JeremyCuse
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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Good question. Virginia is very hard to defend personnel wise because they move players all over the place. It’s been said before but they basically play five attackmen at a time, and not only that but Cormier could come through the box one play but shift to attack the next. As a base defense I would put Kennedy on Moore (don’t feel like they’ll move him for this game), either Dami or Avilles on Laviano, and DiPetro on whoever else they put on attack, Murphy on whoever they play through the box, Dearth on Aitkin and Clary on whoever’s left over. So it might look like -
Kennedy - Moore
Dami - Laviano
DiPietro - Cormier
Murphy - Shellenberger
Dearth - Aitkin/Garno
Clary - Bertrand
Attack vs midfield classification really doesn’t matter. The shorty will have to keep his head on a swivel with Laviano, obviously this was an issue last week. Moore is going to shoot through whoever is guarding him, so Porter will have to be “on”. Hesitate about putting a shorty on Dox but he has yet to show he’s fully “back”. Shellenberger has a heck of an outside shot and can pass, I think he always needs a long stick. Of course, you could also say the same about Cormier and Bertrand, hence shorting Laviano. Think Murphy should handle whoever is playing midfield rather than DiPietro since he has experience playing SSDM.
Physically and athletically SU matches up pretty well (as the Doctor told us), the SU close defense is by no means small, and neither is the midfield. The big question is how SU handles slides and picks (I feel like a broken record). SU lost in OT the last time they played Virginia by misplaying a pick play behind the goal. Avilles especially last week was confused about whether to fight through a pick or switch. Guys were often times left in no mans land after a switch and left other players wide open. This is simple stuff, but concerning that it was an issue to begin with. Syracuse is going to give up goals, but they have to make Virginia work for it, rather than creating offense for the opponent, like they did against Army.
I think SU is going to have to pick out their matchups and then go with them regardless of who gets shifted where. If they put the pole on Bertrand and he slides to attack I think you have to have Barlow or whoever continue to shadow him. If were constantly trying to match back up again we will be in disastrous trouble.
As a few posters noted, this UVA squad while extremely gifted offensively (crazy talent) it is more of a 1 on 1 type of team versus an Army where its more ball movement. Certainly UVA can put up 18+ no problem with all those weapons but its a match up SU is obviously designed more to match up with. The SSDM's will really need to come to play because their gonna draw some bad matchups no matter what SU does. Laviano will be an interesting match-up, you can't go all out to shut off everyone else then having him score 5 doorstep goals. I know he seems like a lock to short stick but not sure SU wants a SSDM forced to try and defend around the crease constantly. Rogers has his work cut out for him.