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Message: [QUOTE="JeremyCuse, post: 2094894, member: 43"] 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. [/QUOTE]

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