Delaware 2024

[10stone5]

Faceoff is the thing,

faceoffs turned that last game, Syracuse v Hopkins, tilted to one side of the field.

———————

And, I’ve said it before,
I still don’t know how the Hens were able to finagle Powers away from Simmons Jr.

[Henpecked]

History
This Saturday afternoon Hen’s sophomore Brendan Powers will head down to Chantilly Virginia to avenge the back-to-back losses that his dad Randy suffered at the hands of his hometown Syracuse Orangemen in 1985 and 1986. Syracuse’s Tim Nelson, Brad Kotz, Todd Curry and Co. beat the Hens in back-to-back years by scores of 12-6 and 14-8 during all-American Randy Powers (West Genessee HS) last two years at Delaware. The 1985 version of the Hens was no joke either. They were coming off an NCAA quarterfinal loss to Hopkins in 1984 and lost the opener to Syracuse before beating Duke and running off four straight wins against Maryland, Bucknell, Princeton and Drexel to end the season just outside the NCAA tourney. The 1986 team was loaded too, and ended the season winning 10 of its last 12 games over UMBC, Hofstra, Duke, Lehigh, Lafayette, Penn, Towson State, Bucknell, Princeton and Drexel. And most of those games were blowouts. Yet the Hens were left out of the tourney, again. Still stings to this day.

What to look for if you haven’t seen Syracuse this year (I imagine that is a small population)
The 2024 Hens will have their hands full trying to contain the 2024 version of Syracuse. The 6-2 Orange squad is LOADED with talent on both sides of the field. It all starts with super-soph Joey Spallina at attack. He often gets criticized for his flashy style of play, but there is no denying his immense talent, scoring 23 goals and dishing out 29 assists (6.4 points a game – 2nd in NCAA) on 37% shooting. Spallina is joined at attack by lefty sniper Owen Hiltz (15g, 12a – 33% shooting) and Lehigh transfer Christian Mule (16g 9a - 41% shooting). The Orange also have crazy talent at midfield where coach Gait can confidently trot out two lines that include Michael Leo (14g 3a – 33%), Luke Rhoa (10 goals – 28%), Finn Thompson (8g 8a), Jackson Birtwistle (8 goals) and Princeton transfers Jake Stevens (8g 3a) and Sam English (9g 1a). LOADED.

So the offense is virtually unstoppable scoring 16.25 goals a game. What could possibly make this tougher on the Hens? Well, Cuse has two FOGOs that win a boatload of faceoffs. Tufts transfer Mason Kohn wins 65% of the draws but also presents a quick-strike offensive threat with 4 goals and 5 assists through eight games. His backup is beastly freshman John Mullen who has won 43-66 draws (.652).

Finally, Syracuse has a very strong defense that is anchored by a mostly-hot transfer goalie Will Mark who has a 52% save percentage. While those stats don’t look crazy good, he seems to make the big saves during the big moments in a game. He has had two sub-par games this year against Maryland (41% in OT loss) and Army (44% in OT loss). Syracuse defense gives up just 10 goals a game and is helped by ball-hunting defenders like Saam Olexo (6 CTs), Carter Rice (7 CTs), Billy Dwan (5 CTs) and Riley Figueras (8 CTs).

What the Hens need to do to stay competitive
I would imagine that Coach DeLuca will want to be very deliberate on offense with the possession disadvantage that they will most likely be facing. I am not sure that this is a good idea. In the last couple of weeks the Hens were better when they played fast and loose on offense. When they played conservatively with a lead against Michigan, Penn and Monmouth they drained the shot clock and almost never got the shot that they were looking for before dumping the ball into the corner. That is the conundrum that they will face against Syracuse. Do you play fast and hope to outscore this prolific offense, or do you try to control the clock and hope that you can win 40%+ of faceoffs and have your goalie makes 18-20 saves? Kevin Ellington has been terrific in goal (.566 save % and just 8.76 goals a game), but to ask him to stand on his head against such a great passing and shooting offense is asking a bit too much. If the Hens hold Syracuse to 13 goals they have a chance. Anything more than that, they are dead in the water.

So how do the Hens get to 14 goals
While the Syracuse defense is super-athletic, they are not always the most patient nor disciplined defense. If Delaware can keep the ball moving quickly and avoid turnovers they will find open players from over-zealous slides and double teams. Some of the Cuse defenders are not super-fast either. Against Maryland, the Terps Braden Erksa and Jack Koras used their elite speed to win the one-on-one battles at GLE and up top that caused some indecision on the part of Cuse D on whether to slide or not. Delaware has some nice speed dodgers that could invert and cause similar mayhem. Not saying it is going to happen, but that is probably the only way that Delaware can get into double digits on the scoreboard.

The game will be broadcast on FloSports at 2PM. I am hoping for a competitive game, but the Hens will need to play an almost perfect game for that to happen. Win +40% of the faceoffs, be nearly perfect on clears, limit turnovers to 14 (Hens avg), get off at least 40 shots, shoot over 35% as a team and make 15-20 saves. That is asking a lot, but you can always hope. Should be fun. AVENGE THE 80’s LOSSES!

Henpecked, great write up! Syracuse's defense is a work in progress, they are playing better but it's the first year with a new DC and it shows. They start a redshirt freshman in Figueras, a sophomore in Dwan, and the third spot has been split between 2 players. LSM is a strength with Olexo and Wright. Also, Coach Deluca has experience coaching against the Orange as HC of Cornell and as an assistant with Duke. Hoping for a great game.

The best part about the Syracuse defense is its aggression and athleticism. These guys get after it.

As far as faceoff go, 10Stone5, the Hens have the 3rd best FOGO in D1 Lacrosse. It's their hidden weapon.

best.jpg (44.72 KiB) Viewed 1116 times

[10stone5]

I like Morris,

a lot.

[Mr3Putt]

The Fogo (Morris) stats are a little misleading. 1-5 vs Penn. Had success vs less talented teams . And, didn’t play vs Michigan, where Premtaj was something like 5-24. Syracuse averages 50 shots a game, and wins 64% at the X. The question is can Delaware keep up? SU has been on spring break this week practicing down south. This is a tough nut for the Hens. The win vs Hopkins for Syracuse is probably the biggest win in 5 years for the program. They will be sky high.

[Henpecked]

The Fogo (Morris) stats are a little misleading. 1-5 vs Penn. Had success vs less talented teams . And, didn’t play vs Michigan, where Premtaj was something like 5-24. Syracuse averages 50 shots a game, and wins 64% at the X. The question is can Delaware keep up? SU has been on spring break this week practicing down south. This is a tough nut for the Hens. The win vs Hopkins for Syracuse is probably the biggest win in 5 years for the program. They will be sky high.

I guess I should have put ten smiley faces next to that statement about Delaware’s secret FOGO weapon. That statement was made completely tongue in cheek. I know exactly who Morris has faced this year and how few draws he has taken. He can beat middling FOGOs but I’m just hoping he can get to 35-40 against Syracuse. This game is going to be a monumental task for the Hens. It’ll be fun to watch though.

[hofpride]

is cuse delaware being streamed anywhere?

[GaitsRightHand]

is cuse delaware being streamed anywhere?

Flo Sports Live at 2PM on Saturday

[Henpecked]

The Blue Hens are 6-2 versus Hofstra since DeLuca took over at UD. However, both of those losses were brutal for the Hens. In 2021 Delaware was 7-1 in conference and 10-2 overall when they faced Hofstra in the first round of the CAAs at Hofstra (for some reason) when they lost a 10-9 heartbreaker. Hens had extremely high hopes for that season but were dashed in just 60 minutes on Long Island. The second DeLuca loss in 2022 was actually a catalyst for the Hens. After dropping that 12-11 decision at home in a lackluster performance, UD fell to 6-5 on the season. They went on to win seven straight games, including a first-round victory over Georgetown, before finally succumbing 10-8 to Cornell in the quarterfinals.

So that is all to say, you just never know when the Hens face Hofstra.

Despite some of the things you may read on this forum, Seth Tierney is an excellent game-day coach, particularly on the defensive end. He is an expert at taking away an opposing team’s strength. In this case he will focus almost exclusively on shutting down JP Ward. I am sure he watched Syracuse film from last week when they eliminated both Ward and Robinson and challenged the Hens young middies to beat them. I am not sure Hofstra has the same skill as Syracuse (who limited Duke to 4 goals yesterday BTW). But that won’t stop them from trying.

The Pride are bringing a disappointing 3-5 record to Newark with three wins against Wagner, St. John’s and Siena and five losses to Navy (16-8), Marist (12-10), Rutgers (13-8), UNC 21-9 and last week to Fairfield in the CAA opener 12-11.

Hofstra gives up 13.5 goals a game while scoring 12.25 (only 9.2 goals a game in 5 losses). The Pride is a very good passing team with over 60% of their goals coming on assists. Northern Californian Griffin Turner does an excellent job finding the open man on offense and not surprisingly, leads the team in assists with 17. He has some terrific shooters to pass to - John Madsen has 24 goals (44% shooting) in eight games and jitterbug dodger Rory Jones has 16 goals and is also a great interior passer. Colton Rudd (11g 8a) and Canadian Justin Sykes (13g 3a) are also proficient shooters. Sykes is an extremly physical dodger who likes to attack from GLE with a very strong left hand (a somewhat less aggressive version of Reid Bowering). As a team Hofstra shoots .279 which is actually not bad. The problem is they allow opponents to shoot .322, which is very bad.

The strength of this team is possessions. They win 56% of faceoffs driven primarily by Chase Patterson’s .591 winning percentage. They also get a ton of ground balls (averaging 31 a game). However, they also turn the ball over a ton (16.9 times a game ranked 50th in D1).

Despite giving up nearly 14 goals a game, the defense has some very athletic players including grad student JT Roselle (11 CTs and 19 GBs) who is a super-quick LSM transfer from Marist and UNC. I remember him scoring a bunch of goals at Marist. He is really a terrific athlete from Cold Spring Harbor on Strong Island. Blake Cooling (9 CTs and 14 gbs) a 6’2” 200 defender, has looked very good at times this year as well. Sophomore Will Delaney from Episcopal HS, outside of Philly, is also an unbelievably good athlete. He has the potential to be a dominant defender. Goalie Sean Henderson with an overall .452 save percentage is coming off his best game this year against Fairfield when he made 15 saves and allowed just 12 goals. He played well enough to win that game, but the offense just couldn’t get rolling.

I will not make any predictions for this game because as I mentioned earlier, it’s Hofstra. Anything can happen when they play UD. The Hens 6 on 6 defense was pretty good last week versus Syracuse, allowing just 10 even-strength goals. Cuse went 4-7 on the man-up offense, which really killed Delaware. Many, if not all, of those penalties were very avoidable – late hits, delay of game and interference calls were a combination of tick-tacky and excessive. Anyway, Delaware has to clean that up this week and stay out of the box, if possible. It would be a bonus to get Jason Kolar back after missing the last two games. He is the fastest offensive middie and can cause match-up problems for Hofstra. And JP Ward and Mike Robinson have to find ways to get loose. The Hens pick game at X has been used sparingly this year, but it is important to create better match ups on offense.

Gonna be cold and rainy (What else is new?) so get your waterproof gear out and support your local Blue Hens. They had 1,600 soaking fans out for Michigan. Be nice to see a big crowd again.

[10stone5]

by Henpecked » Thu Mar 21, 2024 6:36 pm

Northern Californian Griffin Turner does an excellent job finding the open man on offense and not surprisingly, leads the team in assists with 17

NorCal, San Ramon Valley High's (Danville CA) Griffin Turner.
SRV was started up by Garden City's Pete Worstell - most notable, the Tagliaferri brothers came out of SRV, the Pios Austin French, the Roberts brothers (P-ton).

Turner is right up there though a much lesser profile with another local, different school, Will Mark - in terms of progression from unheralded reruit to top DI player.

[Henpecked]

This Saturday the Hens head up to swanky Rafferty Field to face the 5-5 Fairfield Stags in a critical CAA matchup. Delaware has beaten the Stags in six straight games going back to 2018 when Ben DeLuca took over the program. However, a couple of those games were scary close including the 2022 game when the Hens scrapped to a 14-12 victory after the Stags scored six goals in the third quarter to knot up the game at 12. That win gave the Hens the #1 seed in the CAA on the way to a NCAA quarterfinal appearance. Similarly, the winner of this game will be in a pretty solid position for the CAA tourney.

What to expect from Fairfield
Fairfield is coming off its biggest win of the year after beating the Drexel Dragons in West Philly by a score of 18-13. The game was highlighted by grad student Bryce Ford’s 6 goals and 2 assists and freshman LSM Julian Radossich’s amazing play in the middle of the field. While Ford is a known entity to the Hens (4 goals in the last two matchups), Radossich is a really interesting recruit from Delbarton HS. Through 10 games, the 6’4” 190 lbs LSM has amassed 27 GBs and 22 CTs (6th best in D1). The guy is a beast who will attempt to wreak havoc on the Hens this weekend. Keep an eye on #27. Terrific athlete. Not sure how he didn’t end up at Villanova with every other Delbarton star.

Aside from the extremely physical play of Bryce Ford (24g 12a) at attack, the Stags have some unbelievably athletic players on offense including sophomores Will Consoli (20g 10a- reigning CAA rookie of the year) at midfield and Jake Gilbert (18g 9a) at attack. They are joined by shifty freshman attackman Keegan Lynch (10g 6a) and some extremely physical middies including Boston University transfer Reilly Sullivan (6’3’ 215 lbs) and senior Luke Okupski (6’1” 190 lbs). I don’t want to go crazy overselling this offense because they have averaged just 11.1 goals a game (ranked 47Th). However they are coming off a game when they scored a season-high 18 goals on the road against an improving Drexel defensive unit.

Defensively the Stags have some holes ranked 47th while giving up 11.7 goals a game. Not bad. They have used three goalies this year, Owen Hirsch (.491), Colin Consoli (.400) and Will Snyder (.429), who have a combined .444 save percentage. Not great.

All that said, the Stags seems to be improving as the season progresses and lost a close game to the #17 ranked Towson Tigers just two weeks ago by a score of 12-10. The Hens are in for a battle for sure.

Delaware by the numbers
Delaware is the #1 scoring defense in Division 1, giving up just 8.75 goals a game. They are also the #17 scoring offense with 13.12 goals a game. The Hens have Kevin Ellington in goal who is the #7 ranked goalie by save percentage (.580) and they have OJ Morris, the #6 ranked FOGO (.625) – I have stopped making jokes about his stats after his performance against Chase Patterson, Morris is good. They have the #10 goal scorer in Mike Robinson with an average of 3.0 per game. They have an improving freshman attackman, John McCurry, who has 11 goals over the last five games. And they have JP Ward (15g 18a) who orchestrates the Hens entire offense. They also have a young and improving midfield unit that has overcome injuries to Drew Lenkaitis and Jason Kolar (arguably the team's best offensive middies).

But all of those numbers don’t mean a thing if they can’t get to 14 goals on Saturday, because that is what it will probably take to beat the Stags in Connecticut this weekend. I hope that I am wrong, but I think this Fairfield team is an up-and-coming program. They have looked awful this year in losses to Sacred Heart, UNC and Bryant (I mean REALLY awful). But they have recently looked like a young team that is finally gelling. While faceoffs have improved lately, the defense and goaltending continues to be somewhat of a problem. Hopefully, the Hens can exploit those weaknesses and put a big number on them. Can’t wait.

[JustPassingThrough]

This Saturday the Hens head up to swanky Rafferty Field to face the 5-5 Fairfield Stags in a critical CAA matchup. Delaware has beaten the Stags in six straight games going back to 2018 when Ben DeLuca took over the program. However, a couple of those games were scary close including the 2022 game when the Hens scrapped to a 14-12 victory after the Stags scored six goals in the third quarter to knot up the game at 12. That win gave the Hens the #1 seed in the CAA on the way to a NCAA quarterfinal appearance. Similarly, the winner of this game will be in a pretty solid position for the CAA tourney.

What to expect from Fairfield
Fairfield is coming off its biggest win of the year after beating the Drexel Dragons in West Philly by a score of 18-13. The game was highlighted by grad student Bryce Ford’s 6 goals and 2 assists and freshman LSM Julian Radossich’s amazing play in the middle of the field. While Ford is a known entity to the Hens (4 goals in the last two matchups), Radossich is a really interesting recruit from Delbarton HS. Through 10 games, the 6’4” 190 lbs LSM has amassed 27 GBs and 22 CTs (6th best in D1). The guy is a beast who will attempt to wreak havoc on the Hens this weekend. Keep an eye on #27. Terrific athlete. Not sure how he didn’t end up at Villanova with every other Delbarton star.

Aside from the extremely physical play of Bryce Ford (24g 12a) at attack, the Stags have some unbelievably athletic players on offense including sophomores Will Consoli (20g 10a- reigning CAA rookie of the year) at midfield and Jake Gilbert (18g 9a) at attack. They are joined by shifty freshman attackman Keegan Lynch (10g 6a) and some extremely physical middies including Boston University transfer Reilly Sullivan (6’3’ 215 lbs) and senior Luke Okupski (6’1” 190 lbs). I don’t want to go crazy overselling this offense because they have averaged just 11.1 goals a game (ranked 47Th). However they are coming off a game when they scored a season-high 18 goals on the road against an improving Drexel defensive unit.

Defensively the Stags have some holes ranked 47th while giving up 11.7 goals a game. Not bad. They have used three goalies this year, Owen Hirsch (.491), Colin Consoli (.400) and Will Snyder (.429), who have a combined .444 save percentage. Not great.

All that said, the Stags seems to be improving as the season progresses and lost a close game to the #17 ranked Towson Tigers just two weeks ago by a score of 12-10. The Hens are in for a battle for sure.

Delaware by the numbers
Delaware is the #1 scoring defense in Division 1, giving up just 8.75 goals a game. They are also the #17 scoring offense with 13.12 goals a game. The Hens have Kevin Ellington in goal who is the #7 ranked goalie by save percentage (.580) and they have OJ Morris, the #6 ranked FOGO (.625) – I have stopped making jokes about his stats after his performance against Chase Patterson, Morris is good. They have the #10 goal scorer in Mike Robinson with an average of 3.0 per game. They have an improving freshman attackman, John McCurry, who has 11 goals over the last five games. And they have JP Ward (15g 18a) who orchestrates the Hens entire offense. They also have a young and improving midfield unit that has overcome injuries to Drew Lenkaitis and Jason Kolar (arguably the team's best offensive middies).

But all of those numbers don’t mean a thing if they can’t get to 14 goals on Saturday, because that is what it will probably take to beat the Stags in Connecticut this weekend. I hope that I am wrong, but I think this Fairfield team is an up-and-coming program. They have looked awful this year in losses to Sacred Heart, UNC and Bryant (I mean REALLY awful). But they have recently looked like a young team that is finally gelling. While faceoffs have improved lately, the defense and goaltending continues to be somewhat of a problem. Hopefully, the Hens can exploit those weaknesses and put a big number on them. Can’t wait.

The Fairfield losses to Sacred Heart and Bryant were ugly ones. The Drexel win was a big one for the Stags, breaking a six-year streak. The goalie position has been a transition from Snyder (Game 1 starter) to Hirsch (started last week) with a couple games of them--by design--each playing a half.

Side note: Delaware M Hank D'Ambrogi returns to Fairfield, where he spent his freshman year.

That 2022 game at Rafferty was a nutty one for post-season implications. If Fairfield had won, Delaware might have missed the CAA tourney, depending on tiebreakers (everyone finished either 3-2 or 2-3 in conference play). Instead, Delaware won that 4th quarter 2-0, no post-season for Stags, and the Hens won the CAA tourney, then knocked off Georgetown in the NCAAs. So very CAA.

Looking forward to Saturday's game.

[Henpecked]

This Saturday the Hens head up to swanky Rafferty Field to face the 5-5 Fairfield Stags in a critical CAA matchup. Delaware has beaten the Stags in six straight games going back to 2018 when Ben DeLuca took over the program. However, a couple of those games were scary close including the 2022 game when the Hens scrapped to a 14-12 victory after the Stags scored six goals in the third quarter to knot up the game at 12. That win gave the Hens the #1 seed in the CAA on the way to a NCAA quarterfinal appearance. Similarly, the winner of this game will be in a pretty solid position for the CAA tourney.

What to expect from Fairfield
Fairfield is coming off its biggest win of the year after beating the Drexel Dragons in West Philly by a score of 18-13. The game was highlighted by grad student Bryce Ford’s 6 goals and 2 assists and freshman LSM Julian Radossich’s amazing play in the middle of the field. While Ford is a known entity to the Hens (4 goals in the last two matchups), Radossich is a really interesting recruit from Delbarton HS. Through 10 games, the 6’4” 190 lbs LSM has amassed 27 GBs and 22 CTs (6th best in D1). The guy is a beast who will attempt to wreak havoc on the Hens this weekend. Keep an eye on #27. Terrific athlete. Not sure how he didn’t end up at Villanova with every other Delbarton star.

Aside from the extremely physical play of Bryce Ford (24g 12a) at attack, the Stags have some unbelievably athletic players on offense including sophomores Will Consoli (20g 10a- reigning CAA rookie of the year) at midfield and Jake Gilbert (18g 9a) at attack. They are joined by shifty freshman attackman Keegan Lynch (10g 6a) and some extremely physical middies including Boston University transfer Reilly Sullivan (6’3’ 215 lbs) and senior Luke Okupski (6’1” 190 lbs). I don’t want to go crazy overselling this offense because they have averaged just 11.1 goals a game (ranked 47Th). However they are coming off a game when they scored a season-high 18 goals on the road against an improving Drexel defensive unit.

Defensively the Stags have some holes ranked 47th while giving up 11.7 goals a game. Not bad. They have used three goalies this year, Owen Hirsch (.491), Colin Consoli (.400) and Will Snyder (.429), who have a combined .444 save percentage. Not great.

All that said, the Stags seems to be improving as the season progresses and lost a close game to the #17 ranked Towson Tigers just two weeks ago by a score of 12-10. The Hens are in for a battle for sure.

Delaware by the numbers
Delaware is the #1 scoring defense in Division 1, giving up just 8.75 goals a game. They are also the #17 scoring offense with 13.12 goals a game. The Hens have Kevin Ellington in goal who is the #7 ranked goalie by save percentage (.580) and they have OJ Morris, the #6 ranked FOGO (.625) – I have stopped making jokes about his stats after his performance against Chase Patterson, Morris is good. They have the #10 goal scorer in Mike Robinson with an average of 3.0 per game. They have an improving freshman attackman, John McCurry, who has 11 goals over the last five games. And they have JP Ward (15g 18a) who orchestrates the Hens entire offense. They also have a young and improving midfield unit that has overcome injuries to Drew Lenkaitis and Jason Kolar (arguably the team's best offensive middies).

But all of those numbers don’t mean a thing if they can’t get to 14 goals on Saturday, because that is what it will probably take to beat the Stags in Connecticut this weekend. I hope that I am wrong, but I think this Fairfield team is an up-and-coming program. They have looked awful this year in losses to Sacred Heart, UNC and Bryant (I mean REALLY awful). But they have recently looked like a young team that is finally gelling. While faceoffs have improved lately, the defense and goaltending continues to be somewhat of a problem. Hopefully, the Hens can exploit those weaknesses and put a big number on them. Can’t wait.

The Fairfield losses to Sacred Heart and Bryant were ugly ones. The Drexel win was a big one for the Stags, breaking a six-year streak. The goalie position has been a transition from Snyder (Game 1 starter) to Hirsch (started last week) with a couple games of them--by design--each playing a half.

Side note: Delaware M Hank D'Ambrogi returns to Fairfield, where he spent his freshman year.

That 2022 game at Rafferty was a nutty one for post-season implications. If Fairfield had won, Delaware might have missed the CAA tourney, depending on tiebreakers (everyone finished either 3-2 or 2-3 in conference play). Instead, Delaware won that 4th quarter 2-0, no post-season for Stags, and the Hens won the CAA tourney, then knocked off Georgetown in the NCAAs. So very CAA.

Looking forward to Saturday's game.

There is a lot of talk about Fairfield’s chances of winning this game. I think that FF has a great chance of winning this game at home. I’ve watched three of their games this year and they seem to be getting stronger every game. The one thing people will notice if they watch this game, is that FF has an extremely physical offense. Between Bryce Ford and the big middies they sort of bully their way into great shooting positions by winning those physical one-on-one battles. Against Drexel they had 12 unassisted goals. If Louie Atkinson can’t contain Ford the Hens might have some problems. And Joe Speers, Aiden Fritz, Reid Kurtz and Patrick Gillin will need to keep Reilly Sullivan and Luke Okupski in check as well. I would expect a lot more double teams from the Hens than the Dragons threw at them last week.

I think it’ll be a close game with the winning squad scoring 13-14 goals. Will be a battle for sure.

[gymman1031]

I would think that at least a decent handful of the regular players for Fairfield now are ones that Coach Baxter recruited.

[JustPassingThrough]

I would think that at least a decent handful of the regular players for Fairfield now are ones that Coach Baxter recruited.

The seniors are the first class of Baxter recruits--either he brought them in or they remained as commits when he came in.

[FMUBart]

Faceoff is the thing,

faceoffs turned that last game, Syracuse v Hopkins, tilted to one side of the field.

———————

And, I’ve said it before,
I still don’t know how the Hens were able to finagle Powers away from Simmons Jr.

Size, or lack thereof, and the ball tended to die in his stick--that's the word from a Cuse insider.
And, you forgot about Curry, Sheehan & Desko, among others, from those Syracuse teams(Kotz graduated in '84, I believe)..

[10stone5]

Faceoff is the thing,

faceoffs turned that last game, Syracuse v Hopkins, tilted to one side of the field.

———————

And, I’ve said it before,
I still don’t know how the Hens were able to finagle Powers away from Simmons Jr.

Size, or lack thereof, and the ball tended to die in his stick--that's the word from a Cuse insider.
And, you forgot about Curry, Sheehan & Desko, among others, from those Syracuse teams(Kotz graduated in '84, I believe)..

Hens lost in the 1st round / quarterfinals to one of the great all-time teams.

The 1984 Hopkins team, SE PA / Harrington High’s Peter Scott, Brian Wood, Del Dressel and the incomparable Larry Quinn.

Peter Scott used to come out to our summer league games, Peter Scott, Moses Marrone, Dennis Fink, Jon Heisman, Paul Stankewicz, guys from Tony Seaman’s 1980s UPenn teams, guys from Jack Emmers W&L teams … summer league, but still, a lot of lot of great players.

[Henpecked]

It was great to have Matt Montgomery back on defense. He did a great job keeping Bryce Ford in check. The Hens helping defense completely smothered the Stags in the second half holding them to just one goal. They barely got off shots in the second half as the Hens constantly threw double teams at the Stags, leading to 14 CTs.

As per usual Kevin Ellington was awesome in goal with 14 saves (.714).

Good win for the Hens. Put a big number on Fairfield and held them to just 6 goals.

This was a good day to be a Blue Hen.

[Henpecked]

There is an old expression that an injured animal is more dangerous than a healthy one. Well, over the next two weeks the Hens will be facing two teams that are figuratively “injured animals” in Stony Brook and Drexel. Each of these teams had high expectations for this season, but after struggling over the first half, both are fighting for their CAA lives trying to find a way into the top four.

Delaware beat Stony Brook twice last year by three goals in each game. The games were highlighted by UD getting out to pretty good leads through three quarters and then Dylan Pallonetti and Co. making a late run to make things a little less comfortable for the Hens. Stony Brook has had a pretty disappointing season so far with a 4-7 record, losing to Rutgers, Penn State, Air Force, Providence, North Carolina, Monmouth and Towson. However, three of those losses were by just one goal (Air Force, Providence and Towson). They are coming off their second win in the CAA with a pretty convincing victory over Drexel by a score of 13-8 on Long Island last weekend. So they are probably feeling good about themselves as they head into Newark this weekend.

What to expect from Stony Brook
Stony Brook has a pretty good offense scoring 12.27 goals per game and shoot 30% as a team. But what is more impressive, 63% of their goals are assisted. UMBC transfer Nick Dupuis is the quarterback of this efficient offense and has 40 assists through 11 games (3.64 per game), which ranks him #2 behind just Yale’s Matt Brandau. He is a magician with his passes, works primarily from X and seems to always find the open cutter. Dupuis is not fast nor physical, but he is quick and shifty, so I think they’ll try to keep the ball out of his hands as much as they can and avoid getting his defender hung up. Towson was successful holding him to just 3 assists and ZERO shots in their 9-8 win by sending double teams at him at times. They made it a very sloppy game and forced the Seawolves into 19 turnovers. The Hens might put a shorty on Dupuis to ensure they have a pole on Canadian sharpshooter Noah Armitage (17 G) and middie Jack Dougherty (14G) at all times.

It's crazy to talk about the Stony Brook offense and not mention Dylan Pallonetti (38G 9A), who can shoot from anywhere on the field with accuracy (34%) if left unattended. The Hens will need to keep a long pole on the pre-season All-American’s hands from anywhere inside 15 yards, and sometimes beyond. All that said, the Seawolves are the 29th ranked offense – Not great but not bad.

The bigger issue for the Hens will be taking advantage of a decent but not great defense (ranked 38th). Delaware will need to put 12-13 goals past goalie Tommy Wilk who has a .559 save percentage this year. The defense is led by all-CAA LSM Christian Loud who has 12 CT and 32 GBs, Carson Forney, Sean Conk (6’5” 230 lbs), SSDM Ben Morschauser (26GBs 8CTs) and the very physical close defenseman Michael Sabella (15CTs, 22GBs) who I believe will cover JP Ward.

As far as possessions, the Hens could have a slight advantage at FOGO over hot and cold freshman Chris Esposito (46%) who has taken the majority of draws for the Seawolves. As a team they win just over 45% (ranked 58th). Additionally, Stony Brook turns the ball over a bit more than the Hens averaging 15.36 turnovers a game (ranked 23rd) while the Hens lead D1 lacrosse with just 12.5 a game.

If the Hens can win the majority of draws and control the tempo of this game, they could come away with a victory similar to last year’s games. It would be great to see the Hens really open up the offense against the Seawolves, but only three teams have scored more than 13 goals against SB this year (Sacred Heart, Rutgers and Penn State). The Hens looked really good offensively last week with the attack and midfield playing well together. Nobody seemed to be forcing anything. It was great seeing Brendan Powers taking advantage of shortsticks too. He has been terrific all year scoring from X when matched up with a shorty.

A 13-10 win would be a great result for the Hens on Saturday. Actually, any win will be terrific. Can’t wait.

[Mr3Putt]

This is a v good post. I’m
Close to this league . This team has players . Sb has players . And I’d say better than Delaware on offense. Palloneti is the biggest threat in this league.

[Mr3Putt]

This is a v good post. I’m
Close to this league . This team has players . Sb has players . And I’d say better than Delaware on offense. Palloneti is the biggest threat in this league.