Cornell 2023

[another fan]

VRR and I have already had this conversation about team speed off line, having reached the same conclusion fairly simultaneously. There are, of course, other determinants of success besides speed such as strength, skill, athleticism, heart, leadership, etc., but speed is up there in importance and we'd like to see it combined with those other attributes as often as possible. On the defensive side, our shorties were often attacked. Two were new to the position-- Box and Rahill. Box is fast, but smallish, and I agree he could contribute on offense if he could be spared. Kudos to Rayhill for stepping into a new role, but his best position is lsm, and he was victimized as a short stick by speed. Bozzi and Davis are a good pair. Bozzi has very good speed and adequate size. Davis is huge with decent speed and many other virtues when he is completely healthy and can resist over-aggressive slides, but overall is an excellent player. As for incoming recruits, Jaxon Smart has good size and speed. He played on Salisbury's first midfield and has a hard right handed shot, but is all right and seems to me like a good candidate to switch to defensive midfield.

On offense, I think the issue is not just speed, but adding more offensive threats. By mid season, teams had honed their strategy for defensing Kirst, which was largely double and triple teaming him and preventing him from getting to the middle of the field. For a variety of reasons, some of them identified in VRR's narrative, we often could not capitalize on all the attention Kirst received. Health had something to do with that as two key players were never 100%. Though we were clearly better with Long on the field than off, he was not quarterbacking the offense, dodging, and burning short stick match ups. Blake got better as the season went on, but played with a big knee brace until the final game when he looked to switch to a lesser brace and ran more freely. When healthy, Blake has wheels, and some of the tendencies VRR mentioned disappear. A healthy Long and Blake are necessities to improve our offensive play next year. We also have a good class of offensive players coming in. Nikolic is big, has good speed, plays with both hands and can play either attack or midfield. Firth has good quickness, is a fine passer, and has a great mid range lefty shot. I just wish he did not always have to get to his left. We can see both Nikolic and Firth in the Senior All American game. Ryan Waldman is small, but extremely quick. Ryan Goldstein has excellent initial quickness, has a great change of direction, and can pass or score, though some of his passes can be high risk. Luke Gilmartin is a central NY midfielder who has put up over 120 goals the last 2 years. He has good speed and a hard, accurate shot but is difficult to evaluate given the competition he has faced. And TJ Lamb is a big, lanky midfielder who will likely have the hardest shot on the team. In short, I think some freshmen will emerge and be meaningful offensive contributors.

[Ezra White]

VRR and I have already had this conversation about team speed off line, having reached the same conclusion fairly simultaneously. There are, of course, other determinants of success besides speed such as strength, skill, athleticism, heart, leadership, etc., but speed is up there in importance and we'd like to see it combined with those other attributes as often as possible. On the defensive side, our shorties were often attacked. Two were new to the position-- Box and Rahill. Box is fast, but smallish, and I agree he could contribute on offense if he could be spared. Kudos to Rayhill for stepping into a new role, but his best position is lsm, and he was victimized as a short stick by speed. Bozzi and Davis are a good pair. Bozzi has very good speed and adequate size. Davis is huge with decent speed and many other virtues when he is completely healthy and can resist over-aggressive slides, but overall is an excellent player. As for incoming recruits, Jaxon Smart has good size and speed. He played on Salisbury's first midfield and has a hard right handed shot, but is all right and seems to me like a good candidate to switch to defensive midfield.

On offense, I think the issue is not just speed, but adding more offensive threats. By mid season, teams had honed their strategy for defensing Kirst, which was largely double and triple teaming him and preventing him from getting to the middle of the field. For a variety of reasons, some of them identified in VRR's narrative, we often could not capitalize on all the attention Kirst received. Health had something to do with that as two key players were never 100%. Though we were clearly better with Long on the field than off, he was not quarterbacking the offense, dodging, and burning short stick match ups. Blake got better as the season went on, but played with a big knee brace until the final game when he looked to switch to a lesser brace and ran more freely. When healthy, Blake has wheels, and some of the tendencies VRR mentioned disappear. A healthy Long and Blake are necessities to improve our offensive play next year. We also have a good class of offensive players coming in. Nikolic is big, has good speed, plays with both hands and can play either attack or midfield. Firth has good quickness, is a fine passer, and has a great mid range lefty shot. I just wish he did not always have to get to his left. We can see both Nikolic and Firth in the Senior All American game. Ryan Waldman is small, but extremely quick. Ryan Goldstein has excellent initial quickness, has a great change of direction, and can pass or score, though some of his passes can be high risk. Luke Gilmartin is a central NY midfielder who has put up over 120 goals the last 2 years. He has good speed and a hard, accurate shot but is difficult to evaluate given the competition he has faced. And TJ Lamb is a big, lanky midfielder who will likely have the hardest shot on the team. In short, I think some freshmen will emerge and be meaningful offensive contributors.

Fortunately, coaching can address some of the traits you mention. Kirst worked on & developed his right-hand shot. Firth can too. Goldstein's propensity for risky shots may reflect the unequal matchups in the high-school game (i.e, take risks when you're winning by a large margin or losing), and he can be coached to use more prudent judgement. Gilmartin may take a year or two before he moves up to this level of competition. And everyone can work on their speed. (Thankfully, the 'Kopf has lots of stairs )

Given how other teams successfully played Kirst, a big task for next year will be developing second & third threats. Nikolic & maybe Goldstein are possible candidates.

[10stone5]

Firth is already lighting it up in the summer Ontario box league and that’s without Matt Collison who has not played yet,

https://www.ontariojuniorlacrosse.com/p ... lar-season


In the Hill Academy final against Culver Academy, an invitational year end tournament, Firth took over recording as much as 7 and 1, his 5 second half goals closed the deal,

https://phillylacrosse.com/2023/hill-ac ... mpionship/

[another fan]

No doubt Firth is an outstanding box player. Bowie Horsman is very good, too, but has not yet made the jump to significant time on the field for Cornell. Firth is a high potential player on the field, and apparently had a big game against Culver, as well as other strong performances throughout the year. I did watch him against Brunswick and he was pretty quiet-- especially compared to Brunswick's big guns like Leo Hoffman and Tomas Delgado. Of course, those two are among the very top offensive recruits in the country. I think he was also often marked by Spiess, who may be the top defensive recruit, and is heading to Princeton. That was just 1 game, and hopefully Firth will be a potent addition next season for Cornell. Anyway, very glad to welcome him to Ithaca.

[WestVillCornell]

Somewhat related to the “speed” discussion

But this year it felt like we had a lot less unassisted goals

Some of that has to do w Long being out

And a lot has to do with the personnel on field compared to recent years past

Passing / movement offsets issues with speed

Would like to see more ball movement leading to goals in 2024

Catalyzed, of course, by some speed dodges!

LGR

[WestVillCornell]

Somewhat related to the “speed” discussion

But this year it felt like we had a lot less assisted goals

Some of that has to do w Long being out

And a lot has to do with the personnel on field compared to recent years past

Passing / movement offsets issues with speed

Would like to see more ball movement leading to goals in 2024

Catalyzed, of course, by some speed dodges!

LGR

[Ezra White]

Just to make a point, last year IL ranked Brendan Staub the #12 recruit in the country and #4 among defenders. He was also named Best Player in Nassau County by Nassau County Lacrosse Coaches Association.

Yet last week we lost the Michigan game when he lost track of his man. The the announcers mentioned this, the Michigan player who scored the winning goal mentioned this, and you could see from Staub's body language, he knew this. Tough lesson, but I'd be willing to bet from now on we'll see Staub with a faster "head on a swivel" and very likely never making the same mistake again. In other words, this is the kind of lesson that makes a lasting impression.

There is something only experience and maturity can bring. To reach the promised land, we need to have recruiting class after recruiting class that fill the roster so we don't run the risk of losing games due to freshman mistakes.

[VeryRustyRed]

Ezra - you make a good point about experience being invaluable.
Not that I want to get into the weeds on the winning goal on what Coach B called a "heartbreaking" loss --- but I don't fault Staub on the (winning) goal.

But here's where your comment about experience rings especially true. Where things went wrong was when Boehm and another UM player ran a big-little behind the cage. Follows is guarding Boehm and IMO has things under control. Christopher Davis is guarding the other UM player (I forget who).
As I previously posted, either Davis makes a very questionable decision (especially given the timing - OT) to double...or Davis and Follows miscommunicate. I believe it's the former. Once Boehm is able to get off an initial pass, Cornell's defense is in carousel mode and it's over.
If you go back and look at the tape, the painful thing is that UM ran the same play about 20 seconds earlier...and Davis starts to double again...and is caught in no man's land. Fortunately for Cornell, Boehm passes the ball outside to a wing and Cornell is able to recover. 20/20 hind sight, but I would have hoped that when UM ran the same set seconds later, 7 would have opted not to double this time or 7 and 45 would have communicated more effectively, whichever was the case. Additionally, relative to the notion of "experience," this big-little set behind the goal gave Cornell trouble all year. And not getting it right ended the season prematurely.

[another fan]

Yes,as Ezra says, experience and bringing in consistently good recruits matters. Staub had a great season, worthy of his recruiting rankings. And after starting and playing at a high level for 15 games, Staub was a freshman in name only. More importantly, I think VRR's comments about the last play are correct. The big/little set behind regularly gave us trouble-- for the coaches and for various players in every class year. And in this case, the short stick's dangerous double left the man he was guarding, Michigan's #3, too close to the goal with the possibility of continuing toward the goal or taking advantage of an open passing lane. Staub did look and shade in that direction and his man,29, took the unobstucted pass from 3 and scored, but the major problems on the play started earlier.

[VeryRustyRed]

What made 7's decision to double even worse is that it came with 10 seconds left in the shot clock.
I mentioned that Cornell was hurt on the big-little all season. Go back and look at the Penn State tape - if memory serves me correct, PSU ran it very successfully and hurt Cornell by having the pick player slip or release from the pick. The ball carrier would jab step away from the double and hit the open man.

[enterprise]

Losing the game was, indeed, heartbreaking. However, I don't think it is fair to focus blame on the mistakes and/or inexperience that may have led to the final goal when the game was so close the entire way. Any other mistake or bad decision that either resulted in a Michigan goal or led to a Cornell possession without a score equally affected the outcome.

[another fan]

Losing the game was, indeed, heartbreaking. However, I don't think it is fair to focus blame on the mistakes and/or inexperience that may have led to the final goal when the game was so close the entire way. Any other mistake or bad decision that either resulted in a Michigan goal or led to a Cornell possession without a score equally affected the outcome.

Good point that I substantially agree with. I was largely responding to the post that said Staub had made a freshman mistake that seemed to cost the game. If there were mistakes made on that play, my view is that it started earlier. In a sudden death game like that, you are correct in pointing out that mistakes (often with a spectator's view and the advantages of hindsight) at anytime could have altered the end result. However, last minute plays both remain in our minds more easily, and are more certain to have impacted the ultimate result. The other issue, of course, is to be mindful of the fact that these are student athletes who work their butts off on the field (and off), with adrenaline flowing, making split second reactions and decisions. I don't think that means that critical statements cannot be made about plays or players by dedicated fans, but we all need to be careful that we do not lose perspective and go over a sometimes difficult line to draw.

[Ezra White]

I agree with what VRR wrote about Davis doubling unnecessarily. My point was to highlight Staub having a teachable & learning moment. Davis did too.

To this I might also add Blake hitting the pipe just before the end of regulation, although I think most players would take the same shot. In the future, he might choose to fake near high and then shoot low towards the back door instead. But at this level, goalies can always make great saves.

A point about Staub is that I'm sure he's been taught to watch both the man he's covering and for the possible slide. He just didn't in the heat of the moment of what was likely the most high-stakes game of his life up until then. Hopefully he will have many more chances.

I didn't play intercollegiate lacrosse until I was on a club team in grad school. I was a 2-way middie back in the days when that was the only kind. Twice I was called for being offsides when one of our long poles took the ball down the other side of the field. But after that second time, I learned any advantage being on the attacking side of midfield wasn't worth the risk. I never was called offside again. The various coulda & shoulda errors on that last play reminded me of this.

Obviously the DI tournament is a much higher level, but young (and older) players are still learning. I was simply pointing out one of several possible learning experiences in the last minute of the Michigan game.

[CU88a]

What a great season!

And a lot of thoughtful content here, are we ready for someone to start the Cornell 2024 thread?