Cornell 2019

[WestVillCornell]

One word: sloppy

[bigpappibear]

Who is in at goal?

[semsox]

Bullen has played the entire first half. Started very slow, but has been better in the 2nd quarter

[bigpappibear]

We've managed to get back into the game against the Mountain Pigeons. The first quarter started ugly but we're still in it. Love it when d-poles score.

[42 Straight]

Need to solve the face off situation or this will be a long season. Where is Raz today?

[The Orfling]

Late in the third and Cornell has cut Lehigh's lead down to one-goal again. No shut-off of Teat. Bullen in goal seems pretty locked in now, and Cornell has had some beautiful assisted goals. Cornell clearing very well and the defense has come up with some very nice caused turnovers. The only real area of Lehigh dominance at this point is face-offs. Can Cornell tie it up for the big morale boost?

[The Orfling]

Late in the third and Cornell has cut Lehigh's lead down to one-goal again. No shut-off of Teat. Bullen in goal seems pretty locked in now, and Cornell has had some beautiful assisted goals. Cornell clearing very well and the defense has come up with some very nice caused turnovers. The only real area of Lehigh dominance at this point is face-offs. Can Cornell tie it up for the big morale boost?

And . . . it's back to a 2-goal deficit after Lehigh forces the shot clock violation (with an assist from the officials looking the other way at an octopus-like grab of Petterson). Should be a good fourth quarter. These are two determined teams.

[Gobigred]

5 goal run in 4th makes it 12-9 Cornell

[middleAgedBear]

Great comeback, deadly attack unit.

[Gobigred]

Fine effort by a shorthanded Lehigh team. Looked like they'd hold on entering 4th.

[The Orfling]

What a finish! February games help you find out who you are and what you have. Cornell is no one-man team and has impressive composure. They've got goaltending and at least one high-impact pole (Salvatore was outstanding). Nice win for the Big Red.

[another fan]

Nightmare beginning, but a character builder. Kudos to the team for maintaining its poise, particularly Bullen, who looked like he was a goal away from being pulled, but rallied to turn in a strong game. Positives: Salvatore had a great game all over the field including a couple of faceoffs. Attack looks great-- Teat is Teat, Petterson is Petterson, and Piatelli is now a confident and quicker dodger. Hustle was good all over the field and d mid unit continues strongly. Defense still a work in progress but improving, and man down D was a bright spot. Negatives: faceoffs are a major concern. Raz must be injured again, and Graham not yet showing much. We have 5 fogos, but we were down to a long stick against a strong opponent. We also need more production from our midfields. I thought our second unit generated more opportunities than the first. Ward is playing well and getting chances, but just not finishing and Telesco is looking like he could have a very big year-- strong alley dodger, with a hard accurate shot.

Still work to do, but great comeback. Lehigh is a depleted team, but played very gamely and certainly had Red fans worried.

[VeryRustyRed]

Yes, a nightmare start. Not sure why. I'm sure the staff was concerned, especially given Lehigh's advantage at the x.
The good news is that (at least as far as this game is concerned) undermanned Lehigh is offensively challenged. I think they only had two 6 on 6 goals after the nightmare start.
I don't think Cornell changed anything defensively - just pressed out more and were more aggressive. Before upping the ante, Lehigh was initiating its O from far too close to the crease.
Other observations:
-No lock-off of Teat other than EMO's??? What is Cassesse thinking...
-Flethcher is a huge part of the O when the 1st mids are on - he's the only one who can initiate the offense with his north-south dodges (both hands). He almost always drew a slide and forced Lehigh to rotate. Another (very) quiet game from McCulloch. And somewhat so for Donville.
-2nd line - the good news is that Ward is in the right place again to get great looks for the 2nd game in a row; needs to finish. Licciardi has to "take care" - he had an awful sequence - two turnovers in a row dodging down the middle against a top LSM...which led to a goal in transition + drew an unreleaseable penalty. Yikes.
-Bullen - as another fan wrote, very close to being pulled; and then had a GREAT game with some spectacular saves.
-No Fields today. Karey looked better. Milliman pretty much went with 3 ss's against Hobart; Buczek was in a regular rotation today.
-We will probably see face-off by committee all season. As I previously wrote, Graham is a prospect...at this stage.
-Game 1: attack scored 14 of 19 goals. Today: attack scored 12 of 14 goals.
-One of Teat's attributes that doesn't get a lot of print: he is a "freakin" accurate shooter.
-For the second game in a row, Piatelli scored on a clockwise x-dodge bounce shot. 'Something new for him. Great arrow to have in his quiver.

[CU77]

I was only able to watch the 4th quarter in real time, nice come from behind win.

[laxjuris]

I (fortunately) missed most of the 1st half, so I didn’t see ugly start. In the 2nd half I thought Salvatore was the key guy for us and set the tone for the comeback. Also nice to see Bullen rebound after a rough 1st game and start to this game.

I’m most concerned about the FOGO situation and Raz’s absence certainly set us back a bit. As per the Daily Sun game story, Raz’s status is day-to-day: https://cornellsun.com/2019/02/24/no-4- ... me-opener/

[CU77]

Just watched the first 3 quarters. FO is the big issue, obviously. Not sure what Lehigh was trying to do on D, but they did not try the SOT.

Attendance of 342 for the home opener of a top-10 team is just sad.

[laxjuris]

Now just waiting for Joe Willie’s game report. I’m sure he must’ve been one of the 350 or so hearty souls who made it to the game!

[faircornell]

I'm not Joe Willie, and thanks to all for the detailed reports above. The only thing I'd add from following the pre-season communications from the team, and watching the replay, is the very high level of athleticism and conditioning of this team. This leads to a level of poise and confidence that is impressive.

[RedIvy]

Last year we lost leads in a few early games, ( Colgate, Albany, Yale) it was great to see us fight back and reverse that today, great confidence builder, but won’t be able to afford sloppy starts in future games, hopefully this was due to early play and just to be honest I don’t think I’ve seen a worse 8 minutes of Cornell Lacrosse but nice job turning things around, good composure.....

- As others have said goalie play started with concerns and ended with confidence. Did anyone notice the targeted lower right corner by Lehigh against the lefty Bolen? I’m not a fan of goalie rotation but this may help if this is truly a vulnerable spot.

- Teat is so much fun to watch, Big Red Fans have been fortunate to have a few of these types of players over the last 12 years, very different styles but all so great and brilliant on the field.

- The attack unit is incredible maybe best since the late 70’s.

- Midfield isn’t producing like I thought but this may be a product of the strength of the attack. Wondering if Jake McCulloch is not 100%. I do think we have two solid lines that can and will produce more over the season.

- FO.... uggg I think we all know the struggles we will most likely have if we can’t solve this or at least limit our vulnerability.

- separate line for John Piatelli, I think his increased speed and wrap around shot is a giant leap forward for him and the team.

- I really like what Licciardi did last year and think he will make big contributions to the team, having said that I think he really needs to study first two game recordings and reflect on his play mentally and think more team.... Dom Doria Playing well as he did last year but his penalty toward the end of the game was unnecessary and IMO could have been a 2 minute unreleasable, we had just separated ourselves but with 3 minutes left this was just not smart play, I’m sure Milliman will talk to him about this.

Good start to the season! Go Big Red!!

[CU77]

Attendance of 342 for the home opener of a top-10 team is just sad.

Apparently there is now something called "February break" (didn't exist back in nineteen seventy seven…) that started on Saturday, leaving not so many students on campus …

- The attack unit is incredible maybe best since the late 70’s.

Agreed!

- separate line for John Piatelli, I think his increased speed and wrap around shot is a giant leap forward for him and the team.

The overall improvement in his game is readily apparent.