JeremyCuse
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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Gonna try to not get to deep into the woods on either game here but wanted to get some general thoughts out.
First on UNC, as I think Powell noted along with myself and a few others. The outcome was unfortunately not suprising. UNC is a bad matchup for SU for a # of reasons (they are for most teams) and this years game looked a lot like last years save for the late cameback and less turnovers.
Game looked a lot like some of the losses against top opponents under Gait. Game gets away about midway through the 1st half and we struggle to make adjustments. UNC was in and out of a 10 man at times so going 22 for 25 isn't bad. Turned it over a few times on the clear in bad spots but UNC has a really good ride so I am not gonna go crazy here. That said SU had 15 TO's overall which on paper isn't horrible but again a lot were unforced just awful passes that we had no business making or we missed wide open guys buy throwing it at their feet or 10 feet over their head. SU has been better with turnovers since the BU game but they still go through these stretches where they are beyond careless with the ball.
Think both March and Odierna had bad games. Asking Dwan to cover Petro and be the help pole is a terrible idea. How many wide open looks did we give to one of the top shooters in the country? Just dumb stuff. Thought Riley played, well, he erased Duffy for the most part which is impressive because he is excellent. Cuse got killed by the UNC midfield, can't give up 4 pts each to Harshbarger and Szewczyk. We struggled on secondary slides and UNC did an excellent job of picking Petro off of Dwan and getting him on a shorty. If you Syracuse you have to have Dwan try and fight through those picks and allow him to mark Petro and Petro only, that's not the matchup for him to be the help pole/defender. This was called out repeatedly on the broadcast. We seemed to adjust a bit in the 2nd half which is good but the damage was already done. We did shut down that all 5 star Frosh 2nd mid line which was a good sign. The Defense has had a # of issues the last few games, you wonder if the rigors of the schedule have caught up a bit.
From a offensive standpoint a few things stood out. UNC double polled the midfield for large portions of the game and SU wasn't able to take advantage. Finn had 1 pt, a goal on 3 shots. Simply not good enough. If UNC is gonna double pole we either have to punish the shorty on Finn or get Kraftson or someone else at attack or who can dodge that shorty and force UNC out of the double pole. Thought we needed to keep attacking with Anderson, even drawing the LSM he was dodging himself free but either missed the cage or passed it off. He did have 5 shots so that's encouraging but needed him to have a game like the UNC 2 top mids. If your March use your flexibility and try and change things up, run an attack line of Joey, Bear and Kraftson and a 1st midline of Rhoa, Leo, and Hottle, force UNC to play it straight. Speaking of Hottle, he had a goal but was drawing a shorty a decent amount, gotta have more from him.
Good game from Leo, as I think DMV noted he has been telegraphing his shot a bit, looked more like himself. WOuld be great if we could get him going. Joey wasn't great but again he's not MIke Powell, he's gonna have games where he struggles against teams with an elite cover guy and who are quick to double which UNC did in spades. SU has to move him around, let him play off ball like they did vs ND and Lyght and or run him out of the box. SU's spacing was also terrible when he did try and initiate and UNC went to double or at least hedged there was no one to move the ball to, no razor or slipping picks etc.
In closing the UNC game was a culmination of the frustration of how this team looks when it loses. Sloppy on both sides, to many turnovers, bad or rushed shots, Lack of adjustments (especially on Offense) and just a wash, rinse repeat of last years UNC and Maryland games and this years Princeton games. As Laxmouse noted you keep waiting for this team to take that next step but it's the same issues constantly haunting them and were running out of time figuratively and literally.
As for UVA not gonna get into a huge breakdown but this game certainly looks different then it did a month ago. UVA's offense had to much talent to not come around and it has. The younger Million has played very well, they got Terenzi back which opened up the midfield and Duenkel has remained healthy and has given them a really good showing out of the midfield as well. UVA presents a lot of the same challenges that UNC did, their top 6 offensively is excellent though it's essentially all attackmen as their top 3 mids are all converted attackmen. Scary to think that they return almost all of them save for Sunderland and potentially Colsey (if he transfers). For Syracuse this will be another tough Defensive matchups. I suspect they will let Fig mark the younger Million and go with Dwan on McCabe who had zero points vs Duke but his brother had 6 including 5 assists. The Beck matchup is concerning, Sunderland can score and he had 4 vs Duke. Beck struggled mightily at times vs UNC though he was better in the 2nd half. He's gonna need to be on his game or I could see SU bumping Chuck K down again.
UVA's midfield is interesting in that there isn't really a clear guy to pole. Both Terenzi and Colsey meet the criteria but Syracuse isn't gonna double pole for sure. My guess is they will pole Colsey but I could be wrong. The SU short sticks will have to be on their game, UVA will invert with Duenkel and Terenzi will certainly try and go 1 on 1 as well. SU's secondary slides are going to have to be on point this game and they really need big performances from Fig and Dwan as so much runs through the Millions.
From an SU offensive standpoint I think this could look similar to the Duke game. UVA's defense has improved and they have a # of impressive defenders including Schroter and the frosh Hopper. That said I am not totally sold on that defense suddenly being elite. When Duke attacked from behind the cage last week they had a lot of success and UVA was caught ball watching or sliding needlessly. UVA did a better job in the 2nd half but I think was also helped by the fact that Duke had major turnover issues and UVA won a # of second half draws to limit their possessions. I suspect Thomson and Rhoa could be in for potentially big games on Sat. I'd also like to see the 2nd mid line finish better. They had a # of good looks in the 2nd half last week and weren't able to put them on cage, gotta be better there.
Interestingly Duke jumped into a 10 man last week which gave UVA a # of issues (21 turnovers). Syracuse as we know doesn't run a 10 man (ever) but I suspect we may see SU actually try and ride for a change on Sat.
In closing UVA is clearly a very dangerous opponent, knocking off ND and Duke in back to back weeks is impressive and they have a very potent offense that can fill it up quickly. McCool needs a bounce back game and faceoffs will again be critical. SU struggled at times last week vs Wambach with Johnny going 7 for 21 but Angelo was 3 for 6 which is encouraging. Johnny really has to minimize the violations, continues to be his achilles heal but again Wambach is the top fogo in the country so struggles are to be expected. UVA uses 3 different guys all of whom are over 50%, Greenspan is at 58% but has only taken 87 draws. UVA was under 50% vs Duke though Greenspan gave Johnny a lot of trouble last year before Mullen came on late in the game. Hard to not expect a shootout and a game that will likely be similar to the 2024 game. If your Syracuse you need to take advantage of playing the game at home and get back on track.
First on UNC, as I think Powell noted along with myself and a few others. The outcome was unfortunately not suprising. UNC is a bad matchup for SU for a # of reasons (they are for most teams) and this years game looked a lot like last years save for the late cameback and less turnovers.
Game looked a lot like some of the losses against top opponents under Gait. Game gets away about midway through the 1st half and we struggle to make adjustments. UNC was in and out of a 10 man at times so going 22 for 25 isn't bad. Turned it over a few times on the clear in bad spots but UNC has a really good ride so I am not gonna go crazy here. That said SU had 15 TO's overall which on paper isn't horrible but again a lot were unforced just awful passes that we had no business making or we missed wide open guys buy throwing it at their feet or 10 feet over their head. SU has been better with turnovers since the BU game but they still go through these stretches where they are beyond careless with the ball.
Think both March and Odierna had bad games. Asking Dwan to cover Petro and be the help pole is a terrible idea. How many wide open looks did we give to one of the top shooters in the country? Just dumb stuff. Thought Riley played, well, he erased Duffy for the most part which is impressive because he is excellent. Cuse got killed by the UNC midfield, can't give up 4 pts each to Harshbarger and Szewczyk. We struggled on secondary slides and UNC did an excellent job of picking Petro off of Dwan and getting him on a shorty. If you Syracuse you have to have Dwan try and fight through those picks and allow him to mark Petro and Petro only, that's not the matchup for him to be the help pole/defender. This was called out repeatedly on the broadcast. We seemed to adjust a bit in the 2nd half which is good but the damage was already done. We did shut down that all 5 star Frosh 2nd mid line which was a good sign. The Defense has had a # of issues the last few games, you wonder if the rigors of the schedule have caught up a bit.
From a offensive standpoint a few things stood out. UNC double polled the midfield for large portions of the game and SU wasn't able to take advantage. Finn had 1 pt, a goal on 3 shots. Simply not good enough. If UNC is gonna double pole we either have to punish the shorty on Finn or get Kraftson or someone else at attack or who can dodge that shorty and force UNC out of the double pole. Thought we needed to keep attacking with Anderson, even drawing the LSM he was dodging himself free but either missed the cage or passed it off. He did have 5 shots so that's encouraging but needed him to have a game like the UNC 2 top mids. If your March use your flexibility and try and change things up, run an attack line of Joey, Bear and Kraftson and a 1st midline of Rhoa, Leo, and Hottle, force UNC to play it straight. Speaking of Hottle, he had a goal but was drawing a shorty a decent amount, gotta have more from him.
Good game from Leo, as I think DMV noted he has been telegraphing his shot a bit, looked more like himself. WOuld be great if we could get him going. Joey wasn't great but again he's not MIke Powell, he's gonna have games where he struggles against teams with an elite cover guy and who are quick to double which UNC did in spades. SU has to move him around, let him play off ball like they did vs ND and Lyght and or run him out of the box. SU's spacing was also terrible when he did try and initiate and UNC went to double or at least hedged there was no one to move the ball to, no razor or slipping picks etc.
In closing the UNC game was a culmination of the frustration of how this team looks when it loses. Sloppy on both sides, to many turnovers, bad or rushed shots, Lack of adjustments (especially on Offense) and just a wash, rinse repeat of last years UNC and Maryland games and this years Princeton games. As Laxmouse noted you keep waiting for this team to take that next step but it's the same issues constantly haunting them and were running out of time figuratively and literally.
As for UVA not gonna get into a huge breakdown but this game certainly looks different then it did a month ago. UVA's offense had to much talent to not come around and it has. The younger Million has played very well, they got Terenzi back which opened up the midfield and Duenkel has remained healthy and has given them a really good showing out of the midfield as well. UVA presents a lot of the same challenges that UNC did, their top 6 offensively is excellent though it's essentially all attackmen as their top 3 mids are all converted attackmen. Scary to think that they return almost all of them save for Sunderland and potentially Colsey (if he transfers). For Syracuse this will be another tough Defensive matchups. I suspect they will let Fig mark the younger Million and go with Dwan on McCabe who had zero points vs Duke but his brother had 6 including 5 assists. The Beck matchup is concerning, Sunderland can score and he had 4 vs Duke. Beck struggled mightily at times vs UNC though he was better in the 2nd half. He's gonna need to be on his game or I could see SU bumping Chuck K down again.
UVA's midfield is interesting in that there isn't really a clear guy to pole. Both Terenzi and Colsey meet the criteria but Syracuse isn't gonna double pole for sure. My guess is they will pole Colsey but I could be wrong. The SU short sticks will have to be on their game, UVA will invert with Duenkel and Terenzi will certainly try and go 1 on 1 as well. SU's secondary slides are going to have to be on point this game and they really need big performances from Fig and Dwan as so much runs through the Millions.
From an SU offensive standpoint I think this could look similar to the Duke game. UVA's defense has improved and they have a # of impressive defenders including Schroter and the frosh Hopper. That said I am not totally sold on that defense suddenly being elite. When Duke attacked from behind the cage last week they had a lot of success and UVA was caught ball watching or sliding needlessly. UVA did a better job in the 2nd half but I think was also helped by the fact that Duke had major turnover issues and UVA won a # of second half draws to limit their possessions. I suspect Thomson and Rhoa could be in for potentially big games on Sat. I'd also like to see the 2nd mid line finish better. They had a # of good looks in the 2nd half last week and weren't able to put them on cage, gotta be better there.
Interestingly Duke jumped into a 10 man last week which gave UVA a # of issues (21 turnovers). Syracuse as we know doesn't run a 10 man (ever) but I suspect we may see SU actually try and ride for a change on Sat.
In closing UVA is clearly a very dangerous opponent, knocking off ND and Duke in back to back weeks is impressive and they have a very potent offense that can fill it up quickly. McCool needs a bounce back game and faceoffs will again be critical. SU struggled at times last week vs Wambach with Johnny going 7 for 21 but Angelo was 3 for 6 which is encouraging. Johnny really has to minimize the violations, continues to be his achilles heal but again Wambach is the top fogo in the country so struggles are to be expected. UVA uses 3 different guys all of whom are over 50%, Greenspan is at 58% but has only taken 87 draws. UVA was under 50% vs Duke though Greenspan gave Johnny a lot of trouble last year before Mullen came on late in the game. Hard to not expect a shootout and a game that will likely be similar to the 2024 game. If your Syracuse you need to take advantage of playing the game at home and get back on track.
