Yale 2020

[Mid-Lax]

I agree with Lax3 that Shay will pick a goalie and ride him likely for the season. I also will add that Shay will lean toward experience at goalie and, unless there is an overwhelming disparity, it will be Starr.

[Mid-Lax]

Questions for you all: College Cross Ivy preview really rides the TD Erlan train - rightfully. Also noted that Penn's Gallagher can neutralize that - he more than held his own. But, I digress, does anyone have any inshght into the Erlan-Gallagher technique and practice battles? Do they spend a lot of off time working on the sidelines? Do they ever bring in anyone different? Or a faceoff coach to coach up the two of them and the best that's ever been? Just wondering, maybe looking into the future a bit.

[Mid-Lax]

Games I am really forward to watching: Penn State (their only two losses last year were to Yale, right?), Penn (best battles in Ivy), 'Nova (explosive and Yale not at their best early on), Cornell (will be strong and battles of the Erlan Brothers-I do miss the Thompsons l), Princeton (best player in lacrosse?), Albany (strong out of conference measurement-love when it's in Albany because of the crowd, but, we get them in Reese). And others too.

[Lax3]

Heading to Penn State game, which should be fun although indoor lacrosse - if they are still doing that - doesn't do much for me. Nova and UMass both got spanked in their first games so not sure how to assess those games. The Penn State game from last year was a top five in-person viewing experiences ever for a lacrosse game. Just outstanding. PSU will be out for serious revenge next weekend up in Happy Valley. Lets see if the Elis can make it Not-So-Happy-Valley!

[The Orfling]

It looks like there will be streaming video coverage of the game through Villanova’s partnership with CBS’s Sports Live streaming service. Link is up on Yale’s schedule page: https://villanova.com/watch/?Live=162&type=Live It is subscription-based and I did not dive into it too deeply but based on looking up Sports Live I think one option might be a 9.95 monthly subscription which I will then cancel. (Maybe there is a per game option that is cheaper but if not I will happily pay 10 bucks to see the Elis in action.)

[calourie]

i signed up for the CBS Sportslive service last week so I could check out Villanova and Penn State as well as watch the Yale game this Saturday. i would advise keeping the email confirmation one gets from signing up since the instructions given for canceling the subscription on their contact page don't seem to be operative, and the email confirmation looks like it allows direct communication in addition to confirming all pertinent data.

[Lax3]

Do you have the link for the CBS offering, calouric?

[calourie]

Do you have the link for the CBS offering, calouric?

https://villanova.com/watch/?Live=162&type=Live

I went here and clicked on "sign in" on the upper right which takes you to the CBS site to register, which sets up your log-in back on the Villanova site to get the game.

[FannOLax]

From the Yale Daily News: https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2020/02/ ... hip-chase/

No great revelations. For me, this was the meatiest part (although I'm not sure what Penn might think about Yale being called "the reigning three-time Ivy League champions"):

"The reigning three-time Ivy League champions welcomed 12 new first-year members to their roster this fall including six All-Americans and five current members of the US U19 team training roster. Defenseman BJ Burlace ’23 and midfielder Patrick Hackler ’23 are both top-25 recruits who should heavily contribute to the Elis’ success. Nationally, Burlace is the class of 2023’s second ranked defenseman, and the athletic rookie was also a four-year varsity football starter at St. Mary’s.

“Obviously coming into a very high level program you adapt very quickly,” defender Brett Mallee ’23 said. “We have leaders [all around]. It’s been a difficult … but efficient transition.”

On the defensive end, Yale takes comfort in the return of its three starters as well as goalie Jack Starr ’21 who manned the crease for the majority of last year. Two-time All-American and 2018 Ivy League Rookie of the Year Chris Fake ’21 returns as a two-year starter..."

[OCanada]

Yale’s D was close to awful by the end of last year and my daughter played on their last NCAA tourney team and I am a fan. It’s interesting how many top offenses are paired with middling defenses. I am hoping it was because communication was bad and can be improved

Burlace is a difference maker.

[Mid-Lax]

Yale's defense has been the team's strength for most of its decade long Ivy League and National prominence. Improvement will be welcome (and needed).

[calourie]

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... adar/55969

Thorough, optimistic article in IL by Terry Foy about this year's Yale team before a minute of the real season has been played. We will see how it all starts to play out in 24 hours against another Mike Corrado coached Villanova team, once again with a game under its' belt, trying to upset the more highly regarded Bulldogs in their season opener for the third year in a row. Nova looks talented but the word is they aren't terribly deep. I hope and expect the Bulldogs to be ready.

[lefty1]

A game of runs.
Yale needs to finish off this 3rd quarter and retain a lead.

Soph Thomas Bragg looking good.

Some first game rust, many turnovers and missed D assignments.

[FannOLax]

Yale 4 for 5 on man-up offense?! Wow, except for 2018, EMO has been a major Achilles heel for the Bulldogs... knock on wood, etc.

[FannOLax]

Okay, final EMO 5 for 7: sweet. Just as sweet: man-down D holding Nova to 1 for 7. Last year, Yale tended to let teams back into games late on (think Penn in NCAA quarterfinals, Georgetown in first round), so nice how the Elis slammed the door shut on Nova in the 4th quarter. Lots of positives, with Bragg being an especially pleasant surprise. Nice start; Penn State in Pennsylvania will be a massive challenge.

[The Orfling]

Good win for Yale over an always-dangerous Mike Corrado-coached Villanova team. Yale "won" three out of the four quarters but the game was tied 11-11 halfway through Q3 before Yale outscored Villanova 7-1 the rest of the way. (Talk about a tough early season schedule for the Wildcats facing the Penn State and Yale offenses in their first two games!) Good composure by Yale not to get frustrated when they couldn't pull away from Villanova early.

Various thoughts:

• As Fann mentioned, Yale's 5 of 7 on EMO was huge. Villanova had 6 of their 7 total penalties in the second half and Yale made them pay. Relatedly, Yale drawing only 2 penalties -- after drawing 10 against Syracuse in the final scrimmage -- was a key for the Elis.

• Talk about multiple offensive threats -- Yale had five players with 3 or more goals: Gaudet, Morrill, Brandau, Cotler and newcomer Thomas Bragg with a fantastic 4/2 day in his formal introduction to college lacrosse. Bragg's outside shot could be key given the graduation of Jack Tigh.

• Yale had, by my count, 9 assisted goals out of the 18 scored -- nice to be able to score assisted or unassisted, and my guess is that the percentage of assisted goals will go up as the season continues.

• Brody WIlson was over 50% on the day with some nice second half stops when the game was still in the balance.

• As usual, TD Ierlan's performance loomed large -- he was 23 of 31 on the day (74%) but, by my count, went 11 for 13 (85%) in the second half.
  Congrats to TD on becoming the all-time NCAA ground-ball leader today.

• Lots of Yale first-years saw time today, including not just Bragg but Xander Martin with the surprise start due to the unavailability of Aidan Hynes.

To improve:

• Turnovers: Yale had 16 turnovers as compared to 7 for Villanova -- partially because of having more possessions, but there looked to be a bit of a lapse in taking care of the ball in the second quarter when Villanova came back from a four-goal deficit.

• 6 on 6 Team Defense: No surprise that the offense is well ahead of the defense at this point, and the Elis were without one of their best defenders in Hynes. (If he's injured, best to him for a speedy recovery -- he's had some tough breaks on the injury front in his career.) The Eli defense did seem to adjust in the second half and become more effective in getting on the shooters' hands but with only 2 caused turnovers in the game there were certainly stretches during which Villanova's shooters were allowed to get fairly comfortable.

[calourie]

Orfling as usual on point and thorough. A few points I feel the urge to chime in with:

D got it together 2nd half after having a miserable time , particularly 2nd quarter, when no one seemed able to stay in front of their men in addition to leaving too many open shooters in close. Team obviously missed the skill and glue of Hynes. Good job by Brody Wilson, now 5-0 all time as a starter. Particularly good in the 3rd when Bulldogs needed him most.

Sophomore Thomas Bragg did a fabulous Sam Handley imitation in the first prolonged involvement of his career. Kid has a gun, and not afraid to rip it.

Lucas Cotler off to a great start which is the first time that has happened after three previous seasons. Likely the highest ranked Middie recruit Shay has ever landed and has always had the skill to be a real force.

Attack and EMO looked first rate. Lots of potential scorers which shoud see the scoring broaden out. Bulldogs are going to be tough to stop. I like their chances next week against Penn State.

[Lax3]

Are there highlights of yesterday’s game anywhere?

[Matnum PI]

[The Orfling]

Okay, final EMO 5 for 7: sweet. Just as sweet: man-down D holding Nova to 1 for 7. Last year, Yale tended to let teams back into games late on (think Penn in NCAA quarterfinals, Georgetown in first round), so nice how the Elis slammed the door shut on Nova in the 4th quarter. Lots of positives, with Bragg being an especially pleasant surprise. Nice start; Penn State in Pennsylvania will be a massive challenge.

One minor note: from the box score I think Yale only had two penalties so they were 1 for 2 on man down defense. Man down defense was a liability last year so playing a low-penalty game is one way to address that, although maybe at the cost of going after caused turnovers on D. (I believe Coach Shay had mentioned they had had 10 penalties in the Syracuse scrimmage and were going to work on that.)