Really impressive performance from the Orange. I feel like everything that "irked" me during the BU game was rectified this week. Thomson was perfect as the crease attackman, finishing in tight with a super efficient 4-6 shooting performance. The clears were much better than last week, and it didn't even feel like the stats told the whole story as the Orange didn't look rushed much at all. Cherry on top was Billy Dwan with a long distance goal. The offense as a whole clearly came in with a plan to shoot off stick high and it worked like a charm. Even Drew Angelo had the game of his life, winning 5-8 draws and scoring his first goal.
I know it's early but it's hard not to be really encouraged by what we've seen. The offense has been able to score unassisted goals, while not abandoning their pass first mentality. Bogue Hahn has looked like a vet so far, making smart dodges while not turning over the ball. Him, McIntee and Rawson certainly make me feel hopeful about the future of Orange lacrosse. Hottle has been great with opportunistic shooting. Leo is such a difficult cover with his shiftiness and grit. Such a benefit to be able to slide him down to attack and know that spot is in good hands. I like Anderson as an attackman first, as I think he can withstand the pounding better against bigger defensemen, but Leo is great no matter where you line him up.
Not many "negatives". Perhaps Mullen's down performance (from his very high standards), though sometimes a FOGO just has a bad matchup. I wonder if he prepared to face someone else from St Joe's and was thrown off? He didn't seem to win the clamp much, or when he did wasn't able to control it (just three groundballs, which is way below his average). That said, I wish my "bad" days looked like his as he still had an assist and finished well above 50%. His wing play needs work, I would say.
The other, "issue" might be the play of Tyler McCartney who had no points, and had any many shots as he did turnovers (2) against St. Joe's. Not every game finishes with everyone on the team scoring a point (Luke Rhoa also finished with double bagels) but I think McCartney was one of the bigger question marks coming into the year. I wonder if the coaches will consider moving Hottle up the first line, or at least consider it in crunch time? Still very early in the year, and again, lots of mouths to feed on offense and McCartney hasn't done much wrong. But I guess it's something to monitor.
Alright, very impressed so far. Competition of course is about to go up by 1,000, but the Orange are doing the right things right now. Hopefully they keep it up.
