Hobart 2023

[Farfromgeneva]

Raymond isn't the guy in my opinion. Probably a great dude and has brought a lot of good kids to campus, but no in-game adjustments and stubbornness when it comes to this GK situation cost them today.

Ted's "this is Hobart's 18th loss since 2019 season, and they had leads in 15 of those games" is damning. This progarm is just stagnant and maybe scholarships will help, but what's the point of staying in D1 if this is consistently what we get in "winnable" games?

Raymond is a good coach and has a lot of excellent qualities. His recruiting is fantastic. Recruiting in the modern day is way more difficult than in the past. More schools are involved and that’s why you’re not seeing teams like Syracuse and Hopkins (blue bloods of the past) dominate like they had. So I give him a lot of credit there.

Loukas cost us the game today, it’s that simple. Their goalie was no better, though. Everyone knows playing goalie in a dome is less than ideal. Still no excuse. He should’ve been pulled, and he wasn’t. I actually felt that Hobart played a great game. They battled and did some great things offensively and defensively. Give credit where it’s due, Dartmouth played really well. Their faceoff guy is excellent, and their wing play and just overall ground ball work is admirable. They embody a lot of the qualities typically seen in an Ivy League group.

Outside of Loukas, what adjustments needed to be made? Their defense played pretty well in a lot of spots I thought. Offensively, Hobart was excellent. I actually think there’s a lot of positives that came from a pretty heartbreaking loss.

Keep in mind the staff decided to demote 2yr starter Holtby and elect to start someone who got bombed in the second half of a game against Bryant last year and blow a lead in that game. I keep wondering if is brother is such a great pole is some strategy to keep the family happy or something. We also have the NJ goalie of the year on the roster.

I am sure Raymond just flipped a coin on January 1 and it came up Loukas and he said...."ok, I'm good". Nothing else could have been a deciding factor. Would it make a difference if there was a switch? IDK but I have to believe there was a difference in what happened in practice for the switch to occur.

We have two years of data on Holtby at 53% & 50% and we are now 6 game in at 44%. Plus the 27% he threw up last year in the Bryant game. Is it reasonable to require more to make a decision? If we’re giving up 43-45 shots a game and they’re putting 60% on cage, 6-9% delta on 25-26 SOG is 1.5-2.3 GPG delta. In a dynamic game situation those 2 goals in the context of momentum could be a 4-5 goal differential in outcomes. Especially when adding the incremental possessions you pick up from those extra saves.

You like empirical considerations I’ve observed otherwise. Doesn't this resonate?

We do know that it’s not always pure performance. Have 8yrs of information on that.

[Bart]

Raymond isn't the guy in my opinion. Probably a great dude and has brought a lot of good kids to campus, but no in-game adjustments and stubbornness when it comes to this GK situation cost them today.

Ted's "this is Hobart's 18th loss since 2019 season, and they had leads in 15 of those games" is damning. This progarm is just stagnant and maybe scholarships will help, but what's the point of staying in D1 if this is consistently what we get in "winnable" games?

Raymond is a good coach and has a lot of excellent qualities. His recruiting is fantastic. Recruiting in the modern day is way more difficult than in the past. More schools are involved and that’s why you’re not seeing teams like Syracuse and Hopkins (blue bloods of the past) dominate like they had. So I give him a lot of credit there.

Loukas cost us the game today, it’s that simple. Their goalie was no better, though. Everyone knows playing goalie in a dome is less than ideal. Still no excuse. He should’ve been pulled, and he wasn’t. I actually felt that Hobart played a great game. They battled and did some great things offensively and defensively. Give credit where it’s due, Dartmouth played really well. Their faceoff guy is excellent, and their wing play and just overall ground ball work is admirable. They embody a lot of the qualities typically seen in an Ivy League group.

Outside of Loukas, what adjustments needed to be made? Their defense played pretty well in a lot of spots I thought. Offensively, Hobart was excellent. I actually think there’s a lot of positives that came from a pretty heartbreaking loss.

Keep in mind the staff decided to demote 2yr starter Holtby and elect to start someone who got bombed in the second half of a game against Bryant last year and blow a lead in that game. I keep wondering if is brother is such a great pole is some strategy to keep the family happy or something. We also have the NJ goalie of the year on the roster.

I am sure Raymond just flipped a coin on January 1 and it came up Loukas and he said...."ok, I'm good". Nothing else could have been a deciding factor. Would it make a difference if there was a switch? IDK but I have to believe there was a difference in what happened in practice for the switch to occur.

We have two years of data on Holtby at 53% & 50% and we are now 6 game in at 44%. Plus the 27% he threw up last year in the Bryant game. Is it reasonable to require more to make a decision? If we’re giving up 43-45 shots a game and they’re putting 60% on cage, 6-9% delta on 25-26 SOG is 1.5-2.3 GPG delta. In a dynamic game situation those 2 goals in the context of momentum could be a 4-5 goal differential in outcomes. Especially when adding the incremental possessions you pick up from those extra saves.

You like empirical considerations I’ve observed otherwise. Doesn't this resonate?

We do know that it’s not always pure performance. Have 8yrs of information on that.

nope. you know why? I am not in practice every day.

[Laxgunea]

Just to be clear, OBM, I'm not saying Loukas had a good game. I don't understand the goalie situation either. I'm just saying you could take away the 3 goals you mentioned, and Dartmouth would still have put 17 on us and won.
This team is potentially good ... very good ... but the parts aren't meshing on D. We did best against Dartmouth when they were at their best in settled 6 on 6 play. But when there is a breakdown we freak out. I don't want to name kids, but there were 2 or 3 total brain farts that led to point blank shots, one with 1 second on the shot clock. Get those back, plus the 3 Loukas missed, and now we are in winning territory. But they would still have scored 14 on us! We should have held this team to 10 or 11. Ll respect to Dartmouth, but I'd bet $5000 that they don't score 20 on anyone else this year.
Everyone knew it would be a rebuilding year. Let's see what they learn before league play. I have no hope for KrausSimmons this year. I hope coach uses it to run the bench. Keep Dattilas, Bach, Barthelme, Shea, healthy.
One last thing ... yes, the O went to sleep on production in Q2, but most of that drought was from not having possession. When we started to get possession, we got it done. We have the talent.

[Farfromgeneva]

Raymond isn't the guy in my opinion. Probably a great dude and has brought a lot of good kids to campus, but no in-game adjustments and stubbornness when it comes to this GK situation cost them today.

Ted's "this is Hobart's 18th loss since 2019 season, and they had leads in 15 of those games" is damning. This progarm is just stagnant and maybe scholarships will help, but what's the point of staying in D1 if this is consistently what we get in "winnable" games?

Raymond is a good coach and has a lot of excellent qualities. His recruiting is fantastic. Recruiting in the modern day is way more difficult than in the past. More schools are involved and that’s why you’re not seeing teams like Syracuse and Hopkins (blue bloods of the past) dominate like they had. So I give him a lot of credit there.

Loukas cost us the game today, it’s that simple. Their goalie was no better, though. Everyone knows playing goalie in a dome is less than ideal. Still no excuse. He should’ve been pulled, and he wasn’t. I actually felt that Hobart played a great game. They battled and did some great things offensively and defensively. Give credit where it’s due, Dartmouth played really well. Their faceoff guy is excellent, and their wing play and just overall ground ball work is admirable. They embody a lot of the qualities typically seen in an Ivy League group.

Outside of Loukas, what adjustments needed to be made? Their defense played pretty well in a lot of spots I thought. Offensively, Hobart was excellent. I actually think there’s a lot of positives that came from a pretty heartbreaking loss.

Keep in mind the staff decided to demote 2yr starter Holtby and elect to start someone who got bombed in the second half of a game against Bryant last year and blow a lead in that game. I keep wondering if is brother is such a great pole is some strategy to keep the family happy or something. We also have the NJ goalie of the year on the roster.

I am sure Raymond just flipped a coin on January 1 and it came up Loukas and he said...."ok, I'm good". Nothing else could have been a deciding factor. Would it make a difference if there was a switch? IDK but I have to believe there was a difference in what happened in practice for the switch to occur.

We have two years of data on Holtby at 53% & 50% and we are now 6 game in at 44%. Plus the 27% he threw up last year in the Bryant game. Is it reasonable to require more to make a decision? If we’re giving up 43-45 shots a game and they’re putting 60% on cage, 6-9% delta on 25-26 SOG is 1.5-2.3 GPG delta. In a dynamic game situation those 2 goals in the context of momentum could be a 4-5 goal differential in outcomes. Especially when adding the incremental possessions you pick up from those extra saves.

You like empirical considerations I’ve observed otherwise. Doesn't this resonate?

We do know that it’s not always pure performance. Have 8yrs of information on that.

nope. you know why? I am not in practice every day.

Well we all have little bugs in our ears but if we rest on that then not much to discuss. You think I’m not aware of that fact? Shut down the thread I guess. Otherwise your thesis is the staff is always right in PROJECTION, not empirical analysis or evidence that matters (games).

Shouldn’t a coach have some responsibility if a starter is regressing such that the decision to change goalies and take out a 2yr starter who isn’t performing through half a season is in there?

53% in 2021, 50% in 2022, 44% through 6 in 23 with Syracuse, a providence team that just put 17 on Fairfield, Richmond, St Joes and HPU left. Even if we shut out SBU and hold UMass to single digits like Yales D just did it won’t improve to 50%.

[Farfromgeneva]

Just to be clear, OBM, I'm not saying Loukas had a good game. I don't understand the goalie situation either. I'm just saying you could take away the 3 goals you mentioned, and Dartmouth would still have put 17 on us and won.
This team is potentially good ... very good ... but the parts aren't meshing on D. We did best against Dartmouth when they were at their best in settled 6 on 6 play. But when there is a breakdown we freak out. I don't want to name kids, but there were 2 or 3 total brain farts that led to point blank shots, one with 1 second on the shot clock. Get those back, plus the 3 Loukas missed, and now we are in winning territory. But they would still have scored 14 on us! We should have held this team to 10 or 11. Ll respect to Dartmouth, but I'd bet $5000 that they don't score 20 on anyone else this year.
Everyone knew it would be a rebuilding year. Let's see what they learn before league play. I have no hope for KrausSimmons this year. I hope coach uses it to run the bench. Keep Dattilas, Bach, Barthelme, Shea, healthy.
One last thing ... yes, the O went to sleep on production in Q2, but most of that drought was from not having possession. When we started to get possession, we got it done. We have the talent.

I have to keep this in mind despite my projecting a 3-5 win year akin to 2018, where I got a little pushback.

[Bart]

Raymond isn't the guy in my opinion. Probably a great dude and has brought a lot of good kids to campus, but no in-game adjustments and stubbornness when it comes to this GK situation cost them today.

Ted's "this is Hobart's 18th loss since 2019 season, and they had leads in 15 of those games" is damning. This progarm is just stagnant and maybe scholarships will help, but what's the point of staying in D1 if this is consistently what we get in "winnable" games?

Raymond is a good coach and has a lot of excellent qualities. His recruiting is fantastic. Recruiting in the modern day is way more difficult than in the past. More schools are involved and that’s why you’re not seeing teams like Syracuse and Hopkins (blue bloods of the past) dominate like they had. So I give him a lot of credit there.

Loukas cost us the game today, it’s that simple. Their goalie was no better, though. Everyone knows playing goalie in a dome is less than ideal. Still no excuse. He should’ve been pulled, and he wasn’t. I actually felt that Hobart played a great game. They battled and did some great things offensively and defensively. Give credit where it’s due, Dartmouth played really well. Their faceoff guy is excellent, and their wing play and just overall ground ball work is admirable. They embody a lot of the qualities typically seen in an Ivy League group.

Outside of Loukas, what adjustments needed to be made? Their defense played pretty well in a lot of spots I thought. Offensively, Hobart was excellent. I actually think there’s a lot of positives that came from a pretty heartbreaking loss.

Keep in mind the staff decided to demote 2yr starter Holtby and elect to start someone who got bombed in the second half of a game against Bryant last year and blow a lead in that game. I keep wondering if is brother is such a great pole is some strategy to keep the family happy or something. We also have the NJ goalie of the year on the roster.

I am sure Raymond just flipped a coin on January 1 and it came up Loukas and he said...."ok, I'm good". Nothing else could have been a deciding factor. Would it make a difference if there was a switch? IDK but I have to believe there was a difference in what happened in practice for the switch to occur.

We have two years of data on Holtby at 53% & 50% and we are now 6 game in at 44%. Plus the 27% he threw up last year in the Bryant game. Is it reasonable to require more to make a decision? If we’re giving up 43-45 shots a game and they’re putting 60% on cage, 6-9% delta on 25-26 SOG is 1.5-2.3 GPG delta. In a dynamic game situation those 2 goals in the context of momentum could be a 4-5 goal differential in outcomes. Especially when adding the incremental possessions you pick up from those extra saves.

You like empirical considerations I’ve observed otherwise. Doesn't this resonate?

We do know that it’s not always pure performance. Have 8yrs of information on that.

nope. you know why? I am not in practice every day.

Well we all have little bugs in our ears but if we rest on that then not much to discuss. You think I’m not aware of that fact? Shut down the thread I guess. Otherwise your thesis is the staff is always right in PROJECTION, not empirical analysis or evidence that matters (games).

Shouldn’t a coach have some responsibility if a starter is regressing such that the decision to change goalies and take out a 2yr starter who isn’t performing through half a season is in there?

53% in 2021, 50% in 2022, 44% through 6 in 23 with Syracuse, a providence team that just put 17 on Fairfield, Richmond, St Joes and HPU left. Even if we shut out SBU and hold UMass to single digits like Yales D just did it won’t improve to 50%.

Never said shut down the thread. Post as you would like.

In essence, the staff is always right. Agree or not but right now the team/program is in the hands of Greg Raymond. One can analyze, or complain and moan or what ever you want to call it but right now Greg Raymond is putting the team on the field that he thinks gives him the best chance to win games under the current system he is running. The coach certainly does have some responsibility as you say but in assessing that situation he also has data coming into him every day regarding the other players in question. The evidence people are seeing is but a snap shot of all the evidence the staff sees from week to week, day to day. Would it help to make the switch people here so desire? Don't know, perhaps.

I gotta up my fan game..............................

[Farfromgeneva]

Raymond isn't the guy in my opinion. Probably a great dude and has brought a lot of good kids to campus, but no in-game adjustments and stubbornness when it comes to this GK situation cost them today.

Ted's "this is Hobart's 18th loss since 2019 season, and they had leads in 15 of those games" is damning. This progarm is just stagnant and maybe scholarships will help, but what's the point of staying in D1 if this is consistently what we get in "winnable" games?

Raymond is a good coach and has a lot of excellent qualities. His recruiting is fantastic. Recruiting in the modern day is way more difficult than in the past. More schools are involved and that’s why you’re not seeing teams like Syracuse and Hopkins (blue bloods of the past) dominate like they had. So I give him a lot of credit there.

Loukas cost us the game today, it’s that simple. Their goalie was no better, though. Everyone knows playing goalie in a dome is less than ideal. Still no excuse. He should’ve been pulled, and he wasn’t. I actually felt that Hobart played a great game. They battled and did some great things offensively and defensively. Give credit where it’s due, Dartmouth played really well. Their faceoff guy is excellent, and their wing play and just overall ground ball work is admirable. They embody a lot of the qualities typically seen in an Ivy League group.

Outside of Loukas, what adjustments needed to be made? Their defense played pretty well in a lot of spots I thought. Offensively, Hobart was excellent. I actually think there’s a lot of positives that came from a pretty heartbreaking loss.

Keep in mind the staff decided to demote 2yr starter Holtby and elect to start someone who got bombed in the second half of a game against Bryant last year and blow a lead in that game. I keep wondering if is brother is such a great pole is some strategy to keep the family happy or something. We also have the NJ goalie of the year on the roster.

I am sure Raymond just flipped a coin on January 1 and it came up Loukas and he said...."ok, I'm good". Nothing else could have been a deciding factor. Would it make a difference if there was a switch? IDK but I have to believe there was a difference in what happened in practice for the switch to occur.

We have two years of data on Holtby at 53% & 50% and we are now 6 game in at 44%. Plus the 27% he threw up last year in the Bryant game. Is it reasonable to require more to make a decision? If we’re giving up 43-45 shots a game and they’re putting 60% on cage, 6-9% delta on 25-26 SOG is 1.5-2.3 GPG delta. In a dynamic game situation those 2 goals in the context of momentum could be a 4-5 goal differential in outcomes. Especially when adding the incremental possessions you pick up from those extra saves.

You like empirical considerations I’ve observed otherwise. Doesn't this resonate?

We do know that it’s not always pure performance. Have 8yrs of information on that.

nope. you know why? I am not in practice every day.

Well we all have little bugs in our ears but if we rest on that then not much to discuss. You think I’m not aware of that fact? Shut down the thread I guess. Otherwise your thesis is the staff is always right in PROJECTION, not empirical analysis or evidence that matters (games).

Shouldn’t a coach have some responsibility if a starter is regressing such that the decision to change goalies and take out a 2yr starter who isn’t performing through half a season is in there?

53% in 2021, 50% in 2022, 44% through 6 in 23 with Syracuse, a providence team that just put 17 on Fairfield, Richmond, St Joes and HPU left. Even if we shut out SBU and hold UMass to single digits like Yales D just did it won’t improve to 50%.

Never said shut down the thread. Post as you would like.

In essence, the staff is always right. Agree or not but right now the team/program is in the hands of Greg Raymond. One can analyze, or complain and moan or what ever you want to call it but right now Greg Raymond is putting the team on the field that he thinks gives him the best chance to win games under the current system he is running. The coach certainly does have some responsibility as you say but in assessing that situation he also has data coming into him every day regarding the other players in question. The evidence people are seeing is but a snap shot of all the evidence the staff sees from week to week, day to day. Would it help to make the switch people here so desire? Don't know, perhaps.

I gotta up my fan game..............................

I'm not necessarily advocating for a change as I believe there's other factors at play institutionally (think 60% of students are athletes or some such large number and that may be driven by other, $, forces) but I'd like to hear more introspection and acknowledgement of his role in performance when a decision like that is in play. The podcasts seem to often put everything on the players with little more than lip service to the staff's role. Execution sure it's the players but who's being put on the field and roster management are coaches calls. Insight and perhaps a more expansive use of vernacular (unless it's coming from a character in Seinfeld as a joke the use of Yada repeatedly is grating on my nerves at this point, we have a beautiful and robust English language to pull from) to explain would add a lot of value to the podcasts he does which takes time away from other aspects to managing the program.

The staff is always right as long as there is natural accoutnability and consequences. Not to mention transparency. Absent the latter, I don't fully accept the former. This is an issue I've had for a few years at the insitutional level as well.

Edit: I would add to the above he leveraged his interest from Princeton into a better financial deal a few years back. Good for him, that's what someone should do. But...it comes with different and more expectations.

[FMUBart]

Agree with Bighoss re: this team is relatively inexperienced, EXCEPT the defense IS experienced and they are getting shredded--even with our deliberate, ball control offense limiting the opponents possessions. I'm now of the opinion that a change is goal is warranted and may even add a spark..if not, you can always change back...for whatever reason the defense is lacking. Scoring 16gs--with no production from Simas and missing Herihly--is impressive. Won't win many games if we have to score 21

Per Cooper's comment that Dartmouth is "not a good team"(and JoeWillie protesting), we'll find out after the UNC game Sat. To date, Dartmouth hasn't beaten anyone in the top 40.

[Farfromgeneva]

Agree with Bighoss re: this team is relatively inexperienced, EXCEPT the defense IS experienced and they are getting shredded--even with our deliberate, ball control offense limiting the opponents possessions. I'm now of the opinion that a change is goal is warranted and may even add a spark..if not, you can always change back...for whatever reason the defense is lacking. Scoring 16gs--with no production from Simas and missing Herihly--is impressive. Won't win many games if we have to score 21

Per Cooper's comment that Dartmouth is "not a good team"(and JoeWillie protesting), we'll find out after the UNC game Sat. To date, Dartmouth hasn't beaten anyone in the top 40.

This occurred in the reg season Bryant game last year.

[Laxgunea]

In any case, trying a new goalie would just be another way of experimenting before league play. I appreciate that one guy might do better than another guy in practice, but there is also the reality that some guys play better in games than practice. Again, I am not against Loukas ... he may be the best we have at the moment ... but what's the harm of trying someone else to find out if it's really a season long competition? I do appreciate that you may not want to throw a freshman in against SU for his first start, but there are plenty of ways to cycle guys in besides that.
We were also without Wimer yesterday, and he's started to play a great role on D. Love his aggression. I have been impressed with 15, Turner. He missed a slide pretty badly yesterday, but aside from that, he's been outstanding. He wanted to take a shot so badly, but made a smart pass to Datillas, who scored. It was a really unselfish and high percentage play.
I also remain impressed with Kyle Driscoll, who plays minute after minute after minute against bigger guys and always holds his own. I'd love to see his spirit run through the D as a whole.
There ARE still bright spots. Also, with the MA program, we could see Dattilas and Barthelme back next year. Who knows?

[Laxtradomus]

There is certainly hope for this team in my opinion, which is surprising for me to say because i certainly wrote them off at the beginning of the year. Every team in the A10 is struggling with something and there isn't a team that's miles ahead of everyone. Joes has goalie trouble, HPU's defense is average, Richmond's adapting to life without Lanchbury, and Umass has consistency problems on offense. The defense's failure seemed to mainly be their reliance on hedging to dodgers to get them to move the ball. It worked in the first quarter, but then Dartmouth recognized it and redodged immediately and the defense didn't adapt. This is a common theme i've noticed with this team for awhile, so i'm going to assume that this particular game plan was likely Raymond's design. If they were able to synchronize this hedging strategy with hard slides it probably would have worked really well, but idk if it's stubbornness or arrogance that causes Raymond to stick to these exploitable schemes when there is no variance involved. It's also frustrating because there were glimpses of the defense rotating perfectly in under a few seconds. I don't think any goalie besides Tillman Johnson would have played well in those conditions. When your two leaders on defense are playing terrible i don't see many people going above 50%. While the rebounds Loukas gives up can be a problem, i think the defense also bears responsibility for not setting the tone by the crease. They should be so mean and physical guys pay a price and are looking over their shoulder every time they go there. Like someone said we're not in practice everyday so it's tough to get a complete picture on how guys look. Holtby is a good goalie who has won some big games, and clearly a great guy and teammate if you notice his mannerisms on the bench, every timeout he's the first guy to reach the defense encouraging them. As frustrating as he can be, Coach Raymond's not an idiot he's played at the highest level and coached under one of the best coaches of all time, you've got to imagine that Loukas is playing the best in practice. I'm not crazy worried about providence because Shae should go at least 80% at the faceoff dot. Syracuse is likely going to be an absolute meat grinder with the effective two man games their nucks run. The out of conference record is disappointing, but it just shows how much parity there is in mid conference lacrosse now. Lacrosse is all about getting hot at the right time and I genuinely believe this team can do that in conference play, they just have to stay positive, and keep improving.

[gt4623]

This team looks like world beaters for stretches but can't seem to maintain the momentum for a full 60. Couple that with Ted's stat regarding the losses since 2019 (18 losses since 2019, we had leads in 15 of them) and theres plenty of conclusions you can potentially draw from that. Coaches unable to adjust? Players unconditioned to handle adversity/prepared to battle a full 60? Hard to say from my perspective, anything I would suggest as an explanation would be conjecture. It for sure aint a good trend to have either way you slice it, and got to wonder if its creeped into the minds of the players.

Regarding the Goalie situation, its been puzzling for a few years now. The only thing that makes sense to me is that they thought Sotiropoulos had the higher potential. Holtby certainly wasn't perfect, and he's a notch or two below some of the outstanding goalies we've had like Silberlicht, Zonino, Browne and Luchessi but he did enough for us to win games. Perhaps they saw a higher ceiling for LK, at times he's been good but it seems he makes 2 or 3 mistakes a game. Holtby I think is a case of a low ceiling but low floor as well; steady. If thats the case, the gamble has not paid off. Its time for a change, and if the next man up is this freshman then get him in against Providence so he can at least get his feet wet before facing 'Cuse.

[Farfromgeneva]

This team looks like world beaters for stretches but can't seem to maintain the momentum for a full 60. Couple that with Ted's stat regarding the losses since 2019 (18 losses since 2019, we had leads in 15 of them) and theres plenty of conclusions you can potentially draw from that. Coaches unable to adjust? Players unconditioned to handle adversity/prepared to battle a full 60? Hard to say from my perspective, anything I would suggest as an explanation would be conjecture. It for sure aint a good trend to have either way you slice it, and got to wonder if its creeped into the minds of the players.

Regarding the Goalie situation, its been puzzling for a few years now. The only thing that makes sense to me is that they thought Sotiropoulos had the higher potential. Holtby certainly wasn't perfect, and he's a notch or two below some of the outstanding goalies we've had like Silberlicht, Zonino, Browne and Luchessi but he did enough for us to win games. Perhaps they saw a higher ceiling for LK, at times he's been good but it seems he makes 2 or 3 mistakes a game. Holtby I think is a case of a low ceiling but low floor as well; steady. If thats the case, the gamble has not paid off. Its time for a change, and if the next man up is this freshman then get him in against Providence so he can at least get his feet wet before facing 'Cuse.

This is how I view it as well. But if rolling the dice then get Wilson on there before A10 play given 44% alternative.

Probably still reeling from Adam Bland electing to go pro instead of come to a geneva 2yrs ago as well.

[man:down]

I don't understand defenses well enough to have articulated what I have seen as a problem - but one of you did:

"The defense's failure seemed to mainly be their reliance on hedging to dodgers to get them to move the ball."

It seems like our SSDMs are playing really physical D and containing their guy by steering him away from the net over and over - BUT we saw in Robert Morris and again again Dartmouth, just when you think the guy will give up on dodging and pass, he pushes again, get inside his defender and gets to the goal. A couple Dartmouth middie goals were almost uncontested once Hobart's SSDM got beat. As someone here mentioned, in a settled situation the D movement is a beautiful thing to watch - and a lot of times the slide seems to come perfectly. But too many times there isn't support - is hobart altering/disguising their slide packages so the offense doesn't know where the open guy will be? Dartmouth also was able to sneak a guy in close as an outlet if the slide did happen. Both those guys need to get punished for being in that close.

On offense I love that Chad Bach has realized what everyone already knew. He can be a man among boys. That will make Datellas' (who is a junior, by the way) life a lot easier - Herlihy's too when he is back (concussion). Seeing Barthelme out there and having him do well should tell the coaches that they can go a little deeper in to the bench - and I hope they do. Opponents will have trouble tracking a variety of players and styles coming and going.

[Farfromgeneva]

I don't understand defenses well enough to have articulated what I have seen as a problem - but one of you did:

"The defense's failure seemed to mainly be their reliance on hedging to dodgers to get them to move the ball."

It seems like our SSDMs are playing really physical D and containing their guy by steering him away from the net over and over - BUT we saw in Robert Morris and again again Dartmouth, just when you think the guy will give up on dodging and pass, he pushes again, get inside his defender and gets to the goal. A couple Dartmouth middie goals were almost uncontested once Hobart's SSDM got beat. As someone here mentioned, in a settled situation the D movement is a beautiful thing to watch - and a lot of times the slide seems to come perfectly. But too many times there isn't support - is hobart altering/disguising their slide packages so the offense doesn't know where the open guy will be? Dartmouth also was able to sneak a guy in close as an outlet if the slide did happen. Both those guys need to get punished for being in that close.

On offense I love that Chad Bach has realized what everyone already knew. He can be a man among boys. That will make Datellas' (who is a junior, by the way) life a lot easier - Herlihy's too when he is back (concussion). Seeing Barthelme out there and having him do well should tell the coaches that they can go a little deeper in to the bench - and I hope they do. Opponents will have trouble tracking a variety of players and styles coming and going.

A healthy offense could easily look like 19-20 even if that may be heresy to some. We have 8-10 kids who can be very effective. Lower pure output but look at our scoring distribution (accounting for many haven’t played 6 games this season)

Dattellas-25pts (5 games, or 4.5 really)
Bach - 11pts (9,2)
Delano - 10pts (6,4)
Greene - 9pts (6,3)
Simas - 9pts (6,3, less than 6 games)
Considine - 8pts (3 games)
Rosa - 7pts
Barthelme - 7pts
Herlihy - 7pts and basically when he’s been out there playing broken will be fine once healthy
Grooms - 6pts
Peterkin - 4pts, FR

Only Grooms, Barthelme and Herlihy would need to stay a 5th year as 20292 FR and Simas will be gone. This offense is going to improve and improve.

Of course the 19 team blew a number of second half leads with Pedicine at FO and Luccesi in goal…

[LeeRoggy]

A few thoughts

I saw Barthelme in high school when his St Paul's team came to Boca to play SA, and he pretty much played like here. Didn't really maximize his size then either, but you could see the IQ and stick skills. And remember, he was kind of playing behind Knox his first two years too. He was a late commit too, for whatever reason, even though he was a known commodity at the time.

Anyone watch the St Joe's-Penn game? The two broadcasters were terrific, except for the homer call at the end. Excellent analysis on the fly.

Disappointing loss, but I agree that this team has a LOT of talent but hasn't quite learned to win yet. Sometimes the light switch goes on, and sometimes it's a slow burn over time. If it's the former, we are going to be pretty good by the end of the year. Not really sure if Greg is going to give Holtby another shot.

Either way, the need for a few more saves, as well as not giving up the cheap goal late in a possession has hurt.

We all knew this was going to be a growth year, so why not sit back and enjoy the good play more and just understand there will be some issues too. A lot of us thought going into the A-10 was going to be rough the first year; let's see.

[FMUBart]

LeeRoggy, I got most of the Joes/Penn game last night. The pure size of St Joes jumps off the screen--they are a big, physical bunch on offense--and they got a commit from the Charlotte area recently(a very athletic 6'4" lefty attackman).

[Farfromgeneva]

A few thoughts

I saw Barthelme in high school when his St Paul's team came to Boca to play SA, and he pretty much played like here. Didn't really maximize his size then either, but you could see the IQ and stick skills. And remember, he was kind of playing behind Knox his first two years too. He was a late commit too, for whatever reason, even though he was a known commodity at the time.

Anyone watch the St Joe's-Penn game? The two broadcasters were terrific, except for the homer call at the end. Excellent analysis on the fly.

Disappointing loss, but I agree that this team has a LOT of talent but hasn't quite learned to win yet. Sometimes the light switch goes on, and sometimes it's a slow burn over time. If it's the former, we are going to be pretty good by the end of the year. Not really sure if Greg is going to give Holtby another shot.

Either way, the need for a few more saves, as well as not giving up the cheap goal late in a possession has hurt.

We all knew this was going to be a growth year, so why not sit back and enjoy the good play more and just understand there will be some issues too. A lot of us thought going into the A-10 was going to be rough the first year; let's see.

Barthelme committed to Air Force originally then flipped. Mott too, Air Force to Laf to us.

[Laxgunea]

LeeRoggy, I got most of the Joes/Penn game last night. The pure size of St Joes jumps off the screen--they are a big, physical bunch on offense--and they got a commit from the Charlotte area recently(a very athletic 6'4" lefty attackman).

I saw the St. Joe's/Hopkins game on ESPN+, and i noticed their size too. They lost to Hopkins by 1, but I thought they had more raw talent. Hopkins was way more disciplined, but when St. Joe's was on, they were on fire. If they can build consistency and discipline, they will be a to reckon with all the way to the end. On the other hand, you can also see that they have the potential for self-destruction. They got really sloppy at times.

[Farfromgeneva]

LeeRoggy, I got most of the Joes/Penn game last night. The pure size of St Joes jumps off the screen--they are a big, physical bunch on offense--and they got a commit from the Charlotte area recently(a very athletic 6'4" lefty attackman).

I saw the St. Joe's/Hopkins game on ESPN+, and i noticed their size too. They lost to Hopkins by 1, but I thought they had more raw talent. Hopkins was way more disciplined, but when St. Joe's was on, they were on fire. If they can build consistency and discipline, they will be a to reckon with all the way to the end. On the other hand, you can also see that they have the potential for self-destruction. They got really sloppy at times.

Wray has run that system of bully ball for years. Was effective for Bryant early NEC years and then they took that on, even kids like
Rastivo / McGinley had size and played fast and hard if occasionally too loose and mistake prone. Folks are only noticing ow because they finally got over the hump to take the NEQ AQ after years of coming up short. It’s not new/