You have to hope that sooner or later, the lights will come on for the offense. You don't beat college keepers with stick side high shots from the outside. They are learning that the hard way. I think as time goes on you are going to see less of Kulas and Kelly. I really like this Richmond kid. Think he has a chance to be really good.
Men’s Lacrosse Played Trophy Game Saturday Night at No. 4 Princeton
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Okay. I trust your opinion. I was worried given how well they played in all other groups but attack. Thinking they should’ve at least had a closer score. But I’ll go with what you’re saying.
As always, it’s going to come down to conference play. Hopefully they’ll learn, make some tweaks, then have a good conference record.
But you keep Kulas on the extra man offense. That's where he shines.
Kelly played well today outside of one shot placement. He can go at guys from the midfield and he’s got the most range of anyone on the team.
Kulas is just a sniper. Which is great when we had guys like Scott, Knobloch, Kirst and others drew a ton of attention and often left him hands free to let it fly. We don’t have that team now. We need more carry ability from that spot and it’s just not his game. C Kurdyla is the most dynamic player we have on O. He’s not comfortable there yet as much as he will be if stays there but I can see why the staff moved there. We simply need more action coming from behind and he can do that. Plus it opens a spot for some other other
guys in the midfield which is where we have more guys to look at. Richman and Johnston should see more time. Both can run by their guys and force slides.
Kulas is just a sniper. Which is great when we had guys like Scott, Knobloch, Kirst and others drew a ton of attention and often left him hands free to let it fly. We don’t have that team now. We need more carry ability from that spot and it’s just not his game. C Kurdyla is the most dynamic player we have on O. He’s not comfortable there yet as much as he will be if stays there but I can see why the staff moved there. We simply need more action coming from behind and he can do that. Plus it opens a spot for some other other
guys in the midfield which is where we have more guys to look at. Richman and Johnston should see more time. Both can run by their guys and force slides.
We shot the ball extremely poorly. We missed some great chances that you have to have at this level. We also took some bad shots but not nearly enough to only score 5 goals. Some were just bad but a number of them were good chances that we didn’t cash in on, whether not getting them on cage or shooting it right in the goalies stick.
This was not Army. We couldn’t do anything on O that game. This was light years better in a number of ways. Shooting shooting shooting. It just needs to get better. That and working for better shots including working more inside games.
This was better even though the score says otherwise. Against a very very good team.
Stats were extremely favored towards us. Really illustrates what we need to get better in. If you just showed me the stats I'd be ecstatic. We would have easily won I would have thought.
Their goalie made 24 saves. That's a shitload. He will never make that many saves in his life again. Again, some of those shots were just bad shot selection but most were just bad shot placement and deception or right in the goalies stick.
53 shots. With even a reasonably acceptable shot percentage we should score 15 goals off of that.
Their goalie made 24 saves. That's a shitload. He will never make that many saves in his life again. Again, some of those shots were just bad shot selection but most were just bad shot placement and deception or right in the goalies stick.
53 shots. With even a reasonably acceptable shot percentage we should score 15 goals off of that.
#21 is a tough cover. Just needs to settle a bit but man he has a quick first step. We need more athletes on the field and he certainly fits the bill. #10 also. I think our SSDMs are some of our best athletes as well. I’d like to see us putting more athletic players on the field and pushing transition and keeping SSDMs on offense against o-mids to create mismatches. It is clear we are a midfield driven offense as I don’t see anyone on attack that is putting fear into any defense.
I get why Colin is on attack but I don’t like it at all. Yes he is our best offensive player but he is a middie through and through. I’d rather see him where he is most comfortable and initiate from up top and press for more shots early in the clock in unsettled situations. We are not a good 6 on 6 offense and we will not become one this season. Need to find other ways to create offense. Our defense is good enough to deal with some short possessions. We need to find a way to double digit points. 3-5 goals a game is obviously not going to result in many wins.
I get why Colin is on attack but I don’t like it at all. Yes he is our best offensive player but he is a middie through and through. I’d rather see him where he is most comfortable and initiate from up top and press for more shots early in the clock in unsettled situations. We are not a good 6 on 6 offense and we will not become one this season. Need to find other ways to create offense. Our defense is good enough to deal with some short possessions. We need to find a way to double digit points. 3-5 goals a game is obviously not going to result in many wins.
With the caveat that I never played lacrosse, so I’m just speaking from a naked eye test standpoint, but am I the only one who thinks that our offense did NOT get many good looks last night?
From my “layman’s” point of view, I thought the bigger problem than simply “poor shooting” was that the shots we were taking were just bad looks, lots of shots from distance or bad angles with defenders right on us (so rarely hands free), which were easy for their GK to gobble up. Hence the 23 saves.
Yes, there were a few open looks that our guys should’ve drilled, but for the most part it was the same offense we’ve seen all year, i.e., starting from way up top, setting one pick and then trying to carry and shoot around the pick. But after Aiello’s first goal off of this set, Princeton sent a slide and hedged the screen and mostly took away the run down the middle. And after that play was taken away, it was just a series of iso plays from the top/wing, with our guy trying to dodge and re-dodge to get free, but it rarely worked.
I didn’t see much ball movement to get our guys clean looks. Yes, Princeton is a top five team, so that has to be taken into account. But the offensive style didn’t seem much different than the first six games. All that changed was that Colin was moved to attack, and Kulas was taken out of the starting lineup. But this took Colin basically out of the game - he seemed invisible and took several of those low percentage shots because he was pressing and trying to make things happen.
If we’re not going to change what we do in settled offense, then we need to see more of Richman and Austin-Johnstone, who seem to have more wiggle and sudden quickness than some of the other guys. Need to try something to jump start this offense.
I would be happy to be wrong, and that our struggles yesterday were simply that we were playing the #4 team in the country, and maybe the offense is coming together even if we couldn’t see the results yesterday.
From my “layman’s” point of view, I thought the bigger problem than simply “poor shooting” was that the shots we were taking were just bad looks, lots of shots from distance or bad angles with defenders right on us (so rarely hands free), which were easy for their GK to gobble up. Hence the 23 saves.
Yes, there were a few open looks that our guys should’ve drilled, but for the most part it was the same offense we’ve seen all year, i.e., starting from way up top, setting one pick and then trying to carry and shoot around the pick. But after Aiello’s first goal off of this set, Princeton sent a slide and hedged the screen and mostly took away the run down the middle. And after that play was taken away, it was just a series of iso plays from the top/wing, with our guy trying to dodge and re-dodge to get free, but it rarely worked.
I didn’t see much ball movement to get our guys clean looks. Yes, Princeton is a top five team, so that has to be taken into account. But the offensive style didn’t seem much different than the first six games. All that changed was that Colin was moved to attack, and Kulas was taken out of the starting lineup. But this took Colin basically out of the game - he seemed invisible and took several of those low percentage shots because he was pressing and trying to make things happen.
If we’re not going to change what we do in settled offense, then we need to see more of Richman and Austin-Johnstone, who seem to have more wiggle and sudden quickness than some of the other guys. Need to try something to jump start this offense.
I would be happy to be wrong, and that our struggles yesterday were simply that we were playing the #4 team in the country, and maybe the offense is coming together even if we couldn’t see the results yesterday.
We undoubtedly took some bad shots but the majority were decent to good. But the placement was terrible and deception too. We really need to threaten the inside more. I’d like to see Vorang play that role and see what that looks like.
Rbled is right. 10 and 21 need to see the field more. Austin Johnstone is an attackman though. You’d have to platoon him with Aiello. He needs to see the field though. He makes things happen. 21 is the quickest guy on the team. He needs to get more run.
Talking to some recent grads it’s an area we need to more of. Fast twitch guys. Speed kills in lacrosse and we need more of it on offense, especially in settled situations.
I was able to watch the game again, which I often do, with a more critical eye. With the looks we got we should have scored minimum 13-14 goals. The guys played very hard.
Rbled is right. 10 and 21 need to see the field more. Austin Johnstone is an attackman though. You’d have to platoon him with Aiello. He needs to see the field though. He makes things happen. 21 is the quickest guy on the team. He needs to get more run.
Talking to some recent grads it’s an area we need to more of. Fast twitch guys. Speed kills in lacrosse and we need more of it on offense, especially in settled situations.
I was able to watch the game again, which I often do, with a more critical eye. With the looks we got we should have scored minimum 13-14 goals. The guys played very hard.
A lot of the mid to long range shots we took were good looks. You take those knowing that many will get saved or be off target, but you take those to keep the defense honest and force them to contest outside shooters which opens up the inside. And some should go.
Shooters at this level should be good enough to bury some of those. Take Colin Kelly’s rip. That was a mid range shot that was somewhat contested, but it was an absolute laser and perfect placement, but more importantly the release was deceptive and that was the difference. 100 mph without changing level or hiding your release is a save 99% of the time at this level, and that is what was happening to us.
But the thing that really killed us were the opportunities that should be automatic that we missed. You typically only get so many chances where you catch the defense out of position or your guy beats his man and gets a wide open look You have to bury those. We had 4-5 that should have dropped that we failed to convert. Princeton didn’t miss theirs. That was the difference in this game.
Shooters at this level should be good enough to bury some of those. Take Colin Kelly’s rip. That was a mid range shot that was somewhat contested, but it was an absolute laser and perfect placement, but more importantly the release was deceptive and that was the difference. 100 mph without changing level or hiding your release is a save 99% of the time at this level, and that is what was happening to us.
But the thing that really killed us were the opportunities that should be automatic that we missed. You typically only get so many chances where you catch the defense out of position or your guy beats his man and gets a wide open look You have to bury those. We had 4-5 that should have dropped that we failed to convert. Princeton didn’t miss theirs. That was the difference in this game.
Winning all these statistical categories could be looked at a couple of ways.
- We have the necessary pieces from an athletic perspective to compete and hopefully it clicks sooner or later.
- We have undisciplined athletes that need time. (Hopefully or they will never advance)
- We have athletes that are fundamentally challenged (better athletes than lacrosse players).
- We lack leadership.
- Our coaching style doesn’t match up to our level of talent. And they don’t know how to adapt to the roster.
Yesterday was not stagnant. We moved the ball and player movement was probably the best it’s been all season.
Offensive leadership is an issue. Our best player is a true sophomore. Our leaders are all on the defensive side of the ball.
Ideally you’d want your X attackman to be your leader on O. Beida, Mullins, Jules, we’ve had some really good ones in the past. As the team grows that person will emerge.
Offensive leadership is an issue. Our best player is a true sophomore. Our leaders are all on the defensive side of the ball.
Ideally you’d want your X attackman to be your leader on O. Beida, Mullins, Jules, we’ve had some really good ones in the past. As the team grows that person will emerge.
For those who want a tutorial on shooting watch some of ACs highlights. We miss that crease threatening presence but watch his outside shooting. Onto high, high to low, release points all over the clock. Our guys need to have these videos on loop.
Last 3 years offense has been stagnant. I’m hoping as I said after the Loyola game that offensive movement, ball and off ball, would not be an anomaly. It has been. There are glimpses of what can happen but they are far and few in between. The settled offense is stagnant with very little movement historically.
Can’t tell you the number of times watching him shoot, where I said how did he do that. Amazing stick work.
He's a tough example to follow because much of that is just God given talent. His hands, like Shane's are just special. But that kid worked like no one else in the program. That shooting stroke was honed over years and years of work. But the point remains. Watch his release points and where the ball actually goes. It's all deception, which at this level, is how you score.
Even better examples. His subtle head fakes really move goalies too.
Kid was an absolute magician.
Yes he is a generational talent but this is something like you said should be on loop in the Rodkin. This is what the offensive should look like. This is evidence of what is expected within this program. Ball movement, aggressive attacking offense with high percentage shot selection.
AC's shooting reminded me of Mike French, the Cornell all time great from the mid 70's. The difference was French had 2 good knees and an edge in passing.
I never saw him play but I can't believe anyone in that era could shoot like him simply because the equipment wouldn't allow it. The best shooter I ever saw even near that era was Brian Wood of Hopkins fame. That guy could rip it. But the deception is what guys of that era couldn't do simply because the equipment didnt allow it.
AC has done incredible work to get to complete health. He essentially re programmed his body on how to walk and run efficiently. He's arguably accomplished more than any player we've had because of the totality of what he has done.
AC has done incredible work to get to complete health. He essentially re programmed his body on how to walk and run efficiently. He's arguably accomplished more than any player we've had because of the totality of what he has done.
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AC was a next level shooter. He had velocity and accuracy, which in reality all shooters at this level have. What set him and other great shooters apart, is first, straight up God given talent that allows him to do some things that frankly other lesser athletes cannot.
But second, if you watch closely he can place the ball in multiple spots from the same release point. He can go high, low, off hip or bouncer from overhand, three quarters, sidearm or underhand. That makes it so hard for goalies to track because arm angle isn’t giving the goalie much of a clue where the ball is heading so they have to rely on body position and luck.
Lastly, you will also notice that he rarely shoots without positioning his stick so the goalie can’t see his release or throwing at least one stick / head fake to get the goalie moving. And even when he just taking a step down rip, you will always see him changing levels. A lot of these are techniques most shooters can learn with practice.
But second, if you watch closely he can place the ball in multiple spots from the same release point. He can go high, low, off hip or bouncer from overhand, three quarters, sidearm or underhand. That makes it so hard for goalies to track because arm angle isn’t giving the goalie much of a clue where the ball is heading so they have to rely on body position and luck.
Lastly, you will also notice that he rarely shoots without positioning his stick so the goalie can’t see his release or throwing at least one stick / head fake to get the goalie moving. And even when he just taking a step down rip, you will always see him changing levels. A lot of these are techniques most shooters can learn with practice.
True. And they won’t play us in the one sport we’d never lose.
Lacrosse is arguably the best sport at the school. Numerous championships and their recruiting as of the last few years has been very elite.
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