Powellfan
All American
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2014
- Messages
- 5,616
- Like
- 8,930
The Orange are coming off one of the biggest, most resounding victories in recent memory, but will have to put that behind them quickly if they want to avoid an upset on Saturday. The guys should definitely celebrate and feel good about their big win, but have to quickly realize they are just 1-1 on the year and have a tough schedule ahead of them. And even if Vermont is unranked, that doesn't mean they are going to be a pushover.
To be honest, I don't know much about Vermont and most of this preview will be based on what I found on their website. The only player I could name before doing any research was JJ Levandowski, who transferred from SU. Vermont opened the season with a 15-12 loss to Bryant. They had a pretty decent shorted season last year going 3-1, but their wins weren't that impressive (Quinnipiac, Dartmouth and Merrimack, with a loss to Holy Cross). It looks like they lost two of their top three scorers in Rob Hudson and Ben French, but did bring in Middlebury transfer Michael McKormack on attack. Their leading scorer last year was Thomas McConvey, a big, 6'4 210 Canadian who had a balanced 15 points from the midfield, and who had 4,2 against Bryant. He'll have to be the focal point and if he really is a middie, sounds like moving Kennedy to LSM was the right choice. Old friend Levandowski had a quiet season last year with just 2 goals but had a nice game against Bryant with 2,1. He and McCovney did however combine for six turnovers (three each). And strangely, he scored the games first two goals then didn't register another shot. Hurt? One thing to watch for the Orange is Vermont typically has a very Canadian influenced game, so defending them might be quite different than most other teams. Watch for a lot of two man games and picking - SU will have to communicate and hopefully play like they did on Saturday night against the Cavs.
If there are reassuring statistics to look at, it is the Vermont goalie and face-off stats. The goalie Ryan Cornell saved just 46% of his saves against Bryant. He did have impressive stats last year, where it looked like he split time with Nick Washuta. He had a 7.21 GAA and an eye opening 66% save percentage, but those came in games against not the best competition. Vermont's main FOGO, Tommy Burke won just 46% of his draws last year and returned this year. Against Bryant, it looked to be more of the same, winning 48% (12-25). Have to think that Phaup will be able to do well in this matchup.
UVM has scrimmaged SU in the past, so they are not a totally unfamiliar opponent. SU "won" their scrimmage last January 11-10, though they were up 10-5 at the end of two quarters when it was starters only (they only played three).
Sorry my analysis isn't more in-depth, I just don't know much about Vermont. Overall I think SU should win this, and by more than a couple goals if they play as well as they did on Saturday. Curious to see how Vermont decides to defend the Orange. Thats a big question in general moving forward. Have to think after the Virginia game, teams will decide on long-polling Curry. Will they triple pole the midfield? Put a shorty on Trimboli (who has been a bit quiet with three goals on the year)? Will Syracuse invert as much as they did Saturday or will we see a more standard offense? Hoping to see Chase Scanlan get off the schnide here and find his shooting touch again. He leads the team in shots with 18 but has just two goals. Also I have my eye on the second midfield who had big performances from Owen Seebold and Lucas Quinn, but Jacob Buttermore had a quiet start to last year (just four goals) and so far has only one in two games. If he's drawing the pole away from his line-mates and they are scoring, that works, but would be nice to see him emerge a little here.
Hopefully this can be a game in which the Orange builds on their momentum. A good game for Syracuse to recover from such a big game, but can't have too much of a letdown.
To be honest, I don't know much about Vermont and most of this preview will be based on what I found on their website. The only player I could name before doing any research was JJ Levandowski, who transferred from SU. Vermont opened the season with a 15-12 loss to Bryant. They had a pretty decent shorted season last year going 3-1, but their wins weren't that impressive (Quinnipiac, Dartmouth and Merrimack, with a loss to Holy Cross). It looks like they lost two of their top three scorers in Rob Hudson and Ben French, but did bring in Middlebury transfer Michael McKormack on attack. Their leading scorer last year was Thomas McConvey, a big, 6'4 210 Canadian who had a balanced 15 points from the midfield, and who had 4,2 against Bryant. He'll have to be the focal point and if he really is a middie, sounds like moving Kennedy to LSM was the right choice. Old friend Levandowski had a quiet season last year with just 2 goals but had a nice game against Bryant with 2,1. He and McCovney did however combine for six turnovers (three each). And strangely, he scored the games first two goals then didn't register another shot. Hurt? One thing to watch for the Orange is Vermont typically has a very Canadian influenced game, so defending them might be quite different than most other teams. Watch for a lot of two man games and picking - SU will have to communicate and hopefully play like they did on Saturday night against the Cavs.
If there are reassuring statistics to look at, it is the Vermont goalie and face-off stats. The goalie Ryan Cornell saved just 46% of his saves against Bryant. He did have impressive stats last year, where it looked like he split time with Nick Washuta. He had a 7.21 GAA and an eye opening 66% save percentage, but those came in games against not the best competition. Vermont's main FOGO, Tommy Burke won just 46% of his draws last year and returned this year. Against Bryant, it looked to be more of the same, winning 48% (12-25). Have to think that Phaup will be able to do well in this matchup.
UVM has scrimmaged SU in the past, so they are not a totally unfamiliar opponent. SU "won" their scrimmage last January 11-10, though they were up 10-5 at the end of two quarters when it was starters only (they only played three).
Sorry my analysis isn't more in-depth, I just don't know much about Vermont. Overall I think SU should win this, and by more than a couple goals if they play as well as they did on Saturday. Curious to see how Vermont decides to defend the Orange. Thats a big question in general moving forward. Have to think after the Virginia game, teams will decide on long-polling Curry. Will they triple pole the midfield? Put a shorty on Trimboli (who has been a bit quiet with three goals on the year)? Will Syracuse invert as much as they did Saturday or will we see a more standard offense? Hoping to see Chase Scanlan get off the schnide here and find his shooting touch again. He leads the team in shots with 18 but has just two goals. Also I have my eye on the second midfield who had big performances from Owen Seebold and Lucas Quinn, but Jacob Buttermore had a quiet start to last year (just four goals) and so far has only one in two games. If he's drawing the pole away from his line-mates and they are scoring, that works, but would be nice to see him emerge a little here.
Hopefully this can be a game in which the Orange builds on their momentum. A good game for Syracuse to recover from such a big game, but can't have too much of a letdown.