Yale 2020

[calourie]

Agree with Orfling that the D was a bit passive ( only 2 CTs and Nova with only 7 TOs all game ) but as I pointed out, for almost 2/3 of the game the Bulldogs on D had a hard time simply staying in front of their men. That seemed to improve significantly from the middle of Q3 on with considerably more (and effective) sliding which I assume means communication as well. There was an uptick to CT possibilities as a result that didn't come to fruition, but it did seem to get Nova's very good front line players enough out of sync to allow Yale to pull away. Hopefully Yale's best TO specialist Aiden Hynes returns soon but regardless I have high hopes the D will gel in short order. After all, in spite of the fact that the Bulldogs have a new DC in Ed Williams, Coach Shay himself cut his teeth on the defensive side of the field and the roster seems to have plenty of top notch players to choose from.

A couple more tidbits: I want to again point out what an effective game I thought Brody Wilson had with some nice and timely stops and shot backups including a couple of dive runouts ( not the most aesthetically pleasing of his capabilities but some nice examples of hustle ). Likewise I thought FY Brett Mallee had a couple of highly competitive GB faceoff pickups which helped TD look like his dominant self.

Other somewhat new faces who got into the fray: Game MVP Bragg, Soelberg and Kuttin on the second O Midfield line. S. Wilson on EMO along with aforementioned Bragg, Burlace on MDD, SSDM Reilly, and attackman McDermott. I imagine we will get to see more newish participants as the season progresses.

[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.

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.)

You're absolutely right, Orfling. My bad. The Yale press release states, "The Elis, missing numerous regulars with injury or illness..." https://yalebulldogs.com/news/2020/2/15 ... anova.aspx
So, Starr injured. Hynes: injury or illness? "Numerous" sounds like more than two... so who else? Hackler? Monfort? Cabrera?

[calourie]

Forgot to mention Xander Martin, FY who started at close D. Imagine the D gets a workout this week.

[Lax3]

The goalie decision makes a whole lot more sense now based on hearing that Starr is injured. With all due respect to Wilson, he is not the goalkeeper that Starr is ...

[The Orfling]

Agree with Orfling that the D was a bit passive ( only 2 CTs and Nova with only 7 TOs all game ) but as I pointed out, for almost 2/3 of the game the Bulldogs on D had a hard time simply staying in front of their men. That seemed to improve significantly from the middle of Q3 on with considerably more (and effective) sliding which I assume means communication as well. There was an uptick to CT possibilities as a result that didn't come to fruition, but it did seem to get Nova's very good front line players enough out of sync to allow Yale to pull away. Hopefully Yale's best TO specialist Aiden Hynes returns soon but regardless I have high hopes the D will gel in short order. After all, in spite of the fact that the Bulldogs have a new DC in Ed Williams, Coach Shay himself cut his teeth on the defensive side of the field and the roster seems to have plenty of top notch players to choose from.

Excellent analysis -- I agree on all counts. I'm also not trying to dump on the low caused turnover total for the 'Nova game. Not only was the defensive line-up a new one, as we've discussed, but from a tactical standpoint, if a team has struggled with penalties (I don't know how things looked for the Fairfield scrimmage but there was mention of 10 penalties against Syracuse in the scrimmage, including a 2 minute non-releasable during which 'Cuse scored at least 3 goals) I think it's smart to try to play more of a contain defense as opposed to pressing out and seeking the big check or interception. The key is, of course, containing, and the Yale D did that well down the stretch.

[The Orfling]

The Yale press release states, "The Elis, missing numerous regulars with injury or illness..." https://yalebulldogs.com/news/2020/2/15 ... anova.aspx
So, Starr injured. Hynes: injury or illness? "Numerous" sounds like more than two... so who else? Hackler? Monfort? Cabrera?

I didn't see Hackler but wasn't sure if I'd missed him. Here's hoping for all who were out with illness/injury to be back on the field soon.

[Lax3]

I think that the turnovers and penalties in the opening scrimmage and then the Villanova game are a direct function of starting later than the other teams. Cuse and Nova have been practicing since the beginning of the year - while no one doubts that Yale was practicing during the month of January as well, it wasn't with coaches and that is a huge factor. My confidence in this offense is sky high even with a new midfield, but on defense we need to remember that they will have turnover at the always-overlooked SSDM position and LSM as well. Its easy to posit that all three starters are back at close, but changes at the ancillary defensive positions cannot be understated. (See Tyler Warne and Mark Glicini!) I will be curious to see how the goalie situation plays out because with all due respect, Brodie Wilson is not the answer there. Clearly Shay wants to upgrade that position or at least get better performance out of it, as he should. Extraordinary that this program has made the runs that it has with sub-par goaltending over the last 6-7 years.

[Mid-Lax]

Nice win against the always tough Villanova Wildcats. Offense surged early then goal for goal after that. A good talk by Shay, I assume, then TD took over in the 2nd half. Strong game by Wilson. Stood tall taking up the net space and made some nice saves with stick and foot. Really nice shooting by Bragg, Cotler, and distributed scoring by the attack unit. The defense and d-mids have some work ahead of them, and the team needs to improve on turnovers. Need to quickly tighten up for Penn State.

[Lax3]

Anyone want to try to convince me why Penn State won't put up at least 20 goals this Saturday at Happy Valley?

[calourie]

because Yale will have the ball 60% of the time.

[Ice1570]

Anyone want to try to convince me why Yale won’t put up at least 20 goals this Saturday at Happy Valley?

[FannOLax]

Penn State's Face-off Unit not Worried
https://www.collegian.psu.edu/sports/me ... 9ca11.html
I guess the main question I have is: do the two teams wear the exact same shade of blue?

[FannOLax]

Oh boy, Yale at Penn State!! Weather is predicted to be relatively mild Saturday in Central PA: sunny and high of 46, probably a tad warmer than New Haven was a year ago. Fortuitously, my cable package includes the BTN (because Rutgers is close to NYC?). I don't claim to have any pre-game analysis or injury news, but I am excited about tomorrow's game. GO BULLDOGS!

[The Orfling]

Thoughts at halftime, Yale 6 - 3 over PSU. Mainly, that both teams are showing that they've got the mental toughness of legit top 5 teams.

Penn State could have gotten down when they went 0 for 7 on face-offs and faced a 5-goal deficit, but the Nittany Lions compensated with an intense ride and have kept grinding on offense and scored the last 2 goals of the half to make it a 6-3 game. With that offense, a 3-goal deficit is not much of an obstacle.

Yale could have self-destructed when their futility on the clears (3 for 10 in the 1st half) led to an explosion of first quarter turnovers. But the Elis too dug in, have been grinding it out (winning the non face-off ground ball battle), and have been patient on offense with 6 different scorers, and have been aggressive all over the field (5 caused turnovers in the 1st half, three by offensive players).

Two competitive, talented teams battling it out. Penn State looking to win more at the X, Yale looking to clean up its clear game.
Anybody's game.

[FannOLax]

Yale 12 Penn State 10 Final from central Pennsylvania.
Was that a statement win? It was definitely February lacrosse, with plenty of room for improvement. Kudos to TD Ierlan, Chris Fake, Brody Wilson and to the entire Bulldog team. Yale was 1 for 1 on EMO, and on man-down D held PSU to 1 for 4. Team defense was very good, especially Fake on Ament... and Fake's goal! However, the defensive unit, including the goalie, has a lot of work to do on clearing (clearing, something the 2018 national championship team did exceptionally well).
Nice to see nine different Elis score goals. Okay, it probably was a statement win; but there is a lot to improve upon and much work to do. Yale 12 Penn State 10!!

[The Orfling]

Thoughts at halftime, Yale 6 - 3 over PSU. Mainly, that both teams are showing that they've got the mental toughness of legit top 5 teams.

Penn State could have gotten down when they went 0 for 7 on face-offs and faced a 5-goal deficit, but the Nittany Lions compensated with an intense ride and have kept grinding on offense and scored the last 2 goals of the half to make it a 6-3 game. With that offense, a 3-goal deficit is not much of an obstacle.

Yale could have self-destructed when their futility on the clears (3 for 10 in the 1st half) led to an explosion of first quarter turnovers. But the Elis too dug in, have been grinding it out (winning the non face-off ground ball battle), and have been patient on offense with 6 different scorers, and have been aggressive all over the field (5 caused turnovers in the 1st half, three by offensive players).

Two competitive, talented teams battling it out. Penn State looking to win more at the X, Yale looking to clean up its clear game.
Anybody's game.

Phew. Those final minutes felt like they lasted hours. Really, really happy to see this Yale win. Congrats to the team and coaching staff. Penn State is a great team that never gave up.

Thoughts:

• TD Ierlan. Man. So lucky to have him! Win percentage of 62% (calourie called that one) against a great opponent in Arceri.

• Brody Wilson -- I hope somebody got a photograph of his doorstep save of a wide-open Ament that he can have blown up for when he joins the ranks of the Old Blues -- that's an all-timer! That save was hugely impactful in the flow of the game. He had some key stops in the fourth quarter as well.

• Defense generally -- even with the possession edge, they did a good job for most of the game at holding this impressive Nittany Lion offense in check. Great to see 9 caused turnovers for Yale. They made it tough for PSU to get good looks -- PSU outshot Yale, 47-42, but Yale had 10 more shots on goal (28 to 18).

• Ground balls -- if you take out those won by the FOGOs for each team, Yale had a 28-21 edge. That was not always the case last year in the "non face-off ground ball" category.

• Yale offense: Not pretty, but they got the job done. Good accuracy -- 28 shots on goal out of 42 total shots. Nice scoring distribution (9 different guys scored, including Chris Fake's fantastic goal). Not many assisted goals (only 3) but I see that mainly as adjusting to PSU's defense and not trying to force it inside when the move to beat individual D man for the shot was working. Good hustle on getting the ball back in some almost-turnover situations.

• As stated above, I really liked the Elis' mental composure -- first, in not self-destructing when they struggled to solve the PSU ride and to play crisp lacrosse early on. Second, in withstanding a determined comeback attempt by PSU, which cut the score to 8-7 in the fourth quarter and then battled it out in the closing minutes to make what seemed like a "safe" four-goal lead a very scary 2-goal lead with Arceri coming down the middle like a freight train with the chance to make it a 1-goal game with 30 seconds to play.

To improve:

• The clear game. Starr's athleticism and experience was missed in this area of the game. A lot of the credit has to go to PSU's great ride but Yale will face other good rides this season. I'm sure it will be a point of coaching emphasis and it's an area that can definitely be improved markedly. Yale had 25 turnovers overall and 8 of them were on clears.

• The defense had a good day overall, playing aggressively without getting into penalty trouble. There was little bit of trouble with the two-man game from behind the cage, with some problems with communication and switching, but I'm sure they will work on it.

[calourie]

Once again Orfling with a complete overall analysis. Good, gritty, somewhat sloppy win. Wonderful scoring distribution. Cropp,Soelberg, Kuttin, Cotler steping up with some rockets with the game on the line. Makes it hard for opposing coaches to defense with so many options to choose from.

Defense played well for the most part. Feisty and aggressive. Will hopefully only get better. Good job by Wilson again in the cage, not so much by him and entire defense on the clear.

Ivies look tough this year. Great start to the season!

[Ox77]

Huge win for Yale. They won when they played really sloppy. 23 turnovers or something like that? That’s a good sign (especially for their second game).

Not much to add to good breakdowns above.

Goalie made big saves when it mattered. That’s huge. Stats not great but doesn’t tell the full story IMO

Yale has two balanced and talented middie lines. And no doubt other boys will break in over the season. But 9 diff goal scorers in a tight game is really impressive. It’s one thing to do that in a blow out.

D played really well maybe they match up well against this type of O? #47 back on the field was critical, #31 and #35 were tremendous and LSMs did good work. Keeping that O to 10 is a statement. Seemed like they were ready to slide faster compared to last year. And ssdms held their own.

Yes the clear was atrocious and turnovers horrible. Yes.

And they won. Which is a great sign.

[Lax3]

Shay described it as a war ... if so it was World War 1. That has hand to hand come at out there. The combination of TD’s dominance at X and long, methodical possessions, caused the PSU defense to wear down at the end. Last three Yale goals were when PSU was dropping in on the defense. Wore em the hell down.

Offense not overly impressive as there wasn’t much explosiveness but shooting was efficient Ament held the ball forever yetFake completely held him in check.

Character win indeed.

[Mid-Lax]

Can't add much more than what's been written, except kuddos to the defense, Wilson and, of course, TD. This road game was tough before the Elis pulled away. Happy Valley for the Elis.