Penn St game thread
- Thread starter mdk01
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From what I understand he does have another year. Still next year will be interesting as they lose half of the roster including their two most dynamic offensive players and both of their top fogos. Last night showed what they missed with Rizzotti being out most of the year.
I honestly hadn’t thought about just how much they lose till now. Ouch. And I thought they lost a lot last year
Tough game. We had a lot of chances we couldn’t convert. Some of that was their goalie who is just really good, and some of that was we simply didn’t place our shot well. Outside of Loyola we are yet to put it together for 60 minutes. We show flashes every game from quarter to quarter but consistency has been sporadic. It doesn’t help moving people in and out of the lineup. Great to see Rizzotti out there. Our D got better as the year went on but man you can see what we missed with him on the sidelines.
Penn St, which I hate to say, is just really good. Their D is really connected and their offense comes from every spot on the field. They made the FF last year and I will not be surprised if they make another run. There are no holes in that team.
Hate hate hate losing but the alumni event is always special no matter what.. Great to see old teammates, fellow alums, and meet new players and parents, it’s a great group of people I’m super proud to be a part of.
Penn St, which I hate to say, is just really good. Their D is really connected and their offense comes from every spot on the field. They made the FF last year and I will not be surprised if they make another run. There are no holes in that team.
Hate hate hate losing but the alumni event is always special no matter what.. Great to see old teammates, fellow alums, and meet new players and parents, it’s a great group of people I’m super proud to be a part of.
When watching PSU last night, it was their ability to capitalize on our mistakes that stood out. That first goal was a what the…moment. And that’s what’s been missing from RU’s game this season. For example, Splaine makes a great steal, clears the ball, then we make a moving pick violation on offense. Or we turn it over right back again, etc. Of course you see what happens when you have someone like Rizzoti playing, and did make PSU pay for that one mistake. PSU looked like us a couple of seasons ago.
Will say this, a ton of young talent is still on the team next year. Really something to build on. At least we know we’re set at goalie. Maybe, just maybe, we’ve gone through the “injuries” wrecking the season and we have some luck next year. Even Dixon mentioned the injuries derailing the season, said the Kelly was amazing during the scrimmages.
Will say this, a ton of young talent is still on the team next year. Really something to build on. At least we know we’re set at goalie. Maybe, just maybe, we’ve gone through the “injuries” wrecking the season and we have some luck next year. Even Dixon mentioned the injuries derailing the season, said the Kelly was amazing during the scrimmages.
Mitch Myers, Dartmouth FOGO, has his Ivy 5th year (but not in the Ivies) next year. 2nd team All Ivy last year. 56% win ratio so far this year. I have heard nothing about his plans, but it might be worth checking out.
BTW Huntington Beach, Cali
Last hurrah, 22 something Ivy seniors are in the 2025 transfer portal, including a bunch from Princeton.
https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/22-ivy-seniors-enter-transfer portal-for-2025-season/62313
The unfortunate truth is that our current recruiting is not nearly good enough to earn another shot at championship weekend. Rutgers either needs to find a bunch of hidden gems or land more 4 stars. This year we have zero 4 stars. The individual rankings numbers are, admittedly, incredible imprecise but are generally still a strong indicator of where a team will end up. I think its fair to say we generally have overachieved the recruiting ranking over a number of years due to excellent coaching, talent evaluation, and transfers.
I think your last sentence speaks closer to reality…
There are a number of other programs that do much “less” with more…I’d argue that UNC and Ohio State have more resources, better stadiums, more advantages…yet they underperform more than they meet expectations…yes UNC took a 6-6 team 8-9 years ago and got hot in May and won a natty, but that school recruits itself, has a spectacular stadium, is a fantastic school in warm weather…its exponentially easier to win at UNC then it is at Rutgers…but UNC underperforms more often then they over perform….OSU has done nothing…
We are all disappointed with the last couple years coming off what was probably the two best years back to back in program history in 21 & 22…it hasn’t gone how we hoped it would the last 2 seasons…and yes, we’d all like to see better recruiting and more winning…but you gotta look big picture at all the potential reasons why…
The landscape changes fast. I don’t care about what happened and who won 20-30 years ago…I measure programs in rolling decades…look at Rutgers last 5-10 years…it stands up to a lot of big programs.
I’d argue that Rutgers biggest recruiting hurdles are the residents of its home state of NJ…it’s an odd state in that parents and coaches generally encourage the best players to leave the state…that flat out is not Coach Brechts faults…that’s all on the culture of lacrosse family’s and parents and programs in the state…
Rutgers from outside NJ is viewed as a very very good university…it ranks right around the top 50 by all counts academically…has great individual schools…great advantages being close to NYC…when I talk to people in the Midwest and they learned my son played lacrosse at Rutgers…I get one response almost always…”wow, that’s big time lacrosse”
Yet, the sense I get is when that same question is asked of someone in NJ…you don’t get the same response….which is odd, disappointing, and sad…IMO
As an outsider…the state of NJ makes it hard on Rutgers to recruit and win battles…the parents of kids push them elsewhere…from what I’m told by a number of people I trust in NJ…
Parents need to let their kids make their college choice. It’s not your choice…it’s your kids…
Rutgers has so much to offer…the Rodkin is so exceptional as a facility…but that lax only stadium needs to get built…kids want to play in lacrosse stadiums…
Coach Brecht has done a good job. But don’t get it confused…Rutgers is a VERY hard job…when you compare it to all ACC jobs, all big ten jobs, and a handful of Ivy jobs…its a harder job then all of them…
Hopefully we get some good young players and continue to evolve forward as a program
It is soooo competitive right now….remember that!
Good luck to the young men at PSU this weekend!
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True. The impression of Rutgers outside of New Jersey is SO different than in state. I have family in Texas and Ohio and the contrast is amazing. The joke in Texas is someone walks up to kid and asks "where are you going to school, son?" "Harvard". "Gee, didn't you get into UT - Austin?" You don't see that reaction to an instate Rutgers student. A number of relatives from both sides of my family went to Miami of Ohio, but they look at Ohio State as a flagship state university and follow OSU football. ALL of them look at Rutgers as a flagship state university, but a lot of people in-state don't. And I think it goes back to the way it was cobbled together in the 50s. Rutgers lacrosse has always been good, though not at the Maryland, Hopkins and Cornell level. But lacrosse in New Jersey really didn't take off until the 70s.
The program is now a top level program. The state just needs to recognze that,
Well said
Just like college football. Some schools have built in historical and media support advantages like a Texas or a Michigan or an Ohio State…a clown coach with zero work ethic can recruit and win football games at those schools…or should be able too…compared to say a Michigan State…its much much harder to win at MSU then at Michigan. So when Mark Dantonio went on a decade long run dominating Michigan and wining multiple big ten titles…it was beyond impressive…because he did it at a place that is hard to recruit and win…
I view Rutgers as a great place and a very good program….but make no mistake it’s hard to win here, it’s a hard job, and for reasons noted above (NJ and North East parents/perception) and Coach Brecht has gotten us in 2 quarterfinals, a championship weekend, and we can argue that we could have been in the tourney 1-2 other times in the last decade…he’s winning at a place that is hard to win…
Now has alumni support gotten better…yes
Are there more resources headed in the programs direction…yes
Rutgers is a very solid / good lacrosse program…but competition is stiff…look around…17 teams get in the NCAA and if you look at the rankings say between teams 15-25…all of them could beat or lose to each other…parity is crazy
I’ll go back to my original post…the alumni, people of NJ involved in lacrosse…and parents…have to at a minimum encourage looks at RU. Don’t dismiss it and just look out of state…that’s where a major shift needs to take place IMO
We're also fighting against being stuck between 2 giant media markets. Those markets ignore NJ. Seriously you would barely know NJ had a state university if you only watched msm. Growing up I had barely heard of Rutgers even though I lived 30 minutes from campus. When a New Yorker does mention NJ (in all forms media) it's nearly always with complete and utter disgust and a tone of arrogant mockery.
We will see how our recruits match up in the coming years. It’s all very subjective. Maryland has a team fulll of four and five stars but the margins are closer than that. They staff doesn’t get everyone they want but if you speak with them they are pumped about what’s coming. But every B1G school recruits well. Development and buy in are what’s separates programs.
We need to get the stadium done asap. It’s paramount.
Lastly; we have the two best freshmen in the conference. Starting next year we could very well have one of the two best goalies and the best midfielder in the league. We need more of those guys: When you think about our FF run we had dudes, multiple dudes, at every spot. That’s what it takes. And then you need the culture to be right and the injury bug to stay away.
As Matt said. The margins in this game are small. Very small now.
We need to get the stadium done asap. It’s paramount.
Lastly; we have the two best freshmen in the conference. Starting next year we could very well have one of the two best goalies and the best midfielder in the league. We need more of those guys: When you think about our FF run we had dudes, multiple dudes, at every spot. That’s what it takes. And then you need the culture to be right and the injury bug to stay away.
As Matt said. The margins in this game are small. Very small now.
Matt hit on the essence of the problem. New Jersey has, and continues to eat it's own. This has gone on since I went to RU back in the dark ages. I think it's part of our NJ culture, and it's something that goes on and on. The local population takes Rutgers for granted, thinking it is a "safe school" for their kids going to college. We are not appreciated on the local level.
And yet, many fans criticize our coaches for nor recruiting in state, in all sports. I have dismissed the in state recruiting emphasis for years. Go out of state and you encounter a totally different impression of the university. So, take advantage of that. I'm not advocating totally turning your back on local talent. Simply recruit those who want to be here. There's a ton of talent outside of NJ in all sports if kids don't want to be here.
And yet, many fans criticize our coaches for nor recruiting in state, in all sports. I have dismissed the in state recruiting emphasis for years. Go out of state and you encounter a totally different impression of the university. So, take advantage of that. I'm not advocating totally turning your back on local talent. Simply recruit those who want to be here. There's a ton of talent outside of NJ in all sports if kids don't want to be here.
Recruiting in state to a certain extent is beneficial because of the limited scholarships (12.6) and the instate tuition. The staff really wants to recruit nationally. There will always be a Jersey flavor but even when we are recruiting the state at its height, and we will, the staff will still have a geographically diverse roster. It’s by design.
There is talent everywhere….even in Michigan 😏😜
Seriously, you are correct on all counts…Rutgers gets really good talent…but so do the other big ten schools…
The advantage of in state kids is you don’t have to give them much money. Michigan doesn’t give any in state kids money…
Recruiting is an inexact science…
Matt, that is a fantastic summary of the challenges RU faces in recruiting athletes!!
The genesis of these hurdles deserves it's own thread so I won't dwell here but more importantly how do we overcome them on a more consistent level?
Brecht was able to take advantage of one of our assets (alumni) to bring in the Kirsts/other impact transfers and build what is most likely the best team RU has probably had.
Unfortunately that era has come to a close so we are on the back foot in comparison to the rest of the BIG who can hang their hats on history and piles of money.
It is an open ended question, I would probably be recruiting the West Coast hard but there are limitations with our scholarship limits so yeah, its tough on the trail.
The genesis of these hurdles deserves it's own thread so I won't dwell here but more importantly how do we overcome them on a more consistent level?
Brecht was able to take advantage of one of our assets (alumni) to bring in the Kirsts/other impact transfers and build what is most likely the best team RU has probably had.
Unfortunately that era has come to a close so we are on the back foot in comparison to the rest of the BIG who can hang their hats on history and piles of money.
It is an open ended question, I would probably be recruiting the West Coast hard but there are limitations with our scholarship limits so yeah, its tough on the trail.
Yeah I didn’t mean to hijack the thread…
I just felt like some people (not all) need to look at the big picture and factors that come into play in recruiting…which is already tough at many schools
By no means am I a NJ recruiting expert…I’ve just had a lot of conversation with NJ residents that are lacrosse people and fans
When we are disappointed with .500 seasons, then that is a good thing…it means expectations are high and we have had success….over the past 3-4 years and you could argue back to 2016, the programs has grown in profile…
The RU lacrosse alumni is a really strong group and is doing good things.
We have very good talent and good young talent…we just need more
The following can all be true…
Rutgers has elevated its profile in the past few years aided by the alumni
We have had great teams recently
We have fallen back a bit in the last 2 years
We still have great talent that is young
Coach Brecht has done a very good job
Rutgers is a tough job
The Rodkin helps…its fantastic
I’m still bullish on our future 😏
All are true
Remember, success is not linear….
Now let’s hope our guys can upset PSU on Sat!!!
I’ll be at Ridley on Friday night. Loyola v Army in what is now a huge Patriot League game. CBS Sports Network
We have a better history than OSU, Michigan, and Penn State.
In lacrosse terms yes, but I was referring to general athletic history which unfortunately we lag these three by a large margin. These are schools that already know how to win and that it is going to cost a lot of money to do so.
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