Hobart 2022

[kmartin]

Lacrosse has always been like basketball in terms of the movement of the players on the field, but nowadays it is even more like basketball in that if you simply have an off shooting day you can lose. And we had some serious shooting problems when we hit that skid. Without Ditellas, Herlihy, Madonna bombing from outside we struggle. I am a Simas fan, he is very strong and can create, same with Bach. They are big, strong fast middies, but they are not great shooters. And they both play on d sometimes to stop the other teams bigger middies so they do a lot for us. Both of those guys have scored fantastic goals and carried the team offensively at times but they are not quite consistently causing trouble for the other teams. Same with Mott. He probably has to play more selfishly and make multi dodge moves. He makes one or two moves and then gives the ball up too easily sometimes. Make 3-4 moves and make them play you. Archer was trying to create and everyone was watching him at Sacred Heart. It didn't always go well. Mott has to take a larger load although he gets the #1 matchup d man every week. The other teams are scheming for him and he just has to get people to start turning their heads, at least, to free up some space for people.

I have lamented the lack of crease presence for years. How many times did Bryant push it inside for a turn around goal. And Syracuse, Cornell the same. You have got to be able to get some layups and we have tried to push the ball inside and I think we should continue doing it notwithstanding some difficulties. Long term you simply have to have that in your game if you don't have several unstoppable middies that are going to generate doubles every time like a Brendan Curry at SU does. Rosa and Ward seem to finish in close but they are rookies so there is some learning curve pain I think we have to live with. Rosa was one on one with the goalie at Sacred Heart after a great ride and he missed. Ward tried a quick stick man up one on one he also missed. Then Bach's goal gets called back and instead of being up by 5 or 6 after completely dominating the game in the third, SH gets off the ground and our collars get tight and you know the rest. Same against Cornell. Dominated the first quarter due to some bad stick handling by the Big Red but did not cash in. The Big Red dominates the third and cash in heavy and there is the difference in the game. Syracuse wasn't better than us, but they shoot it a little better and they had 12 more possessions off the faceoff and we triple teamed Rosa's brother at the mid line and he made a good play and they got an easy one that hurt. We had a chance to get that loose ball and there is the difference in the game. Have to make that play that is all there is too it. Coach put you in position to make the play there with a good ride scheme but you didn't do it.

I saw a number of new faces out there against Wagner that did well, Horton chief among them. And physically we looked pretty good as we got called on a bunch of clean checks that were just hard checks. Cardinali got a lot of good run as well. He was tentative and did not want to make any mistakes so he didn't make a ton of impact but that comes with more time. It looks like he took Grooms' spot, who also is not the biggest and can't often create for himself. But we do have Herlihy, Simas and Bach and they are all handfuls off the dodge. If Grooms or some of these guys can just get open and finish, the others can create. Mitrow and others need to find the net when they get a chance if Ditellas and Madonna are going to be hurt. If I am some of these middies on the bubble I spend a lot of extra time shooting it after practice.

Ballo has played sporadically. Dickson also played well and has been somewhat up and down this year although he was called upon to carry a load early on. Ballo made that swim move on a clear through three guys and it looks like he runs well. The other kid from Harlem lax also looked good early this year but he hasnt been playing. Some of these guys just have to play more and get comfortable and make mistakes. The key thing is the playoffs and taking pain early and playing more guys is the way to go I think. Helps with injuries too. We looked good against strong competition in Lehigh, SU and Cornell and then a week off and pfft momentum out the window.

Sacred Heart is out of the playoff picture. They lost to Merrimack and Liu. The Mount is out too looks like. SJU is the top of the league and is two goals away from an undefeated season and Bryant doesn't usually lay an egg and give games away. That leaves us having to fight our way in against LIU and Merrimack now. SJU is strong down the middle with a good face-off man and goalie so they are in every game. Probably best in the league at those two positions although the Wagner goalie is amazing. Obviously we can lose to everybody else in the league if we don't really tighten up our offense and face-off units. Every week is playoff week now.

[Laxgunea]

Great analysis. More of a crease presence would help in many ways. Lay-up always are great. Saw the two plays you mentioned against SHU and another against Bryant ... the passes inside were tight and fast, but eventually those will fall.
Regarding Mott, I think you are on to something in saying he should be a bit more selfish. Multiple dodges to dras more people. He sometimes starts to sling shots, and if he is not on, it ends up as lost time or a turnover. But he is very good with the ball. Holding it longer would force those slides.
Got no idea what to expect this week. Soon we should be back at full strength, plus the newer guy who have been playing. The NEC as a league feels as unpredictable as Hobart has been
.The are all play-in games now ... basically single elimination for the rest of the season.

[Farfromgeneva]

Lacrosse has always been like basketball in terms of the movement of the players on the field, but nowadays it is even more like basketball in that if you simply have an off shooting day you can lose. And we had some serious shooting problems when we hit that skid. Without Ditellas, Herlihy, Madonna bombing from outside we struggle. I am a Simas fan, he is very strong and can create, same with Bach. They are big, strong fast middies, but they are not great shooters. And they both play on d sometimes to stop the other teams bigger middies so they do a lot for us. Both of those guys have scored fantastic goals and carried the team offensively at times but they are not quite consistently causing trouble for the other teams. Same with Mott. He probably has to play more selfishly and make multi dodge moves. He makes one or two moves and then gives the ball up too easily sometimes. Make 3-4 moves and make them play you. Archer was trying to create and everyone was watching him at Sacred Heart. It didn't always go well. Mott has to take a larger load although he gets the #1 matchup d man every week. The other teams are scheming for him and he just has to get people to start turning their heads, at least, to free up some space for people.

I have lamented the lack of crease presence for years. How many times did Bryant push it inside for a turn around goal. And Syracuse, Cornell the same. You have got to be able to get some layups and we have tried to push the ball inside and I think we should continue doing it notwithstanding some difficulties. Long term you simply have to have that in your game if you don't have several unstoppable middies that are going to generate doubles every time like a Brendan Curry at SU does. Rosa and Ward seem to finish in close but they are rookies so there is some learning curve pain I think we have to live with. Rosa was one on one with the goalie at Sacred Heart after a great ride and he missed. Ward tried a quick stick man up one on one he also missed. Then Bach's goal gets called back and instead of being up by 5 or 6 after completely dominating the game in the third, SH gets off the ground and our collars get tight and you know the rest. Same against Cornell. Dominated the first quarter due to some bad stick handling by the Big Red but did not cash in. The Big Red dominates the third and cash in heavy and there is the difference in the game. Syracuse wasn't better than us, but they shoot it a little better and they had 12 more possessions off the faceoff and we triple teamed Rosa's brother at the mid line and he made a good play and they got an easy one that hurt. We had a chance to get that loose ball and there is the difference in the game. Have to make that play that is all there is too it. Coach put you in position to make the play there with a good ride scheme but you didn't do it.

I saw a number of new faces out there against Wagner that did well, Horton chief among them. And physically we looked pretty good as we got called on a bunch of clean checks that were just hard checks. Cardinali got a lot of good run as well. He was tentative and did not want to make any mistakes so he didn't make a ton of impact but that comes with more time. It looks like he took Grooms' spot, who also is not the biggest and can't often create for himself. But we do have Herlihy, Simas and Bach and they are all handfuls off the dodge. If Grooms or some of these guys can just get open and finish, the others can create. Mitrow and others need to find the net when they get a chance if Ditellas and Madonna are going to be hurt. If I am some of these middies on the bubble I spend a lot of extra time shooting it after practice.

Ballo has played sporadically. Dickson also played well and has been somewhat up and down this year although he was called upon to carry a load early on. Ballo made that swim move on a clear through three guys and it looks like he runs well. The other kid from Harlem lax also looked good early this year but he hasnt been playing. Some of these guys just have to play more and get comfortable and make mistakes. The key thing is the playoffs and taking pain early and playing more guys is the way to go I think. Helps with injuries too. We looked good against strong competition in Lehigh, SU and Cornell and then a week off and pfft momentum out the window.

Sacred Heart is out of the playoff picture. They lost to Merrimack and Liu. The Mount is out too looks like. SJU is the top of the league and is two goals away from an undefeated season and Bryant doesn't usually lay an egg and give games away. That leaves us having to fight our way in against LIU and Merrimack now. SJU is strong down the middle with a good face-off man and goalie so they are in every game. Probably best in the league at those two positions although the Wagner goalie is amazing. Obviously we can lose to everybody else in the league if we don't really tighten up our offense and face-off units. Every week is playoff week now.

This was my point about playing more kids.

A. They’re going to play eventually and be needed so get them mistakes out of the way early.
B. Even if they are not as good if they are D1 players their beat should be good enough and the rest is affords the starters means the starters will be closer to 100% later in games and later in the season (currently not as good, some potential may be higher than a first line player down the road but not today-especially w 22 vs 18yrs old).
- you play more kids to smooth out the performance of everyone it’s not because player A is better than player B. It’s rest, support and development that benefits the best and the second best kids on a team.
- is it possible the wealth of injuries has anything to do with the extremely short bench? Particularly w respect to Baltzer, Herlihy, Madonna and some others? (Madonna has a rib issue I believe so probably not in his case but in Baltzers?)

Wonder if this is what happens when you lose your primary crease player in Jason Knox. Last time we didn’t have him sitting there right by the cage was 2018. That season was no bueno.

W Mott, he’s a terrific #5 option in scoring. He may not be suited to be #2.

[FL-GO]

Merrimack this weekend, who I believe is technically in the 4th place spot in the NEC standings (Hobart being in 5th).

Here are the game notes from Mack: https://merrimackathletics.com/document ... Hobart.pdf

BTW - does anyone know if these guys are actually NEC playoff eligible or not?

LIU vs. SJU will be interesting to see from a who takes over at #1, otherwise rest of conf schedule isn't super competitive: Wag vs. MSM, Bry vs. SHU.

Just need to find a way to win against the Mack in Mass this weekend.

[FL-GO]

It appears as though Mack are not NEC playoff eligible still, so technically, we remain in 4th place irrespective of this weekend. Obviously need the bottom 3 to stay down. Guess this weekend technically isn't a "must win" after all, although, it's certainly better to get that win and keep momentum going into the LIU game.

[catchnshoot]

I think thee NCAA rule for division changes had a 4 year period of teams being ineligible to compete in NCAA championships.
I think conferences can allow teams into their tournaments , if an ineligible team wins the conference championship in an AQ conference then the runner up goes to the NCAA championship in their place.
I thought the NEC decided that they didn’t want that to happen and sided with the NCAA on a 4 year ban in the conference tourney as well?
I believe neither Merrimack or LIU are eligible for at least 1 more year.
I could be wrong
old Bart man probably had a handle on this one …

[oldbartman]

LIU Post is definitely eligible. Since Post merged with an already D I school, LIU, they became immediately eligible for the NCAA tournament. Either way, we NEED to beat Merrimack regardless of their eligibility. The team needs to re-establish itself as a unit.

[Farfromgeneva]

Of we don’t finish 6-5 we don’t deserve to be in. Maybe you can justify one loss to a team that we “shouldn’t” lose to buy no team should lose to two of the bottom four in your conference and still get in. That sort of by implication includes LIU who has the third best RPI right now in conference in the high 30s

[catchnshoot]

I knew OBM would know!
I had forgotten that when D 2 CW Post merged with LIU Brooklyn , the Blackbirds were already D1.
Definitely just need to win games at this point

[FL-GO]

Bottom line is it's more than likely that we're going to make the NEC field. Only question is what seed. We control our destiny as far as getting at least the 3, assuming we, SJU and BRY win out. We lose to LIU next week; we're looking at the 4. That's basically it.

I'd rather play Bryant in the NEC tourney tbh. Never should have lost to them in the first place.

[Farfromgeneva]

Bottom line is it's more than likely that we're going to make the NEC field. Only question is what seed. We control our destiny as far as getting at least the 3, assuming we, SJU and BRY win out. We lose to LIU next week; we're looking at the 4. That's basically it.

I'd rather play Bryant in the NEC tourney tbh. Never should have lost to them in the first place.

Whatever the outcome this team needs more games and every extra game they can obtain provides significant incremental value going forward. With the pie in the sky hope they reenact 2016 and makes stunning but glorious run.

[Laxgunea]

I don't think it is pie in the sky ... the team has the talent, and things can click for them. Let's see how things go this weekend with Mac. I am really interested in the injury situation ... will we be at, or near, full strength? If we can get an inside game going and open things up for the cannons on the outside, we could see the explosive offence of the early part of the season.
There was not much discussion on this thread of the specifics of the Wagner game, but the D obviously did something right in the second half, and the O solved the riddle of an excellent Wagner goalie. We know we are as good as Bryant, and I think we are fully capable to beating St. Joes.
But to the bigger point, FFG is right about the need for more (solid) games. There can't be any more quarter long lapses. The more games we have without those, the better.
Would love to see a glorious run and think it is possible. Beyond the excitement of this year, it will make us attractive as a destination for more good players. We'll see how the leagues shake out, but I expect this will be our last year in the NEC.

[FL-GO]

Podcast is up

https://hwsathletics.com/podcasts/hobar ... sode-41/53

[kmartin]

We don't want to face St. Joe's in the first playoff game on their home turf so we need to win out to put ourselves in the best possible position. Although Merrimack is not eligible for the playoffs the game counts towards seeding I would think. Merrimack has a couple of good wins and is not eligible for the playoffs for a couple more years, so you wonder if that will affect them mentally if we can get a lead, although we have led a ton of games by 2 goals that we lost. But they seem to be well coached, have a chip on their shoulder and they are at home so that adds to our challenge. Have to get some momentum going and definitely need contributions from some new faces. There is so much film on us now if we can come up with some wrinkles and new threats we will that much harder to beat. So tough for the kids who don't get a lot of run to take chances because they might get pulled if they make a mistake. I think Greg is willing to give people a fairly long leash at times but it is hard to tell.

[FL-GO]

10-man ride in the first couple minutes? What are they thinking...? We need a new DC. Cmon man.

[LeeRoggy]

Hit the f***ing net . . .
Hit the f***ing net . . .
Hit the f***ing net . . .

Write it on the blackboard 100x

[FL-GO]

Great first half by Holtby. That Datellas goal was sweet. Have to give the D credit, they've held Mack to a goal in the last 20ish minutes. Nice turnaround after a really bad start.

[LeeRoggy]

If you have the other team completely in check with your defense, why go to the 10-man on that possession?

[PDSlax]

I hate the ten-man ride. As a change of pace, it's fine, but it was only a matter of time until the other teams figured out how to exploit it.

[FL-GO]

3 mack goals off that stupid call today. Makes no sense.