Some thoughts and why Gait maybe in major trouble

[JeremyCuse]

yes they need a dodger at attack. leo is the obvious option. he gets the pole anyway...

they should not move away from their free wheeling style but like with everything that should not be instead of playing fundamentally sound...u almost always lose to the more fundamental team...i know some of the turnovers are frustrating but if you look at the stats, the orange are actually not turning it over very much compared to other teams... the bigger issue to me is shot selection, placement, and an offense that is getting easier for opponents to scout because of a lack of dodging punch...

Thanks, good to get a non orange fan take, appreciate the thoughts and agree.

 

[JYCUSE12]

With Kempney at mid sometimes guys just don't work out, even 5 stars. I was a big fan of his in HS and he saw some time there early I wanna say third line and some 2nd in 2023 but then fell of the map and then barely played last year at SSDM. He hasn't played at all this year so maybe they are thinking a Red-shirt and have a plan for him so no issue there but it would be nice if we could see some of these young guys especially at SSDM.

Recruiting has been going fairly well but not seeing much from any O recruit that we brought in last year or this year is concerning to say the least. Hoping between McCarthy, Hottle and Deere we can see some more involvement, or perhaps one of the frosh middies is given a shot as the year goes on.

Well said

 

[Troughin']

Late to the party, non-expert view, and rhetorical question, but does the coaching staff actually study film of our opponents? Going back to Denver last year, it seems like many teams have us completely figured out when they come to play, but we always seem surprised and unprepared, especially against non-ACC opponents. In some cases, the talent delta is too heavily in our favor and we win anyway, but in other cases (last weekend), a less talented team makes up for it by knowing exactly how to play us.

 

[Whitey23]

 

[SULAXAHOLIC]

if you can’t be an athlete be an athletic supporter maybe Mr Hogan should put down the Ben and Jerry’s

 

[cuselaxss26]

Honestly not that want it to be super harsh , but maby little hateing or critic hate will put fire in these guys to prove everyone wrong. He wasn’t wrong bout everything the over hype n falling flat is true. But these players better realize they gotta come out n play the best they can for every second of every min of every qtr in every game.

 

[cuselaxss26]

coaches also

 

[SUlax88-09]

I'd love to be wrong but 4 years in and some things are apparent Gait teams are forever going to have issues playing disciplined ball when they need to. It also seems clear to me that he doesn't understand that all the ball movement in the world isn't going to overcome the ability for a guy to beat his man 1 on 1 and draw a slide. SU in year 4 under Gary Gait shouldn't have an attack that can't beat a SSDM on a switch. On Saturday of the three I think only Thomson did it, that's a horrific sign. I also have zero doubt that when we play Gate in two weeks it's going to be a complete and total cluster against that 10 man ride you can see it already. He hasn't been able to address the ability to play against pressure rides or 10 men defenses. We also can't seem to get a quality SSDM in despite it being an issue pretty much Gait's entire time here (beyond Rice who wasn't his recruit). Harvard was a game a final four contender not only wins but wins comfortably. You can't come off that loss to Maryland and then put up a loss like this, period.

I think it's fair to now wonder if Gary Gait is the long term answer and how long before the University reaches the same conclusion. At minimum I suspect March will be the fall guy this offseason.

Great stuff!! I’ve been saying literally the same things for a few years now, but I’m a no one on this site, so to have you write it means something. Sounds like we’re seeing the same issues with this team: inability for our attack to beat their man 1v1 and draw a slide, poor SSDM play outside of Rice, and shaky goaltending.

We looked better in the first half today against Utah, but it’s Utah and then we looked bad again in the 2nd half (we scored 2 goals all 2nd half; the 2 empty net goals at the very end because Utah did a 10 man ride can be misleading). To Gait’s credit, he did play Andersen on attack in the 2nd half. Andersen looked ok (he had a good finish and a good pass that should have been an assist), but the offense didn’t look good. I would have liked to have seen Leo play some attack. Hopefully Thomson is ok because I don’t think he played at all in the 2nd half, and we really missed him.

Our attack is loaded with 3 future professional box lacrosse players (actually 4 if you count Deere), which sounds great, but they all kind of do the same things. As box players, they‘re good finishers and passers, but not good dodgers. In box lacrosse, you don’t need to sprint and dodge and beat your defender 1v1 because there’s no room and also because you rely on your teammates to set moving, bone crushing, cross-check picks on your defender‘s back to free you up (box really is vicious). Field lacrosse is just a different game then box lacrosse. I‘ve been critical of Spallina ever since his first game at SU, but after watching him ‘dominate’ in box lacrosse against great players this past summer, I have to give him his flowers as a box player (but still only for box lacrosse). You need SPEED to dominate in field lacrosse, and Spallina, Hiltz, McCarthy, and Deere all look slow to me. Hiltz and Thomson are awesome finishers, so we just need someone who can dodge and create a slide, and that will unlock this offense.

We really only have 2 people who can consistently beat their defenders 1v1 and either score or create a slide, and that is Rhoa and Hottel. I thought Leo was going to be ‘that guy’ for us, like a Pat Perritt, but he’s actually regressed so far this year. Rhoa has been a stud, so it was great to have him back today. If he played against Harvard, then I think we would have won that game. Hottel has been awesome! All 5’7” of him. He runs by his defenders, he shoots on the run with his right and left, and the endurance on this kid! The coaches obviously also saw Ochoa’s struggles last week because Hottel was also playing SSDM again today. Great feet! He’s also like a cheat code in the clear game with his speed. He reminds me of Matt Abbott!! Great recruiting pick up. English has the offensive skills, too, but his shooting has just been too inconsistent.

The defense looked better today, but Utah’s offense wasn’t impressive. We really struggled against a great passing and shooting team like Harvard (props to them), which is surprising because that’s kind of what our defense goes up against in practice everyday (our attack). We’ll see next week if our defense learned its lesson against Harvard.

McCool was better in the 1st half, but then struggled again in the 2nd half. I agree, and I would give Ippoliti a chance because I don’t think McCool is a national championship caliber goalie. Watching Maryland beat ND today made it painfully obvious how important a great goalie is (McNaney was amazing!).

Outside of Manhattan, our schedule is tough the rest of the way, so we’ll find out next week against Hopkins how good we really are. We need a win against a top 5 team to prove that we’re a championship contender. This is the year to do win it all too, because nobody looks unbeatable this year. Maryland is the best team in the country, but even they‘re beatable.

Go SU lax!!!