Some Post game Army thoughts | Syracusefan.com

Some Post game Army thoughts

JeremyCuse

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When I heard that Ben was out for the game I had a sinking feeling we were going to be in for a rock fight. In reality both offenses were better then I thought they would be under the circumstances but SU was undone by some uncharacteristic mistakes and bizarre play/decisions by players and staff.

First off give credit to Army for taking advantage of SU's mistakes and I thought there middies played an excellent game and played a lot better then I thought they would. That being said Army had 3-4 guys who only scored one goal but those players each seemed to score on a ridiculous shot or at least one you expected from a Tinney or Perkovic not Army's 4th and 5th middie. Bizarre.

From an SU standpoint you don't have to be Nostradomus to realize that this team lives and dies by Ben Williams. SU looked like the 2012 or 2013 team without him in their darker hours for most of the 1st and part of the 2nd quarter. Brought back some less then great memories of our faceoff unit. As others have noted Desko waited way way way to long to make a switch to Varello by about faceoff 6 of 7 it was clear the Army guy had Paduda pegged and was dominating him. Why he waited so long to make a move is mystifying, 3-13 if horrific.

Desko needs to insert Dipietro into the starting lineup, Cunningham is struggling and Nick is clearly the better option at this point and got most of the PT. Being there in person its harder to get a feel for the D then watching at home but it appeared SU's short sticks were the culprit in a lot of Army's goals. Army worked the ball around for long stretches until they got an open look by a middie up top who then beat molloy off stick of or off body. Perhaps someone who saw it on tv can comment otherwise but that's what it appeared from the stands. SU tried to run a lot of bodies to make up for the discrepancy in time of possession and Hutchings seemed to get a lot of run at SSDM along with Devon Sullivan to a lesser extent. I thought Firman played well save for the start of the third and a horrific turnover on a clear. He held Cole Johnson scoreless in the first half but got victimized a couple times early in the third. Again I would defer to someone who saw it on tv to comment on Bomberry and Dipetro's play, I didn't see much of Fusco either so I can't really say how he played. To me the defense wasn't nearly as good as they were last week and I also believe some of the luck they had last week ran out. If you recall against Albany, Eccles and Drake missed probalby a half dozen good looks between them during there half hour scoreless streak, this week Army's middies capitalized on a good % of those looks. SU cant continue to give up these kind of looks because the midfields there going to be facing later in the season are light years better then Army's and Albany's. I am already dreading the Hopkins matchup. Mellen and Firman's takeaway ability is the #1 thing SU is missing at this point. SU is struggling to force turnovers from checks and overall defensive play. Army through the ball around a little bit but most of those turnovers were unforced. Not sure what the answer is to be honest, Mellens obviously done until the fall and Firman doesn't have another magical year of elgibility. Hopefully the youth and inexperience played a role in the D performance and the staff can go to the tape for some corrections. Per Drypolcoher SU's second and third slides were abysmal and Army picked us a part.

As far as Molly goes I thought he was decent and he didn't get a ton of help. Again that being said Molloy let in a couple soft goals and I thought when SU really needed that big time save he came up short. I don't blame Molloy, hes a guy who has over achieved to become a Div 1 goalie but he's not an elite stopper like Waldt or the Maryland kid last year. SU really needs to find a Ben Williams type for the goal as they haven't had an elite goaltender since Galloway graduated nearly 7 years ago.

Will post about the offense in this thread a little later on.
 
Offensive Thoughts:

Before I get into the O two additional Defensive thoughts.
1. Thought the man down D besides the initial penalty did a nice job. Didn't give up a goal on that 2 min unreleasable that became a 6-4 on situation. Army ended up finishing 1-3 on that day. A nice improvement from last year, hope they can keep it up as UVA and Hopkins are deadly on man up situations especially Hopkins.

2. On that last D possessions I felt there were two glaring issues/mistakes. I thought SU played well defensively after Army got the ball with about 1:45 or so left. Army didn't get a good look and the shot that went out of bounds with about 8 seconds left was no where close. That being said after that back up call Desko should have burned a timeout. Don't allow Army to capitalize on a helter skelter situation and get your defense set up the way you want. If Army scores anyway and you get burned like Scott Marr you just tip your cap and move on. Second I though the D the last 8 seconds or so was not good. I know Desko noted in his presser that Symmes hadn't gone to his left and attempted that kind of shot on any of the film they watched but with so little time left you have to expect the unexpected and play up on your man. With so little time left you have to force these guys to catch the ball and attempt to dodge and then shoot on the run, difficult to do with that little time left. Instead we played off a bit and the middie had time and room to make a shot that Molloy let in.

From an offensive standpoint this team is definitely a conundrum. Some bright spots mixed in with some concerning developments. I thought Mariano and Evans both played well. Mariano had a few hero ball shots but I think Desko has given him the green light so I don't take to much umbrage with it. Evans to me again did a good job of playing within himself and avoiding turnovers which was nice to see. The issue for SU is that due to the losses of Donahue and Barber to graduation and the lack of elite attackmen currently on the roster (for a variety of reasons) and injuries, SU really needed Evans to have an elite year ala Matt Rambo and live up to the Under Armour and #1 recruit ranking. However, its clear that Evans simply isn't that kind of player and isn't going to be at SU. Be it injuries or his game not transitioning to the Div 1 level hes not an elite level attackmen. Again theres no shame in that, very few people are but that's really what this team needed with its lack of options. At this point if Evans can give you a 4pt performance like that every game you take it, can't ask him to be what he is not. To me the player in most danger is Solomon, I am just not seeing the play of a Div 1 attackment outside of the Siena game. He hasn't been able to dodge effectively and like Evans he tends to disappear for long stretches. To me Rehfuss has shown an offensive ability that the other attackmen outside of Mariano hasn't shown to date. He had a couple of excellent dodges for goals including one where he stopped and started on a dime and two Army players fell over themselves. Rehfuss needs to be on the field more, especially if Desko is considering moving Mariano to midfield more or on a permanent basis. Perhaps I missed it but it appeared to me that despite Rehfuss's success Desko went with Voigt for the last half of the fourth which I didn't understand. At this point if I were Desko I would go with a starting attack of Mariano, Evans, and Rehfuss with Solomon and Voigt rotating in as necessary for Evans and Rehfuss. Next year SU brings in 4-5 attackmen that should bridge the gap to Cook and crew in 2018 but this year is this year and we need answers now.

The midfield much like the attack unit continues to be a mixed bag. Bomberry continues to be a god send, its scary to think where this team would be without him and Mariano. The only thing he needs to clear up are the late turnovers. Last week against albany and again this week against Army he had baffling turnover late in the game, needs to clean that up ASAP. Salcido from a scoring standpoint continues to be dissapointing. He did have 3 assists last year but after his breakout performance last year and his pre-season All-American designation before the season you would expect more then 3 goals in three games. Sergio appears to have gotten away from his alley dodges where he mad a living shooting on the run last year. Now a majority of his shots seem to be stand alone, time and room, or where he slides side to side to get an opening and then rips. He did a nice job with 3 assists but we need him to score as it will continue to open things for the attack and the third midfielder. Would like to see him alley dodge more. Also needs to vary up the shot angle from time to time, is going high 90% of the time. Desk changed up the mid lines in the second half bumping Lane from the midfield to strictly a man up specialist and also bumped Dearth off the second line going with Simmons, Trimboli and Carlin. Not much in the way of production for the second mid line. I thought Simmons had an outstanding goal early in the game and then never touched the ball again. I thought Lane again had 1-2 nice feeds that his teammates were unable to convert but to me he continues to be a player without a true home. He's dodging more then last year but isn't really looking to score and isn't able to bull dodge his way in ala Myles Jones or Grant Catalino. I think Lane's true home is at attack but not at the D1 level or at least at the very top where SU plays. The kid has clearly worked hard but I think Desko is looking for more of a scoring punch from that 1st mid field spot then Matt is able to provide right now. I also think Sergio not scoring a lot hasn't opened up opportunities that woudl be there from teams over compensating trying to guard him and Bombery. Not sure if Dekso plans on goign back to the staring lineups next game or looks to move Mariano to middie or start another player on the 1st line. Simmons would probably be the next man up with Forkin out for the year and Trimboli an Carlin still works in progress. I still love Dearth's potential but he had a bad doge and a crease violation and found himself on the bench the rest of the game. SU didn't run a 3rd mid line yesterday. Hoping Romano or one of the other young guys is showing something for later in the season and more importantly next season. Again much like the D, I am not sure what the answer is. Westin is still hurt, Thorpe and Forkin are out for the year, Grass is off the team, and the two frosh attack are red-shirting. Help is on the way in 2018 but thats not gonna do us much good for this season. My thoughts would be to get Rehfuss some more PT be it at attack or if need be move him to midfield.

Miscelleaneous - I thought ground balls were absolutly atrocious. I have never seen an SU team so inept. I counted at least 10 missed gbs at least half of which an SU player was all alone and simply missed it or kicked it forward etc. Evans, Paduda, and another player had egregious ones. I am going to chalk this up to it being just one of those games where what can go wrong does as we looked fine in the gb department the first two games but good lord that was bad.

Officials didn't cost SU the game but man its amazing how a school that supposedly gets home-cooking like Hopkins at Homewood, rarely seems to get said calls. I thought the officials let Army get away with a handful of obviously pushes and loose ball fouls that are normally called. On at least 3 faceoffs and SU player was clearly pushed and there was no call. The non crease call when the player clearly jumped on his own before being touched was another bad one. The one official also cost SU a goal when he took 15 seconds on a quick re-start despite Bomberry pleading with him to blow the freekin whistle.

UVA isn't exactly the dream matchup you would hope for coming off this game but so is life in the ACC. We really need Ben to be ready to go because save for St. Johns in two weeks the upcoming schedule is brutal. Need to find a way to win next Sunday.
 
nice write. i won't go quite so in depth. i watched a replay this morning. you mention the ground balls. but i was amazed at how many turnovers we had due to not backing up shots or getting out hustled to the line. army played a lot of 2 men behind the cage and tagged nearly every miss.
if you're losing face offs you gotta make sure you got the back up before you release and sprint to the line. cost us so too many possessions .
 

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