Rutgers vs Monmouth Lacrosse
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Just back to the car. Wow, I just got to see Mon win its first game. Ever? With a RU guy as coach. RU won 20-4 last year! Our goalies are REALLY bad. Is BB a bad coach or a bad recruiter? Discuss. Three piss poor efforts and UVa in 2 weeks. Mon made RU look like a hs frosh team at times. Did I say that RU goalies suck yet? More when I get home. At least it was sunny ...
10-9 loss. Congratulations to Rutgers alum Brian Fisher on his program's first division 1 win.
Observations:
Offense goes 1 on 1 in settled situations with very little movement. If we don't score in transition, it is really tough to get goals.
Team collectively doesn't have a high IQ. We give up a lot of goals at the end of quarters, have senseless turnovers, and have questionable awareness. Our poise at the end of the game just wasn't there.
Goaltending is a big problem. First half I believe we had 1 save and let in some really soft goals. Some of that is the defense not being in position, some of that is the goalie play. With our lack of goal production, that is a bad recipe.
Thank God for Joe Nardella today. That score would have been worse had he not won nearly every faceoff. Wings played well and helped him out. Freshman Chad Toliver continues to play very well. Our LSD's played well today for the most part. Haven't seen the stats, but groundballs seemed to be solidly in our favor.
Give Monmouth some credit, though this loss is tough to swallow and is simply unacceptable. They executed their game plan, which says a lot about the kids and team.
As for Rutgers? It's early in the season but a loss to Monmouth and not having played very well in any game gives thought as to what our strategy is. Settled offense needs serious work. Where is the senior leadership? Teamwork? Ball movement?
Some of this play can be attributed to playing young kids and having 2 new coaches on staff, but a loss to Monmouth negates that excuse. Whatever needs to happen to right the ship better happen quick or this team won't win another game outside of NJIT, and that is not even close to a gimme at this point.
Lastly, this isn't an excuse why we lost. There is none. Lacrosse needs a clear shot clock. This bullshit with refs making a decision as to then put the clock on only after they think a team might be stalling is just stupid. Lacrosse, unless you have two teams willing to push, is getting really boring to watch. Even having one team pushing temp doesn't make the game exciting. The other team can still just sit on it. It's like UNC and four corners pre shot clock. Matchups are everything in lacrosse as to what to watch.
Observations:
Offense goes 1 on 1 in settled situations with very little movement. If we don't score in transition, it is really tough to get goals.
Team collectively doesn't have a high IQ. We give up a lot of goals at the end of quarters, have senseless turnovers, and have questionable awareness. Our poise at the end of the game just wasn't there.
Goaltending is a big problem. First half I believe we had 1 save and let in some really soft goals. Some of that is the defense not being in position, some of that is the goalie play. With our lack of goal production, that is a bad recipe.
Thank God for Joe Nardella today. That score would have been worse had he not won nearly every faceoff. Wings played well and helped him out. Freshman Chad Toliver continues to play very well. Our LSD's played well today for the most part. Haven't seen the stats, but groundballs seemed to be solidly in our favor.
Give Monmouth some credit, though this loss is tough to swallow and is simply unacceptable. They executed their game plan, which says a lot about the kids and team.
As for Rutgers? It's early in the season but a loss to Monmouth and not having played very well in any game gives thought as to what our strategy is. Settled offense needs serious work. Where is the senior leadership? Teamwork? Ball movement?
Some of this play can be attributed to playing young kids and having 2 new coaches on staff, but a loss to Monmouth negates that excuse. Whatever needs to happen to right the ship better happen quick or this team won't win another game outside of NJIT, and that is not even close to a gimme at this point.
Lastly, this isn't an excuse why we lost. There is none. Lacrosse needs a clear shot clock. This bullshit with refs making a decision as to then put the clock on only after they think a team might be stalling is just stupid. Lacrosse, unless you have two teams willing to push, is getting really boring to watch. Even having one team pushing temp doesn't make the game exciting. The other team can still just sit on it. It's like UNC and four corners pre shot clock. Matchups are everything in lacrosse as to what to watch.
Can't lose to Monmouth. LAX seems to be joining men's soccer in going backwards & embarrassing.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
Posted from Rivals Mobile
What did I say before the season started?
Watching games on RVision last year I saw stuff in G that even as a relatively new guy to the game thought was odd.
* And not going throw the goalies completely under the bus because I agree with you the lack of scoring hurts too. Makes the G job harder if he knows he is not going to get the scoring/support he needs.
Cali,
How long does it take the average freshman to get used to playing Division 1 lacrosse ? Is it like football where you really want to keep them off the field for a couple years if you can ?
How long does it take the average freshman to get used to playing Division 1 lacrosse ? Is it like football where you really want to keep them off the field for a couple years if you can ?
The two areas that must improve immediately if we are to even be competitive are goalie play/defense and shooting. Our half field O isn't going to magically get a ton better this season. There just seems to be too much work on that side. Not sure if it is the new coaches schemes or what but we aren't getting what we need compared to what we got last year. Our O is painful in the half court, and this team is built to push tempo.
With that understanding, our transition can be effective at times, but the only way you get those opportunities is if your goalies are making saves. We aren't. The D gives up some easy looks, but that is going to continue being a work in progress. Guys simply need to make more plays across the board individual and as units. Easier said than done at this point.
Silver lining stuff, but I like the two young guys, Rexrode and Bronzo. Rogers has been playing well also. Collectively as a D unit, they don't look very cohesive though. Again, having a new coach may have something to do with that, I don't know. The announcer (RU alum Rick Mercurio) said the D is trying to do too much, likely because they know that the goalie spot is iffy. Not sure I completely agree, but that may have something to do with it. The just aren't playing together well as a unit seems to be my take. The exact reason I can't say.
With that understanding, our transition can be effective at times, but the only way you get those opportunities is if your goalies are making saves. We aren't. The D gives up some easy looks, but that is going to continue being a work in progress. Guys simply need to make more plays across the board individual and as units. Easier said than done at this point.
Silver lining stuff, but I like the two young guys, Rexrode and Bronzo. Rogers has been playing well also. Collectively as a D unit, they don't look very cohesive though. Again, having a new coach may have something to do with that, I don't know. The announcer (RU alum Rick Mercurio) said the D is trying to do too much, likely because they know that the goalie spot is iffy. Not sure I completely agree, but that may have something to do with it. The just aren't playing together well as a unit seems to be my take. The exact reason I can't say.
From what I have seen so far along with the O support you mention think more important is this issue from Cali's post I underlined above. As played D when you leave open men in scoring position with free hands to shoot or pass dont care if you have the best goalie in the world he is going to get scored on
There will always be a few freshmen who are just too good to keep off the field in any program. We are far exceeding that though this year. We started 4 freshmen today, including goalie. 1 at every field position unit. I doubt that even some first year programs are starting that many. Lots of sophs playing as well.
Ideally, you want your upperclassmen on the field with a few superstar freshmen sprinkled in. That isn't happening on our team right. Again, not an excuse for the loss. There is none. We are playing a ton of young kids though, and would likely be playing even more if they weren't redshirting due to injury.
You always want recruiting to get better every year, which I believe is happening. We lost a ton of seniors last year, many of whom were contributing. Today is more than though. Our team overall is far more talented than the one that beat them, which is exactly where you don't want to be. Potential isn't being met right now.
I love watching RU lacrosse and I'm not much of a hockey fan, but driving home my thought was -- maybe RU should just shut down men's and women's lax and start D1 hockey like Penn State did. Play in Newark or wherever to get started, but geez our lax programs are in sorry states. Men and women both losing to Monmouth this week ... frosh and sophs for Richmond, Wagner and Monmouth looking so much better than the RU kids. Just a dreadful stretch against the soft part of the schedules.
I think it was Cali who mentioned that maybe it's easier to start a new program than resuscitate a beat up one with a lot of baggage. I thought the men had bottomed out at Richmond but then they embarrassed themselves against Wagner. I thought they'd come out on fire today with Army on the horizon. Instead they were sloppy, disorganized and selfish on O. RU deserved to lose. Without Nardella on FOs, we would have lost by 5 or 6 easy. The staff should be ashamed of the status of the program in its fourth year.
So, shut the programs down, let the kids finish with their scholarships or they can go somewhere else and play. RU can save the money on coaches and transportation for a few years. Work on starting hockey teams in 4-5 years. Maybe RU gets lucky and finds a hockey-loving alum like PSU did and we can build a multi-purpose arena to replace the RAC. Title IX is fine because the hockey scholarships will just replace the lax ones. Men's hockey might even be a minor revenue sport.
Just dreaming after a 2 hour nightmare this afternoon.
I think it was Cali who mentioned that maybe it's easier to start a new program than resuscitate a beat up one with a lot of baggage. I thought the men had bottomed out at Richmond but then they embarrassed themselves against Wagner. I thought they'd come out on fire today with Army on the horizon. Instead they were sloppy, disorganized and selfish on O. RU deserved to lose. Without Nardella on FOs, we would have lost by 5 or 6 easy. The staff should be ashamed of the status of the program in its fourth year.
So, shut the programs down, let the kids finish with their scholarships or they can go somewhere else and play. RU can save the money on coaches and transportation for a few years. Work on starting hockey teams in 4-5 years. Maybe RU gets lucky and finds a hockey-loving alum like PSU did and we can build a multi-purpose arena to replace the RAC. Title IX is fine because the hockey scholarships will just replace the lax ones. Men's hockey might even be a minor revenue sport.
Just dreaming after a 2 hour nightmare this afternoon.
Last I checked, Penn State still has a men's lacrosse program, one RU will be playing against soon in the B1G conference, BTW.
Sorry Cali, you're a great supporter of the program.
I'm very close to the Reiily brothers of Montckair and it's killing them as well.
I just can't imagine the talent gap being that great, I don't even want to go where you know I'm heading?
I'm very close to the Reiily brothers of Montckair and it's killing them as well.
I just can't imagine the talent gap being that great, I don't even want to go where you know I'm heading?
Time to make drastic changes & replace several head coaches at Rutgers. Enough is enough already. Monmouth was a club program a few minutes ago. Can't lose to them. No excuses.
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Posted from Rivals Mobile
Thanks, Zap. To a player, I can't believe we didn't have a very significant talent advantage today. Unfortunately, talent alone doesn't win games. Teamwork, strategy, conceptual understanding, effort and playmaking does.
Not enough of that today.
Cali -- you're a loyal son. As I said, I'm not a hockey fan. Other than the last 2 Stags years and Brecht's first year, I've made most of the Saturday home games since the late 70s. Maybe a couple hours in sub-30 temps, again, does things to the mind. But to see a staff in its 4th year look the way RU did today just makes you wonder -- will RU ever get over the hump with this coach? He can't get his kids to perform even basic skills in a game? You mentioned that there's a low IQ. You are so right. But who recruited the kids and why are other team's young kids apparently so much brighter?
I sit there and look at the two rosters and frosh after frosh on Mon, just like Richmond, are making composed plays and, you know, running their systems. Meanwhile, it's hard to figure out exactly what RU is running for a system. Practices and 5 games and it looks like they're just winging it. We're staring down the barrel at a 3, maybe 4, win season in Year 4.
Traffic depending, I hope to get to the Army game but 6 p.m. is a tough game time for a working stiff. But I'll definitely make the SB game on Saturday. The staff has two days to find a goalie that can see and then stop a ball. If not, it's scary to think what Army will do.
I sit there and look at the two rosters and frosh after frosh on Mon, just like Richmond, are making composed plays and, you know, running their systems. Meanwhile, it's hard to figure out exactly what RU is running for a system. Practices and 5 games and it looks like they're just winging it. We're staring down the barrel at a 3, maybe 4, win season in Year 4.
Traffic depending, I hope to get to the Army game but 6 p.m. is a tough game time for a working stiff. But I'll definitely make the SB game on Saturday. The staff has two days to find a goalie that can see and then stop a ball. If not, it's scary to think what Army will do.
Lax -- understood. Maybe PSU can afford both. Could Rutgers? I figure about 500 today in the stadium. You think a men's hockey team could draw more in an on campus rink?
Look, my post said I was dreaming after a nightmare game. BUT ... the AD needs an arena. If she could find a hockey donor to fund it, she'd jump on it and then either need to find the money for 25 more scholarships or eliminate some existing teams.
Look, my post said I was dreaming after a nightmare game. BUT ... the AD needs an arena. If she could find a hockey donor to fund it, she'd jump on it and then either need to find the money for 25 more scholarships or eliminate some existing teams.
These are fair questions given the result today. We have talented kids in the program. Showing poise and implementing strategy can and should be taught.
Some critical stats from today:
Shots- Monmouth 29 Rutgers 39
Shots on Goal Monmouth 15 Rutgers 23
Saves Monmouth 14 Rutgers 5
Faceoffs Rutgers 20 of 23
Extra Man Goals Monmouth 2 of 3 Rutgers 1 of 4
Groundballs Monmouth 17 Rutgers 36
As thought, defense/goalie play was an issue, as was shooting. Getting better looks through more ball movement and player movement would help. Shudder to think of this game without Nardella and crew giving us more possessions.
Some critical stats from today:
Shots- Monmouth 29 Rutgers 39
Shots on Goal Monmouth 15 Rutgers 23
Saves Monmouth 14 Rutgers 5
Faceoffs Rutgers 20 of 23
Extra Man Goals Monmouth 2 of 3 Rutgers 1 of 4
Groundballs Monmouth 17 Rutgers 36
As thought, defense/goalie play was an issue, as was shooting. Getting better looks through more ball movement and player movement would help. Shudder to think of this game without Nardella and crew giving us more possessions.
I believe Penn St. had a donor who gave $100MM to start the program. Good luck finding that at RU.
Go watch the, uh, highlights on RVision. Brecht said that they were "2 evenly matched teams". Sure, put that in the RU recruiting brochure. I'm sure the B1G will be proud that one of its members is equally matched with a 2nd year program that had never won a game.
A question for those in the know -- what's the deal with Coach Mitchell? His bio doesn't exactly read as B1G for the #1 assistant -- at Bellarmine and Roanoke other than 1 year with Duke. Is there a story behind the story with how he ended up at RU? Thanks.
A question for those in the know -- what's the deal with Coach Mitchell? His bio doesn't exactly read as B1G for the #1 assistant -- at Bellarmine and Roanoke other than 1 year with Duke. Is there a story behind the story with how he ended up at RU? Thanks.
Pegula gave $102 million to start the program. They had several other million+ donations to get it starting. The program already has the largest sport specific endowment of the teams at Penn State making $1.6 million in interest last year. Without this Penn State couldn't have afforded both. Ice hockey is also far more expensive to run. Penn State spent $5.2 million on ice hockey compared to $2.5 million on lacrosse.
Family -- thanks for that insight. Just trying to figure out why there's such chaos out there. And who's, uh, responsible for working with the goalies. Opponents have plenty of young kids too but actually show some structure or discipline. The second part of your answer is depressing given how Stags was ripped so much for his recruiting. Wasn't expecting a talent gap against Wagner or Monmouth.
Brecht said, again, that there's a lot of lacrosse still to be played. He's right. I'm just not sure if that's the good news or the bad news. I had been looking forward the Maryland game and going down to Hopkins, but those plans are on hold. The prognosis for RU looks much more woeful today than a week ago.
Brecht said, again, that there's a lot of lacrosse still to be played. He's right. I'm just not sure if that's the good news or the bad news. I had been looking forward the Maryland game and going down to Hopkins, but those plans are on hold. The prognosis for RU looks much more woeful today than a week ago.
I am pretty close to the program and I feel like the kids are doing what they are told but, I feel like this is a reflexion of something bigger. I really like BB and I think he is s good guy, but there were a lot of NJ coaches there yesterday and I am not sure this was the impression he wanted to give. I also saw the interview where he said it was 2 evenly matched teams. That is upsetting to me in so many ways as we should not be evenly matched. Lastly, remember that all of the senior class and much of the junior class are JS recruits. I believe that there are things that he could do that would help immediately but I am not sure they are willing to do it.
Family -- thanks again. JS recruits? Remember, RU beat Monmouth 20-4 and Wagner 20-5 with even more JS recruits on the roster. So that's why I find this year's performance so exasperating. I mean, c'mon, did those programs really improve so much or were Stags seniors that much better than what Brecht has been bringing in? Monmouth is all sophs and frosh. Brecht's youth spin doesn't play.
I know alot of you posters know way more about lax than I do (my son plays and I help out coaching his team). I know there many factors contributing to a team's performance. It just seems to me that the biggest problem our men's lax team has is not shooting well. They are not as accurate as the opponents and when they do put the ball on the cage, it's right at the goalie whereas our goalie has to make alot of difficult saves. This scoring problem in lax mirrors the same problems many of our major sports have:
Football: lower accuracy in the passing game leads to less completed passes which in turn limits our scoring opportunities
Men's bball: low shooting percentage and poor overall offensive functioning are absolutely the biggest cause of their losing record
Women's bball: if they could shoot better and it would put them in the top 10
In men's lax is this a problem that is quickly fixed or is this gonna take a few years to change?
It seems like our programs need to get more offensively minded in terms of recruiting and schemes/philosophy.
Football: lower accuracy in the passing game leads to less completed passes which in turn limits our scoring opportunities
Men's bball: low shooting percentage and poor overall offensive functioning are absolutely the biggest cause of their losing record
Women's bball: if they could shoot better and it would put them in the top 10
In men's lax is this a problem that is quickly fixed or is this gonna take a few years to change?
It seems like our programs need to get more offensively minded in terms of recruiting and schemes/philosophy.
Cali, here's one I have to post. Maybe this team is not a cold weather team! Seriously the defense is horrible. Goalie play is poor but that could be are result of poor defensemen play. I wonder if playing a zone defense might be better in some cases. But as we can see the overall defensive play is hurting. One has to wonder what will happen when the team faces more competitive competition. But I guess we saw that vs Virginia. Youth vs teams like Monmouth znd Wagner is no excuse....UVA possibly. Stony Brook will be no pushover or easy game. If they can't win that one or show major improvement then it will be a long season. Unless of course the weather warms up!
Read carefully Cali...I thought uou would appreciate a little good natured humor. Bottom line things don't look too good and I really have been pulling for Brecht and wanting him to succeed. But there definitely is something wrong with Rutgers lacrosse. The biggest mistake starts right after Tom Hayes retired and BM had an opportunity to hire Jack Emmer and never really followed through to any great extent. Many of us who know Jack will tell you that he was sincerely interested but an offer or even decent follow up ever occurred. The rest is history and where we are and also included limited scholarships got cut a couple of years due to Rutgers registrar and athletic department foul ups that resulted in NCAA limitations.
Guys like you and some other younger and agressive folks need to get things straightened out. And that includes playing games at Yurcack Stadium. I think it is a slight to the family not to play there considering their funding that help to make this facility possible. Why there isn't a turf there is a mystery since the team plays on the turf both in the stadium and the football practice field and practices often in the Bubble. Makes no sense at all. But then we occassiinsly forget that many things at Rutgers often make no sense in how they are handled.
Let's just best Stony Brook and get back on track. And also hope it's warmer for the gsme because we stink in cold weather!! (Yeah I know we beat St. John's in the cold and squeaked by Wagner but uou can't lose to young programs like Richmond and Monmouth znd think we are a top D1 program with a long lacrosse history and tradition. It's embarassing especially yhst yhr program is nearly fully scholarship funded and located in a hot bed lacrosse area between Long Island and Maryland.
Guys like you and some other younger and agressive folks need to get things straightened out. And that includes playing games at Yurcack Stadium. I think it is a slight to the family not to play there considering their funding that help to make this facility possible. Why there isn't a turf there is a mystery since the team plays on the turf both in the stadium and the football practice field and practices often in the Bubble. Makes no sense at all. But then we occassiinsly forget that many things at Rutgers often make no sense in how they are handled.
Let's just best Stony Brook and get back on track. And also hope it's warmer for the gsme because we stink in cold weather!! (Yeah I know we beat St. John's in the cold and squeaked by Wagner but uou can't lose to young programs like Richmond and Monmouth znd think we are a top D1 program with a long lacrosse history and tradition. It's embarassing especially yhst yhr program is nearly fully scholarship funded and located in a hot bed lacrosse area between Long Island and Maryland.
