Cornell 2024

[VeryRustyRed]

As expected, given the importance of the game (i.e., ILT seed and the potential for an at large bid if they don't win the AQ), the boys came to play and took care of business. It was however, a game that I can only describe as both strange and sloppy. Strange in that watching on-line it didn't seem to have the intensity of matchups with top prior opponents + time of day, etc. Sloppy? Perhaps a better way to describe it is that it was not nearly as "clean" on both ends of the field as it was last week vs. Harvard. And approaching the end of the season, you want to be building momentum as a team. An example of strange - the 3rd quarter: up & down, up & down the field, Cornell takes a ton of shots, get 3 pipes, and comes away with a 2-0 quarter.
The other potentially very noteworthy thing is who did not play. My assumption/ardent hope is that Long was simply held out (long season, everyone is dinged). The other big absence was no Rayhill. He has played well as the starter at LSM in a 3 man rotation with Staub and Danny B. And it's worked well. Without him today, Stevens went with Charles Packard who pretty much hasn't seen the field in his career. Both he and Jack Parker (ss) both had several 1st and 2nd half runs and did well. I'd like to see Parker share more of the ss load if Bozzi doesn't return for the ILT (which I'm hoping for).
Other - the good, neutral, and not-so-good:
-Start with Knust. Another excellent day stopping shots; made some terrific saves. His clearing passes, however, were...to be diplomatic, not good at all. A few buddy passes, low-percentage ropes, and ankle passes. I'm sure the coaches will have tape for him to look at. But the shot stopping is just great.
-Excellent day for Staub - he's looking, fast, aggressive, and confident. And Danny Boc has come a long way back. Great effort.
-Face-offs - the Dartmouth FOGO outplayed 3 and 28 today. Won most of the clamps and used his big body very effectively to shield Psyllos from his counter-checks.
-Another excellent game for Kelleher. Almost got another two in the same weird 3rd quarter sequence. Glad that Wirtheim got one late as he worked hard. Tough day all around today for Firth. Caddigan subbed for Long, and while not a feeder, he has a great long/intermediate shot and knows what to do with the ball at GLE. We do lose a dimension, however, without Long.
-In the first half, Dartmouth kept looking to force the ball inside to cutters. Most passes got through, but in traffic, not much they could do to get good looks. Cornell also got caught numerous times with o-mids on D. Tightened things up and looked far more connected in the 2nd half, shutting Dartmouth out until mass late-in-game substitutions.
*Good day elsewhere - I assume Cornell will jump pass Yale in RPI (potential at large competition). Notre Dame beat UVA, and UNC is now out as a long shot at large team.
*"Lager" - there was no attempt in my former post to be...to use your word, pretentious, in writing about Dartmouth's chances today. My post was objective and based on a) the premise that past behavior/performance is the best predictor of future behavior/performance & b) a pretty good knowledge of the '23 and '24 teams. Additionally, as CU77 pointed out, the prior history of the two team (which in most cases under-reflect the goal differential due to mass late subs), also reflect that the 2023 game was very much of an outlier. Close only counts in horseshoes. That's why I used the word "virtually" to qualify my statement.
***The Ivy League Tournament: IMO, if Cornell wins game #1, they look very good for (at least) an at large bid. While everyone wants to win both games, just having to play a second game with one day rest...after a long season...(with exams)..followed by the NCAA's a week away is no small task. One game at a time. LGR

[joewillie78]

What time are the games on Friday?

I see Cornell is in the later game.

Gobigred
Joewillie78

[laxfan1313]

CornellIvyChamps2024.jpg (255.65 KiB) Viewed 1349 times

[faircornell]

Great win!

[faircornell]

I'm told by a reliable source that the team left yesterday at 11AM.

Thanks

[Lager]

As expected, given the importance of the game (i.e., ILT seed and the potential for an at large bid if they don't win the AQ), the boys came to play and took care of business. It was however, a game that I can only describe as both strange and sloppy. Strange in that watching on-line it didn't seem to have the intensity of matchups with top prior opponents + time of day, etc. Sloppy? Perhaps a better way to describe it is that it was not nearly as "clean" on both ends of the field as it was last week vs. Harvard. And approaching the end of the season, you want to be building momentum as a team. An example of strange - the 3rd quarter: up & down, up & down the field, Cornell takes a ton of shots, get 3 pipes, and comes away with a 2-0 quarter.
The other potentially very noteworthy thing is who did not play. My assumption/ardent hope is that Long was simply held out (long season, everyone is dinged). The other big absence was no Rayhill. He has played well as the starter at LSM in a 3 man rotation with Staub and Danny B. And it's worked well. Without him today, Stevens went with Charles Packard who pretty much hasn't seen the field in his career. Both he and Jack Parker (ss) both had several 1st and 2nd half runs and did well. I'd like to see Parker share more of the ss load if Bozzi doesn't return for the ILT (which I'm hoping for).
Other - the good, neutral, and not-so-good:
-Start with Knust. Another excellent day stopping shots; made some terrific saves. His clearing passes, however, were...to be diplomatic, not good at all. A few buddy passes, low-percentage ropes, and ankle passes. I'm sure the coaches will have tape for him to look at. But the shot stopping is just great.
-Excellent day for Staub - he's looking, fast, aggressive, and confident. And Danny Boc has come a long way back. Great effort.
-Face-offs - the Dartmouth FOGO outplayed 3 and 28 today. Won most of the clamps and used his big body very effectively to shield Psyllos from his counter-checks.
-Another excellent game for Kelleher. Almost got another two in the same weird 3rd quarter sequence. Glad that Wirtheim got one late as he worked hard. Tough day all around today for Firth. Caddigan subbed for Long, and while not a feeder, he has a great long/intermediate shot and knows what to do with the ball at GLE. We do lose a dimension, however, without Long.
-In the first half, Dartmouth kept looking to force the ball inside to cutters. Most passes got through, but in traffic, not much they could do to get good looks. Cornell also got caught numerous times with o-mids on D. Tightened things up and looked far more connected in the 2nd half, shutting Dartmouth out until mass late-in-game substitutions.
*Good day elsewhere - I assume Cornell will jump pass Yale in RPI (potential at large competition). Notre Dame beat UVA, and UNC is now out as a long shot at large team.
*"Lager" - there was no attempt in my former post to be...to use your word, pretentious, in writing about Dartmouth's chances today. My post was objective and based on a) the premise that past behavior/performance is the best predictor of future behavior/performance & b) a pretty good knowledge of the '23 and '24 teams. Additionally, as CU77 pointed out, the prior history of the two team (which in most cases under-reflect the goal differential due to mass late subs), also reflect that the 2023 game was very much of an outlier. Close only counts in horseshoes. That's why I used the word "virtually" to qualify my statement.
***The Ivy League Tournament: IMO, if Cornell wins game #1, they look very good for (at least) an at large bid. While everyone wants to win both games, just having to play a second game with one day rest...after a long season...(with exams)..followed by the NCAA's a week away is no small task. One game at a time. LGR

I appreciate your clarification, but honestly the on field play today lended more credibility towards my point of view than yours. The reality is that that was a competitive, physical game for a blow out (if there such a thing), as I expected. Cornell had to work for the blow out and it was by no means a 12-2 in the middle of the second quarter, send in the back-ups laugher. Frankly, Cornell was pretty lucky that Dartmouth didn't have 7 or 8 goals at half.

Especially after watching the game today, I stand by my estimate that this Dartmouth team would have a 5-10% chance against this Cornell team on any given day. Which, in my opinion, is a lot higher than "virtually no chance," which to me means basically a 1% chance, maybe even less.

[laxfan1313]

Current RPI: Cornell 9, Yale 10, Penn 12, Princeton 13. https://pro.lacrossereference.com/rpi-d ... ifospeivmd

[semsox]

Sincerely hope that Long was held out as a precaution. That said, I think Caddigan could fill in credibly for Long, and it seems the Kirst/Goldstein/Caddigan attack makes more sense as a unit than the early season Kirst/Long/Caddigan unit did.

And as someone who was really bullish on Tully taking the job over early in the season, Knust has played at an unbelievable level since the Syracuse game. I hope he can keep it up because great goalie play can turn losses into victories in a way that no other position can. Credit to him for how he's responded and really upped his level of play from the early season games.

Finally, I'd like to think we are in even with an L next Friday, but why chance it? An ILT championship over a Penn then Yale/Princeton team I would think puts us in a mid-to-high seeded position.

[laxjuris]

Really impressed with Staub’s play the last few weeks. I think he was dealing with an injury earlier this season, but based on his play of late that must be resolved. And nice to see Bacciafola playing so well; I thought he was excellent during our deep run in 2022, and I never understood why he seemed to fall out of favor. Finally, Knust is playing at as high a level as we’ve seen from a Cornell goalie in some time. If he keeps up at this clip we’ll be a tough out against anyone.

[mfp]

What time are the games on Friday?

I see Cornell is in the later game.

Gobigred
Joewillie78

2024 Ivy League Tournament

Friday, May 3. (Semifinals)
No. 2 Princeton vs. No. 3 Yale, 6 p.m. on ESPNU
No. 1 Cornell vs. No. 4 Penn, 8:30 p.m. on ESPNU

Sunday, May 5 (Championship)
1 p.m. on ESPNU

[FannOLax]

Congratulations to Cornell and the Cornell faithful on winning outright the Ivy regular-season title. Well deserved.

[joewillie78]

Good win against a determined but ultimately out-skilled Dartmouth team. Buczek has won at least a share of the ivy title in each of his first 3 years. If he keeps this up he'll end up as one of Cornell's all time greats, just need a couple Nattys!

If he keeps that up, some ACC or BIG school will come calling with bookoo bucks. I know he's an alum, but it's time for this administration to make sure ( Like coughing up enough money to keep him, no matter what it takes).

Buczek, to me has a chance to be the next LEGENDARY coach at Cornell like Harkness and Moran.

We just LOST a great basketball coach (not an alum), so please, do everything to keep Connor in Ithaca. PLEASE.

Gobigred
Joewillie78

[ICGrad]

If he keeps that up, some ACC or BIG school will come calling with bookoo bucks.

There's the potential for a number of openings at schools with deep pockets this year: UNC, OSU, ND, Duke.

Buczek seems like a Cornell man through-and-through. Be interesting to see how much of a full court press (if any) Cornell makes to tie him up and keep him here.

[VeryRustyRed]

Looking Ahead:
-Based on current RPI and geographic proximity, there's a good chance that Cornell will play Penn State in State College if they both win their first conference tournament game. If Cornell wins and PSU loses, the venue would probably be reversed. Personally, I've always thought that playing a Tambroni coached Penn State team is a match-up issue for Cornell. Their style (heavy ball and player movement) and team culture are, not surprisingly, very similar. If they both win their respective tournaments, look for Cornell to get a seed.
-However...Penn State's first conference game is against Maryland. Despite their excellent goalie and overall defense, I prefer Maryland to win because of the aforementioned. Cornell would then likely play Maryland in College Park. The good news is that the teams know one another from FallBall the last several years. Also, Maryland is not going to score a lot of points. The issue will be at face-off with Wierman; advantage MD.

First things first - the ILT:
-Coach B will hopefully have gone to school on Penn's defense. After Cornell ran out to a 6-2 lead in the first meeting, Penn changed up their defense, packed things in (no more cross crease stuff), defenders stayed home whenever possible, using good judgement when to slide. Nothing much seemed to work for Cornell from then on. On defense, I'm sure Coach Stevens will review tape with the boys. If I remember correctly, they took advantage (Rubin in particular) of getting ss matchups and "unenven" decision making on Cornell help/recovery. As 1313 referenced, you've got to pole Rubin this time around. He's not a burner and is small, but he's a smart player with a great shot, my guess is with lots of whip, given the amount of goals he scores. The problem is that Shipley will/can abuse shorties as well. While it disrupts the regular defensive scheme, I'd consider double poling the mid-field --- both of them. If Stevens chooses not to, I'd start with the pole on Rubin, given his past history against Cornell. Cornell can always switch back.
-As for the Yale-Princeton "re-match," apparently Yale's first two FOGOS are hurt (Ramsey took one and Rodriguez took none). They tried three others who were not ready for prime time. 'Can't give Princeton's offense too many touches.

LGR

[laxfan1313]

Looking Ahead:
-Based on current RPI and geographic proximity, there's a good chance that Cornell will play Penn State in State College if they both win their first conference tournament game. If Cornell wins and PSU loses, the venue would probably be reversed. Personally, I've always thought that playing a Tambroni coached Penn State team is a match-up issue for Cornell. Their style (heavy ball and player movement) and team culture are, not surprisingly, very similar. If they both win their respective tournaments, look for Cornell to get a seed.
-However...Penn State's first conference game is against Maryland. Despite their excellent goalie and overall defense, I prefer Maryland to win because of the aforementioned. Cornell would then likely play Maryland in College Park. The good news is that the teams know one another from FallBall the last several years. Also, Maryland is not going to score a lot of points. The issue will be at face-off with Wierman; advantage MD.

First things first - the ILT:
-Coach B will hopefully have gone to school on Penn's defense. After Cornell ran out to a 6-2 lead in the first meeting, Penn changed up their defense, packed things in (no more cross crease stuff), defenders stayed home whenever possible, using good judgement when to slide. Nothing much seemed to work for Cornell from then on. On defense, I'm sure Coach Stevens will review tape with the boys. If I remember correctly, they took advantage (Rubin in particular) of getting ss matchups and "unenven" decision making on Cornell help/recovery. As 1313 referenced, you've got to pole Rubin this time around. He's not a burner and is small, but he's a smart player with a great shot, my guess is with lots of whip, given the amount of goals he scores. The problem is that Shipley will/can abuse shorties as well. While it disrupts the regular defensive scheme, I'd consider double poling the mid-field --- both of them. If Stevens chooses not to, I'd start with the pole on Rubin, given his past history against Cornell. Cornell can always switch back.
-As for the Yale-Princeton "re-match," apparently Yale's first two FOGOS are hurt (Ramsey took one and Rodriguez took none). They tried three others who were not ready for prime time. 'Can't give Princeton's offense too many touches.

LGR

Take away 1 of Rubin's 5 regulation goals (he also scored the game winner in the 2nd OT) and the Big Red wins in regulation and might already, at this point, have clinched an at large bid by being undefeated Ivy champs. He scored half of Penn's goals in regulation. Pole him! I know he's not big but he's shifty with a cannon shot and great placement. POLE HIM!

[another fan]

Lawrenceville and Salesianum (Delaware) played a great game, with Lawrenceville winning 9-8 in overtime.

Lawrenceville's goalie, Piacentini, and 18 on Salesianum , Nurry, are Cornell recruits. Piacentini is a 24. Nurry was originally a 24, but is now a 25. Both had great games. Nurry had another goal and, I believe, another assist not shown in these highlights. Very high level prep lacrosse.

https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... pKkgc,st:0

[10stone5]

Salesianum is a program which can't be ignored.

They've had good DI level players, but now are competing with the top 10-15 programs,
Malvern Prep, Haverford, Lawrenceville and the other locals.

[RedIvy]

I thought Sam Ricci looked good on the few Face Offs he took in the 4th Quarter on Saturday. I’m not sure if it was the same FOGO from Dartmouth. Not sure why coaches haven’t tried him more in other games to see if style/matchup is an advantage as well rest for Psyllos. Thinking we may see him given a shot this weekend.

[drunkmonkey30]

Sincerely hope that Long was held out as a precaution. That said, I think Caddigan could fill in credibly for Long, and it seems the Kirst/Goldstein/Caddigan attack makes more sense as a unit than the early season Kirst/Long/Caddigan unit did.

Hoping Long's injury is not serious and he is full speed on Friday.

But, I was impressed with Caddigan, especially his crease play. With Kirst/Goldstein/Long Cornell does not have a crease attackman. Caddigan filled that traditional crease attackman roll. His crease play was fun to watch, gives Goldstein a better feeding option vs Long on the wing. He also set nice picks on the crease all game long. A couple led to goals.

Most of this season there are lots of cutters and lots of motion inside, but it all seems chaotic and mostly individual effort to get open. Caddigan was in the paint setting picks and directing traffic. He and Goldstein will be fun to watch next year!

That said, I truly hope Long is back on Friday. Think his dodging and shooting from the wing spot creates huge matchup problems for defenses. Most teams to not have 3 starting attack that can all beat their man.

[Trumansburger]

I thought Sam Ricci looked good on the few Face Offs he took in the 4th Quarter on Saturday. I’m not sure if it was the same FOGO from Dartmouth. Not sure why coaches haven’t tried him more in other games to see if style/matchup is an advantage as well rest for Psyllos. Thinking we may see him given a shot this weekend.

Yes. I was a bit surprised to see Psyllos still taking face offs in 4th quarter with Big Red up by 7 goals. He was dinged up a couple of games ago and could probably us a break. My recollection is that Penn FO guys are good but not dominant so we should be competitive there on Friday.
Go Big Red!