Powellfan
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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The Orange are in desperate need of a win, and face-off against the Virginia Cavaliers for the second time this season. After beating the Cavs 20-10 earlier in the year, you'd think the Orange would be confident in their re-match. However, Syracuse is desperately lacking in confidence having been blown out by ACC teams in two of their last three games and having their leading goal scorer suspended. Most people probably think there is more of a chance UVA wins by 10, than the Orange. But its put up or shut up time for Syracuse, as they need a win in their last two games to be tournament eligible. Lots of questions abound, not sure there are many answers unfortunately.
Its been discussed a lot already, but the newest crisis for the Orange is how to replace Chase Scanlan, who has been suspended indefinitely. I think most people expect Owen Seebold to move down low, which I think is the right call. He's a better dodger than Scanlan but does not have the shooting acumen. The thinking is that perhaps without Scanlan in the lineup, others will step up and feel more involved, addition by subtraction if you will. Scanlan has shot the ball 68 times this year, the next closest is Tucker Dordevic at just 55. So yes, there are a lot of shots to make up for. And as Ted from LaxFactor pointed out, perhaps the offense will flow better with another dodger. Of course there are still question marks on the offensive side of the ball including but not limited to the fact that: Trimboli is still struggling to find the back of the net, Owen Hiltz looks to have hit a freshmen wall, scoring just 5 points in the last three games, and just a general lack of flow. Also the second midfield losses their biggest producer, leaving just Lucas Quinn as a consistiant producer. I think the UVA defense can be scored on, they are very athletic but the Orange usually has good luck with them. But still they'll have to play smart and incorporating a new starter on offense will be a test. Of course, this says nothing of the fact that the offense is not the reason that Syracuse is losing games ...
The face-off and defensive units have really struggled this year. The biggest role reversal from the first UVA-SU game of course has been the trajectory of the two FOGOs. Jakob Phaup won 22-33 against Petey LaSalla, but has struggled mightily since then. LaSalla on the other hand looks like one of the best FOGOs in the country winning almost 70 percent of his face-offs. Given his success in the last time they met, I think you still start with Phaup, but you have to make a quick change if it looks like he's struggling (its pretty obvious early in games to tell when he doesn't have "it"). Danny Varello actually looked okay against UNC winning 11-19, but he still struggles to control the ball after a win. Lots of people are high on Jack Savage, and while he was thrown to the wolves late in the year, he still has a pretty dismal win percentage of 33% and only one groundball on the year. So not the best options for the Orange.
If they don't win face-offs of course, your giving the Cavs offense more opportunities against a porous defense. The Orange played the Cavs tough last time out, limiting them to 10 goals with Mitch Wykoff holding Matt Moore to just 1 assist. Virginia does seem to be playing, and sharing the ball much better, but they still can get sucked into hero ball. I think if the Orange just focus on their matchups and don't try and worry about slides, they might do okay, but I've thought that about UNC and Notre Dame and that went down the drain fast. It doesn't help that Syracuse still might be without a regular SSDM in Aviles or a starting long stick in DiPietro. Hopefully they come back soon, because it really doesn't look like the Orange has better options on the bench in the defensive department.
Anyways, trying to stay positive, as the season is not over yet, but as Bob Dylan said, "it's not dark yet, but it's getting there". Side note, but I feel like I've used that quote a lot over these past few years with the Orange. Just hard to fathom how low the confidence I have in the Orange in winning this game, even though they blew this team out of the water earlier this season. Maybe all the Orange need is a spark, and maybe the offensive changes provide a jolt to the system. Maybe Phaup gets confidence from the fact he won this matchup earlier in the year and goes on a role. Maybe the defense gets a few early stops and realizes they can in fact hang with the big boys. Lots of maybes, which means lots of issues. But maybe is better than no, so hopefully they seize on that. Go Orange.
Its been discussed a lot already, but the newest crisis for the Orange is how to replace Chase Scanlan, who has been suspended indefinitely. I think most people expect Owen Seebold to move down low, which I think is the right call. He's a better dodger than Scanlan but does not have the shooting acumen. The thinking is that perhaps without Scanlan in the lineup, others will step up and feel more involved, addition by subtraction if you will. Scanlan has shot the ball 68 times this year, the next closest is Tucker Dordevic at just 55. So yes, there are a lot of shots to make up for. And as Ted from LaxFactor pointed out, perhaps the offense will flow better with another dodger. Of course there are still question marks on the offensive side of the ball including but not limited to the fact that: Trimboli is still struggling to find the back of the net, Owen Hiltz looks to have hit a freshmen wall, scoring just 5 points in the last three games, and just a general lack of flow. Also the second midfield losses their biggest producer, leaving just Lucas Quinn as a consistiant producer. I think the UVA defense can be scored on, they are very athletic but the Orange usually has good luck with them. But still they'll have to play smart and incorporating a new starter on offense will be a test. Of course, this says nothing of the fact that the offense is not the reason that Syracuse is losing games ...
The face-off and defensive units have really struggled this year. The biggest role reversal from the first UVA-SU game of course has been the trajectory of the two FOGOs. Jakob Phaup won 22-33 against Petey LaSalla, but has struggled mightily since then. LaSalla on the other hand looks like one of the best FOGOs in the country winning almost 70 percent of his face-offs. Given his success in the last time they met, I think you still start with Phaup, but you have to make a quick change if it looks like he's struggling (its pretty obvious early in games to tell when he doesn't have "it"). Danny Varello actually looked okay against UNC winning 11-19, but he still struggles to control the ball after a win. Lots of people are high on Jack Savage, and while he was thrown to the wolves late in the year, he still has a pretty dismal win percentage of 33% and only one groundball on the year. So not the best options for the Orange.
If they don't win face-offs of course, your giving the Cavs offense more opportunities against a porous defense. The Orange played the Cavs tough last time out, limiting them to 10 goals with Mitch Wykoff holding Matt Moore to just 1 assist. Virginia does seem to be playing, and sharing the ball much better, but they still can get sucked into hero ball. I think if the Orange just focus on their matchups and don't try and worry about slides, they might do okay, but I've thought that about UNC and Notre Dame and that went down the drain fast. It doesn't help that Syracuse still might be without a regular SSDM in Aviles or a starting long stick in DiPietro. Hopefully they come back soon, because it really doesn't look like the Orange has better options on the bench in the defensive department.
Anyways, trying to stay positive, as the season is not over yet, but as Bob Dylan said, "it's not dark yet, but it's getting there". Side note, but I feel like I've used that quote a lot over these past few years with the Orange. Just hard to fathom how low the confidence I have in the Orange in winning this game, even though they blew this team out of the water earlier this season. Maybe all the Orange need is a spark, and maybe the offensive changes provide a jolt to the system. Maybe Phaup gets confidence from the fact he won this matchup earlier in the year and goes on a role. Maybe the defense gets a few early stops and realizes they can in fact hang with the big boys. Lots of maybes, which means lots of issues. But maybe is better than no, so hopefully they seize on that. Go Orange.