Yale 2025

[Lax3]

I am with the assessment that the defense is the problem over this period, a feeling which I understand many fellow alumni have as well. Last season was slightly better but this team over the past four years has given up goals in bucketloads. Offense has been very good but when they are giving up the number of goals they have been they don't give themselves a fighting chance.

[The Orfling]

I am with the assessment that the defense is the problem over this period, a feeling which I understand many fellow alumni have as well. Last season was slightly better but this team over the past four years has given up goals in bucketloads. Offense has been very good but when they are giving up the number of goals they have been they don't give themselves a fighting chance.

I wish I had more technical knowledge to diagnose the issues. I know some of it is pace of play (defenses get tired out when it's a racehorse pace), some might be not having had a truly elite goalie, but I keep coming back to the feeling that the whole is less than the sum of the parts. I have in the past voiced a wish for a bit more defensive flexibility -- Yale is extremely loath to ever go to a zone or try any sort of specialized defense and I wish they'd do that sometimes for change of pace -- and when I do focus in I see issues with off-ball coverage, etc.

But, with that note of puzzlement voiced, no complaints here! I'm a huge supporter of the program: coaching staff, players, and parents all represent Yale so well. The team was as resilient as could be last year and even with the disappointment they surely felt at seeing an NCAA bid chance melt away when the injuries hit the face-off X, the players and families were incredibly upbeat and supportive of one another.

[FannOLax]

May the best young man win the starting goalie job, and I'm not advocating for Ben Friedman, but here are his junior-HS-year highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwPUG9AHEDk

Of course, the defense in front of the goalie is of major importance, and we all know how Yale's D has been performing since, well, I suppose every season after the 2018 natty. Could we see an improved D in 2025? Was it just an aberration that the Elis held Penn to nine goals this past season?

Attackmen Leo Johnson and All American Lyons should be returning from injuries that kept them out for all of 2024; ditto for 2nd-team All Ivy middie Sharp. Can they get back to, or improve upon, their 2023 form? I thought Lyons was tremendously impressive on Fall Ball Day in October 2023, and would be delighted to see him return to that sort of form. Of course, Sharp's return could complicate The Orfling's dreams of a Special K midfield line, but I also know that Orfling cares more about the team's success. I also feel that all three FOGOs suffering injuries late in the 2024 season was the straw that ultimately broke the camel's back and kept the Bulldogs out of the 2024 NCAAs. Can both Mac Rodriguez and Annunziata stay healthy throughout 2025? Can the 2025 team as a whole stay relatively healthy?

Vacation travel plans have been made for early Otober, so I'm hoping that fall ball will be mainly in mid-to-late October.

Go Yale! Go Ivies!

[Ezra White]

IMHO, defense is the most difficult position in lacrosse because it's all about reacting to what the other player does and what the other team does. This is why we commonly see scores in double-digits and even the 20's.

It also helps to have a great FOGO unit and ride. If your team has the ball, your opponent can't score and your defense can rest.

My larger point is that Yale's defensive woes may in fact originate away from the defensive unit.

[TBD]

Yale is scrimmaging UNC and probably another local team in Baltimore end of September and another game at home against an international team early October. I think that is all scheduled so far.

[pcowlax]

IMHO, defense is the most difficult position in lacrosse because it's all about reacting to what the other player does and what the other team does. This is why we commonly see scores in double-digits and even the 20's.

It also helps to have a great FOGO unit and ride. If your team has the ball, your opponent can't score and your defense can rest.

My larger point is that Yale's defensive woes may in fact originate away from the defensive unit.

Certainly true that there is more to defense, especially when just defined crudely as goals again, than play of close defenders and d-mids. Very true about the FOGO but that thought doesn't exactly breed confidence as Yale has had good to excellent FOGO play the past 6+ years. Even if Rodriguez is fully healthy, its hard to think they will be much improved over the already good results of the past few years (the end of last year when everyone was hurt excepted). If there is to be improvement, it will have to be found elsewhere.

[The Orfling]

Yale is scrimmaging UNC and probably another local team in Baltimore end of September and another game at home against an international team early October. I think that is all scheduled so far.

Thanks for the update. Usually they only have two fall ball dates, as I recall?

[FannOLax]

Throw in Alumni Day, and that looks like a full fall slate. UNC and a Balto school looks like a great day in Baltimore.