Johns Hopkins 2023

[HopFan16]

One of the commenters or carc said that the uva fogo was excellent at knowing where his wings were and getting them the ball off the faceoff. He did that superbly yesterday. I thought our fogos competed very well and it's a question of who you start and how you build chemistry. Dare I say we have depth in goal/ssdm/fogo.

what is the argument against starting krampf?

Krampf has 100% earned some sort of role in the offense. He has shot it well, doesn't turn it over, and makes the most of what the defenses give him. The issue with starting him at attack and leaving him there IMO is that you're basically asking the defense to double pole the midfield. Collison is already drawing one but not sure that group can afford more attention on them and then suddenly there is a ton of pressure on the attack to create. Krampf is not much of a threat to dodge. Admittedly he had one nice go at a shortie yesterday in which he was able to get topside and score but that is not really his game. If your third attackman is drawing a shortie then he'd better be able to beat him consistently. If not I want someone there who will punish teams for shorting him as Melendez did against Georgetown, which was absolutely pivotal in us winning that game.

[wgdsr]

One of the commenters or carc said that the uva fogo was excellent at knowing where his wings were and getting them the ball off the faceoff. He did that superbly yesterday. I thought our fogos competed very well and it's a question of who you start and how you build chemistry. Dare I say we have depth in goal/ssdm/fogo.

what is the argument against starting krampf?

they seem to be doing a good job of getting the hot hand the majority of reps at faceoff, and with nawrewski healthy working him in can only help. hawley's gb was one of the best plays of the game, but his only gb? did he take a lot of wings? with fogos that aren't as big a threat to score, you can do more of matching hip to hip and not giving the opponent that easy sling.

krampf gives them options. including running him thru the box as a finisher if guys come off for a collison or grimes. or at attack and pushing melendez up some to give melendez some shorties and/or space. it doesn't have to be either/or.

[wgdsr]

One of the commenters or carc said that the uva fogo was excellent at knowing where his wings were and getting them the ball off the faceoff. He did that superbly yesterday. I thought our fogos competed very well and it's a question of who you start and how you build chemistry. Dare I say we have depth in goal/ssdm/fogo.

what is the argument against starting krampf?

Krampf has 100% earned some sort of role in the offense. He has shot it well, doesn't turn it over, and makes the most of what the defenses give him. The issue with starting him at attack and leaving him there IMO is that you're basically asking the defense to double pole the midfield. Collison is already drawing one but not sure that group can afford more attention on them and then suddenly there is a ton of pressure on the attack to create. Krampf is not much of a threat to dodge. Admittedly he had one nice go at a shortie yesterday in which he was able to get topside and score but that is not really his game. If your third attackman is drawing a shortie then he'd better be able to beat him consistently. If not I want someone there who will punish teams for shorting him as Melendez did against Georgetown, which was absolutely pivotal in us winning that game.

you can place guys on the field wherever you want, tho. if krampf is drawing a shortie regardless, there's not a whole lot of difference? if you want him inside or in the slot. personally, i'd love to have shorties on a v good finisher in those spots. more slides are coming from shorties and not poles, and you have more opportunities to stuff balls into krampf in shooting locations if they don't come.

[primitiveskills]

Last year a 38% save percentage would send this group into a fit of rage...now it's acceptable???

Lots of those Virginia shots, no one is saving.

DocBarrister

Indeed. Marcille is making big saves in big moments. He's just faced the two best shooting teams we are going to see this year. I'm not worried about save %.

Conversely, people are also talking about how "bad" Nunes was, but look at the placement of alot of the Hopkins shots yesterday. If you are going to consistently hit the offhand lower corner, no goalie in the world is look good. Our shot quality and shot location has improved a bunch since the first couple of games. A lot more straight overhand high-to-low shots; less playing sidearm catch with the goalie.

[HopFan16]

One of the commenters or carc said that the uva fogo was excellent at knowing where his wings were and getting them the ball off the faceoff. He did that superbly yesterday. I thought our fogos competed very well and it's a question of who you start and how you build chemistry. Dare I say we have depth in goal/ssdm/fogo.

what is the argument against starting krampf?

they seem to be doing a good job of getting the hot hand the majority of reps at faceoff, and with nawrewski healthy working him in can only help. hawley's gb was one of the best plays of the game, but his only gb? did he take a lot of wings? with fogos that aren't as big a threat to score, you can do more of matching hip to hip and not giving the opponent that easy sling.

krampf gives them options. including running him thru the box as a finisher if guys come off for a collison or grimes. or at attack and pushing melendez up some to give melendez some shorties and/or space. it doesn't have to be either/or.

Petey didn't give our wings a ton of chances to scoop GBs. He won about half of the 22 draws he won to himself and we violated on a few others. There were only a handful that I'd say were true 50-50s — of those Hawley came up with one, Scott Smith had one or two but UVA had the rest. Ya'll are tenacious on the wings and LaSalla is basically a bowling ball in those scrums. Impossible to muscle around.

[primitiveskills]

One of the commenters or carc said that the uva fogo was excellent at knowing where his wings were and getting them the ball off the faceoff. He did that superbly yesterday. I thought our fogos competed very well and it's a question of who you start and how you build chemistry. Dare I say we have depth in goal/ssdm/fogo.

what is the argument against starting krampf?

Krampf has 100% earned some sort of role in the offense. He has shot it well, doesn't turn it over, and makes the most of what the defenses give him. The issue with starting him at attack and leaving him there IMO is that you're basically asking the defense to double pole the midfield. Collison is already drawing one but not sure that group can afford more attention on them and then suddenly there is a ton of pressure on the attack to create. Krampf is not much of a threat to dodge. Admittedly he had one nice go at a shortie yesterday in which he was able to get topside and score but that is not really his game. If your third attackman is drawing a shortie then he'd better be able to beat him consistently. If not I want someone there who will punish teams for shorting him as Melendez did against Georgetown, which was absolutely pivotal in us winning that game.

you can place guys on the field wherever you want, tho. if krampf is drawing a shortie regardless, there's not a whole lot of difference? if you want him inside or in the slot. personally, i'd love to have shorties on a v good finisher in those spots. more slides are coming from shorties and not poles, and you have more opportunities to stuff balls into krampf in shooting locations if they don't come.

Exactly. Krampf is also what you want in a shorter-range finisher. He's got a quick overhand release and is putting the ball in unsavable locations instead of trying to trying to shoot the ball through the net.

[HopFan16]

Last year a 38% save percentage would send this group into a fit of rage...now it's acceptable???

Lots of those Virginia shots, no one is saving.

DocBarrister

Indeed. Marcille is making big saves in big moments. He's just faced the two best shooting teams we are going to see this year. I'm not worried about save %.

Conversely, people are also talking about how "bad" Nunes was, but look at the placement of alot of the Hopkins shots yesterday. If you are going to consistently hit the offhand lower corner, no goalie in the world is look good. Our shot quality and shot location has improved a bunch since the first couple of games. A lot more straight overhand high-to-low shots; less playing sidearm catch with the goalie.

The sun might have had something to do with it but our shooters were really exploiting Nunes off-stick side low. That's probably the hardest location for a goalie to save but he was slow to get there every time. In the third quarter I started to wonder if he might get pulled but Lars made the right decision to keep him in and the kid was better later on. Still, if there's one "weakness" in UVA's game it's that their goaltending has not been as elite as other parts of the team. To win a title you really need your guy in net to step up.

[51percentcorn]

For what it's worth, Virginia put who I believe is their best defenseman on Melendez and he stuck to him like glue and the guy has like a 9-foot wingspan. This was never going to be a game where Russell would be able to spook the D into sliding unless we made a concerted effort to switch that matchup.

Maybe they should have, but the offense was not an issue yesterday IMO. What they did worked pretty well. If you put 13 on the board at home you have a chance to win. I believe heading into the game PM was something like 10-1 at Hopkins in games in which we scored 11+. Those 13 goals were all the more impressive when you consider the faceoff and groundball disparity. Once they settled in I thought the offense moved the ball well and they did a decent job of identifying the matchups they could exploit. And, as you mentioned, they shot well. Nunes didn't have his best day especially in the 2nd/3rd quarters but a bunch of those shots were not easy saves. Degnon with time and room from 10 yards, turn and rake.

I think we are closely approaching the point where we need to put Collison in a Sam Handley-esque role where he's nominally a "midfielder" in that he comes in through the box and primarily dodges from up top but also rarely if ever leaves the field. You don't want to run him into the ground so you've got to be careful and make sure it doesn't create issues but if he's up for it, run him out there basically every possession with 2 other midfielders and rotate who those 2 guys are. It's pretty clear the kid is a truly special talent. You can put a shortie or a pole on him and it doesn't seem to matter. He's getting to his spot and shooting with power and accuracy and when he doesn't, he's at least drawing a slide.

I certainly noticed that Krampf was shortied while Melendez got the full monty but I think in general he needs ot be more assertive like he was against Georgetown.

Understand your point about Milliman's record but 13 goals was never going to get it done against that team - especially getting torched 5-0 in the first. It also should be said that Hopkins had 2 SSDM scores - a very fortuitous goal for Krampf where Hopkins was bungling another clear and he made a great play but it did bounce right up to his stick level and left him all alone and 2 EMO goals so the 6v6 offense produced 8 - mostly on outside rips. The Angelus goal was another transition goal after another tough play by Narewski. 2 of those miss the cage and we are doing an autopsy on 18/19 or so to 9/10 or so and it has a different flavor to it.

After watching Penn a bit on ESPN+ replays I want no part of a Handleyesque role. If you want Collison to never leave the field fine - he's an attackman. If you want to double shift him once or twice a half - fine - but at no point would I want this team standing around waiting for him to come on the field and feel that they can't do a single thing without him. Handley's exhausted by the end of the game and if you want him off the field every single time and to play no defense as a middie it hurts your ride.

'16 did encapsulate the issues with Krampf perfectly. He's clearly earned playing time - being opportunistic is a talent.

[DenverJay]

Alf is a legendary stick maker, whose home and workshop are on the Onondaga Reservation just outside of Syracuse. He began making wood sticks in the 1960's as he learned from his dad. He has some serious health issues and a gofundme account has been set up to assist with expenses. In the Lacrosse Hall of Fame there is "a display showing the steps to making a traditional wooden stick, accompanied by a video from Native American stickmaker Alf Jacques." He could use any help anyone would like to offer: https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-assis ... lf-jacques. In the photo on the site Alf is holding a "real" lacrosse ball, which is made from moosehide (most, including the ones I bought are made from deerhide). If you can find one of his sticks they are works of art.

[DMac]

Thanks for posting that DJ. Alfie's a saint of a human being, there's just a different spirit around that guy. There's no better ambassador for the game than Alfie, doubt there's anyone who has spent any amount of time around him that would disagree.

[Finster]

Last year a 38% save percentage would send this group into a fit of rage...now it's acceptable???

he made enough saves, especially early. This game was lost with turnovers, offensive inefficiency to start and gbs.

Cuse nation has already written saturday off as a win. We'll see if that's the case.

Syracuse game is pretty close to must-win … maybe not quite, but pretty close.

DocBarrister

I would think that game would leave Hop fans with a lot of optimism, played a good game and hung with a darn good and deep Virginia team.
Yup, Doc, the Hop-Cuse game is a big one for both teams. Not big as it was in past years but big in morale for both team and fans I think. A W over the big rival that has a Pietramala v Gait (a sight to behold), and long history of being seen as the standard of lacrosse is a pretty big deal. Huge game in the Dome for these two teams.
Weather? No worries.

Syracuse is such a wild card. When Mark is on his game (which seems like always), the Orange are almost unbeatable. Off-ball D will be crucial for both teams. Blue Jays need to win their share of FOs and gbs to come away with a victory. None of that is Einsteinian analysis … Blue Jays need a strong performance with few mistakes to pull off the win.

DocBarrister

Jays will be a heavy favorite to win, the likely faceoff discrepancy will be very difficult for SU to overcome.

Oh no you don’t … you can’t jinx us that easily.

DocBarrister

LOL, I think SU matches up fairly well but not at FOGO which I think will be a major issue on Saturday and why I think Hop would be favored.

?????

Hopkins just LOST 70% to UVA at Faceoff, which is where they lost the game. Meaning they won only 30%. Which isn’t good.

You think Faceoff is what favors them against Syracuse?

Hop won 30% against arguably the top FOGO in the country at worst #2. Look at their Faceoff % against every other team besides UVA. Syracuse has struggled mightily at the X save for one game ( I know I have watched them all). Hop is going to have a significant advantage at the X on Saturday on paper. Maybe SU features a new guy or has some trick up their sleeve but if not Hop is likely to win 60%+.

I don’t think Hop has a very good Faceoff group. If Narewski was healthy, they might be good. But Syracuse won’t lose to Hopkins at the dot. I like Syracuse’s chances in this game, actually.

Also, ftr, before yesterday, Lasalla was like #19 in the nation for FO win %. The kid from Dartmouth is crushing the field.

That "not very good group" includes a guy who just destroyed the FO guy everyone in the country was already slotting into an AA team (Cole). So there's that. Predicting specific FO outcomes beforehand is hard. It's so dependent on individual match ups/ strengths/ moves/ counters. We'll see how it goes on Saturday.

‘Destroy’ is going 56%?

Destroy is going 70% like Lasalla. Destroy isn’t 56%; that’s nearly a wash.

That said, I’ll reaffirm what I said. Syracuse won’t lose this game at the Faceoff position. We could lose for other reasons, I just don’t see that being the one. The Faceoff certainly won’t have the the impact that Lasalla had for UVA versus Hop. Cuse can win this game. Or lose. Neither outcome will surprise me.

[primitiveskills]

Last year a 38% save percentage would send this group into a fit of rage...now it's acceptable???

he made enough saves, especially early. This game was lost with turnovers, offensive inefficiency to start and gbs.

Cuse nation has already written saturday off as a win. We'll see if that's the case.

Syracuse game is pretty close to must-win … maybe not quite, but pretty close.

DocBarrister

I would think that game would leave Hop fans with a lot of optimism, played a good game and hung with a darn good and deep Virginia team.
Yup, Doc, the Hop-Cuse game is a big one for both teams. Not big as it was in past years but big in morale for both team and fans I think. A W over the big rival that has a Pietramala v Gait (a sight to behold), and long history of being seen as the standard of lacrosse is a pretty big deal. Huge game in the Dome for these two teams.
Weather? No worries.

Syracuse is such a wild card. When Mark is on his game (which seems like always), the Orange are almost unbeatable. Off-ball D will be crucial for both teams. Blue Jays need to win their share of FOs and gbs to come away with a victory. None of that is Einsteinian analysis … Blue Jays need a strong performance with few mistakes to pull off the win.

DocBarrister

Jays will be a heavy favorite to win, the likely faceoff discrepancy will be very difficult for SU to overcome.

Oh no you don’t … you can’t jinx us that easily.

DocBarrister

LOL, I think SU matches up fairly well but not at FOGO which I think will be a major issue on Saturday and why I think Hop would be favored.

?????

Hopkins just LOST 70% to UVA at Faceoff, which is where they lost the game. Meaning they won only 30%. Which isn’t good.

You think Faceoff is what favors them against Syracuse?

Hop won 30% against arguably the top FOGO in the country at worst #2. Look at their Faceoff % against every other team besides UVA. Syracuse has struggled mightily at the X save for one game ( I know I have watched them all). Hop is going to have a significant advantage at the X on Saturday on paper. Maybe SU features a new guy or has some trick up their sleeve but if not Hop is likely to win 60%+.

I don’t think Hop has a very good Faceoff group. If Narewski was healthy, they might be good. But Syracuse won’t lose to Hopkins at the dot. I like Syracuse’s chances in this game, actually.

Also, ftr, before yesterday, Lasalla was like #19 in the nation for FO win %. The kid from Dartmouth is crushing the field.

That "not very good group" includes a guy who just destroyed the FO guy everyone in the country was already slotting into an AA team (Cole). So there's that. Predicting specific FO outcomes beforehand is hard. It's so dependent on individual match ups/ strengths/ moves/ counters. We'll see how it goes on Saturday.

‘Destroy’ is going 56%?

Destroy is going 70% like Lasalla. Destroy isn’t 56%; that’s nearly a wash.

That said, I’ll reaffirm what I said. Syracuse won’t lose this game at the Faceoff position. We could lose for other reasons, I just don’t see that being the one. The Faceoff certainly won’t have the the impact that Lasalla had for UVA versus Hop. Cuse can win this game. Or lose. Neither outcome will surprise me.

The guy from St Joe's was at 80%+ coming into the game. Dunn went 18/32 against him. Maybe destroy is the wrong word, but the point is that a "bad" FO unit (as you claimed) wouldn't have even come close in that battle. I doi agree with you that this game won't be won or lost at the dot. If Mark plays out of his mind, it will be tougfh. If not, Cuse's D won't give Hop any trouble.

[44WeWantMore]

Has he had a bad outing yet this year?
Even a mediocre outing?

And he has already faced UNC (which beat JHU), plus Duke and UMD.

[Gatsby]

Has he had a bad outing yet this year?
Even a mediocre outing?

And he has already faced UNC (which beat JHU), plus Duke and UMD.

You talking about Mark? UNC was considered his worst outing. He made 17 saves on 36 shots for 47% and UNC shooters were pinging corners. Everything else has been above 54%.

[HopFan16]

Matt Narewski is the only player on the roster who has ever actually played in the Dome. Hawley and Degnon were on the team that year (2019) but didn't get into the game. Otherwise the roster has completely turned over since the last time the Jays visited their good pals up north. Don't think that'll matter a ton for most of the guys but I worry a tad for Marcille. Some very good goalies have struggled in that environment.

Syracuse is desperate for a win having lost three straight, but we need this one too. Gotta win at least two out of the Cuse/Delaware/Navy stretch.

[Finster]

Has he had a bad outing yet this year?
Even a mediocre outing?

And he has already faced UNC (which beat JHU), plus Duke and UMD.

You talking about Mark? UNC was considered his worst outing. He made 17 saves on 36 shots for 47% and UNC shooters were pinging corners. Everything else has been above 54%.

The guy Will Mark is simply at a different level. Did you know at LIU, he had a record 30 saves in one game?

I think his numbers will come down some as the season progresses, but wow what a transfer.

For lacrosse players, as an opponent and as most of us know, if you don’t get the first few shots in, an opponent goalie’s eyes just get wider and wider and they really start seeing the ball in slow motion. Which makes you start shooting into tighter and tighter spaces, making the goalie look more invincible than they really are. Virtuous circle for him, vicious circle for you.

Will Mark seems to be doing that 6 games in a row now. Some team will bring him back to earth, just not sure that’s going to be Hopkins.

[jhu06]

the view from orangeland
-we're leading the big ten in groundballs, apparently last in the conference in f/o win percentage, and 6th in the country in turnovers although we've played more games than a lot of teams
-they're really worried about their faceoffs and gbs.

http://feature.dailyorange.com/2023/03/ ... s-hopkins/

[Sagittarius A*]

Has he had a bad outing yet this year?
Even a mediocre outing?

And he has already faced UNC (which beat JHU), plus Duke and UMD.

You talking about Mark? UNC was considered his worst outing. He made 17 saves on 36 shots for 47% and UNC shooters were pinging corners. Everything else has been above 54%.

The guy Will Mark is simply at a different level. Did you know at LIU, he had a record 30 saves in one game?

I think his numbers will come down some as the season progresses, but wow what a transfer.

For lacrosse players, as an opponent and as most of us know, if you don’t get the first few shots in, an opponent goalie’s eyes just get wider and wider and they really start seeing the ball in slow motion. Which makes you start shooting into tighter and tighter spaces, making the goalie look more invincible than they really are. Virtuous circle for him, vicious circle for you.

Will Mark seems to be doing that 6 games in a row now. Some team will bring him back to earth, just not sure that’s going to be Hopkins.

Hop did pretty well shooting at the UVA goalie Nunes. I think he had like 3 saves until the fourth quarter.
But it's tough to win in the Dome. The playing field there is not level. A close game is usually decided by the home-Dome refs.
Big game for both teams. At least they sell beer there.

[rolldodge]

I like Hopkins in this one. Impressed with their speed, athleticism, and ground ball intensity in the game against Virginia. After a promising start, (outside of Will "the Wall" Mark) Syracuses' defense has been MIA the past three games. Hopkins should be able to do well enough at the X to gain enough possessions to outscore the Orange.

[Finster]

Has he had a bad outing yet this year?
Even a mediocre outing?

And he has already faced UNC (which beat JHU), plus Duke and UMD.

You talking about Mark? UNC was considered his worst outing. He made 17 saves on 36 shots for 47% and UNC shooters were pinging corners. Everything else has been above 54%.

The guy Will Mark is simply at a different level. Did you know at LIU, he had a record 30 saves in one game?

I think his numbers will come down some as the season progresses, but wow what a transfer.

For lacrosse players, as an opponent and as most of us know, if you don’t get the first few shots in, an opponent goalie’s eyes just get wider and wider and they really start seeing the ball in slow motion. Which makes you start shooting into tighter and tighter spaces, making the goalie look more invincible than they really are. Virtuous circle for him, vicious circle for you.

Will Mark seems to be doing that 6 games in a row now. Some team will bring him back to earth, just not sure that’s going to be Hopkins.

Hop did pretty well shooting at the UVA goalie Nunes. I think he had like 3 saves until the fourth quarter.
But it's tough to win in the Dome. The playing field there is not level. A close game is usually decided by the home-Dome refs.
Big game for both teams. At least they sell beer there.

I know the conventional wisdom is Cuse might have home coking refs, but I’d actually argue the opposite. Refs in the north country or Cuse actually prefer to call a game straight. If anything, they’ll err on the side of the opponent if only to go up against the local homers so there’s something to argue about all week.

Refs are proud and stubborn in northern New York. Few see themselves as anything other than equals to Desko or Gait, and one way to emphasize that is to occasionally give a team like Hopkins the benefit of the doubt, not Syracuse.