Syracuse 2023

[OCanada]

Nice.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/ ... r-AA17dr65

Trivia question: When was the last time the 'D coach' had a goalie, any goalie, save 72% ?

What's the outcome of that game had the tender saved the average of any of his tenders in the past 5 years?

Goalie save % is a function of several factors

[Finster]

Finlay Thomson, behind the back,

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finlay-thomson-behindtheback.jpg

Thomson had an exceptional debut.

Don’t understand all of this criticism of Spallina in his first collegiate game. One of his earliest plays was a pass from x right on the mark to a teammate dodging to the net. Teammate should have scored.

No doubt Spallina forced things a bit at times, but he put 8 shots on goal.

I’m certain Coach Gait doesn’t want Spallina taking 15 shots a game unless he’s going to put at least a third of them in the net. I think Spallina will settle in and play his role at x.

In the meantime, it’s kind of silly getting upset at a freshman who generated a lot of offense in his first game. The coaches will get him to throttle down a bit. Heck, the major problem with many freshman offensive players is getting them to open up and be more aggressive (classic case, Kyle Harrison his first couple of seasons). Would love to have a freshman attackman whose main problem is acting like Cocaine Bear. Easier to throttle down than throttle up.

Bottom line, Spallina and Thomson are obviously very talented. Don’t think you’ll have much to complain about with that pair.

DocBarrister

The criticism of Spallina is not so much about his 'goals scored', but rather two things: 1: recruiting: when any player takes 15 shots, recruits look at that and say 'man, not much room for me there the next three years, to heck with Cuse', and 2: arrogance: when you score a goal against UVM (UVM!!!, and I don't care if it's the first or last goal of your career), you don't glory-sprint into the open field like you just conquered Rome by your lonesome, forgetting the teammates that helped you score.

I'm suss on this kid, plus the way Gait is handling him (probably more the latter - I would NOT have given him #22 if just to tell the Dad "I'm the boss here, not you, freshman parent").

If I were a HS lax player, I might say, “Cool, Coach Gait starts a freshman … and lets him take 15 shots!”

I mean, what kid wouldn’t want that?

DocBarrister

I'm sure the women's lax coach at Stony brook would be overjoyed to see another incoming Syracuse freshman take 15 shots...he loves when his kid shares the ball. eye roll emoji

Meanwhile, what's the overwrought fascination with one BTB pass? I mean, okay, a BTB is fun and all but it's not a revolutionary mechanic any more. And, if BTB passes decided National Championships (you know, the Championship being the reason why we play college lacrosse), Pat Spencer of Loyola would have had four Natty's. Why are Cuse posters 'Hopkinsing'/'low-expectationing Syracuse on this Forum? I just don't get it.

[smoova]

Meanwhile, what's the overwrought fascination with one BTB pass? I mean, okay, a BTB is fun and all but it's not a revolutionary mechanic any more.

IMO, BTB is more difficult to execute accurately than a traditional pass and it can help to frustrate even the best defensive technique/scheme. To me, it's impressive when players perform high-difficulty mechanics well (and at appropriate times) in high-pressure situations.

[MDlaxfan76]

Nice.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/ ... r-AA17dr65

Trivia question: When was the last time the 'D coach' had a goalie, any goalie, save 72% ?

What's the outcome of that game had the tender saved the average of any of his tenders in the past 5 years?

Goalie save % is a function of several factors

Yes it is; what would be your list of such potential factors, and what do you think weighed most heavily in this particular game?

[DMac]

Meanwhile, what's the overwrought fascination with one BTB pass? I mean, okay, a BTB is fun and all but it's not a revolutionary mechanic any more. And, if BTB passes decided National Championships (you know, the Championship being the reason why we play college lacrosse), Pat Spencer of Loyola would have had four Natty's. Why are Cuse posters 'Hopkinsing'/'low-expectationing Syracuse on this Forum? I just don't get it.

Overwrought fascination? The only overwrought fascination going on here is yours with trolling the Cuse thread. The only thing said about the pass was that it was nice pass delivered with precision. That goal was more about the pass than it was about the shot, the shot was the easy part. Was very similar to this one...a little better placed actually.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXAWjncTYV0
"the Championship being the reason why we play college lacrosse" This amounts to nothing more than horseschidt tough guy talk. A lot of colleges should drop their programs if that's the reason they're fielding teams cuz there aint a snowball's chance in hell they're winning any championships (might have a lot of fun playing though).
JFTR, I'm thinkin' the BTB pass (and shot) did play a pretty big part in the '88, '89, and '90 championships.

[OCanada]

MDlaxfan Working from memory on point one. i did not see the game.

Jville graduated 2/3 of its attack last year and played without its best offensive player in its opening game.

Defense wants to deny offensive players the field position offensive players most want to have. Good positioning.

Falling behind can place added pressure on offensive players to score. Shot selection can suffer.

Winning individual matchups will adversely effect shooting.

Jville was coming in to the season w big question marks on O.

Hopkins has grad transfers bolstering a core defense and JaMo is a good D coach with plenty of time to prepare.

No reason to believe the GK would not have a good game. There is a truism in athletics that if you demonstrate a skill you own it.

Possessions can effect an opportunity cost and ramp up anxiety.

There are more. My point was save % is often made to carry too much of the explanatory weight

[MDlaxfan76]

MDlaxfan Working from memory on point one. i did not see the game.

Jville graduated 2/3 of its attack last year and played without its best offensive player in its opening game.

Defense wants to deny offensive players the field position offensive players most want to have. Good positioning.

Falling behind can place added pressure on offensive players to score. Shot selection can suffer.

Winning individual matchups will adversely effect shooting.

Jville was coming in to the season w big question marks on O.

Hopkins has grad transfers bolstering a core defense and JaMo is a good D coach with plenty of time to prepare.

No reason to believe the GK would not have a good game. There is a truism in athletics that if you demonstrate a skill you own it.

Possessions can effect an opportunity cost and ramp up anxiety.

There are more. My point was save % is often made to carry too much of the explanatory weight

Sorry, I should have been more clear.
This is the Syracuse thread...I was referring to Will Mark and his 72.2% saves performance.
Might note that the opposing tender had a 70% performance as well, but Syracuse took 44 shots to Vermont's 35, winning by just 2.

So, in this game, what factors best explain a 72% performance?

But you're right, the Hopkins tender had a great day as well.
But not as close a game.

[10stone5]

Meanwhile, what's the overwrought fascination with one BTB pass? I mean, okay, a BTB is fun and all but it's not a revolutionary mechanic any more.

IMO, BTB is more difficult to execute accurately than a traditional pass and it can help to frustrate even the best defensive technique/scheme. To me, it's impressive when players perform high-difficulty mechanics well (and at appropriate times) in high-pressure situations.

I'd add that Finlay Thomson is a freshman, almost 20 but still first year NCAA - and performed it so seemlessly.
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finlay-thomson-behindtheback.jpg (49.11 KiB) Viewed 1540 times

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And even better, Simmons was ready for it -- a conventional give and go probably wouldn't have been successful there.

For some reason, reminds me of Connor Fields - he could deliver a behind the back, or he could fake a behind the back - defensemen would often get caught guessing wrong, they didn't know which was coming - Thomson has that same advantage over his defender now.

[FMUBart]

Meanwhile, what's the overwrought fascination with one BTB pass? I mean, okay, a BTB is fun and all but it's not a revolutionary mechanic any more. And, if BTB passes decided National Championships (you know, the Championship being the reason why we play college lacrosse), Pat Spencer of Loyola would have had four Natty's. Why are Cuse posters 'Hopkinsing'/'low-expectationing Syracuse on this Forum? I just don't get it.

Overwrought fascination? The only overwrought fascination going on here is yours with trolling the Cuse thread. The only thing said about the pass was that it was nice pass delivered with precision. That goal was more about the pass than it was about the shot, the shot was the easy part. Was very similar to this one...a little better placed actually.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXAWjncTYV0
"the Championship being the reason why we play college lacrosse" This amounts to nothing more than horseschidt tough guy talk. A lot of colleges should drop their programs if that's the reason they're fielding teams cuz there aint a snowball's chance in hell they're winning any championships (might have a lot of fun playing though).
JFTR, I'm thinkin' the BTB pass (and shot) did play a pretty big part in the '88, '89, and '90 championships.

Thanks for posting DMac...forgot about that crazy finish. Kevin Rice was the consummate overachiever.

[ohmilax34]

I watched some more of the game last night.

The defense really did look good. Lots of well-times checks caused turnovers. Seemingly good communication. The game was pretty slow-paced I thought and it didn't force SU to use a lot of SSDMs or LSMs, so they used Olexo at LSM a lot. I saw Sageder (#42) as well. Any other LSMs play? I saw a lot of Aviles and Rice who are the top 2 SSDMs. I saw a fair amount of Rosa and Murphy, a sprinkling of Bolea (was he on man down?). I see Trujillo is in the box score, so he must've played. SU's defense will get tested more than this game, so we will see how they do when they need to slide more.

Face offs are still a concern this season. Richiusa was 7-16 which I can live with, but a lot of the losses were very clean. I have yet to see the last few face offs of the game, so I'm curious how he did in those after a stretch in the middle of the game where he was struggling.

The offense stalled a bit during middle of the game. Spallina forced a shot a couple times, but it wasn't terrible. If he starts canning some of those shots, he will start to draw more slides and be able to be more of a playmaker. I labeled the offense as "position-less" yesterday, but that's not a good description. There seem to be some players with specific roles within the offense at this point. Spallina plays behind the goal and is rarely above unless it's unsettled or he's dodged. Hiltz plays the lefty wing and Simmons plays the righty wing. Birtwistle plays mostly on the crease. I thought Birtwistle had a couple shots he should've scored on. He was 2-6 shooting which isn't bad, but for a (mostly) crease guy, I hope his percentage is higher by the end of the year.

OCanada mentioned someone asking who's going to run by their guy and draw a slide. I think that's fair right now. Spallina got to good spots on his dodges. I think Kirst should be able to do some of that too. The two-man game played with Thomson and Simmons on the righty side doesn't require someone to run by their guy in the traditional sense.

[DoubleD]

Bolea played man down. Richuisa won some clean too and also should have won another he kicked out of bounds. Being his first game in the dome and agajnst a top FOGO he did very well. I'm actually a lot less nervous about face offs now after how well he did against Burke. Last season Burke abused him they said so he obviously improved a lot and can keep improving as the season goes. Same the D they played well and can keep improving. They need to keep playing aggressive and physical defense plus communicate. As for the offense you can see all the talent there so same with them they will keep improving as the season goes and the goals will come. They missed some shots plus Vermonts goalie played very well. This team has a lot of talent so just needs to gel. Some came away down after the Vermont game but not me I see a talented young team that just needs more game experience and will get better and better.

[wgdsr]

Meanwhile, what's the overwrought fascination with one BTB pass? I mean, okay, a BTB is fun and all but it's not a revolutionary mechanic any more.

IMO, BTB is more difficult to execute accurately than a traditional pass and it can help to frustrate even the best defensive technique/scheme. To me, it's impressive when players perform high-difficulty mechanics well (and at appropriate times) in high-pressure situations.

I'd add that Finlay Thomson is a freshman, almost 20 but still first year NCAA - and performed it so seemlessly.
___________
finlay-thomson-behindtheback.jpg
___________

And even better, Simmons was ready for it -- a conventional give and go probably wouldn't have been successful there.

For some reason, reminds me of Connor Fields - he could deliver a behind the back, or he could fake a behind the back - defensemen would often get caught guessing wrong, they didn't know which was coming - Thomson has that same advantage over his defender now.

by the frame and the tape, thomson could've executed a conventional pass just as easy. throw it on any side of the helmet with a flick. the thing is, the execution of a natural pass for him in this spot (behind the back) is just as high or in some cases higher. reps. i watched about 20 minutes of him over the summer. mostly operated out of that high rt wing, and executed probably 3 of the exact same looks on cuts or pick/slips. he's likely thrown 1000s of these in game play and who knows how many 10s of 1000s having a catch or wall ball. the difference between him/canadians and others that may try it on a lark.

i agree it's going to put defenders and defenses on the defensive and having them probably sucking into some ball watching/reactionary mode. freeing up options for finn and opening up seams for teammates. his confidence is sublime to kick it off. if he harnesses that efficiently, he's gonna be a problem.

[OldRedLax]

Predictions for the weekend slate? Have to imagine Spallina looking to take advantage of some weaker defenses after last week.

[viho]

UAlbany game notes:
https://ualbanysports.com/news/2023/2/9 ... acuse.aspx

Danes are older, deeper and improved from 2022. Will be great game to watch.

[10stone5]

Graydon Hogg is a load,
Silas Richmond is a very athletic rookie to keep an eye on.

I saw them live last year, not sure I came away with anything
concrete other than, yes, it looks like Marr is getting back to
UAlbany style lacrosse.

[ohmilax34]

Game day. I expect another close game.

One thing I didn't mention about the Vermont game was that SU was only man down a couple times. Last year's man down defense struggled. If this game has more penalties, that could be a storyline.

[HopFan16]

This is probably the least talented Albany team offensively since before the Thompsons. Syracuse has a game under their belts and should cover the spread here

[DMac]

Game day. I expect another close game.

One thing I didn't mention about the Vermont game was that SU was only man down a couple times. Last year's man down defense struggled. If this game has more penalties, that could be a storyline.

I thought the man down D looked pretty good, the unit looked to be working nicely together. Catamounts were 0-2 on man up (Cuse was 1-2).

Heard Albany was a little hurtin' this year too, H'16, am sorry to hear that.

[ohmilax34]

Game day. I expect another close game.

One thing I didn't mention about the Vermont game was that SU was only man down a couple times. Last year's man down defense struggled. If this game has more penalties, that could be a storyline.

I thought the man down D looked pretty good, the unit looked to be working nicely together. Catamounts were 0-2 on man up (Cuse was 1-2).

Heard Albany was a little hurtin' this year too, H'16, am sorry to hear that.

Agreed, the MDD did look good vs. Vermont, but it was a small sample and probably not against an elite group. I've been very skeptical of Pietramala's defense, but I'm happy to give him credit when it's due.

[stupefied]

Mark is having the same impact for Cuse as Kirst did for Rutgers. once again making some point blank saves