UNC Gameday...

[SUlax88-09]

It's actually been an issue for 3 years, ie since Gait was hired. My concern is that we're reaching Babers clock management territory and that this is something that's gonna be an issue with Gait teams in perpetuity

Ya, in at least the last 2 games (Cornell and UNC), the SEVEN 4th quarter turnovers in both games and 1 goal last week and 0 goals today in the 4th quarter is a concerning trend. We came Very close to having our postseason goals end today… too close. I’m sure you guys were all worried, too. A win is a win, but the 4th quarter of both of these games were horrible. However, just 3 games ago, against the best team in the country (Notre Dame), we had our best 4th quarter of the season. It’s so strange. Especially because it was our seniors making the mistakes at the end today (Mule, English, and Olexo). Olexo’s shot at the end of the game was ridiculous, and almost cost us our postseason. Mark bailed us out, and so did Hottle’s defense and then his clear.

Phew! I think we’re now in the postseason (congrats to us if so!), but I will feel badly if, again, we get in and Army doesn‘t! That happened a few years ago where they beat us in the dome, but we still made it in to the postseason over them. I’m hoping they make it, too. When it’s a close decision between 2 teams that played each other, then the head-to-head matchup should be the decision maker.

A few other thoughts about the game:
-Duffy is Really good (speed, power, and vision!). He’s gonna be a problem. I didn‘t understand how a team can have one of the best goalies, face off man, and attackman in the country, and still be such a bad team. Now I see it, UNC is not a good team. This would have been a Bad loss. At least no shame in losing to Cornell who had a Very hot goalie and an excellent attackmen unit
-I felt bad writing after the ND loss that Trujillo shouldn’t be on the field, but I still stand by that statement. However, interestingly, I don’t think he’s played since then. Maybe he’s injured, but our SSDM unit looks much better without him on the field. Rice is SO good!
-Our Man down is still not good. I hate this ‘junkyard unit’ idea
-Go SU fans! Best lax fans in the country! I swear we had almost more fans at that game than UNC (Also how lucky are we that we get to watch all of these games on TV?! Growing up we had to listen to all the away games on the radio)
-Spallina’s vision is so elite that I’m finally getting over the fact that he cannot dodge (I’ve just never seen an All American attackman that cannot dodge)
-Mule was horrible today. 1 for 9 shooting with 4 turnovers. At least try putting Leo at attack! Leo is our best player, and he Needs more than 1 shot!!
-Hiltz is the barometer of this team, the straw that stirs the drink. When he plays well, then we look good!
-Welcome back Finn Thomson’s outside shot! That’s a weapon we haven’t had this whole season, and it could really help us in the postseason
-Mark was great. He looks like an All American goalie again
-Face Off unit was excellent, and they did their job. I actually like it when it ends as a 50:50 face-off battle, because I think that’s the most fair way to play (just get rid of the face off though)

 

[PAcuse]

Ya, in at least the last 2 games (Cornell and UNC), the SEVEN 4th quarter turnovers in both games and 1 goal last week and 0 goals today in the 4th quarter is a concerning trend. We came Very close to having our postseason goals end today… too close. I’m sure you guys were all worried, too. A win is a win, but the 4th quarter of both of these games were horrible. However, just 3 games ago, against the best team in the country (Notre Dame), we had our best 4th quarter of the season. It’s so strange. Especially because it was our seniors making the mistakes at the end today (Mule, English, and Olexo). Olexo’s shot at the end of the game was ridiculous, and almost cost us our postseason. Mark bailed us out, and so did Hottle’s defense and then his clear.

Phew! I think we’re now in the postseason (congrats to us if so!), but I will feel badly if, again, we get in and Army doesn‘t! That happened a few years ago where they beat us in the dome, but we still made it in to the postseason over them. I’m hoping they make it, too. When it’s a close decision between 2 teams that played each other, then the head-to-head matchup should be the decision maker.

A few other thoughts about the game:
-Duffy is Really good (speed, power, and vision!). He’s gonna be a problem. I didn‘t understand how a team can have one of the best goalies, face off man, and attackman in the country, and still be such a bad team. Now I see it, UNC is not a good team. This would have been a Bad loss. At least no shame in losing to Cornell who had a Very hot goalie and an excellent attackmen unit
-I felt bad writing after the ND loss that Trujillo shouldn’t be on the field, but I still stand by that statement. However, interestingly, I don’t think he’s played since then. Maybe he’s injured, but our SSDM unit looks much better without him on the field. Rice is SO good!
-Our Man down is still not good. I hate this ‘junkyard unit’ idea
-Go SU fans! Best lax fans in the country! I swear we had almost more fans at that game than UNC (Also how lucky are we that we get to watch all of these games on TV?! Growing up we had to listen to all the away games on the radio)
-Spallina’s vision is so elite that I’m finally getting over the fact that he cannot dodge (I’ve just never seen an All American attackman that cannot dodge)
-Mule was horrible today. 1 for 9 shooting with 4 turnovers. At least try putting Leo at attack! Leo is our best player, and he Needs more than 1 shot!!
-Hiltz is the barometer of this team, the straw that stirs the drink. When he plays well, then we look good!
-Welcome back Finn Thomson’s outside shot! That’s a weapon we haven’t had this whole season, and it could really help us in the postseason
-Mark was great. He looks like an All American goalie again
-Face Off unit was excellent, and they did their job. I actually like it when it ends as a 50:50 face-off battle, because I think that’s the most fair way to play (just get rid of the face off though)

You hit a ton of good points
I like the junkyard dog main down team, I think the bigger issue is the repeated stupid penalties this team keeps taking. They can't keep their cool, coaches included, and has put our man-down team in bad spots multiple times.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Ya, in at least the last 2 games (Cornell and UNC), the SEVEN 4th quarter turnovers in both games and 1 goal last week and 0 goals today in the 4th quarter is a concerning trend. We came Very close to having our postseason goals end today… too close. I’m sure you guys were all worried, too. A win is a win, but the 4th quarter of both of these games were horrible. However, just 3 games ago, against the best team in the country (Notre Dame), we had our best 4th quarter of the season. It’s so strange. Especially because it was our seniors making the mistakes at the end today (Mule, English, and Olexo). Olexo’s shot at the end of the game was ridiculous, and almost cost us our postseason. Mark bailed us out, and so did Hottle’s defense and then his clear.

Phew! I think we’re now in the postseason (congrats to us if so!), but I will feel badly if, again, we get in and Army doesn‘t! That happened a few years ago where they beat us in the dome, but we still made it in to the postseason over them. I’m hoping they make it, too. When it’s a close decision between 2 teams that played each other, then the head-to-head matchup should be the decision maker.

A few other thoughts about the game:
-Duffy is Really good (speed, power, and vision!). He’s gonna be a problem. I didn‘t understand how a team can have one of the best goalies, face off man, and attackman in the country, and still be such a bad team. Now I see it, UNC is not a good team. This would have been a Bad loss. At least no shame in losing to Cornell who had a Very hot goalie and an excellent attackmen unit
-I felt bad writing after the ND loss that Trujillo shouldn’t be on the field, but I still stand by that statement. However, interestingly, I don’t think he’s played since then. Maybe he’s injured, but our SSDM unit looks much better without him on the field. Rice is SO good!
-Our Man down is still not good. I hate this ‘junkyard unit’ idea
-Go SU fans! Best lax fans in the country! I swear we had almost more fans at that game than UNC (Also how lucky are we that we get to watch all of these games on TV?! Growing up we had to listen to all the away games on the radio)
-Spallina’s vision is so elite that I’m finally getting over the fact that he cannot dodge (I’ve just never seen an All American attackman that cannot dodge)
-Mule was horrible today. 1 for 9 shooting with 4 turnovers. At least try putting Leo at attack! Leo is our best player, and he Needs more than 1 shot!!
-Hiltz is the barometer of this team, the straw that stirs the drink. When he plays well, then we look good!
-Welcome back Finn Thomson’s outside shot! That’s a weapon we haven’t had this whole season, and it could really help us in the postseason
-Mark was great. He looks like an All American goalie again
-Face Off unit was excellent, and they did their job. I actually like it when it ends as a 50:50 face-off battle, because I think that’s the most fair way to play (just get rid of the face off though)

Great post, agree with a lot, the one I thinknyou nailed is Mule. I thought he played really well post Maryland debacle but were 2 straight games wheres he's been a dumpster fire. You have to have a plan B, you can't just keep running him out there.

 

[SUlax88-09]

Great post, agree with a lot, the one I thinknyou nailed is Mule. I thought he played really well post Maryland debacle but were 2 straight games wheres he's been a dumpster fire. You have to have a plan B, you can't just keep running him out there.

The bare minumum that an attackman can do (even if he’s not scoring) is to at least draw a long pole defender. As I predicted after the 1st game of the year, Mule is not even drawing a pole. That’s an extra pole on one of our middies, which is embarrassing, but more importantly, it’s a big loss for our offense

 

[GrowTheGame]

U don't want to regress before tournament either which is how this team has played the last few games. U want to peak going into tournament.

Definitely, I’m just feeling like it’s trending up not down for the team. A lot of live & learn moments so far. X factor being Mark of course always helps.

 

[Hoo's That]

The way that that unfolded from the 9:34 mark of the 3rd (especially offensively) that may have been even worse than kissing your sister.

People don't quote Duffy Daugherty fully. Yes, he said, "Tying is like kissing your sister." But they forget to quote the rest of what he said, "But losing is like kissing your brother."

 

[Powellfan]

I’ll preface this by saying I was not happy with the offensive performance today (pun intended). That said, Petro knows this team better than any other opposing coach and probably knew exactly where their pressure points would be. Also, not sure how to quantify the impact of an offensive coordinator, but the Orange were without one today and that made a difference.

The Tar Heels packed things in and dared the Orange to shoot from outside. It was a bit frustrating that SU kept trying to jam the ball inside (though it did work occasionally). I thought it would have been a game for Rhoa and Birtwislte to take a bunch of outside shots, but that didn’t happen. Perhaps things would have been different with March on the sidelines.

With that said, the ACC coaches picked Syracuse to finish last in the conference this year and they will be at worst third when the tournament starts. That’s a huge accomplishment. They beat both North Carolina schools, scoring just 10 goals in both games, and that’s a huge credit to the defense this year. Given the disarray of where things stood last year in regards to the defense, they’ve made a ton of improvement. I know there are legitimate concerns right now, but it’s important to acknowledge the huge strides this team has made this season. Lots more to play for.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Superlight2]

Ya, in at least the last 2 games (Cornell and UNC), the SEVEN 4th quarter turnovers in both games and 1 goal last week and 0 goals today in the 4th quarter is a concerning trend. We came Very close to having our postseason goals end today… too close. I’m sure you guys were all worried, too. A win is a win, but the 4th quarter of both of these games were horrible. However, just 3 games ago, against the best team in the country (Notre Dame), we had our best 4th quarter of the season. It’s so strange. Especially because it was our seniors making the mistakes at the end today (Mule, English, and Olexo). Olexo’s shot at the end of the game was ridiculous, and almost cost us our postseason. Mark bailed us out, and so did Hottle’s defense and then his clear.

Phew! I think we’re now in the postseason (congrats to us if so!), but I will feel badly if, again, we get in and Army doesn‘t! That happened a few years ago where they beat us in the dome, but we still made it in to the postseason over them. I’m hoping they make it, too. When it’s a close decision between 2 teams that played each other, then the head-to-head matchup should be the decision maker.

A few other thoughts about the game:
-Duffy is Really good (speed, power, and vision!). He’s gonna be a problem. I didn‘t understand how a team can have one of the best goalies, face off man, and attackman in the country, and still be such a bad team. Now I see it, UNC is not a good team. This would have been a Bad loss. At least no shame in losing to Cornell who had a Very hot goalie and an excellent attackmen unit
-I felt bad writing after the ND loss that Trujillo shouldn’t be on the field, but I still stand by that statement. However, interestingly, I don’t think he’s played since then. Maybe he’s injured, but our SSDM unit looks much better without him on the field. Rice is SO good!
-Our Man down is still not good. I hate this ‘junkyard unit’ idea
-Go SU fans! Best lax fans in the country! I swear we had almost more fans at that game than UNC (Also how lucky are we that we get to watch all of these games on TV?! Growing up we had to listen to all the away games on the radio)
-Spallina’s vision is so elite that I’m finally getting over the fact that he cannot dodge (I’ve just never seen an All American attackman that cannot dodge)
-Mule was horrible today. 1 for 9 shooting with 4 turnovers. At least try putting Leo at attack! Leo is our best player, and he Needs more than 1 shot!!
-Hiltz is the barometer of this team, the straw that stirs the drink. When he plays well, then we look good!
-Welcome back Finn Thomson’s outside shot! That’s a weapon we haven’t had this whole season, and it could really help us in the postseason
-Mark was great. He looks like an All American goalie again
-Face Off unit was excellent, and they did their job. I actually like it when it ends as a 50:50 face-off battle, because I think that’s the most fair way to play (just get rid of the face off though)

Great points. The one item that is bothering more and more is not giving Leo run at attack. He needs more looks. Also would improve what has become a stagnant offense.

 

[tbonezone]

-Spallina’s vision is so elite that I’m finally getting over the fact that he cannot dodge (I’ve just never seen an All American attackman that cannot dodge)

evidently UNC considers spallina zero threat to score behind the cage. no ? dodge move.
announcer kept calling he had his man hung up...no i think that was the plan.

 

[DMVCuseLax]

evidently UNC considers spallina zero threat to score behind the cage. no ? dodge move.
announcer kept calling he had his man hung up...no i think that was the plan.

It was interesting to see that Coach Petro doesn’t bring his goalie out when hung anymore. Used to piss me off when he did that with us.

 

[4evaOrange]

If we take Kyle off atta k who do we sub there? Leo? Birty? Or someone else?

 

[GrowTheGame]

Great points. The one item that is bothering more and more is not giving Leo run at attack. He needs more looks. Also would improve what has become a stagnant offense.

He’s an incredibly tough match up down low.. I do wish he’d get a look there

 

[DoctahLexus]

Mule switch I am still in the maybe category. He does make a lot happen as a feeder same as Spallina and Hiltz. Had a great assist in the first half. Good on the ride yesterday too. But the dumb turnovers are starting to pile up and sometimes it looks like he can't draw the eyes of the defense off the dodge, even with certain short sticks. Great feeder but you need the defense to be scared of you off the dodge to make those feeds happen. Spallina and Hiltz are both better there, even though they have (foolish) doubters. Sometimes a little inconsistent as a finisher as well.

I would not hate it if we tried a different look, but when we talk about switches mid game, there is an argument that should not happen unless a guy is seriously off. How many times have we called for a guy to sit only for them to start turning it on? I don't think there was a single player doing so poorly that we for sure needed to throw a wrench in the lineups later in the game. I like Trey Deere's game and I like the idea of Leo at attack too, but a switch mid or late game comes with its own potential problems

 

[OrangeXtreme]

SCHOOL	CONF	CPCT.	OVERALL	PCT.	REMAINING
Notre Dame	2-0	1.000	8-1	.889	vs UNC, at UVA
Syracuse	2-1	.667	10-4	.714	vs UVA
Virginia	1-1	.500	10-2	.833	at SYR, vs ND
Duke	1-2	.333	11-3	.786	at UNC
North Carolina	0-2	.000	6-6	.500	at ND, vs DUKE

 

[DMVCuseLax]

SCHOOL	CONF	CPCT.	OVERALL	PCT.	REMAINING
Notre Dame	2-0	1.000	8-1	.889	vs UNC, at UVA
Syracuse	2-1	.667	10-4	.714	vs UVA
Virginia	1-1	.500	10-2	.833	at SYR, vs ND
Duke	1-2	.333	11-3	.786	at UNC
North Carolina	0-2	.000	6-6	.500	at ND, vs DUKE

Duke handled UVA today. UVA is lacking depth at midfield and they benched the starting goalie in the 1st.

 

[nyclax]

what are tiebreakers if it finishes like this

nd 4-0
cuse 2-2
uva 2-2
duke 2-2
unc 0-4

in terms of head to head, it'd be cuse > duke > uva > cuse. i guess it goes to goal differential or something...?

 

[FloridaCuse]

what are tiebreakers if it finishes like this

nd 4-0
cuse 2-2
uva 2-2
duke 2-2
unc 0-4

in terms of head to head, it'd be cuse > duke > uva > cuse. i guess it goes to goal differential or something...?

I'd guess we'd likely be #2 or #3 with our 6 goal win over Duke, as long as we don't lose to Va by 6 or more. We'd likely play Duke or Va in the semi-finals. However, playing ND instead could help our RPI rating a bit more. At this point I'd say it's about getting into the NCAAT and getting a home game in the first round. I'd think the Va game and the ACCT semi-finals would help our RPI (currently #7) though losing both games could counter that. On the other hand our strength of schedule (currently #2) and having 2 wins against top 5 teams help. Just my amateur view of it.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

what are tiebreakers if it finishes like this

nd 4-0
cuse 2-2
uva 2-2
duke 2-2
unc 0-4

in terms of head to head, it'd be cuse > duke > uva > cuse. i guess it goes to goal differential or something...?

Goal differential between the three teams?.

SU is +6 (with UVA left)
UVA is -6 (with SU left)
Duke is 0.

 

[cuselaxss26]

I think we should just beat uva this weekend n not only give us top rank win but pretty much gets us in ncaa tounry n believe a seed n home game. Yea that sounds better let’s just do that lol.

 

[Bayside44]

Stupid question for the novices...would / does the ACC tournament just provide downside for the NCAA if a team losses the first game?

 

[Powellfan]

Stupid question for the novices...would / does the ACC tournament just provide downside for the NCAA if a team losses the first game?

It’s an RPI boost. Not sure it hurts all that much, especially when all four teams (presuming UNC doesn’t get in) will most likely be top 10 in the RPI. I don’t totally understand how much a loss effects a team as opposed to a win and what not, but I think most of the teams involved wouldn’t see much downside, even with a first round loss.

 

[FloridaCuse]

It’s an RPI boost. Not sure it hurts all that much, especially when all four teams (presuming UNC doesn’t get in) will most likely be top 10 in the RPI. I don’t totally understand how much a loss effects a team as opposed to a win and what not, but I think most of the teams involved wouldn’t see much downside, even with a first round loss.

I generally agree. You have to look at the 3 parts of the RPI. The first part is your record which counts 25%. If you lose that goes down but since it's only 1/16 of our record only slightly. The second part is the record of your opponents, so if you play a team that has a record (after the game) that is higher than your second part going into the game, that goes up and is worth 50% of the total. The record of a team we'd play -- ND, Va, or Duke -- would be higher than the combined record of all of our other opponents so that would increase our RPI. [and the 3rd part -- the record of your opponents' opponents -- is too complicated to even consider and that's worth 25% of the RPI.] It's better to win obviously but a loss might still increase our RPI slightly. Sorry if this is to complicated.

 

[Gettysbrg10]

Today #3 Hopkins barely defeated a 6-5 OSU team, #1 ND squeaked by Cornell, and #2 UVA was dominated by a Duke team that hasn’t lived up to expectations…

We complain a lot about this team (that includes me) but besides ND, we’re the only team that hasn’t lost by more than two goals or had an embarrassing performance. Everyone this year is beatable and has flaws.

While they may drive us all into early graves, let’s cut the kids and coaches a little bit of slack. I saw comments on some public forums that may be warranted but sometimes it’s important to remember that these are 18-23 year old kids. 18-23 kids are idiots (I was then and so were you) and we’re a few plays away from being ranked in the top 5 or higher. Let’s beat UVA.

 

[SkyTopBus44]

Today #3 Hopkins barely defeated a 6-5 OSU team, #1 ND squeaked by Cornell, and #2 UVA was dominated by a Duke team that hasn’t lived up to expectations…

We complain a lot about this team (that includes me) but besides ND, we’re the only team that hasn’t lost by more than two goals or had an embarrassing performance. Everyone this year is beatable and has flaws.

While they may drive us all into early graves, let’s cut the kids and coaches a little bit of slack. I saw comments on some public forums that may be warranted but sometimes it’s important to remember that these are 18-23 year old kids. 18-23 kids are idiots (I was then and so were you) and we’re a few plays away from being ranked in the top 5 or higher. Let’s beat UVA.

Agreed. It is frustrating more so because of our program’s history of dominance. I want to get back there in the worst way. In the past five to maybe ten years, I don’t think any team has been head and shoulders above other programs like we were in those days. The game has changed and more teams are better now. I miss the days when our 3rd line midfield was better than most team’s first line and our 5th or 6th attackman would start for many teams. I suppose we should be more patient. Good post to put things in perspective.

I don’t know what you are saying….for me I have always been a mature, critical thinking genius…especially from age 18-23