Quint's Top 20: New No. 1, Ivy Climbing and Moving on From Upsets

[OrangeXtreme]

Quint's Top 20: New No. 1, Ivy Climbing and Moving on From Upsets

(Inside Lacrosse Photo: Jaclyn Borowski) What did three

www.insidelacrosse.com

2. Syracuse
#HHH needs to push transition, because in settled six-on-six sets their attack can't run past anybody. The first midfield line was terrific on Sunday in a win over Army. Jamie Trimboli, Tucker Dordevic and Brendan Curry provided the gas for the 'Cuse. But righty shooter Chase Scanlan would benefit from attack dodging that opened up wing step downs. Drake Porter was outstanding with 18 stops.

The Orange welcome Hobart to the Dome on Friday at 7 p.m. (ACC Network) with Jay Alter and Ric Beardsley on the mic.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[ClvrUsrnm]

No way Syracuse is better than Penn State

 

[DoctahLexus]

With Quint's rankings and little blurbs on each team, one hilarious trend is that he is always making super critical bold statements about the teams he ranks highly and is often very complimentary and positive about a team that he puts at like 18. Here we see the same with him ripping on our attack unit while ranking us the second best team in the nation. As I've said before, this last game was not the one to make definitive judgements on the attack. Middies initiating was leading to looks consistently so that is what we did on 95% of our possessions. We both attempted and got plenty of good looks off the invert in the first half too (contrary to what some are saying), but just didn't capitalize.

I didn't even think Cook and Rehfuss looked that bad during the very few times they dodged. Cook at least could have easily had a couple off of the dodge but they didn't quite fall. Furthermore Army's firm refusal to slide to our guys lead to a grand total of zero instances of an attack mismatched against a shortie, which is how attack often gets a lot of their points. This same Army long pole unit also shut down the excellent Rutgers attack line that has worked us and other good teams in the past. Silly to make a statement like "their attack can't run past anybody."

 

[PhatOrange]

No way Syracuse is better than Penn State

I thought Penn State looked like crap against Yale. Both teams were actually very sloppy with tons of unforced turnovers. 23 TO's for Yale and 25 for Penn State

 

[CuseNHouse]

No way Syracuse is better than Penn State

Maybe...

 

[ivorytower]

Yale was an awful 11-22 clearing the ball. Some top end talent on Yale and PSU but so do we and our depth is greater . I could see Cuse being better than both once the wrinkles are ironed out Cornell, ND and UNC look better than all at present.

Wouldn't label ability of attack to separate as either a strength or weakness. The best shake and bake is Dordevic's and he's a mid.. Kessenich take is harsh but likely just a comparison to units that are quicker that also have title aspirations Cook becoming more aggressive on moves around crease which is needed.

 

[ClvrUsrnm]

I thought Penn State looked like crap against Yale. Both teams were actually very sloppy with tons of unforced turnovers. 23 TO's for Yale and 25 for Penn State

Exactly. Penn State played terribly. They’re so much better than they showed.

 

[Powellfan]

With Quint's rankings and little blurbs on each team, one hilarious trend is that he is always making super critical bold statements about the teams he ranks highly and is often very complimentary and positive about a team that he puts at like 18. Here we see the same with him ripping on our attack unit while ranking us the second best team in the nation. As I've said before, this last game was not the one to make definitive judgements on the attack. Middies initiating was leading to looks consistently so that is what we did on 95% of our possessions. We both attempted and got plenty of good looks off the invert in the first half too (contrary to what some are saying), but just didn't capitalize.

I didn't even think Cook and Rehfuss looked that bad during the very few times they dodged. Cook at least could have easily had a couple off of the dodge but they didn't quite fall. Furthermore Army's firm refusal to slide to our guys lead to a grand total of zero instances of an attack mismatched against a shortie, which is how attack often gets a lot of their points. This same Army long pole unit also shut down the excellent Rutgers attack line that has worked us and other good teams in the past. Silly to make a statement like "their attack can't run past anybody."

Good points made here. The offense did have some good looks early, players at X were finding cutters on the crease but shots weren't falling. Dordevic shook free a number of times but I think settled for shots. Cook did indeed look lively and almost scored a nice behind the back goal, and as someone mentioned probably should have gotten the ball from Dami on a fast break.

One thing I don't totally agree with is Rhefuss didn't look, "that bad" - I think he did. He had a poor turnover early in the game, then gave up a harsh penalty and pretty much disappeared from action, looking like he does in some games where he seems to run around far from the goal and never tries his defender. I guess the question is does he deserve credit for not forcing it, or criticism for disappearing? Answer is probably a mix of both.

I keep going back and forth with the strategy on Sunday - should 'Cuse have tried harder to impose their will? Or was it smart that they adapted and ran the midfield at Army, time and time again? They won, so I think that speaks for itself, but the attack still makes me feel nervous given that performance. I can't help but think that the midfield looked exhausted at the end of the game, and in a more uptempo game we are going to need more scoring options to emerge. Hopefully it was a wakeup call and the staff and players will realize things to need to be sharpened and cleaned up. Still early in the season and have to think Buttermore, Dordevic, Lipka aren't playing up to potential yet. There is room to grow, but have to make sure that happens.

 

[newmexicuse]

No way Syracuse is better than Penn State

Maybe we should actually play the game and see what happens !!!

 

[ivorytower]

UNC attack totaled 21 points vs JHU. Expect Cuse attack to have a strong bounce back vs Hobart but unit will need to challenge strong defenses come NCAA to get to FF. Could be wrong but offense operated mostly in one half of field and sluggishly swung ball to left allowing defenses to easily shift. . A talented 43 goal scorer should not be relegated to one shot (not counting second in last seconds) . Think it was our O ways moreso than Army D that caused that .

 

[Mareiniss]

... Middies initiating was leading to looks consistently so that is what we did on 95% of our possessions. We both attempted and got plenty of good looks off the invert in the first half too (contrary to what some are saying), but just didn't capitalize. ...

I re-watched the game, and you're right. We did invert quite a bit in the first half, with the inverting player passing to a cutter who either missed the goal or was stopped by the goalie. The tactic wasn't producing for us.
We had better success later in the game, when our inverting player (Curry, Lipka and Dordevic) took the shot himself and scored.

In contrast, Marist did both, i.e., the inverting player hit a cutter who scored, or scored himself.

 

[sholokov2]

Good points made here. The offense did have some good looks early, players at X were finding cutters on the crease but shots weren't falling. Dordevic shook free a number of times but I think settled for shots. Cook did indeed look lively and almost scored a nice behind the back goal, and as someone mentioned probably should have gotten the ball from Dami on a fast break.

One thing I don't totally agree with is Rhefuss didn't look, "that bad" - I think he did. He had a poor turnover early in the game, then gave up a harsh penalty and pretty much disappeared from action, looking like he does in some games where he seems to run around far from the goal and never tries his defender. I guess the question is does he deserve credit for not forcing it, or criticism for disappearing? Answer is probably a mix of both.

I keep going back and forth with the strategy on Sunday - should 'Cuse have tried harder to impose their will? Or was it smart that they adapted and ran the midfield at Army, time and time again? They won, so I think that speaks for itself, but the attack still makes me feel nervous given that performance. I can't help but think that the midfield looked exhausted at the end of the game, and in a more uptempo game we are going to need more scoring options to emerge. Hopefully it was a wakeup call and the staff and players will realize things to need to be sharpened and cleaned up. Still early in the season and have to think Buttermore, Dordevic, Lipka aren't playing up to potential yet. There is room to grow, but have to make sure that happens.

During the game I watched, SU played two different halves. In the first half, their inverts were pedestrian and timid. One move and a forced shot. Army shorties looked like all americans. No slides. I am guessing at the strategy, but it seemed to me the attack was designed to create space by drawing the longs away from the goal and opening space for the middies. Trimboli was the only player willing to double and triple his move and curl back action. Determination in the rest was missing. Powell was right. First line should have been on the field for many more offensive cycles. Marist figured this out in the first five minutes of their game. Army would not slide despite evidence requiring them to.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

ESPN's Anish Shroff: The Inner Battle at the X

Greg Gurenlian, Trevor Baptiste and TD Ierlan tell Shroff about the inner battles at the X.

www.uslaxmagazine.com

3. Syracuse (3-0)
The Orange continue to be the best entertainment dollar in college lacrosse. Wild comebacks. One-goal games. Edge-of-your-seat thrillers. Check. Check. Check. Syracuse rallied from down 5-1 to clip Army, 9-7. Jamie Trimboli spurred the comeback with five goals. The oft-overlooked Trimboli leads the team with 11 goals. The ACC is loaded with elite goalies. Drake Porter could wind up as the best of the bunch. He was spectacular with 18 saves.