Johns Hopkins 2023

[DMac]

Maybe some were expecting a close loss. I expected a win win, calling it 13-11. I was confident of the win when it was 13-11 but didn’t expect that score to hold up with more than 5:2O remaining. GT!s failure to go after the ball aggressively with about 2:20 left allowed Hopkins to burn enough clock to make it hard for the Hoyas to the it although they did cut it to one and had a possession with enough time to tie it. Their best player, alas, is an excellent shooter but not so much a passer.

Am curious, who you calling their best player and excellent shooter (I didn't see the game...will watch the replay though)?

[Sagittarius A*]

I would much rather have Collison initiating than Grimes

It looked like they moved Grimes to attack in the fourth, which was his HS position, and ran Melendez (who has a cannon) out of the midfield presumably to get a better match up.
Grimes was a HS superstar and has a good shot.
They need to find a way to utilize his strengths.

[51percentcorn]

Maybe some were expecting a close loss. I expected a win win, calling it 13-11. I was confident of the win when it was 13-11 but didn’t expect that score to hold up with more than 5:2O remaining. GT!s failure to go after the ball aggressively with about 2:20 left allowed Hopkins to burn enough clock to make it hard for the Hoyas to the it although they did cut it to one and had a possession with enough time to tie it. Their best player, alas, is an excellent shooter but not so much a passer.

Am curious, who you calling their best player and excellent shooter (I didn't see the game...will watch the replay though)?

Well for Georgetown - that's obviously Dordevic who at Syracuse scored close to 100 goals but was shy of 30 in assists. He also was the one who threw the ball away on the cross field pass with about 25 seconds left yesterday

[DMac]

Yup, led the ACC in shots taken last year, 29% scoring rate, 12 assists for the season.
Also sailed one over the cage (typical) just prior to launching the OOB pass.
Glad he's at Georgetown.

[44WeWantMore]

Yup, led the ACC in shots taken last year, 29% scoring rate, 12 assists for the season.
Also sailed one over the cage (typical) just prior to launching the OOB pass.
Glad he's at Georgetown.

But the Jays were able to contain him. Held him to only 13 shots.

[Sagittarius A*]

Yup, led the ACC in shots taken last year, 29% scoring rate, 12 assists for the season.
Also sailed one over the cage (typical) just prior to launching the OOB pass.
Glad he's at Georgetown.

Dordevic was making some incredible shots with a defender draped all over him.
We lucked out since now we don't have to face him in the Dome.

[DMac]

Yup, led the ACC in shots taken last year, 29% scoring rate, 12 assists for the season.
Also sailed one over the cage (typical) just prior to launching the OOB pass.
Glad he's at Georgetown.

But the Jays were able to contain him. Held him to only 13 shots.

Nice, that's two fewer than the last time the Jays faced him.
15 shots, 6 on cage, 3 in the cage. 0 assists.

[Ruffled_Feathers]

It looked like they moved Grimes to attack in the fourth, which was his HS position, and ran Melendez (who has a cannon) out of the midfield presumably to get a better match up.

Unless I missed something from the stands what you saw was likely just "position-less offense" when they were out there. Bauer slotted in for Melendez for the rest of the game after Melendez had the offside penalty. It certainly wasn't punishment or anything but strategy rather as they had him be the last out of the box on a line with Grimes and Peshko to get him a short stick match up right away. At the end of the game he and Collison were taking turns on that line and they only ran 4 offensive middies for the last handful of offensive sets if I recall correctly. Grimes and Peshko were both out there for all of the offensive possessions as the game wound down.

The Georgetown defense is good, they did a real good job most of the day limiting Grimes and Peshko dodging opportunities by forcing them to their weak and non-existent off hands respectively. Its still week 2, plenty of time to figure it out.

[HopFan16]

- I don't see how you can fault the Hopkins D for most of Dordevics goals - there was somebody right with him and he was shooting lasers. I would never leave Bundy alone however but it also needs to be recognized that a defensive captain in Szuluk and a likely starter or major player in Deans were both out.

This is an excellent point, and I actually thought Koesterer called a terrific game on that end even though the D allowed 5 more goals than last week (granted, against a more talented team). You can't really stop Dordevic from getting those shots off from 8-10 yards out. You have to hope he just misses the cage or your goalie makes a stop. The theory is you sorta just let that happen but try to clamp down on everyone else and hope that takes them out of their flow on offense. He's going to make you pay a few times but if you do a good job on everyone else then by the end of the game you'll have successfully limited their supporting pieces. At moments in the second half — and then especially on that last possession when Dordevic tried to do it all himself — the Georgetown offense looked out of sorts, unsure of exactly how to generate offense aside from "hope Dordevic does something." That's at least in part because it was their first game and they're still figuring things out, but I also think the D slowly over the course of the game forced them into the situation that led to that game-ending turnover.

On another note, I'm not sure I've ever seen a freshman play as calmly as Matt Collison. At least not since Joel Tinney. Something in the water with these Canadian kids I guess. He was quiet through 1.5 games but you could see him come alive in the second half. He obviously looks the part with his size and skill but now that he is starting to gain confidence...watch out.

[get it to x]

It looked like they moved Grimes to attack in the fourth, which was his HS position, and ran Melendez (who has a cannon) out of the midfield presumably to get a better match up.

Unless I missed something from the stands what you saw was likely just "position-less offense" when they were out there. Bauer slotted in for Melendez for the rest of the game after Melendez had the offside penalty. It certainly wasn't punishment or anything but strategy rather as they had him be the last out of the box on a line with Grimes and Peshko to get him a short stick match up right away. At the end of the game he and Collison were taking turns on that line and they only ran 4 offensive middies for the last handful of offensive sets if I recall correctly. Grimes and Peshko were both out there for all of the offensive possessions as the game wound down.

The Georgetown defense is good, they did a real good job most of the day limiting Grimes and Peshko dodging opportunities by forcing them to their weak and non-existent off hands respectively. Its still week 2, plenty of time to figure it out.

I liked the controlled physicality of the Jays. I thought after Grimes got lit up early in the game they just decided they were not going to be bullied.

[Creasedive]

I would much rather have Collison initiating than Grimes

It looked like they moved Grimes to attack in the fourth, which was his HS position, and ran Melendez (who has a cannon) out of the midfield presumably to get a better match up.
Grimes was a HS superstar and has a good shot.
They need to find a way to utilize his strengths.

He’s a non-factor for the Jays. Ty Xanders hype. There are better players on the bench.

[Sagittarius A*]

It looked like they moved Grimes to attack in the fourth, which was his HS position, and ran Melendez (who has a cannon) out of the midfield presumably to get a better match up.

Unless I missed something from the stands what you saw was likely just "position-less offense" when they were out there. Bauer slotted in for Melendez for the rest of the game after Melendez had the offside penalty. It certainly wasn't punishment or anything but strategy rather as they had him be the last out of the box on a line with Grimes and Peshko to get him a short stick match up right away. At the end of the game he and Collison were taking turns on that line and they only ran 4 offensive middies for the last handful of offensive sets if I recall correctly. Grimes and Peshko were both out there for all of the offensive possessions as the game wound down.

The Georgetown defense is good, they did a real good job most of the day limiting Grimes and Peshko dodging opportunities by forcing them to their weak and non-existent off hands respectively. Its still week 2, plenty of time to figure it out.

They did seem to play a lot of players out there (on both O and D) and did a lot of mixing and matching to confuse the GTown D. I think that was why the team was fresh and able to make a run in the 4th and also helped them get favorable mismatches and probably took the Bulldogs out of their game plan. Kudos to Crawley for a great offensive game plan and in-game management.
The team was able to raise their 360 game in the 4th and I felt a ton of energy out there with the game on the line. They were fighting hard and digging deep. GTown had scary talent but just couldn't match the Jays' intensity level.

[Sagittarius A*]

I would much rather have Collison initiating than Grimes

It looked like they moved Grimes to attack in the fourth, which was his HS position, and ran Melendez (who has a cannon) out of the midfield presumably to get a better match up.
Grimes was a HS superstar and has a good shot.
They need to find a way to utilize his strengths.

He’s a non-factor for the Jays. Ty Xanders hype. There are better players on the bench.

He made the U-19 team and played in the Intl. games over the summer.
He's had some good games at Homewood, like a hat trick in the first half of one game.
He needs to find his place in this offensive scheme. I think he can be a factor going forward.

[DMac]

The theory is you sorta just let that happen but try to clamp down on everyone else and hope that takes them out of their flow on offense. He's going to make you pay a few times but if you do a good job on everyone else then by the end of the game you'll have successfully limited their supporting pieces. At moments in the second half — and then especially on that last possession when Dordevic tried to do it all himself — the Georgetown offense looked out of sorts, unsure of exactly how to generate offense aside from "hope Dordevic does something." That's at least in part because it was their first game and they're still figuring things out, but I also think the D slowly over the course of the game forced them into the situation that led to that game-ending turnover.

My bold.
Theory sounds good but there's no need to clamp down on everyone else, send a couple of more D men over. With his incredible ability to get a shot off with defenders draped all over him he's still going to get that shot off....he aint passin' it to no one.
The bold is spot on, he'll choke the offense and get it out of sorts all by himself. JMHO.

[HopFan16]

I would much rather have Collison initiating than Grimes

It looked like they moved Grimes to attack in the fourth, which was his HS position, and ran Melendez (who has a cannon) out of the midfield presumably to get a better match up.
Grimes was a HS superstar and has a good shot.
They need to find a way to utilize his strengths.

He’s a non-factor for the Jays. Ty Xanders hype. There are better players on the bench.

LOL no there aren’t but I’ll indulge — who are these better players? Say who they are and explain why they’re better. Not sure why Grimes is suddenly the punching bag but he was excellent last week vs. Jax, has 4 pts in two games out of the midfield that splits time between the 1s and 2s pretty evenly and when healthy has been a consistent contributor throughout his career. If that’s what you’d call a “non-factor” then I’d like a few more non-factors. Injuries have been the biggest issue.

[Creasedive]

I would much rather have Collison initiating than Grimes

It looked like they moved Grimes to attack in the fourth, which was his HS position, and ran Melendez (who has a cannon) out of the midfield presumably to get a better match up.
Grimes was a HS superstar and has a good shot.
They need to find a way to utilize his strengths.

He’s a non-factor for the Jays. Ty Xanders hype. There are better players on the bench.

LOL no there aren’t but I’ll indulge — who are these better players? Say who they are and explain why they’re better. Not sure why Grimes is suddenly the punching bag but he was excellent last week vs. Jax, has 4 pts in two games out of the midfield that splits time between the 1s and 2s pretty evenly and when healthy has been a consistent contributor throughout his career. If that’s what you’d call a “non-factor” then I’d like a few more non-factors. Injuries have been the biggest issue.

#4 player coming out of high school. 21 goals/20 TOs/.233 shot percentage to date. Non-factor. Give somebody else a shot.

[jrn19]

Who are the better players on the bench?

[51percentcorn]

Given that Hopkins plays 15 games this year (at least one in the BIG Tournament) that means Grimes would be on pace for 30 points. Yes Please.

Also, everyone seems to forget what a rough road (not that others have not had to travel the same road) that kid has travelled but here again
2019 - misses entire junior season at BL with injury (back trouble if not mistaken)
2020 - entire senior season at BL cancelled by pandemic
2021 - nagging injuries - program in chaos - pandemic rules - very limited practice
2022 - breaks wrist in season - misses at least a third of the season and limited in others

What exactly are your expectations? Now certainly there are tons of Ivy League kids that missed two years but many were not missing the last two years of high school and then trying to adjust to the college game - they were already in at that level and most were proably not dealing with a significant nagging injury.

Hopefully, this will be the year he makes the leap. I think he needs a jolt of confidence. I think he can be hesitant to pull the trigger when he's moving left. If the light switches on that will make Hopkins all the better

[HopFan16]

Who are the better players on the bench?

He’s not going to tell you. In the span of one post he’s already moved the goalposts from “there are better players” to “give someone else a shot.” I guess if you’re not the #4 player in the class then you’re a non-factor who should be on the bench. There’s nothing in between. Big brain stuff.

[JaXKy0521S]

Bashing Grimes makes no sense. He’s showing he can contribute in ways other than scoring. 2Gs Vs Jax and then comes out to Gtown doesn’t force it and gets 2A. I think you need to look at the balance of this midfield. You have Peshko coming on, Stu Phillips contributing, Bauer has completely stepped up his game, Collison emerging, the ability to pull Melendez up to use his athleticism on a short, still have English who will contribute soon, and the fact that Evans and McDermont were out. That’s huge look at Gtown they put so much on Tucker and the offense seemed out of sorts at time. This Hopkins team is balanced and plays as a team. They use great spacing, quick ball movement and always seem to make the extra pass. As stated look at the adjustment that the coaches made in the 4th moved Bauer down to Attack and had Melendez coming out of the box getting the shorty or a running start to use his quickness. The game yesterday should show that this team is hungry and a true team. Down 4-1 responds with a 4 goal run. Down 11-8 responds with a 5 goal run. Case in point go watch the 4th quarter and see how fresh they looked. Everyone flying to the ball. Our wings on faceoffs were amazing. Can't wait for Tuesday!! It was a great day to be a Jay!