THE 2019 Hopkins Lacrosse Fallout Shelter (44, we want more!)

[DocBarrister]

We need to get those 6-footers sitting on the bench more playing time. It’s puzzling we didn’t see more players come off the bench.

Having said that, this team’s main problem is cognitive, not physical. Especially true on defense, where no one seems to have their head in the game. That’s squarely on Petro and Dwan. Their D is utterly confused.

Epstein is Shack Stanwick with a better set of wheels and a tougher chassis. The offense needs to run through him. How many freshmen do you see get locked off on man-ups? His feeds are spectacular ... just need his teammates to bury more of their shots.

My eyes hurt from all the rolling.

DocBarrister

[laxalife]

Faceoffs, goaltending, size, clock management. Same issues from the past few years magnified by the shot clock. So now what? Petro is a great person and a great coach. But the former is irrelevant and the latter seems increasingly a statement in the past tense. There’s talent here but what is being done with it (also why is it seemingly impossible to recruit a faceoff guy?)? On a team where the staff are supposedly defensive gurus we are giving up 17.5 goals a game this year - even with the clock What the heck? Just a scream Into the void but still...

[HopFan16]

Having said that, this team’s main problem is cognitive, not physical.

It's both.

The midfield is too small. That is an unassailable fact. Jones has not played well to begin this year, and the offensive middies who get caught on defense are simply too small to cover opposing players. The new rules demand you have at least an offensive middie or two who can help out in transition and get back in the hole. Zinn can be that guy but they're afraid to use him because he's "not ready" or some such nonsense. The difference when he's on the field vs. when he's not is stark. He immediately changes the complexion of things. It's just so obvious. You recruited him for a reason.

If Baskin and Concannon are having to play 1on1 defense, you've already lost. At that point you've already been outcoached.

Can Petro please teach our poles to clear the ball themselves? Colwell was 5 feet from the midline and looked terrified to take a few more steps to clear it himself. Forced a terrible pass, turnover. Loyola goal. Towson and Loyola poles don't seem to have much trouble crossing the midline with the ball. Foley, Reinson, Kuhn, these are all athletic guys with solid speed. The clearing scheme needs to change. Darby is not cutting it as a passer.

[flalax22]

Several good points here. It's shocking how overmatched this team is physically. Whether a guy like Zinn is ready for this level mentally (as Quint suggested) is up for debate, but what is not up for debate is how badly our midfield is being dominated at both ends of the field. Our first two opponents have has size and stregnth all over the field, we have size and stregnth all over our bench.

THIS!!!!!

Exactly what business do Cattoni, Keough, Baskin and the rest of the 5'5 100lbs club have running out there. Mismatched every time on O and mismatched in the D mid department. AGAIN. Week 2 same as week 1. We all know the definition of insanity. Jays have size all over our bench but Bobby doesn't see them as being ready. Is he running a varsity college team or a Junior Varsity high school team?

Unbelievable how this staff cant figure out a better formula of players.

[DocBarrister]

looks like they found something in weston narewski. absolute dumpster fire of a 6v6, marr/williams/concannon another nothing disaster and picking nothing off the turf.

Epstein is an absolute beast.

Epstein had 3 goals and 3 assists against a top-notch Loyola defense.

Narewski won 17 of 28 faceoffs (61%).

This freshman class can play. May be time to get more of them on the field.

DocBarrister

[runrussellrun]

moore mr. briteside.....BIG conference games can't start soon enough. Not fairing well against Patriot league so far, but not to worry, Patriot is only a one team bid invite league, so plenty of room for those BiG teams with barely above .500 winning percentagle.

[DocBarrister]

Stat of the game: Hopkins 8 of 15 on clears.

DocBarrister

[primitiveskills]

Faceoffs, goaltending, size, clock management. Same issues from the past few years magnified by the shot clock. So now what? Petro is a great person and a great coach. But the former is irrelevant and the latter seems increasingly a statement in the past tense. There’s talent here but what is being done with it (also why is it seemingly impossible to recruit a faceoff guy?)? On a team where the staff are supposedly defensive gurus we are giving up 17.5 goals a game this year - even with the clock What the heck? Just a scream Into the void but still...

Won't get into the "great coach" debate, but the adjustment to the shot clock and clearing rules has been lacking. To have 3 tiny offense-only middies and 3 poles who can't carry or clear on the field at the same time isn't working.

[HopFan16]

Stat of the game: Hopkins 8 of 15 on clears.

DocBarrister

Felt even worse than that. Shades of 2016-2017. Negated the faceoff advantage. Would love to see the poles more active in the clearing game. I'd rather them get stripped at least making an effort to move the ball up the field than having one of them pass the ball out of bounds on the box side of the field.

Re: Marr's penalty. Didn't look dirty to me. His hands were at his waist. It looked like it could have been a high hit because the Loyola kid's helmet popped off. But the hit was certainly not to the head or neck area. I didn't mind it. At least he was showing some energy on the ride. Didn't help that the refs added an extra minute to the man-down for reasons unknown.

Epstein saved two possessions with 2 caused turnovers in addition to his 6 points and 0 turnovers. Kid's a star.

Quint had an interesting suggestion. Move Williams to midfield where he can better take advantage of matchups, frees up room for Epstein to operate at attack.

That's probably not one of my top 5 concerns at this point but perhaps something to think about.

[Hoponboard]

One of my lax friends researched this. The most important stat for predicting national championship contenders is clearing percentage. Jays are going nowhere with Darby in goal. He is a lousy passer and gives up soft outside goals.

However, it didn’t help Darby’s confidence to have #11 completely lose Lindley on Spencer’s soft BTB feed.

[primitiveskills]

"Quint had an interesting suggestion. Move Williams to midfield where he can better take advantage of matchups, frees up room for Epstein to operate at attack."

Not sure. He would still draw a pole and the thought of Williams having to play D is ...um...not good.

If we really have no better options at M on this year's roster, its going to be a long year.

[flalax22]

Having said that, this team’s main problem is cognitive, not physical.

It's both.

The midfield is too small. That is an unassailable fact.

What else needs to be said. Size and strength freezing on the sidelines seeing zero minutes. Makes no sense.

[kramerica.inc]

moore mr. briteside.....BIG conference games can't start soon enough. Not fairing well against Patriot league so far, but not to worry, Patriot is only a one team bid invite league, so plenty of room for those BiG teams with barely above .500 winning percentagle.

Big 10 will get 5 teams. Guess who still won’t be in?!

[DocBarrister]

Stat of the game: Hopkins 8 of 15 on clears.

DocBarrister

Felt even worse than that. Shades of 2016-2017. Negated the faceoff advantage. Would love to see the poles more active in the clearing game. I'd rather them get stripped at least making an effort to move the ball up the field than having one of them pass the ball out of bounds on the box side of the field.

Re: Marr's penalty. Didn't look dirty to me. His hands were at his waist. It looked like it could have been a high hit because the Loyola kid's helmet popped off. But the hit was certainly not to the head or neck area. I didn't mind it. At least he was showing some energy on the ride. Didn't help that the refs added an extra minute to the man-down for reasons unknown.

Epstein saved two possessions with 2 caused turnovers in addition to his 6 points and 0 turnovers. Kid's a star.

Quint had an interesting suggestion. Move Williams to midfield where he can better take advantage of matchups, frees up room for Epstein to operate at attack.

That's probably not one of my top 5 concerns at this point but perhaps something to think about.

Can’t believe I didn’t note the two caused turnovers. Epstein also generated a man-up opportunity with his aggressive dodging and then promptly fed a teammate for an excellent shot opportunity. Of course, Epstein’s teammate failed to can it.

Epstein has four assists in two games, but he really should have double that number.

No way Williams should play midfield. The first midfield should be DeSimone, Zinn, and Concannon. Second midfield shouldn’t have anyone less than 6-feet on it.

DocBarrister

[DocBarrister]

moore mr. briteside.....BIG conference games can't start soon enough. Not fairing well against Patriot league so far, but not to worry, Patriot is only a one team bid invite league, so plenty of room for those BiG teams with barely above .500 winning percentagle.

Big 10 will get 5 teams. Guess who still won’t be in?!

^^^^ I’m fine with that!

DocBarrister

[HopFan16]

Not sure. He would still draw a pole and the thought of Williams having to play D is ...um...not good.

He's 6'5'', 210 lbs, and athletic. He can't possibly play worse defense than the current cast of middies.

He'd likely still draw a pole but I feel like he wouldn't have to work as hard to switch the matchup. Maybe don't need to turn him into a "midfielder" but with Epstein looking good at X you could invert (or "outvert," whatever you want to call it) Williams to the top of the formation more often. He at least has more speed to get back in the hole after a turnover than the other guys do. Call me crazy but the thought of dodging directly at a dude of Williams's size is slightly less appealing than seeing Baskin or Concannon and absolutely salivating at the chance to take them to the rack.

[DocBarrister]

One of my lax friends researched this. The most important stat for predicting national championship contenders is clearing percentage. Jays are going nowhere with Darby in goal. He is a lousy passer and gives up soft outside goals.

However, it didn’t help Darby’s confidence to have #11 completely lose Lindley on Spencer’s soft BTB feed.

Not sure about Darby. His clearing definitely needs to improve. He can stop shots (26 saves in two games ... never mind the 35 he let in). I want to see him play behind a good defense before rendering judgement. May take all season.

DocBarrister

[primitiveskills]

Not sure. He would still draw a pole and the thought of Williams having to play D is ...um...not good.

He's 6'5'', 210 lbs, and athletic. He can't possibly play worse defense than the current cast of middies.

He'd likely still draw a pole but I feel like he wouldn't have to work as hard to switch the matchup. Maybe don't need to turn him into a "midfielder" but with Epstein looking good at X you could invert (or "outvert," whatever you want to call it) Williams to the top of the formation more often. He at least has more speed to get back in the hole after a turnover than the other guys do. Call me crazy but the thought of dodging directly at a dude of Williams's size is slightly less appealing than seeing Baskin or Concannon and absolutely salivating at the chance to take them to the rack.

Have you watched Williams ride? Listen, I like Cole and am confident that he'll get on a roll this year, but if the ride is any indicator, D is not his thing.

[primitiveskills]

Not sure. He would still draw a pole and the thought of Williams having to play D is ...um...not good.

He's 6'5'', 210 lbs, and athletic. He can't possibly play worse defense than the current cast of middies.

He'd likely still draw a pole but I feel like he wouldn't have to work as hard to switch the matchup. Maybe don't need to turn him into a "midfielder" but with Epstein looking good at X you could invert (or "outvert," whatever you want to call it) Williams to the top of the formation more often. He at least has more speed to get back in the hole after a turnover than the other guys do. Call me crazy but the thought of dodging directly at a dude of Williams's size is slightly less appealing than seeing Baskin or Concannon and absolutely salivating at the chance to take them to the rack.

Have you watched Williams ride? Listen, I like Cole and am confident that he'll get on a roll this year, but if the ride is any indicator, D is not his thing.

I do agree, though, that he wouldn't be worse than Baskin or Concannon, but its a low bar. We need to play and develop two-way middies. Shuffling the current crew at the offensive end isn't going to help much, IMO.

[runrussellrun]

One of my lax friends researched this. The most important stat for predicting national championship contenders is clearing percentage. Jays are going nowhere with Darby in goal. He is a lousy passer and gives up soft outside goals.

However, it didn’t help Darby’s confidence to have #11 completely lose Lindley on Spencer’s soft BTB feed.

I strongly disagree with this stat.

Yale, ranked 40th in Di, 869 clearing percentage
Maryland, ranked 6th, .903 percentage
North Carolina, ranked 59th .829
Denver, ranked 36, .856 percentage
Duke, ranked 8th, .894

For the most part, margin of clearing percentage in Div. I negligible. Smell a annual pattern in HOpkins land, blaming the goalie because the Jays can't score.