up to extra possessions, extra chances, and extra ways to survive imperfect play elsewhere.

The Offense: Good Enough, With Better Finishing​

Cuse's offense didn't suddenly become unrecognizable. It was a modest upgrade in a few places, with one notable twist in how they finished their chances.

  • Offensive efficiency (goals per possession) went from 0.28 in prior games to 0.31 in this one.
  • Shooting percentage climbed from 25.9% to 30.6%.
  • On-goal shooting% (goals per shot on goal) jumped from 44.4% to 52.4%.


So they weren't generating a ton more quality looks per possession; they were just doing a bit more with the ones they had. The on-goal shooting bump in particular is a non-trivial change: when they put the ball on cage, it went in more often than it historically has against Maryland.

Interestingly, they did this while being less assist-heavy than usual:
  • Assist rate vs Maryland (2026): 0.27
  • Assist rate vs Maryland (prior 8): 0.42

That's a large drop. It suggests more unassisted or semi-created goals — dodges, matchups, or scramble plays leading directly to shots — as opposed to the classic 'one more' passing sequences.

In other words, the offense didn't transform its identity, but it did two important things at once:
  • Converted more of its on-target looks into goals, and
  • Got enough individual playmaking to score without needing a high-assist, high-skill-chain possession every time.

When you pair those incremental offensive gains with a big possession edge on groundballs, you don't need perfection elsewhere.

Faceoffs, Goalie Play, and the Usual Suspects​

This is where the story gets more interesting. If you write the script beforehand — 'Syracuse finally beats Maryland' — you probably expect it to feature dominant faceoffs or a monster goalie performance. The data says otherwise.
  • Faceoff win rate vs Maryland (2026): 50.0%
  • Faceoff win rate vs Maryland (prior 8): 42.1%

So they did improve at the X — about +8 percentage points — but this was a draw, not a blowout. The head-to-head edge vs Maryland specifically was basically zero in this game (Cuse and Maryland each finished at 50%). That's a step forward from historically trailing there, but it wasn't the decider.

Same story in the cage:
  • Cuse defensive save% vs Maryland (2026): 47.6%
  • Prior 8 vs Maryland: 55.6%

Relative to their own history in this matchup, Syracuse actually got worse save percentage this time. They didn't win this one because their goalie stood on his head. In fact, the head-to-head save% 'edge' in this game slightly favored Maryland compared to prior years.

That's an important point philosophically: the storyline of this win isn't 'they got superhuman at the usual glamor stats.'

Turnovers and the Possession Game​

Turnovers were another quiet, but meaningful, area of improvement.
  • Cuse turnover rate vs Maryland (2026): 25.7%
  • Prior 8 vs Maryland: 27.3%

That's not a massive shift on its own — roughly 1.5 percentage points better — but when combined with the groundball spike, it matters. If you:
  • Lose the ball a bit less often, and
  • Win it back more often on the ground,
  • You expand the possession margin in small ways from multiple directions.


Add in that they were basically even at faceoff (instead of underwater there), and the overall possession picture tilts toward Syracuse more than it has in this series.

The clears and ride numbers stayed mostly in character:

  • Clear rate (defense): 94.1% vs 94.6% historically (effectively unchanged)
  • Ride rate (defense): 2.8% vs 5.4% historically (actually lower than prior games)

So it wasn't about suddenly becoming a hyper-pressing ride team or short-circuiting Maryland's clearing game. They were solid, but the real possession gains came from taking better care of the ball and dominating loose balls.

So What Actually Changed?​

If you stack the metrics and ask 'What looks most different in this game versus the last 8 head-to-heads?', three themes stand out:
  • Groundballs flipped the script. Syracuse went from basically even to decisively winning GBs. It's the single largest statistical shift.
  • They finished better on the chances they got. On-goal shooting percentage jumped, and overall shooting% was clearly better than their Maryland baseline.
  • They weren't dependent on being perfect in the traditional swing areas. Faceoffs were just 50/50. Goalie play, by their own previous standard vs Maryland, was actually worse. Clears and ride were stable. None of those needed to be heroic for Cuse to win.

Put together, this game looks less like a one-off coin flip and more like a version of Syracuse that:
  • Plays a steadier possession game,
  • Turns hustle plays (GBs) into a real advantage, and
  • Finishes just a bit more efficiently when it matters.

You don't always get your best faceoff day. You don't always get your best goalie day. What this game showed is that if you can bank a meaningful edge in the 'hidden' possession game — especially on the ground — you give yourself a margin of error big enough to finally beat a team that's had your number for years.[/td]
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SU played with grit and a controlled edge, which hasn’t necessarily been the case against peers recently.

Avoided the stupid penalties, when things tightened up didn’t panic, play hero ball, still took good shots.

Bottomline, they competed and didn’t meltdown.
 

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