JeremyCuse
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Was pretty bullish on the Cuse's chances against Bingo but man that was an epic @ss whooping. Just domination in all facets. As others have noted I would pump the brakes a little bit as the upcoming and really the entire schedule is absolutely daunting but its a hell of a start.
Clearly the play of Varello and Delisle was exceptional, will be nice to see SU use a 1-2 punch at the X hopefully and be able to go three deep if necessary. Bingo's guy is no pushover either so this made the performance that much more impressive. Thought the wings looked good as well, Schwasnick was great there as a frosh but took a bit of a step back last year but looked like his oldself again on Saturday. Bodes well for the future. Hope to see Dami out there on the wings along with Fernandez and or Murphy. Desko really seems to be making an effort to play the young guys this year as very few of the touted frosh sat yesterday. Lauder seems to be headed for a red-shirt. I was a little suprised that Fernandez, Murphy and Barlow apparently all saw time. Would think the staff would have red-shirted one or two of them with such a log game at LSM. Curious decision there.
Hard to get a read on Madonna and really the D as a whole with SU dominating possession so much. Only negative aspect was the man down d didn't look much better then last years version which really struggled at times. Thought Mellen and Bomberry both looked in mid season form and the SSDM looked aggressive and with their man/matchup without issue. Huge test next week obviously but the SSDM position finally seems to have some big/physical guys there. Like that Ford saw sometime there late in the game. He clearly has no path for PT on offense, use his size on D.
Loved what I saw offensively honestly, SU had a few goals where the Bingo D just got exposured as not being very good or some crazy boucnes (Solomons goal) but most of those were legit. Love that Desko rotated in Lipka on the second line, been asking for that for years now. Allows him to get another guy out there if one of the regular three is struggling or it isn't a great matchup. That third line of Carlin, McKinney, and Romano is a nice mix of upperclassmen and essentially a frosh in Romano who has barely played even though he is a r- sophmore. You wonder if Quinn or Buttermore or O'Sullivan can push for a spot on the third line before the season is out. Attack looked good, obvioulsy Bomberry with 5 goals is a dream scenario and Solomon was the good Solomon on Saturday. Loved what I saw from Voigt but not sure if he developed his game more or if he took advantage of an opponent that was clearly overmatched. Seebold saw sometime but seems unlikely to play a lot of minutes over the current top 4 at least at this point.
In closing the opening game went as well as you could have asked to be honest, with this schedule probably having the #1 SOS in the country there wont be many games like this so it was good to reward some of the guys further down the bench as there opportunities this year will likely be few and far between. Thought the man up unit clearly has a way to go as they did score but just didn't look crisp. Still think Desko needs to get a young guy in there to shake things up a bit. A guy like Dordevic or Lipka or even Quinn I think would really help open things up. Need some more facilitators besides only Lane up top.
Regarding the Albany game I feel a better about it today then I did before the season. Key is going to be not getting routed at the X and trying to see if we can battle Ierlan to .500 or at least close to that. Albany returns a lot from last year and is a very Senior heavy team so I think SU still has to be considered an underdog in this game. I think they do have some question marks at the midfield outside of McClancy who will surely draw Fusco/Helmer. Eccles can be dangerous as a time and room shooter but he isn't much of a dodger. Not sure who there third mid guy will be, might be Patterson as I believe they moved him to middie halfway through last year or it could be the older Burgmaster. There pretty high on Kyle Casey a Frosh from Yorktown but I am not sure hes ready to start especially in this type of game, he will probably be on the second line. Obviously Mellen will draw Fields and Bomberry will shadow Nanticoke. Not sure what strategy Dekso and the staff will come up with regarding slides and how they want to handle the D depending on who is initiating ie Fields vs Nanticoke. I can't see SU playing zone this game unless there getting killed at the X and on the scoreboard. I think SU maybe slow to slide on the Fields/Mellen matchup but quicker if Nanticoke is initiating. Assuming SU can at least battle at the X the game will probably come down to how well the Syracuse midfield plays. If you look at the last few years when Albany lost to SU and to teams like Maryland they really struggled to containing the midfields. Maryland especially hurt them last year at the midfield as Rotanz had a field day. I think Albany will come out as pumped as they have in a while as again they are a heavy senior team who has beaten SU once in the last decade + and lost some heartbreakers the last few years. Good news for SU is that Fields, Reh, Colarusso, Sims, McClancy, Kluk, and both the starting and back up LSM are all seniors.
Clearly the play of Varello and Delisle was exceptional, will be nice to see SU use a 1-2 punch at the X hopefully and be able to go three deep if necessary. Bingo's guy is no pushover either so this made the performance that much more impressive. Thought the wings looked good as well, Schwasnick was great there as a frosh but took a bit of a step back last year but looked like his oldself again on Saturday. Bodes well for the future. Hope to see Dami out there on the wings along with Fernandez and or Murphy. Desko really seems to be making an effort to play the young guys this year as very few of the touted frosh sat yesterday. Lauder seems to be headed for a red-shirt. I was a little suprised that Fernandez, Murphy and Barlow apparently all saw time. Would think the staff would have red-shirted one or two of them with such a log game at LSM. Curious decision there.
Hard to get a read on Madonna and really the D as a whole with SU dominating possession so much. Only negative aspect was the man down d didn't look much better then last years version which really struggled at times. Thought Mellen and Bomberry both looked in mid season form and the SSDM looked aggressive and with their man/matchup without issue. Huge test next week obviously but the SSDM position finally seems to have some big/physical guys there. Like that Ford saw sometime there late in the game. He clearly has no path for PT on offense, use his size on D.
Loved what I saw offensively honestly, SU had a few goals where the Bingo D just got exposured as not being very good or some crazy boucnes (Solomons goal) but most of those were legit. Love that Desko rotated in Lipka on the second line, been asking for that for years now. Allows him to get another guy out there if one of the regular three is struggling or it isn't a great matchup. That third line of Carlin, McKinney, and Romano is a nice mix of upperclassmen and essentially a frosh in Romano who has barely played even though he is a r- sophmore. You wonder if Quinn or Buttermore or O'Sullivan can push for a spot on the third line before the season is out. Attack looked good, obvioulsy Bomberry with 5 goals is a dream scenario and Solomon was the good Solomon on Saturday. Loved what I saw from Voigt but not sure if he developed his game more or if he took advantage of an opponent that was clearly overmatched. Seebold saw sometime but seems unlikely to play a lot of minutes over the current top 4 at least at this point.
In closing the opening game went as well as you could have asked to be honest, with this schedule probably having the #1 SOS in the country there wont be many games like this so it was good to reward some of the guys further down the bench as there opportunities this year will likely be few and far between. Thought the man up unit clearly has a way to go as they did score but just didn't look crisp. Still think Desko needs to get a young guy in there to shake things up a bit. A guy like Dordevic or Lipka or even Quinn I think would really help open things up. Need some more facilitators besides only Lane up top.
Regarding the Albany game I feel a better about it today then I did before the season. Key is going to be not getting routed at the X and trying to see if we can battle Ierlan to .500 or at least close to that. Albany returns a lot from last year and is a very Senior heavy team so I think SU still has to be considered an underdog in this game. I think they do have some question marks at the midfield outside of McClancy who will surely draw Fusco/Helmer. Eccles can be dangerous as a time and room shooter but he isn't much of a dodger. Not sure who there third mid guy will be, might be Patterson as I believe they moved him to middie halfway through last year or it could be the older Burgmaster. There pretty high on Kyle Casey a Frosh from Yorktown but I am not sure hes ready to start especially in this type of game, he will probably be on the second line. Obviously Mellen will draw Fields and Bomberry will shadow Nanticoke. Not sure what strategy Dekso and the staff will come up with regarding slides and how they want to handle the D depending on who is initiating ie Fields vs Nanticoke. I can't see SU playing zone this game unless there getting killed at the X and on the scoreboard. I think SU maybe slow to slide on the Fields/Mellen matchup but quicker if Nanticoke is initiating. Assuming SU can at least battle at the X the game will probably come down to how well the Syracuse midfield plays. If you look at the last few years when Albany lost to SU and to teams like Maryland they really struggled to containing the midfields. Maryland especially hurt them last year at the midfield as Rotanz had a field day. I think Albany will come out as pumped as they have in a while as again they are a heavy senior team who has beaten SU once in the last decade + and lost some heartbreakers the last few years. Good news for SU is that Fields, Reh, Colarusso, Sims, McClancy, Kluk, and both the starting and back up LSM are all seniors.
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