Cornell 2019

[faircornell]

I agree with your assessment, Joe Willie. It's an important game, and a good opportunity to get to the next level of execution.

[laxjuris]

Horrendous half offensively, as we lead 4-2 after 2Q. Dartmouth goalie has gotten into our heads, and Dartmouth D is playing well.

On the plus side our D and Ierlan have played well. Certainly the game is still up for grabs.

[CU77]

Both goalies playing extremely well. Big Green looking better than I have seen them in years.

[RedIvy]

Dartmouth D doing well cutting down inside looks.

[MDlaxfan76]

Both goalies playing extremely well. Big Green looking better than I have seen them in years.

Yes, but my Big Green has 18 TO's in just the first half, just 50% in clearing.

Both goalies having huge games.

[CU77]

C'mon Md, this is a glass-half-full situation for your guys! Cornell is not taking advantage of those opportunities …

EDIT: OK, now they are … On the other hand, Dartmouth's 3rd goal was a thing of beauty ...

[laxjuris]

Dartmouth’s defense has been pretty structured and no one from Cornell has really been able to beat his man.

[MDlaxfan76]

C'mon Md, this is a glass-half-full situation for your guys! Cornell is not taking advantage of those opportunities …

EDIT: OK, now they are … On the other hand, Dartmouth's 3rd goal was a thing of beauty ...

Ohh, I'm pleased with the way they battle and the courageous goaltending, but the TO's are crushing.
Time of possession is brutal.

They can play with most teams for a half, but eventually they wear down.
But they do battle, so I'm proud of the effort.

A couple of key injuries on the defensive end and a very, very young squad overall.
Need a FOGO, two coming next year.

[VeryRustyRed]

W or not, much of the game was pretty ugly lacrosse. And in all due respect to Dartmouth, who is definitely improving, they are still a bad D1 team. So why the Conrell malaise? There are 3 possibilities:
1) Cornell played "down" to the competition (not an infrequent phenomenon in on-paper mismatches)
2) Cornell has not recovered psychologically from the giveaway to Penn...and most important, to its ramifications (given road games with Syracuse and ND + a pick'em home game against Princeton), it's very unlikely they will get an at-large bid. And if they unexpectedly drop a game to Harvard or Brown, even worse.
3) The team has retrogressed.

A few salient observations:
-Raz did not dominate like I thought he would against a sub-35% opposing FOGO. He did not play in the 2nd half and could be hurt. Tria did very well, though Dartmouth changed strategy after he won multiple draws cleanly; they conceded the clamp and played the body. Effectively. He needs to adjust.
Defense:
-Salvatore definitely stabilizes close, but the move really weakens the d-midfield play. Bartolotta works hard, but is nowhere near as fast, quick, or good with his stick. Nice to see Batson get some PT. Why not Adler...again?
-Karey got quite a bit of PT; unfortunately on a monitor, I could not see who he was in for. No Fields today. A review of Penn's last goal will tell you why. I do believe, however, he has lots of potential.
Offense:
-Very sloppy 1st half for Teat. Very sloppy 1st half for the entire O.
-Not to be redundant, but while Fletcher doesn't score many goals, he's the most important middie on the team. The attention he gets always draws slides and creates openings/opportunities.
-Love to see Telesco get more PT & "44" get on the field.
-The first 2 minutes of the game was...bordering on comedic.

[another fan]

Dartmouth is definitely moving in the right direction, they play hard, and have a great goalie. In addition to a fogo, they need a couple more weapons.This makes it harder to evaluate Cornell's only giving up 5 goals. Salvatore played great again, and his move back to close has helped. Tarbell has been playing solidly and he and Bardwell are an effective short stick pair. Things seem to get hairy when Buczek and Bray are out there. Another very strong performance from Ierlan.

Offense was very sluggish and sloppy in the first half, but much improved in the second. Nice to see McCulloch finding his stroke, and the whole first midfield played well. We got a little production from the second line, but need more.

In the league, Princeton looked impressive against Denver, but was upset by Brown today. Yale and Penn are tied in the third.

[laxjuris]

I thought Teat had perhaps his worst half at Cornell in the 1st half, but he bounced back with a much better performance in the 2nd half.

Ierlan was very good, which was important with the game close until midway through the 3rd quarter. Defense played a sound game, but Dartmouth does not seem to have many true threats.

Tria had a very nice effort, and his ability to get Cornell possessions really helped when the offense was struggling.

Overall a pretty uneven performance, but the good news is the Red finished strong.

[joewillie78]

OK, first, FINALLY pretty nice weather and got to see T-Burger again in the stands.

First half, even though very sloppy with many unforced errors on BOTH sides, it was still dominated by Cornell but the Dartmouth goalie was literally standing on his head and stopping just about everything, especially mid level to high shots. If not for him, the score at half could have easily been more like 10-2.

2nd half, really just the same, except the Dartmouth goalie cooled and shots he was stopping in the 1st half were finding the back of the net in the 2nd half.

Chayse was seeing the ball really well, and the 5 goals he let in were basically unsaveable and he made many difficult saves look easy. I think his confidence continues to grow with each game.

McColluch looked like his old self, and seemed more ready to shoot anytime he got a chance. Teat, whenever he had a shortie on him was a complete mismatch, as Jeff just dominated when those opportunities presented themselves. Salvatore anywhere he plays is a force and right now, I believe we need him much more on Close D. Wallace was also very solid today.

Also, I know they like to play physical but they do sometimes take very uneccessary penalties, but their penalty kill is solid, probably a function of alot of chances.

Look, it wasnt pretty, way too many unforced errors and turnovers and penalties, but as usual, the offense was dominant, the X was better, close D and Goalie awesome.

They still have yet to play that game where you go WOW, that was a great game, so lets hope with 5 VERY important games, and 2 (ND and CUSE) on the road, where a win against either of those teams would really enhance our resume, that they find that something where all the facets come together. They are there, but it seems that we cant put all of them together in the same game.

Huge game in Cambridge next week.

GOBIGRED
Joewillie78

[Trumansburger]

OK, first, FINALLY pretty nice weather and got to see T-Burger again in the stands.

Good to see you too joewillie. Don't need to look at the box score stats to know what an ugly win it was. But a nice spring day and now we move on to Harvard, winners of 5 of last 6, and with 10 days to prepare for the Big Red on their home field.

Good to see teams that we beat winning:

Hobart
Albany
Lehigh
Towson

Go Big Red!

[faircornell]

I watched the replay fearing to see the ghost of Fergus Campbell threatening our hopes for a meaningful season. My thoughts are below:

1. While I agree it was a slow start, Dartmouth has a disciplined, organized and physical team. I am sure that there was some confidence that needed to be rebuilt, but this wasn't the "play the reserves in the 2nd quarter and don't shoot" Dartmouth mismatch of the past.

2. Ierland looked extremely good in net. Our defense seemed to have an improved "look", with fewer "doorstep" goal opportunities for the opposition. Also, the D seemed to "slough in" more appropriately. My view had been that we were tiring ourselves out by chasing ball carriers too far out, and thus over-committing.

3. The Offense really got its mojo back in the second half. Jeff Teat certainly still "has it". He made some really nice plays. Also, the strength and conditioning work that the team has done is evident in its fourth quarter resurgence.

4. Jake McCulloch seemed to be back in-form, which was great to see.

5. The key item from my perspective is that following two disappointing losses that the team is continuing to work on improving performance, and did't let the possibly sub-optimal first half discourage them.

6. The Harvard away game will be a test. There are no "easy" Ivy games this year, and Notre Dame and Syracuse will be significant challenges.

Hats off to the team and the coaching staff for a lot of positive outcomes today.

[RedIvy]

I agree, Dartmouth is improving and I thought their defensive strategy of limiting slides to limit doorstep assists was a solid approach against a team gifted at that.

Having said that, For me it’s hard to draw any conclusions on our game over game improvement from yesterday.

I do agree with some of the personnel moves but just not sure why it took so long for coaching staff to adjust, similar to goal earlier this year. An earlier move on defensive personnel IMO could have changed the outcome of at least one of our losses. I really like our coaching staff and for now attributing this to youth and inexperience.

I would like to see others rotate in on second line midfield and wonder if there is a better alternative to 33 rotating in at SSD although he seemed to be used much more sparingly yesterday.

Also I did seeJake McCulloch confidence start to come back, this can be a difference maker down the stretch.

[VeryRustyRed]

Brown is 2 - 0 in the Ivies. Princeton is a surprising 0 - 3.
Yale and Penn are ILT locks.
...To refer to this week's game vs. Harvard as a "must" is understatement.

As for at an at-large bid, Cornell plays Syracuse in Syracuse on Tuesday - short rest.
For several years, Syracuse played a typically tough Princeton game on the Saturday prior to its Tuesday night game vs. Cornell. Last year, Syracuse did not play on Saturday, so they had a week to prepare. I see that Syracuse is once again, not playing this Saturday. They will be loaded for bear (sorry for the pun) in the Dome on Tuesday, especially given last year's NCAA loss to Cornell. The game will be a tough order.

In Quint's top 20 poll this week, he has an interested stat in his Cornell comments. He factored out St. Bony and Dartmouth...and has Cornell giving up 16+ goals per game. Hmmm. Ironically, very questionable defense or not, if Cornell doesn't give away the Penn game, they would have only two losses, ranked...probably 5th, and cruising.

"Would have, could have, should have"...bottom line is that the boys need to beat Harvard.

[Charlie Don't Surf]

VRR: I assume you mean "Yale and Penn (not Princeton) are locks" for the ILT. I think Princeton has a very uphill battle at 0-3 in league play.

[RedIvy]

While I agree with Quints comments, I find it typical of him given the opportunity to rank us above or below 2 teams we beat he chooses below.

Will be flying during this Saturday’s game, hoping for decent internet to watch or worse case listen to the game.

As others have said, a must win.

Go Big Red!

[faircornell]

I know that Quint is simply trying to be provocative, but I looked at the math (ex St. B. and Dartmouth) and Cornell is giving up 14.7 goals per game. Quint's analysis may exclude Towson or Lehigh as games when the Big Red had a keg of beer on the sidelines (he calls certain, unidentified games "keggy").
While the point he's trying to make is well taken, 3 losses to top-5ish teams might not merit such acerbic commentary. Personally, I liked the defensive improvements that I saw against Dartmouth. I hope that we can use them to generate a few key April victories.

[Chousnake]

While I agree with Quints comments, I find it typical of him given the opportunity to rank us above or below 2 teams we beat he chooses below.

Will be flying during this Saturday’s game, hoping for decent internet to watch or worse case listen to the game.

As others have said, a must win.

Go Big Red!

I know it is not important where QK ranks Cornell, but to rank Cornell behind Towson and Lehigh with the only three losses being to three of the top five teams is somewhat absurd. Quint's alma mater was awarded NCAA bids and high seeds for years based solely on SOS and losses to top teams.