Towson Game Preview (2/10/25, 5pm)

[Powellfan]

The Orange have a quick turnaround as they face off against the Tigers from Towson. It's a rematch from last year's NCAA Tournament when the Orange won 20-15. Towson returns a lot of their top players from last year, and this game will certainly be Syracuse's first real test of the season. Lets see how they respond.

On defense, I'm most interested to see how Syracuse handles the speed of Towson's offense. The only player for Towson who stands taller than 5'9 I believe is Chop Gallagher, who comes in at 6'3. Syracuse's defense is big, but can they keep up with a bunch of water bugs? I'm guessing they deploy they same strategy against Towson that they did vs Vermont, when they bumped Billy Dwan to the midfield to take on the opponents best player (this time, Mikey Weisssher). Gallagher didn't play last year against the Orange, so it should be interesting to see how Syracuse defends him. They struggled against his replacement in Alex Roussell who starts on attack this year. Against Hopkins, redshirt freshman Ronan Fitzpatrick had a big game with five goals in his debut. They lost their quarterback from last year in Adam Demiao, so unclear who Figeurias will line up against. I'm guessing either Fitzpatrick or Roussell.

On offense, it sounds like the Orange might see some zone (Towson did vs Hopkins). I didn't watch the game, so someone who did might be able to add more color (looking at Jeremy here). On paper, Syracuse doesn't seem like a good team to zone (given how well they do on man-up). But I've seen them be flustered by it plenty of times, and early in the season it might not be a bad strategy. Hopkins is also a team that I would think would handle a zone pretty easily, but they only scored 11 vs the Tigers. Maryland struggled against it vs Loyola this weekend. Towson loses their top defender from last year to the PLL (Barsz) so it should be interesting to see how they match-up against Spallina (who finished with eight points vs the Tigers last year).

Face-offs will be something to watch, especially after a so-so performance against Vermont. John Mullen had a great game vs Towson last year (who returns their top guy) winning 18-23. Matt Constatindies struggled vs Hopkins last week (5-15), but their backup seemed to do better going 5-9. Syracuse is obviously not deep at this position, so Mullen will need to be at his best. Something else to watch will be turnovers, Towson had 21 vs Hopkins in what sounded like a slop fest (the Jays had 18). Syracuse has taken care of the ball pretty well in it's first two games and has done a good job of punishing teams that turn it over. Let's hope that trend continues.

The spread at -5.5 seems high, especially for a team coming off of two days of rest, but Syracuse obviously has the ability to pump in a lot of goals. I'm not very good at predicting scores, but I think this will be higher scoring game and SU will win by 3-4 goals. Obviously I hope it's higher! Go 'Cuse!

 

[Cuse4455]

12-8 Cuse, my prediction.

 

[nyclax]

i got cuse 16-10. towson caught hop on two days rest coming off a tough trip to denver...made them look better than they are. cuse on short rest as well but a much easier matchup at home. could see a similar game as the playoff game last year where towson keeps it close for awhile before orange weapons just become too much...

 

[DoctahLexus]

Small thing but it was Joaquin Villagomez who sat during our Towson game last year. Chop Gallagher played and did pretty well. Villagomez apparently did not play in the first game this year for Towson. Not sure why.

Towson loses Josh Webber at midfield, who did very well dodging against our ssdms last year. Happy he is out of the picture.

Was only able to see some extended highlights of the Hop Towson game. Their freshman with all the goals had 4 in offball situations, and the one off the dodge was on a semi-unsettled play, so he wasn't exactly owning the longpole matchup with Hop, which would be concerning. Weisshaar is a serious talent and the only guy in their offense who really concerns me. I highly doubt anyone else will challenge their long pole matchup in a serious way. Wonder if we find a way to get Figueras on Weisshaar

 

[JeremyCuse]

The Orange have a quick turnaround as they face off against the Tigers from Towson. It's a rematch from last year's NCAA Tournament when the Orange won 20-15. Towson returns a lot of their top players from last year, and this game will certainly be Syracuse's first real test of the season. Lets see how they respond.

On defense, I'm most interested to see how Syracuse handles the speed of Towson's offense. The only player for Towson who stands taller than 5'9 I believe is Chop Gallagher, who comes in at 6'3. Syracuse's defense is big, but can they keep up with a bunch of water bugs? I'm guessing they deploy they same strategy against Towson that they did vs Vermont, when they bumped Billy Dwan to the midfield to take on the opponents best player (this time, Mikey Weisssher). Gallagher didn't play last year against the Orange, so it should be interesting to see how Syracuse defends him. They struggled against his replacement in Alex Roussell who starts on attack this year. Against Hopkins, redshirt freshman Ronan Fitzpatrick had a big game with five goals in his debut. They lost their quarterback from last year in Adam Demiao, so unclear who Figeurias will line up against. I'm guessing either Fitzpatrick or Roussell.

On offense, it sounds like the Orange might see some zone (Towson did vs Hopkins). I didn't watch the game, so someone who did might be able to add more color (looking at Jeremy here). On paper, Syracuse doesn't seem like a good team to zone (given how well they do on man-up). But I've seen them be flustered by it plenty of times, and early in the season it might not be a bad strategy. Hopkins is also a team that I would think would handle a zone pretty easily, but they only scored 11 vs the Tigers. Maryland struggled against it vs Loyola this weekend. Towson loses their top defender from last year to the PLL (Barsz) so it should be interesting to see how they match-up against Spallina (who finished with eight points vs the Tigers last year).

Face-offs will be something to watch, especially after a so-so performance against Vermont. John Mullen had a great game vs Towson last year (who returns their top guy) winning 18-23. Matt Constatindies struggled vs Hopkins last week (5-15), but their backup seemed to do better going 5-9. Syracuse is obviously not deep at this position, so Mullen will need to be at his best. Something else to watch will be turnovers, Towson had 21 vs Hopkins in what sounded like a slop fest (the Jays had 18). Syracuse has taken care of the ball pretty well in it's first two games and has done a good job of punishing teams that turn it over. Let's hope that trend continues.

The spread at -5.5 seems high, especially for a team coming off of two days of rest, but Syracuse obviously has the ability to pump in a lot of goals. I'm not very good at predicting scores, but I think this will be higher scoring game and SU will win by 3-4 goals. Obviously I hope it's higher! Go 'Cuse!

Good stuff as usual.

I did watch a good amount of the Hop vs Towson game, however, I am not sure there is a to to glean from that game. The weather wasn't great, Towson was playing its 1st game and Hop was playing a few days after just playing up in Denver. Both teams looked sloppy for extended periods and the turnovers were horrific. Towson turned it over 20 times and Hop 17 against a zone.

Towson did play a ton of zone but Hop was able to get a number of good looks when they weren't turning it over. The Towson goalie had 11 saves and was at exactly 50%. As you noted their main fogo Constantinides struggled big time again but the true frosh Kai Lopez came in and went 5-9. It does appear that Villagomez is hurt as he didn't play vs Hop and I don't think he's expected to play today. Fitzpatrick having 5 goals though was certainly eye opening, someone to keep an eye one.

I agree that Dwan on Weisshaar is absolutely the matchup that should happen. While Pope isn't on the same level as Weisshaar, Dwan absolutely shut him down on Friday night so it was excellent practice ahead of this matchup. I suspect Grace on Chop and Riley on the frosh, though the inverse wouldn't shock me.

A few things concern me about this matchup. One is the faceoff X. Mullen has been good but isn't winning the clamp as well as last year. We also seem to have little depth behind him. I hate to beat a dead horse but they really need to try and get Drew Angelo up to speed as quick as possible. I understand the rationale for not bringing in another fogo this offseason but thought they really could have used a veteran presence to spell Mullen. Richiusa works hard but hard to feel great about him taking a large number of draws. Towson should have a good 1-2 punch but Lopez is only a frosh so hard to know what to expect. Lot of pressure on Mullen to be at least 50%.

I think you outlined the concern against the zone. SU at times has struggled against it which doesn't make a lot of sense on paper but SU has historically had issues with good zone Defenses (see the Bryant tourney games) Again Hopkins did as well last week but I think that that had more to do with the turnovers and weather/quick turn around if I am being honest. Still it was a good zone D and as Loyola showed on Sat, it can wreak havoc. From a Syracuse standpoint the starting midfield is tough to zone, English and Rhoa can both rip it and Leo isn't exactly shy himself. Hiltz and Thomson are to me the key's for tonight. If those two are shooting well SU will win, if there 1 for 11 with 3 turnovers, SU will be in massive trouble. Thomson has been pretty good so far at attack but the competition level has clearly not been the best, interested to see how he fares today. He can sometimes get into shooting funks and gets locked into a shooting plan. Shot low a lot on Friday that I thnk cost him a few goals, need him to be on today.

I hope SU shortens up the midlines a little. I want to see more Anderson for sure but this isn't gonna be the game for the 3rd mid line to be running in the 1st quarter. Keep an eye on Tucker Kellogg, he hasn't seen the field a ton but against a zone he should get some run with the 2nd line and unleash that cannon. Nothing against McCarthy but SU should be using his spot to sub in Kellogg and potentially Anderson for some runs on that 2nd line.

Lastly I am curious how SU does with turnovers and sloppy play. The turnovers have been pretty good so far but this is kinda the MO of Gait teams. They aren't turnover machines in the lesser games but can struggle against bigger opponents. Would like to see them try to keep it under double digits or at least very low double digits. Penalties have been a major issue, I know we want an aggressive defense but Odierna also has to realize Towson and Maryland aren't going 1 for the century on a bunch of man up attempts. I am also curious to see if this team does a better job of playing a full 60 mins then last year team. Last years team had a real bad habit of letting their guard down either with a very slow start or midway through the second half when they had a lead. Certainly don't expect 60 mins of perfection but can't afford a 10+ min lull either.

 

[JeremyCuse]

One other quick note. If you want to prove your #2 ranking and that your a legit final four contender this is a game you have to win if your Syracuse. Especially when you look at the next two games after this. The last thing you want is to wake up Sunday morning 2-2 and be in the same spot as last year after the Army and Maryland games.