JeremyCuse
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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A whirlwind few weeks after that tough Virginia loss. Give the team and staff credit for getting three big wins against JHU, Rutty, and Duke. All three the team looked to be in trouble and they found away to win. With this schedule those were 3 huge wins especially with Rutgers win this past weekend putting them back in the at large discussion. Mellen, Kennedy, Phaup, Fernandez, Lipka, Solomon (for the most part), the SSDMs, starting midfield etc, there has been a lot of outstanding play. I also think Donahue has done a good job getting goals from an offense that has some glaring holes.
As for the ND game and where we go from here a few thoughts. The slow starts are nothing new and have unfortunately become a hallmark of the Desko regime the last 5-7 years. Now we have also generated some amazing comebacks during this era as well (to many to mention) but when you play with fire its only a matter of time before you get burned and we got burned on Sat big time. You can't constantly dig yourself a whole and expect to always make the miraculous comeback, its not going to happen.
For the game itself there were disappointing issues. To me the most concerning where the turnovers and first half defense. The turnovers were beyond frustrating. SU went into the Duke game #1 in the nation and the last two games we have looked like St. Bonaventure. Now give ND credit they were responsible for forcing some of the 23 or 24 turnovers we had last Saturday but at least 60% were self inflicted. Dumb passes to covered players, BTB passes when were down 5 goals, trying to split a triple team on the clear when another play is wide open, just dropping a wide open pass, rifling a pass at a players knees when there 7 yards away etc etc etc. It was pitiful. I dont know if it was because it was the first road game, we were outside or what the problem was but jesus it felt like I was watching a middle school game at times out there. ND does a good job on the ride but they are not really an overaggressive D in the 6 on 6, so to have that many turnovers was infuriating. I am not going to sit here and say I have the answer to solve the issue, especially when it seemed like everybody on the roster turned it over but we have to be light years better starting Tuesday. Our passes in general need to be better, to many times a guy would make a pass to an open teammate and it was rifled at their ankles or we would drop a simple pass and catch which happened at least 2 or 3 times and even Ward called it out. Second stop trying to run through double and triple teams on the clear especially the long poles. Somebody has to be open, I don't mind Dearth doing it but we had 2-3 turnovers when guys got surrounded and didn't pass the ball. Lastly Solomon and others need to stop with the BTB nonsense, this isn't the asll star game, we don't need a BTB pass to the crease down 5 goals in the 1st quarter. Overall the passing has to get light years better, it was an abomination last Saturday.
Defensively I have no idea what that 1st half was but we looked lost and then in the 2nd half we looked the SU team that stonewalled Duke the week before. Porter has been great most of the year but he's developing a bad pattern with these slow starts and struggling with low shots. It was certainly a team effort (a bad one) in the first half but he's got to get on track quicker because Strang looked excellent in the 2nd half. Overall we struggled everywhere in that 1st half, short stick play, Fusco getting beat twice on Costabile running toward the middle on a sweep shot, Mellen and Bomberry not sliding, Cunningham looking lost etc etc etc. SU defensively the last few years as a couple games or at least halves where we just look lost and Sat was one of them. Not going to panic or belate the point but much like the turnovers we have to be better period. The dumb penalties need to stop as well. I know this team is more physical then we have been really since probably the 08 team but we can't afford 3 un-releasable penalties, two of which we were getting the ball back on. Bomberry and Kennedy both know better, can't have it. We did look better in the 2nd half for sure but we need more of a 60 min effort.
From an offensive standpoint it was pretty much a mirror image of the Duke and Colgate first halves. Attack completely MIA, turning the ball over every other possession and low % shots. ND like Duke did a good job of snuffing out any real transition opportunities and really stressed getting back to stop SU from getting fast break goals and forcing us to score in the 6 on 6. SU in my opinion is being hurt by a few things in particular that are showing up week after week.
1. The depth we had going into the season (at least on paper) has not materialized. Dordevic's injury is the main culprit there but secondary guys like O'Sullivan and McKinney who could have given some midfield minutes and add a new wrinkle have been hurt as well and haven't seen the field all year. Quinn was back but appeared to only get 1 run and then disappeared, Magnan has gone MIA as well.. Buttermore after an unbelievable stretch has now gone scoreless in 3 straight games, and looks like Dejoe with his shot accuracy. Ditto for Carlin who after a decent year last year has made almost no impact. SU the last 5+ years has run a 2nd and 3rd mid line pretty consistently, this year were running a 1st line and sort of mixed 2nd. With so many middies on the roster its a bit perplexing we can't run a competent second mid line. We really need to get Buttermore, Carlin and Quinn/Magnan on track to take some pressure off that 1st mid line.
2. Personnel decisions - Its not secret I am high on Cook and while he has run hot and cold I don't think the staff is doing him any favors. We keep bouncing him back and forth between attack and Midfield and he hasn't had a chance to get comfortable anywhere. The offense looked the best on Sat when Cook was at attack and Solomon was running through the box. I would like to see Cook getting his minutes almost exclusively at attack, let him build some confidence and play where he is most comfortable. Speaking of attack the Seebold experiment needs to end. I get that Voigt was hobbled a few possessions but this is year 2 of runnign him out there a few possessions each game and he still doesn't have a point. I don't want to write the kid off but he looks lost out there. I guess he could be shining in practice but its definitely not carrying over. At this point lets see what Nelson can do with some minutes as I assume Berkman is not ready and is RS.
3. Attack spot - Not to be a dead horse here but the attack unit continues to be the weak spot. Every game it seems we have 1 of the 3 starters play well while the other two struggle. Solomon has been the most consistent but he was a a mess on Sunday with the turnovers. I think Voigt is doing what he can but his complete inability to dodge makes him to easy defend against better teams especially when we don't have an elite dodger to force a slide and get him open. He did have 3 goals on Sat so that was nice to see. Rehfuss is what he is, a good attackmen who would thrive as a 2nd or 3rd option thats being asked to be the 1 or 1A option on this team. Rehfuss would look a world better if he had a Donahue or Rice or Staats to play off of instead of trying to be the main dodging attackmen which he struggles with. Now again he's out there giving his all for sure but were asking him to play a role I don't think he can. It doesn't help when Curry is shooting 2 for 20 or whatever is the last two games and Trimboli had turnover issues against ND.
It unfortunately speaks to the lack of high end or elite attackmen on the roster that has been this teams blind spot the last 3-4 years. We all know the names and who should or could be here but there not. Issue #1 for this staff to solve this off-season is the attack spot because we need help their desperately.
All that said the team is still in relatively good shape when you look at the tourney. the Duke win took a hit but that evened out with Rutty beating OSU. If you look at the remaining schedule of Hobart, Cornell, UNC, an Navy. The team needs to be 2-2 at worst and really 3-1 if it wants a decent seed. Navy is a mess right now so I would like to think that will be a win. The other three will certainly be a battle. This team has responded well to the other losses this season and obviously the schedule has been a bear (every game besides Gate has been against a top 20 team) so I am hopeful they will respond on Tuesday. Still SU is going into a tough situation on Tuesday. This is our first mid week game, its on the road, and Hobart hasn't played since last Wednesday. Now Hobart is only a 45-50 drive so its not liek were playing at High Point but make no mistake this is Hobart's super bowl and they will want this game bad. SU really needs this win and needs to come out and play their best game of the season tomorrow night.
As for the ND game and where we go from here a few thoughts. The slow starts are nothing new and have unfortunately become a hallmark of the Desko regime the last 5-7 years. Now we have also generated some amazing comebacks during this era as well (to many to mention) but when you play with fire its only a matter of time before you get burned and we got burned on Sat big time. You can't constantly dig yourself a whole and expect to always make the miraculous comeback, its not going to happen.
For the game itself there were disappointing issues. To me the most concerning where the turnovers and first half defense. The turnovers were beyond frustrating. SU went into the Duke game #1 in the nation and the last two games we have looked like St. Bonaventure. Now give ND credit they were responsible for forcing some of the 23 or 24 turnovers we had last Saturday but at least 60% were self inflicted. Dumb passes to covered players, BTB passes when were down 5 goals, trying to split a triple team on the clear when another play is wide open, just dropping a wide open pass, rifling a pass at a players knees when there 7 yards away etc etc etc. It was pitiful. I dont know if it was because it was the first road game, we were outside or what the problem was but jesus it felt like I was watching a middle school game at times out there. ND does a good job on the ride but they are not really an overaggressive D in the 6 on 6, so to have that many turnovers was infuriating. I am not going to sit here and say I have the answer to solve the issue, especially when it seemed like everybody on the roster turned it over but we have to be light years better starting Tuesday. Our passes in general need to be better, to many times a guy would make a pass to an open teammate and it was rifled at their ankles or we would drop a simple pass and catch which happened at least 2 or 3 times and even Ward called it out. Second stop trying to run through double and triple teams on the clear especially the long poles. Somebody has to be open, I don't mind Dearth doing it but we had 2-3 turnovers when guys got surrounded and didn't pass the ball. Lastly Solomon and others need to stop with the BTB nonsense, this isn't the asll star game, we don't need a BTB pass to the crease down 5 goals in the 1st quarter. Overall the passing has to get light years better, it was an abomination last Saturday.
Defensively I have no idea what that 1st half was but we looked lost and then in the 2nd half we looked the SU team that stonewalled Duke the week before. Porter has been great most of the year but he's developing a bad pattern with these slow starts and struggling with low shots. It was certainly a team effort (a bad one) in the first half but he's got to get on track quicker because Strang looked excellent in the 2nd half. Overall we struggled everywhere in that 1st half, short stick play, Fusco getting beat twice on Costabile running toward the middle on a sweep shot, Mellen and Bomberry not sliding, Cunningham looking lost etc etc etc. SU defensively the last few years as a couple games or at least halves where we just look lost and Sat was one of them. Not going to panic or belate the point but much like the turnovers we have to be better period. The dumb penalties need to stop as well. I know this team is more physical then we have been really since probably the 08 team but we can't afford 3 un-releasable penalties, two of which we were getting the ball back on. Bomberry and Kennedy both know better, can't have it. We did look better in the 2nd half for sure but we need more of a 60 min effort.
From an offensive standpoint it was pretty much a mirror image of the Duke and Colgate first halves. Attack completely MIA, turning the ball over every other possession and low % shots. ND like Duke did a good job of snuffing out any real transition opportunities and really stressed getting back to stop SU from getting fast break goals and forcing us to score in the 6 on 6. SU in my opinion is being hurt by a few things in particular that are showing up week after week.
1. The depth we had going into the season (at least on paper) has not materialized. Dordevic's injury is the main culprit there but secondary guys like O'Sullivan and McKinney who could have given some midfield minutes and add a new wrinkle have been hurt as well and haven't seen the field all year. Quinn was back but appeared to only get 1 run and then disappeared, Magnan has gone MIA as well.. Buttermore after an unbelievable stretch has now gone scoreless in 3 straight games, and looks like Dejoe with his shot accuracy. Ditto for Carlin who after a decent year last year has made almost no impact. SU the last 5+ years has run a 2nd and 3rd mid line pretty consistently, this year were running a 1st line and sort of mixed 2nd. With so many middies on the roster its a bit perplexing we can't run a competent second mid line. We really need to get Buttermore, Carlin and Quinn/Magnan on track to take some pressure off that 1st mid line.
2. Personnel decisions - Its not secret I am high on Cook and while he has run hot and cold I don't think the staff is doing him any favors. We keep bouncing him back and forth between attack and Midfield and he hasn't had a chance to get comfortable anywhere. The offense looked the best on Sat when Cook was at attack and Solomon was running through the box. I would like to see Cook getting his minutes almost exclusively at attack, let him build some confidence and play where he is most comfortable. Speaking of attack the Seebold experiment needs to end. I get that Voigt was hobbled a few possessions but this is year 2 of runnign him out there a few possessions each game and he still doesn't have a point. I don't want to write the kid off but he looks lost out there. I guess he could be shining in practice but its definitely not carrying over. At this point lets see what Nelson can do with some minutes as I assume Berkman is not ready and is RS.
3. Attack spot - Not to be a dead horse here but the attack unit continues to be the weak spot. Every game it seems we have 1 of the 3 starters play well while the other two struggle. Solomon has been the most consistent but he was a a mess on Sunday with the turnovers. I think Voigt is doing what he can but his complete inability to dodge makes him to easy defend against better teams especially when we don't have an elite dodger to force a slide and get him open. He did have 3 goals on Sat so that was nice to see. Rehfuss is what he is, a good attackmen who would thrive as a 2nd or 3rd option thats being asked to be the 1 or 1A option on this team. Rehfuss would look a world better if he had a Donahue or Rice or Staats to play off of instead of trying to be the main dodging attackmen which he struggles with. Now again he's out there giving his all for sure but were asking him to play a role I don't think he can. It doesn't help when Curry is shooting 2 for 20 or whatever is the last two games and Trimboli had turnover issues against ND.
It unfortunately speaks to the lack of high end or elite attackmen on the roster that has been this teams blind spot the last 3-4 years. We all know the names and who should or could be here but there not. Issue #1 for this staff to solve this off-season is the attack spot because we need help their desperately.
All that said the team is still in relatively good shape when you look at the tourney. the Duke win took a hit but that evened out with Rutty beating OSU. If you look at the remaining schedule of Hobart, Cornell, UNC, an Navy. The team needs to be 2-2 at worst and really 3-1 if it wants a decent seed. Navy is a mess right now so I would like to think that will be a win. The other three will certainly be a battle. This team has responded well to the other losses this season and obviously the schedule has been a bear (every game besides Gate has been against a top 20 team) so I am hopeful they will respond on Tuesday. Still SU is going into a tough situation on Tuesday. This is our first mid week game, its on the road, and Hobart hasn't played since last Wednesday. Now Hobart is only a 45-50 drive so its not liek were playing at High Point but make no mistake this is Hobart's super bowl and they will want this game bad. SU really needs this win and needs to come out and play their best game of the season tomorrow night.
