LaxPower Back-Up Stick

Two common opponents, 2 wins for each team although Orange in much more convincing manor than the Red. Syracuse won the FO battle in each, Cornell lost both.

But It’s all about match ups and execution, both individual and overall. Both teams have had their ups and downs this season with time to make mid season adjustments.

Many great games in the dome, can’t forget 2007 ending with Max Seibald goal with 5 seconds left that became the top play of the day on sports center.

Credit to Syracuse for a thorough butt kicking. Fletcher, Piatelli, Bray and especially Ierlan played well. Nothing much else to like. We need a very different outing against ND.
LGR

Very disappointing

Sloppy play again

Bad slides - fwiw I still can’t figure out our slide package (and neither can the close D it seems)

Forced passes

Not prepared to play an aggressive defense

Bright spot - goalie play was great. Thought Bardwell was solid. Fletcher was good too

Need to dig deep against ND. They’re big and strong and excellent on GBs...

Out of the country so couldn’t watch broadcast but sounded like the orange just completely out played the Red in every part of the game except in goal with nice play from Ierlan.

Disappointed with the effort which puts us out of at large contention and to be honest with ourselves the only way this team deserves an NCAA bid is by winning the ILT and to even have a shot at that need to get into the ILT which in my mind could go either way with how we are playing.

I know some others don’t agree but our issues start at a very important FO and then extend to defense, this weakness combination has proven way to difficult to overcome even with one of the best offenses in the country. We may overcome these challenges aggainst average opponents but just to much against top level teams.

Here’s hoping for a turnaround and miracle ILT....

Anyone who thought this was going to be a good match-up for Cornell either hasn't previously watched (objectively) Cornell or Syracuse play.
-The Orange D - too big/fast/aggressive/cohesive/well-coached. As I wrote last week, "a different world than Harvard."
-The Orange O - too quick/fast/and again...cohesive. Poor Wallace (more of a north-south cover guy) spent much of the game chasing Reyfuss. Cornell's D gets exposed by team speed; it matches up much better against a Towson profile. And its weakness is exacerbated by the loss of two-thirds of the face-offs. The guys simply get gassed; I'm sure Salvatore was.

Other:
-Ierlan was excellent. Most of the Syracuse's 10+ yard scores were hands-free step-ins. It looked like a shooting gallery at times.
-There were a lot of 50/50 face-off gb's. And Syracuse, seemingly, won almost everyone one. Uncanny. But that's been their "M.O." for years.
-I thought Syracuse's 6-on-6 D did a great job of clogging up our interior passing.
-Once again, the lack of a second 1st line middie dodger (other than Fletcher) jumps off the screen.
-I thought the 2nd middies looked pretty good. Licciardi looked really fast again this game.
-Duggan more than held his own at ss. With Tarbell's move to close, he should work his way into a regular rotation.
-I would have hoped that Raz would be more competitive at the X. It appeared that he spent much of the draws trying what I call a roll-the-dice rake rather than really competing for the clamp. I thought Tria did a better job in that respect.

This Sunday vs. Notre Dame: on one hand, while not a conference game, it's critical if Cornell has any hope for an at-large bid. On the other hand, it has no bearing on the ILT. Cornell must take care of business against Brown and Princeton.

Not much to add. Syracuse is an athletic and well coached team.

The good news is that Ierlan looks first rate, and when our offense gets the ball, we can score. These two points will be positives versus Brown and Princeton.

Cornell has what it takes to beat Notre Dame with a complete game.

Go Big Red

So my question is year over year has SU grown that much stronger or has Cornell taken a bigger step back then we thought or some combination of the two?

Our attack unit is stronger, our first line mids may be a little weaker, but second line stronger. FO is the same, I would suggest our goal is equal and obviously the loss of Pulver on D makes for a big drop off.

To me this doesn’t add up to the drop off in our competitiveness from last year to this year against Yale, Penn or Syracuse.

Did we just surprise teams last year?

I don't know the answer to your question, but I can add a few thoughts:

1) Syracuse: The regular season Syracuse game last year Cornell did surprise Syracuse, who was predicting an easy victory in the press, with John Desko not knowing our goalkeeper's name. In the NCAA playoff game, Cornell played an amazing game, with a lights-out performance by Clarke Petterson. Personally, I think that Syracuse's defense has improved tremendously, they are more balanced on attack, and that they were extremely well prepared this year.

2) Yale: Cornell lost the early season Yale game, and played the best game I've ever seen a Cornell team play in a long time in the Ivy League Tournament finals for the win. In a 2019 rematch, I would hope that the gap in talent wouldn't seem as wide as in New Haven.

3) Penn: Last year, Penn started the season strong, and then really lost momentum. As I recall, Cornell really blew the game open in the second half. This year, Penn has continued to improve. I think that Cornell could win a 2019 rematch.

My thought is that Pulver was a truly outstanding defender, and the best that Cornell has produced since Jason Noble, and one of the best in this century. The same is true for Christian Knight as a great player. I have to think that their on and off field leadership is missed.

Tough loss but hats off to a very good SU team.

Some random thoughts. Although it seemed like our defense was constantly under assault, I thought we held up fairly well given the disparity in possessions. SU scored 13 which is their season average. A couple of their goals were of the fluke variety (the one-hander by Solomon comes to mind) and one extra man goal. It seemed like SU got every loose ground ball, including the 50-50 scrums at faceoff. And once again we spent a lot more time in the penalty box than our opponent. Puts a lot of pressure on our defenders.

Where was our vaunted offense? SU shut off our inside game and more often than not, when we tried to go there it ended in a turnover. No real outside scoring threat, no 40 goal scorer like Dowiak last year. SU goalie had some nice saves but no better than Ierlan.

Now on to South Bend. Notre Dame plays Marquette tonight (Wednesday). Hoping the Golden Eagles give them a tough game.

Go Big Red!

Late last night I thought to myself, why has the team been unable to compete (evenly) with Penn State (win last year), Yale (1-1 last year, including the first game when Yale was on the ropes), Penn State (win last year), and Penn (good win last year) - ??? This AM, I see that RedIvy and faircornell both made points that mirror my conclusions:
-While the defense (basically) lost only one player (I'm not including Bolen, though he was excellent), the player, Pulver, was BY FAR the best cover guy. We're really lacking there this season. And in terms of important intangibles, he was also the toughest player and the leader. Prior to the season, I wrote that Cornell's D was not "reflective of a top 10 team." Pulver's absence hurts more than I imagined.
-Face-offs: Last season, after Raz got by Ierlan/Albany and Mackie/Yale (he did ok against Arceri/Penn St.), he really settled in and had and pretty good if not excellent season until his injury. This year, there has been no let up. And the face-off winning percentage has made things worse for the D.

The result of the above:
-Loss to a terrific Penn St. team by 6
-Loss to an excellent Yale team by 5
-Bad loss to a good Penn team by 1
-Loss to an excellent Syracuse team by 5
All of these teams, probably with the exception of Yale, are much better than last season.
So...when all is said and done, this season's results should not be unexpected.

What to expect going forward?
-Hope for improved face-off results. 'Not much can be done here; Reisman has already been coaching up 7-47-and 8.
-Now that Tarbell has filled the third close spot, figure out a way to minimize match-up disadvantages against opponents' speed guys. Between Solomon, Reyfuss + Curry, Trimboli, et al, I knew last night was going to be big trouble.

I don’t think last night’s loss is hard to figure out. The troubles at FO lead to a huge disparity in possessions. That leaves a small margin for error against top teams. Anything else that goes wrong - turnovers, failed clears, empty possessions etc make it difficult to win. Cornell has made up for the face off losses mainly through incredible offensive efficiency and caused turnovers. Last night Cornell was outplayed. Syracuse played great defense and neutralized the attack. They appeared to get every 50-50 ground ball. They protected the ball. When the offense is not scoring at 40% efficiency, Cornell is in trouble. When multiple things go the opponents way, it is impossible to win with so few possessions. Ierlan was great. Without him, that game is a lopsided Syracuse win.

VeryRustyRed wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:58 am Late last night I thought to myself, why has the team been unable to compete (evenly) with Penn State (win last year), Yale (1-1 last year, including the first game when Yale was on the ropes), Penn State (win last year), and Penn (good win last year) - ??? This AM, I see that RedIvy and faircornell both made points that mirror my conclusions:
-While the defense (basically) lost only one player (I'm not including Bolen, though he was excellent), the player, Pulver, was BY FAR the best cover guy. We're really lacking there this season. And in terms of important intangibles, he was also the toughest player and the leader. Prior to the season, I wrote that Cornell's D was not "reflective of a top 10 team." Pulver's absence hurts more than I imagined.
-Face-offs: Last season, after Raz got by Ierlan/Albany and Mackie/Yale (he did ok against Arceri/Penn St.), he really settled in and had and pretty good if not excellent season until his injury. This year, there has been no let up. And the face-off winning percentage has made things worse for the D.

The result of the above:
-Loss to a terrific Penn St. team by 6
-Loss to an excellent Yale team by 5
-Bad loss to a good Penn team by 1
-Loss to an excellent Syracuse team by 5
All of these teams, probably with the exception of Yale, are much better than last season.
So...when all is said and done, this season's results should not be unexpected.

What to expect going forward?
-Hope for improved face-off results. 'Not much can be done here; Reisman has already been coaching up 7-47-and 8.
-Now that Tarbell has filled the third close spot, figure out a way to minimize match-up disadvantages against opponents' speed guys. Between Solomon, Reyfuss + Curry, Trimboli, et al, I knew last night was going to be big trouble.

Nice summary, thanks...

So effectively it’s a drop in performance at FO, likely due to injury on our end and improvement on other teams especially Yale along with a big drop off on Defense with the loss of Pulver. The combination impact of these two is bigger than just the sum and reduces the effect of an improved offense yielding a much bigger drop off.

I have no solutions but think Brown and Princeton are winnable games and once we are in the ILT we have a shot, that’s all we can ask for. I also think we match up better against ND.

This is the beautiful thing about the ILT, we are still fighting for life....

Go Big Red

It did not help that last night was senior night for Cuse, and they were also no doubt smarting from last year's two losses to the Big Red. The Orange played with enthusiasm and vigor. The mid-week scheduling against a strong opponent also increases the home-field advantage, IMO (for either team); Cuse looked a bit lost last year at Schoellkopf.

On to South Bend! LGR!

Hi everyone, brand new to this forum, but a BIG RED fan nonetheless. A few comments about watching the big red this year and last year under Milliman, does anyone else see that he really does not do well with in game adjustments, or adjustments period for that matter. Last year when the faceguarding was happening to Teat he decided it was fine to play 5 on 5 and that it benefited the offence. They did nothing to free him up as he was ok with this matchup... in what world is it beneficial to a team to have one of the top talents in college lacrosse taken out of the game. Not a pick play run.. nothing. You see Teat running picks for his teammates on a regular basis but this is rarely reciprocated, IMO due to coaching. I also can't see how they didn't address the FOGO issue. This has been an issue for sometime in Ithaca, it's not an issue when your picking low hanging fruit but when the big boys come to town it puts them behind the eight ball all game. That entire team was outworked and out coached yesterday, need to do something quickly if they want any hope of making Championship weekend.

Sorry, rant over.

Look, I said I believe a few weeks back when a friend at I believe the SB game asked me who I thought was the best team in D1 and I said I dont really know but the team that SCARES me the most is Syracuse. They are a complete team, really, and have few weaknesses. Their Defense is outstanding, Their goalie is solid, their FOGO is solid. On offense, they are fast, really fast. Why then do they sometimes have down games and others have to have miraculous 4th quarter comebacks? Beats me, BUT top to bottom, they are about as complete a team as you will find in D1 and NO ONE wants to see them in MAY.

The RED? We are just not that complete a team.....YET, we are still young in many areas, especially D and Goalie, and both are improving immensely, especially Ierlan who I believe is special. Raz on the X has been injured, so for someone to say that Milliman has not addressed the X is not really fair, AND Petrakis is the NUMBER1 FOGO recruit in the country and will be here nest year.

Yeah, I know it sounds like we will get them NEXT year from Joewillie, but I still believe this team on any give day can beat anybody BUT it takes that real special game, where we at least hold our own on the X, Ierlan stands on his head, we clear at 90% and have less that 12 turnovers , and we force others. We simply cannot beat the Syracuses, Yales etc without playing a near perfect game. Same with the upcoming game at ND, If we dont play that near perfect game against the Irish, then obviously we wont be successful.

One thing i DONT see is absolutely any QUIT in this team, and that makes me proud to continue to root for them, and I will continue this year until someone tells me that we have no game next week and the srason is OFFICIALLY over. We are a long ways from that.

GOBIGRED
Joewillie78

joewillie78 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:58 pm
One thing i DONT see is absolutely any QUIT in this team, and that makes me proud to continue to root for them, and I will continue this year until someone tells me that we have no game next week and the srason is OFFICIALLY over. We are a long ways from that.

Agree. Perfect example is the hustle plays by Griffin Buczek and Harrison Bardwell that set up Cornell's 2nd goal at around 11:00 of 2nd period. Both players laid out flat to keep a loose ball alive, scooped by Brandon Salvatore, fast break ahead to Kason Tarbell, to Clarke Petterson to John Piatelli for the goal. It was a thing of beauty.

I certainly agree with an apparent consensus that our problems with face offs and team defense leave us no margin for error, and require near perfect performance in other areas to beat good teams.

With regard to the comment about possible coaching failure in not dealing with the face off area, keep in mind

1. Raz has had multiple serious injuries and continues to play hurt.

2. We did bring in Graham— whether he turns out to be a nice human interest story, or a serious prospect is yet to be seen.

3. Zac Tucci was once a Cornell commit, but switched to North Carolina where he is having a strong freshman year.Our own freshman, Rothstein, was well regarded but is not ready for prime time.

4. Angelo Petrakis will not be here till next year, but is excellent.

I have had questions from time to time about other issues like defensive personnel decisions, defensive schemes, and in, or between game adjustments, but think the coaches deserve the benefit of the doubt, especially since they guided the program back pretty quickly from what was a pretty precipitous free fall

On offense our style is often beautiful to watch, but I think Syracuse’s offense and defense demonstrated the need for some speed dodgers who can generate their own shot.I was glad to see Fletcher asserting himself— he was very effective when he got to the middle of the field and accurate with his shooting when he was not just alley dodging. Lombardi is also a dangerous dodger and would still like to see him get more runs.

BigRedRover wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:59 pmHi everyone, brand new to this forum, but a BIG RED fan nonetheless.

Welcome to the forum!

BigRedRover wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:59 pmA few comments about watching the big red this year and last year under Milliman, does anyone else see that he really does not do well with in game adjustments, or adjustments period for that matter.

I do not see it.

BigRedRover wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:59 pmLast year when the faceguarding was happening to Teat he decided it was fine to play 5 on 5 and that it benefited the offence. They did nothing to free him up as he was ok with this matchup... in what world is it beneficial to a team to have one of the top talents in college lacrosse taken out of the game. Not a pick play run.. nothing.

This happened in exactly one game: against Brown in round 1 of the ILT. Cornell won that game. IMO, it was a deliberate strategy to keep JT51 rested for the much tougher Yale game 2 days later. Cornell won that game too.

BigRedRover wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:59 pmYou see Teat running picks for his teammates on a regular basis but this is rarely reciprocated, IMO due to coaching.

I don't see this. Here is a one-minute video analysis from last year of JT51's use of picks:
https://twitter.com/joekeegs/status/979016336356577280
I haven't noticed a significant change this year. In any case, JT51 is best as a distributor and quick shot. If he holds the ball for long, it often doesn't end well.

BigRedRover wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:59 pmI also can't see how they didn't address the FOGO issue.

What do you think they can do that they haven't done? They brought in a FOGO specialist as volunteer assistant coach. They've recruited several FOGOs. They narrowly missed getting TD.

It seems to me that Raz is injured or that his injury from last year (shoulder) may still be bothering him. After a rough start last season, he really came on and was winning more than 50% of draws. This year, we'd be happy with 50%. I know we don't see practices, so it is impossible to evaluate and compare players on the team who are not seeing time. Still , you would think that we would see Graham get another shot or see Rothstein get a chance, or this Spring's feel good story - Hunter Hughes, who made the team as a walk on when that is very unusual at Cornell.

Unless Raz and Tria own those other three in practice (which may be the case), I would like to see one or more get a chance Sunday against ND. A win vs ND , wins over Brown and Princeton, and a first round ILT win over Penn or Yale may still be enough to get Cornell an AQ, especially if SU, ND, Yale, PSU and Penn continue to dominate and Towson , Lehigh and Hobart start winning and some other top teams go into a tailspin .Cornell could end up with two wins over top 10 teams (ND and Yale/Penn) and some top 20 wins (Towson/Lehigh/another Ivy) and 4 -5 losses to top 5-10 teams - Yale, Penn, PSU, SU.

Many wise words above. It's April and there is still a lot of lacrosse left to play. The only other thought that I had was a comment that Jeff Tambroni made during his building years at PSU. Penn State had scheduling issues in the CAA and an early season Denver game was their last chance to capture a "quality win" before league play (no disrespect intended to the CAA). Penn State lost the game. Coach Tambroni said that in hindsight he wished that he'd told his players to relax, hold their sticks a bit looser, and not worry about Selection Sunday. My apologies for any errors in memory.

If the Big Red keep it down on the farm, and do their best in South Bend, they have the best chance of putting together a complete game. If the result in South Bend isn't optimal, the same is likely true for the Brown and Princeton games.