Delaware 2019

[Henpecked]

Had a couple friends back out of the trip up to Newark, NJ tomorrow, so I guess I'll be watching the NJIT game online.

What to look for: NJIT has played two games. They turned the ball over 30 times in the first game against Lehigh and 27 times in the second game against Lafayette. They have given up 14.5 goals a game while scoring 9 goals a game. They have averaged only 23.5 shots per game so they are actually pretty efficient when it comes to scoring. They scored 8 goals with only 13 shots on goal against Lehigh and 10 goals with just 13 shots on goal vs Lafayette. Crazy.

If you recall last year's game versus the Blue Hens in Newark, it actually took awhile for Delaware to get the offense cranking. The Hens were up 3-2 at halftime and opened the lead to 7-2 at some point in the third quarter. They went on to win 11-6 in a poorly-played game. No way to sugar coat it. It was ugly.

Hens have to figure out a way to shut down Senior Aaron Foster and Ryan Darrow who are the high-volume shooters on the NJIT squad. I would hope that the Hens defense would be able to keep these guys in single digits and score as much or more than Lehigh and Lafayette. Sounds simple enough.

We shall see. On a positive note, by not attending the game in person I can take in some other really great games during the day. And New Jersey gets no toll money from me.

[Henpecked]

Hens beat an overwhelmed NJIT squad on Saturday. I would love to be able to provide some great insights into the game, but after spending two hours attempting to watch an unwatchable feed (coverage was in and out for most of the game), the only thing I can say for sure is that NJIT is not very good. They do, however, have a pretty good goalie Alexzander Hunt (22 saves) who stood on his head for the better part of three quarters.

It would be great to hear from anyone who attended the game in person for more details. But from my disadvantaged view it looked like Jake Hervada had a great day at the face-off X (13-17) and Austin Haynes (7CTs) and the whole defense played pretty well. Matt DeLuca once again was unbeatable from outside giving up just 3 goals and making 17 saves. His save % for the year so far is .732, which I believe puts him at top two in D1 behind Kneese at Penn State.

You have to like what Coach DeLuca is doing with the defense. The Hens have several defensive players out (Peter St. Geme, Kevin Sheahan and Owen Grant) but they have a ton of depth and that has really stood out. Shaw, Aloe, Oursler, Seiter, Colman, Strassner, Sorg and McCormick were really outstanding these first two weeks.

Offensively, it will take a few more games before this team gels. While the attack looks pretty solid, DeLuca experimented with a bunch of different combinations at midfield. Freshman Kyle Kivinski and Clay Miller rotated on the first midfield line with DiSimone and Reid. He also played Konkel and Finigan quite a bit, particularly in the second half.

The one thing really missing from the Hens this year is a quick-strike offense. DeLuca had some great clearing passes out to D-middies in stride, but none really led to any successful fast breaks. The attack seemed content to rotate behind the goal to get offensive unit on the field.

One final note, admittedly, I have not seen McDonogh frosh George Ward on the field a ton, but when he gets in (against Denver and NJIT), he looks like a bona fide sniper. We shall see if that leads to more playing time.

Onto the home opener vs. Monmouth.

[10stone5]

I have a hard time imagining Monmouth putting up much of a challenge, at least physically wise being able to keep up with the Hens.

3-0, relatively healthy, heading into a difficult Saint Joe’s game, seems to be the desired outcome.

Did not know St. Geme got switched to defensive middie, has got the athletics for that move.

[Henpecked]

Peter St. Geme is a really great athlete. After starting for the first two games of his freshman year at midfield, he had 4 goals. However, for much of the remainder of the season, DeLuca had him on the top dmiddie line. Played well there too.

I think he is probably more of a hybrid two-way guy. So I would imagine that they'll keep him out there at times on offense. St. Geme shoots pretty well with both hands and has the athleticism to get separation from defenders. He and Wade Oursler look like the most natural two-way middies on this team. We will see what shakes out in the coming weeks. Still way early.

[Henpecked]

Delaware sweeps the weekly CAA conference awards

https://caasports.com/news/2019/2/19/ca ... eb-19.aspx

DeLuca has looked great the last four weeks. Hopefully he keeps it rolling as the season moves on.

Nice to see Kyle Kivinski get some recognition as a freshman. He really he has some great potential.

Looking forward to seeing them compete with Monmouth this weekend. Always a fun competitive game.

[Henpecked]

I have a feeling that most Delaware fans had mixed feelings about yesterday’s 8-4 victory of Monmouth. There were some things that were really good, some OK and some just ugly.

The REALLY Good
The Hen’s employed a suffocating defense once again. They pressed out on the middies and played great help defense. On the day the Hens had 14 caused turnovers. It is tough to pick out just one player on the defense who stood out. Austin Haynes was ridiculous with 3 CTs and just stifling defense on the Monmouth attackmen. Wade Oursler, the Maryland transfer, is a monster at SSDM. He along with Alex Brunner, Thomas Aloe, Chris Colman, Ryan Shaw and Zach Strassner not only caused many turnovers, they were unbelievably efficient on clears. For the day the Hens were 22 for 22 on clears. I can’t think of a single defensive breakdown on the day. Three of the Monmouth goals came on really tough-angle dodges from the freakily athletic Griffin Figel who was a magician from GLE. I believe this is the best defensive unit for the Hens in about 15 years. Lots of depth at defense too. And it would be crazy not to mention how dominant Matt DeLuca has become in goal. He came into the game #2 in Division 1 save percentage and ended the day #1 raising his save percentage to an insane .741.

The just OK
While the offense started the day out hot scoring 5 goals in the first quarter, they became increasing reliant on 1 v 1 battles and forced shots from outside and forced passes into the crease. Tye Kurtz was smothered in the crease all day, but for some reason the offense kept trying to feed it inside with virtually no success. The Hens also did not take advantage of unsettled situations. For the second straight week, some terrific outlet passes from DeLuca led to 4 on 3 breaks on offense. But the attack just settled the ball and waited for offensive middies to fill in (could have been coaching decision to give the tired defense some time to recover). The one time that they did push towards the goal on a break, Steven Tortora scored his first career goal, a beautiful shot off hip (It was awesome seeing Tortora rewarded for all of his grunt work on GBs over the last few years).

The Ugly
Face-offs started out great, but went downhill in a hurry. Jake Hervada’s replacement, Joe Lenskold won his first two draws but then went on to lose his last nine. Ryan Shaw was 2 for 4 facing off with a long stick and the remainder of the team went 0-3. By winning just 25% of the face-offs, the Hens defense was unbelievably over-worked. It seemed as if the field was tilted for much of the day in favor of Monmouth. This does not bode well for upcoming CAA play where there are several dominant FOGOs.

Overall
I would say that UD is getting better every week. They had only 11 turnovers on the day, played excellent team defense and competed really hard for every loose ball. They did everything they needed to do to win and move on to next week. The offense is a work in progress with a ton of combinations at midfield. This might take a couple more weeks to gel. The good news is the Hens are 3-0 despite the growing list of wounded players on the sidelines.

St. Joe’s will be coming in angry for a midweek battle following yesterday’s game against Providence where they were pounded 14-5. And next Saturday, the Hens face the Villanova Wildcats who are fresh off two big wins versus Yale and Hofstra. Should be a fun week.

[Henpecked]

From the turn of the century there were few things with less drama than a St. Joe’s vs Delaware matchup in lacrosse. That is…until 2014.

The two teams played 13 times from 2000-2013 and the Hens won 13 times, with an average winning margin of nearly 9 goals per contest. But after a couple of years with Taylor Wray at the helm of SJU the games became a lot more competitive. In 2014, SJU did the unthinkable by beating UD 12-9. They repeated this in 2015 and 2016 by soundly beating the Hens with a really terrific team led by legendary Hawk Mike Rastivo (Ward Melville HS).

The Hens ended this miserable slide the last time the teams met up in 2017 at Hawk Hill, administering a Mainline beatdown and winning convincingly 12-7. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that convincing or that much of a beatdown, but the three-year fever had broken.

Tomorrow UD hosts the St. Joe’s just three days after the young Hawks were ambushed by an underrated Providence squad 14-5. You would have to imagine that this loss shook the Hawks after starting the season out 2-0 with breezy victories over St. Bonnies 15-7 and Fairfield 21-10. You also have to imagine that Wray will have these young players pumped for redemption in this mid-week tilt down in Newark.

What to look for: St. Joe’s has a freshman FOGO named Zach Cole who is winning at a 73% clip through the first three games. Cole also has 3 goals and 2 assists so it’s pretty obvious that he is winning clean and turning his face-off success into quick-strike offense. The offense is young but really talented by all reports. Wray graduated 9 of his top 10 scorers from last year, but has replaced the attack of Rastivo and Blewitt with Sophomores Nate Patterson (8g 4a), Shane Fable (7g 2a) and Long Island freshman Ryan Doran (6g 5a).

Look for a hard fought battle. If UD looks beyond this game to the weekend match with Villanova, they will be in big trouble. Wray always gets his team to play hard as evidenced by its 110 to 73 ground ball advantage this year. The Hawks goalie Mike Adler was hyped preseason as top tender and has a .510 save percentage so far this year.

Gonna be cold. Bundle up. Or just watch from your computer at work. 2pm.

[10stone5]

Good match up.
Good start for Hens.
Really best outcome is Hens win this game considering the upcoming diificult portion of their schedule.

Good LSN broadcast also.
Caught a few minutes, and they’ll archive that game to watch tonight.

7-3 halftime.

[xxxxxxx]

The Hens are playing well, and improving every game which is exactly what you want to see. The defense and goaltending are tops in the country. They also have some offensive firepower. I think they will give Villanova all they can handle on Saturday and won't be surprised if the beat the Cats.

[10stone5]

Saint Joe’s is a young team, to me.
I’ll have to watch replay in full hopefully tonight, but the Hawks really couldn’t keep up, mentally, especially against that defense.
Then things reverted to some chippy-ness.
But (semi) local rivals, so I guess you expect that.

Hens have moved up in the CAA and nationally, in my book.
So yeah, they’ll have to prove themselves, maybe against Villanova, yes, but there’s also Hopkins and Michigan down the line.

[Henpecked]

I have no idea how Saturday’s game at Villanova will turn out but I am hoping for the best. In my opinion UD let the Wildcats off the hook in Newark last year after leading for most of the game. They ultimately lost 13-12 with some foolish penalties and unforced turnovers (3) late in the game. The Hens played an “almost-perfect” game with only FOUR turnovers on the day, but still could not keep Cuccinello (7 goals) from almost single-handedly beating them.

One thing I can say with confidence is that Coach DeLuca is changing the culture at UD. You see a team accountable to each other - great team defense and an improving offense with a lot of young players contributing. The one thing to keep an eye on is how the three converted freshman attackman (Kyle Kivinsky, George Ward and Clay Miller) adjust to playing more significant minutes at midfield.

The team is facing its first big test on the road this Saturday. Villanova is a very good team - should be a lot of fun. We shall see what happens.

[xxxxxxx]

Six undefeated teams left in Division One

Maryland 5-0
Ohio State 4-0
Towson 4-0
Delaware 4-0
Cornell 2-0
VMI 2-0

Big opportunity for the Hens on Saturday at Nova

[Henpecked]

If you’ve ever watched that movie Halloween or Friday the 13th you pretty much know what it’s like playing Villanova in lacrosse over the last two or three years. Every time you think that Michael Meyers or Jason is dead, they just leap out of nowhere to finish you off.

Last year Villanova won 5 one-goal games against Penn St (17-16 OT), Yale (10-9 OT), Delaware (13-12), Fairfield (13-12) and Providence (10-9). They trailed Penn State 14-9 before roaring back to win in OT. They trailed both Yale and Delaware by 2 goals late in the game, but neither was able to put them away.

This year you are seeing much the same Halloween-esque results for Villanova -beating Yale 11-10 in OT and then a week later scoring 3 unanswered goals in the 4th quarter to tie Hofstra before finally putting them away 10-9 in OT.

This trend goes back even further - In 2017 Villanova had two OT wins and ZERO one-goal losses. In fact you have to go all the way back to April 4th 2016 to find the last time Villanova LOST a one-goal game (vs. Denver). I am not sure if Coach Corrado is the best fourth-quarter coach of all time or if these close wins are the result of spending his free time in silent prayer at the Villanova chapel.

Anyway, UD heads up to the Main Line Saturday to take on the Wildcats in what promises to be an exciting game between these two long-time rivals. They split the last two games with both teams winning on the road (hope that trend continues).

What to look for: Last year the Hens could not find a way to stop Christian Cuccinello who lit them up for 7 goals. Fortunately, he is gone this year. But in his place sophomore Keegan Khan (5g 4a) and senior Joey Froccaro (5 g 1a) take over leadership at attack. Froccaro seems to be fully recovered from the injury that had him miss all of last season. I would imagine that DeLuca will put Austin Haynes on the playmaking Khan and have Zach Strassner harass Froccaro.

The Hens will also need to shut down much-hyped freshman middie Matt Campbell (8 goals) and the beastly Tewaaraton candidate Connor Kirst (3g 1a) at midfield. Nick Testa has not looked particularly sharp in net for the Wildcats making saves at just a 44% rate. Fortunately, he is surrounded by a very talented defense led by Zach Kryza, Patrick Kennedy and TJ Comizio (on a sidenote – the Hens picked on Comizio last year by inverting middies DiSimone and Reid behind at X whenever they matched up with him. They scored 5 and 4 goals respectively).

The battle at the face-off X should be very interesting. Dan Fisher’s numbers don’t look particularly impressive this year (.459). However, you have to remember that he has already faced arguably the two best FOGOs in all D1 (Arceri and Ierlan). I would expect him to give Joe Lenskold a big challenge.

Possession should be key. The last couple games have taxed the UD defense as far as time of possession. We shall see if the Hens can put an end to this Michael Meyers/Jason saga that has gone on for far too long. To quote the great Bart Scott “Can’t wait!”

[Henpecked]

As I mentioned in the game preview post “possession is key.” As far as I know, no team has ever won a game when winning only 3 of 30 face-offs. Hens hung for a half down 8-6 after getting clobbered at the face-off x. But the defense was just exhausted and overwhelmed by the third quarter. Offense started to press as well when getting rare possessions.

Villanova is very big, very physical and very athletic. Wore down the Hens in the end. Onto Mercer.

[COMMISH]

Thanks, as always, for the great commentary Henpecked. I'm curious if St. Geme played for UD?

-COMMISH

[Henpecked]

Commish,

Peter St. Geme has not played yet this year. Hens have relied heavily on freshman Jason Seiter and transfer soph Wade Oursler at SSDM. I’m not sure but I think Seiter was ejected after a three minute non-releasable penalty in the first half on Saturday. I don’t recall seeing him following that penalty. Hoping to see St. Geme soon.

[Henpecked]

Tomorrow the Hens face the 0-4 Mercer Bears in frozen Newark, DE (expecting a high of 22 degrees). Last year the Hens dropped a killer early-season game to Mercer 10-8 despite outshooting them 35-28, out-groundballing them 31 to 19 and winning 14 of 21 face-offs.

If anyone remembers watching that game, it was lost by the Hens in the middle of the field where the rangey Mercer LSMs Matt Hughes (at Loyola now) and Michael O'Brien played stifling defense and created transition offense through caused turnovers. And interestingly, 7 of the Bears 10 goals were scored by Pascal Coombs (3 goals), Michael Quinn (2 goals) and Nate Patterson (2 goals) on just 10 shots, mostly in unsettled situations. I remember Mercer not having a lot of success in 6 x 6 offense.

Hoping the Hens quickly rebound from a disappointing performance in Villanova. Need to get out to a lead quickly. We shall see.

[NovaHound]

Man o' man. Do you have to play outside today or do you have indoor facility??

[xxxxxxx]

UD Has an indoor facility but it is a few yards short for a real game, it is used for practice. The game will be outside in the stadium. Brrrrr

[Henpecked]

Tomorrow the Hens meet up with Binghamton in Newark DE. I am hoping that UD does not repeat its performance from a year ago up in Vestal NY when they gave up a late goal in regulation before succumbing to the Bearcats in OT 8-7. This was certainly the low point in the Hens season as they were expecting a different result versus the then 0-6 Binghamton squad.

Just like last year Binghamton is entering this game winless after losses to Colgate 16-10, Lafayette 13-12 and to Hobart 16-7 last weekend. The Hobart loss may look like a blowout on paper but the Bearcats hung with the Statesmen for nearly three quarters. They were down 6-5 late in the third before a very talented Hobart squad scored 10 goals in the final 19 minutes of play.

The Hens cannot look past this game. This is a talented Binghamton team and the games against Delaware over the last 6 years have been played close every single time. The winner has won by just ONE goal in 4 of those 6 contests.

What to look for: Binghamton goalie Kevin Carbone comes into this game with a .533 save percentage. The lefty tender gave the Hens fits last year making 14 saves while holding UD to a season-low 7 goals. Stick side high will not get it done for the Hens. Keep an eye on shot selection –Hens have traditionally struggled versus lefties.

The Bearcats’ offense is led by senior Joe Licata (7g 4a) who is a high-volume shooter but also an excellent passer. Fellow long islander Griffen Konen is also an offensive threat at attack. And we don’t have to be reminded about the ankle-breaking talent of William Talbot-Shere who scored a last second goal against the Hens to send it into OT last year. Defensively, the team plays a VERY aggressive style causing nearly 10 turnovers a game. With that aggressive play comes a LOT of penalties. In just three games the Bearcats have been called for 19 penalties and have given up 5 goals while being man-down.

Hens will have to shoot a lot better than they did versus Mercer on Wednesday on the frozen tundra of Tubby Raymond Field (10 goals on 60 shots). I would look for Dean DiSimone to have a bounce-back game after going 0-13 from range. (Personally, I don’t think he forced many of those shots, but none hit the cage). Bryce Reid also had a tough shooting day going 1 for 14 with very few near the cage (last year we might have called them possession shots).

Side note: Brook Rideau, Peter St. Geme and Owen Grant have yet to play in a game this year. Kyle Kivinski has not played since his breakthrough game when he scored twice against NJIT. I have no idea if any of these guys are going to be on the field this season, but the Hens could sure use the help, particularly at midfield where DeLuca has been increasingly reliant on just the fatigued starting three (DiSimone, Reid and Miller).

Another side note, Joe Lenskold had a nice game at FOGO versus Mercer on Wednesday winning 13 of the 21 face-offs. He was pretty clean on a bunch but also had a lot of help from the wings. That is a good sign. Last year he went 7 for 9 versus Bingo on face-offs.

Gonna be cold and crappy. Bundle up.