Thoughts on next year

[JeremyCuse]

Wanted to wait until the Div 1 season was officially over before looking ahead to next year after another early and disappointing tourney loss. I have seen a couple of posts with people giving their thoughts and insights on next years team which is always great to see. There is a lot of talent returning next year for SU but also some big shoes to fill. Will do my best to give my thoughts on what we could be potentially looking at next year.

From my perspective the biggest question marks for SU are on the offensive end. The defense returns every pole but Firman, get back Mellen and got some young guys some run at SDDM who should hopefully be able to slide in for Gillis and Ciferri. As such will run through the d first.

SU has an abundance of riches at long pole. Not only does SU return everyone but Firman they will get back hopefully a healthy Nick Mellen. SU also gets back Brett Kennedy who blew out his knee in the Alumni game last fall and who the staff was high on. Combine that with another class of highly rated pole defenders and SU has a chance to have a great defense. With all these players Desko and Rogers will have a lot of options as their disposal. Mellen and Bomberry are locked into two of the three starting spots. That leaves Cunningham, Dipietro, Kennedy, Dilts and the incoming guys (Saba, Murphy) to battle it out for that last spot. What's so intriguing and potentially scary for SU's opponents as SU will only have one Senior log pole next year in Josh Pulver who didn't play this past year. If you assume that Dipietro takes that next step coming off of an uneven Frosh campaign you would give him a sight edge over Cunningham who was inconsistent as the starter for most of the year. Fascinated to see how this plays out this fall and when camp open in January as there are so many potential combinations and players for what is essentially one opening.

At LSM SU is beyond set. The top two starters return who will be a Jr and a R-Soph respectively. Fusco and Helmer were so effective last year that Swigart a guy the staff was high on only got into a handful of games. SU is brining in Barlow from FM and Jared Fernandez from IMG two excellent LSM's. The latent level here is probably the best I can remember and that includes the Joel White years. If Swigart doesn't transfer and or the staff feels one of the two frosh can play right away I wouldn't be shocked if Helmer got moved to SSDM permanently. Helmer is a big hitter with a mean streak who did a nice job filling at SSDM vs Towson. I think he has starter written all over him and unless the staff wants to supplant Fusco I think moving him to SSDM makes a ton sense.

Biggest question mark right now on the D side is SSDM. Currently you have Schwasnick and Hutchings as the most likely starters with Devon Sullivan and Peter Dearth as the backups. As I noted before with SU having so much LSM death I think moving Helmer would make a whole lot of sense unless they want him playing starters minutes at LSM which. If guys lke For and McKinney don't transfer I think a move to SSDM could be in the cards as its hard to see either of them seeing the field from an offensive standpoint at SU. The Wild card here is clearly Dearth. SU seemed unsure of what exactly it wanted to do with him. He saw sometime at middie then got bumped to the third mid line and was playing more SSDM. then toward the end of the year he got some run again at midfield. Perhaps SU wants to mold him into a two way player but outside of Albany you don't really see much of that anymore at least consistently and Dearth has flashed some nice skills at midfield. If Helmer isn't moved I can see Dearth staying at SSDM but if he is moved I think Dearth should be allowed to give it a go as strictly a middie to see what he able to do.

Goalie position has a lot of options but not much in the way of experience. There are three currently on the roster and another coming this fall. McPeak seems like a great candidate to redshirt so lets take him out of the running. That leaves Klan the former UA an OSU transfer, Porter the Canadian who played vs Cornell and Strang the former Maryland standout. Like most I was intrigued by what I saw from Porter in garbage time vs Cornell. He made some outstanding saves against Cornells starters and seemed very comfortable between the pipes. While Evan Molloy was solid for SU this year (especially against Yale), you never got the feeling you were watching a great/elite goalie. SU's last elite player at the position was probably Galloway in 2011 his Senior year. SU has at least on paper some of the best goalie depth it has had in a while, it really needs someone to step up and claim the job and play like an All-American. This will be a fascinating battle in the fall and one that appears to be completely wide open.

Faceoffs - For the first time in a long time Ben Williams won't be manning the X for the Orange. It's amazing how quickly three years goes by. Ben will absolutely be missed and based on what I believe was a lingering injury never got his proper due for a great career at Syracuse. He will absolutely be missed. As for next year it appears clear that Varello will be the guy. He had some gutty performances against some top flight faceoff guys when Ben was struggling and nearly won the Army game for us after Paduda's disasterous performance when Ben was hurt. Biggest concern here would obviously be depth. 3 faceoff specialists graduated this month and only Nick Martin returns. OrangeExtreme noted that Jack Fiorini had taken draws this year with the faceoff guys so he could be a potential dark horse candidate to see some time. SU does have two faceoff guys coming in the fall to help with Depth. Nate Garlow had a nice season for Marcellus but I would be shocked if he didn't red-shirt as he is not ready for the rigors of D-1. I am not as familiar with Jake Phoup who is out of Pennsylvania. As such it is unclear if he is someone who could challenge Varello as the starter or maybe grab the backup role. If there is one position where I think a transfer is likely its at the faceoff X. With Williams gone the road is open for someone to come in and grab/battle for a starting spot.

Will look to review the offense later today or tomorrow!

 

[Orangello]

Good summary. A couple of quick thoughts. I thought Cunningham did not get it done this year as a close defender. I would like to see DiPietro or Kennedy (assuming he's 100%) paired with Mellen and Bomberry in this unit. Whatever the unit, they need to be much more aggressive next year. Regarding Dearth, I also was not impressed with his play at SSDM. He got abused in the Colgate game and seems to get turned around a lot I'd like to see them move him full time to the offensive unit. He has the size and shooting skills we need at offensive mid given the graduations. SSDM is the biggest wild card on this side for me. I think they leave Helmer at LSM but maybe you're right and they put Laz in his spot and move him to SSDM. If they do move Dearth full time to O, they will have to move someone else into this unit even if they slide in Helmer. They played Simmons here a couple of times and that move wouldn't shock me except, Desko tends to place a premium on experience and with Salcido and Mariano gone, there are some big holes to fill on the offensive mid lines. Feel like we are going to have to do better than Schwasnick and Hutchings. However this ends up, this entire unit has to tighten up. Crappy first quarters and giving up 4-6 goals early is a recipe for disaster. I think doubly so next year as we are likely not going to have the offensive firepower to dig ourselves out of deep holes like we did repeatedly this season. Some of this is on coaching as well. It was clear that this unit did not bring consistent intensity in many games from the get go and/or seemed unprepared for what the other side was throwing at them.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Good summary. A couple of quick thoughts. I thought Cunningham did not get it done this year as a close defender. I would like to see DiPietro or Kennedy (assuming he's 100%) paired with Mellen and Bomberry in this unit. Whatever the unit, they need to be much more aggressive next year. Regarding Dearth, I also was not impressed with his play at SSDM. He got abused in the Colgate game and seems to get turned around a lot I'd like to see them move him full time to the offensive unit. He has the size and shooting skills we need at offensive mid given the graduations. SSDM is the biggest wild card on this side for me. I think they leave Helmer at LSM but maybe you're right and they put Laz in his spot and move him to SSDM. If they do move Dearth full time to O, they will have to move someone else into this unit even if they slide in Helmer. They played Simmons here a couple of times and that move wouldn't shock me except, Desko tends to place a premium on experience and with Salcido and Mariano gone, there are some big holes to fill on the offensive mid lines. Feel like we are going to have to do better than Schwasnick and Hutchings. However this ends up, this entire unit has to tighten up. Crappy first quarters and giving up 4-6 goals early is a recipe for disaster. I think doubly so next year as we are likely not going to have the offensive firepower to dig ourselves out of deep holes like we did repeatedly this season. Some of this is on coaching as well. It was clear that this unit did not bring consistent intensity in many games from the get go and/or seemed unprepared for what the other side was throwing at them.

The good news is that the current crop of SSDM's are all 6 feet and above which is the size of the SSDM's that a lot of the top level teams have been throwing at SU for the past couple of years. If they move Helmer I think they would move in Swigart or one of the frosh. Chavez has fallen pretty far down the pecking order and I wouldn't be surprised if he transferred.

In regards to Simmons, he was playing SSDM because he got caught there on a fast break or turnover, he's not an SSDM. I agree that the unit has to tighten up especially if they are dealing with a big deficit at the X. They struggled to contain teams when SU was at a big disadvantage at the X. I do think that in those instances when SU gave up big quarters it was a multi-pronged failure. Unable to win a faceoff, bad job defensively (especially when we played zone) and often the offense would have a quick turnover or shot when they finally got the ball back.

 

[Orangello]

The improvement in size at SSDM is really important. We are seeing more and more "loads" attacking the cage on offense like Rambo, Cloutier etc. The ability of the SSDM's to physically move their man outside on the alley dodge is critical. I thought OSU did a very good job of this yesterday.

The biggest thing for me is for the unit not to play passively and have the guys who can extend out on the shooters. We seemed to give up a lot of outside shooting this year in favor of packing it in close. Teams with good outside shooters torched this defense (Towson, UNC, Duke). I thought it was interesting yesterday that OSU finally started having some success in the 4th when they let it rip from outside. It was too little to late but you have to take what the other guy gives you.

 

[Orangtiz]

In terms of defense I think its pretty clear that in close it will be Mellen, T. Bomber, Cunningham I'm sure will have the advantage but watch out for others here (DiPietro, Kennedy), you all mention moving Helmer to SSDM, but I would be intrigued to see him down close. Anyone have any thoughts here? I project the defense will look like Mellen, T Bomber, DiPietro to start the season.

I really like the frosh LSM Fernandez as he is a blur in the open field and likes to push and will look to score in transition, would like to see him find his way on the field next year. Fusco to me is mister consistent, doesn't do anything great, but a lot of things good. I like his mean streak and would love to see him maybe elevate his game as a guy who is better on the takeaway checks, sometimes he is sloppy with his checks and he winds up getting a flag. I like Swigart in what we've seen and he has those long strides. Still like Helmer and his aggression, but ultimately I feel this is just a position we are too stacked at and feel he will be moved either to SSDM or as I mentioned above, why not give him a look at close defense, he Mellen and Bomber would be the best close defense we have had since the days of John Lade and Sid Smith.

As for SSDM, I think the starters will likely be Schwasnick maybe Helmer if he is moved here and Hutchings. Real dark horse no one is talking about, who I would imagine projects nicely as a SSDM would be Dami Oladunmoye out of Illinois. He was not a good, but a great high school running back and I think he could be just what the Orange need in terms of quickness and physicality at the d-midfield. I believe Jovan Miller(another great high school RB) first played SSDM as a frosh. I would like to see him get a chance out there. Pecking order at SSDM for me would be Schwaz, Hutchings, Helmer, Dearth, Oladunmoye.

Goalie is a major question mark. Have to believe it will be a fair competition, but would expect Klan to have a slight advantage as he was USA's U19 goalie and the most highly recruited. I like Porter in the time we saw him against Cornell. I heard that Dom Madonna, who was the backup this year actually has one more year of eligibility so maybe we see him, who knows?

 

[dave h]

Personally, I feel who isn't as important as how they play in 2018.

Having watched all the play-off games and gone back and watched a number of Towson games prior to the SU match up, the biggest difference is Power Lacrosse.

Towson, Maryland, Ohio State & Denver weren't there by accident

As an example go back and look at how SU defended picks and how the FF teams defended picks

SU had problems all year, going over or under Picks, switching or not switching, always on the back foot trying not to give up too much separation to the ball carrier.

Now watch the FF teams (esp Towson) they consistently ran thru or over picks and rarely over or under. Towson SSDMs used them as an opportunity to Double and cause a turnover.

They would try to create a 1v2 when the Pick man was on the floor or in 6v6 play they would leave their defenders on an island with No Slide, daring the opponent to win the 1v1 match up.

Power Lacrosse not just with size at SSDMs but with speed, agility, quickness. #14 Goodrich (TU) was a soph and the best athlete on the field.


Not just on Defense.
UMD - Rambo, Heacock. Rotanz, Davis-Allen
OSU - Fennell, LeClaire, Pearson, Pfister

if you don't have the Power and Size you better have exceptional quickness to make up for it

All four teams at Gillette would have beaten Cuse

BFS - Bigger, Faster, Stronger

Big Boy Lacrosse is back

What I would like to see in 2018 is Hal Luther "hold the rope"

it's playing defense with Power and Malice, finish checks, legal body checks using your shoulder

leaning in to and driving with your shoulder on Offense

SSDMs thriving on the challenge and wanting opponents to take them on, the number of times I saw flat footed, too upright, lazy, too cool for school positioning and stance by SSDMs hoping to be bailed out by the poles. Content to just recover into the hole rather than play some actual physical defense, Lift the elbow, Drive them away from goal, trail check.

It seems the whole of Div I are happy to cross check & cross-check hold and yet Cuse don't lay a glove on them

Wing Play
where is SUs Neufeldt & Davis-Allen or Goodrich & Mayes,

Speed and tenacity cover a multitude of sins

 

[tbonezone]

mellen back. better than ever. that's a huge step forward. very talented close D. we have some middie scoring and leadership to replace but you have to like what we saw from the young attackmen. go cuse !

 

[PhatOrange]

They would try to create a 1v2 when the Pick man was on the floor or in 6v6 play they would leave their defenders on an island with No Slide, daring the opponent to win the 1v1 match up.

Good post. I think this part is what really hurt Syracuse this year and maybe the last few. We don't have an attackman that can win a 1v1 matchup, or a go to attackman who can just consistently get it done. This is a big reason why I'm high on Rehfuss because he has good size and appeared he has the potential to be able to do this consistently. win the 1v1 match up.