SUNYAC 2022

[HappyGilmore]

After watching Cortland's games against Skidmore and Fisher, it's obvious that their ceiling continues to fall every year and has since 2013. I'm unsure why some polls ranked this team in the top-20 during the preseason. I'm trying to remember the last time Cortland had an offensive threat that forced quality opponents to plan around. It's been several years, maybe longer.

Being familiar with Cortland's opponets, Terrance Haggerty that graduated a few years back was a huge point for coaches scouting Cortland. What I saw from the game yesterday: It was pretty obvious Cortland, so far, has no business being in the top 20. SJFC is REALLY good but Cortland is also supposed to be really good and that game was never close after 2-2. Like I had mentioned earlier about their goal tending, it really seems like their goalie plays very spotty and has the capabilities of being one of the best goalies in the country for 1 game and then the next game seems like he should be benched for the season.


On the other hand, Brockport got a much expected win over Morrisville. Jack Peterson and Pat Sheridan seem to be the focal point again for the Eagles offense. Would love to see a young guy step up with these guys being seniors/5th years.

Saturday should be a great day where we finally get to see New Paltz play. We have Cortland matching up against a solid Scranton team. Oswego and Plattsburgh have very winable games. Oneonta takes on a Stevens team who always seem to find themselves in the thick of it during the year. Fianlly, the game I am most excited about is the Geneseo and Ithaca game. Historically, Ithaca has controlled this matchup but Geneseo has seen a lot more success the last few years since 2018 season. This will be the first test for the Knights with the new coach and bunch of seniors/sophomores back from the covid related abscences last year. Ithaca is said to be having a "down" year this year but is still receiving votes for the top 20.

Haggerty is still playing. He is at Farmingdale.

[Collegelaxguy16]

After watching Cortland's games against Skidmore and Fisher, it's obvious that their ceiling continues to fall every year and has since 2013. I'm unsure why some polls ranked this team in the top-20 during the preseason. I'm trying to remember the last time Cortland had an offensive threat that forced quality opponents to plan around. It's been several years, maybe longer.

Being familiar with Cortland's opponets, Terrance Haggerty that graduated a few years back was a huge point for coaches scouting Cortland. What I saw from the game yesterday: It was pretty obvious Cortland, so far, has no business being in the top 20. SJFC is REALLY good but Cortland is also supposed to be really good and that game was never close after 2-2. Like I had mentioned earlier about their goal tending, it really seems like their goalie plays very spotty and has the capabilities of being one of the best goalies in the country for 1 game and then the next game seems like he should be benched for the season.


On the other hand, Brockport got a much expected win over Morrisville. Jack Peterson and Pat Sheridan seem to be the focal point again for the Eagles offense. Would love to see a young guy step up with these guys being seniors/5th years.

Saturday should be a great day where we finally get to see New Paltz play. We have Cortland matching up against a solid Scranton team. Oswego and Plattsburgh have very winable games. Oneonta takes on a Stevens team who always seem to find themselves in the thick of it during the year. Fianlly, the game I am most excited about is the Geneseo and Ithaca game. Historically, Ithaca has controlled this matchup but Geneseo has seen a lot more success the last few years since 2018 season. This will be the first test for the Knights with the new coach and bunch of seniors/sophomores back from the covid related abscences last year. Ithaca is said to be having a "down" year this year but is still receiving votes for the top 20.

Haggerty is still playing. He is at Farmingdale.

Yes you're right. But no longer in the SUNYAC for the last 2 years

[ALaudico7]

On the other hand, Brockport got a much expected win over Morrisville. Jack Peterson and Pat Sheridan seem to be the focal point again for the Eagles offense. Would love to see a young guy step up with these guys being seniors/5th years.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Nelson Logan be that guy to step up. Scored 22 points for Limestone his freshman year and had 4 points vs Morrisville.

[OddDuck]

takes on a Stevens team who always seem to find themselves in the thick of it during the year.

Stevens IS NOT the same team that they have been in the recent past. Lost lots of scoring and talent with the exits of Gebhardt, Coulter, Brennan and Crotty. One of the things that they did carry from recent years is the inability to score with a miserable 22% shooting percentage thus far this year. Looks like the Oneonta keeper is saving shots at a %68 clip and that may actually go up this weekend. In total, Steven's opponents have a combined %63 save percentage against them. Stevens likes to shoot dead center and low - relatively easy saves for goalies, when they are on goal. In addition, "changing levels" is a rare thing as well.

The only "thick of it" that Steven's is currently looking at is a AQ for the MAC Freedom, which I don't think is a given at this point.

[HappyGilmore]

After watching Cortland's games against Skidmore and Fisher, it's obvious that their ceiling continues to fall every year and has since 2013. I'm unsure why some polls ranked this team in the top-20 during the preseason. I'm trying to remember the last time Cortland had an offensive threat that forced quality opponents to plan around. It's been several years, maybe longer.

Being familiar with Cortland's opponets, Terrance Haggerty that graduated a few years back was a huge point for coaches scouting Cortland. What I saw from the game yesterday: It was pretty obvious Cortland, so far, has no business being in the top 20. SJFC is REALLY good but Cortland is also supposed to be really good and that game was never close after 2-2. Like I had mentioned earlier about their goal tending, it really seems like their goalie plays very spotty and has the capabilities of being one of the best goalies in the country for 1 game and then the next game seems like he should be benched for the season.


On the other hand, Brockport got a much expected win over Morrisville. Jack Peterson and Pat Sheridan seem to be the focal point again for the Eagles offense. Would love to see a young guy step up with these guys being seniors/5th years.

Saturday should be a great day where we finally get to see New Paltz play. We have Cortland matching up against a solid Scranton team. Oswego and Plattsburgh have very winable games. Oneonta takes on a Stevens team who always seem to find themselves in the thick of it during the year. Fianlly, the game I am most excited about is the Geneseo and Ithaca game. Historically, Ithaca has controlled this matchup but Geneseo has seen a lot more success the last few years since 2018 season. This will be the first test for the Knights with the new coach and bunch of seniors/sophomores back from the covid related abscences last year. Ithaca is said to be having a "down" year this year but is still receiving votes for the top 20.

Haggerty is still playing. He is at Farmingdale.

Yes you're right. But no longer in the SUNYAC for the last 2 years

Yyes, still hasn’t graduated yet.

[Collegelaxguy16]

Oswego and Brockport look like the only winners today that I saw. Brockport is putting up points against very low quality opponents so its hard to judge their success to this point. Oswego played another weak opponent and was able to put up a good amount of offense which is a good sign after losing Bezek. Either Oneonta is not great or Stevens is good. What a tough game for a team we are all hoping finally gets over the hump. Plattsburgh lost to an okay Norwich team. IMO, they should've and probably could've won this game. Cortland lost another game to Scranton who has some really high highs and some bad lows but none the less another loss for Cortland. Lastly, Geneseo got aboslutely demolished today. Looked like the Knights had a chance to narrow the score but lack of an offensive threat was very evident. Not a great day for SUNYAC men's lacrosse who went 2-5 today. I hope some teams figure it out but just an ugly start to the season so far.

[Collegelaxguy16]

takes on a Stevens team who always seem to find themselves in the thick of it during the year.

Stevens IS NOT the same team that they have been in the recent past. Lost lots of scoring and talent with the exits of Gebhardt, Coulter, Brennan and Crotty. One of the things that they did carry from recent years is the inability to score with a miserable 22% shooting percentage thus far this year. Looks like the Oneonta keeper is saving shots at a %68 clip and that may actually go up this weekend. In total, Steven's opponents have a combined %63 save percentage against them. Stevens likes to shoot dead center and low - relatively easy saves for goalies, when they are on goal. In addition, "changing levels" is a rare thing as well.

The only "thick of it" that Steven's is currently looking at is a AQ for the MAC Freedom, which I don't think is a given at this point.

I was really hoping this would correlate today but man Stevens crushed Oneonta. I feel bad for them honestly. They have a decent athletic complex and seem like they have bright spots but when is this pain going to end for them. Losing by 13 to a team that lost so many starters and Oneonta's goalie playing "better", this game should've been much closer. Either Stevens reloaded and is legit or Oneonta is having a really rough start to the year

[OddDuck]

takes on a Stevens team who always seem to find themselves in the thick of it during the year.

Stevens IS NOT the same team that they have been in the recent past. Lost lots of scoring and talent with the exits of Gebhardt, Coulter, Brennan and Crotty. One of the things that they did carry from recent years is the inability to score with a miserable 22% shooting percentage thus far this year. Looks like the Oneonta keeper is saving shots at a %68 clip and that may actually go up this weekend. In total, Steven's opponents have a combined %63 save percentage against them. Stevens likes to shoot dead center and low - relatively easy saves for goalies, when they are on goal. In addition, "changing levels" is a rare thing as well.

The only "thick of it" that Steven's is currently looking at is a AQ for the MAC Freedom, which I don't think is a given at this point.

I was really hoping this would correlate today but man Stevens crushed Oneonta. I feel bad for them honestly. They have a decent athletic complex and seem like they have bright spots but when is this pain going to end for them. Losing by 13 to a team that lost so many starters and Oneonta's goalie playing "better", this game should've been much closer. Either Stevens reloaded and is legit or Oneonta is having a really rough start to the year

Oneonta's game plan against Stevens worked for the first half. Defending exclusively with a zone and letting their keeper (who up to that game was saving 68% of the shots against him) eat up the outside shots. One would figure that with Stevens only shooting at 22% coming into the game, that would work well. A 5-4 halftime lead for Stevens was probably a best case outcome for Oneonta. Unfortunately for Oneonta, Stevens found their outside shooting in the 3rd (for what seemed like the first time over the last few years!) at about the same time the Oneonta keeper seemed to "lose the magic" and ran off 9 straight goals. I think Oneonta had but one possession in the first 8-10 minutes of the 3rd quarter.

On the offensive side, Oneonta didn't seem to have the athletes to penetrate a Steven's defense that was quite suspect going into the game and they had WAY too many unforced errors in their set offense and transition.

Things calmed a bit in the fourth quarter (I believe Stevens went in with a 10 goal lead) but still pushed the lead to 12 with about 10 minutes left. Stevens, as they have been known to do in recent years, didn't call off the dogs until there were less than 4 minutes left when they finally cleared the bench. Their last goal was scored with around 4 minutes left by one of their top midfielder/attackman.

Oneonta still seems to have a ways to go in their building/rebuilding to even think about tournament play. On the Steven's side it will be interesting to see if they have figured some things out or just took advantage of an inferior opponent. With RIT coming into Hoboken Wednesday, that will become much clearer.

[Olaxfan]

My takeaway from the Stevens v. Oneonta game. Oneonta has more talent on the field both on offense and defense this year and their defensive scheme is improved this year with the zone being much more active on the ball. First quarter of the game Oneonta's new GK kept them in the game with 6 saves allowing only 1 goal. But the shot differential was around 10 in favor of stevens. Oneonta had one of their best quarters in the 2nd as a team but the wheels were already starting to come off their GK as he only had 3 saves, turned over the ball leading to 1 of stevens' 4 goals that quarter and was making buddy passes on the clear leading to turnovers as Owens continues to be incapable of calling a timeout to save a possession. In the 3rd quarter and into the 4th quarter Oneonta's GK completely fell apart allowing a 10 goal run and though he made 2 good saves early in the 3rd immediately following those saves he turned the ball over passing to a wide open steven's attackman for another goal. Oneonta has the talent to make it to the Sunyac finals but the lack of offensive coaching combined with a GK's who is a loose cannon with his taunting, inconsistent play, buddy passes and turnovers on clears will prevent them from playing up to the potential of their on field talent. Stevens appears to be defensively talented except at goal but the offense tends not to change the plane on their shots leading to easy saves. The Geneseo loss to Ithaca makes me wonder how much Geneseo is going to miss Fiorentino this season.

[OddDuck]

Stevens appears to be defensively talented except at goal but the offense tends not to change the plane on their shots leading to easy saves.

They lost their two best defenders to graduation and while they have many athletes, they tend to ball watch and leave their man often to "knock down passes".

On offense you hit the nail on the head - beside not changing planes on the shots, they have a tendency to shoot dead center on the goal between the GK waist and feet. While that doesn't go in the book as a TO, 99% of the time it is handing the ball to the opponent.

[SunyLaxFan]

Got a chance to watch a bit of the Brockport/Nazareth Game yesterday. Being Brockport's first real competition, I was very impressed with their game play but was disappointed with the final score, because I do no think it reflects the game.

Brockport led in every stat except saves, which I did not have to look up to notice. The goalie play was a weak point this game for Brockport, giving up 17 goals on 6 saves. I will give the keeper the benefit of the doubt because players were getting 10 yard step downs. I'm sure he would like some of the chances back, because there were a few gumballs that could have changed the tide of the game.

Nazareth has a few studs on their team, and I believe they transferred from D1. Brockport was unable to manage them in the 4th quarter, which allowed Nazareth to pull away after being tied 9-9 late in the 3rd. Brockport is a senior driven team, with a lot of potential. #16 is a sophomore I believe, and he may be the only underclassmen getting some real action. I am very impressed with the offenses ability to score, and the defense has always been a strong point (minus the collapse they had in the 4th). The core midfield on the offensive end are quick with a few powerful shooters (#23), while also having the ability to feed the main finishers at attack (Number 5 and 3 I believe). They also have a smart, big, and fast defensive midfield led by their LSM #27 and go to D-Middie #13 (Both played almost every defensive possession). Going to be interesting to see what teams do with their offense whether they utilize their attack or midfield. If they can figure out the penalties and goalie play, you may see Brockport make some moves this year in the SUNYAC.

[Olaxfan]

Plattsburgh looked solid in their ot loss to Skidmore. Skidmore came in fresh off a win over a good Haverford team. Didn't see the Geneseo game today but 20-6 to st.lawrence after getting lit up by ithaca not a good start. They have Clarkson next who will probably beat them pretty bad also. The maritime game will hopefully be a win for Geneseo and indication of where they are at without fiorentino.

[Collegelaxguy16]

Plattsburgh looked solid in their ot loss to Skidmore. Skidmore came in fresh off a win over a good Haverford team. Didn't see the Geneseo game today but 20-6 to st.lawrence after getting lit up by ithaca not a good start. They have Clarkson next who will probably beat them pretty bad also. The maritime game will hopefully be a win for Geneseo and indication of where they are at without fiorentino.

Geneseo has a long long way to go. Have 4 games in the next 10 days so its a real possibility of the Knights going 0-6 to start the season. I watched 50 minutes of the game today and noticed a couple of issues. Geneseo does not have a great ride. I see no sustained pressure and thought it would be better today than the Ithaca game. Another issue they have is offensive threat. I know #13 for Geneseo is their best player statistcally from a year ago. He had a hard time getting any freedom today. I know #11 from last year had a great on field connection with #13 and seems to be what Geneseo is missing the most so far. Their middy lines don't draw a slide and when #5 does draw a slide, he either has no room to shoot or just can't hit the cage. With starters in for both games, Geneseo has 6 total goals (9 total with backups). That is extremely concerning considering they were averaging 12 goals a game last year. I know they lost a lot of seniors last year, but they have a ton of seniors this year who need to be that foundation that was laid for them by previous seniors. Their goalie has had some off and on moments. He definitely makes saves but looks out of position at times (at least from the camera angle). Could be due to Fiorentino being a goalie in college so now he doesn't have that coach to teach him proper technique and criticize his stance, etc. The last thing I would like to mention about Geneseo is that it seemed like Coach Bezek seems to be out of his league right now. Comparing his previous schedules with Oswego to the one Geneseo has now, it's night and day. Geneseo plays at least 5 teams who were/are in the top 20 in the country. This level of competiton is good for a program who is on the rise and is looking for a statement win. For Geneseo, these games are suposed to be games that are won. There is no doing it to have a harder strength of schedule, they need this schedule to recruit more athletes who want to be at the top of D3 Men's Lacrosse. Overall through two games, I give Geneseo a D+. Bright spots: Faceoffs went much better today, they have a ton of seniors that know what it takes to win, SUNYAC just doesn't look good this year. Bad spots: They have a new coach, they can't score, Bezek looks out of his league coaching against the top coaches in D3 which goes to show how Fiorentino really is a great coach. Bezek has a ton of talent on the Geneseo team and right now, it's not being used which sucks for those seniors who know they should be competitive in these games. Next games for them: Clarkson, Maritime, Salisbury, and Alfred. Have to come out of those games 2-2 to even still be relevant. Sorry to sound off about this but had really high hopes for this team and so far have been let down.

[laxkid82]

Didn't see the Geneseo game today but 20-6 to st.lawrence after getting lit up by ithaca not a good start. They have Clarkson next who will probably beat them pretty bad also. The maritime game will hopefully be a win for Geneseo and indication of where they are at without fiorentino.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Olaxfan]

Another huge 2nd half collapse by Oneonta against a mediocre Hartwick team. Oneonta up 8-3 at half loses 11-9. Poor play by oneonta's goalie including 2 more turnovers leading to goals and an inability by the coach to change the offense to generate scoring in the second half. Its a shame as Oneonta's defense played very well all game and they have a fair amount of offensive talent. But talent can't overcome a terrible coach and poor goaltending. Wonder how much longer he leaves his two senior goalies on the bench, hopefully for not too much longer. Saw the end of New Paltz vs. St. Mary's tough ot loss for New Paltz.

[Collegelaxguy16]

Tough tough loss for Geneseo today. I was able to watch on the telecast and it really looked like Geneseo should have one this one. Penalties killed them after leading 8-4 at the end of the third. #13 Cook played very well today, the goalie Mark Pav played very well and gave the Knights several chances to win the game late. The defense MVP today was #6 in my opinion. He played gritty and had several ground balls. A triple overtime thriller was a great step for Geneseo after the last two games. I would hope that they grow this confidence this weekend as they start their spring break trip to Maritime.

Given that Clarkson was playing decent, Geneseo really stepped up today and was happy to see them play like this and had a very real chance to win this one.

[Olaxfan]

Tough tough loss for Geneseo today. I was able to watch on the telecast and it really looked like Geneseo should have one this one. Penalties killed them after leading 8-4 at the end of the third. #13 Cook played very well today, the goalie Mark Pav played very well and gave the Knights several chances to win the game late. The defense MVP today was #6 in my opinion. He played gritty and had several ground balls. A triple overtime thriller was a great step for Geneseo after the last two games. I would hope that they grow this confidence this weekend as they start their spring break trip to Maritime.

Given that Clarkson was playing decent, Geneseo really stepped up today and was happy to see them play like this and had a very real chance to win this one.

I agree. I watched the 2nd and 3rd quarter geneseo looked solid and their goalie was definitely on his game. Good to see.

[HappyGilmore]

Another huge 2nd half collapse by Oneonta against a mediocre Hartwick team. Oneonta up 8-3 at half loses 11-9. Poor play by oneonta's goalie including 2 more turnovers leading to goals and an inability by the coach to change the offense to generate scoring in the second half. Its a shame as Oneonta's defense played very well all game and they have a fair amount of offensive talent. But talent can't overcome a terrible coach and poor goaltending. Wonder how much longer he leaves his two senior goalies on the bench, hopefully for not too much longer. Saw the end of New Paltz vs. St. Mary's tough ot loss for New Paltz.

Why isn’t last years starter not in playing this year. Is he hurt?????

[dp68]

Cortland put up their best team effort of the season against a strong Cabrini team, but fell again, this time by a score of 7-4. The Red Dragons defense and goaltender played much better than they had over the previous 3 games, keeping the game close. The clearing ride continues to be a strong point for Cortland.

But the offense . . . yikes.

This team used to run multiple ankle-breaking dodgers onto the field. Not anymore. I'm not sure what happened to recruiting.

But it's the shot quality which really stands out. Watch their games and you'll see a ton of a high-to-high shots with very little changes of plane. This shows up in the stats column, where Cortland is only scoring on 37% of their shots on goal. The NCAA average was something like 47% a few years ago, and I believe it has risen since. Easy pickings for the goalie. Also, a high-to-high save often sets up a fast break in the other direction. Not a winning combo.

If that isn't bad enough, the face off unit is winning 32% of the draws.

[InsiderRoll]

Cortland put up their best team effort of the season against a strong Cabrini team, but fell again, this time by a score of 7-4. The Red Dragons defense and goaltender played much better than they had over the previous 3 games, keeping the game close. The clearing ride continues to be a strong point for Cortland.

But the offense . . . yikes.

This team used to run multiple ankle-breaking dodgers onto the field. Not anymore. I'm not sure what happened to recruiting.

But it's the shot quality which really stands out. Watch their games and you'll see a ton of a high-to-high shots with very little changes of plane. This shows up in the stats column, where Cortland is only scoring on 37% of their shots on goal. The NCAA average was something like 47% a few years ago, and I believe it has risen since. Easy pickings for the goalie. Also, a high-to-high save often sets up a fast break in the other direction. Not a winning combo.

If that isn't bad enough, the face off unit is winning 32% of the draws.

I think you have your stats wrong. 37% shooting is extremely high. That would make them a top 10 shooting team. The average has never been 47%, that might be an NCAA record