Powellfan
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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The Orange try and get back to their winning ways against Stony Brook after a dissapointing loss to Johns Hopkins last week. The Seawolves come in at 4-2 with wins against Fairfield, Robert Morris, LIU and St Johns. Their two losses were close ones against Rutgers (17-16) and Brown (10-7). This would obviously be a devastating loss for the Orange and the schedule doesn't get any easier from here on out.
The questions surrounding this game for me aren't so much focused on Stony Brook, but rather will Syracuse make any significant changes to their scheme or personnel after a dissapointing 2-4 start to the season? Most of the posters on this board have been frustrated with an offense that is overly reliant on two players. The defense is still making bad slides and getting beat on substitution games. On offense I am curious if some of the younger players get more playing time going forward, especially Tyler Cordes and Mateo Corsi who have combined for 11 points despite not getting much playing time. With a tough start the season it seemed like the coaches started out in desperation mode, running the first midfield almost every shift and having Dordevic and Curry take almost every shot. Now that the team is really in desperation mode, do they change things up and try something new, or double down on what has already been a losing strategy? I don't agree with it, but I can see the rational in putting Curry out for every shift, but it doesn't make sense to me why they would put Quinn and Cook out there as well for every shift.
For the last two games Mikey Berkman has been drawing a short stick - despite that fact he's only averaged four shots a game and has three goals. Can the coaching staff better exploit that matchup, and if not, get someone else in there who can? Berkman has done a nice job this season filling in on short notice for Owen Hiltz, but I think the coaches need to do a better job of taking what the defense gives them. I understand not wanting to rotate players every five minutes as you need to establish chemistry, but there has to be a better balance. There are a lot of guys on the bench right now, Birtwistle, Tenaglia, Ferris, Buttermore - are they all hurt? It's confusing to me why none of these guys are playing. On paper the offense doesn't look that bad, averaging 14 goals a game, but take away the opening blowout win against Holy Cross and the number is a dismal 11.8.
Possessions have been easier to come by this year with Jakob Phaup playing really well so far (winning 60%), but it looks like he'll have his hands full with Renz Conlon from Stony Brook - he has a 62% winning percentage so far this season. The SB goalie is only saving the ball at a 52% clip so that seems like an edge for the Orange to hopefully exploit.
The defense looked better last game against Hopkins, but there are a lot of caveats to that performance that I won't spell out in this post. There were still a lot of bad slides and mental mistakes that date back to the last few years. To my eyes it looks like Carter Rice and Brendan Aviles have looked strong at SSDM this season, but it seems like other defenses are really attacking the other short sticks this season, no matter who they are. Whether it's one of the backups or an offensive midfielder who got caught on defense, a lot of the bad slides the long poles take are because those shorties are getting beat. Not sure what needs to be done to fix that, but whatever they are doing now isn't it. Landon Clary returned to the lineup last week which was good to see, but Max Rosa was out which wasn't. Curious who starts in net this week for the Orange, but it almost doesn't matter much as neither are saving above 50%. It's not all their fault of course but both are closer to 40% than they are to 50%. That's really not going to cut at the DI level.
The Seawolves bring a dangerous offense to the field, but their scoring is a little top heavy with their top four guys doing most of it (81 out of 115 points). Grant Murphy has been covering the opposing teams lefty attackman this season, so that would mean he draws the Dylan Pallonetti matchup. Curious if that holds as he's their best shooter with 16 goals this year, who has also taken twice as many shots as the next leading shooter (70 to 39). I imagine Brett Kennedy will draw Michigan transfer Kevin Mack, who leads the team in assists with 12 (Pallonetti also has 10 assists). The other two top scorers are midfielders with 18 and 17 points so I'll be interested to see if Syracuse double poles that unit.
I think the Orange should win this game but who knows given the the results so far this season. Does Syracuse have fight in them? They will need at as the playoffs basically start now. This seems like the only game they have left that gives them any wiggle room to try something new. Will they? I'm of course very interested in the score, but also am very very interested in how they get there.
The questions surrounding this game for me aren't so much focused on Stony Brook, but rather will Syracuse make any significant changes to their scheme or personnel after a dissapointing 2-4 start to the season? Most of the posters on this board have been frustrated with an offense that is overly reliant on two players. The defense is still making bad slides and getting beat on substitution games. On offense I am curious if some of the younger players get more playing time going forward, especially Tyler Cordes and Mateo Corsi who have combined for 11 points despite not getting much playing time. With a tough start the season it seemed like the coaches started out in desperation mode, running the first midfield almost every shift and having Dordevic and Curry take almost every shot. Now that the team is really in desperation mode, do they change things up and try something new, or double down on what has already been a losing strategy? I don't agree with it, but I can see the rational in putting Curry out for every shift, but it doesn't make sense to me why they would put Quinn and Cook out there as well for every shift.
For the last two games Mikey Berkman has been drawing a short stick - despite that fact he's only averaged four shots a game and has three goals. Can the coaching staff better exploit that matchup, and if not, get someone else in there who can? Berkman has done a nice job this season filling in on short notice for Owen Hiltz, but I think the coaches need to do a better job of taking what the defense gives them. I understand not wanting to rotate players every five minutes as you need to establish chemistry, but there has to be a better balance. There are a lot of guys on the bench right now, Birtwistle, Tenaglia, Ferris, Buttermore - are they all hurt? It's confusing to me why none of these guys are playing. On paper the offense doesn't look that bad, averaging 14 goals a game, but take away the opening blowout win against Holy Cross and the number is a dismal 11.8.
Possessions have been easier to come by this year with Jakob Phaup playing really well so far (winning 60%), but it looks like he'll have his hands full with Renz Conlon from Stony Brook - he has a 62% winning percentage so far this season. The SB goalie is only saving the ball at a 52% clip so that seems like an edge for the Orange to hopefully exploit.
The defense looked better last game against Hopkins, but there are a lot of caveats to that performance that I won't spell out in this post. There were still a lot of bad slides and mental mistakes that date back to the last few years. To my eyes it looks like Carter Rice and Brendan Aviles have looked strong at SSDM this season, but it seems like other defenses are really attacking the other short sticks this season, no matter who they are. Whether it's one of the backups or an offensive midfielder who got caught on defense, a lot of the bad slides the long poles take are because those shorties are getting beat. Not sure what needs to be done to fix that, but whatever they are doing now isn't it. Landon Clary returned to the lineup last week which was good to see, but Max Rosa was out which wasn't. Curious who starts in net this week for the Orange, but it almost doesn't matter much as neither are saving above 50%. It's not all their fault of course but both are closer to 40% than they are to 50%. That's really not going to cut at the DI level.
The Seawolves bring a dangerous offense to the field, but their scoring is a little top heavy with their top four guys doing most of it (81 out of 115 points). Grant Murphy has been covering the opposing teams lefty attackman this season, so that would mean he draws the Dylan Pallonetti matchup. Curious if that holds as he's their best shooter with 16 goals this year, who has also taken twice as many shots as the next leading shooter (70 to 39). I imagine Brett Kennedy will draw Michigan transfer Kevin Mack, who leads the team in assists with 12 (Pallonetti also has 10 assists). The other two top scorers are midfielders with 18 and 17 points so I'll be interested to see if Syracuse double poles that unit.
I think the Orange should win this game but who knows given the the results so far this season. Does Syracuse have fight in them? They will need at as the playoffs basically start now. This seems like the only game they have left that gives them any wiggle room to try something new. Will they? I'm of course very interested in the score, but also am very very interested in how they get there.