Delaware 2019

[Henpecked]

I know that there are a lot of people out there with great information and passion for the Blue Hens so please jump into the conversation. Makes it much better to have a dialogue rather than a monologue.

Anyway, 2019 looks to be a very interesting year for the Hens who return FOUR all-CAA Selections. The Blue Hens have a talented, experienced attack unit led by first team all-CAA Charlie Kitchen. With 93 points in just two years, he looks to become the next 200-point Hen. It has been awhile since we had one of those (Curtis Dickson 214 points from ‘07-‘10). Senior lefty attackman Joe Eisele, who has scored 48 goals over the last two years, will provide the steady leadership, size and ball control that the Hens will definitely need in the new shot clock era. I also think that Mark Bieda will continue to improve and become more aggressive in his sophomore campaign as he gets used to playing at this level. He was thrown into a starting position prematurely when Andrew Romagnoli was dismissed from the team and he filled in admirably. Bieda has the talent and quickness to become a more reliable goal scorer, but last year he often looked to pass rather than take it to the hole (much like his remarkably-talented older brother Scott who was an assist machine at Rutgers). Off the bench, Adam Fulton, fresh off a Minto Cup Championship, will provide some needed help as a set up guy on the man-up unit and maybe spotting Beida from time to time. We may also get a look at the diminutive freshman Clayton Miller from Cumberland Valley PA. The guy is amazingly quick and has a real nose for the goal scoring 135 goals in his last two years of high school while winning the Mid-Pennsylvania area MVP award.

At midfield the Hens are very deep defensively but not terribly deep offensively. I would expect that coach DeLuca will start Dean DiSimone (27g 12a in 2018 – first team all-CAA), Bryce Reid (a converted attackman 20g 4a in 2018, and major match up problem for opposing SSDMs) and perhaps sophomore Peter St. Geme, a big athletic player who started early last year but was mostly used as a shut-down SSDM for the second half of the season. DeLuca could spell these three intermittently with 6th year redshirt senior captain, Jackson Finigan who never really looked comfortable last year after missing back-to-back years with multiple knee surgeries. I would not expect any incoming freshman to have an immediate impact at offensive midfield, but you never know. Three freshman middies to keep an eye on are Kyle Kivinski from Virginia, a good-sized and athletic middie who scored 39 goals last year as a senior, Connor Pierce who scored 62 goals in his final two years at Radnor High School, just outside of Philly and Tommy Beeby, who helped lead John Jay to the Class B state championship game in NY.

At defensive midfield, the Hens return SSDM Alex Brunner after a foot injury sidelined him last year, LSM Ryan Shaw and Rhett Schweitzer. They also have SSDMs Steven Tortora, Thomas Aloe and LSMs Connor Sorg and Drew Silvera who all played a bunch last year. This should be a real strength for the Hens as they have depth and experience at D middie. Should be especially important as they press out on opposing offenses when shot clocks wind down.

Defensively, the Hens are returning close defense starters Zach Strassner and senior First team All-CAA selection Austin Haynes. The Hens lost their third starter during the off-season with Liam Duff not returning to Newark. However, Delaware should have Kevin Sheehan back after two years of injuries. Sheehan is a large (6’ 3"), rangy and quick defenseman from lower Delaware who had a terrific freshman year, but has not touched the field since then. The Hens can also rely on sophomore AJ Hoffman who played early last season as a frosh. There are also two freshman defensemen with good size and speed to keep an eye on – Blake Gagen from San Diego and Ontario native Owen Grant who played last year at Everest Academy in Canada. Grant, who I don't think is related to the all-time great Hen John Grant Jr, originally committed to Cornell before switching to UD early last season. And Matt DeLuca returns in net for the Hens after off-season surgery. Hoping that he is fully recovered and plays as well as he did in 2018 when he earned second team all CAA.

Finally, the FOGOs should have a big impact on how successful this team can ultimately become. Jake Hervada and Joe Lenskold combined to win 48% of the draws last year. These guys faced some beast in the CAA and played through injuries, but held their own for the most part. Maybe another season under the tutelage of Trey Wilkes will help? They will be joined by Texas freshman Mason Marano and returning junior Spencer Turkel.

Looking forward to getting started.

[xxxxxxx]

Great analysis of the Hens prospects. I agree they return a ton of experience and should be a force in the CAA. Five of the Hens losses last year were by 2 goals or less, with two in OT. Senior leadership and experience can often turn losses like that into wins. There is such a fine line in D1 between going 10-5 and 5-10, Villanova as an example was 10-6 last year with 5 one goal or OT wins. I'm not picking on Nova, but just making a point, they easily could have lost all five and been 5-10. Hens need to get off to a good start and build some confidence/momentum and they could really have a fine year.

DeLuca is building a great culture and the boys are buying in. Fall Scrimmages include Alumni game then the Headstrong Event at Penn where they will face Syracuse and Lafayette.

[COMMISH]

COMMISH checking in...with the demise of Laxpower I feel like we are sorting out survivors after some sort of Apocalyptic event.

With Gagen coming through Torrey Pines playing for Jono Zissi in the very competitive San Diego league, I think it's reasonable to expect him to see the field as a frosh. Not sure about any of the other incoming recruits.

[10stone5]

Looking backwards and not forward, per usual.

We just dumped Uverse.
And I now have YouTube piped in direct.

All sorts of John Grant Jr. content, to play some catch up on a lot of what I missed during Grant’s early years. Including the ‘98, ‘02, ‘06 world games.
There’s plenty of box content on Grant out there.

Would sure like to find if its even out there anything on that 1999 team.
Guessing the 1st round game was on ESPN.
And am almost certain that quarterfinal game with UVA was on ESPN.

Great stuff.
Hours of lacrosse viewing.

[10stone5]

Football, not lacrosse.

Vinny Papale profile Hens football.
Vince Papale’s son.

https://bluehens.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=9050

Too bad that school that Papale attended isn’t big on lacrosse.
Papale’s got the right size and background.

[COMMISH]

10stone5-I saw that on the broadcast last Thursday. Pretty cool if you ask me, and yes, he would have made a hell of a lacrosse player.

[10stone5]

Owen Grant makes IL list of top incoming defensemen.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fRPotGvXC-g

[Henpecked]

Owen Grant is a big athletic kid, 6' 3" 195. I saw him play at The Haverford School last year and he looked pretty good (well, as good as you can expect when your team gives up 19 goals). UD Defense is pretty stacked but I would not bet against him seeing time as a freshmen. Most importantly, I am hoping that he finds some good role models to emulate at UD. The last two top 100 guys to enter UD didn't make it past freshman year. Fortunately, Austin Haynes (who was also an IL top 100) has met those expectations (first team all CAA) of a top-ranked recruit in Newark.

On another note, the Hens ended last season with just 35 guys on the roster and three have graduated or are no longer enrolled. They have brought in just 10 freshman, Jake Govett (CO) A, Justin Aimone (NJ) M, Clayton Miller (PA) A, Connor Pierce (PA) M, Tommy Beeby (NY) M, Tye Kurtz (ONT) M, Owen Grant (ONT) D, Kyle Kivinski (VA) M, Blake Gagen (CA)D and Peter Rippinger (CT) G. Assuming no more attrition to the roster, DeLuca is going into battle this spring with 42 players.

Seems light by about 2 or 3 players. I am interested to hear if anyone has heard about UD picking up any transfers this off-season?

[McGriff]

Owen Grant is a big athletic kid, 6' 3" 195. I saw him play at The Haverford School last year and he looked pretty good (well, as good as you can expect when your team gives up 19 goals). UD Defense is pretty stacked but I would not bet against him seeing time as a freshmen. Most importantly, I am hoping that he finds some good role models to emulate at UD. The last two top 100 guys to enter UD didn't make it past freshman year. Fortunately, Austin Haynes (who was also an IL top 100) has met those expectations (first team all CAA) of a top-ranked recruit in Newark.

On another note, the Hens ended last season with just 35 guys on the roster and three have graduated or are no longer enrolled. They have brought in just 10 freshman, Jake Govett (CO) A, Justin Aimone (NJ) M, Clayton Miller (PA) A, Connor Pierce (PA) M, Tommy Beeby (NY) M, Tye Kurtz (ONT) M, Owen Grant (ONT) D, Kyle Kivinski (VA) M, Blake Gagen (CA)D and Peter Rippinger (CT) G. Assuming no more attrition to the roster, DeLuca is going into battle this spring with 42 players.

Seems light by about 2 or 3 players. I am interested to hear if anyone has heard about UD picking up any transfers this off-season?

You can add former Ohio State commit Brook Rideau - Middie via Onondaga CC to the Delaware midfield mix as well. Good player. Really good player.

[Henpecked]

Brook Rideau looks like a pretty good pick up. California kid graduated from De La Salle HS 2016 (San Fran area). He scored a ton of goals in high school and committed to Ohio State. Not sure what happened there. And he was also announced by coaching staff to play at Essex CC in 2017 (with UD goalie Brody Bartell), but never did. Played this past year on the Onondaga CC National Championship team scoring 12 goals and 6 assists in 15 games.

Apparently, he has 3 years of eligibility left.

Here's the high school highlight reel on Rideau:

https://www.hudl.com/video/3/2622861/58 ... 21609d3b6a

I am sure that The COMMISH has seen this kid play.

[Henpecked]

Couple other additions to the Hens roster. Max Schelling a big athletic middie from Chatham HS in NJ. Also two Long Island players, both of whom excelled in football and lacrosse. Jason Seiter was an First Team all-Long Island quarterback and safety at Bethpage HS (Coach Rewkowski's former school) and LSM Kevin McCormick from Farmingdale High School. All three are pretty solid athletes that may be able to provide depth at defensive midfield.

Going to check out the Hens this Friday night at the alumni game. Very early, but it will be interesting to see some of the new guys out there.

[Henpecked]

I forgot all about George Ward joining the Hens this year. He’s a lefty attackman from McDonogh HS. Ward committed over a year ago and had a solid senior year as an off-ball attackman. Scored a pivotal goal in McDonogh’s early season win against Boys Latin. Not a big kid but very crafty and seems to find the gaps in defense. Nice finisher. Will back up Senior Joe Eisele in the lefty attack spot.

[Henpecked]

Fun game last night down in Newark. Lot of former Hen greats returned (Including, Brett Manney, Noah Fossner, Paul Major, Brian Pickup, Jay Motta, Brock Livingston, Matt Olbrich, Anthony Johnson, Phil Pena and many more) to take on the 2019 squad. The Alums looked a little bit rusty except for Manney. The old guys were defeated pretty easily 12-3?

There were a ton of starters not dressed for the game, so it was a chance to get a glimpse of the freshman. Two frosh standouts by my eye -- the big middle from Virginia Kyle Kivinski was very physical and was able to get off shots at will. It will be nearly impossible to keep him off the field this year.

The second standout last night was Clayton Miller from Cumberland Valley HS in PA. He is an undersized attackman with a nose for the goal. I think he scored 5 or 6 goals last night. In his last two years of high school he had over 200 points and +120 goals. The video below gives you a sense of the speed and quickness of this kid. Could be a fun year at attack for the Hens. That's all I got.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6ssSUpL6CI&t=4s

[10stone5]

Delaware announced incoming class of 17.

https://bluehens.com/news/2018/9/10/del ... -2018.aspx

[Henpecked]

If you are missing the commitments page from Laxpower, you are not alone. The Inside Lacrosse recruiting page is not as good and is missing a lot of updated information.

So I will update this as much as I can even though it has nothing to do with this upcoming season.

UD just got another 2019 commit from Culver Academy. Michael Robinson (Peterborough, ONT) had already committed to UD last year, but now his teammate and fellow '19 grad Jake DeMare has switched his verbal from Utah to UD.

Michael Robinson is a really talented lefty midfielder and DeMare looks like a scrappy little attackman.

UD also signed 2020 FOGO Logan Premtaj from Ramapo, NJ and 2020 Goalie Tim Beach from Colorado.

2020 signings are lagging.

[10stone5]

You can report commitments yourself, to IL.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/commitment

I’ve reported several commitments for several teams.

[Henpecked]

As the Hens head into the Headstrong event at Penn this weekend, we can begin to think about expectations for 2019? I believe that we will see a winning team this year - a disciplined team led by 17 seniors that will be extremely prepared from week to week. I'll admit that I believed that about last year’s 6-8 team too. But, even though your record is your record, the Hens played better than a 6-8 squad. Aside from the two winnable early season games that were ultimately lost (following the unexpected dismissal of four seniors), Coach DeLuca had the Hens ready to compete in every single game.

They played competitive games against every team on the schedule and if you recall, the Hens actually took leads late into the third quarter versus Villanova (up 10-8), Rutgers (up 9-8) and Johns Hopkins (up 8-7). In each case, the Hens seemed to lose a bit of steam late in the game. And there was probably a good reason for this. For the second straight year, the Hens relied heavily on just three midfielders (with one playing two ways). And for the second straight year, those three middies wore down late in the games. And even though top middie Will Hirschmann has graduated, the Hens are left with two solid starters at midfield in Dean DiSimone and Bryce Reid, who both scored 20+ goals last year. They have also restocked their midfield with some very talented young offensive players including junior-college transfer Brook Rideau (coming off starting for JUCO national champions Onondaga CC) and freshmen Kyle Kivinski, Tommy Beeby, Tye Kurtz, Jason Seiter and Connor Pierce. Also, with the return on Alex Brunner at SSDM, DeLuca has the ability to play the super-athletic sophomore Peter St. Geme optionally as a two-way middie. He showed some great offensive ability early in the season before being moved to SSDM. I think St. Geme would be the perfect guy to lead the second midfield unit.

I will have better insight about how the midfield is shaping up, along with the FOGO unit, defense and attack after watching this weekend’s scrimmages versus Syracuse and Lafayette. They will be tested on Sunday. Should be fun…and COLD!

I’ll report back on Monday for those that can’t make it.

[Njlaxx11]

Hen - do you happen to know their schedule for sunday?

[Henpecked]

Yes.

Hens are scheduled to play Syracuse at 9am and Lafayette at 11am at Penn Park. Wear something warm. Weather calling for a high temp of 47 with 20MPH gusts.

Should be fun.

[Njlaxx11]

Awesome! Thanks!!