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To my eye, Jack Ruddy's getting little if any playtime. Anyone know why?

Matnum PI wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 12:41 pm To my eye, Jack Ruddy's getting little if any playtime. Anyone know why?

Because you can't play four defensemen? Smith-Mazzone-Szuluk is the starting trio. Ruddy filled in admirably for Szuluk when he was hurt the first month of the season but with Szuluk back in his role, he's now the man-down specialist. They're finding ways for him to contribute but at the end of the day you can only start three. Two of those three are All-Americans and the third is the defensive captain.

HopFan16 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:13 pm Because you can't play four defensemen.. Two of those three are All-Americans and the third is the defensive captain.

Says something. Ruddy is a talented kid and he's #4. JHU is doing something right...

the 3rd Q vs Ohio State was the best I've seen Hop play in years on both sides of the ball.

A true motion offense by John Crawley
there wee times when they had 3 men behind goal, there were times when they had 4 men on the crease. This is not a vanilla offense, the important thing is all these men were in motion.

they had the OSU defenders' heads spinning, not just the 7-0 run but other chances created when players got lost in the wash and were wide open. The individual skills and speed of ball movement required to execute such an offense were on display in abundance, if Hopkins can replicate this with any consistency they can be a match for anyone.

No Smurf Defense
Hop played with speed and aggression forcing multiple caused turnovers then winning the first time GBs and clearing effectively creating transition. This Hop defense is athletic aggressive and fast

OSU didn't know which way was up, allowing straight runs to goal with no slide off a basic clear thru off a high wing dodge

The best part of this No Names offense is it is difficult to scout

interesting times with the B10 Championship at Homewood

Matnum PI wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 12:41 pm To my eye, Jack Ruddy's getting little if any playtime. Anyone know why?

I would say the biggest reasons are Ruddy unfortunately got banged up and that allowed for the emergence of Carson Brown as a future star. Given that Ruddy is almost exclusively a close D - Mazzone/Brown give you more optionality and maybe we're seeing the beginnings of what was hoped for with Kaufman who has all the physical tools.

HopFan16 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 11:19 am The weather doesn't favor anyone. That said, if there's a lightning delay, at least now it won't be the Jays' first rodeo.

Quint's interview with Crawley was pretty interesting. He has glowing things to say about the senior class/grad students and the leadership on the team. It sounds like a healthy, competitive culture where everyone is fully bought in. Not saying it will happen this year but that's the foundation you need to start making Final Fours again.

06 always cries that there is no local lax coverage. Well, Melendez was just on Glenn Clark Radio, Fox Baltimore did a feature from practice with interviews with PM, Degnon, and Mazzone, PressBox has a new interview with Marcille, Quint had Crawley on his podcast, Coach Harbaugh is at Cordish showing off his second-bar syndrome, and even our old pal Mike Preston is covering the team in the Sun again.

correct amigo. the kids have worked hard with the financial support of many of you and they and PM deserve all the resources the states largest employer after the state can give them. There's a happy narrative to engage the alumni, student body, recruits and community with and it should be put on full blast.

Long interview with PM on the Dixon/Flynn IL podcast this morning. Fair amount of coach speak, nothing particular controversial or surprising to my ear, but he seemed to me to have said most of the right things. Good discussion of the schedule and the reasons for doing it the way they did (i.e. RPI), including a clear statement that playing bad teams (even if you beat the snot out of them) is affirmatively a negative to RPI. Also a fair amount of praise for both the current captains and the current seniors. His discussion of the current seniors was particularly interesting in that he brought up both covid and the coaching change. Reading between the lines, seems like things were rocky in 21. Good news is that it seems, including based on on-field performance this year, that everyone is bought in and gets along. I'd guess a new and genuine culture has formed about the team. Also a good acknowledgment from PM about the quality of the athletic department as a whole.

I left feeling pretty good about PM, the staff and the direction of the program as a whole. Curious as to what others think.

Predictions for Saturday evening? I have one:

The winner wins by no more than two goals.

1. Can Maryland clean up the turnovers? The Terps posted 20 turnovers last weekend against Rutgers, their second highest mark of the season. Eight of them came during the final period when Maryland was playing keep-away, which resulted in the Scarlet Knights making the game closer than it should have been.

https://www.testudotimes.com/2023/4/21/ ... ns-preview

Weather for College Park MD
Tomorrow 04/22 100% / 0.84 in
Cloudy skies during the morning hours followed by thunderstorms in the afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 77F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%.

The Rivalry
https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... alry/61252

JHU-UMD Preview
https://youtu.be/gAyXasV2exQ

JHU69 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 21, 2023 5:13 pm JHU-UMD Preview
https://youtu.be/gAyXasV2exQ

I think that was Deans stretching behind PM. No cast, but a splint-looking kind of thing on his right hand.

Yes that was clearly Deans.

So it looks like the die is cast - beat Maryland and you get to watch Maryland play Rutgers in College Park next Saturday and then you get the winner of that game. Lose tonight and you get to see the Scarlet Knights in Baltimore again and need to win that one to see Maryland a second time.

Fracyon was incredible last night - if I could have one player from any other BIG team it might be him. Maybe its the creamery or something but Penn State typically gets very good goalie play.

Hourly weather forecast for CP is not great for fans or starting the game on time - hopefully the thrunderstorms roll out sooner than later and the teams can warm up and start at 6 - would have been quite something to see this at the old Byrd Stadium grass field - worn down by constant use - it it had to have a game with 3/4" of rain. Of course the old Homewood dustbowl would have been worse.

51percentcorn wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 8:02 am Yes that was clearly Deans.

So it looks like the die is cast - beat Maryland and you get to watch Maryland play Rutgers in College Park next Saturday and then you get the winner of that game. Lose tonight and you get to see the Scarlet Knights in Baltimore again and need to win that one to see Maryland a second time.

Fracyon was incredible last night - if I could have one player from any other BIG team it might be him. Maybe its the creamery or something but Penn State typically gets very good goalie play.

Hourly weather forecast for CP is not great for fans or starting the game on time - hopefully the thrunderstorms roll out sooner than later and the teams can warm up and start at 6 - would have been quite something to see this at the old Byrd Stadium grass field - worn down by constant use - it it had to have a game with 3/4" of rain. Of course the old Homewood dustbowl would have been worse.

When a pebble would re-direct a worm-burner.

According to Maryland's live stats, Kaufman is in goal, Glassmeyer, Wong, and Marcille are starting on attack, and Grimes is starting on defense. A bit non-traditional to tinker with the lineup so much this late in the season, but I respect it.

Stick em Jays.

HopFan16 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 5:45 pm According to Maryland's live stats, Kaufman is in goal, Glassmeyer, Wong, and Marcille are starting on attack, and Grimes is starting on defense. A bit non-traditional to tinker with the lineup so much this late in the season, but I respect it.

Stick em Jays.

bauer now on first midfield.

interesting.

Evans, McDermott and English bringing back memories of the Smurf midfield.

terps winning gbs, faceoffs, clears, assisted goals.

marcille's en fuego.