JeremyCuse
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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First off go to watch the game with Tomcat, TexanMark, OrangeXtreme, Lincolncuse and a few others. Always a fantastic time watching the game and chatting Syracuse with those guys, unfortunately this was one of the most frustrating Syracuse lacrosse games I have seen in person.
I made several posts this week leading up to the game with some areas I thought would be critical for Syracuse, unfortunately I think we struggled in pretty much everyone and several others as well.
In this game all of the areas Syracuse has struggled in all year reared there ugly head. Syracuse has been mediocre/inconsistent at the X, in goal, and Defensively all year. We couldn't afford to have all three phases struggle in this type of game but not only did we struggle there but the offense way abysmal as well.
X - Not going to get to down on Daddio. Massa is a real tough match up for him and I thought he really battled in the second half and won a couple draws late including the last one. That being said his turnover with the game tied at 7 halfway through the 4th after Syracuse just tied the game is unforgivable. Rather then try to sell a push or tip toe the out of bounds line he just throws the ball wildly over his head and turns it over which of course lead to a Bryant goal. Daddio had an amazing turnaround this season that play and pass pretty much sums up his career at Syracuse. Not to be outdone our wing play evolved back into the dissapearing act we saw earlier in the year. Don't know what the issue is but the last two years our wing play on face-offs has been absolutely horrible. Another total revamp needed.
Goalie - Can't think of a clearer example of where Syracuse was outclassed then the Goalie position. Waldt from Bryant made several tremendous stops throughout the game including a few in the 4th that I am still unsure how we didn't score on. As for Syracuse both are guy were mediocre at best. Lamo had a good 1st quarter but then fell apart in the second and Wardwell was even worse. I didn't see one spectacular save from either of our guys while Waldt made probably a half dozen.
Defense - This unit has been up and down all year and despite only allowing 10 goals it was clear the D was far from good. We lack depth at LSM and close D and our SSDM (outside of Jenkins who again looked good) have been the worst I can recall. We really need to get some size and strength at SSDM, Messina looks slow and Grimm's undersized and struggled mightily this year. We tried Evans in the first quarter and he was getting beat like a drum, good call to get him out of there. As others have pointed out already we struggled to slide at the correct times and twice we let in goals at the end of the 30 seconds stall warning something I specifically noted we could not do. Going to also need to develop more long pole depth, not impressed with Mcdermott or Tait and Harris is graduating. Speaking of Harris he was up and down today just like his play the entire season. Two great caused turnovers.
As bad or mediocre as we were in those three phases a good offensive showing would have had Syracuse winning by at least 3-4 goals instead we had one of our worst performances of the year. For as good as the Syracuse offense has been this year the one issue we have had his mid to long range shooting, Syracuse does a lot of its damage near the cage and a few yards out on cuts and alley dodges. Bryant as expected played a ton of zone and mixed in defenses very well alternating between man and zone all game long. This had us completely out of sync for most of the game and to be honest I didn't see any adjustments at half by Desko and the staff. Bryant paid extra attention to Rice and Staats and really croweded the crease area. When going against any zone you have to either A. Pick it part with crisp passes or beat it from the outside. We tried to find cutters and others finding soft spots in the zone but turned it over multiple times in the first half and then again in the third. We finally abandoned trying to pass into it late in the third. The real issue Syracuse had was that it had no one to shoot from out deep to force Bryant to press out and or go to strictly man. I know Walters struggles to learn plays but he is our best long range shooter, he should have been rotating in at midfield and told to rip when open. Instead we kept passing the ball around the outside and trying to force our way from X with Rice. Galasso took only one real outside shot and Schoomaker also seemed hesitant to shoot. Lecky had a nice rip early but then went completely MIA. Loy is also supposed to be a shooter but he was MIA as well and missed a wide open look by about 20 feet over the cage to start the game that was omen of things to come. Thought Donahue was way to quiet, as good of a player as he is ( he is really good) he disappeared for long stretches this year. Most likely due to the increased Defensive attention, wish he would have forced the issue a little more, he had a nice wrap around goal but didn't attempt to force the issue again.
Intangibles - I gave the coaching edge to Desko based on the fact we had played Bryant last year and should know what to expect. Boy was I wrong. He was completely out coached, it looked like we hadn't played against a zone all year and to often just sat back and let Bryant pass the ball around for two minutes despite the fact Bryant has major issues passing and holding onto the ball and is a turnover machine. The fact Walters didnt play is mind boggling. Dejoe was on the man up but was an absolute disaster missed a couple wide open looks by about thirty feet over the cage and then lost the ball as went to take a shot on the man up.
Speaking of man up, Syracuse was 0-3 and our man up unit looked as bad as it did a few years ago. We were 0-7 against Duke and 0-3 tonight, has to be better. Why we have a crease finisher like Derek Maltz at the top of the offense on the man up and often doing the same when the second mid line is again mind boggling.
To wrap things up this is the second time in 4 years Syracuse has been upset in the first round and frankly its getting old fast. Duke has become the Syracuse of old, 8 straight final fours (or something close to that) and absolutely annihilated Air Force today, I suspect there going to repeat again this year as well. Meanwhile we lost to freeking Bryant, a team that wasn't even Div 1 less then a decade ago. Before the usual excuses start rolling in lets just remind ourselves this is still Syracuse were talking about. The Kentucky bball of Lacrosse, these types of losses should not be happening especially when you consider the fact we just played this same team last year and knew exactly what we would be facing. Extremely dissapointed in the team and in the coaching staff, no way we should have lost this game. Next year could be a make or break one for the Desko regime.
I made several posts this week leading up to the game with some areas I thought would be critical for Syracuse, unfortunately I think we struggled in pretty much everyone and several others as well.
In this game all of the areas Syracuse has struggled in all year reared there ugly head. Syracuse has been mediocre/inconsistent at the X, in goal, and Defensively all year. We couldn't afford to have all three phases struggle in this type of game but not only did we struggle there but the offense way abysmal as well.
X - Not going to get to down on Daddio. Massa is a real tough match up for him and I thought he really battled in the second half and won a couple draws late including the last one. That being said his turnover with the game tied at 7 halfway through the 4th after Syracuse just tied the game is unforgivable. Rather then try to sell a push or tip toe the out of bounds line he just throws the ball wildly over his head and turns it over which of course lead to a Bryant goal. Daddio had an amazing turnaround this season that play and pass pretty much sums up his career at Syracuse. Not to be outdone our wing play evolved back into the dissapearing act we saw earlier in the year. Don't know what the issue is but the last two years our wing play on face-offs has been absolutely horrible. Another total revamp needed.
Goalie - Can't think of a clearer example of where Syracuse was outclassed then the Goalie position. Waldt from Bryant made several tremendous stops throughout the game including a few in the 4th that I am still unsure how we didn't score on. As for Syracuse both are guy were mediocre at best. Lamo had a good 1st quarter but then fell apart in the second and Wardwell was even worse. I didn't see one spectacular save from either of our guys while Waldt made probably a half dozen.
Defense - This unit has been up and down all year and despite only allowing 10 goals it was clear the D was far from good. We lack depth at LSM and close D and our SSDM (outside of Jenkins who again looked good) have been the worst I can recall. We really need to get some size and strength at SSDM, Messina looks slow and Grimm's undersized and struggled mightily this year. We tried Evans in the first quarter and he was getting beat like a drum, good call to get him out of there. As others have pointed out already we struggled to slide at the correct times and twice we let in goals at the end of the 30 seconds stall warning something I specifically noted we could not do. Going to also need to develop more long pole depth, not impressed with Mcdermott or Tait and Harris is graduating. Speaking of Harris he was up and down today just like his play the entire season. Two great caused turnovers.
As bad or mediocre as we were in those three phases a good offensive showing would have had Syracuse winning by at least 3-4 goals instead we had one of our worst performances of the year. For as good as the Syracuse offense has been this year the one issue we have had his mid to long range shooting, Syracuse does a lot of its damage near the cage and a few yards out on cuts and alley dodges. Bryant as expected played a ton of zone and mixed in defenses very well alternating between man and zone all game long. This had us completely out of sync for most of the game and to be honest I didn't see any adjustments at half by Desko and the staff. Bryant paid extra attention to Rice and Staats and really croweded the crease area. When going against any zone you have to either A. Pick it part with crisp passes or beat it from the outside. We tried to find cutters and others finding soft spots in the zone but turned it over multiple times in the first half and then again in the third. We finally abandoned trying to pass into it late in the third. The real issue Syracuse had was that it had no one to shoot from out deep to force Bryant to press out and or go to strictly man. I know Walters struggles to learn plays but he is our best long range shooter, he should have been rotating in at midfield and told to rip when open. Instead we kept passing the ball around the outside and trying to force our way from X with Rice. Galasso took only one real outside shot and Schoomaker also seemed hesitant to shoot. Lecky had a nice rip early but then went completely MIA. Loy is also supposed to be a shooter but he was MIA as well and missed a wide open look by about 20 feet over the cage to start the game that was omen of things to come. Thought Donahue was way to quiet, as good of a player as he is ( he is really good) he disappeared for long stretches this year. Most likely due to the increased Defensive attention, wish he would have forced the issue a little more, he had a nice wrap around goal but didn't attempt to force the issue again.
Intangibles - I gave the coaching edge to Desko based on the fact we had played Bryant last year and should know what to expect. Boy was I wrong. He was completely out coached, it looked like we hadn't played against a zone all year and to often just sat back and let Bryant pass the ball around for two minutes despite the fact Bryant has major issues passing and holding onto the ball and is a turnover machine. The fact Walters didnt play is mind boggling. Dejoe was on the man up but was an absolute disaster missed a couple wide open looks by about thirty feet over the cage and then lost the ball as went to take a shot on the man up.
Speaking of man up, Syracuse was 0-3 and our man up unit looked as bad as it did a few years ago. We were 0-7 against Duke and 0-3 tonight, has to be better. Why we have a crease finisher like Derek Maltz at the top of the offense on the man up and often doing the same when the second mid line is again mind boggling.
To wrap things up this is the second time in 4 years Syracuse has been upset in the first round and frankly its getting old fast. Duke has become the Syracuse of old, 8 straight final fours (or something close to that) and absolutely annihilated Air Force today, I suspect there going to repeat again this year as well. Meanwhile we lost to freeking Bryant, a team that wasn't even Div 1 less then a decade ago. Before the usual excuses start rolling in lets just remind ourselves this is still Syracuse were talking about. The Kentucky bball of Lacrosse, these types of losses should not be happening especially when you consider the fact we just played this same team last year and knew exactly what we would be facing. Extremely dissapointed in the team and in the coaching staff, no way we should have lost this game. Next year could be a make or break one for the Desko regime.
