This team has really backed itself into a corner

[OrangeXtreme]

One other thing I'd add, is that I'm not a big fan of recruiting outside the traditional areas. I'd probably only do it for the really special athletes, the 6-0 + 200 kids that run 4.5's. The Mullins. I think there's a huge drop off in lacrosse IQ for a lot of these kids.

In this year's Top 10 recruit rankings, there's a Florida kid, a California kid, and a kid from Utah.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Lane runs down the alley just fine. He has the speed to play defense. But he might just be bad at that to.

And what exactly does Dejoe do or bring to the table? He has no business seeing the field either. Nadda. He has nothing but a hard shot, that's only marginally accurate.

Here's the rub, there are 24 middies listed on the roster. If there's no one else out of the remaining 18 kids then that's a serious failure.

Well the lack of midfield depth is absolutely a huge issue. Its one of the things that cost this team the JHU and Duke games is that when the second and third mid lines are out there the offense grinds to a halt. 5 middies in last years class who all redshirted none of them have made an impact and only one has cracked the two deep and I think he has one point on the season. SU does have Romano, Hutchings, and O'Reilly all redshirting this year and their top recruit next year is also a midfielder so hopefully a new blood at the position will result in 1 or2 players breaking out. Westin and Simmons continued struggles are a big reason why the midfield is a blackhole after the 1st line.

As for Dejoe, he's a role player who has been thrusted into the 1st line because we really don't have anyone else just like Lane. There is a reason he only played man up for his first three years here. He at least has had some big games this year for SU but obviously as teams have adjusted to him he's started to struggle.

 

[OttosDad]

Well the lack of midfield depth is absolutely a huge issue. Its one of the things that cost this team the JHU and Duke games is that when the second and third mid lines are out there the offense grinds to a halt. 5 middies in last years class who all redshirted none of them have made an impact and only one has cracked the two deep and I think he has one point on the season. SU does have Romano, Hutchings, and O'Reilly all redshirting this year and their top recruit next year is also a midfielder so hopefully a new blood at the position will result in 1 or2 players breaking out. Westin and Simmons continued struggles are a big reason why the midfield is a blackhole after the 1st line.

As for Dejoe, he's a role player who has been thrusted into the 1st line because we really don't have anyone else just like Lane. There is a reason he only played man up for his first three years here. He at least has had some big games this year for SU but obviously as teams have adjusted to him he's started to struggle.

If Piroli is truly healthy and back, then DeJoe will move back to second line middie and Barber will join Salcido and Mariano on first line. I actually think this may make a big impact to the team. If Piroli can truly be that feeding attack men we need, this offense is scary good. DeJoe, Lane, with Westin/Simmons is a decent second line middie group.

 

[Orangello]

Well the lack of midfield depth is absolutely a huge issue. Its one of the things that cost this team the JHU and Duke games is that when the second and third mid lines are out there the offense grinds to a halt. 5 middies in last years class who all redshirted none of them have made an impact and only one has cracked the two deep and I think he has one point on the season. SU does have Romano, Hutchings, and O'Reilly all redshirting this year and their top recruit next year is also a midfielder so hopefully a new blood at the position will result in 1 or2 players breaking out. Westin and Simmons continued struggles are a big reason why the midfield is a blackhole after the 1st line.

As for Dejoe, he's a role player who has been thrusted into the 1st line because we really don't have anyone else just like Lane. There is a reason he only played man up for his first three years here. He at least has had some big games this year for SU but obviously as teams have adjusted to him he's started to struggle.

The number of recruiting misses but more importantly, failure to develop all of these mids is the most distressing thing of all. Kids should typically take a big jump in playing ability after 2 years in the program but we're not seeing it with this group. We can only hope that the current crop of redshirts rectifies the problem but I'm not encouraged.

 

[JeremyCuse]

The number of recruiting misses but more importantly, failure to develop all of these mids is the most distressing thing of all. Kids should typically take a big jump in playing ability after 2 years in the program but we're not seeing it with this group. We can only hope that the current crop of redshirts rectifies the problem but I'm not encouraged.

I think you pretty much nailed, mot guys aren't making the kind of jump/improvement that high end teams are getting save for Salcido.

I am high on Romano and I think the Trimboli should be able to make an impact from day 1. Hopefully Hutchings or O'Reilly or one of the redshirt frosh like Carlin or McKinney will also break out. I wouldn't be surprised if Desko moved someone like Voight to midfield full time to, to help there.

 

[PhatOrange]

In this year's Top 10 recruit rankings, there's a Florida kid, a California kid, and a kid from Utah.

I think lacrosse recruit rankings are more ridiculous than football recruit rankings.

 

[Orangello]

If Piroli is truly healthy and back, then DeJoe will move back to second line middie and Barber will join Salcido and Mariano on first line. I actually think this may make a big impact to the team. If Piroli can truly be that feeding attack men we need, this offense is scary good. DeJoe, Lane, with Westin/Simmons is a decent second line middie group.

My kingdom for a feeder, If Piroli is back at full strength he could definitely kick the O into gear as DD appears to struggle in that role. It certainly doesn't help that the supporting cast cannot consistently play, catch and execute in traffic. Lane, Westin and Simmons need to start producing. Right now that group is pretty underwhelming for a program with this pedigree.

 

[jr4750]

We need to be ready to give up on this Piroli to the rescue mantra. Kid looked hobbled on the ride last Saturday during the few moments he was out there. No way is he 100% and the year is quickly evolving into crunch time.

I agree with the others that have said that Lane is too slow to play SSDM. Jeremy is right, that he is kind of a player without a true position. Just doesn't have the skills to be a true attackmen, and is too slow to be a middie. He definitely works in packages and has a rocket shot, but Desko must be strategic in getting him into the right position.

Defense is a mess. We all know that. If Grimm is done for the year, we're screwed. Thought that 3rd freshman middie line looked slow, and didn't really show a sense of field awareness. Those are the guys everyone thinks we can make SSDM. I like Carlin, but he's buried. Could he be a SSDM, maybe? He's big enough.

Offense is what it is. Our best pure scorer in years is a feeder for us this year. Bad. Our 22, is a TO machine, who seems to try and win games by himself, although he rides as hard as anyone. I respect that. Piroli ain't Kevin Rice, don't care how healthy he may be. Need to accept that.

/O - Williams is beat up or the wings are so so bad. The ones he loses though are scrums that the other fogo is creating by the x. Rarely does he push it out to one of the wings who miss it. Not sure what the deal is there.

Goalie - Hill is an average keeper, with a bad defense around him. What do we expect.

It could just be, that we aren't that good this year. We had a great team in 2015, and most of those guys are gone. We haven't hit on a number of recruits and some have transferred. Not sure what happened against ND, cause they are not 10 goals better than us, but stuff happens. Giving up leads late bothers me much more.

 

[JeremyCuse]

We need to be ready to give up on this Piroli to the rescue mantra. Kid looked hobbled on the ride last Saturday during the few moments he was out there. No way is he 100% and the year is quickly evolving into crunch time.

I agree with the others that have said that Lane is too slow to play SSDM. Jeremy is right, that he is kind of a player without a true position. Just doesn't have the skills to be a true attackmen, and is too slow to be a middie. He definitely works in packages and has a rocket shot, but Desko must be strategic in getting him into the right position.

Defense is a mess. We all know that. If Grimm is done for the year, we're screwed. Thought that 3rd freshman middie line looked slow, and didn't really show a sense of field awareness. Those are the guys everyone thinks we can make SSDM. I like Carlin, but he's buried. Could he be a SSDM, maybe? He's big enough.

Offense is what it is. Our best pure scorer in years is a feeder for us this year. Bad. Our 22, is a TO machine, who seems to try and win games by himself, although he rides as hard as anyone. I respect that. Piroli ain't Kevin Rice, don't care how healthy he may be. Need to accept that.

/O - Williams is beat up or the wings are so so bad. The ones he loses though are scrums that the other fogo is creating by the x. Rarely does he push it out to one of the wings who miss it. Not sure what the deal is there.

Goalie - Hill is an average keeper, with a bad defense around him. What do we expect.

It could just be, that we aren't that good this year. We had a great team in 2015, and most of those guys are gone. We haven't hit on a number of recruits and some have transferred. Not sure what happened against ND, cause they are not 10 goals better than us, but stuff happens. Giving up leads late bothers me much more.

Great post, I thought I had responded when I liked this on Wed but I think you really nailed a lot of the current issues. Agree with you wholeheartedly on the third line, they looked slow and seemed to lack field awareness. Seems clear their going to need another year at least before they can make any sort of impact. Really hope one of them can break out we desperately need depth at the midfield.

Thought your points about the wings was spot on as well.

Seems like Schwanick has been moved to the faceoff wing and I think is likely to be moved to SSDM this year. I get the feeling were to late in the year for the staff to feel comfortable in an offense to defense position change. I think with D'agostino now playing SSDM there hoping he can add enough to keep the position together. I thought Gillis played pretty well on Wed and Ciferri is making some progress as well all be it at a slow pace.