Princeton Gameday...

[CuseBlood44]

OMG! What…a…game! Wow. That was so much fun to watch. What a rollercoaster of a game. Both teams played great. High level lacrosse! An instant classic. We’re back in the Final Four! Congrats to Coach Gait and the whole team.

I think we should play all of our home games on Long Island next year! If playing near their home allows Spallina and Leo to play like that, then let’s do it.

Spallina was fantastic today! Deserving of the #22 today. Congratulations to him. I’ve been very critical of his dodging since his 1st game in his freshman year. I don’t think I was wrong in the past based upon what I saw (because how many unassisted goals has he really had in his career up until today?), but I still always root for the kid, and today he definitely made me shut up! His dodging was great! If he can dodge against the top teams in the country like he did today, then that unlocks his whole game and our entire offense. His elite vision has never been a question, but past great players with elite vision (Mikey Powell, Pat Spencer, Lyle Thomson, and Steele Stanwick) all had the ability to beat their man, draw the slide, and then use their vision to find the open player. Spallina was incredible today. I’m not sure why he hasn’t done this for the past 3 seasons or why he was able to do it today, but I Really hope he can recreate what he did today.

Figueiras was Incredible today. Spallina was the MVP, but Figueiras was arguably just as dominant on the defensive end. Wow. What a defensive performance he put on. He was embodiment of HHH

McCool was Excellent today. Princeton is a fantastic offensive team, so they’re going to score, but he had some Huge saves

Leo was clutch today. Great dodging and shooting

Hiltz was SO good today. He was the best left handed shooting attackman on the field (not Mackesy)

Thomson’s shooting was great. So glad to have him back

That 6 goal run in the 3rd was So much fun to watch, and we needed every one of those goals because that 5 goal lead evaporated in what felt like a second

Mullen fought hard. Props to Princeton for winning the face off battle (I definitely didn’t see that coming; we had so many false starts though), but Mullen’s face off win at the end of the 1st half was Huge, his goal was great (he almost had another one), and he was clutch in that 3rd quarter 6 goal run

Anderson is SO good. We need to get him more touches. If teams play us like today in which they don’t slide to help, like at all!, then we need players like him that win a 1v1 matchup

I loved all of the pick plays we did today on offense!! It seemed like we picked on the majority of our dodges. We’re not a great 1v1 dodging team, so why not help out our dodgers with a pick. Great coaching decision.

Good man-up play again, too. Go Coach Gait and our box players!

Hate to bring any negatives, but:
-Ochoa was really bad today. Rice and Jake Spallina got beat, too, and all SSDMs will get beat, especially because most teams (especially Princeton today) have a game plan of attacking the SSDMs, but Ochoa looked like the ‘weakest link’ today
-Dwan struggled off ball (he was late to slide or lost his man multiple times today) and he dropped 2 easy passes leading to turnovers/failed clears
-our zone defense was awful, so please just stay in man-to-man
-Rhoa struggled again, and arguably hurt us more then he helped us today (but after his great shooting saved us against Harvard, I guess it’s ok)
-Those 5 4th quarter shots off the pole were SO unlucky! That was ridiculous. 5!!

Regardless, Final Four here we come!!

Not to be that guy, but in what world was McCool great today? He started a bit shaky (although most of that was the defense leaving him out to dry). He really struggled in the 4th and his meltdown there almost cost us the game. To his credit he ended strong with 2 clutch saves.

I also think Rhoa was solid he got us on the board early. Not as good as his game vs Harvard but he isn’t a top scorer yet seems to give us a big goal when we really need momentum

 

[JeremyCuse]

Kudos to SU on having the full post game PC available every game including the last 2 weeks. I defy someone to find the Harvard or Princeton post game PCs anywhere without an act of congress.

 

[Orangefan1]

Spallina is a legend I only wish his sister followed and came also but I’m happy he is orange. Bring that trophy home!

 

[Lax Mouse]

Carc just needs to breathe for a few seconds. He misses all this stuff because he's constantly saying that every single player is either the most underrated player in the game or has potential to be the greatest to ever play their position.

Couldn't agree more. He's usually got some pretty good insights. He rightfully gets flack for going off topic. But what really makes it tough for me to listen to him is that everything is hyperbole. This is the ~most~ underrated player, this person is elite because they did something good one or two times, this player is the best player at passing the ball with one eye closed from 10 yards on a Tuesday, etc. It's okay to just say a player is really good, or ~one~ of the best, or has strong skills in an area, without making outlandish claims.

 

[Easy Goer]

Couldn't agree more. He's usually got some pretty good insights. He rightfully gets flack for going off topic. But what really makes it tough for me to listen to him is that everything is hyperbole. This is the ~most~ underrated player, this person is elite because they did something good one or two times, this player is the best player at passing the ball with one eye closed from 10 yards on a Tuesday, etc. It's okay to just say a player is really good, or ~one~ of the best, or has strong skills in an area, without making outlandish claims.

Agree. Plus he yells too much.

I generally like him though, but probably because he is a Cuse guy.

 

[Laxfanshutt]

Syracuse vs Princeton NCAA Lacrosse Tournament Highlights

 

[orlandoorange]

"I guess ESPN doesn't provide the college LAX game announcers with a spotter who could help them with what's happening on the field. Maybe we should be thankful "
seriously comparing ESPN lax crew to their major sports coverage is like comparing TROPIC THUNDER to APOCALYPSE NOW. more entertaining maybe , but they ain't winning any awards for production or content. today women's softball bumped mens lax off of the main channels.

Which coverage is tropic thunder?

 

[wgdsr]

I like Carc but he was brutal today. Cotter had to correct him multiple times today when he was taking about things he had completely wrong or missed. The goal mouth violation in the Cornell game he kept saying they were looking at the crease. He also forgot they changed the 3 violations and man up on faceoffs and said Princeton was about to go man up etc. There were multiple other ones as well.

he simply does not know any of the rules. which is fine if he wouldn't comment on them while refs are discussing, etc. and just let them make the call. rather than be completely wrong simply all the time.

crease calls, head hits, faceoffs, shot clock violation, it doesn't matter. he's always wrong. i end up yelling at the screen and correcting him all game.

He also says so many things regarding play that are dead wrong or detrimental to people or kids watching it's cringeworthy.

Understand he's a nice guy, but he's the worst announcer in sports on a major channel, imo.

 

[Powellfan]

 

[All4SU]

What the hell is goin on out here!?!?

What was the call in the final seconds that overturned possession? TV commentators never said.

Ah, Nevermind…. Should have read the entire thread before posting. DOH!

 

[MSOrange]

So Princeton had just scored to make it 16-15 and I wasn't in a great mood and then Spectrum had a mass internet outage so there goes my YouTube TV. Apparently it was vandalism and it took until about 10 pm to fix. I didn't record the game because I had every intention of watching it live. So I'm thrilled we've returned where we belong on Memorial Day weekend. Wish I could have actually seen it

 

[DomeHolmes]

I wonder what Caliknight over in Rutgers land is thinking today. Remember how there was supposedly locker room drama according to him?

The posts from their fan base on their football and basketball boards are full of people who don’t know what the hell is going on in either of those sports.

But their lacrosse board is a whole other level of clueless people. The guy you mentioned seems to be the guy they all look at as their “expert” on the board. If you just read his posts, you would think Rutgers was a championship caliber team. According to him, everybody on their team is “elite”. He is Rutgers Al delusional.

 

[DomeHolmes]

At the time it happened Finn was looking toward mid-field and placed the ball on the ground so I assumed it probably was offside. Carc missed a few things today. Like early in the game when we took a shot and Princeton had the backup Carc said it was a shot clock violation, which it wasn't. I guess ESPN doesn't provide the college LAX game announcers with a spotter who could help them with what's happening on the field. Maybe we should be thankful they were actually at the game and not annoucing it from a studio or at home like was the case earlier in the season.

He also said “one more violation from Mullen and it’s a penalty”

 

[Orangello]

It sure felt like that FO ref was delaying the whistle to get Mullen to jump in the 4th.

 

[DomeHolmes]

We had quarters where we gave up 5,6, and 6 goals.

Hit 5 pipes trying to close it out.

Lost the face off battle.

McCool saved only 40%

Had a 2 minute unreleasable vs best man up O in the country.

Somehow we won.

Really only played our “A” game once or twice this year, probably both times versus Notre Dame. Hoping next weekend we can do it again.

 

[All4SU]

We had quarters where we gave up 5,6, and 6 goals.

Hit 5 pipes trying to close it out.

Lost the face off battle.

McCool saved only 40%

Had a 2 minute unreleasable vs best man up O in the country.

Somehow we won.

Really only played our “A” game once or twice this year, probably both times versus Notre Dame. Hoping next weekend we can do it again.

That was insane.

 

[SUFan44]

Kudos to SU on having the full post game PC available every game including the last 2 weeks. I defy someone to find the Harvard or Princeton post game PCs anywhere without an act of congress.

Harvard and Princeton's athletic departments have different expectations.

They both also have 42 and 38 varsity programs, compared to SU's 20. Different worlds.

Do appreciate SU's ability to do this though.

 

[orange79]

So Princeton had just scored to make it 16-15 and I wasn't in a great mood and then Spectrum had a mass internet outage so there goes my YouTube TV. Apparently it was vandalism and it took until about 10 pm to fix. I didn't record the game because I had every intention of watching it live. So I'm thrilled we've returned where we belong on Memorial Day weekend. Wish I could have actually seen it

 

[Gettysbrg10]

Me: I hope we beat Princeton by a billion.
ESPN: Princeton has a player that's a great kid that is beating cancer. It's important to remember that this is just a sport and there's more to life than winning and losing.
Me: Where's the mute on this remote?

 

[ForCuseSake]

We had quarters where we gave up 5,6, and 6 goals.

Hit 5 pipes trying to close it out.

Lost the face off battle.

McCool saved only 40%

Had a 2 minute unreleasable vs best man up O in the country.

Somehow we won.

Really only played our “A” game once or twice this year, probably both times versus Notre Dame. Hoping next weekend we can do it again.

Good summary of the crazier stats from yesterday.

Any of those change and it’s a comfortable win for either SU or the Tigers.

Overcoming five fourth quarter pipes is the ultimate mojo for me.

As you say, the closest they’ve come to complete games were the two ND games.

They’re more than capable of doing it next week.

I think the team (players and staff) found something these last two weeks and gets it done in Foxborough.

Maybe a bunker mentality forged by loud doubters (myself included).

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Bantu Babu?

 

[Comstock44]

What is this clown even talking about. I don’t get it.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[orange79]

What is this clown even talking about. I don’t get it.

It's just the jerkwad hater's passive-aggressive way of saying it's been SO long since we went to the FF.

 

[FloridaCuse]

So Princeton had just scored to make it 16-15 and I wasn't in a great mood and then Spectrum had a mass internet outage so there goes my YouTube TV. Apparently it was vandalism and it took until about 10 pm to fix. I didn't record the game because I had every intention of watching it live. So I'm thrilled we've returned where we belong on Memorial Day weekend. Wish I could have actually seen it

I too have YouTubeTV. I record everything I could possibly want to watch, including every men's college lacrosse game on linear TV. It's free to do and unlimited in amount. In addition to a full version being on YouTube, I assume it's available on the ESPN App.

Also, if you still had normal cellphone service available and a smartphone you could have watched it live on the YouTubeTV app on your phone.