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MLAX Scrimmage Navy/Umass Saturday @ RU

Good morning...currently up in the air flying back to Detroit...just a quick add on/follow-up

Regarding the shot clock impact...both teams in both scrimmages had a few violations...but not tons, and again, one could attribute that to playing different lines (both at attack and midfield)...so my opinion on the clock and impact to RU would be it will not have a major impact (at least negative) on what they want to do

Again overall if you lump both games together for a summary from my eyes (A fans perspective):

Team looked good for most of both scrimmages
RU has a lot of pieces to sort through on offense...lots of options, athletes and depth
AC didn't play of course so that's going to be a plus...assuming all goes well health wise
RU looked very athletic
We did have issues in transition, cost us multiple goals and we were sloppy at times (I'm sure it gets fixed)
Umass looked smaller, Navy looked bigger across the board
FO play was very solid v Umass, but we struggled v Navy (again I don't have stats...just my eye)
Everyone played...so again, can't put much weight on scores...but for my eye, RU looked the part

Gonna be interesting now after the Alumni game next week to see how things start falling into place as things slow down a bit and then they crescendo back towards January and as actual preseason practice ramps up for go time...

You have a lot of pieces in the middle of the field and by my eye, not much is separating 7-8 guys...but knowing injuries happen, and depth is always needed...that should be a big plus for this team in my opinion

Inside Lacrosse had a good write up on the scrimmages which I'm sure many have seen. Their take was that Navy looked the sharpest and best out of the three.
 
I'll refrain from commenting, but you brought it up.
I was speaking across the plane of athletics, as I have had several former students play D3 sports who would tell me that their sport was a little less involved
 
I was speaking across the plane of athletics, as I have had several former students play D3 sports who would tell me that their sport was a little less involved
That may be true in some sports.
 
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Man, it sure looks like we have a lot of players. Love what I am seeing.

Heard we picked up a couple of stud 2020's recently, with another likely forthcoming.
 
Man, it sure looks like we have a lot of players. Love what I am seeing.

Heard we picked up a couple of stud 2020's recently, with another likely forthcoming.
I count 8 middies with goals, 2 d-mids with points and 7 attackman with goals. No points from AC or Peterson that would be 17 kids who could score with only two seniors in that group. ( Rose and Elietti)
 
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family, did Jean Felix play?
I heard that he played but did not start and was lower in the rotation which is a change from practice where is was working with the one's. That is obviously just practice and Nordhausen was not practicing when I was there. I think that 3rd Defensive spot will be an issue until the season starts. I think they are set with Bullitt and Michaeli while the third guy will come from a rather large pool of players Juniors Thompson and Nordhausen, Sophomores Pakzad, Burke and Felix and freshman Taub and Stahanczyk. Rall has been running LSM and Russo is playing SSDM right now. Obviously, all of this can change but this was the way it shook out this weekend.
 
Wouldn’t be surprised at all to see one of the freshmen in that role.
 
R
I heard that he played but did not start and was lower in the rotation which is a change from practice where is was working with the one's. That is obviously just practice and Nordhausen was not practicing when I was there. I think that 3rd Defensive spot will be an issue until the season starts. I think they are set with Bullitt and Michaeli while the third guy will come from a rather large pool of players Juniors Thompson and Nordhausen, Sophomores Pakzad, Burke and Felix and freshman Taub and Stahanczyk. Rall has been running LSM and Russo is playing SSDM right now. Obviously, all of this can change but this was the way it shook out this weekend.
Russo saw considerable action in both scrimmages at SSDM...FWIW
 
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Inside Lacrosse had a good write up on the scrimmages which I'm sure many have seen. Their take was that Navy looked the sharpest and best out of the three.
Navy looked very good, big and athletic...no doubt

As in most scrimmages, they reset the score board after every qtr...here is the qtr breakdown on the Navy game

Q1: RU 6-3
Q2: Navy 7-3
Q3: Tied 2-2
Q4: Tied 3-3

With that said, here is some context...again, I know every minute counts but I'll comment on the second session or Q2:

Navy came out very strong with in Q2, played what I'll call a really good first 4-5 minutes (15 min qtr)...we were sloppy in that time span...lost I think every face off, counting 2 FO violations resulting in EMO's for Navy in which they converted on both...hence I think we were down 4-0 within the first 3-4 minutes of that qtr before we settled the ship...not making excuses...but I point that out in that I think aside from that bad run in Q2, we looked good.

Now, I didn't watch the Navy v Umass game...I heard they handled Umass pretty good...as did Rutgers, so while I think the IL write up is accurate, I would point to that run in Q2 that would give the edge to Navy as the "overall team" that might have looked the sharpest...FWIW

Last point, as you know, they were scrimmages and RU played a lot of guys...I'm sure the other teams did as well, but I can only speak for RU...everyone played
 
I was not there but I have been on other occasions and will say the Sprock and Daninger have been getting a lot of run at middie and will be in the top 8 of the offensive middies. Ott has been facing off well. Stahanczyk and Taub have been getting run at close with the second group while Rall is probably the third pole right now, behind Pless and Massesa. Russo has been switched to SSDM and is in the top four their Dancsecs is probably 6th at SSDM right now. Stevenson has been moved to Attack where he is on the second line with Thompson.

New comers Frankowiak, Kamish and Massesa will all play significant role this year.

while there is a lot of talent in this class, i would not expect a ton of these kids to play. I would expect to see- Sprock, Daninger, Ott, Rall, Russo get playing time. I think the fourth attackman is Schachte,I think and he will get little playing time of the other three are healthy.
Of the 8 middies locks for playing time are Rose, Kamish, Gallagher, Peterson the variables will be Mead and Sangiunetti and the wild cards are Sprock and Daninger. the feeling is Sprock is the most ready of the offensive players.

Thanks for the assessment RU...I know your plugged in on this stuff.

Lots of time and practice now between last Saturday and the first game in Feb, so guys will get healthy, some have not been at full strength, and the young guys will continue to learn. As we've talked about, lots of depth now, so when guys get back from holiday break, there should be good healthy competition in all playing groups...preseason camp in January should be good...

I think I read in the IL article last week that the goal is to win in May...not in October, so getting guys healthy now and through the next couple months will be key

I think this team is going to be good and fun to watch
 
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Good stuff guys. It’s always amusing to me when I hear non educated people say that lacrosse isn’t a contact sport. There are a couple of those on this site.

The word I keep seeing in this thread is depth. That is huge for the obvious injury reason. It’s also huge for another obvious reason- practice. As they say, steel sharpens steel. When you are competing against other great players, everyone’s game rises.

Thanks for the detailed posts guys.

Not sure if you're referring to me as a "non educated people" but I'll respond. It's obvious the lax is a contact sport. All you need is 2 good eyes or 2 bad eyes and corrective lenses to see that. That being said, things have changed since the days I played. First and most obvious is the rules regarding contact with the head/neck area. Obviously done for safety reasons, but it did reduce the amount of contact in the game. And in the last 2-4 years the calls in that have tightened considerably. You now have penalties being called where the forearm and shoulder of the player doing the hitting are in contact with the target's chest but the top of his helmet comes in contact with the bottom of the target's facemask. Back in the day that was a righteous hit. If my understanding of the current face off rules is correct there is also a significant difference. Again back in the day if a FOGO raked the ball out he was fair game even before possession was established. A wing middie could plant you with impudence. In fact, if you didn't violate the rules about spearing or hitting below the waist you could hit FOGOs while they were tied up. I mentioned before I played a couple of years of club on a midfield line with former RU football/lax great Bruce Van Ness. It used to be fun to watch the reaction of my faceoff opponent to seeing a 6'3" 235 lb. former pro football player charging in from the wing if we were tied up.

BTW. Long term? Over the last 25 years I have become quite familiar with the terms L-2 and L-3, but I still wouldn't think of not playing this great game.
 
Not sure if you're referring to me as a "non educated people" but I'll respond. It's obvious the lax is a contact sport. All you need is 2 good eyes or 2 bad eyes and corrective lenses to see that. That being said, things have changed since the days I played. First and most obvious is the rules regarding contact with the head/neck area. Obviously done for safety reasons, but it did reduce the amount of contact in the game. And in the last 2-4 years the calls in that have tightened considerably. You now have penalties being called where the forearm and shoulder of the player doing the hitting are in contact with the target's chest but the top of his helmet comes in contact with the bottom of the target's facemask. Back in the day that was a righteous hit. If my understanding of the current face off rules is correct there is also a significant difference. Again back in the day if a FOGO raked the ball out he was fair game even before possession was established. A wing middie could plant you with impudence. In fact, if you didn't violate the rules about spearing or hitting below the waist you could hit FOGOs while they were tied up. I mentioned before I played a couple of years of club on a midfield line with former RU football/lax great Bruce Van Ness. It used to be fun to watch the reaction of my faceoff opponent to seeing a 6'3" 235 lb. former pro football player charging in from the wing if we were tied up.

BTW. Long term? Over the last 25 years I have become quite familiar with the terms L-2 and L-3, but I still wouldn't think of not playing this great game.

I agree with your posts...it wasn't about you. I find your posts informative.
 
Thanks for the assessment RU...I know your plugged in on this stuff.

Lots of time and practice now between last Saturday and the first game in Feb, so guys will get healthy, some have not been at full strength, and the young guys will continue to learn. As we've talked about, lots of depth now, so when guys get back from holiday break, there should be good healthy competition in all playing groups...preseason camp in January should be good...

I think I read in the IL article last week that the goal is to win in May...not in October, so getting guys healthy now and through the next couple months will be key

I think this team is going to be good and fun to watch

Fall ball is all about getting lots of guys action, seeing what you have in the new guys, implementing practice habits/expectations, getting fit and staying healthy while building chemistry. Especially with two new coaches.

My main interest is seeing how athletic and fast we are, especially the new class and young guys. That test was passed.
 
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