LaxPower Back-Up Stick

Thanks, VF, for taking the time. Great update. I checked the IL data base, they did not list Follows as playing.

Although it's not much other than a reflection of initial optimism, Joe Willie, Quint and College Crosse all had Cornell in their Top 10.

Lehigh will be a tougher test than Albany this weekend. The Mountain Hawks have a really good FOGO, a very competent defense and a good attack. Of most importance is the home field advantage that Lehigh has in Bethlehem. If the game is outdoors, the field conditions will play to Lehigh's advantage, as they have in the past. Temperatures are supposed to be just above freezing. GO RED!

My hope is that we pissed Lehigh off after physically taking it to them and they take it out on you guys before we play soon after!

Cornell game notes: https://cornellbigred.com/documents/202 ... enotes.pdf

Lehigh game notes: https://lehighsports.com/documents/2022 ... ornell.pdf

Just heard on WHCU that Michael Long will not play today.
Big loss.
Hopefully, the injury is short term. However, given the whacks he took from the UA pole last week, we'll have to see.

Cornell just toyed with Lehigh in this game. No contest.

Solid effort especially on defense. Ierlan was great and entire defense played well . The absence of Long really showed. Great second half effort by Petrakis, too.

Aiden Blake with another impressive game. Kirst came out flying but was double and triple teamed leaving others to pick up the slack. Kelleher and Blake are threats— would love to see a little more from some other mids.

Strong effort again in the middle of the field on the 50/50 balls. Hobart is strong and PS beat Yale so some tough games ahead

A good win in game #2.
Though it was a "challenging" telecast to deal with: cameraman frequently fell behind the play, announcers seemed like lax newbies (they were painful at times), and the sun glare off of the grain of the field turf on one end made it difficult to see.
Observations:
-The O really missed Michael Long. In his absence, in the 1st qtr., all of the offense was initiated by the mid-field, rather than anything from the x. They adjusted n the 2nd qtr. with lots of inverts (11, 44, 6). Throughout the game though, the spacing was simply not good. Cornell benefited from two lucky goals (I'll take them). Two pretty goals in particular from Lombardi and Blake. Through two games, (I believe) no shots from Licciardi, Wolf, and Worthheim).
-Really nice work all day by Petrakis. In the 4th quarter when things mattered, he won 5 of 7 face-offs.
-The defense was the big difference today. I REALLY like our poles. Almost flawless (Jacobs did get his legs tangled leading to a 4th qtr Lehigh goal).
Lots of deflected shots by our poles, more than I can remember in the past.
-No jack Follows - ?
-Ierlan - another great day...
-Davis and Smith at ss certainly held their own again. Chabot struggled a bit. Blake was on D several times - don't know whether they game him ss shifts or if he simply got caught back on defense.
-Impressed with the work of Buzcek and his staff. One move, however, I really disagree with: with 32 seconds left in the half, Cornell went on a 60 second EMO. Rather than sitting on the ball and gaining auto possession to start the 3rd, they shot, and committed a foul on the ensuing Lehigh possession. at 5-3, if Lehigh scored, it would have made things very tight starting the 2nd half. In the end, "no harm no foul."
'Hope Long recovers.
Again, an excellent win.

another fan wrote: ↑Sat Feb 26, 2022 3:10 pm Solid effort especially on defense. Ierlan was great and entire defense played well . The absence of Long really showed. Great second half effort by Petrakis, too.

Aiden Blake with another impressive game. Kirst came out flying but was double and triple teamed leaving others to pick up the slack. Kelleher and Blake are threats— would love to see a little more from some other mids.

Strong effort again in the middle of the field on the 50/50 balls. Hobart is strong and PS beat Yale so some tough games ahead

Yes to the above, and special kudos to Petrakis especially for a strong 2nd half against the preseason 1st team AA FOGO. Bodes well going forward.

Ierlan with 15 saves on 20 shots, many point-blank. Great to see him have a strong game.

CU77 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 26, 2022 3:51 pm Ierlan with 15 saves on 20 shots, many point-blank. Great to see him have a strong game.

Agree, different game w/o him. Looking forward to Tuesday — will see if Hobart can muster more than 5!

VeryRustyRed wrote: ↑Sat Feb 26, 2022 3:26 pm A good win in game #2.

I was in Indy visiting my grand-daughter, so thanks for this excellent summary...

Wow, who would have thought with all the Cornell firepower that we would be talking about this defense. Adler, Doria, Jacobs, Fields , Bardwell etc are literally lockdown defenders who play so smart and communicate so well. Chase in goal looks so confident and some of his saves were stand on your head type saves. PETRAKIS is obviously getting used to the new face off rules and was a beast in the 4th period. I can't remember the last time I wrote a post about Cornell lax and didn't mention anything about the offense but this D and Goalie were so outstanding today, that they deserve all the credit. I haven't done my complete rankings but I had Cornell 9th last week, but after today, and some of the other crazy results, they may break my top 5. 2 years was worth the wait for this team. Congratulations to Coach Bucyk, you have done a masterful job.
GOBIGRED
Joewillie78

I didn't see the game. Thanks for all the updates!

We face a well rested Hobart on Tuesday. Another test for the Big Red.

I just returned home from Lehigh. A strange low scoring game from start to finish. The Big Red defense was stellar today. Chayse Irelan with 15 saves, many of them of the point blank variety. Gavin Adler stuck like glue to his opponent. Harrison Bardwell played well, particularly on clears. Christopher Davis stands out on defense. Angelo Petrakis held his own at faceoff taking 50% against the supposed preseason 1st Team All America faceoff specialist. Mike Long didn't play and Spencer Wirtheim filled in acceptably. He had the key assist to Aiden Blake when Lehigh had closed to 6-5. He had 4 turnovers but one caused turnover. John Piatelli had not much success the first half against Lehigh's zone defense but came through with 2 important goals, the 6th goal at the beginning of the 4th quarter after a scoreless 3rd quarter gave Cornell fans 15 minutes of tension,and the 9th goal to finish off the Mountain Hawks. Aiden Blake, Hugh Kelleger & C.J. Kirst are killers - big threats to score that open things up. They'll only improve as the season continues. A cold day in Bethlehem, PA but warmed up by a victory.

Nice win today, really liked Petrakis ability to reverse the advantage at FO in the second half, he is determined to figure out how to win at the FO X. His wrestling tenacity showing here. This will be key through the season.

I also thought the defense looked solid, however I’m not sure how much Lehigh was able to pressure it.

Good to see Ireland have a great game. Not trying to be critical but while he made some great inside saves I thought some of the goals from the outside were reasonable shots to give up.

Offense missed Long but nice job with others stepping up. It was interesting that Piatelli couldn’t get free on the shortie match ups he had. I like Blake and Kelleher and they will continue to get better.

Overall nice week to week/game to game improvement. Need to continue to build on that. The competition gets stronger…..

RedIvy wrote: ↑Sat Feb 26, 2022 8:38 pmOffense missed Long...

Injured?

Matnum PI wrote: ↑Sun Feb 27, 2022 12:00 am

RedIvy wrote: ↑Sat Feb 26, 2022 8:38 pmOffense missed Long...

Injured?

Yes. Details unknown.

Replay of the game is available on ESPN+:
https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/ ... d5f5a9f31d

Highlight video from the Lehigh game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lpAFag5Jnk

Any chance you forgot to get all the kids on the bus back from Bethlehem? Specifically Piatelli, Irelan and Kirst?