Robert Morris Game...

[Powellfan]

 

[JeremyCuse]

Kudos to Phaup who while struggling with other elite fogos is dominating everyone else. He was a machine yesterday.

 

[MD Cuse Fan]

Kudos to Phaup who while struggling with other elite fogos is dominating everyone else. He was a machine yesterday.

Yeah and against one elite fogo (LaSalla). I don't know what it is but he loves that match-up!

 

[DoctahLexus]

Did not get a chance to see this game entirely until yesterday so thought I would post some thoughts.

Giving up 10 goals in a half will never be celebrated, but that does not tell the entire story. Only 2 of those goals were in standard settled 6 v 6 situations. The rest were either man up, or an unsettled fast break off of a clear or faceoff. I'm not letting us off the hook by pointing that out. In particular I think our man down defense has been atrocious this season. Staats has never impressed me mainly due to lack of quickness, and Horan has not met the standards we should have for IQ/off ball awareness at the close D position, despite being solid 1 v 1. We even had Murphy out there on man up with a short stick when Dearth got a penalty, which shows the lack of confidence in the offball play of our younger reserve short sticks. However this was not a game like UNC or ND where the D looked helpless even in 6 v 6 sets. We were able to hold them off at a solid clip when we could slow the ball down on that end. The two settled O goals they had were both tip-your-cap plays from Ryan Smith. Second half we did a better job of limiting unsettled looks.

Seebold is a really nice fit at attack. Bobby Mo had a poor defense plain and simple, but Seebold makes plays happen in a way that Scanlan would not, no matter who the opponent is. Twice he made big intimidating dodges that caused the adjacent slide to panic and go, leaving him an easy feed for a goal that he executed perfectly. If its Scanlan dodging on that inferior Bobby Mo defender, maybe he leans in and scores through the heavy contact, maybe he makes a crazy skip pass that Seebold could not without even dodging, but the way Scanlan would dodge would not lead to drawing a slide like Seebold. When he gets a full head of steam it intimidates and draws the attention of the D. On top of that (and this goes against my love of the Canadian/Native Am style of play) it is nice to have an attack down low who actually has and uses both hands. He had a nice goal with the left coming around GLE as well as a finish with the left hand, something we would probably not see from Scanlan. His skill set is a better compliment to Hiltz and Rehfuss than Scanlan's was, even if he is less talented in some areas.

A couple less long-winded things:
- Hiltz is already one of the most talented shooters in the nation, but is also a serious athlete. He has plenty of room to grow as a dodger/QB and I think he will excel in that role in the future, along with his already elite off ball shooting and facilitating passes.

-Olexo has the body/athletecism to be a long time contributor for us. Would not surprise me if he goes the Landon Clary rout and switches to a long pole next year. I think he is sneaky tall but hides it by doing the Joe Fletcher crazy arched back stance. A nice high-ceiling recruit by the staff.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

-Olexo has the body/athletecism to be a long time contributor for us. Would not surprise me if he goes the Landon Clary rout and switches to a long pole next year. I think he is sneaky tall but hides it by doing the Joe Fletcher crazy arched back stance. A nice high-ceiling recruit by the staff.

Clary will be back, Tommy Drago is redshirting, and there are 3 LSM's coming in.

And we'll have to replace Dearth.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Clary will be back, Tommy Drago is redshirting, and there are 3 LSM's coming in.

And we'll have to replace Dearth.

All true. With his size he could be a potential candidate for close D? I believe he was recruited as a close D guy. It would be the Grant Murphy career path.

 

[Powellfan]

Giving up 10 goals in a half will never be celebrated, but that does not tell the entire story. Only 2 of those goals were in standard settled 6 v 6 situations. The rest were either man up, or an unsettled fast break off of a clear or faceoff. I'm not letting us off the hook by pointing that out. In particular I think our man down defense has been atrocious this season. Staats has never impressed me mainly due to lack of quickness, and Horan has not met the standards we should have for IQ/off ball awareness at the close D position, despite being solid 1 v 1. We even had Murphy out there on man up with a short stick when Dearth got a penalty, which shows the lack of confidence in the offball play of our younger reserve short sticks. However this was not a game like UNC or ND where the D looked helpless even in 6 v 6 sets. We were able to hold them off at a solid clip when we could slow the ball down on that end. The two settled O goals they had were both tip-your-cap plays from Ryan Smith. Second half we did a better job of limiting unsettled looks.

Nice post, agree with pretty much everything, especially the Seebold stuff. But I want to push back against some of the defensive stuff. I do think the defense played better in the second half, though I think that was mostly due to Porter actually finally making some saves. Wykoff did get switched off Smith in favor of Murphy and that seemed to help as well. But I feel like every game we are all making excuses for the defense, saying things like, "well only 8 of the 10 goals were in settled situations ...". Not attacking you by any means because we all do it, but I just have to think at this point in the year, aren't' those kind of excuses/qualifiers part of the problem? RMU got goals off of the sub game which really shouldn't be happening at this point in the year and lots in transition, which, fine it happens, but the goals given up were really bad. On one, Murphy went to the literal defninition of no-man's land and didn't pick up the open man leading the break, or his man parked on the crease, which led to an easy goal.

Our offensive midfielders are really really bad on defense. That may just be part of the game but I see Syracuse get opposing o-mids stuck on defense and they put up much more of a fight than anything I see from Syracuse. One RMU player got the ball at x, close to the end line and NO ONE PICKED HIM UP until he scored on the doorstep without anyone around him. Curry was the closest, but again, no communication and no one had any clue of whose man it was. This has been going on all season. All season. Another time, the RMU ball carrier swam through two o-mids (I think it was Quinn and Cook) and scored an easy goal despite getting double teamed. There is just something fundamentally wrong with the way this team is getting taught how to play defense. It's maddening (as you can tell).

 

[ivorytower]

Both are fair assessments. Romo had two way mids with impressive endurance who stayed on the field throughout . Their goalie besides twenty saves was also very quick to outlet upfield to them and poles which didnt allow us to sub many times. Result was our om's were on d more than usual and that is not a forte . Several times Kennedy was on other side of midline waiting for opportunity for someone to get off which never came . Defense defending with om's makes the job of inexperienced dm's all the more difficult .Some positives to cite .Trimboli is one mid who gets back well and can competently defend , overlook facet when assessing mids and perhaps one of the reasons he was drafted by PLL. Hiltz busts his sss on rides, kid is a star in making and has the right attitude.. Dami after layoff had fresh legs and moved well. Murphy simply simply sticking to whatever assignment is best. Olexo and Rosa did a fairly good job and continue to develop after being thrusted into action. Porter had a good 2nd half that could trend into Gtown game

 

[JeremyCuse]

Clary will be back, Tommy Drago is redshirting, and there are 3 LSM's coming in.

And we'll have to replace Dearth.

Should be Clary and Drago at LSM next year assuming Barlow leaves. Kennedy is almost a lock to bump back down to close.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Should be Clary and Drago at LSM next year assuming Barlow leaves. Kennedy is almost a lock to bump back down to close.

Glad to hear Drago is valued highly. Any definite word on Murphy or DePietro? I feel the latter may want to leave after yet another injury/already being here 5 years, but hope I'm wrong.

 

[Powellfan]

Should be Clary and Drago at LSM next year assuming Barlow leaves. Kennedy is almost a lock to bump back down to close.

This makes sense, but still a shame, Kennedy is much better at LSM than he is at close. I wonder how Clary would perform down low?

 

[JeremyCuse]

Glad to hear Drago is valued highly. Any definite word on Murphy or DePietro? I feel the latter may want to leave after yet another injury/already being here 5 years, but hope I'm wrong.

I don't have anything definite but I think its highly likely at least one leaves.

 

[JeremyCuse]

This makes sense, but still a shame, Kennedy is much better at LSM than he is at close. I wonder how Clary would perform down low?

Good question, I think the staff likes him on the wings though and see him as the heir apparent to Kennedy. With Wyckoff gone Kennedy bumps down to be that #1 guy ( I think he is now the Army game notwithstanding). A lot of changes for next year, I expect to see several new poles and I think the Yale transfer could play from day 1 if both Murphy and Dipetro leave.

 

[Powellfan]

Good question, I think the staff likes him on the wings though and see him as the heir apparent to Kennedy. With Wyckoff gone Kennedy bumps down to be that #1 guy ( I think he is now the Army game notwithstanding). A lot of changes for next year, I expect to see several new poles and I think the Yale transfer could play from day 1 if both Murphy and Dipetro leave.

Thanks, just getting Kennedy would be huge, so shouldn't complain too much about where he will play. Nick Caccomo from Yale looks like a real player, though hasn't suited up for two years now. Still, his film is really impressive. Defense will definitely need a shakeup.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Thank goodness we finally have a D recruit where playing from day 1 is a possibility! There is nothing wrong with recruiting high ceiling projects but we seem to have recruited nothing but those in the 2019 and 2020 classes (aside from Clary). It's not like guys who can play out of the gate aren't out there. I would love some new blood at D. This new unit when compared to Mellen Cunningham and Bomberry is only a little more likely to give up goals off the dodge, but 100x more likely to break down with off ball D and sliding. If our only answer is to start 2/3rds of the current unit next year (DePietro and Murphy) and move Kennedy (who also has off ball/team D issues) down to join them, then I would be very pessimistic. Would sound loads better if the line up was instead Caccamo, younger guy like Olexo who steps up or a portal pick up, and one of Murphy or Depietro, all while keeping kennedy and clary at LSM.

 

[ivorytower]

View Army game critique as off base , there is more to a boxscore Kennedy m2m on Nichtern was very good. Brendan had two man up goals and a goal agaisnt a dm when K had to slide off . Goal was lefty jumper that was defended ok. That fiasco of a game was more about transition d and losing cutters off ball. Regardless , hate to see him drop down again assuming he's back in orange because his d up top is excellent and both of the future goalies pass upfield . As far as boxscores , ill add that Wyckoff has defended better than the boxscore reflect in some games . Kavanaugh may have had five in first ND but quite frankly Mitch was beaten to topside only once . Sometimes a well defended shot still lands in the goal. Sowers is Sowers and a big ie Smith is just a physical handful that problably should have been assigned to another from start . Mellen was excellent m2m but might recall here were some games where he covered a player that fit his strength rather than #1 . Saw that agaisnt UVA. few times . Anyway, think our m2m by poles has been decent but the sum of seven defenders on that end has not equated to the individual parts. Replacing Dearth size and underutilized speed will be important, wont be easy -will perhaps need to recruit from portal.

 

[ivorytower]

Getting back to Gtown, best defense will be to win our share of faceoffs and stay out of penalty box as our man down stinks.Id stay away from zone other than a temporary look

 

[ivorytower]

Final thoughts on Romo game: Had been leery of its necessity and outcome but it served us well and may have help our inclusion because it was a solid win agaisnt another solid team. Maybe we dont get in without it being played. Will never know but now sensing from write-ups that a loss may have sent us packing .
It also accomplished what was needed as far as prep , Seebold, Horan, Dami, Olexo, Rosa, even Phaup all got additional reps . Romo d while average was aggressive and forced ball movement that can only help preparation agaisnt Georgetown sliding D. Another piece of film to review and correct. Glad we played the game after all despite the imperfections noted.

 

[Cuse All-In]

Final thoughts on Romo game: Had been leery of its necessity and outcome but it served us well and may have help our inclusion because it was a solid win agaisnt another solid team. Maybe we dont get in without it being played. Will never know but now sensing from write-ups that a loss may have sent us packing .
It also accomplished what was needed as far as prep , Seebold, Horan, Dami, Olexo, Rosa, even Phaup all got additional reps . Romo d while average was aggressive and forced ball movement that can only help preparation agaisnt Georgetown sliding D. Another piece of film to review and correct. Glad we played the game after all despite the imperfections noted.

I agree. I was also worried about the team's state of mind and disarray on defense. The RoMo game was some solid practice for our offense and the defense did play much better in the 2nd half.
If you can call what Cuse has been through a major "slump", RoMo could reflect the start of something.