LaxPower Back-Up Stick

Since no one else seemed up to it, I'll start the thread for SU. 2024 should be an exciting year for the Orange, and a tournament appearance should certainly be among the expectations for the upcoming season. That said, there still are holes on the roster that need to be addressed.

Offense - the Orange return a very young and exciting core on offense, led by dynamic sophomores including Joey Spallina (68 pts), Finn Thomson (33), Michael Leo (26) and Luke Rhoa (13). They are joined by returning veterans in Owen Hiltz (53) and Jackson Birtwistle (27). They do need to replace the production of three veterans, third leading scorer Cole Kirst (37), fourth leading scorer Alex Simmons (36) and Griffin Cook (14). That should be helped by the offseason additions of Princeton transfers Sam English (20 in nine games) and Jake Stevens (29). The Orange offense should be very, very good next season. The biggest question seems to be who plays on attack alongside Spallina and Hiltz? Birtwistle and Thomson are natural attackmen. Trey Deere comes in with a lot of hype. Perhaps they go the transfer route. Only one spot is open in the top 9 on offense as of right now.

Face-off - the biggest question for the team is how often can the face-off crew get the offense the ball? Last years FOGOs won just 42% of their draws, which was very bad. They need improvement in this department, no question. The Orange welcome two FOGO recruits in Jake Spallina and John Mullen but I think the fanbase would be assuaged by the addition of a veteran, proven transfer. That has to be the offseason priority going forward. Having Stevens on one of the wings will certainly help.

Defense - all the longsticks who saw meaningful minutes for the Orange last year are due to return. That said, this unit struggled mightily last season. Despite having an All American keeper, SU still only had the 46th most efficient defense last year. There didn't seem to be a long stick who could keep up with the elite attackmen in the country, outside of Saam Olexo who had to play out of position at close defense. The good news is that the team welcomes back former number 1 ranked defenseman Riley Figueiras who was injured all of last season. Will Mark returns which of course is huge. The short stick unit needs to retooled as the unit in general struggled last year. It looks like only Carter Rice returns.

The freshmen class isn't nearly as hyped as last year, but there are good players in the group, headlined by Deere and Donny Scott on defense. There probably won't be many opportunities for playing time this year so there isn't nearly the pressure on this years group as there was on last years. The best chance for playing time is probably at short stick defense. It should be interesting to see how the rest of the offseason plays out.

Don Scott has shown some good skills
Hill had several good games broadcast this year,
the last from Lacrosse TV beating Culver and Hill’s defense
shutting Culver down.

More like a Brodie Merrill, Owen Grant defenseman than a Tucker Durkin superior footwork lockdown defenseman, I thought.

Thanks for ripping that band aid off, Powellfan!!

It’s interesting to me that the three best defenders on Cuse are from Maryland. Olexo is fantastic, imo. Great athlete. Dwan is also an MIAA guy.

And I have heard that Figueiras was more highly regarded than his teammate Checo (Lehigh) at St John’s College High School. Checo led the nation in controlled turnovers this year, by a not insignificant number. He was the only freshman in the top 45 in CTO’s. If Figueiras is close to that kid, this team will be meaningfully different next year.

Not worried about the offense at all. The two Princeton transfers alleviate any concern there.

FOGO is the one and only open question imo.

Name the players you think will start who are ones that Gait recruited and signed.

gymman1031 wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 2:47 pm Name the players you think will start who are ones that Gait recruited and signed.

What does that matter?

The incoming freshmen will be his first recruiting class. Like I said, there won't be much room for freshmen. I'd guess the most likely freshman to see the field would be Donny Scott, perhaps Jake Spallina if he take face-offs or be a SSDM. He flipped Finn Thomson and Riley Figuerias and I'm guessing they start.

gymman1031 wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 2:47 pm Name the players you think will start who are ones that Gait recruited and signed.

C

Can you name the ones who he inherited and had no role in getting? There were a couple last yearwbo wete there bcs of GG or DP

At least four freshmen this year i believe bcs of GG or DP.

Finster wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 1:57 pm

And I have heard that Figueiras was more highly regarded than his teammate Checo (Lehigh) at St John’s …

He was.
Great team, that last year team.
Mac Haley, Gavin Kelly, Caleb Fyock, Ryan Duenkel is projected as the #1 2024 freshman.

Checo and Figueiras seem like completely different players. Checo is a turnover (causing) machine. Figueiras was a shut down defender, and I'm guessing they hope he still is. Quite unlucky that he got injured since his skillset would've been very helpful this season.

When I watched the team play it looked like they need a playmaker in the middle of the field. Jake Stevens seems a perfect fit.

10stone5 wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 3:20 pm

Finster wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 1:57 pm

And I have heard that Figueiras was more highly regarded than his teammate Checo (Lehigh) at St John’s …

He was.
Great team, that last year team.
Mac Haley, Gavin Kelly, Caleb Fyock, Ryan Duenkel is projected as the #1 2024 freshman.

Must have been a phenomenal high school squad.

Now Christian Mule??? Are you kidding?

Cuse is adding more via the transfer portal than Pat probably wants. High class problem obviously.

Hopkins vs Cuse to be played in Charlotte, NC
https://www.thecrownlacrosse.com/

Quick prediction on next year starters

Attack:
Spallina
Hiltz
Mule/Birtwhistle/Deere?

Should be a top 5 unit next year. Spallina is the real deal

Midfield:
Jake stevens
Sam English
Finn/Leo/whoever doesn’t make the attack cut
Rhoa

Overall top 6 will be very good. As well as second line middie depth.
All in all a lot of talented players who can be interchanged between mid and attack. No worries about the offense



FOGO:
An issue this past year. Fine and Richiusa both return however both struggled and were below 45%. Incoming freshman Jake Spallina who is joeys brother comes in, however you never know how a freshman will adjust to the college game. Big unknown here. Wish we could’ve snagged mac Eldridge from the portal. Will need some improvement if we want to get over 50% next year. I’d say this is our biggest weakness heading into next year

LSM:
Olexo
Sageder
Matt wright (UNC transfer)

Will be nice getting olexo back at his natural LSM position. Also thought sageder has a nice freshman yr. Don’t know too much about wright from UNC but depth will be much needed

Defense:
Caccamo
Kol
Dwan
Figueiras

Will be nice getting Figueiras back after an injury. Was the top pole coming out of high school in ‘22 class. Dwan highly regarded as well. Caccamo and Kol will provide some leadership but overall will need this unit to step up next year. Not the best this past season. Hoping between Dwan year 2, Figueiras back and another year under Caccamo and kol belts can produce a solid unit

Goalie:
Will Mark
McCool

Mark returns next year after 3rd team AA honors. Hoping to see mcCool get some pt as he was a highly regarded frosh this yr. Nobody else on roster other than mark saw much time last year so depth could be a question

Overall I think we will have a solid team and should make the tourney for the first time since 2021

My guess is that either Wright or Olexo will move down to close next year and then the other one will stay at LSM. They are both way too talented to be splitting time. Wright reminds me of Mazzone from Hopkins as he will give this Cuse defense a similar boost that Mazzone brought to Hopkins. Great off the ground, can push transition, and is a solid cover guys. He has dealt with some injuries in his career, but if he is healthy then he will be a huge piece of that defense.

Bigdawg69 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 12, 2023 2:10 pm Quick prediction on next year starters

Overall top 6 will be very good. As well as second line middie depth.
All in all a lot of talented players who can be interchanged between mid and attack. No worries about the offense

FOGO:
An issue this past year. Fine and Richiusa both return however both struggled and were below 45%. Incoming freshman Jake Spallina who is joeys brother comes in, however you never know how a freshman will adjust to the college game. Big unknown here. Wish we could’ve snagged mac Eldridge from the portal. Will need some improvement if we want to get over 50% next year. I’d say this is our biggest weakness heading into next year

Good breakdown. Not a lot of disagreements. Would say that the third attackman spot next to Hiltz and Spallina should be interesting. Hiltz, Mule and Deere are all lefties. You don't often see more than one play on attack lines together. Curious if it is Mule or Deere how March uses them. Comments made by Spallina make me think Mule will be run out of the box, but lots could change before the start of the season. I'd personally like to see Birtwistle get a shot at attack as with his shooting I think he would compliment Hiltz and Spallina really well. I like the distribution of passers and finishers on this team.

Syracuse also brings in John Mullen from Massachusetts as a freshman FOGO. He may not be in that upper echelon but he's supposed to be pretty good. Like you say, it's hard to rely on a freshman at that position. I think they need to bring in a transfer to really be secure but at least the future looks promising in that department.

You left off SSDM. With Brandon Aviles in the portal that unit is really thin. Rumors of a DIII All American transferring in, but as it stands Carter Rice might be the only returner. This unit really struggled last year.

Finlay Thomson is shredding the Ontario summer box league,
a 13 point game last time out, Spallina is also doing well,

https://www.ontariojuniorlacrosse.com/p ... lar-season

_______

Portal has been great to us this off-season. Now d3 face off specialist of the year Mason Kohn is heading to cuse. Big pick up for the face off unit

Bigdawg69 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 16, 2023 4:24 pm Portal has been great to us this off-season. Now d3 face off specialist of the year Mason Kohn is heading to cuse. Big pick up for the face off unit

A berry berry good season lies ahead

Max Rosa is returning for the 2024 season.

Very classy farewell from Joey Spallina to Coach Pietramala yesterday on Twitter.

It’s what makes this sport so different! Going to miss being in the same foxhole with coach P Thank you for the talks the extra film sessions and for being a friend. Going to miss you coach it’ll be different but the friend part will never change. appreciate you!!
@CoachPetro43

https://twitter.com/SpallinaJoey/status ... gr%5Etweet

Best wishes to Coach Petro at North Carolina.

DocBarrister