Cornell 2022

[another fan]

RedIvy - I certainly concur that Saturday will not be easy - a real challenge.
-Penn will be the toughest opponent Cornell has faced all year
-Penn is coming off of a heartbreaking 1 goal loss to (probably) the second or third best team in the country...on the road.
-The game will be played on Penn's home field.

-Face-offs will be very interesting to watch. I'm absolutely sure that FO & wing play were points of particular focus in practice this week.
-It will be interesting to see the defensive match-ups as well. With all of the talk/focus on Handley, he's been far from Penn's leading goal scorer, and in fact on the quiet side (relative to expectations) until last week's track meet vs. Princeton. My guess is that Jacobs will be matched on Handley - whose game is certainly not finesse or speed (he's a power guy who leverages his size). Perhaps Adler on Gergar (though I've never seen him play), who has almost twice as many goals as Handley YTD. Look for Doria on Penn's off ball crease guy.

I'm guessing Gavin Adler will cover Gergar (18-3). Dom Doria is taller & heavier than Ian Jacobs and might be assigned to Handley (10-13) with Ian Jacobs covering Cam Rubin (10-4). Re Handley, a great player, but his stats against Princeton (3-8) are an outlier. The remainder of the season for him: against Georgetown (1-2), against Duke (1-3), against Penn State (3-1), against Villanove (2-1), so his usual is about 3-4 points. Don't overlook Cam Rubin who went 7-2 against Princeton. Gergar had an 8 goal game, too. This game poses the question opponents had to answer vs Penn State during the Grant Ament years - do you shut off the feeder or the scorers. Gergar appears to be the scorer. Jordan Stevens will know how to play it.

Some things to be optimistic about: Penn's faceoff % is 42.3. They are being out-groundballed by 6/game (37.4 to 31.4). They are allowing a clear % of 84.1 while achieving 83.5% themselves. Opponents have caused 8.4 turnovers/game while Penn is at 5.2/game. They are being out shot 48 to 34.8 per game. They are dead even in goals/game achieved and allowed at 12. Their goalie is at 51.1 save %. I don't see Cornell winning a 20 goal shoot out like Penn-Princeton. The Big Red's defense ought to be able to keep Penn in the low teens. Cornell will get its share of possessions given Penn's 42.3% face off %. Valuing possession of the ball, running the offense and shooting accurately should give the Big Red a good chance for victory. One thing to note: Penn has forced 13 shot clock violations. Based upon opponent clear %, they must be effectively defending and forcing long possessions. Cornell's stat sheet doesn't have this stat. Long possessions would lower the score to Cornell's advantage. The Big Red has no doubt worked on faceoffs & clears this week. They will be ready. Predicted weather: 49 degrees, wind from the West 6 mph, 0% change of precipitation. Wind isn't much of a factor in Franklin Field. GO BIG RED!

I would not call Handley's game at Princeton an "outlier"-- more like hitting his stride. I recall Teat had a slow start one season but then came alive the rest of the way. Princeton has very good defensive personnel and goalie and Penn put up 20 on them, keyed by Handley's breakout. They will be very dangerous offensively with multiple threats. As for faceoffs, as others have observed, the erratic performance is mysterious. I believe Yale's guy came in a little over 50% and looked like the second coming of TD Ierlan against us. I would not assume we will have a faceoff advantage because Penn's man is currently under 50%. I just have no idea which Petrakis we will see.

[laxfan1313]

RedIvy - I certainly concur that Saturday will not be easy - a real challenge.
-Penn will be the toughest opponent Cornell has faced all year
-Penn is coming off of a heartbreaking 1 goal loss to (probably) the second or third best team in the country...on the road.
-The game will be played on Penn's home field.

-Face-offs will be very interesting to watch. I'm absolutely sure that FO & wing play were points of particular focus in practice this week.
-It will be interesting to see the defensive match-ups as well. With all of the talk/focus on Handley, he's been far from Penn's leading goal scorer, and in fact on the quiet side (relative to expectations) until last week's track meet vs. Princeton. My guess is that Jacobs will be matched on Handley - whose game is certainly not finesse or speed (he's a power guy who leverages his size). Perhaps Adler on Gergar (though I've never seen him play), who has almost twice as many goals as Handley YTD. Look for Doria on Penn's off ball crease guy.

I'm guessing Gavin Adler will cover Gergar (18-3). Dom Doria is taller & heavier than Ian Jacobs and might be assigned to Handley (10-13) with Ian Jacobs covering Cam Rubin (10-4). Re Handley, a great player, but his stats against Princeton (3-8) are an outlier. The remainder of the season for him: against Georgetown (1-2), against Duke (1-3), against Penn State (3-1), against Villanove (2-1), so his usual is about 3-4 points. Don't overlook Cam Rubin who went 7-2 against Princeton. Gergar had an 8 goal game, too. This game poses the question opponents had to answer vs Penn State during the Grant Ament years - do you shut off the feeder or the scorers. Gergar appears to be the scorer. Jordan Stevens will know how to play it.

Some things to be optimistic about: Penn's faceoff % is 42.3. They are being out-groundballed by 6/game (37.4 to 31.4). They are allowing a clear % of 84.1 while achieving 83.5% themselves. Opponents have caused 8.4 turnovers/game while Penn is at 5.2/game. They are being out shot 48 to 34.8 per game. They are dead even in goals/game achieved and allowed at 12. Their goalie is at 51.1 save %. I don't see Cornell winning a 20 goal shoot out like Penn-Princeton. The Big Red's defense ought to be able to keep Penn in the low teens. Cornell will get its share of possessions given Penn's 42.3% face off %. Valuing possession of the ball, running the offense and shooting accurately should give the Big Red a good chance for victory. One thing to note: Penn has forced 13 shot clock violations. Based upon opponent clear %, they must be effectively defending and forcing long possessions. Cornell's stat sheet doesn't have this stat. Long possessions would lower the score to Cornell's advantage. The Big Red has no doubt worked on faceoffs & clears this week. They will be ready. Predicted weather: 49 degrees, wind from the West 6 mph, 0% change of precipitation. Wind isn't much of a factor in Franklin Field. GO BIG RED!

I would not call Handley's game at Princeton an "outlier"-- more like hitting his stride. I recall Teat had a slow start one season but then came alive the rest of the way. Princeton has very good defensive personnel and goalie and Penn put up 20 on them, keyed by Handley's breakout. They will be very dangerous offensively with multiple threats. As for faceoffs, as others have observed, the erratic performance is mysterious. I believe Yale's guy came in a little over 50% and looked like the second coming of TD Ierlan against us. I would not assume we will have a faceoff advantage because Penn's man is currently under 50%. I just have no idea which Petrakis we will see.

Hopefully the Big Red can slow down Handley, Gergar and Rubin to a reasonable amount. We need 50% faceoffs which looks feasible and a deliberate game which we can do. Our defense including Chayse has been effective.

[laxfan1313]

RedIvy - I certainly concur that Saturday will not be easy - a real challenge.
-Penn will be the toughest opponent Cornell has faced all year
-Penn is coming off of a heartbreaking 1 goal loss to (probably) the second or third best team in the country...on the road.
-The game will be played on Penn's home field.

-Face-offs will be very interesting to watch. I'm absolutely sure that FO & wing play were points of particular focus in practice this week.
-It will be interesting to see the defensive match-ups as well. With all of the talk/focus on Handley, he's been far from Penn's leading goal scorer, and in fact on the quiet side (relative to expectations) until last week's track meet vs. Princeton. My guess is that Jacobs will be matched on Handley - whose game is certainly not finesse or speed (he's a power guy who leverages his size). Perhaps Adler on Gergar (though I've never seen him play), who has almost twice as many goals as Handley YTD. Look for Doria on Penn's off ball crease guy.

I'm guessing Gavin Adler will cover Gergar (18-3). Dom Doria is taller & heavier than Ian Jacobs and might be assigned to Handley (10-13) with Ian Jacobs covering Cam Rubin (10-4). Re Handley, a great player, but his stats against Princeton (3-8) are an outlier. The remainder of the season for him: against Georgetown (1-2), against Duke (1-3), against Penn State (3-1), against Villanove (2-1), so his usual is about 3-4 points. Don't overlook Cam Rubin who went 7-2 against Princeton. Gergar had an 8 goal game, too. This game poses the question opponents had to answer vs Penn State during the Grant Ament years - do you shut off the feeder or the scorers. Gergar appears to be the scorer. Jordan Stevens will know how to play it.

Some things to be optimistic about: Penn's faceoff % is 42.3. They are being out-groundballed by 6/game (37.4 to 31.4). They are allowing a clear % of 84.1 while achieving 83.5% themselves. Opponents have caused 8.4 turnovers/game while Penn is at 5.2/game. They are being out shot 48 to 34.8 per game. They are dead even in goals/game achieved and allowed at 12. Their goalie is at 51.1 save %. I don't see Cornell winning a 20 goal shoot out like Penn-Princeton. The Big Red's defense ought to be able to keep Penn in the low teens. Cornell will get its share of possessions given Penn's 42.3% face off %. Valuing possession of the ball, running the offense and shooting accurately should give the Big Red a good chance for victory. One thing to note: Penn has forced 13 shot clock violations. Based upon opponent clear %, they must be effectively defending and forcing long possessions. Cornell's stat sheet doesn't have this stat. Long possessions would lower the score to Cornell's advantage. The Big Red has no doubt worked on faceoffs & clears this week. They will be ready. Predicted weather: 49 degrees, wind from the West 6 mph, 0% change of precipitation. Wind isn't much of a factor in Franklin Field. GO BIG RED!

I would not call Handley's game at Princeton an "outlier"-- more like hitting his stride. I recall Teat had a slow start one season but then came alive the rest of the way. Princeton has very good defensive personnel and goalie and Penn put up 20 on them, keyed by Handley's breakout. They will be very dangerous offensively with multiple threats. As for faceoffs, as others have observed, the erratic performance is mysterious. I believe Yale's guy came in a little over 50% and looked like the second coming of TD Ierlan against us. I would not assume we will have a faceoff advantage because Penn's man is currently under 50%. I just have no idea which Petrakis we will see.

I like to think of the glass as half full and think Cornell's defense can confirm Handley's performance against Princeton into an outlier. We'll see. The combination of Handley, Gergar & Rubin is averaging 11.6 ppg including 7.6 goals/game. The Big Red would be happy to hold those three to 8 goals (They combined for 25 points 12-13 against Princeton). Compare to the greatest attack in history, Levine, French, McEneaney - they averaged 15+ ppg. If those three score 25 points tomorrow, it will be Maryland-Virginia. It won't be.

[Velvet.Fog]

Hopefully the Big Red can slow down Handley, Gergar and Rubin to a reasonable amount. We need 50% faceoffs which looks feasible and a deliberate game which we can do. Our defense including Chayse has been effective.
[/quote]

I was able to watch the Princeton game in full and to me the key to the game is as quoted above - how do we control Handley, Gergar and Rubin.? These three are the strength of their team.

They are very good and present a unique challenge in that they play faster and looser than any offense we have seen this year. They are not afraid to shoot - from all areas, early in possessions, etc. Similar to what we will see down the road from Brown and to a lesser extent Princeton and Harvard. In particular, Rubin was electric in the Princeton game and will shoot effectively when least expected. This is a contrast to how Cornell, Yale, Ohio State, etc. play - where possessions are more deliberate and shot selection is a little more discerning. But the Penn style can be challenging for our defense since it seems to me that we run into the most problems when we give opponents too much room/space in our base defense - whether from being gassed or simply relaxing and falling too far into the "hole". The big scoring runs that Hobart and Yale (and to a lesser extent Penn State) had occurred when we had built leads and eased up on our defensive pressure. And it is not about takeaway checks and "bodying" offensive opponents - it is more about having sticks on their hands as much as possible, being in their space when they are within 12-10 yards from the goal, and showing a presence in the shooting lanes. If we can maintain that defensive positioning throughout the game we have a much better chance of being successful. If we give them room, try to throw crazy checks or "overslide" to them - it could be a long game.

There are obviously other phases to the game that will be keys - but the bottom line to me is how we will defend Penn's big three. LGR!!!

VF

[faircornell]

All great comments and analysis above. The only other thing that I can think of is the emotion in the match. Posters have commented that Penn does not want to start at 0-2 in the Ivies. I'd note that on the Cornell side, there are still players who recall the one goal loss to Penn in Ithaca in 2019 that kept the Big Red out of the NCAA tournament.

With the Massey prediction, and general perceptions of the lacrosse community generally favoring Penn, it's still all very close. It's within the Big Red's ability to return to Ithaca with the win.

[laxfan1313]

Weather update - looks like a better than 50% chance of light rain at the opening faceoff increasing to 70% by halftime and continuing at that level. Bring your rain gear, although Franklin Field has a lot of seating under cover. I can't decide who is favored by rain.

[Gobigred]

Mid-season RPI listing in this IL weekend preview article. Ivies looking good at this point.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... time/59216

[DMac]

Weather update - looks like a better than 50% chance of light rain at the opening faceoff increasing to 70% by halftime and continuing at that level. Bring your rain gear, although Franklin Field has a lot of seating under cover. I can't decide who is favored by rain.

Penn is, that's why they scheduled it for a rainy day.

[joewillie78]

Weather update - looks like a better than 50% chance of light rain at the opening faceoff increasing to 70% by halftime and continuing at that level. Bring your rain gear, although Franklin Field has a lot of seating under cover. I can't decide who is favored by rain.

Up until about a week ago, although our weather this weekend is awful, has been terrible here in Ithaca so we know the Big Red are quite used to playing in lousy weather. Penn probably also has played their share of bad weather games, so I really don't see much of an advantage either way.
GOBIGRED
Joewillie78

[10stone5]

Great,

the game is on SE PA local cable,
NBC Sports Net.

[Chousnake]

Why do Cornell's jerseys look orange and why no shot clock on the broadcast?

[laxjuris]

Why do Cornell's jerseys look orange and why no shot clock on the broadcast?

I was wondering the same thing.

Frustrating 1st quarter, with Penn leading 3-1. 1st Penn goal was a fluke, and Burkinshaw has been red-hot. Again concerning that we’ve won just 1 faceoff. Silver lining is Penn missed 3 point blank chances in the last minute.

[Chousnake]

Not a good start. Penn won 4 of 5 draws, Cornell was stoned on 3 good scoring opportunities by Burkinshaw, and just like the Yale game, the missed passes by Penn in the offensive zone are bouncing right into the Penn sticks (and one into the Cornell goal). 3-1 after 1. Not sure I like Adler guarding Handley so far from the goal....

[Chousnake]

Cornell is not getting open looks and when they do, Burkinshaw has been fantastic. Frustrating game so far.

[Chousnake]

The one issue I have with coaching decisions is not letting Petrakis work out his issues on the field. He is at least competitive. When he is replaced, the face offs are won cleanly by Penn (and by Yale last week). This game is a nightmare so far. And just as I say this, he gets a violation. Uggh. The wheels are off the wagon right now.

[Chousnake]

If Cornell doesn't solve these sudden face off issues, this season is in serious trouble.I don't understand what is happening starting with the Penn State game.

[another fan]

So many Penn chances with hands free. Lots of good bounces for Penn but they are much better off the ground today. Face offs speak for themselves and when we manage a scrum wing play not good.

Could have been a lot worse. Ierlan must be well into double digit saves already

[RedIvy]

Credit to Penn they are completely outplaying us. Glaring issues are obviously FO, but 50/50 ground balls giving Penn so many second and third chances is also killing us as well as shooting accuracy.

Our over concern for Handley seems to be creating space for others, let Adler do it by himself without ready slides cheating. It seems this over compensation is an issue while Adler seems to be ok.

[another fan]

The one issue I have with coaching decisions is not letting Petrakis work out his issues on the field. He is at least competitive. When he is replaced, the face offs are won cleanly by Penn (and by Yale last week). This game is a nightmare so far. And just as I say this, he gets a violation. Uggh. The wheels are off the wagon right now.

Part of the problem is all the violations that lead to man ups

[Chousnake]

The one issue I have with coaching decisions is not letting Petrakis work out his issues on the field. He is at least competitive. When he is replaced, the face offs are won cleanly by Penn (and by Yale last week). This game is a nightmare so far. And just as I say this, he gets a violation. Uggh. The wheels are off the wagon right now.

Part of the problem is all the violations that lead to man ups

Yup. But where did these issues come from. Petrakis held his own against some of the best face off specialists in the country earlier this season (Lehigh, Hobart OSU) and now he can't win one single face off. What the hell is going on......The most frustrating aspect of the Teat years was the issues at the FO X. It appeared that Petrakis was the end of those issues, but now here we are back in the same boat. 13 of 15 draws to Penn. It's not even close...And it's everyone. The wings aren't helping.