LaxPower Back-Up Stick

I’m just going to file this one away in that dark, foreboding place that no one ever mentions again and focus on the future.

Coach Petro and his boys have a lot of work to do. Think this team still has a lot of promise, but the playoffs essentially begin next week for the Blue Jays. If they don’t ramp up their performance exponentially in the next few weeks, they could easily start out 0-5.

DocBarrister

DougELax wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 2:00 pm Ouch! Didn't see much positive to take out of this one.

The jerseys looked good. Went downhill once they took the field.

Blue Jays’ offense had a tough time dealing with the physicality of Nadalen’s D (welcome to the Big Show Joey Epstein). If they had trouble with Towson’s defense, what is Loyola’s aggressive D going to do to them

DocBarrister

flalax22 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 1:10 pm I think Darby will be fine. F/O and midfield are terrible. The mids are getting completely pushed around. What happens when the midfield faces teams in the ACC?

I think Petro and Dwan should work in haste to convert some of those big 6 ft + freshmen offensive midfielders into SDDMs. Would add more size on D; wouldn’t always have to run off the field on O; could generate more transition offense; and maybe more physical toughness in the middle of the field.

Couldn’t have been worse than what we saw today.

DocBarrister

HopFan16 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 2:08 pm
Boneheaded clearing aside, Darby looked fine as a shot-stopper. This loss was not on him.

No idea why Zinn didn't play till the second half. Our munchkins at the midfield are getting worked and you've got a big, fast, athletic dude just sitting on the bench. This is what he was recruited for. The second he was put in, he provided a spark in transition on the assist to Cattoni. He should be running on the first midfield and could be an asset in games like these against fast, tough teams.

Bingo on Darby and Zinn. I would add goal aside, Cattoni was a disaster.

Just makes no sense to me that you recruit all these big athletic kids and then don't play any of them—especially in a game that you KNOW is going to be physical.

In the brief minutes he played, Zinn looked like the third best SSDM and the biggest asset in the transition game, which was virtually nonexistent. If it were up to me I'd be looking to turn him into a Goodrich/Conrad type. The Jays did not look comfortable with the new rules. A whole offseason to prepare and they're still letting the clock run down to 40 before the ball starts moving.

HopFan16 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 2:08 pm Throw it away and light it on fire. We're onto Loyola.

good luck. they look ok.

DocBarrister wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 2:22 pm Blue Jays’ offense had a tough time dealing with the physicality of Nadalen’s D (welcome to the Big Show Joey Epstein).

And welcome to the Big Show Jake Lily who got lit up in his only run that I saw. Credit to that young man for going to the cage with speed but he got smoked!

HopFan16 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 2:37 pm The Jays did not look comfortable with the new rules. A whole offseason to prepare and they're still letting the clock run down to 40 before the ball starts moving.

Also seemed to have a lot of problems with the new 20 second clearing rule. Lots of turnovers on sloppy passes.

HopFan16 wrote
The Jays did not look comfortable with the new rules. A whole offseason to prepare and they're still letting the clock run down to 40 before the ball starts moving.

Just a guess but I think these teams might learn to play without thinking about the clock, there's really no need to (yes, I realize you have to be aware of it but it's just no big deal) Even as a fan I found myself checking that clock out constantly, it was on my mind. When I'd look at the clock there was still plenty of time on it even though I felt as if it might be winding down. Was still 45 sec, 35 sec on the clock, which is still quite a bit of time. 80 seconds is a long time on a ball field, just play the game and get the clock out of your head, so to speak. We'll see what happens.

DocBarrister wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 2:31 pm

flalax22 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 1:10 pm I think Darby will be fine. F/O and midfield are terrible. The mids are getting completely pushed around. What happens when the midfield faces teams in the ACC?

I think Petro and Dwan should work in haste to convert some of those big 6 ft + freshmen offensive midfielders into SDDMs. Would add more size on D; wouldn’t always have to run off the field on O; could generate more transition offense; and maybe more physical toughness in the middle of the field.

Couldn’t have been worse than what we saw today.

DocBarrister

The sample I have seen so far suggest that box to box middies are more important now. Converted attackmen may have trouble in ride / clear game. Really a problem defensively.

Has the student become the master

Nadelen has the kids from the Maryland Normal School playing tough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=073Nqf83LS0

Losing GBs 43-18 goes hand in hand with losing 21 of 28 FOs. Both stats led to this disaster.

Utah, the only team west of the Mississippi I root for, just won their first game. I never thought they would have a better record than the Jays at this or any point in the season. This a good time to heed my signature quote.

wrote: Just makes no sense to me that you recruit all these big athletic kids and then don't play any of them—especially in a game that you KNOW is going to be physical.

Exactly why so many refuse to entertain an offer from JHU. Over recruit = undervalue each player. The players know they are just numbers.

They grow em big over there across the city line. Yowzers! What a drumming. At a point, one just becomes numb to it.

Didn’t see this one because I was at the blowout at the RAC, but I’m shocked to learn that Hopkins’ middies couldn’t match up again the athletes at Towson!

Good
Strong start.
Thot darby acquitted himself nicely and glad they let him go the 60.
There were 10 frosh/jrs/sophs getting heavy minutes for the first time. they'll grow and get better.
wells and shack will smile watching that pretty cole to epstein goal off the restart early. wild wild wells caused a lot of bad film sessions for rival programs with that act over the years.
did a nice job killing the 6-4 penalty
towson 0-4 on emo
thought lax sports network did a nice job. you can tell how hard these kids and young ppl who cover the game either in school like the schaeffer kid IL had last night or just out of school work online, tv, the college crosse blog. It's not pulitzer or emmy winning stuff but they work hard and hopefully bigger outlets are watching.

Bad
-No excuse for the defense, aside from the goalie those were all 3/4th year players back there and once towson made some changes they looked like amateurs. this was not a vaunted towson o entering this game and they made it look easy one on one.
-Deskos excuse on colgate last night was that it was a new coach+scheme+no tape on them to study. Woodall, sunday et al were veterans, these might have been new players for hop but there was years of tape on them that apparently wasn't watched.
-I mentioned penalties the other day and some got upset with me. Danny Jones, Williams both took early ones. can't have that.Jones is a captain, and he blew a clear or two as well.
-nothing from concannon, no middie has seen the field as much as him. Veterans are supposed to find ways to get points not disappear.
-towson made adjustments going into the second half and petro couldn't counter.


Whatever
-some of you hate IL, but Dixon's podcast interview with nadelen this week was really good. Nadelen sounds like he was interviewed at about 3am in the morning, but its really interesting with the frank and direct way he talks about woodall calling him "an immature young man (earlier in his college career)"-that's a direct quote and discussing the progress he made and how he developed. There's a lot of whining about how hard fans are on players, but listen to the way the coach talks publicly about one of his key players struggles and how he got it turned around. Kudos to those unnamed towson alums who worked with him.

Really, the game was beyond depressing. To not be competitive from the 2nd through the 4th quarters. Where was Foley? Where was Jones? Zero GBs and zero CTs. In their defense, the defense was left out to degrade by Towson’s overwhelming possession edge.

Hoponboard wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 5:17 pm Really, the game was beyond depressing. To not be competitive from the 2nd through the 4th quarters. Where was Foley? Where was Jones? Zero GBs and zero CTs. In their defense, the defense was left out to degrade by Towson’s overwhelming possession edge.

Towson smartly gameplanned away from Foley. They attacked our shorties and when they realized Colwell couldn't cover Sunday, they attacked Colwell. Foley didn't have much of an opportunity to cause any turnovers. Jones, though, did not have a good game.

And, you said it, it's tough to play defense over and over with no breaks. Faceoff unit and offense didn't do our D any favors. Doesn't let them off the hook, but they were set up to fail.

If I was going to try to identify anything to be excited about moving forward it's that Forry Smith definitely looks a step quicker. First goal was off a nice cut inside and the second was off a dodge. He already tied his goal total from last year in one game. We'll need him to be a reliable scoring option at the midfield. Williams also looked like he's been working on his passing a bit.

If our guys can their shots, Epstein would have had 2 or 3 more assists. He got a rude welcome to D1 from a dodging perspective (although, he did beat Goodrich once on a rollback, and should have made his shot, which just missed) but his vision was fully on display at X. Some on-point skip passes through the defense.

Looking at the box score now, the 2nd quarter says it all. Jays were out-shot 17-4, turned it over 6 times, failed 2 clears, lost FOs 6-2. And you're never going to have a chance to get back in the game when you're losing every faceoff.

Loyola spanked UVA today. They're looking like a top 5 team again. On the bright side, we (theoretically) shouldn't be dominated so thoroughly at the faceoff dot again.