JeremyCuse
Renowned lacrosse analyst
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 40,081
- Like
- 49,924
Planned on doing an Albany recap but I think the game was pretty well debated in the game thread and post game in a few threads so I will hold off until later the week.
As far as Army goes, another difficult but highly winnable game for SU.
Game reminds me a lot of last years Army game, Army comes in again at 2-1 having beat up 2 lesser teams but lost this past Weekend to Rutgers 12-10 (just as they did last year) and they were down 12-6 at one point before staging a ferocious comeback attempt. Rutgers is not a bad team by any stretch but there missing two of their O starters including their best player for the year and had to replace their starting goalie. Rutgers has also struggled at the X this season and they battled Army to a 13-13 draw at the dot.
The issue when facing Army is always there ability to play good defense. The last two years the cadets have been severely undergunned from an offensive standpoint but were able to stay in the game due to a great defense and hot goaltending. Sophomore AJ Baretto returns after a very good Frosh year as he was the #1 rated goalie in the class of 2015. His save % is .564 which is actually a little low for him based on what kind of goalie he is. He gave us fits last year and I expect nothing less this year unfortunately. The good news for SU is that Army lost its top close defender (who shut down Donahue last year) to graduation and Army struggled to stop Rutgers top offensive player on Saturday. Army has a couple of bigger defender at 6'4 and 6'2 and I suspect Senior defender Reaves Klipstein will draw Mariano but SU should have the advantage at midfield where I suspect Army will struggle to stay with Bomberry and Sergio. Will be interested to see if Dekso tries to rotate that third attack spot if Solomon struggles. You wonder if Thorpe would be the answer there if he hadn't been lost for the year or perhaps even Forkin though that's a lot of lefties. Voigt and Rehfuss have both looked very active in the first few games, hope to continue to see increased development from them moving forward as SU desperately needs to develop some attack depth with Thorpe and Forkin out for the year, Grass gone and Wisnauskas and Burt redshirting.
From an SU defensive perspective there's a lot to like in this matchup. Army has struggled to replace Glessner's graduation from a few years ago and doesn't have that big time scoring threat they usually have a la Boltus, Thul, Glessner. etc. The top offensive player is Senior Cole Johnson who leads the team with 12 pts (8/4). The next closest is Nate Jones with 6 but 5 of those came in their last game against VMI on Monday so take that with a grain of salt. Army from an offensive standpoint probably has one of the weaker teams I can remember. They have an experienced Midfield that starts two Seniors and one Junior but no one that really jumps off the page. The most familiar name for SU fans is probably Avery Littlejohn who is listed at 5'10 but is maybe 5'8 and has been Army for what feels like forever. The leading scorer is Jr. David Symmes who leads the way with 6 points. Certainly not a terrible unit but clearly no where near the 1st mid lines SU will see vs Hopkins, UVA, UNC, ND, or even Albany for that matter. Assuming Firman keeps doing the shut down job he has done the last few weeks against the other teams top player and draws Cole Johnson its hard to see Army hitting double figures in goals. The Army offense does have the ability to generate shots on goal as the Rutgers goalie had to make 15 stops in their win on Saturday. The one thing that could hurt SU is a letdown after last weeks great D performance from the 2nd quarter on vs Albany.
As for the X, Army actually has a pretty good faceoff guy in Dan Grabher who is winning draws at a very healthy 64% clip (35-54). The problem for Army is that Ben Williams has dominated Grabher the last two seasons and against Rutgers Grabher was only 50% at the X despite Rutgers having a less then dominant faceoff unit. You would have to give Ben Williams a good size edge in this matchup, last season he was 13-19, I think a similar win % is likely assuming he is good to go.
Obviously Army is a well coached team and if the scores from the last few seasons are any omen were likely in for a close game this Saturday. That being said outside of Goalie and maybe the X if Grabher really brings it, its hard to see where SU doesn't have a significant advantage. SU has a huge depth advantage and Albany's much improved defense is a good test for an Army unit that while good doesn't appear to be as good as it has been in the past. Barring the offense playing like it did in the 1st quarter against Albany this is a game SU should win going away. Su 14 - Army 9
Edit- One other side not it appears likely both Simmons and Westin will be available for this game (Simmons for sure). Gives SU some upper class experience and depth on the 2nd and 3rd midfield lines and could help wear down a good but thin Army D.
As far as Army goes, another difficult but highly winnable game for SU.
Game reminds me a lot of last years Army game, Army comes in again at 2-1 having beat up 2 lesser teams but lost this past Weekend to Rutgers 12-10 (just as they did last year) and they were down 12-6 at one point before staging a ferocious comeback attempt. Rutgers is not a bad team by any stretch but there missing two of their O starters including their best player for the year and had to replace their starting goalie. Rutgers has also struggled at the X this season and they battled Army to a 13-13 draw at the dot.
The issue when facing Army is always there ability to play good defense. The last two years the cadets have been severely undergunned from an offensive standpoint but were able to stay in the game due to a great defense and hot goaltending. Sophomore AJ Baretto returns after a very good Frosh year as he was the #1 rated goalie in the class of 2015. His save % is .564 which is actually a little low for him based on what kind of goalie he is. He gave us fits last year and I expect nothing less this year unfortunately. The good news for SU is that Army lost its top close defender (who shut down Donahue last year) to graduation and Army struggled to stop Rutgers top offensive player on Saturday. Army has a couple of bigger defender at 6'4 and 6'2 and I suspect Senior defender Reaves Klipstein will draw Mariano but SU should have the advantage at midfield where I suspect Army will struggle to stay with Bomberry and Sergio. Will be interested to see if Dekso tries to rotate that third attack spot if Solomon struggles. You wonder if Thorpe would be the answer there if he hadn't been lost for the year or perhaps even Forkin though that's a lot of lefties. Voigt and Rehfuss have both looked very active in the first few games, hope to continue to see increased development from them moving forward as SU desperately needs to develop some attack depth with Thorpe and Forkin out for the year, Grass gone and Wisnauskas and Burt redshirting.
From an SU defensive perspective there's a lot to like in this matchup. Army has struggled to replace Glessner's graduation from a few years ago and doesn't have that big time scoring threat they usually have a la Boltus, Thul, Glessner. etc. The top offensive player is Senior Cole Johnson who leads the team with 12 pts (8/4). The next closest is Nate Jones with 6 but 5 of those came in their last game against VMI on Monday so take that with a grain of salt. Army from an offensive standpoint probably has one of the weaker teams I can remember. They have an experienced Midfield that starts two Seniors and one Junior but no one that really jumps off the page. The most familiar name for SU fans is probably Avery Littlejohn who is listed at 5'10 but is maybe 5'8 and has been Army for what feels like forever. The leading scorer is Jr. David Symmes who leads the way with 6 points. Certainly not a terrible unit but clearly no where near the 1st mid lines SU will see vs Hopkins, UVA, UNC, ND, or even Albany for that matter. Assuming Firman keeps doing the shut down job he has done the last few weeks against the other teams top player and draws Cole Johnson its hard to see Army hitting double figures in goals. The Army offense does have the ability to generate shots on goal as the Rutgers goalie had to make 15 stops in their win on Saturday. The one thing that could hurt SU is a letdown after last weeks great D performance from the 2nd quarter on vs Albany.
As for the X, Army actually has a pretty good faceoff guy in Dan Grabher who is winning draws at a very healthy 64% clip (35-54). The problem for Army is that Ben Williams has dominated Grabher the last two seasons and against Rutgers Grabher was only 50% at the X despite Rutgers having a less then dominant faceoff unit. You would have to give Ben Williams a good size edge in this matchup, last season he was 13-19, I think a similar win % is likely assuming he is good to go.
Obviously Army is a well coached team and if the scores from the last few seasons are any omen were likely in for a close game this Saturday. That being said outside of Goalie and maybe the X if Grabher really brings it, its hard to see where SU doesn't have a significant advantage. SU has a huge depth advantage and Albany's much improved defense is a good test for an Army unit that while good doesn't appear to be as good as it has been in the past. Barring the offense playing like it did in the 1st quarter against Albany this is a game SU should win going away. Su 14 - Army 9
Edit- One other side not it appears likely both Simmons and Westin will be available for this game (Simmons for sure). Gives SU some upper class experience and depth on the 2nd and 3rd midfield lines and could help wear down a good but thin Army D.
Last edited:
