Notre Dame Gameday...

[FloridaCuse]

According to a poster on FanLax it sounds like Sam English is Syracuse bound for next season. That would be a really great pickup. I’ve read enough rumors that proved to be false on college lax message boards, but fingers crossed it’s true. Also fingers crossed he brings along some of his teammates who are also in the portal.

I see Sam English is from Ontario & went to Culver. Connections with Owen Hiltz? If so, a possible good sign re Hiltz.

 

[MD Cuse Fan]

Saam Olexo has connections to UVA as his brother played there. Always thought he might move to greener pastures. Luckily we've kinda of had their numbers the past couple years

So if Syracuse hadn't had any success against them the past few years, we def would have to worry about him leaving to go play there?

 

[CrazyPeople]

So if Syracuse hadn't had any success against them the past few years, we def would have to worry about him leaving to go play there?

That is my logic, correct. That and the legacy of his brother playing there.

 

[UrbanaOrange]

I see Sam English is from Ontario & went to Culver. Connections with Owen Hiltz? If so, a possible good sign re Hiltz.

Pat M likely recruited him while he was at Princeton.

 

[315Upstate]

Have heard that two of the Princeton players Stevens and English will use 5th year at Syracuse Guess we will find out soon

 

[Cuse All-In]

That could be, however, while specific names weren't used the impression given is that some of the players were definitely high profile or at least starters.

I have also heard of similar discontent. What makes so much of this tricky to deal with is that the players and coaches are all walking a tightrope - there is a jekyll and hyde schizophrenia playing for Cuse right now. As a player or coach, you can tell yourself that the team is moving up the development curve (which is defensible and rational) but at the same time you know that you are in the toughest lacrosse market in the country, the toughest conference in the country and that you will be labeled a loser if you cannot beat an ACC team this season. The PRESSURE is enormous to win and win now. The fact that all the other ACC teams are legitimately better doesn't matter. Given the pressure, it should not be surprising that coaches and top players are worried about their reputations, future opportunities, legacies etc.

 

[315Upstate]

I have also heard of similar discontent. What makes so much of this tricky to deal with is that the players and coaches are all walking a tightrope - there is a jekyll and hyde schizophrenia playing for Cuse right now. As a player or coach, you can tell yourself that the team is moving up the development curve (which is defensible and rational) but at the same time you know that you are in the toughest lacrosse market in the country, the toughest conference in the country and that you will be labeled a loser if you cannot beat an ACC team this season. The PRESSURE is enormous to win and win now. The fact that all the other ACC teams are legitimately better doesn't matter. Given the pressure, it should not be surprising that coaches and top players are worried about their reputations, future opportunities, legacies etc.

Modern era with the transfer portal there will always be roster movement and unhappy players as far as the staff I haven’t heard anything there

 

[sholokov2]

I still have faith in head coach Gary Gait and I have faith in this team. He is having an influence on the offense and the offense is actually really good. Only two other teams have reached 12 goals on this ND team and that is MD (12) and UVA (15) and that was with days a heck of a lot better than 30% at the faceoff X. They had the ball more than once in the last 10 minutes.

What happened to the talk of how we never share the ball and just take turns dodging with no movement? It went away because this years O shattered that stereotype. And it's beyond whats on the field. We know he has an influence in recruiting as well, not just March and Petro. Trey Deere cited his meeting with Gait as a reason for him coming here. Finn Thomson said the same in his interview for the IL AA rankings. Specifically the call with Gait is what made him change his mind about Michigan. The guy brings in talent, just like he did as the women's coach, and that talent is getting it done on O this year. You can see the vision. Indoor play style meets the outdoor game. We turn the ball over less than any team in the nation. It's paying dividends and its still early and with mostly young talent. There is a sense of identity. March of course is a big factor there as well and I think he is doing a good job this year.

It's not that he doesn't share the blame for other parts of the game. Head coach is a factor for every aspect. But if anyone is going to take primary blame for the massive goal totals every good team is putting on us it's Petro. Petro is also a primary factor in penalties and the clearing game (which has been overall good this year). Against good teams the offense has not slowed down much outside of Hopkins. Aside from that game, you cannot say the same for the D. I think he has some more talent/injury disadvantages than the offense to deal with, but his name is coming up a heck of a lot less than Gaits as a concern in this thread and it's surprising to me.

I think there is still plenty to criticize. I hate how we are finishing games this season on all sides of the ball. Part of that is how he chooses to play fatigued guys rather than less skilled but full energy bench players, timeouts, etc. But it simply is not all a disaster. We have only lost to top 10 teams this season. These aren't irrelevant teams we are losing to. Something is brewing and I stand by that. They don't play like a team that has given up or isn't bought in. They are close.

Lets win against Princeton. We can do it! Lets put it together and win the damn thing. We can still make the playoffs this season.

Most of the time I agree with your analyses and conclusions, but I just watched the ND game for the first time and wondered whether I was watching last year's game or the year's before etc. To a man, and to a group ND was far superior at every position. Faster, stronger, quicker, better on gbs, beating all d men whenever they wished except for Mark, ND is two levels above SU at this point and has been for the last few years. Believe me, I don't like what I'm writing any more than anybody reading this. SU is outclassed by the .other teams in the ACC. My point is that I do not believe another year or two will change the trajectory.

My hope is that people in charge will recognize the gap and act accordingly. I am blaming no one individual for the degradation of the program. There are difficult obstacles to returning to the ancient prominence of ten or eleven years ago. Take coaches in some of the schools that seem to be able to stay in the hunt year after in their conferences. Toomey seems to keep Loyola in the hunt almost every year without heralded recruits. I know he coaches in a somewhat lower level conference, but watch his teams year after year. They have been a load for everybody. Their defense is usually pretty good. Should SU consider a lower level conference? I can hear the screaming now. Okay let's talk about this without the blinders that sometime come over our eyes when discussing SU. I will always root for SU no matter what, but ten or eleven years of mediocre to poor lacrosse should be enough for a soul-searching evaluation. How many times must we watch this team be humiliated by top level teams before we demand a change?

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Most of the time I agree with your analyses and conclusions, but I just watched the ND game for the first time and wondered whether I was watching last year's game or the year's before etc. To a man, and to a group ND was far superior at every position. Faster, stronger, quicker, better on gbs, beating all d men whenever they wished except for Mark, ND is two levels above SU at this point and has been for the last few years. Believe me, I don't like what I'm writing any more than anybody reading this. SU is outclassed by the .other teams in the ACC. My point is that I do not believe another year or two will change the trajectory.

My hope is that people in charge will recognize the gap and act accordingly. I am blaming no one individual for the degradation of the program. There are difficult obstacles to returning to the ancient prominence of ten or eleven years ago. Take coaches in some of the schools that seem to be able to stay in the hunt year after in their conferences. Toomey seems to keep Loyola in the hunt almost every year without heralded recruits. I know he coaches in a somewhat lower level conference, but watch his teams year after year. They have been a load for everybody. Their defense is usually pretty good. Should SU consider a lower level conference? I can hear the screaming now. Okay let's talk about this without the blinders that sometime come over our eyes when discussing SU. I will always root for SU no matter what, but ten or eleven years of mediocre to poor lacrosse should be enough for a soul-searching evaluation. How many times must we watch this team be humiliated by top level teams before we demand a change?

We played for a National Championship in 2013.

Won the ACCT in 2015 and 2016.

#1 ranked in 2020 when the Covid hit.

I wouldn't call that 11 years of mediocre to poor LAX.

2018, 19, 21 and 22 sucked. It hasn't been all bad.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Most of the time I agree with your analyses and conclusions, but I just watched the ND game for the first time and wondered whether I was watching last year's game or the year's before etc. To a man, and to a group ND was far superior at every position. Faster, stronger, quicker, better on gbs, beating all d men whenever they wished except for Mark, ND is two levels above SU at this point and has been for the last few years. Believe me, I don't like what I'm writing any more than anybody reading this. SU is outclassed by the .other teams in the ACC. My point is that I do not believe another year or two will change the trajectory.

My hope is that people in charge will recognize the gap and act accordingly. I am blaming no one individual for the degradation of the program. There are difficult obstacles to returning to the ancient prominence of ten or eleven years ago. Take coaches in some of the schools that seem to be able to stay in the hunt year after in their conferences. Toomey seems to keep Loyola in the hunt almost every year without heralded recruits. I know he coaches in a somewhat lower level conference, but watch his teams year after year. They have been a load for everybody. Their defense is usually pretty good. Should SU consider a lower level conference? I can hear the screaming now. Okay let's talk about this without the blinders that sometime come over our eyes when discussing SU. I will always root for SU no matter what, but ten or eleven years of mediocre to poor lacrosse should be enough for a soul-searching evaluation. How many times must we watch this team be humiliated by top level teams before we demand a change?

Were in the ACC as a conference for all sports, how in the world would we leave for a lower level conference just for lacrosse? I don't think you thought this one through at all.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Most of the time I agree with your analyses and conclusions, but I just watched the ND game for the first time and wondered whether I was watching last year's game or the year's before etc. To a man, and to a group ND was far superior at every position. Faster, stronger, quicker, better on gbs, beating all d men whenever they wished except for Mark, ND is two levels above SU at this point and has been for the last few years. Believe me, I don't like what I'm writing any more than anybody reading this. SU is outclassed by the .other teams in the ACC. My point is that I do not believe another year or two will change the trajectory.

My hope is that people in charge will recognize the gap and act accordingly. I am blaming no one individual for the degradation of the program. There are difficult obstacles to returning to the ancient prominence of ten or eleven years ago. Take coaches in some of the schools that seem to be able to stay in the hunt year after in their conferences. Toomey seems to keep Loyola in the hunt almost every year without heralded recruits. I know he coaches in a somewhat lower level conference, but watch his teams year after year. They have been a load for everybody. Their defense is usually pretty good. Should SU consider a lower level conference? I can hear the screaming now. Okay let's talk about this without the blinders that sometime come over our eyes when discussing SU. I will always root for SU no matter what, but ten or eleven years of mediocre to poor lacrosse should be enough for a soul-searching evaluation. How many times must we watch this team be humiliated by top level teams before we demand a change?

I think we are a year away from being a final four contender. We are just on opposite ends here man. I still agree with your analysis of players and most of what you say about strategy. But we could not be more different on the other stuff. It is what it is

 

[sholokov2]

I think we are a year away from being a final four contender. We are just on opposite ends here man. I still agree with your analysis of players and most of what you say about strategy. But we could not be more different on the other stuff. It is what it is

makes life interesting

 

[pipemusic]

Unless we're the luckiest team in all the land, or we're so bad that other quality teams "play down" to our level, it's hard to take the notion that we're significantly outmanned and out coached seriously when we could easily be sitting at 8 and 3 with wins over two current top 5 teams.

 

[sholokov2]

Unless we're the luckiest team in all the land, or we're so bad that other quality teams "play down" to our level, it's hard to take the notion that we're significantly outmanned and out coached seriously when we could easily be sitting at 8 and 3 with wins over two current top 5 teams.

I accept your argument to this extent. During I think seven straight home games in the confines of the dome, SU has come back against a couple good teams in the second half after going down by double digits in the first. It's almost always predictable that a team winning by a lot will relax, play new combos, etc. when they are way ahead. I do not discount SU's grit in these games but I take no solace in the close margin at the end. When is the last time they beat UVA away from home. Watch out for Princeton.

 

[AD31]

I accept your argument to this extent. During I think seven straight home games in the confines of the dome, SU has come back against a couple good teams in the second half after going down by double digits in the first. It's almost always predictable that a team winning by a lot will relax, play new combos, etc. when they are way ahead. I do not discount SU's grit in these games but I take no solace in the close margin at the end. When is the last time they beat UVA away from home. Watch out for Princeton.

SU was down 2 goals at half in the Maryland game, then was up 5 goals on Duke early in a tight battle thru out that went to OT and was up most of the game vs Hopkins if I remember correctly in another close game. The ND game was close at the half too and SU was up a goal into the 4th so I'm confused about these teams letting up after being way ahead? What games are these?

 

[AD31]

Oh and the Maryland, Duke and ND games SU had half the possessions of all 3 of these top 5 teams and they still were close games. Except for the final of the ND game but was close into the 4th until the goal was taking off the board. So all 3 had double the possessions yet still found themselves in a close battle with SU. What would have happened had the possessions been close to even? Hmmm would love to know. Lol

 

[Cuse All-In]

Oh and the Maryland, Duke and ND games SU had half the possessions of all 3 of these top 5 teams and they still were close games. Except for the final of the ND game but was close into the 4th until the goal was taking off the board. So all 3 had double the possessions yet still found themselves in a close battle with SU. What would have happened had the possessions been close to even? Hmmm would love to know. Lol

This comes full circle to what is a Big problem in college lacrosse. Face-offs are in many cases the deciding factor in games. This should NOT be the case. They tried to fix face-offs a couple of years ago and if anything it may be worse. You can blame schools for not recruiting better fogos but there is a limited universe of good fogos and it's hard to predict in high school. Frankly, goalies are easier to come by and they are not the game changers that fogos are.

 

[Cuse4455]

Get rid of FO. To start the game have a coin flip to see who gets posession first , then Make the team who just got scored on inbound the ball near their end line. After each goal both teams have 20 secs in between a goal and when the ref blows the whistle for a inbound. Overtime would be played like college football, play until a turnover or offensively penalty.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Get rid of FO. To start the game have a coin flip to see who gets posession first , then Make the team who just got scored on inbound the ball near their end line. After each goal both teams have 20 secs in between a goal and when the ref blows the whistle for a inbound. Overtime would be played like college football, play until a turnover or offensively penalty.

Mixed feelings.

It it wasn't for FO's SU would have never come from 7 goals behind to beat Hopkins in 1983.

 

[nyclax]

LOL love the calls to get rid of the faceoff now that the orange stink on faceoffs. i didn't see this kind of talk here last year when phaup was dominating!

 

[Cuse4455]

Mixed feelings.

It it wasn't for FO's SU would have never come from 7 goals behind to beat Hopkins in 1983.

I wasn't born until 14 years later lol. And I'm just throwing out ideas. Never have been a fan of FOs.

 

[ForCuseSake]

LOL love the calls to get rid of the faceoff now that the orange stink on faceoffs. i didn't see this kind of talk here last year when phaup was dominating!

How about 2021 when Phaup & Co. were .516:

Yep. Either change the stick dimensions so the ball comes out easier or get rid of the face.

Or were 2017 FOs not good enough for SU fans to post this…

face-offs are where the lax game needs to change.. a great faceoff guy wins 55% of the time in hockey, in lax its sometimes 75-80% of the game and sometimes even more.. great when you are on the good side of that, awful when you aren't..

basketball got rid of that type of rule long ago.

Stick to recruiting and personnel takes; they’re usually better than your opinions on what SU fans post here.

 

[nyclax]

How about 2021 when Phaup & Co. were won .516:



Or were 2017 FOs not good enough for SU fans to post this…



Stick to recruiting and personnel takes; they’re usually better than your opinions on what SU fans post here.

were there calls to get rid of the faceoff last season?

 

[Bayside44]

were there calls to get rid of the faceoff last season?

Probably.

I didn't play, just a fan and watch my kid play. The FOGO thing just can make lax different than any other sport by a lot. Just seems gimmicky.

 

[Chip]

We played for a National Championship in 2013.

Won the ACCT in 2015 and 2016.

#1 ranked in 2020 when the Covid hit.

I wouldn't call that 11 years of mediocre to poor LAX.

2018, 19, 21 and 22 sucked. It hasn't been all bad.

I don't check this board as much, but I see the ACC is the boogeyman here too.

All of our sports teams would be amazing if we just didn't accept that invite in 2013. Men's soccer would even be better, they would probably win a World Cup.