Ok so get better SSDM and goalie play and we might have a chance?51percentcorn wrote: ↑Tue Jun 04, 2019 3:47 pm It's pretty easy to me - again just look at either Penn State's last goal in the Big Final or Notre Dame's 1st goal in the NCAA 1st round. When Hopkins believes the SSDMs can stand on their own (to some degree - and of course the belief has to be supported by actual events) then the defensive formations and slides that resulted in those two easy goals - and many more like them - will lessen. We abandon solid defensive principles to such a degree we let those shots to be taken by O'Keefe and Costabile. Find a goalie that can stab a couple outside shots and you might have a GAA closer to 10.
So what are we working with here, exactly?
Goalie:
1. Darby—sophomore incumbent, will have an offseason to get better but 45% is no one's idea of acceptable
2. Giacalone—rising senior who looked pretty good to my eye in mop-up duty against ND but has barely touched the field outside of that
3. Marcille—highly commended incoming frosh goalie from Gonzaga who would appear to check some intangible boxes, but is on the short side, and who knows if he can emerge from a 3 or 4-way competition in the fall
4. Gainey—also highly thought-of coming out of high school but did not sniff the field as a freshman. Some here said he looked good in fall ball
The "regression to the mean" principle suggests that whoever the goalie is, he will probably do better than 45%. How much better is the question. Does just getting to 49-50% give us a chance or do we need someone who will be well north of the .500 mark? It's almost inconceivable that we haven't had a stable, comfortable goalie situation since Pierce Bassett. Turnbaugh and Schneider had their moments but we just haven't been able to find "the guy."
SSDM:
1. Hubler—more of an asset in transition than on defense IMO, has shown some ability but probably better suited as a #2 or #3 option barring a jump as a senior. His straight line speed getting up and down the field is good but needs to show more lateral quickness when covering opposing midfielders
2. McManus—showed some promise as a rookie at a new position (was a pole in high school), but perhaps best known for getting his head taken off by Tanner Cook in the UNC game. He played a bit in the first half of the season, looked decent to me but then he was quickly phased out of the rotation. Injury?
3. Pion—has played here and there since transferring in from Harvard, can't really get a read on him one way or the other
4. DiPietro—depth
5. Handsor—stocky transition middie out of Culver, has box and FOGO background but I believe he predominantly played on the wings his last two years in Indiana. May be an asset on the wing but unsure if he's classic SSDM material
6. Glassmeyer—athletic two-way guy from Brunswick, also played on the wings, don't know how good his defense is
7. Chambers—from what I understand he was a bona fide, honest to goodness SSDM in high school and a pretty good one at that. Could be a name to keep an eye on
8. Jaronski—played mostly LSM/D in high school but apparently is fast and athletic enough to play with a short stick on offense when his team needs him to. Never leaves the field. Would appear to have the strength/athleticism profile necessary to play a little bit of SSDM
The wild card is Coulter, I haven't heard anything about his eligibility or if he'd even want to return but in the few games we saw him toward the end of '19 he was named our best SSDM by many posters here—showed some speed closing out on shooters but I think 1v1 defense is still a question mark IMO.
If SSDM play is poor again it won't be for a want of options. There are some possibilities there. Need Hubler to take another step and at least two of the other guys to emerge as contributors—or at least as "non-liabilities" which is all we can really hope for at this point.