Yale 2019

[The Orfling]

Yale First Year LSM Spencer Alston rushed for 120 yards on 18 carries in the Bulldogs win over Cornell today. The young man clearly has some outstanding athletic capabilities and it will be interesting to see if that translates effectively onto the lacrosse field. What little video I've seen of him on the Bulldog's roster page makes him look like a tough defender.

Spencer Alston just named Ivy League Football Rookie of the Week. Interesting little note included: "Decommitted from a lacrosse scholarship offer at Ohio State to commit to play football and lacrosse at Yale".

Wow, congrats to Spencer and great if he can make an impact in two sports as a first year!

[calourie]

Fall game against the US national team is slated to be aired live on Laxsportsnetwork.com next Saturday (Oct.6) at noon.

[seriously?]

This should be interesting...

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... yale/53124

[FannOLax]

This should be interesting...

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... yale/53124

Lots of talent in Team USA... and Larken Kemp has certainly played his full share of games against Yale. Just as well that Ben Reeves isn't on the US team: it'll be enough of a change watching the Elis play without Reeves...

[The Orfling]

Watching the live stream of the Yale vs. Team USA game on YouTube (search for U.S. Lacrosse) -- Jack Starr seems to be the first-half standout (8 saves in the first half). It was 4-3 Team USA at half, currently 4-4. Jackson Morrill the standout on the other end, has three assists so far. Nice to see that Morrill looks to be connecting well already with first-year Matt Brandau (two goals, both from Morrill). Brian Tevlin and Brendan Rooney (from Morrill) have also scored. I've got some other stuff going on so am not paying as close enough attention as I could wish to watching uniform numbers to track who is on.

Announcers are describing Jack Starr as "playing unconscious" so far -- a flurry of second-half saves. Very impressive performance in the cage.

[The Orfling]

End of Q3: Four quick goals by Team USA, they are up 8-5 at the end of the third quarter. Yale being hurt by errors, forced and unforced, and Team USA's dominance on the face-offs so far (Team USA is rotating in three FOGOs and looks to be wearing down Yale). Some turnovers on clears/the transition game as guys hold on a little too long against a team with top foot speed at every position. This is a really valuable experience for the Elis precisely because of the level of competition -- the more Team USA plays together, not surprisingly, the better.

And the kid, Neuman, getting some chances and battling valiantly against Baptiste -- just won one after getting pummeled. Lots of love for him on the sideline right now.

[FannOLax]

As usual, The Orfling's comments appear to be spot-on. Jack Starr showed that his performances last May against Loyola and Duke were no fluke... and first-year Matt Brandau certainly looks like the real deal. On face offs, I definitely think Yale missed Robert Mooney: first-line FO wing for three years who is playing soccer this autumn. Certainly no shame in losing to Team USA, but definitely a challenge to replace last year's starting long poles Keating and O'Connor. Always good to see Hop grad Ryan Brown play.

[calourie]

Watched the game, and liked what I saw. Yale short-handed for a number of reasons, but team USA introducing a lot of new faces into their mix as well. Loved what we all saw from Starr. Brandau looks like he's ready, good feeding by Morrill. No Gaudet on the crease, Rooney doing most of the work as the third A, and as I've said before I like his skillset. Team USA looked bigger and older (Duh!) all over the field. FOs were a problem for both Irelan and Neuman, and in Irelan's case, he looked a little slow in the clamp (Neuman clamped and fought pretty well until the wings came into play). I'm of the mindset Irelan's slow start has a lot to do with how good all the MLL face off guys, not just Baptiste, and that by playing against each other all three have gotten better while TD's level of opposition hasn't gone up until now. Nice mid-range+ goals from Tevlin and Tigh, and one wicked saved-delivery from Cotler. Without Ben Reeves I would expect a need for some stretch shooters. FYs seeing action form my casual observation included De Muthe (sp?) Kuttin, Bragg and Ocken in addition to the aforementioned Brandau. Junior Brian Ward was a surprise as a LSDM, and mentioned by Shay as having impressed so far this fall. Seeing Rentz with a long pole and not a short was a bit less of a surprise but interesting nonetheless. With a number of somewhat tested missing players, I have no doubt the February lineups will be the ones that reveal the players who are going to get significant minutes.

[admin]

Yale-USA Game

[Ivyman]

Is Gaudet injured? Didn't see him even dressed.

[JAFO]

Had a great seat behind the Yale bench. Gaudet was there uniform on but no equipment. I was at practice a week ago and saw the same thing. I was amazed by how big the roster is now. During the anthem they stretched from the midfield to the endline. That being said the defense seemed to be a veritable who's that outside of Fake and Starr. Starr's outstanding play really covered for a green defense. When was the last time we were able to say that about a Yale goalie??? If the defense can get healthy and back to Yale form this team will be playing late in May. I was also pleased to see Jackson Morrill do so well in the #1 role.

[calourie]

Good summary of the Notre Dame scrimmage from Insidelacrosse:

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... dame/53174

[calourie]

2019 schedule up on the Bulldog team site:

http://www.yalebulldogs.com/sports/m-la ... 9/schedule

Penn State, Air Force and Quinnipiac new, no Bryant, Fairfield, Bucknell or Marist. Michigan in Atlanta during spring break.

[FannOLax]

I guess the once-traditional Yale-Maryland yearly series is now officially dead and buried, but I like the addition of another Big 10 squad, Penn State, who could well be an excellent team in 2019. Hope that Penn State and Michigan (who gave the Elis all we could handle last February before Yale prevailed 15-11 in New Haven) become annual events. Well, Quinnipiac is marginally closer to Yale than Fairfield, and the Quinnipugs did beat Brown last season, but Quinny has had some, um, off-the-field issues during this off-season. Air Force? Well, okay, I guess. I think the Ivy could be a very tough fight in 2019, with Cornell returning JT51, other good talent and bringing in a tough Australian FOGO... Overall, a good, reasonably tough schedule that should prepare Yale for another May run, although the Bulldogs now have a big bright target on their backs.

[calourie]

A few final thoughts now that the winter sports season is upon us, the schedule is posted, and Ivy lacrosse practices start in less than three months. Yale is very likely to be a preseason top ten team nationally in the minds of many lacrosse pundits, and along with Cornell I expect them to be considered a top contender for the league title as well despite losing a far greater breadth of talent than any of the other teams in the league. The fact is the Bulldogs return a great deal of experienced talent as well, and have become established as a team with a coaching staff that maximizes the talent they have at hand. The two biggest question marks they have to deal with are the obvious how do they compensate for the loss of a program altering, transcendent talent which Ben Reeves happens to have been, and how to build back up a defense which has to deal with the loss of the likes of Keating, O'Conner, Warner and Alessi. (The one other loss, that of FOGO Connor Mackie, appears to have been neutralized if not even improved upon with the addition of Transfer TD Ierlan as well as newcomer Joe Neuman).

The defense will likely remain a question mark until the spring season is well under way. I only had a chance to watch video of the team once this fall when they scrimmaged Team USA (a game in which I thought they acquitted themselves admirably). The close defense consisted of Fake, Weitzel and Pula for most of the contest. I was disappointed not to see Aiden Hynes, and hope he will be recovered enough from his lower leg issues to be a factor again in the spring as he was two years ago. Other long poles who saw action, mostly out front, were Renz (an excellent short stick middie last year) Ward, DeMuth and Reilly. Premier LSDM Robert Mooney wasn't present as he is currently on the Yale soccer team. Also not in evidence was Will Sullivan who saw some action as a sophomore last year, as well as first years Jack Biestek and Spencer Alston who are playing football for the Bulldogs, and are likely to bring some additional toughness and athleticism to the position. Anyway these look to be most of the players coach Andrew Baxter will be looking at to mold a cohesive defense out of though there may be others not in evidence for reasons beyond my knowledge. Judging from recent history Baxter should be able to do that, the main question being how long that will take. Fortunately for the team, goalie Jack Starr looks like he is ready to take up where he left off in last year's NCAA tournament when he was playing his
best lacrosse of the season. With luck having Starr as the last line of defense will make Baxter's rebuilding job that much easier.

As far as the two way and offensive midfield goes there is lots of returning as well as new talent coming in all shapes and sizes who saw action against Team USA. The biggest of the lot include Captain Daniggelis, Cotler, Cropp and FY Ocken, slightly shorter but stocky Tigh and FY Kuttin, mid-sized and very quick Tevlin and Forst, and diminutive and tough Sessa. One Middie who wasn't in uniform on the sidelines, but is worthy of mention is big and talented Brendan Mackie who hopefully will be fully recovered from his knee injury by the time spring roles around. Those who watched the team know the capabilities of the returnees, and I fully expect them to be even better this coming season .

Which leaves an attack which will need to in some way find the wherewithal to compensate for the loss of Mr. Reeves. Morrill, Rooney and FY Brandau comprised the three man unit utilized against the USA squad, with standout finisher Gaudet on the sidelines but not in action. The ease with which Ben got his 5 points a game for the past three years can't be expected to be duplicated, but the four players mentioned look like they should be able to light it up effectively enough to enable Yale to have a decent chance to compete effectively with every team on their schedule.

This feels like enough preseason blah, blah, blah for now, but as I have since Andy Shay worked his magic on the program I look forward to the upcoming season with great anticipation and high expectations.

[Mid-Lax]

calourie...great summary and accounting of what we can look for in 2019. I nixed what I wrote, so just want to add 'In Shay and Staff we trust!

[FannOLax]

Yes, great summary Calourie. I don't know the answer, but I can't help but think that in this modern sports era it could be unprecedented for a D1 defending champion to have three 2-sport student/athletes.

[The Orfling]

That's a fantastic summary, calourie -- getting me excited for the start of the spring 2019 season! Great work.

[faircornell]

Personally, I think it's cool, but it is really different seeing Yale "swag" side-by-side the perennial "lax bro" items promoted on social media.

[FannOLax]

...
The defense will likely remain a question mark until the spring season is well under way. I only had a chance to watch video of the team once this fall when they scrimmaged Team USA (a game in which I thought they acquitted themselves admirably). The close defense consisted of Fake, Weitzel and Pula for most of the contest. I was disappointed not to see Aiden Hynes, and hope he will be recovered enough from his lower leg issues to be a factor again in the spring as he was two years ago. Other long poles who saw action, mostly out front, were Renz (an excellent short stick middie last year) Ward, DeMuth and Reilly. Premier LSDM Robert Mooney wasn't present as he is currently on the Yale soccer team. Also not in evidence was Will Sullivan who saw some action as a sophomore last year, as well as first years Jack Biestek and Spencer Alston who are playing football for the Bulldogs, and are likely to bring some additional toughness and athleticism to the position. Anyway these look to be most of the players coach Andrew Baxter will be looking at to mold a cohesive defense out of though there may be others not in evidence for reasons beyond my knowledge. Judging from recent history Baxter should be able to do that, the main question being how long that will take. Fortunately for the team, goalie Jack Starr looks like he is ready to take up where he left off in last year's NCAA tournament when he was playing his
best lacrosse of the season. With luck having Starr as the last line of defense will make Baxter's rebuilding job that much easier.

Today is for big day for Ivy football, a day that includes Princeton playing to finish the season undefeated and The Yale-Harvard Game to be played in Boston's historic Fenway Park, but I confess to being more excited about the coming (slowly, but it is coming) lacrosse season. I agree with much of Calourie's excellent analysis, and he hits the nail squarely on the head in highlighting the defense as a question mark. The graduations of Keating (the de facto captain of the 2018 defense) and O'Connor with only Hynes as an obvious replacement would appear to leave a gap. Like Calourie, I hope Hynes will be able to contribute: Aidan was impressive as a first-year in 2017, frequently tasked with guarding the opponent's top scorer. Last season Pula was a SSDM, and I do recall being favorably impressed by him in the Ivy home games against Princeton and Penn. Again, today is a big day for Ivy football, and I'm hoping that Biestek and Alston emerge uninjured from today's contest; might one of them be able to have a breakthrough lacrosse season in 2019? Has anyone here seen one of them play in high school? Yes, having Starr and Fake back gives a strong and solid core to the D, and Baxter and Shay should be able to mold a good defense... but will it be good enough to beat top D1 teams well into May? I'm certainly looking forward to finding out!