North Carolina Gameday...

[CrazyPeople]

Defense has looked like last years team the last 2 games. Have to wonder how much longer the Petro expirement is going to go beyond this year. The personnel id a major issue but the strategy and design hasn't been great. Losing Figuerias hurts a lot but that's no excuse to give up 19 goals to this UNC team. Have to wonder about Gaits future as well.

We keep talking about Figuerias like hes a seasoned vet. We dont really know what losing him means. Without the proper schemes and defense (which we dont have) he might not be the savior we are making him out to be.

 

[cuselaxss26]

unc 36 gbs cuse 22gbs miss to many gbs. Gotta change. Showed more hustle second half at times need that all game tho.

 

[ForCuseSake]

Certainly plenty to work on for Duke. Think we should probably expect inconsistency with playing so many freshman/young guys in general. Still not sure what the defensive gameplan was today based on UNC's strengths? Face-offs improved as the game went on, but again as many fans continue to say the wing play just leaves a lot to be desired. They need guys that can go out there and get the damn ball off the carpet. Hopefully they can show improvement because the rest of ACC play kind of scares me right now.

I see way too many wing guys (shorties and long sticks) trying to goose it rather than scoop it.

Way too much hot potato rather than running through and taking possession.

 

[JeremyCuse]

We keep talking about Figuerias like hes a seasoned vet. We dont really know what losing him means. Without the proper schemes and defense (which we dont have) he might not be the savior we are making him out to be.

He was given #11 as a frosh for a reason. He was going to be the #1 defender from the jump. It's a big loss.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Have to hope the offense continues to improve and we can win some games against quality O 18-16 or what have you. Petro D looking like it did last year as others have said. Aviles back, better games from mark in the future, more reps for inexperienced close D and man down unit as season goes on, there are ways we can get better there as the season goes on.

Wish I could say Petro is coaching for his job but that’s the problem with this death trap hire. Works his ass off, players love him, living legend, recruits well, but the stuff that matters more than all that, the defensive freaking coordination, just seems unacceptable. But you feel like it better freaking work because he could be here for another couple years at least on the name alone. Just have to hope this game doesn’t define them this season. The D looked solid at times against Md, but they have a shortage of intimidating dodgers. I’m not throwing in the towel in february. No way.

 

[DMVCuseLax]

Petro can only do so much from the sideline. No one is reinventing the game. The defense needs a vocal leader on the field. That is missing and Figueiras would have brought that to the D. This team is young and everyone needs patience but that is easier said than done.

We played better in the 2nd. Came out sleepy in the 1st. Would love to see Rhoa on the field with the 1st line. He is a finisher and needs more runs.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Have to hope the offense continues to improve and we can win some games against quality O 18-16 or what have you. Petro D looking like it did last year as others have said. Aviles back, better games from mark in the future, more reps for inexperienced close D and man down unit as season goes on, there are ways we can get better there as the season goes on.

Wish I could say Petro is coaching for his job but that’s the problem with this death trap hire. Works his ass off, players love him, living legend, recruits well, but the stuff that matters more than all that, the defensive freaking coordination, just seems unacceptable. But you feel like it better freaking work because he could be here for another couple years at least on the name alone. Just have to hope this game doesn’t define them this season. The D looked solid at times against Md, but they have a shortage of intimidating dodgers. I’m not throwing in the towel in february. No way.

Absolutely no one should be throwing in the towel. That said giving up 19 goals to this UNC team is a ginormous flashing warning sign. ND and UVA might put up 30+. UNC has no elite dodgers and honestly a mediocre midfield. This is a horrific outcome when you consider the opponent.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Petro can only do so much from the sideline. No one is reinventing the game. The defense needs a vocal leader on the field. That is missing and Figueiras would have brought that to the D. This team is young and everyone needs patience but that is easier said than done.

We played better in the 2nd. Came out sleepy in the 1st. Would love to see Rhoa on the field with the 1st line. He is a finisher and needs more runs.

Just hard for me to accept it’s just personnel when this UNC team puts up so much more on us than Hop and OSU. Then you put that in combination with his recent defensive track record at Hopkins and it gets really suspect. Youth and inexperience are a part of it, upperclassmen recruited under Rogers/Desko not seeing the field at all doesn’t help either, but we need some better results on the scoreboard. This is not the best O we will face this year.

 

[SkyTopBus44]

Absolutely no one should be throwing in the towel. That said giving up 19 goals to this UNC team is a ginormous flashing warning sign. ND and UVA might put up 30+. UNC has no elite dodgers and honestly a mediocre midfield. This is a horrific outcome when you consider the opponent.

Midfield depth is the key to the season. I just find it hard to believe with the roster size we can’t put out a better unit. It is depressing to watch the same thing again.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Petro can only do so much from the sideline. No one is reinventing the game. The defense needs a vocal leader on the field. That is missing and Figueiras would have brought that to the D. This team is young and everyone needs patience but that is easier said than done.

We played better in the 2nd. Came out sleepy in the 1st. Would love to see Rhoa on the field with the 1st line. He is a finisher and needs more runs.

Somebody has to play 2nd mids.

If all your scorers are on the 1st line, your 2nd line is dead weight.

I wonder if the Kirst to attack experiment is permanent?

 

[OrangeinBoston]

The offense is talent rich and experience poor. They need better defensive players and a real fogo guy.

 

[bjred]

I'm not a fan of Petro's defensive scheme. It might have worked great 15 years ago when you're getting the best defensive talent going against teams with one great offensive player surrounded by some some average players. Now there's more kids then ever picking up a stick that top talent is going to lower Div 1/top Div 2/Div 3 teams. Philosophies need to change. Feels like Boeheim and his zone defense, doesn't have the players to properly execute it but keeps doing it anyway. Gotta adapt to what you have.

We'll see what next week brings but a poor defensive outing for a half coupled with some poor decisions on both sides of the ball sealed this loss.

 

[SULAXAHOLIC]

I said if from day 1 Petro was not the right hire he is a spectacular human works his ass off but his defense was a step down from Rogers

 

[UrbanaOrange]

Absolutely no one should be throwing in the towel. That said giving up 19 goals to this UNC team is a ginormous flashing warning sign. ND and UVA might put up 30+. UNC has no elite dodgers and honestly a mediocre midfield. This is a horrific outcome when you consider the opponent.

UNC was painting corners especially in the 1st half. Discerning that they had so many open looks. Kreig stole 3-4 today. A couple of those fall it is a different game. The fight in the second half was promising to me. Man up is filthy. I am willing to take the good with this young team. I am all in.

 

[cuselaxss26]

defense don’t seem to be trying take ball away as much as first few games. Not as aggressive not playing body just going for sticks(guys to good n strong to go for sticks). Also transition has been no where last two games.

 

[cuselaxss26]

sliding to much for no reason also. Also like to see zone defense thrown in there now and again to least attempt get opposing offense out of sync . Also try some diff people mixed on lines. Throw kempney or cordes instead of cook or kirst once in while. See if someone beating me their man or better match up. Also need switch d mids little more even if gotta ask someone to switch specially as aviles is out. Rice murphy rosa out there to much n tired just getting beat. Last thing play on them no room to make easy pass or catch.

 

[cuselaxss26]

Last thing i never ever understood it why goalie goes out to guy behind net. What possibly does that help? If wants to sit behind net with ball let him stay in net. Cause ya play him n he gets one step it’s open net or simple pass to someone out front for open net. Let him waste shot clock.

 

[cuselaxss26]

also need to communicate on d a lot more. Trust each other slide only if guy is beat where there’s good angle for shot. Why we slide when dude isn’t beat or running to poor angle of shot just opens up lanes for them. Young team and even defense but need to play better. Offense also needs to know when good time to go n when need to settle not rush.

 

[cuselaxss26]

Rosa think also needs to be up on his man tight even if don’t have ball. His footwork n overall speed isn’t good enough give guy cushion and be able to recover or catch up. Also whole entire d needs to throw checks constantly trying take ball unless in tight then play body while setting up timely check.

 

[JeremyCuse]

UNC was painting corners especially in the 1st half. Discerning that they had so many open looks. Kreig stole 3-4 today. A couple of those fall it is a different game. The fight in the second half was promising to me. Man up is filthy. I am willing to take the good with this young team. I am all in.

I think pretty much all of us are still all in but this isn't the performance you want to see in year 2 against a mediocre UNC offense. Team is very young but defensively we have to be light years better if this team had any hope of winning 1 or 2 ACC games this year. Offense shows a lot of promise (despite continuing to play Thomson at middie) but there's a lot of issues that are still flaring from last year that should be in better shape. Need to find away to win 1 of the next 2.

 

[ClvrUsrnm]

Watched the first half. That was enough. I’m not doing this again. See you next year.

 

[BomberOrange]

Watched the first half. That was enough. I’m not doing this again. See you next year.

Don’t let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out

 

[JDOrange]

Tough going from watching the MD defense put on an absolute clinic today against Princeton to watching the SU defense. Granted they have 2 AA close defenders, an AA LSM and now a D1 starting safety playing SSDM for them. But schematically they’re fantastic too, and have been for at least a decade.

The bad chaos of last year’s D is back these last two games and I don’t think either opponent’s offense would be considered great this year. Biggest thing to me is the unit having a lot of trouble evaluating the on-ball defense and that results in unnecessary slides and conversely no slide when one is needed. I also thought the D struggled clearing against the UNC pressure ride and didn’t seem particularly prepared for it despite UNC being known for that. Often times didn’t seem like there was urgency in getting the ball out and up field after a save or turnover and allowed UNC to set up their ride.

You can see the offensive talent is there but needs to be more consistent 6v6. Both Cook and Kirst stood out as making great plays followed up by poor decisions At bad times.

Good to see Richiusa and wings improve in the second half but the first was rough. That group needs to improve and be more consistent.

I keep reminding myself that this was always going to be an up and down year with the youth movement, but this one felt like a winnable game that got out of control. Not scoring on the 2 min unreleasable was the back breaker. Talent needs to match up with execution and the D needs to figure things out in a hurry. We’ll see.

 

[Stealth4785]

This is a building year. All I see are good things to build upon. Can’t replicate game experience without games - unfortunate outcome. Glad to see the youth had a long leash today - hope it continues. Seems like Mark wasn’t seeing the ball well today, have to believe that’s an abnormality especially combined with some beautiful shots by UNC.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Is it me or did they add the names to the back to the jerseys?

New. They weren't there for the last home game.