LaxPower Back-Up Stick

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.

Ok so get better SSDM and goalie play and we might have a chance?



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.

SSDMs will be better next year. The issue for 2020 is goaltending.

The last time we had a UA AA goalie, Eric Schneider, we went to the Final Four. We haven't been back since.
Our best offensive players last year were all UA AA's. Epstein, Marr, Williams, Zinn, Smith, and DeSimone (although he had a down year, he was good as a frosh) were all UA AAs. Best recent offensive players: Shack, Tinney, Ryan Brown, Wells all were UA AA's. The UA Selections are not perfect in their picks but a pretty good correlation exists here. I'm sure exceptions can be found etc etc.
But, If you have UA AAs shooting at your goal, you better have a UA AA tending it.
There will be two UA AA goalies on the roster next year. I can only hope the coaches will play one of them in 2020.

Sagittarius A* wrote: ↑Tue Jun 04, 2019 6:31 pm SSDMs will be better next year.

Not saying you're wrong, just wondering why you expect that. Do you think Hubler or one of the others (McManus, Pion, etc.) makes a jump and/or do you know something about one of these incoming freshmen that's promising?

I've heard from a few people that Chambers is the real deal, but I've never seen him play. I am high on Jaronski based on pure athleticism but I don't know where he fits in.

Raising a point that goes with the second line of my sig. With the recent massive influx of Bloomberg money targeted for financial aid to students added to the fact that JHU is D-3 in everything else, could the M&W lacrosse programs also adopt the the Ivy/D-3 model for financial aid? Wouldn't that eliminate the "people aren't choosing JHU because of the cost" idea?

It should make it more affordable for students to attend as it converts loans to grants. It has the potential to positively impact recruiting.
How's that coaching change working out for you?

https://www.uslaxmagazine.com/college/m ... sion-i-men
8th, IL has us 12th. For the 75% of you not in the "world is falling and burn it to the ground crowd"a lot of optimism in his lookaheads namely relating to how much UNC, Cuse, towson, loyola, rutgers (edelman) lose to graduation. Would be more helpful if the IL one had included some perspective on what teams add through freshmen or guys preparing to get into bigger roles since they focus a lot on that through xanders but I guess that's a next winter thing.

We need a theme for the 2020 thread.

Last year was Fallout Shelter after surviving the LP Implosion.

2020:

Exactly who are the monkeys? Coaches/players/us?

WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2019 5:54 pm We need a theme for the 2020 thread.

Last year was Fallout Shelter after surviving the LP Implosion.

2020:

8189BD11-4D09-4EC9-90A4-8B602BC7ECF7.png

How about we call it Chernobyl?

It appears as though we've got a legitimate shot at landing Chris Gray. He's visiting campus next week, according to IL. Duke, Carolina, Virginia the other serious contenders. My guess is still that he ends up at Duke but who knows at this point.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... ocus/54804

As I understand it, Bloomberg never gives directly to athletics, but maybe his support of the spruced-up campus will pay off indirectly.

If you have not seen the campus in years, it somehow looks the same, but so much better in subtle ways.

Sagittarius A* wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:43 am It should make it more affordable for students to attend as it converts loans to grants. It has the potential to positively impact recruiting.
How's that coaching change working out for you?

“It’s within acceptable parameters.”

44WeWantMore wrote: ↑Sat Jun 08, 2019 4:57 pm As I understand it, Bloomberg never gives directly to athletics, but maybe his support of the spruced-up campus will pay off indirectly.

If you have not seen the campus in years, it somehow looks the same, but so much better in subtle ways.

Bloombergs given billions of dollars which enable the university fundraisers to devote their time to raising $$$ for other things although I've heard the school has gotten rid of most of greek life now which is where most of the alumni donors including bloomberg came from so good luck to them. I don't share his politics but I'm very grateful for the support he's given the school. Hopefully we land the kid. It's the offseason and you can look through the ncaa website for patterns among the final 4 teams this year but the ones I saw when I quickly scanned it were that strong offenses more than strong defenses separated the penn states,uvas and yales this year from everyone else.

jhu06 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 09, 2019 5:59 pm Hopefully we land the kid. It's the offseason and you can look through the ncaa website for patterns among the final 4 teams this year but the ones I saw when I quickly scanned it were that strong offenses more than strong defenses separated the penn states,uvas and yales this year from everyone else.

Small irony is that it was UVA's defense that ultimately proved the difference in the championship game.

As far as Gray - his BU highlights from last season are on you tube. He's very fast and sees the field exceptionally well. From a lacrosse perspective I am sure there are few coaches who would say - Nah he's not the right fit. For Hopkins, an attackman that quick would help take the pressure off of Epstein and if the reports of Murphy are accurate - he would get time and room looks galore - as would Zinn. I recommend a quick jaunt down BW Parkway to the Carey school - arrange for a class or two starting a joint degree - summer internship - bada bing bada boom.

jhu06 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 09, 2019 5:59 pm although I've heard the school has gotten rid of most of greek life now which is where most of the alumni donors including bloomberg came from so good luck to them.

Interesting. I wasn't in a fraternity but lived in a row house with 7 other guys (a couple of WAWA guys, a Pike and FIJI)with a couple of the guys in different fraternities and your statement made me curious. I went and looked up the fraternity situation at Hopkins last night. WAWA deinstitutionalized last summer and SAE was gone in 2015 after the 16 year old was raped by her sister friends at a Hopkins party - no Hopkins students were involved only it was at an SAE party. FIJI and PIKE were on some type of suspension in the last few years. But, most of the other fraternities are on some form of probation due to some level of hazing.

It also brought about articles on ending the FIJI Islander, elimination of the Spring Fair Beer Garden and after the 2014 rape, all organized fraternity parties were eliminated for a semester at Hopkins.

I'd be curious to see whether your statement is true that those in greek life are more active donors/alumni participants than non-greeks.

And, yes, I know the lax team is a fraternity unto themselves on campus...just to keep this lax on topic.

Most if not all greek life around the country will probably be gone sooner or later.

Re: Gray, I do wonder how things would work as both he and Epstein are quarterback types who need the ball in their sticks, but I suppose that would fall under one of those "good problems to have" for Benson to figure out. It's supposed to rain all day in Baltimore, hopefully that does not dampen Mr. Gray's visit.

A nice gesture from Joel Tinney: He wore a nameless #19 jersey in honor of Jeremy Huber during yesterday's PLL game in New York: https://twitter.com/vegas_bob/status/11 ... 0757669888

HopFan16 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2019 9:05 am Most if not all greek life around the country will probably be gone sooner or later.

Re: Gray, I do wonder how things would work as both he and Epstein are quarterback types who need the ball in their sticks, but I suppose that would fall under one of those "good problems to have" for Benson to figure out. It's supposed to rain all day in Baltimore, hopefully that does not dampen Mr. Gray's visit.

A nice gesture from Joel Tinney: He wore a nameless #19 jersey in honor of Jeremy Huber during yesterday's PLL game in New York: https://twitter.com/vegas_bob/status/11 ... 0757669888

Thanks for posting that Tinney link. Very thoughtful of him and a really nice thing to do.

Hopkins is probably a long shot for Gray's services but Epstein should not be anywhere near the list of obstacles - Saw him play alot in the underclass years at Landon when the Bears were more loaded. He can be extremely effective as more of a wing player and what he cares most about is that his team has more goals than the opponent. Two man Epstein/Gray schemes could be a nightmare for DC's.

+1. Wish we had a like or upvote button.

Joey Epstein Senior & Freshman Year Lacrosse Highlights
https://youtu.be/3y-znCRrRtI