Thoughts on UNC some General Thoughts and Updated with some Navy observations

[JeremyCuse]

Been a whirlwind last couple of weeks for Syracuse. An improbable comeback and win over a Duke, an outstanding D performance against an offensively challenged ND team, a struggle but a comfortable 11-4 win over Hobart followed by a frustrating loss to an offensive powerhouse Cornell team. For last Sat's UNC game I was really dissapointed with how the offense came out and played especially in the first half. Varello had one of his best games and the D was lights out in the first half and we went into halftime tied at 4. Now I haven't had a chance to re-watch the game yet so some of these thoughts are me trying to recall from Saturday so I apologize if there slightly off. To me the biggest concern was the overall sloppy play on offense and the turnovers. Its' conerning were this far into the season against the #1 or #2 schedule in the country and yet we were turning the ball over like that last Saturday. Some of those turnovers were ones you would expect to see in the first or second scrimmage in January or the first fall ball practice, just brutal.

Three turnovers really stick out in my mind:
1. After an SU clear Simmons has the ball of GLE he looks around and doesn't see anyone to pass to immediately. He holds the ball for a minute and then tries either a shovel pass or a behind the back pass to the crease (can' remember which ) to Rehfuss which doens't reach him and easily taken away by UNC.
2. After a lengthy D possession SU comes away with the stop and has the ball behind the cage near the SU sideline. Either Dipetro or Kennedy throws a pass crossfield to a wide open Bomberry. The pass is short hopped and Bomberry doesn't bend over and the ball is promptly turned over and UNC scores.
3. After SU comes up with a GB on the last faceoff of regulation Dearth (who played well besides this) under only little pressure absolutely air mails a pass to a wide open middie and UNC nearly wins the game at the buzzer.

If Syracuse is going to make any sort of tourney run these turnovers HAVE to be cleared up or Albany, Maryland, Yale etc will dust us. Again this is just 3 examples, at least half our turnovers were unforced and made the game hard to watch. This team also has to get better on GB's. I can't tell you how many times on Saturday SU failed to scoop a GB it drove you to madness. Watching the ball get missed completely pushed ahead or fall out of the stick it was mindnumbing. We were better late but GBs have been an issue all year. Most frustrating is that SU is often in position but just can't pick the dame ball up. Offensively I thought for a good portion of the game we saw what we have seen a lot this year = inconsistency. SU came out and got a good early goal but then didn't score the rest of the quarter and had another long scoring drought. We didn't look crisp on the man up ( ball movement was way way to slow), and some of our top guys struggled. Curry obviously was a revelation late and his invert in OT was outstanding to see. It take some of the pressure of of Rehfuss and Solomon to dodge and forces teams to decide who to pole or to try double polling.

I thought Rehfuss and Trimboli were really held in check and struggled to make much of an impact. I think Rowlett may have had Rehfuss so that explains that a little bit. Trimbo played a lot but most of his shots were high to high and he seemed out of sorts. He and Rehfuss struggling in the same game is real bad news for SU. The good news was that Solomon aside from a bizarre turnover early a failed EMO was excellent and Matt Lane added 2 huge goals in the first half. Carlin and Lipka scored again as well which really helps to take some of the pressure off of the 1st mid line. I thought Simmons was a mess again and I think Lane got some of his run in the second half. Desko seemed to tighten up the lines a little bit this game as I think the third line only got one run.

I am concerned a bit about Dordevic and wonder if he has the Frosh wall. Kid looked all world against UVA but has really struggled since. Clearly he is drawing more attention since that performance but his shot accuracy has fallen of the face of the earth and he has really struggled to put shots on cage. He's only a Fresheman with an extremely bright future but it's concerning that I think he scored as many goals vs UVA as he has since that game. We gotta get him going again because with him playing at a high level the offense just goes to another level. Offense did show some flashes when we went on those two goal runs a few times in the second half led by Solomon and I believe that Seebold saw some PT on two straight runs as well both of which SU scored on. So much young offensive talent on this team and coming in its scary. Right now I think Desko needs to scrap running McKinney with the 1st line, he doesn't have 1 point since we started doing it about 6-7 games ago and its usally Curry who sits when he plays. Would like to see Dekso stay with the starters on the 1st line and then run a second line of Lipka, Carlin, and either Lane or Simmons. Personally I think Simmons should be bumped as he has 1 goal the entire season but based on his family's legacy and his dad being on the staff etc thats probably not going to happen. The third mid line seems to be Lane, Romano and Quinn but they haven't gotten much run the past few games.

Despite the continued issues this team has found away to go 4-0 in the ACC which is quite impressive even beating a desperate UNC team despite there losing streak is definitely a good sign. Varello has played much better since his struggle vs Hobart which has been great to see. He has a tough matchup coming up this week against his brother but more on that in another post. Defensively I thought Madonna didn't play well and the SSDMs while not awful weren't great. The D got hung out to dry on at least 3 or 4 goals due to bad turnovers by the offense but they struggled late on ISO dodges giving up some good looks to UNC attackmen. Individually I though the close defense was again pretty good, Mellen locked down Cloutier and Kelly only had two goals. I thought the LSMs did a great job on Cook as I don't think he registered a point. Gotta clean up the D on fast breaks and keep looking for the right SSDM combo, though it appeared Dearth got some extended run there and did well. Interesting matchups this weekend for the D and staff.

Will have some thoughts on Navy later in the week but wanted to post some general musing about the D 1 landscape

- Ivy league seems a lock for two bids wtih Yale and Cornell both of whom should be a difficult out this year. I think Penn has to make the Ivy title game now after last nights loss.

- Interesting that Umass seems like a favorite in their conference for the first time in a while, been lean times up that way for several years so good to see them get something going.

_ On the other hand Alberici at Army needs to overhaul that offensive system. Good defense with a high end goalie and faceoff guy but they're just abysmal offensively. I know Alberici is highly respected and beat ND and SU last year but its hard to see them making the tourney less having success there anytime soon without an overhaul. They also lose a bunch of what good offensive players they have to graduation - ouch.

- I am no maryland fan but I watched most of there game against Rutty and they were impressive. D isn't as good as it has been the last few years and they dont' have much in the way of offensive depth but there solid everywhere. They are machines on Gb's and just don't make the sloppy mistakes that have plagued us.

- Interesting to see if UNC shows up this weekend despite their season effectively being over. ND's offense has completely dissapeared so if they bring it I wouldn't be shocked if they won but there D has to play a lot better then it did late against SU.

 

[laxsummit]

Been a whirlwind last couple of weeks for Syracuse. An improbable comeback and win over a Duke, an outstanding D performance against an offensively challenged ND team, a struggle but a comfortable 11-4 win over Hobart followed by a frustrating loss to an offensive powerhouse Cornell team. For last Sat's UNC game I was really dissapointed with how the offense came out and played especially in the first half. Varello had one of his best games and the D was lights out in the first half and we went into halftime tied at 4. Now I haven't had a chance to re-watch the game yet so some of these thoughts are me trying to recall from Saturday so I apologize if there slightly off. To me the biggest concern was the overall sloppy play on offense and the turnovers. Its' conerning were this far into the season against the #1 or #2 schedule in the country and yet we were turning the ball over like that last Saturday. Some of those turnovers were ones you would expect to see in the first or second scrimmage in January or the first fall ball practice, just brutal.

Three turnovers really stick out in my mind:
1. After an SU clear Simmons has the ball of GLE he looks around and doesn't see anyone to pass to immediately. He holds the ball for a minute and then tries either a shovel pass or a behind the back pass to the crease (can' remember which ) to Rehfuss which doens't reach him and easily taken away by UNC.
2. After a lengthy D possession SU comes away with the stop and has the ball behind the cage near the SU sideline. Either Dipetro or Kennedy throws a pass crossfield to a wide open Bomberry. The pass is short hopped and Bomberry doesn't bend over and the ball is promptly turned over and UNC scores.
3. After SU comes up with a GB on the last faceoff of regulation Dearth (who played well besides this) under only little pressure absolutely air mails a pass to a wide open middie and UNC nearly wins the game at the buzzer.

If Syracuse is going to make any sort of tourney run these turnovers HAVE to be cleared up or Albany, Maryland, Yale etc will dust us. Again this is just 3 examples, at least half our turnovers were unforced and made the game hard to watch. This team also has to get better on GB's. I can't tell you how many times on Saturday SU failed to scoop a GB it drove you to madness. Watching the ball get missed completely pushed ahead or fall out of the stick it was mindnumbing. We were better late but GBs have been an issue all year. Most frustrating is that SU is often in position but just can't pick the dame ball up. Offensively I thought for a good portion of the game we saw what we have seen a lot this year = inconsistency. SU came out and got a good early goal but then didn't score the rest of the quarter and had another long scoring drought. We didn't look crisp on the man up ( ball movement was way way to slow), and some of our top guys struggled. Curry obviously was a revelation late and his invert in OT was outstanding to see. It take some of the pressure of of Rehfuss and Solomon to dodge and forces teams to decide who to pole or to try double polling.

I thought Rehfuss and Trimboli were really held in check and struggled to make much of an impact. I think Rowlett may have had Rehfuss so that explains that a little bit. Trimbo played a lot but most of his shots were high to high and he seemed out of sorts. He and Rehfuss struggling in the same game is real bad news for SU. The good news was that Solomon aside from a bizarre turnover early a failed EMO was excellent and Matt Lane added 2 huge goals in the first half. Carlin and Lipka scored again as well which really helps to take some of the pressure off of the 1st mid line. I thought Simmons was a mess again and I think Lane got some of his run in the second half. Desko seemed to tighten up the lines a little bit this game as I think the third line only got one run.

I am concerned a bit about Dordevic and wonder if he has the Frosh wall. Kid looked all world against UVA but has really struggled since. Clearly he is drawing more attention since that performance but his shot accuracy has fallen of the face of the earth and he has really struggled to put shots on cage. He's only a Fresheman with an extremely bright future but it's concerning that I think he scored as many goals vs UVA as he has since that game. We gotta get him going again because with him playing at a high level the offense just goes to another level. Offense did show some flashes when we went on those two goal runs a few times in the second half led by Solomon and I believe that Seebold saw some PT on two straight runs as well both of which SU scored on. So much young offensive talent on this team and coming in its scary. Right now I think Desko needs to scrap running McKinney with the 1st line, he doesn't have 1 point since we started doing it about 6-7 games ago and its usally Curry who sits when he plays. Would like to see Dekso stay with the starters on the 1st line and then run a second line of Lipka, Carlin, and either Lane or Simmons. Personally I think Simmons should be bumped as he has 1 goal the entire season but based on his family's legacy and his dad being on the staff etc thats probably not going to happen. The third mid line seems to be Lane, Romano and Quinn but they haven't gotten much run the past few games.

Despite the continued issues this team has found away to go 4-0 in the ACC which is quite impressive even beating a desperate UNC team despite there losing streak is definitely a good sign. Varello has played much better since his struggle vs Hobart which has been great to see. He has a tough matchup coming up this week against his brother but more on that in another post. Defensively I thought Madonna didn't play well and the SSDMs while not awful weren't great. The D got hung out to dry on at least 3 or 4 goals due to bad turnovers by the offense but they struggled late on ISO dodges giving up some good looks to UNC attackmen. Individually I though the close defense was again pretty good, Mellen locked down Cloutier and Kelly only had two goals. I thought the LSMs did a great job on Cook as I don't think he registered a point. Gotta clean up the D on fast breaks and keep looking for the right SSDM combo, though it appeared Dearth got some extended run there and did well. Interesting matchups this weekend for the D and staff.

Will have some thoughts on Navy later in the week but wanted to post some general musing about the D 1 landscape

- Ivy league seems a lock for two bids wtih Yale and Cornell both of whom should be a difficult out this year. I think Penn has to make the Ivy title game now after last nights loss.

- Interesting that Umass seems like a favorite in their conference for the first time in a while, been lean times up that way for several years so good to see them get something going.

_ On the other hand Alberici needs to overhaul that offensive system. Good defense with a high end goalie and faceoff guy and their just abysmal offensively. I know Alberici is highly expected and beat ND and SU last year but its hard to see them making the tourney less having success there anytime soon without an overhaul. They also lose a bunch of what good offensive players they have to graduation - ouch.

- I am no maryland fan but I watched most of there game against Rutty and they were impressive. D isn't as good as it has been the last few years and they dont' have much in the way of offensive depth but there solid everywhere. They are machines on Gb's and just don't make the sloppy mistakes that have plagued us.

- Interesting to see if UNC shows up this weekend despite their season effectively being over. ND's offense has completely dissapeared so if they bring it I wouldn't be shocked if they won but there D has to play a lot better then it did late against SU.

With all due respect, I think one should rewatch and have the facts correct if one is going to write such a long passage as errors abound. A few times Ive noticed some comments are posted without a watch or based on watching highlights .As far as your cited 3 turnovers, Simmons shovel was actually a creative attempt and one of the least egregious turnovers of the day to cite imo as there was several unforced errors . Simmons short stint included a rotation where the ball moved well and Lipka scored a goal and Simmons always puts forth a earnest effort defensively . imo, The runs by him and McKinney were so brief that they dont even deserve much mention less much criticism. Good to see Lane get on board to avoid critique on his minimal shifts as well. Secondly , neither Dipietro or Kennedy made a bad pass, the play you may be referring to was a perfectly thrown ball by DiPietro back to Mellen who uncharacteristically dropped the ball which was immediately turned into a goal. Tyson who has a great stick also had two to's .It happens to the best . Mellen played great on ball D . Thirdly, Dearth was under pressure from a ss from the time he caught the pass off a great gb by Tyson, he avoided a good check but that ss may have made contact with his stick on his pass. Dearth was aggressive throughout the game coming up with some big gb's and playing some good late D with ss. He also drew a penalty on one of his tough gb's. As far as gb's, it was UNC who blew several gb's and it cost them the game. We won the face-off battle despite them double poling, won gb's 34-30, the reality is we are not coming out of every scrum with the ball. As far as Dordevic, he looks the same to me. He was getting poled by #4 and that leads to other opportunities elsewhere to capitalize and we did. I also dont recall any iso by attack men unless you are referring to Trippi scoring on a ssdm who actually played him fairly well. The rotation did appear to be shortened. Carlin has been looking good and may have been given some additional minutes and Curry as noted did have fresh legs at game end. We are imperfect and made plenty of mistakes, 15 turnovers is way too many some leading to fastbreaks and breakdowns . Fair to say that our transition D was lacking and that needs a closer look. Th reality is that we need to be more consistent in our execution on both ends over sixty minutes, thankfully we came back and beat a desperate team and that involved us making several big plays down the stretch.

 

[JeremyCuse]

With all due respect, I think one should rewatch and have the facts correct if one is going to write such a long passage as errors abound. A few times Ive noticed some comments are posted without a watch or based on watching highlights .As far as your cited 3 turnovers, Simmons shovel was actually a creative attempt and one of the least egregious turnovers of the day to cite imo as there was several unforced errors . Simmons short stint included a rotation where the ball moved well and Lipka scored a goal and Simmons always puts forth a earnest effort defensively . imo, The runs by him and McKinney were so brief that they dont even deserve much mention less much criticism. Good to see Lane get on board to avoid critique on his minimal shifts as well. Secondly , neither Dipietro or Kennedy made a bad pass, the play you may be referring to was a perfectly thrown ball by DiPietro back to Mellen who uncharacteristically dropped the ball which was immediately turned into a goal. Tyson who has a great stick also had two to's .It happens to the best . Mellen played great on ball D . Thirdly, Dearth was under pressure from a ss from the time he caught the pass off a great gb by Tyson, he avoided a good check but that ss may have made contact with his stick on his pass. Dearth was aggressive throughout the game coming up with some big gb's and playing some good late D with ss. He also drew a penalty on one of his tough gb's. As far as gb's, it was UNC who blew several gb's and it cost them the game. We won the face-off battle despite them double poling, won gb's 34-30, the reality is we are not coming out of every scrum with the ball. As far as Dordevic, he looks the same to me. He was getting poled by #4 and that leads to other opportunities elsewhere to capitalize and we did. I also dont recall any iso by attack men unless you are referring to Trippi scoring on a ssdm who actually played him fairly well. The rotation did appear to be shortened. Carlin has been looking good and may have been given some additional minutes and Curry as noted did have fresh legs at game end. We are imperfect and made plenty of mistakes, 15 turnovers is way too many some leading to fastbreaks and breakdowns . Fair to say that our transition D was lacking and that needs a closer look. Th reality is that we need to be more consistent in our execution on both ends over sixty minutes, thankfully we came back and beat a desperate team and that involved us making several big plays down the stretch.

Happy to take the criticism but again as I noted in my original post that I was going off of watching the game from Saturday and most of my thoughts were just opinions or my take on a player doesn't mean its an error if you disagree. I Have to disagree wholeheartedly about Simmons, the pass was awful and he's had a turnover like that in 3 of the last 4 games. He plays hard and adds a veteran presence on the second line but he has 1 goal the entire year and hasn't scored a point since the Army game. He has more turnovers (5) then Pts (3) on the year. Not trying to bury the kid but everyone gets on Lane when Simmons has been worse. Mckinney gets criticism because hes getting 2-3 runs a game on the 1st line that take Curry or Dordevic off and he has had no impact whatsoever.

In regards to the turnover with Bombery you are incorrect. The play was as I described it but I had the wrong passer, The pass came from Lipka who must have got caught back on defense after a middie run. The pass was bad and short hopped Tyson who couldn't handle it causing the ball to go through his legs where Cloutier picks it up. An unforced error that really plagued the team in the UNC game which is why I pointed it out. Certainly not the end of the world for either player.

As far Dearth he was under some pressure but air-mailed that pass to a wide open player, again as I noted I thought he played pretty good but you can't have that turnover there tied that late in the game. I mentioned it more because of when and how it happened. He was far from the only one, Trimbo had 1 or 2 ditto for Rehfuss and Tyson as you pointed out. Dearth is a young player who I think can be a good two way guy for SU, nice future ahead of him.

Again agree to disagree on Dordevic, he hasn't looked like the same player. Go back and watch the ND and Hobart games he gets some great looks but can't put anything on cage. Certainly not suggesting he should be bumped or anything but he doesn't look at sharp as he did earlier in the year especially against UVA. He had 4 goals against UVA, since that game he is 4 for 26.

Regarding the ISO goals you are correct I mis-spoke, Trippi had 2 in the second half from the midfield not attack and I think there was a third by someone that may have occurred in the first half where the guy scored on a great move from X and beat Madonna up high on what was a really nice goal. Perry scored on a dodge from up top to start third against a shorty but it was a pretry nice move, reminded me of Salcido. Again I thought the SSDMs did OK. Mellen as I pointed out in my OP was outstanding once again.

Your last thoughts about the tunovers and fast break D and other issues I agree with 100% and echo my thoughts in the original post. 15 turnovers is way to many for a team like this with an inconsisent offense. Lots of areas to continue to clean up on but as we both pointed out still a nice win versus a desperate opponent when we had a lot of turnovers and sloppy play. I think this team needs a much more solid 60 minute game if were going to make a run and beat a top team in the quarters so thats what I am hoping we can get but I know this is a young squad that honestly is probably a year ahed of schedule and when you look at the numbers probably should be .500 or so right now. Kudos to the staff and players for once again overcoming tall odds but we need to do it in the post-season now and set ourselves up for a final four run next year.

 

[sholokov2]

Been a whirlwind last couple of weeks for Syracuse. An improbable comeback and win over a Duke, an outstanding D performance against an offensively challenged ND team, a struggle but a comfortable 11-4 win over Hobart followed by a frustrating loss to an offensive powerhouse Cornell team. For last Sat's UNC game I was really dissapointed with how the offense came out and played especially in the first half. Varello had one of his best games and the D was lights out in the first half and we went into halftime tied at 4. Now I haven't had a chance to re-watch the game yet so some of these thoughts are me trying to recall from Saturday so I apologize if there slightly off. To me the biggest concern was the overall sloppy play on offense and the turnovers. Its' conerning were this far into the season against the #1 or #2 schedule in the country and yet we were turning the ball over like that last Saturday. Some of those turnovers were ones you would expect to see in the first or second scrimmage in January or the first fall ball practice, just brutal.

Three turnovers really stick out in my mind:
1. After an SU clear Simmons has the ball of GLE he looks around and doesn't see anyone to pass to immediately. He holds the ball for a minute and then tries either a shovel pass or a behind the back pass to the crease (can' remember which ) to Rehfuss which doens't reach him and easily taken away by UNC.
2. After a lengthy D possession SU comes away with the stop and has the ball behind the cage near the SU sideline. Either Dipetro or Kennedy throws a pass crossfield to a wide open Bomberry. The pass is short hopped and Bomberry doesn't bend over and the ball is promptly turned over and UNC scores.
3. After SU comes up with a GB on the last faceoff of regulation Dearth (who played well besides this) under only little pressure absolutely air mails a pass to a wide open middie and UNC nearly wins the game at the buzzer.

If Syracuse is going to make any sort of tourney run these turnovers HAVE to be cleared up or Albany, Maryland, Yale etc will dust us. Again this is just 3 examples, at least half our turnovers were unforced and made the game hard to watch. This team also has to get better on GB's. I can't tell you how many times on Saturday SU failed to scoop a GB it drove you to madness. Watching the ball get missed completely pushed ahead or fall out of the stick it was mindnumbing. We were better late but GBs have been an issue all year. Most frustrating is that SU is often in position but just can't pick the dame ball up. Offensively I thought for a good portion of the game we saw what we have seen a lot this year = inconsistency. SU came out and got a good early goal but then didn't score the rest of the quarter and had another long scoring drought. We didn't look crisp on the man up ( ball movement was way way to slow), and some of our top guys struggled. Curry obviously was a revelation late and his invert in OT was outstanding to see. It take some of the pressure of of Rehfuss and Solomon to dodge and forces teams to decide who to pole or to try double polling.

I thought Rehfuss and Trimboli were really held in check and struggled to make much of an impact. I think Rowlett may have had Rehfuss so that explains that a little bit. Trimbo played a lot but most of his shots were high to high and he seemed out of sorts. He and Rehfuss struggling in the same game is real bad news for SU. The good news was that Solomon aside from a bizarre turnover early a failed EMO was excellent and Matt Lane added 2 huge goals in the first half. Carlin and Lipka scored again as well which really helps to take some of the pressure off of the 1st mid line. I thought Simmons was a mess again and I think Lane got some of his run in the second half. Desko seemed to tighten up the lines a little bit this game as I think the third line only got one run.

I am concerned a bit about Dordevic and wonder if he has the Frosh wall. Kid looked all world against UVA but has really struggled since. Clearly he is drawing more attention since that performance but his shot accuracy has fallen of the face of the earth and he has really struggled to put shots on cage. He's only a Fresheman with an extremely bright future but it's concerning that I think he scored as many goals vs UVA as he has since that game. We gotta get him going again because with him playing at a high level the offense just goes to another level. Offense did show some flashes when we went on those two goal runs a few times in the second half led by Solomon and I believe that Seebold saw some PT on two straight runs as well both of which SU scored on. So much young offensive talent on this team and coming in its scary. Right now I think Desko needs to scrap running McKinney with the 1st line, he doesn't have 1 point since we started doing it about 6-7 games ago and its usally Curry who sits when he plays. Would like to see Dekso stay with the starters on the 1st line and then run a second line of Lipka, Carlin, and either Lane or Simmons. Personally I think Simmons should be bumped as he has 1 goal the entire season but based on his family's legacy and his dad being on the staff etc thats probably not going to happen. The third mid line seems to be Lane, Romano and Quinn but they haven't gotten much run the past few games.

Despite the continued issues this team has found away to go 4-0 in the ACC which is quite impressive even beating a desperate UNC team despite there losing streak is definitely a good sign. Varello has played much better since his struggle vs Hobart which has been great to see. He has a tough matchup coming up this week against his brother but more on that in another post. Defensively I thought Madonna didn't play well and the SSDMs while not awful weren't great. The D got hung out to dry on at least 3 or 4 goals due to bad turnovers by the offense but they struggled late on ISO dodges giving up some good looks to UNC attackmen. Individually I though the close defense was again pretty good, Mellen locked down Cloutier and Kelly only had two goals. I thought the LSMs did a great job on Cook as I don't think he registered a point. Gotta clean up the D on fast breaks and keep looking for the right SSDM combo, though it appeared Dearth got some extended run there and did well. Interesting matchups this weekend for the D and staff.

Will have some thoughts on Navy later in the week but wanted to post some general musing about the D 1 landscape

- Ivy league seems a lock for two bids wtih Yale and Cornell both of whom should be a difficult out this year. I think Penn has to make the Ivy title game now after last nights loss.

- Interesting that Umass seems like a favorite in their conference for the first time in a while, been lean times up that way for several years so good to see them get something going.

_ On the other hand Alberici at Army needs to overhaul that offensive system. Good defense with a high end goalie and faceoff guy but they're just abysmal offensively. I know Alberici is highly respected and beat ND and SU last year but its hard to see them making the tourney less having success there anytime soon without an overhaul. They also lose a bunch of what good offensive players they have to graduation - ouch.

- I am no maryland fan but I watched most of there game against Rutty and they were impressive. D isn't as good as it has been the last few years and they dont' have much in the way of offensive depth but there solid everywhere. They are machines on Gb's and just don't make the sloppy mistakes that have plagued us.

- Interesting to see if UNC shows up this weekend despite their season effectively being over. ND's offense has completely dissapeared so if they bring it I wouldn't be shocked if they won but there D has to play a lot better then it did late against SU.

I suggest that Trimboli, Dordevic and Rehfuss did not play badly as much as they faced exceptional long sticks. Macri and Rowlett are two of the best in the country. Dordevic unlike most freshman mids drew a long stick very rapidly because he abused the shorties he faced early in the year. Trimboli was played very well by his defender. He did not become less effective except in that he faced a very good long stick. Rehfuss still does not attack from x naturally. His angles are poor much of the time. He also faced a pretty good long stick. Even the best offensive players' scoring diminishes against well timed slides and above average long sticks. Look at Cloutier. He's capable of putting up serious numbers, but disappeared for long periods. He faced a very good long stick. Again, to defend the SU defense. They were missing Cunningham a very good long. Kennedy will be his equal but is not now. I think it diminishes UNC to give them little credit for the turnovers. They played hard aggressive d.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I suggest that Trimboli, Dordevic and Rehfuss did not play badly as much as they faced exceptional long sticks. Macri and Rowlett are two of the best in the country. Dordevic unlike most freshman mids drew a long stick very rapidly because he abused the shorties he faced early in the year. Trimboli was played very well by his defender. He did not become less effective except in that he faced a very good long stick. Rehfuss still does not attack from x naturally. His angles are poor much of the time. He also faced a pretty good long stick. Even the best offensive players' scoring diminishes against well timed slides and above average long sticks. Look at Cloutier. He's capable of putting up serious numbers, but disappeared for long periods. He faced a very good long stick. Again, to defend the SU defense. They were missing Cunningham a very good long. Kennedy will be his equal but is not now. I think it diminishes UNC to give them little credit for the turnovers. They played hard aggressive d.

I agree with your post, Rowlett is an outstanding long pole and Ryan Maci is no slouch either and Cam Marci at SSDM is a fireplug. Tough matchups for sure and UNC might have gotten the better of them. Rehfuss has been a bit up and down, clealry hes drawing the best close defender every game so that is to be expected. UNC' s D has had some struggles this year but its not like they have been giving up 15+ goals a game and as you noted they played hard and very aggressive especially when a non offensive player would clear, they ambushed us a few times on that and caused a couple turnovers.

I think Dordevic's struggle go beyond this game but I get what yoru saying. I think Trimbo will be fine, just needs to change angles a bit more.

I think the D played OK/fairly well. They shut down the main UNC threats but struggled a bit with Trippi and some guys who they probably weren't familiar with who were playing due to injury. Kennedy is only a rs-frosh and has a great year ahead of him, I hope his brother next year is as good as him.

 

[Orangello]

I think we all agree that the TO's need to be cleaned up. I tend to agree that Dordo's shooting and game have been off since the UVA tilt. We need to really get after it early against Navy.

 

[Orangello]

Watched the Army game and Ray (A) and Torien (M) are the two offensive players that stood out and need to be checked. They also have a young guy Daniel (?) who is pretty good at moving the ball.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Watched the Army game and Ray (A) and Torien (M) are the two offensive players that stood out and need to be checked. They also have a young guy Daniel (?) who is pretty good at moving the ball.

Daniel is hurt and likely to miss the Syracuse game Navy men’s lacrosse will not rush back injured attackman Christian Daniel

His backup Chris Hill did have a hat trick against Army so we will need to keep an eye on him assuming Daniel is out.

Navy's had issues at times scoring this year, they have only scored more then 10 goals three times and of one of those game was against Lafayette. There two big time players Casey Rees and Jack Ray have been inconsistent. Rees missed last year due to injury and was expected to have a monster senior year but only has 15 pts on the year (11,4). Ray's been more productive with 24 potints (19,5).

Interesting to see how Desko and the staff choose to defend Navy. There starting midfield despite Rees's struggles has been really good especially Ryan Wade who leads the team with 30 pts (8,22). If our SSDM's were better I think Desko would give heavy consideration to double polling the midfield especially with Daniel hurt. With our current batch of SSDMs not sure the staff would risk it but I think its something they will consider.

I think zone might be an option as well as Navy has struggled at times with shot accuracy. SU has played some zone this year with mixed results so again while a good option on paper I dont know if the staff trusts the defense to play 30+ min of zone. If you assume SU plays man to man the D matchups will be very interesting to watch. If Daniel is out then Mellen will surely draw Jack Ray. Army's Sr pole held him in check last week to only 1 assist but got burned by Hill and then Wade at midfield. The bigger question is what to do at the midfield. Wade seems like the obvious choice for Fusco but Ryan Torain has 27 pts on the year as well (15, 12).

Personally if I was Desko I would risk trying to double poll. I would put Mellen on Wade and Fusco on Torain. Mellen's used to covering dodging attackmen so I don't think asking him to cover a feeder like Wade is outlandish. If the staff wanted to they could flip that and put Fusco on Wade and Mellen on Torain but I think I would go with Mellen on Wade. I would then put Bomberry on Ray as thats a closer physical match up as Ray is listed at 6'6 and then Kennedy/Dipetro on Hill. That leaves a SSDM on third attackmen Dave Little and a SSDM on Rees at the midfield. Putting a shorty on Rees would have been unthinkable two years ago but I think its an easy call here. For SU I think Madonna has to rebound after two so-so performances. He missed a couple vs UNC that he probably should have had, need him to have a good game. One good think for SU is that Navy doens't have much in the way of depth, they play the 1st midfield a ton.

Faceoff situation to me is pretty clear, Desko has to watch for Danny getting in a funk vs his brother. If Joe Varello string together a handful of wins in a row I think he has to go to Delisle or Martin as it might get in Danny's head and he could end up with the kind of numbers he had against Duke (2-12). I think for Danny its all about staying at or around 50%. He has been pretty good the last two games against Colgate and ND but this is a tough matchup. I think its critical he avoids long losing streaks to his brother.

Offensively its about wearing Navy down. Like there offense the Navy D starters are pretty good especially the goalie Kern. That said they don't have much in the way of depth . SU needs to take quality shots and not fall in love with bad alley dodge looks that Kern will easily gobble up. Navy plays a lot of zone so will be intersting to see if they do it on Saturday. SU has been a hard team to zone the last few years with Mariano and Salcido and Lane so must teams haven't done it. This year as best I can recall SU has seen some zone but not a lot (creaserat or others correct me If I am wrong). SU's two deep at middie has good shooters plus Lane but accuracy has been an issue this year especially for Dordevic and to a lesser extent Curry earlier in the year. Bomberry is a great mid range shooter so I could see Curry inverting and Bombery looking to get himself set up for a pass on a slide. Dordevic getting back on track tomorrow would be a great sign, if Navy plays zone the looks should hopefully be there. Could be a tough matchup for Rehfuss and Solomon if Navy plays a lot of zone and affects there ability to dodge. Solomon moves fairly well off the ball so I hope he can get himself open. SU needs to avoid trying to force feed the crease which they have fallen in love with at times.

 

[tbonezone]

i didn't' look at the box but i found the ground balls infuriating. any ball in a pile came out UNC. also watching our long poles trying to run clears is akin to a jon boat with one oar. as opposed to say UNC sprinting unchecked down the middle of the field and scoring a crucial goal. somebody hit him.

 

[orange79]

i didn't' look at the box but i found the ground balls infuriating. any ball in a pile came out UNC. also watching our long poles trying to run clears is akin to a jon boat with one oar. as opposed to say UNC sprinting unchecked down the middle of the field and scoring a crucial goal. somebody hit him.

That being said, the 4th qtr was maddening, despite the score.

 

[ForCuseSake]

View attachment 126878
That being said, the 4th qtr was maddening, despite the score.

There were too many turnovers due to longsticks running up clears and getting double teamed.

I couldn’t tell how many of these were because of poor decision making by the ball carrier, poor substitution management or lack of help from the attack.

The attack seemed to do a lot of ball watching during clears.