Delaware Blue Hens 2023

[Njlaxx11]

Corbin Minard no longer on the roster - any idea what happened?

[Henpecked]

DeLuca has not posted a schedule yet but based on other team's schedules it will look something like this:

Feb 11 @Lafayette
Feb 15 @Mt. St. Mary's
Feb 18 OPEN Date*
Feb 26 VILLANOVA
Mar 4 MICHIGAN
Mar 7 @UMBC
March 17-18 Maybe Hampton to kick off CAA*
March 19 @Hopkins
Mar 25 @Hofstra
April 11*
April 8*
Apri15*
These above dates the Hens will play Fairfield, Stony Brook and Monmouth (Not sure order) FAIRFIELD will be home.
April 22 DREXEL
April 29 @ Towson

The CAA Championship should be played at UD on May 5th and 7th. If they get screwed out of hosting for the third straight year, there will be hell to pay. The regular season winner hosted every year till two years ago with the Hens went on a string of winning the regular season, then then changed it to the previous year conference tourney winner. So they should finally host this year, unless they change the rules again.

Schedule replaced Marist and NJIT with Lafayette and UMBC (sort of a wash). Also there is no DUKE game yet. Maybe DeLuca will get that scheduled on that open date in February? I am only guessing they open the CAA against Hampton, because I can't see them scheduling anyone else on the same weekend they play Hopkins at Homewood.

That is all I got.

[Henpecked]

It’s been awhile since I have seen the Hens in action, so I was looking forward to a trip into Philly to see them scrimmage the #9 Penn Quakers. There was a surprisingly large crowd gathered to see these two teams on the field for the first time this year.

Both teams stuck with starters for the entire first half of action. For Penn that would be Robert Schain, Ben Smith and Dylan Gergar at attack, Gabe Furey, Sam Handley and (I don’t recall) at midfield, Peter Blake, Ethan Till and Brendan Lavelle at close defense and Emmet Carroll in goal. For Delaware, Tye Kurtz, JP Ward and Mike Robinson started at attack, Clay Miller, Nick Jessen and freshman Brendan Powers (in place of Drew Lenkaitis who dressed but didn’t play) started at midfield, Owen Grant, Kevin Lynch and Tate Wasson started at close defense and Matt Kilkeary was in net. Both teams ran second midfield groups as well but predominantly went with the 1st line. I did not get the # of the Penn FOGO but he dominated the Hens (who were without starter Logan Premtaj) by winning all but four of the 15 first half faceoffs.

Today was officially the first day that Penn would be able to practice with coaches. Penn made up for the lack of practice time by hitting anything that was blue and gold moving on the field. Many late hits after shots and goals but only two were called. Unfortunately, the Hens didn’t cash in on the man-ups that came from these calls.

The Quakers started the scoring early in the game with an unassisted goal by Gabe Furey to go up 1-0. UD responded with three straight goals by Tye Kurtz, one assisted by Jason Kolar, one unassisted and the other assisted by JP Ward. Penn closed out the first quarter with unassisted goals by Dylan Gergar and Sam Handley to tie things up at 3-3. Gergar launched at least 8 shots in the first half. If he had a inch he would launch. A terrific shooter.

Handley opened up the second quarter with an unassisted crank from up top to take a 4-3 lead. But this lead was short lived as Mike Robinson scored two consecutive goals, the second assisted by Kurtz to take the lead back 5-4. Tye Kurtz extended the lead with an unassisted goal to get to 6-4. Dylan Gergar scored a beautiful goal on a Handley assist to close the score to 6-5. The final two goals of the half came from JP Ward on a nice lefty wrap around goal and a back hander by Tye Kurtz after a loose ball scrum to end the half Hens up 8-5.

Stats from first half with starters - UD - Kurtz 5 goals 1 assist, Mike Robinson 2 goals, JP Ward 1 goal, 1 assist, Jason Kolar 1 asst. Penn- Handley 2 goals, 1 assist, Furey 1 goal, Gergar 2 goals.

Both team pulled starters in the second half and I departed the freezing cold stadium after the Penn backups outscored the UD backups 3-2 in the third quarter. For Hen fans, freshman lefty attackman Finn Morgan scored both goals. He is going to be an All CAA player one day for sure.

Overall, both goalies were terrific, Matt Kilkeary with 10 saves for the Hens and Emmet Carroll with 9 saves for the Quakers.

It was interesting that the Hens rarely poled Handley. They had SSDMs Reed Kurtz and John Scheivert rotate on him. A couple of times in the second quarter Owen Grant picked up Handley at midfield. I was really looking forward to that confrontation but Handley passed the ball off each time Grant covered him.

Not a lot to take from this scrimmage other than the Hens are two weeks ahead of Penn as far as preparation. Penn is a tremendously physical team with a boatload of talent. I was really impressed with their close defense, particularly with Till and Lavelle who are both EXTREMELY physical. They both remind me a lot of Beaudan Szulak at Hopkins – on the fringe of violent but in control.

Penn will have plenty of time to tighten up the loose ends before opening up against Georgetown in two weeks. Hens open up @ Lafayette on the 11th. Should be a good season for both teams. Who knows? Maybe they will meet again in early May?

[molo]

Thanks for the thorough report. I was curious as to whether UDel would put Grant on Handley full time. Sounds like for the most part no, but they did bump him up a few times.

[10stone5]

Kurtz, Ward, Robinson are something else - and if they can bring in Finn Morgan to spell any of the starters - that’s an all everything
attack unit.

Tye Kurtz had a play in the Cornell game, I thought he had that shot lined up for a goal but he just missed, he somehow, I don’t know how, got off one of the twisting underhand rockets with the defenders all over him - would have gotten Hens to within one with plenty of time to tie it.

I’d expect him to be on the Team Canada World’s team this year.

It was Furey, Shipley, Ben Bedard - with Handley rotating attack and midfield at the start of last year,
BJ Farrare is another Player, very quick, great stick skills.

[Henpecked]

Ferrare was so good on the wings during faceoffs. I think he had at least 8 GBs. Guy is a freak athlete. Not the biggest guy out there.

[The Orfling]

It’s been awhile since I have seen the Hens in action, so I was looking forward to a trip into Philly to see them scrimmage the #9 Penn Quakers. There was a surprisingly large crowd gathered to see these two teams on the field for the first time this year.

Both teams stuck with starters for the entire first half of action. For Penn that would be Robert Schain, Ben Smith and Dylan Gergar at attack, Gabe Furey, Sam Handley and (I don’t recall) at midfield, Peter Blake, Ethan Till and Brendan Lavelle at close defense and Emmet Carroll in goal. For Delaware, Tye Kurtz, JP Ward and Mike Robinson started at attack, Clay Miller, Nick Jessen and freshman Brendan Powers (in place of Drew Lenkaitis who dressed but didn’t play) started at midfield, Owen Grant, Kevin Lynch and Tate Wasson started at close defense and Matt Kilkeary was in net. Both teams ran second midfield groups as well but predominantly went with the 1st line. I did not get the # of the Penn FOGO but he dominated the Hens (who were without starter Logan Premtaj) by winning all but four of the 15 first half faceoffs.

Today was officially the first day that Penn would be able to practice with coaches. Penn made up for the lack of practice time by hitting anything that was blue and gold moving on the field. Many late hits after shots and goals but only two were called. Unfortunately, the Hens didn’t cash in on the man-ups that came from these calls.

The Quakers started the scoring early in the game with an unassisted goal by Gabe Furey to go up 1-0. UD responded with three straight goals by Tye Kurtz, one assisted by Jason Kolar, one unassisted and the other assisted by JP Ward. Penn closed out the first quarter with unassisted goals by Dylan Gergar and Sam Handley to tie things up at 3-3. Gergar launched at least 8 shots in the first half. If he had a inch he would launch. A terrific shooter.

Handley opened up the second quarter with an unassisted crank from up top to take a 4-3 lead. But this lead was short lived as Mike Robinson scored two consecutive goals, the second assisted by Kurtz to take the lead back 5-4. Tye Kurtz extended the lead with an unassisted goal to get to 6-4. Dylan Gergar scored a beautiful goal on a Handley assist to close the score to 6-5. The final two goals of the half came from JP Ward on a nice lefty wrap around goal and a back hander by Tye Kurtz after a loose ball scrum to end the half Hens up 8-5.

Stats from first half with starters - UD - Kurtz 5 goals 1 assist, Mike Robinson 2 goals, JP Ward 1 goal, 1 assist, Jason Kolar 1 asst. Penn- Handley 2 goals, 1 assist, Furey 1 goal, Gergar 2 goals.

Both team pulled starters in the second half and I departed the freezing cold stadium after the Penn backups outscored the UD backups 3-2 in the third quarter. For Hen fans, freshman lefty attackman Finn Morgan scored both goals. He is going to be an All CAA player one day for sure.

Overall, both goalies were terrific, Matt Kilkeary with 10 saves for the Hens and Emmet Carroll with 9 saves for the Quakers.

It was interesting that the Hens rarely poled Handley. They had SSDMs Reed Kurtz and John Scheivert rotate on him. A couple of times in the second quarter Owen Grant picked up Handley at midfield. I was really looking forward to that confrontation but Handley passed the ball off each time Grant covered him.

Not a lot to take from this scrimmage other than the Hens are two weeks ahead of Penn as far as preparation. Penn is a tremendously physical team with a boatload of talent. I was really impressed with their close defense, particularly with Till and Lavelle who are both EXTREMELY physical. They both remind me a lot of Beaudan Szulak at Hopkins – on the fringe of violent but in control.

Penn will have plenty of time to tighten up the loose ends before opening up against Georgetown in two weeks. Hens open up @ Lafayette on the 11th. Should be a good season for both teams. Who knows? Maybe they will meet again in early May?

Great write-up, as usual, Henpecked. Thanks for sharing your observations and good luck to your Blue Hens this season.

[10stone5]

Hens may not have gotten the schedule everyone, or even they
wanted this year, but there are still some good tests,

the middle portion of this schedule especially, Villanova, Michigan, UMBC, Hopkins — and definitely it helps to play a team
like Penn, even if its just a scrimmage.

[10stone5]

IL says Hens in the Final Four

Casey Vock: Virginia, Maryland, Georgetown, Delaware
As formidable as the Ivy League is, there's still sensibility in imagining this scenario, which would include a team that everyone knows is a strong contender to crash this party thanks to outstanding players coming into their own on both ends of the field.

[Henpecked]

Hens kick off 2023 in Easton, PA this weekend as they face Lafayette College for the first time in nine years. Delaware has played the Leopards 41 times between 1950 and 2014 and have accumulated a 40-1 record over those 64 years.

Lafayette coach Pat Myers is coming off a disappointing ’22 season when his young team went 4-11 scoring just over 12 goals a game. Scoring 12 goals a game is usually good enough to win closer to half of your games. Unfortunately, the Leopards had a porous defense that allowed 14.7 goals a game. Lafayette started out this year with another less-than-stellar defensive effort, giving up 21 goals to an improved Penn State squad in the opener.

What to expect?
The Hens should get a lot of opportunities to score. Leopard’s goalie Joe Doherty got shelled by Penn State facing 36 shots while making 15 saves (42%). There was a significant disparity in possessions as well. The Leopards sent out three different players to take faceoffs and achieved about the same results from each, winning just 31% of the draws (11 for 35).

That said, Lafayette also got off a ton of shots (42) and scored 11 goals against a pretty good Penn State defense. Junior Peter Lehman is a high-volume shooter at attack who scored 34 goals along with 20 assists last year to lead the Leopards. He went 1-10 this past weekend, so I am sure that like any goal scorer coming off a bad day, he is going to keep shooting. The other two junior attackmen who have contributed in the past are Charlie Cunniffe (20g 19a) and Kalman Kraham (28g 10a).

This young team played hard against the Nittany Lions last week and caused 12 turnovers and had 38 groundballs (versus 46 for PSU) while getting smoked on faceoffs. So I would expect a very energetic effort from them. Lafayette tries to play fast, so they are prone to mistakes which included unbelievably poor clearing (22 for 33). This led to 20 turnovers, which is a lot (not Hofstra numbers, but close).

The weather is expected to be in the mid-40s with some rain, so it might be an ugly first game for the Hens.

Hens were missing Logan Premtaj (FOGO) and Drew Lenkaitis (midfield) this past week in the scrimmage against Penn. This means we will probably get to see how the Hens depth (or lack thereof) at the faceoff circle will help/hinder the Hen’s chances for a successful season. Transfer OJ Morris and senior Roland Hockenberry will most likely take the majority of draws. Lenkaitis was dressed for the Penn scrimmage, so hopefully he was just being rested as a precaution.

I would expect the Hens to score in the high teens in this game with contributions from the usual suspects (Mike Robinson, Tye Kurtz and JP Ward). But I also think we will see some new faces contributing at midfield. I think Coach DeLuca will lead with Nick Jessen, Drew Lenkaitis and Clay Miller on the first midfield. The second midfield has a bunch of options that include any combination of Matt and Cam Acchione, Brendan Powers, Jason Kolar and perhaps Riar Schell or Brooks Bond.

Defense looked really good against Penn with Owen Grant, Tate Wasson and Kevin Lynch starting at close D, Jason Seiter, Harrison Ewing, Aiden Fritz, John Scheivert and Reed Kurtz at SSDM and Kevin McCormick and Joe Speers at LSM. Matt Kilkeary was terrific in net last week vs Penn with 10 first half saves.

We shall see if the Hens can get out to a fast start this season. With the schedule they have put together, the only chance they have for a return to the NCAAs is winning the CAA. So these out-of-conference games are critical to building skills and confidence.

[Henpecked]

Not a lot to write about after the Hens first victory of the year. As expected, it was not much of a contest up in Easton PA on Saturday. The Hens took a 12-2 lead into the 4th quarter and began to sprinkle in some back-ups till the final horn, winning 14-5.

The biggest thing of interest was that Owen Grant left the field early in the third quarter after a caused turnover and didn't return. Nick Cowan, the sophomore from Carey HS filled in for him nicely over the last 20 minutes or so. I have heard it is nothing serious, so we will assume that he will be back in action over the next couple of weeks.

The other thing that was interesting was the substitution patterns that DeLuca had for running midfields. It was tough to figure out who was running with who for awhile. He started Nick Jessen, Clay Miller and Drew Lenkaitis. All of them played well but Miller got stonewalled four times on inside shots. DeLuca also ran, Matt and Cam Acchione with Brendan Powers and Jason Kolar. It was nice to see Brendan Powers get his first goal of the year. He looks amazingly like his dad out there except for the left-handed shooting. Powers is super quick and has a canon for a shot.

Tye Kurtz did what he always does, score goals. He had five goals and 1 assist. Mike Robinson played a very controlled game and finished with 2 goals and two assists. The offense overall looked a little tight with a lot of one-on-one. Only six of fourteen goals were assisted. I assume most players were trying to break the ice with their first goal of the season, but, when the ball was moving quickly, the Hens had their pick of open shots.

Matt Kilkeary was terrific and made some really spectacular saves (12 saves on the day, giving up only 5 goals). Defense was solid. They played man defense predominantly and rarely needed to slide. Good positioning for the most part and completely shut out Lafayette's top scorer Peter Lehman.

Onto Mt. St. Mary's on Wednesday.

As an aside, I listened to Terry Foy's podcast today and he thought the Hens were not going to have a good season, because he doesn't see them playing with the same urgency they had at the end of last year. Game one was "meh" to me. This schedule really works against UD because they will not face a winning team for another two weeks with a Sunday game against Villanova on February 26th. Meanwhile, Nova will have faced Penn State and Yale leading up to that game. I am hoping that UD will pick up the pace a little against MSM Wednesday and St. John's on Saturday. We shall see.

[10stone5]

IL can whine all they like.

Suddenly, after this weekend, the Hens schedule doesn’t look
so bad - Hopkins, Villanova, Michigan looked good against UVA.

Things are wide open this year, the Terps and Hoyas went down.

It was bound to happen to the consistent top xx teams as
5th year covid year players and transfers dwindled - not
nearly as many for top xx teams to stockpile.
The talent differences are not so dramatic.

[gymman1031]

Wow! JP Ward is looking like a serious HIGH-UP All-American candidate!

[Henpecked]

UD did not look great yesterday versus an opponent that was only able to get 10 shots on goal all day. The defense looked great overall. Tough to pick out any real problems when you only give up 6 goals in a midweek game on the road. But if I was being nitpicky I would say that Kilkeary did not have his best game, making just 4 saves on 10 shots. Nearly all of the MSM goals were scored by middies on alley dodges or sweeping shots up top. Maybe he was screened? I couldn't tell.

The Hens offense is still a real work in progress. DeLuca is sending out various combinations at midfield with mixed results. Cam Acchione looked great scoring 3 goals by cutting off ball and making pinpoint shots throughout the day. And Tye Kurtz did what Tye Kurtz does, score goals (3g 1a). JP Ward was terrific dishing from X but also taking his defender to the hole (4g 4a). And Nick Jessen continues to find open space and get off quality shots inside (shooting 3 for 6 on the year).

But the real problem on offense was turnovers. The Hens had 23 really bad turnovers. Some were just bad passes that sailed way over a teammate's head. But the rest of the turnovers happened when the Hens held onto the ball too long against poles. Last year the Hens had a lot of success rotating the ball on offense till they got the matchup they wanted, similar to the success they had yesterday when taking shorties to the hole and drawing a slide or shooting an open shot. But the MSM poles were playing a super-aggressively and pushing out on defense which led to 9 penalties. But this tactic also led to them accumulating 17 caused turnovers.

If the Hens have 23 turnovers against Villanova 10 days from now, it will be game over. They will need to play more fluidly on offense and value possession against the better teams they will be facing soon. I am sure that DeLuca is working it out. Midweek games can be a drag sometimes. Onto St. John's.

Oh yeah, the Hens won 15-6. So I should stop bitching.

[10stone5]

Hens first two games were just fine.

Nothing wrong at all with sandbagging

[Henpecked]

This Sunday the Hens get their first real test of the season when they face Villanova at noon in Newark. UD is 11-14 all-time against Nova but have lost four straight to the Wildcats, including three straight that haven’t been close games.

What to expect from Nova

For the past three meetings Villanova has really controlled the games by winning face-offs and getting great goaltending from lefty Will Vitton, beating UD by a combined 54-32 score. The faceoff disparity has been a daunting challenge for the Hens to overcome with Justin Coppola (Garden City) winning 67 of 97 draws (69%) in the three contests. This led to a ton more possessions for Nova who outshot the Hens 82 to 71 in the three contests. But most importantly, Vitton stopped 55% of the Delaware shots, while a combination of Hen goalies stopped just 34% of the Nova shots. In 2020, the Hens goalies stopped three shots while allowing 19 goals [GASP!]. So, with Logan Premtaj still on the mend, the Hens will rely heavily on an improved Roland Hockenberry (68%) to try to fend off the crafty Coppola from dominating at the faceoff X.

The Wildcats play a super-aggressive defense and deploy a ten-man ride to apply pressure throughout the game. In their first two games against Penn State and Yale they have averaged 12.5 caused turnovers, which is a lot. At the same time, Nova has struggled to clear the ball themselves with just a 74% success rate this season. That is atrocious. By comparison the Hens are clearing at a 91% rate. Perhaps the Hens can get more possessions by applying an aggressive ride themselves? We shall see. Hens have not traditionally been a great riding team under DeLuca.

The majority of Nova’s offense will come from all-american Matt Campbell, burly attackman Patrick Daly, junior middie Matt Licata and graduate student Austin Frazer, who is finally getting an opportunity to start for the Wildcats. This is a big drop off from last year, when Nova started three terrific grad transfers in Brett Baskin (Hopkins), JP Basile (Duke) and Luke Keating (F&M) who combined for 152 points. That is not to say that Nova is not still dangerous on offense. They are averaging 14 goals a game against two very good teams.

What to expect from Delaware

The Hens have had a super-soft schedule to start the season and have looked middling to very good at times (BTW, St. John’s is a much better team under the tutelage of Kyle Turri). The biggest challenge for UD has been nagging injuries. As mentioned earlier, Premtaj has missed every game and they were missing top scorers Mike Robinson, Nick Jessen and Drew Lenkaitis in their last game. Robinson was replaced by freshman Finn Morgan at attack, while Brendan Powers and Riar Schell got more runs at midfield. They all played great last week, but these young Hens will be facing a lot more pressure against Nova on Sunday.

Game Outlook
The Hens will need a big effort from their defense to keep Campbell and company in check. The Wildcats have a bunch of snipers from outside but do not really have any speedy ankle breakers on attack. They move the ball efficiently on offense and always find the open man for the shot. If Hockenberry can get close to 50% at the faceoff and Kilkeary get close to 50% in goal, the Hens should have a very good chance for the win.

Hoping for the return of Robinson, Jessen and Lenkaitis on Sunday. But if not, as mentioned, the Hens really do have the depth to fill in at those spots. No need to rush anyone back for this non-conference match up. But it would be nice to beat Villanova. Been too long. Can’t wait.

[10stone5]

That’ll open some eyes if the Hens can pull this off with those
players sidelined,

just keep feeding Kurtz for those howitzers -
shoot at will !

[10stone5]

@ Henpecked

Post game wrap up on the Hens - Cats ?

[Henpecked]

The Hens one-goal loss to Villanova has changed nothing about this year’s prospects for a successful season. The Hens will have to win the CAA to get into the NCAA tourney regardless of this particular game’s outcome. That has always been the case.

The Hen’s toughest opponents will be ranked between 13th and 20th, at best, by year’s end (Villanova, Hopkins, UMBC), unless the Wildcats go on an unprecedented streak beating Penn and both Denver and Georgetown twice (could happen). Winning these games is no resume for an at-large bid, for a team playing in a weakened CAA conference this year. So, it was always CAA championship or bust with this squad, due to the trouble DeLuca had scheduling top 10 teams.

The game yesterday was only the second time I got to see the Hens play in person this year. As well as they played, they were definitely missing Mike Robinson and Drew Lenkaitis. Freshman Finn Morgan has done an awesome job filling in for Robinson these past two games with 6 goals and a couple assists. However, UD is really missing the physicality of Lenkaitis at midfield. The 6’ 3” 195 lb middie would have given the Hens an option to invert and take a Nova shorties (Chet Commizio or Stevie Jones) to X to free up JP Ward and Tye Kurtz on the wings for open snipes. Each time the Hens undersized middies inverted, they got manhandled by the Nova ssdms, with one exception, when Brendan Powers beat Jones for a goal on an inside move with his right hand.

It sounds like a terrible excuse for the loss, but the bottom line is these teams were so closely matched that any number of factors could have contributed to the Hen’s one-goal loss.

The Good
The re-born Roland Hockenberry was awesome at the faceoff x winning 14 of 29 draws against the diminutive Nova FOGO Justin Coppola. Matt Kilkeary was a wall in goal for the Hens making 15 incredible saves, including three outstanding kick saves against All-American Matt Campbell. Tye Kurtz continues to shoot and score (4 g 2a) in an insanely efficient manner (shooting at 47%). The freshman lefty Finn Morgan has a cannon and is shooting at a 43% success rate (3 for 7 yesterday). Owen Grant had 4 caused turnovers but looked to be playing a little gimpy yesterday. He left the game for a couple of minutes in the fourth quarter and was spelled by sophomore Nick Cowen.

The Bad (not that bad)
While the Hens had just 16 turnovers on the day, they were a little careless with possessions. Villanova used the full shot clock for nearly all their possessions and generally got off good shots. Delaware hurried some possessions and took quick shots with very little chance of success at two or three critical junctures of the game. They were looking for juice goals but often ended up defending for another 80 seconds on the other end of the field.

One-on-one defense was overall very good for the Hens. However, the Wildcats scored seven unassisted goals when the Hens were either late to slide or didn’t slide at all. Maybe that was part of the defensive scheme, but when they lost the 1v1 battle, it was almost always a score. Something to work on.

Ultimately the Hens lost a good game to a very good opponent who outgroundballed the Hens 44-38. That doesn’t sound like a crazy margin, but in a one-goal game those extra possessions mean everything. Nova seemed to win most of those critical 50/50 battles towards the end of the game.

On Terry Foy’s podcast today he talked about young teams needing to learn how to win. The Hens are putting some young players out there every week filling in for injured vets. I think this game will go a long way in helping those players understand the value of hard-fought groundballs and possessions. Razor thin margin yesterday. Unfortunately, the good guys were on the losing end. Onto Michigan. Can’t wait.

[10stone5]

Hockenberry‘s comeback at faceoff, definitely a positive,

the two freshmen Morgan and Powers - that’ll help long term
depth wise should everyone return to health,

Owen Grant, not his best game, though early on his play against Campbell was good - and also the 4 caused turnovers.