League Championship

[HOF2013]

Well Vermont just lost to Stony Brook by one goal!  Our future is in our hands.  We  have to beat Stony Brook next week and we win league!

Edited April 20, 2019 by HOF2013

[cwdickens]

The current edition of Great Dane Lacrosse does not travel well.  That said, can Scott inspire the team to play their best game of the season the road.

[HOF2013]

They will NOT need to play their best game of the season.  VT is awful. Stony Brook won by one goal!  Nuff said. 

Our game against VT was one of the worst games we have played in several years. 

The game against Yale was probably the best the Defense has played [we allowed them the fewest goals they have scored this year]   If we play with that intensity it will not be close.   Stony Brook has played one top team - Penn State first game of the year [and they got hammered, just like we did by Syracuse].  Many who post here seem to forget how difficult our non-league schedule is.  It is one of the most difficult in the country. 

If we play a solid game on Offense we will be fine.  Our defense, despite all of our complaints [I complain a lot about some players myself] is pretty solid.  Intensity and aggressiveness are the keys [and of course cutting down on the unforced errors and winning at least 50% of the faceoffs].

I think the kids will be ready and will play with intensity.

Edited April 21, 2019 by HOF2013

[AlbanyFan2018]

The playoff run starts Friday for sure.

My only request is this week the coaching staff has to settle on an offensive group for better or for worse and roll with it.

[AlbanyFan2018]

I finally let myself watch the replay.

Other than that mini run we gave up in the mid to late second quarter we saw Great Dane lacrosse on Friday night.

A few observations -

The dilemma of where to play Tehoka continues, but given where we are in the season and how we can score I think you keep him at midfield, especially with the injury to Alex.  I don't understand the mix at attack. 

Don't know what the story is, but Ramirez needs to be either first line offensive middie or get a lot more time. He seems to be the only middie who can get to the alley and will pull the trigger. Worst case scenario he has the speed to beat his man and get the defense moving.

Have to set some plays to get Sean's hands free and get him going. We will go no where if Sean isn't putting 2-3 in the net every game going forward. 

Defensive midfield continues to be the weakness. Not going to mention any names, and again know Alex's injury shortens the bench, but one guy in particular has been a liability all season. Bradley and Goldsmith have been pretty solid. They seem to be the two go to guys with Jack Burgmaster, but I think you have to be a bit careful of his minutes. Noah Taylor needs to finish his last season strong.

The man down defense experiment needs to end. You can't put guys who will never play defense for a whole host of reasons against top tier teams. I love the concept, but we don't have the margin for error that we have had in past years. Bottom line is we need our 4 or 5 best buys out there all the time, period.

Don't know what to say about the face off. I don't understand how you give up so easily on a guy who has had a 55% season, which other than the two year TD era, has to be one of the top percentages in Dane history. Before TD we went on and on, about if we only had a guy who could win 40%-50%. Well we have a guy who is better than that, and we continually take a dump on him. No idea what the story is with Altamari, but there has to be something. The coaches didn't even give him a shot. Not saying it is justified or not, but just don't get the philosophy.

Other than Flip battling, none of the other poles have done much if anything. If you are going to give the freshmen pole a shot, you need to let him take more than one. Clearly the coaches thought they had something by letting him be the next guy in, and then they go away from him as well. Whatever we do, we need a plan and not run for the hills the first second it doesn't work.

[HOF2013]

28 minutes ago, AlbanyFan2018 said:

I finally let myself watch the replay.

Other than that mini run we gave up in the mid to late second quarter we saw Great Dane lacrosse on Friday night.

A few observations -

The dilemma of where to play Tehoka continues, but given where we are in the season and how we can score I think you keep him at midfield, especially with the injury to Alex.  I don't understand the mix at attack. 

Don't know what the story is, but Ramirez needs to be either first line offensive middie or get a lot more time. He seems to be the only middie who can get to the alley and will pull the trigger. Worst case scenario he has the speed to beat his man and get the defense moving.

Have to set some plays to get Sean's hands free and get him going. We will go no where if Sean isn't putting 2-3 in the net every game going forward. 

Defensive midfield continues to be the weakness. Not going to mention any names, and again know Alex's injury shortens the bench, but one guy in particular has been a liability all season. Bradley and Goldsmith have been pretty solid. They seem to be the two go to guys with Jack Burgmaster, but I think you have to be a bit careful of his minutes. Noah Taylor needs to finish his last season strong.

The man down defense experiment needs to end. You can't put guys who will never play defense for a whole host of reasons against top tier teams. I love the concept, but we don't have the margin for error that we have had in past years. Bottom line is we need our 4 or 5 best buys out there all the time, period.

Don't know what to say about the face off. I don't understand how you give up so easily on a guy who has had a 55% season, which other than the two year TD era, has to be one of the top percentages in Dane history. Before TD we went on and on, about if we only had a guy who could win 40%-50%. Well we have a guy who is better than that, and we continually take a dump on him. No idea what the story is with Altamari, but there has to be something. The coaches didn't even give him a shot. Not saying it is justified or not, but just don't get the philosophy.

Other than Flip battling, none of the other poles have done much if anything. If you are going to give the freshmen pole a shot, you need to let him take more than one. Clearly the coaches thought they had something by letting him be the next guy in, and then they go away from him as well. Whatever we do, we need a plan and not run for the hills the first second it doesn't work.

Well thought out.  Man down is ridiculous, you are right a couple of guys who never play - just don't understand.   I have agreed all year on the Long Poles.  I understand not having Jones in there in some situations.  TD is just so fast out of the clamp and Jonsie couldn't keep up. My thought was that if he could at least cause a short scrum the wings might get the ball.  Never happened after the first couple. The philosophy, I think, is that a LS can at least hit the FOGO with more force and effort and MAYBE cause conflict and stop a fst clear.  That is well and good IF wings are not only aggressive but quick enough to actually get the ground ball off the FO.  I think he should have been left in there at FO more too.  

I LOVE Ramirez in there and do not understand keeping him out either.  We NEED guys taking shots from the alley and the

top

[DaneForLife]

2 hours ago, AlbanyFan2018 said:

I finally let myself watch the replay.

Other than that mini run we gave up in the mid to late second quarter we saw Great Dane lacrosse on Friday night.

A few observations -

The dilemma of where to play Tehoka continues, but given where we are in the season and how we can score I think you keep him at midfield, especially with the injury to Alex.  I don't understand the mix at attack. 

Don't know what the story is, but Ramirez needs to be either first line offensive middie or get a lot more time. He seems to be the only middie who can get to the alley and will pull the trigger. Worst case scenario he has the speed to beat his man and get the defense moving.

Have to set some plays to get Sean's hands free and get him going. We will go no where if Sean isn't putting 2-3 in the net every game going forward. 

Defensive midfield continues to be the weakness. Not going to mention any names, and again know Alex's injury shortens the bench, but one guy in particular has been a liability all season. Bradley and Goldsmith have been pretty solid. They seem to be the two go to guys with Jack Burgmaster, but I think you have to be a bit careful of his minutes. Noah Taylor needs to finish his last season strong.

The man down defense experiment needs to end. You can't put guys who will never play defense for a whole host of reasons against top tier teams. I love the concept, but we don't have the margin for error that we have had in past years. Bottom line is we need our 4 or 5 best buys out there all the time, period.

Don't know what to say about the face off. I don't understand how you give up so easily on a guy who has had a 55% season, which other than the two year TD era, has to be one of the top percentages in Dane history. Before TD we went on and on, about if we only had a guy who could win 40%-50%. Well we have a guy who is better than that, and we continually take a dump on him. No idea what the story is with Altamari, but there has to be something. The coaches didn't even give him a shot. Not saying it is justified or not, but just don't get the philosophy.

Other than Flip battling, none of the other poles have done much if anything. If you are going to give the freshmen pole a shot, you need to let him take more than one. Clearly the coaches thought they had something by letting him be the next guy in, and then they go away from him as well. Whatever we do, we need a plan and not run for the hills the first second it doesn't work.

At attack I would start  Yunker, Laffin, and Tehoka and would keep Patterson up top, however, I would keep him on the field and run Laffin out of the box. I want to have Patterson and Tehoka on the field all the time for transition offense.

Agree with you guys on Ramierez. We need to have guys up top who can at least threaten to stretch a defense. With no outside shooting we'll either get zoned to death or our attack with get doubled like crazy because no one will respect an outside threat.

I could go either way on Tehoka and Jacob, but that 4-6 man starting rotation has to get ironed out for once and for all this week. I like Casey's effort, he's willing to bang, but he doesn't have the foot speed or ability to change direction with enough quickness to beat a defender. I know Mitch has some limitations on  his dodging ability, but how do you sit a guy on a sluggish offense who has shown he can put five or so in the back of the net???

[dslyank]

18 minutes ago, DaneForLife said:

At attack I would start  Yunker, Laffin, and Tehoka and would keep Patterson up top, however, I would keep him on the field and run Laffin out of the box. I want to have Patterson and Tehoka on the field all the time for transition offense.

Agree with you guys on Ramierez. We need to have guys up top who can at least threaten to stretch a defense. With no outside shooting we'll either get zoned to death or our attack with get doubled like crazy because no one will respect an outside threat.

I could go either way on Tehoka and Jacob, but that 4-6 man starting rotation has to get ironed out for once and for all this week. I like Casey's effort, he's willing to bang, but he doesn't have the foot speed or ability to change direction with enough quickness to beat a defender. I know Mitch has some limitations on  his dodging ability, but how do you sit a guy on a sluggish offense who has shown he can put five or so in the back of the net???

I LIKE your attack line-up a lot. I posted in Yale preview I thought Paterson should go back to the four and LIKE how you would negotiate this.

Wondering if Laffin is hurt? As far as I recall he appeared once on man-up Friday and pretty much that was it. 

I think your assessment on Casey is also right-on. And besides being slow of foot and not mobil, his accuracy is terrible, especially on the move. Put him back as middie where he can get planted and use his hard shot more accurately. {He missed two or three wide open nets Friday while trying to shoot on the run.}

[HOF2013]

7 hours ago, dslyank said:

I LIKE your attack line-up a lot. I posted in Yale preview I thought Paterson should go back to the four and LIKE how you would negotiate this.

Wondering if Laffin is hurt? As far as I recall he appeared once on man-up Friday and pretty much that was it. 

I think your assessment on Casey is also right-on. And besides being slow of foot and not mobil, his accuracy is terrible, especially on the move. Put him back as middie where he can get planted and use his hard shot more accurately. {He missed two or three wide open nets Friday while trying to shoot on the run.}

Like both of you guys' suggestions.  Lot's of thought and right on.   I Like Casey but agree on his speed, not a quick dodger but I think he'd be more accurate from  up top.  Get Patterson and Tehoka moving.  I like the idea of them staying on the field and Jacob on the X.   He hasn't taken the shots from around the corner lately???   I think with Tehoka out front it opens it up ,ore for him.  Laffin could be the wild card.