Hobart 2019

[PDSlax]

The guys look rattled, but I don't see Sacred Heart as remarkably better than other teams they have faced. SH seems amped up and very good but not way better than the Statesmen.

[Laxgunea]

That ball was in. Clear as day on the replay.

[PDSlax]

Weak call against Hobart. Didn't really see any slash on the goalkeeper.

[Hawkeye]

What’s the score currently?

I’m dialed in on this LSN game and haven’t had a chance to look at much else

[Laxgunea]

Hobart 9 SHU 8. Sloppy game. High number of saves on low percentage shots. lot of turnovers.

[Laxgunea]

Happy for the win, but I didn't think that looked too good. Definitely the closest win thus far. Far too many turnovers. Poor shot selection. I thought Hobart was looking timid, was making poor decisions, and allowed SHU to dictate the pace. Again, we struggle against a zone. The man-up worked well, but I'm not sure you can rely on that to win a game. Maybe tired after 3 games this week and a big Colgate game? The NEC will be tight this year. SHU looked good. Their weakness seems to be offensive depth.

[FL-GO]

23 turnovers is ecac era esque bad. Thank goodness for Sam who with 20 saves is probably why they got away with a tough win on the road. Clearing needs a lot of work and defense took off most of the 3rd qtr. At least we didn’t fall prey to the old “4 straight goals given up equals a loss” curse. 11-46 apparently now.

Lots of work to do but need to cherish this moment. 7-1 feels pretty good.

[10stone5]

Interesting game.
Closer than it needed to be at the end.
Shutting out Tuttle was a key and obviously, as mentioned Lucchesi with 20 saves.

[manyhats]

A win anyway is a good win. 7-1 and 2-0 in the NEC sure looks good. Congrats to Chris Aslanian tying Cam Stone record for career assists. Bonnies on Wed night

[Ketch]

That was a real nail biter, so I’m glad that we were able to pull things out in the end. Not pretty, but winning ugly has something to be said for it as well.

It seemed to me today that we were playing with a shorter bench than we’ve been using. A look at the box score tells me that it wasn’t just my imagination. I’m assuming that Avedisian is injured since he hasn’t appeared in a few games, but where were Mott and Kyle Grimaldi today? Are they both also injured? Sure could have used Mott’s offensive skills out there and Grimaldi is a veteran presence as well.

Watched RoMo and the Mount in the later NEC game. The Mount jumped out to a big lead, then RoMo went on an 8-0 run to pull in front by 3 at one point, but the Mount came back to pull the game out in the end by 2 or 3 goals. Even though RoMo is now 0-2 in league play they look like a very tough out. The Mount look like they are contenders. This is the second time I’ve seen them play (the other time was against GT) and they definitely look like they are for real.

[oldbartman]

Congrats on a gritty/ugly win. game MVPs are Lucchesi and Dutton. Without them, both teams would have been screwed. Typical Statesmen start, sloppy and slow/confused. We obviously weren't ready for the 10 man ride with 2 early failed clears. Kudos to SHU for being he toughest defensive foe we've faced.They obviously watched a lot of tape and negated Aslanian and Archer. Knox got mugged as usual with no calls as is want whenever we play at SHU. The refs have blinders on. Go ahead and complain SHU, but, you definitely got numerous "home" calls. The worse was the "no goal" the was shown to be a score on the replay. Now, certain things need to be addressed. Slow/unfocused/and/or unprepared starts continue for the entire season. Quite honestly we look disorganized to start every friggin game. Next is the team is starting to revert to some really poor shot selection. Defense can't get hung out for 3-5 minutes..only to have the O run down and take a shot in the first 20 seconds. Congrats though to Christiasen & the D for negating Tuttle. If we meet SHU in the playoffs, the team needs to start on time and focus for 60 minutes. This goes back to 2006. I don't usually do this (check my Laxpower posts) but, when a player is shooting less than 6 % and is a bad shot/turnover, the coaches need to bench them until they get it together. When your stick is set up for great fakes in high school and your shots/passes are off target, it's time to sit or just restring you F@#$kin stick. That, or spend some time with the reserves until you get it together.

[TopShelf585]

Winning ugly is always better than losing pretty.
It’s hard to keep winning week after week- don’t read too much into this game. Put it in the W Column and move on.

We were 3-5 at this point last year and ended up only winning one more of the last six. We would’ve taken a 1 pt win and not thought twice about it.

[LRoggy]

A couple of interesting stats, since the 6% shooting percentage of a player was put up . . .

Holden is THIRD on the team in ground balls, just one behind Lucchesi and Pedecine's huge number . . . that tells me he is a heck of a rider

Holden and Aslanian are both in the Top 21 nationally in points per game . . . it's been a long time since we could say that (Kirk/Veltman?) (Love/Stone?)

Aslanian is 6th in the nation in assists per game while Holden is 15th and Knox 22nd in goals per game

Pedecine is 6th in faceoff %

Lucchesi is 12th in GAA and 15th in Save % . . . think Greg is kicking himself mentally to this day about the Cornell game? And we've climbed up to 27th in Goals Against after that slow start to the season.

We're moaning about clearing percentage but we are 21st nationally at that, so it's not just our problem this year. 17th on Man Up offense and 34th on Man Down defense

And we are 6th in the nation for ground balls, and the only teams ahead of us are also ranked ahead of us

Most importantly for fun . . . tomorrow's polls will have no excuse for not ranking us and I think Quint might have a little surprise in store.

[Laxgunea]

Looking forward to that surprise!
I was scared by the SHU game because I thought they brought the game to us. We just couldn't take control, and in the end, when we clock-managed, I thought we were dragging. They hung on. BUT:
Yes, a 1 goal victory is much better than a 1 goal loss, which was the story of last year. Plus, it is good to have a close one and gut it out ... gives the team something to talk about and put the fear of God back in 'em. Also, I think the absence of Mott was important. I think he is even better than he appears. And, Avedisian brings a spirit and toughness to play on the field that can't be missed -- he is out with an injury, but it is not long term ... maybe he'll play for St. Bonnie's, but definitely after that. I love the depth and hope we see even more guys out there. Not sure where Yanko is, but he can also be a zone buster inside. Sherman was also playing really well against Colgate, but I didn't hear much about him on Sat. And kudos to the D. SHU is a strong offensive side, and holding them to 9 was good.
(Still angry about the goal that wasn't given. Everyone saw that, right? In the back of the net on a straight shot, then trampolined out).

[Bartman]

I was rubbing my eyes this morning after looking at the rankings on fanlax....Hobart No. 15 ahead of Hopkins. I’d rather be bitching about not being recognized, let’s see what Insidelacrsosse ranks us. Glad to play ugly and win, that is a sign of a team with talent, and Saturday we survived on the talent of our goalie despite other shortfalls. Looking forward to St Bonny and cleaning things up before the win against Syracuse on 4/2.... believe it and it will happen

[Bartman]

No. 19 Inside Lacrosse latest

[joewillie78]

No. 19 Inside Lacrosse latest

Well deserved. Joewillie78 had you in his top 20 3 weeks ago. Finally, the Bart being recognized, and I still think that you can get an at-large, but dont even risk it. Just keep playing the way you are playing and win the NEC.

GOBIGRED
Joewillie78

[PDSlax]

I think it's good to be recognized at the national level, but from what I saw on Saturday, I don't think I could put us ahead of schools like JHU. That team plays a much more challenging schedule in intimidating venues. The Hobart guys looked unsettled playing a decent opponent, but I wonder how they would fare if they had to take on the big boys at their home fields. It's not that I don't think the current squad is good – I think they are, and it's fun to watch them every week – it's just that I wonder if these rankings mean very much.

[LRoggy]

I think it's good to be recognized at the national level, but from what I saw on Saturday, I don't think I could put us ahead of schools like JHU. That team plays a much more challenging schedule in intimidating venues. The Hobart guys looked unsettled playing a decent opponent, but I wonder how they would fare if they had to take on the big boys at their home fields. It's not that I don't think the current squad is good – I think they are, and it's fun to watch them every week – it's just that I wonder if these rankings mean very much.

They do if you are:

a) in them
b) being screwed out of them

Sacred Heart is NOT an easy place to play; it's about a 6-hour bus ride if memory serves. On top of the similar bus ride to New Canaan. And remember that we always seem to lose home games to the weather. Travel upsets the apple cart. And anyone who has watched JHU this year can plainly see they do not have the athletes. We'll prove that next Tuesday . . . and garner more respect out of Quint than we got this week, when he dodged the Hobart question at the end of the IL podcast.

[FL-GO]

Maybe it's just me, but I can't really get too fired up for the game tmw night. I am already looking ahead to the SU one, which should be one of the better match ups btw Hobart and the Orange in some time.

Not sure re Mott's status but Koko should be GTG. Would like to see a fast start and then empty the bench against the Bonnies.