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Message: [QUOTE="JeremyCuse, post: 4593630, member: 43"] I don't think anyone is down on Mark, he's the reason SU was remotely in the Maryland or Duke games. He has been outstanding, probably the best goalie at SU since Galloway. That said I don't think relying on him to have 20+ saves every game is a recipe for success with SU's schedule. Regarding my thoughts and feelings, I am not down on the team but its clear six games in there appears to be a few fatal flaws with the team as its currently constructed and being coached. As you noted in your response above - "if they can just get better at the X and GBs they can beat any team in the country." Those are issues that unfortunately usually don't get better as the season goes on and SU hasn't even hit the toughest part of the schedule yet. The staff has acknowledged both are an issue (see Gait's comments after UNC) but have made almost zero moves to address them. Fine took a few draws before being pulled and going right back to Richiusa. We also kept running the same guys on the wings despite that clearly being an issue. This is starting to feel like last year where Gait would acknowledge a problem then kind of shrug his shoulders and keep running the same guys and scheme out there. My other concern is that defensively the team looks the same as last year except they now have an AA goalie who has covered up the issues. Petro knows how to coach Defense but its clear what were running isn't working. Duke hits 20+ goals 9 times out of 10 Sunday but we luckily hit the 1 game where they hit 12 posts and Mark made a ludicrous 26 saves or whatever it was. The previous week SU was pretty much 50/50 at the X and UNC scored 20+. Individually the players are better then last year as Clary as shown to be a very good 1on 1 defender and Kol has been decent but overall defensively were still a mess. The good news is offensively the team looks outstanding when you take into account youth and the possession disparity. We also have cleared up most of the clearing issues from last year though turnovers remain a major issue. Getting Aviles back and I think going to Dwan full time would help defensively but I also think it's clear we need 2-3 new FOGO's on the roster and a re-set scheme wise defensively. [/QUOTE]

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