There were definite signs of life on offense for the Orange, ball movement seemed much better and players spacing was much improved. The expectations after the Maryland game of corse were pretty low, but it was progress. That said, still much work to be done. 1-7 on extra man is a really bad sign. I hate calling out individuals, but that might have been the worst I’ve seen Curry play. Bad shooting and inexplicable turnovers. Just looks like he has too much pressure on his shoulders right now. Cook was better but still some bad turnovers. I’d like to see him get by his defender more consistently, especially if it’s a short stick. Berkman a good day on the stat sheet, but again, Uva covered him with a shorty most of the day. If your going to have that matchup as an x attackman, you have to feast on those. The second line middies weren’t used after the first quarter, that’s just not a winning game plan. Now they are facing a midweek game against a well rested Army team with a first midfield that just ran a marathon. Not good.
On defense it seemed pretty clear the Cavs wanted to take advantage of the shorties. And they did. Just no contact made by SU and allowed Virginia to get to their spots at will. Ground ball play was abysmal. Some of it is luck but a lot is stick skills and instinct. The Orange were lacking in those departments. One bright spot was Nick Caccamo, he didn’t let Moore score when they were matched up and even had a nice takeaway.
This team as a lot to work on and the schedule doesn’t allow for a lot of experimentation and tinkering. They really need their “star” players to start playing like it.
