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Message: [QUOTE="JeremyCuse, post: 2948757, member: 43"] Good post (again), meant to piggy back off of this last night but was exhausted. A few things - Harryman is their #1 FOGO who is a transfer from Bellarmine and Towson who had to sit out last year being a 2 time transfer. He's been their best faceoff guy by far but he got hurt vs St. Johns made a cameo appearance vs Fairfield and then got hurt again against Princeton. Seems unlikely he will play Saturday and even if he does he won't be anywhere near 100%. With him out they have our old buddy Alex Schoen and Frosh Michael Ott. Both have struggled for the most part as their both under 50% with Ott being the better of the two coming in at 46%. Assuming Harryman is out, SU should have a sizeable advantage here. Offensively Rutgers is a lot like Hopkins, good to potentially great attack when everyone is clicking but big question marks at the midfield (at least as of now). Mullins is there #1 guy but he's been out the last few games with an injury but did return at Princeton before suffering a minor injury. I suspect he will play tonight and against SU but not sure he will be at 100%. SU will obviously put Mellen on him. I should note Mellen drew their man guy last year (ivorytower correct me if I am wrong) and has one of the few bad games of his career. I suspect him to be in prime form on Sat. Charlambides is back after missing the last two years with bi-lateral torn ACL's. He was on fire as a frosh in 2016 prior to the back to back lost seasons. He is the team leader with 21 pts which is commendable coming off those two injuries but he he clearly isn't close to getting back to where he was prior to the injuries. I suspect we may try Bomberry on him first but he will need to stay home as he will finish like Marr if left alone. Rutgers offense overall will try and push transition if they can but they have struggled more this year in the 6 on 6 and are prone to long scoring droughts. For example they were held scoreless last week against Princeton in their 9-8 win and nearly blew the game after being up 9-3. Princeton's defense isnt exactly Maryland or ND. I watched the highlights of that game and majority of the goals appeared to come in transition, SU will need to be watchful there. In an attempt to spark the offense they switched a starting attackmen (Coyne) with a starting middie (Gallagher) against Princeton. Seemed to work as Coyne had 3 pts including 2 goals and Gallagher had 1-1. I could be way off but if SU doesn't allow a bunch of transition goals I think we match up pretty well defensively. Our SSDM's right now are playing on a level we haven't seen in a long time around here and Mellen/Kennedy continue to be lockdown guys. Hopefully we here about Murphy in Desko's PC and he will be available. Like Hopkins Rutgers doesn't have much in the way of depth at midfield though they will run a second line. Again anything can happen but its hard to feel like we match up fairly well here. From an offensive standpoint things will likely be a bit more challenging. Rutgers group of close defenders is good. Pless/Bullett/Thompson are a formidable trio and obviously Edelman who I think is in his six year is a clearly the main concern being a top 10 goalie. He had 18 saves versus Princeton which is obviously impressive. His save% is something like 65% so were going to be in for another one of "those" games. SU did face Baretto earlier in the year and has run up against some hot goalies so we are at least battle tested. We will need to clean up the little mistakes and turnovers that plagued us against UVA and were again a factor against JHU. Passing and catching sometimes becomes an adventure with this team. No team is going to play a perfect team but the unforced errors have to be cut down big time. From an offensive standpoint SU should again look to attack from the midfield as I think Rutty will have a hard time matching up. I would also like to see us try and throw our depth into the fray but running Cook at attack and hopefully getting a full second line some run as needed especially if Quinn is back. If were winning the majority of the draws we should be able to wear Rutgers down in the 2nd half like we did to Hopkins. I would also like to see us continue to push transition when its there as were still figuring things out 6 on 6. Edelman is a good goalie though so Dearth and others will need to place those transition shots well. All in all I like SU as a slight favorite here similar to last week. I think Rutty is probably better defensively then Hopkins but if Mullins isn't 100% there probably not as good offensively. Rutgers also turns the ball over A TON. 20 against Army and another 17 against Princeton. When you look at our remaining schedule this is a huge game that we need to find a way to win. If we keep the turnovers and sloppy play to a minimum I like our chances. [/QUOTE]

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