Powellfan
Renowned lacrosse analyst
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2014
- Messages
- 5,687
- Like
- 9,103
I've been a little surprised at the amount of confidence posters have about this particular game. The Tigers aren't having the type of season they probably expected (they were a preseason top 5 team, right now ranked 15th), but they are still very talented. They are coming off of two big wins over Yale and Brown. I think most people see a team that struggles on face-offs and see an opening. The bad news is last week SU faced a team below 50% at the dot and ended up getting dominated there. Just because a team is struggling at the face-off spot, doesn't mean SU has the horses to exploit this weakness. We shall see.
Princeton has one of the better attackmen in the nation in Colter Mackesey who leads the team in scoring with 41 points in eight games. In the last two games he had 16 points combined in wins over Brown and Yale. I have to imagine that Saam Olexo draws this matchup if Landon Clary is still out. The Tigers have struggled to replace their leading scorer from last year in Chris Brown, as they haven't got a ton of production from the other two attack spots. Also it seems like Alex Slusher, who scored 56 points last year, has been injured the last two games. Jackson Ringhofer and Lukas Stanat started last week against Brown and combined for five points. Stanat is 6'4 195, so I expect Dwan to draw that matchup. The bad news for the Orange is Princeton gets a good amount of production from their midfield. The starting trio of Sam English, Christian Ronda and Alex Vardaro are very good. Their numbers are down a bit this season but they are Princeton's leading scorers after Mackesey. SU's issues on defense this season have stemmed from their defensive midfield and this might be the most talented unit they've faced this year. Perhaps they double pole the unit?
On defense it looks like the Tigers have moved to Michael Gianforcaro as their full time starter after he split halves with Griffin Rakower. He has a good save percentage at 57% so the Orange will have to be patient on offense. Overall the Tigers have the 17th most efficient defense in the country according to Lacrosse Reference. The Orange have dropped to 25th after being ranked in the top 20 a few weeks ago. On offense, one thing I noticed in the Notre Dame game was the Orange moved away from using a second midfield late in the game, relying on just the first unit of Thomson, Leo and Simmons. I do not like this strategy as I think it reeks of desperation and will eventually tire your top unit out. I like the first unit but with Birtwistle on the second line, I think you're hurting the team by not rotating the two lines close to equal. Birtwistle has 20 goals on the year, he needs to see the ball and play more.
Ultimately I do think the Tigers are trending in the right direction whereas the Orange are still a bit in no man's land. This is a great opportunity for the Orange to get on track before the last three games of the season. Princeton I think is better than their record indicates. A win probably doesn't do much for their playoff chances since the Tigers don't have any big out of conference wins (they lost to Maryland, Georgetown and Rutgers) but it would certainly help. The Orange will really have to scrap for face-off wins and be really efficient on offense. The Tigers lost their main FOGO Tyler Sandoval and their backup Koby Ginder has just a 47% winning percentage. I'm a bit surprised their haven't used their freshman Andrew McMeekan who was a top recruit. Still, the Tigers have a better percentage than the Orange right now. If there ever was a game for Fine and Richusa to step up, it's this one.
Princeton has one of the better attackmen in the nation in Colter Mackesey who leads the team in scoring with 41 points in eight games. In the last two games he had 16 points combined in wins over Brown and Yale. I have to imagine that Saam Olexo draws this matchup if Landon Clary is still out. The Tigers have struggled to replace their leading scorer from last year in Chris Brown, as they haven't got a ton of production from the other two attack spots. Also it seems like Alex Slusher, who scored 56 points last year, has been injured the last two games. Jackson Ringhofer and Lukas Stanat started last week against Brown and combined for five points. Stanat is 6'4 195, so I expect Dwan to draw that matchup. The bad news for the Orange is Princeton gets a good amount of production from their midfield. The starting trio of Sam English, Christian Ronda and Alex Vardaro are very good. Their numbers are down a bit this season but they are Princeton's leading scorers after Mackesey. SU's issues on defense this season have stemmed from their defensive midfield and this might be the most talented unit they've faced this year. Perhaps they double pole the unit?
On defense it looks like the Tigers have moved to Michael Gianforcaro as their full time starter after he split halves with Griffin Rakower. He has a good save percentage at 57% so the Orange will have to be patient on offense. Overall the Tigers have the 17th most efficient defense in the country according to Lacrosse Reference. The Orange have dropped to 25th after being ranked in the top 20 a few weeks ago. On offense, one thing I noticed in the Notre Dame game was the Orange moved away from using a second midfield late in the game, relying on just the first unit of Thomson, Leo and Simmons. I do not like this strategy as I think it reeks of desperation and will eventually tire your top unit out. I like the first unit but with Birtwistle on the second line, I think you're hurting the team by not rotating the two lines close to equal. Birtwistle has 20 goals on the year, he needs to see the ball and play more.
Ultimately I do think the Tigers are trending in the right direction whereas the Orange are still a bit in no man's land. This is a great opportunity for the Orange to get on track before the last three games of the season. Princeton I think is better than their record indicates. A win probably doesn't do much for their playoff chances since the Tigers don't have any big out of conference wins (they lost to Maryland, Georgetown and Rutgers) but it would certainly help. The Orange will really have to scrap for face-off wins and be really efficient on offense. The Tigers lost their main FOGO Tyler Sandoval and their backup Koby Ginder has just a 47% winning percentage. I'm a bit surprised their haven't used their freshman Andrew McMeekan who was a top recruit. Still, the Tigers have a better percentage than the Orange right now. If there ever was a game for Fine and Richusa to step up, it's this one.