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Message: [QUOTE="JeremyCuse, post: 4554631, member: 43"] Good post, I was procrastinating on starting a preview thread, glad you beat me to it. A couple quick thoughts Vermont actually lost there #1st, 3rd and 5th leading scorers (McConvey, McCormack and Limoges). They do return their top 3 assist men though in Closterman, Haley and Fenech. Going to be fascinating to see how they run their offense this year as the top 3 goal scorers (by far) are gone but the top 3 assist men are back. Going to try and avoid going off on a long tangent because you and others have really done a good job touching on most aspects. Defensively the team appeared to play much better if the stats from Michigan are correct especially when you consider Michigan has a potent attack unit and a fairly good FOGO. Obviously Mark will be in goal and I am expecting a huge difference from last years debacle. That said it's hard to tell what to expect tomorrow in a live game. SSDM probably has the most depth it has ever had and Petro will have a lot of options. Seems likely that Rice and Aviles will get first crack but with Murphy, Mercado, Bolea and likely Rosa being options, it will be fascinating to see who breaks out of the pack. I suspect Murphy will end up seeing a lot of time at SSDM. Caccamo will clearly be the #1 defender and will surely draw Closterman. Beyond that it is anyone's guess. Figuerias was likely to start but obviously his injury has shaken things up a bit. Clary was excellent as a frosh until he got hurt and didn't seem 100% last year. I assume that being more then a year post injury he's a lot closer to being fully recovered and I am not surprised he's gotten himself a starting spot. Kol is intriguing, would have thought Dwan would grab up that last spot with Riley out but if the close unit is the same as it was in the fall it will be Kol. Kol was a fairly highly rated player but didn't' really see much time last year. The fact he has earned a starting spot to me is a good sign as there are certainly other talented long poles on the team though most are freshmen. I am very curious to see who that third spot on close is and if it is Kol can he hold off Dwan and the other frosh. Offensively I think we should be able to generate points and potentially a lot of them most games. The O talent while somewhat young is pretty deep especially at attack. Now UVM has a couple talented defenders as their LSM and #1 close defender are both 1st team All Conference. I have no idea if they will try and put their #1 defender Canfield on Spallina. Canfield is good but is a smaller player (listed 5'11), wouldn't seem to be a great matchup for Simmons. Alviti the LSM is excellent, I assume he will draw Birtwistle or Kirst on the 1st mid line. I know you mentioned Will Jones but I don't believe he is still with Vermont. UVM breaking a new goalie and a new coordinator should work to SU's advantage. SU's scoring depth should be able to play a major role here as UVM will likely be unable to match up with Simmons, Spallina and Hiltz and double polling the midfield is not possible with this attack unit unless your talking Maryland's SSDM from last year. Biggest concerns for me are as follows: 1. Battle at the X gets out of hand. Burke is an excellent FOGO, as NycLax pointed out he's not an uber elite FOGO whose likely to win 28 of 30 but the faceoff spot is a complete mystery right now and you worry that SU may be slow to throw the kitchen sink at Burke. The last thing you want is him getting into a groove and suddenly your stuck conceding draws and in a world of trouble, which we have seen a few times in recent history (Cough Massa Cough). 2. FOGO issues lead to a downward spiral. It's a tale as old as time, team is struggling at the X and when their offense finally gets the ball it presses and starts to try and make the perfect pass, shot etc. SU's O is fairly young if you take out Simmons, you worry a bit if SU's not winning draws that they may get out of sorts when they get the ball and compound the issue. O will need to be efficient especially if there are major issues at the X. 3. Kind of in the same tone but Defensively I could see the same thing happening if Vermont is winning nearly all the faceoffs. There is some veteran presences in Aviles and Mark and Murphy but again if Vermont is playing make it take it things could get messy and quick. I am hopeful some of the mistakes and errors we saw last year will be cleaned up but if possession time is significantly tilted it will likely be an issue. In regular 6 on 6 I hope to see less mistakes and less time and room shooters for the opposition. The D overall was putrid at times last year. 4. Turnovers and Sloppy play - One of the biggest issues last year was turnovers and just overall bad play. 5 off-sides against Albany, turning the ball over 18+ times, passes into double teams, sliding for absolutely no reason etc. I don't suspect SU will be an A+ clean game but the penalties and some of the dumb mistakes have to be cleaned up, simply have to be. Overall I think the team is in a good spot and they "should" beat Vermont. However, they also should have beaten Albany last year, Colgate a few years ago etc. FOGO to me is the most concerning spot followed by the close D and injuries. I am hoping to see some improvement at the wing position, this will be critical with Burke as SU may try to simply muck up most draws and take their chances in a scrum. I assume Murphy will be one of the wings, no idea who the long pole is but they have to be light years better then what we saw last year. If Gibbs is starting the FOGO I hope we won't be to hesitant to go to Richusa or Fine or even the walk on if we have to to counter Burke. Maryland a few years ago threw the kitchen sink at Ierlan and I think finally had success with their 4th guy. I hope we are pleasantly surprised with how draws go tomorrow but we can't be slow to try someone else if Burke is pinching and popping at will. Lastly I hope that SU is gaining significant possessions so that we can see some of that offensive depth. I'd like to see Thomson or Birtwistle get a run at attack. Leo and Kempney at midfield etc. I don't need to see SU win in a blowout tomorrow but I do need to see an improvement over last year in pretty much all facets save the X. [/QUOTE]

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