Virginia Lacrosse 2022

[blue angels]

If Alex Rode and Petey LaSalla stay healthy -- as the "X factors" that take UVA's talent-deep roster to a point of domination come tournament time -- there's no reason they can't go for an unprecedented-in-modern-times threepeat. Cold statistics say you would still "bet the field" to win the 2022 championship given the other key contenders like Maryland and Duke. who will return strength upon strength, but the UVA coaching staff's ability to ride out early season bumps and develop players in season is really impressive. And I think it will take the Ivies until the COVID 5th years have expired to rejoin the ranks of the championship aspirants, so it will be a smaller group of contenders vying for the title.

Do we even know if Rode is coming back?

That's a very good point -- I was making an assumption that he would stay on for 2022 but I haven't seen anything on this one way or the other. I know they like Gavin but Rode truly has been such a difference-maker.

The #1 ranked high school goalie is also coming in next year and has been touted as one of the best goalie prospects to come along in several years. The cupboard is not bare whether Rode returns or not, although we will be short on experience if without Rode.

[Comeonman]

Touted by whom, Ty Xanders? As Chuck from Dartmouth will tell you, goalie is a hit or miss position. Xanders got it right when he ranked Rode #1 in the class of 2017. Rode is a proven winner (twice a National Champ), but this senior year was his first as an All American. Hovered around 50% his previous three years as a starter. On the flip side, Xanders also had the kid at Utah who just resurfaced this year ahead a Rode for a spell in high school. He went missing for three years and gained probably 50 pounds as well. Goalies are different breeds. Some get better, some get worse. Some just have bad luck or get hurt or just get beat out. The kid Morris from Maryland was an Under Armour AA and played maybe 15 minutes in four years. My bet is that if Rode comes back, the job is his. He’s seen internal competition before in Burkinshaw, but who survived at UVA? He can handle it. He has the mind set. By the way, a guy that couldn’t is the UNC goalie transferring to OSU. It will be interesting to see what happens out there.

[wgdsr]

actually, rode was around 55% both this year and shortened season last year.

[blue angels]

actually, rode was around 55% both this year and shortened season last year.

Regardless of who is in the goal, The most important item requiring an overhaul in The Fall is the clearing game. It almost cost us both games Memorial weekend after building sizable late leads over both UNC & Maryland. It was simply atrocious.

[HooDat]

actually, rode was around 55% both this year and shortened season last year.

Regardless of who is in the goal, The most important item requiring an overhaul in The Fall is the clearing game. It almost cost us both games Memorial weekend after building sizable late leads over both UNC & Maryland. It was simply atrocious.

well on that point the clear starts with the goalie....

The kid Morris from Maryland was an Under Armour AA and played maybe 15 minutes in four years.

and for the record: Morris (another Texas product like Nunes) started every game of his junior and senior year. He also allowed just 6 goals (11 saves) while winning UMD's only "modern" national championship as a junior. Oh, and the 15 games I think you are referencing are the appearances he made during his freshman and sophomore years while backing up a second team all-American goalie

[InsiderRoll]

actually, rode was around 55% both this year and shortened season last year.

Regardless of who is in the goal, The most important item requiring an overhaul in The Fall is the clearing game. It almost cost us both games Memorial weekend after building sizable late leads over both UNC & Maryland. It was simply atrocious.

well on that point the clear starts with the goalie....

The kid Morris from Maryland was an Under Armour AA and played maybe 15 minutes in four years.

and for the record: Morris (another Texas product like Nunes) started every game of his junior and senior year. He also allowed just 6 goals (11 saves) while winning UMD's only "modern" national championship as a junior. Oh, and the 15 games I think you are referencing are the appearances he made during his freshman and sophomore years while backing up a second team all-American goalie

I think he meant the Morris from New Canaan who went to Maryland.

[Comeonman]

True Dat

[HooDat]

That makes more sense....

[blue angels]

actually, rode was around 55% both this year and shortened season last year.

Regardless of who is in the goal, The most important item requiring an overhaul in The Fall is the clearing game. It almost cost us both games Memorial weekend after building sizable late leads over both UNC & Maryland. It was simply atrocious.

well on that point the clear starts with the goalie....

[quote=Comeonman post_id=274194 time=1624743190 user_id=1989

Yes but issues with the clear weren’t all on Rode, who has never been a strong outlet passer. You know that, so you have to work around it. Players also have to get open to receive the outlet pass.

[Dip&Dunk]

actually, rode was around 55% both this year and shortened season last year.

Regardless of who is in the goal, The most important item requiring an overhaul in The Fall is the clearing game. It almost cost us both games Memorial weekend after building sizable late leads over both UNC & Maryland. It was simply atrocious.

Something must of changed because over the course of the season as they were only 1% worse than MD and ND, the same as Duke, better than SYR and only 2% worse than UNC which was #7 in the nation in clearing. On the defensive side of the field, clearing may have been the only defensive stat that did not get better over the length of the season. If clearing is their most important problem, then it is a nice problem to have in their present state.

While they did the hard task of repeating, they hardly stayed pat especially on the offensive end. Adding a 1st team AA middie helps. Hoo will it be next year?

[HooDat]

Yes but issues with the clear weren’t all on Rode, who has never been a strong outlet passer. You know that, so you have to work around it. Players also have to get open to receive the outlet pass.

As you say, players have to get open. He can't make a pass if there is no one to pass to. It just seemed to me like he had really improved on his outlets in 2019 and early 2021, but reverted to old form as the season went on.I am not sure if teams saw something on film (particularly after UNC was so successful in riding against us) and adapted, because it seemed to me that Rode was making increasingly poor decisions with the ball as the season went on, particularly in the post season.

[blue angels]

Yes but issues with the clear weren’t all on Rode, who has never been a strong outlet passer. You know that, so you have to work around it. Players also have to get open to receive the outlet pass.

As you say, players have to get open. He can't make a pass if there is no one to pass to. It just seemed to me like he had really improved on his outlets in 2019 and early 2021, but reverted to old form as the season went on.I am not sure if teams saw something on film (particularly after UNC was so successful in riding against us) and adapted, because it seemed to me that Rode was making increasingly poor decisions with the ball as the season went on, particularly in the post season.

True….However, Way too many times, I saw a short stick, who was moving upfield with the ball, pass the ball back to Rode on the crease to start the clear instead of trying to clear himself or look for the open man upfield and push transition. There wasn’t a short stick in the rotation who I would not prefer to do that rather than waste valuable seconds passing backwards to the goalie-to start the clear…..

[bananas]

Nit picking .UVA won two championships with Rode playing a big part. Watched many Cav games, his passing may not have always been right on the money as was Kirst but Rode certainly didnt hesitate letting it fly and that is how you play . The real adventure was when your big poles handled the rock. Sometimes they looked ok but other times they were really shaky. Might I remind the UVA fanbase that Rode was the reason why you won the UNC playoff game. For blue angels , I do wish RU had faced UVA. Oh how I wish

[blue angels]

Nit picking .UVA won two championships with Rode playing a big part. Watched many Cav games, his passing may not have always been right on the money as was Kirst but Rode certainly didnt hesitate letting it fly and that is how you play . The real adventure was when your big poles handled the rock. Sometimes they looked ok but other times they were really shaky. Might I remind the UVA fanbase that Rode was the reason why you won the UNC playoff game. For blue angels , I do wish RU had faced UVA. Oh how I wish

Seems delusional looking at the only cross over games between programs. Why do you wish that on your team? We aren't natural rival schools & You couldn't play Maryland close the 2 times you played them nor beat UNC. Virginia did what no team in the Big 10 could do & beat Maryland straight up and also beat UNC twice. ..........Something Rutgers couldn't do. You would need to get past the quarters to have played Virginia Memorial Day weekend.

[MDlaxfan76]

Nit picking .UVA won two championships with Rode playing a big part. Watched many Cav games, his passing may not have always been right on the money as was Kirst but Rode certainly didnt hesitate letting it fly and that is how you play . The real adventure was when your big poles handled the rock. Sometimes they looked ok but other times they were really shaky. Might I remind the UVA fanbase that Rode was the reason why you won the UNC playoff game. For blue angels , I do wish RU had faced UVA. Oh how I wish

Seems delusional looking at the only cross over games between programs. Why do you wish that on your team? We aren't natural rival schools & You couldn't play Maryland close the 2 times you played them nor beat UNC. Virginia did what no team in the Big 10 could do & beat Maryland straight up and also beat UNC twice. ..........Something Rutgers couldn't do. You would need to get past the quarters to have played Virginia Memorial Day weekend.

Well, he did only say he wished RU had faced UVA...perhaps meaning he wished RU had beaten UNC. Pretty sure all losing teams wish they'd won one more game...

[MDlaxfan76]

I was trying to look up TO's attributed to Rode, but somehow the UVA stats don't include him in that category.

Clearing was 85% overall for the season, 79% for opponents; how many of those failed clears are suggested to have been due to poor passes or decisions by Rode? Were they overly aggressive downfield outlets, or failure to move the ball quickly, in reverse field clearing, settled clears, too slow to make decisions?

Personally, I love an aggressive outlet, but I've had many a debate with my son about the efficacy of doing so, given the TO's and potential reverse breaks. He argues that the difference in just a few possessions as a result, given the scoring % per possession each way, simply are not worth forcing the ball under pressure...unless a comeback spark is essential (or of course a wide open opportunity). Far better odds are with the team which works the clear smart, using all its players to create the 'easy' clear.

When we see this happen, often the assumption is that the riding team simply isn't effective, but his point is that the clearing team should always be able to break the ride if it recognizes situationally swiftly and everyone does their job finding and creating space. The tender is typically the 'QB' of the clear, or should be, but it's very much a whole team effort.

That's not to say that a defender whether midfielder or pole that picks up a GB in open field shouldn't exploit the opportunity to create offense, but if the field isn't open, the smart play is to quickly move the ball to the tender who can read the entire field from his vantage. and the tender should move the ball quickly to one side or another, moving the riders, and then reversing the field as needed.

Another point, as good as so many of these athletes are, it's rare to have a Ryan Conrad who can reliably win the clear on his own. If you have such a stud it helps a ton. But assuming you don't, you gotta have a whole team effort on nearly every clear. By contrast, way too often we see midfielders try the hero clear only to get trapped.

We know that Lars' preference is for his teams to push pace. When he had Kelly at Brown and whole slew of very aggressive poles and fast, big midfielders, this worked super well. Kelly was exceptional in his downfield passing, but in large part that was because the whole team was geared for the break. Very few tenders have the talent to make it work as well as Kelly did and they used it heavily. Tough standard. And not so sure that UVA's athletic differential against its toughest opponents (and they have more of them by far than Brown's schedule) was as great as Brown enjoyed against most of its opponents. And ultimately, the Brown talent fell short too...

Re Rode in the net, he was 54.2% last year according to the USA stat line...excellent. Not exceptional, but quite excellent and his best (complete) season to date. Where I think he excels is that he continues to be a big moment player, very, very tough down the stretch. As a tender, sometimes you're just lucky, sometimes you're just not, but I do think there's a difference between tenders who are able to stay focused, yet loose enough in the most tense moments to be able to come up big...and those who struggle in those moments. Rode is in the former camp. Much to our pleasure as fans!

[bananas]

Nit picking .UVA won two championships with Rode playing a big part. Watched many Cav games, his passing may not have always been right on the money as was Kirst but Rode certainly didnt hesitate letting it fly and that is how you play . The real adventure was when your big poles handled the rock. Sometimes they looked ok but other times they were really shaky. Might I remind the UVA fanbase that Rode was the reason why you won the UNC playoff game. For blue angels , I do wish RU had faced UVA. Oh how I wish

Seems delusional looking at the only cross over games between programs. Why do you wish that on your team? We aren't natural rival schools & You couldn't play Maryland close the 2 times you played them nor beat UNC. Virginia did what no team in the Big 10 could do & beat Maryland straight up and also beat UNC twice. ..........Something Rutgers couldn't do. You would need to get past the quarters to have played Virginia Memorial Day weekend.

Huh , why am I delusional? Outcomes are all about matchups and I saw Virginia's vulnerabilities agaisnt a downtrodden Cuse team and a NEC team. Wasn't just faceoffs, UVA couldn't stop their frosh attackman and first game starter, couldn't figure out some hybrid def zone, cuse lsm was a one man clear by simply running past everyone on uva and they beat you to every ground ball. That was a blowout , only Rode made it close.. Problably affected by the long layoff but Bryant who got beat by Hobart and others in NEC could have easily taken you out in 1st round. I simply saying that I would have rather played UVA than UNC because of matchups. Their ride was better than yours and it cost us though we obviously played UNC well
Maybe UVA would have blown out RU but who knows. . Do find it amazing how your team puts it together so quickly. Got to be the experience of many . Just kidding with you at times , do respect the talent and program of the Cavs . Congratulated you before but in case yo forgot, congrats on back to backs. Awfully hard to do.

[HooDat]

how many of those failed clears are suggested to have been due to poor passes or decisions by Rode? Were they overly aggressive downfield outlets, or failure to move the ball quickly, in reverse field clearing, settled clears, too slow to make decisions?

Before I directly talk about your comment, let me say that I think Rode has been an excellent keeper for UVA and the team would be better if he returns next year. And I do not forget his performance in 2019 - he deserved to be MVP that year.

But....

I don't have the stat book in front of me. I am going off the eye test as a guy who had two sons play goalie (so I am always watching how the goalies play) His outlet errors tended to simply be bad passes and/or forced passes when a rushed decision simply was not needed. I am a big fan of goalies pushing tempo, but when you are as good as Rode is in the rest of his game, you should be able to recognize when you should and should not push tempo.

Rode indeed makes crucial stops just when the team needs them. My observation was that he seemed to make critical unforced blunders on outlets and decision making during clears in similar higher pressure scenarios - this year and more specifically this post season.

Again, I hope Rode does comes back, the team will be better for it. But, as I have said before, I also think that if the coaching staff is true to their word on line-ups being determined "by the hour" then it is not clear to me that Rode will waltz into the starter position like he owns it in 2022. Bobby Gavin showed very well in his starts and other playing time this year - and he is very, very good at pushing tempo, which fits with this staff's overall strategy. Nunes has been a special high school player, and based on my seeing him play I think he will develop into a special collegiate player as well. The competition for goalie will be intense - even if Rode comes back. This is all good news for UVA lacrosse fans.

[MDlaxfan76]

how many of those failed clears are suggested to have been due to poor passes or decisions by Rode? Were they overly aggressive downfield outlets, or failure to move the ball quickly, in reverse field clearing, settled clears, too slow to make decisions?

Before I directly talk about your comment, let me say that I think Rode has been an excellent keeper for UVA and the team would be better if he returns next year. And I do not forget his performance in 2019 - he deserved to be MVP that year.

But....

I don't have the stat book in front of me. I am going off the eye test as a guy who had two sons play goalie (so I am always watching how the goalies play) His outlet errors tended to simply be bad passes and/or forced passes when a rushed decision simply was not needed. I am a big fan of goalies pushing tempo, but when you are as good as Rode is in the rest of his game, you should be able to recognize when you should and should not push tempo.

Rode indeed makes crucial stops just when the team needs them. My observation was that he seemed to make critical unforced blunders on outlets and decision making during clears in similar higher pressure scenarios - this year and more specifically this post season.

Again, I hope Rode does comes back, the team will be better for it. But, as I have said before, I also think that if the coaching staff is true to their word on line-ups being determined "by the hour" then it is not clear to me that Rode will waltz into the starter position like he owns it in 2022. Bobby Gavin showed very well in his starts and other playing time this year - and he is very, very good at pushing tempo, which fits with this staff's overall strategy. Nunes has been a special high school player, and based on my seeing him play I think he will develop into a special collegiate player as well. The competition for goalie will be intense - even if Rode comes back. This is all good news for UVA lacrosse fans.

Excellent post.

I just didn't see enough of the games to be able to do more than ask the question, especially as I wasn't able find any stats on the TO's of any tender on the UVA stats section.

As I said, my son argues that unless the pass is there, easy, far better scoring % through methodical ball movement. I want my tender to be very involved in that process, but I don't want forced passes, just the way I don't want 'hero' runs unless you have a stud like Conrad (and rarely are there such, though some may think otherwise). Smart ball movement is much better. And that's a team responsibility, with the goalie as only 'QB'. But very important as QB.

What this sounds like to me is an opportunity for coaching focus.

I don't know any of these goalies personally, have zero dog in the hunt, but I do believe that 'competition' to be better every day, is more important than 'competition' between tenders. I want my goalie corps to be intensely supportive of one another and of whoever happens to be on the field...improvement is the objective in practice, not who starts. That may sound Pollyannish, and it certainly doesn't happen that way on lots of teams, but it's the formula I want to emphasize when there's a plethora of talent and desire yet only one guy on the field. To be a really good tender you need to be an intensely competitive animal, so it's hard.

So, let's hope there's no 'waltzing' by anybody...on the other hand, unless I see something pretty darn amazing, I'm not taking a tender who has helped win two NC's off the field until he falters on the field under stress. I think replacing a tender when he's not having a good day should not mean he's lost the position the next day. It needs to become clear to everyone on the team that a permanent switch is the right move.

My son earned his playing time behind a player who had been the #1 goalie recruit out of HS, who had been all-conference the year before and elected captain for his senior year. When the senior had a rough first game in snowy weather, my son came in late in the 3rd and sparked a comeback run, culminating in a save with 8 seconds left on the crease against a future first team AA, opponent's best player. No one expected a change in depth chart the next day. Two games later my son came in after half time, team down and again sparked a comeback. Position earned, he went on to have the highest save percentage of all but one other tender from his school in a decade, and 5% higher than the tender replaced (10% higher for that season). When a concussion in the second to last game, diagnosed post game, put my son out for the remainder of the season (and another for much of the following), the captain started the last game remaining and had his very best performance of his career, a fantastic way to finish an excellent career. There was never any question that both of them supported the other throughout, hard as that was undoubtedly for both.

That's the way it should work...and btw, injuries happen...good to have terrific talent ready!

[blue angels]

Lars has flipped midfielder Tim Myers from Navy. Myers is the son of Virginia women's lacrosse coach, Julie Myers and attended, the same school as Conner Shellenberger in Charlottesville.