dslyank

I also left after the 4th qtr; I had an appointment. Weather was actually pleasant--sunny no wind-would have stayed for another it was a fun afternoon. St Johns is ether really bad or UA will be surprising a lot of people. I had qtr score breakdowns of 7-4; 13-7 @ ½; 19-8 after 3 and 20-11 final {st's last 3 goals were all man up against subs with their last with 9 seconds left. As Hof said, Nanticoke and Hogg combined for 10+ goals and almost that many assists between them. I was VERY happy to see McComber get a hat trick playing as the 4th attack with the first string and a late goal playing the 3 with the subs. His first goal was a man-up laser, but I was very impressed with his second goal--he made an awesome move to lose his man on the side line and blazed in for the goal. His 3rd was another laser after beating a short stick out front. His last was a nice wrap around and the only goal UA had in the 4th. Speaking of wraps #5 Chase Noah had one in the 3rd. I do not think he played in the first ½. Casey also had a laser man-up goal early and a wrap around in the 3rd. After, $ienna I tried to pay special attention to McComber and Noah and I am pretty sure of their #s. Think Yunker had a punch of assists, but hard to keep track without the public address announcer. As much as I was impressed with the offense, the most satisfying thing was UA's RIDE. Caused @ least 3-4, 20 second violations and at least that many steals. And the 50-50 face-off wins was really a result of the wing play. Actual clean draws were few.Thought Altamari was better than Jones again; but neither very good still. The D was outstanding and regularly stole the ball. The D-middies did give up a few, but even they played well in my opinion. That's it; attendance about 50--please feel free to add and/or correct. I did overhear someone say something about another scrimmage and Marr plans on using the walking wounded in the last scrimmage. Do not know if this is true or maybe heard it wrong??? Speaking of mia's, I have not norticed #7 Mitch Laffin even on the sideline, either game??

For what its worth: Receiving votes in the preseason Media poll; as UA also did in the preseason IL poll; as they did in Quints poll. No other AmEast teams showed up in any of these.

Agree with the first sentence; but only partly with the last two. A healthy Malachi is as athletic as anyone in the league. Clark is probably the BEST point guard in the league, even with his bone head shots and at times tries to do too much. With a healthy backup to give him more REST and less STRESS, I would change probably to absolutely the BEST. And even as unhealthy as this team has been, IMHO the have been/are way more than average.

First it was @ Afrims at 12. Then moved to Casey @ noon. Then possibly back to Afrims; and then Casey at whenever. Is this firm NOW? I hate to arrive at 1 and find out I missed an hour or even be in the right location. I am pretty devoted, but would also hate to arrive at noon and freeze for an extra hour. Somebody official SHOULD POST IT SOMEWHERE!

Agreed and may have to take out the word "Backup" to really make this statement relevant. UA's now only PG besides having a bad back and ankle, took one in the family jewels yesterday.

Some famous coach once said, you are not as bad as you look when you shoot poorly and not as good as you look when you shoot exceptionally {or something like that.} The point being Wednesday UA shot at a amazing % and Saturday could not hit the broad side of a barn with a tennis ball. As a team, we are probably somewhere between what we saw wed. and sat.. If UA shoots even their normal average yesterday, they win; if they don't turn it over 19 times they win walking away. In spite of how bad they looked, UA only gave up 62 points, ½ of which came from one player and ½ of those points came in a span of 10 minutes. We out rebounded Hford by 10 and only allowed 3 offensive rebounds and few if any second chance points; in spite of the fact that Hford had a distinct size advantage at nearly every position; and our top rebounder and most athletic kid did not suit. This team is so frustratingly close to being really GOOD, maybe even winning the AmEast. No body is going to win this thing running away. Top to bottom the league is that close this year. Not sure if the league is just ALL BAD or all improved, but really on any given day any team in this league can beat another. If UA could just get their offense and shooting more consistent and CUT DOWN ON TURNOVERS, IMHO they could going dancing again. On the other hand, especially without a competent back-up at the point mid-pack and early exit also highly possible.

Chase Noah (#5) was on the field a bit. Not sure if he got goal, but pretty sure he got an assist or at least was around the action when someone did. Will make a point to watch for him Thursday. Anyone got a TIME for that scrimmage yet? ps Not to make a political statement or anything; but I believe Chase Noah went to school with Baron Trump or at least were at St. Andrews at he same time {unless there are multiple St.Andrews Episcopal's in Maryland.}

Arrived 5 minutes late. Don't know score when I arrived {anyone know why scrimmage scores are not shown on board---ncaa rule??--pretty stupid if you ask me.} Anyhow from that point I had UA 13-9 until middle of period 5 when I left. Thought UA pretty much out played llc even with many UA missing pieces and even when "starters" subbed out. Some observations: two of $ienna's goals came after UA basically ran by the ball laying on the ground and ½ the team sprinted down the field as if UA had gotten the ball leaving wide open goals for llc. In other words ground ball work like last year needs WORK. llc got another goal when #88 Piseno (who is definitely going to be a good one--very active--tough) after a side line scrum which he won against 2-3, just heaved the ball into the middle of the field where an opponent walked in for a goal. Freshman mistake, but I loved his hustle/fight. Very impressed with #45 Hogg; Yunker and him should really battle to start along side Tehoka & Patterson. Unofficially I had Hogg and Tehoka with at least a hat trick each. Remain disappointed with #9 McComber, got a lot of minutes today and spent much of it on his butt, similar to last year. Just too small??? As far as late inning subs Sands was beast out there and I would not be surprised {if healthy} he does not push the starters for a lot of minutes. Freshman goalie Heller #30 also stood out. He was ALL over the field; looked like Riordan only quicker. Un-officially gave up only a goal or two in about 20 minutes of action. Anyone and All feel free to correct, contradict or add to the above. My early impressions only--will take NO offense. ps agree with Hof on FO summary above. Altamari best sofar.

Ellison had 31 pts; ½ hart's totals

OK; but see above quote?? What do you purpose??

Followed up what was perhaps the best game UA played in two years by if not he worse, pretty close.

Is there a plan B??????

Mentioned $ienna scrimmage this weekend. Still NO exact date--time--or place? Basketball @ 3pm. Saturday. I'd like to do both. Be nice if some details provided somewhere??

From Schenectady Gazette this am. Article also said Patterson 100% healthy after knee injury early fall ball--absolutely NO restrictions now. Glad to see Casey moving back to midfield; his main position in high school.

I usually try and keep it as positive as I can and definitely skip whole sections when the name calling and nit picking get too serious. But if I understand your sentiments here I got to disagree. If people leave this blog because it is too negative, I feel sorry for them, but their choice to do so; just as it is everyone who does participate choice to rant to their hearts desire {provide they adhere to the rules of the blog.} If any players left because of this blog [which I seriously doubt by the way--may have been a contributing factor but NO more IMHO], they probably found the grass is not always greener elsewhere {ask Dev Holmes} and they would most definitely find this blog is NO worse than any others and considerably BETTER than most. So skip the negative parts and people lighting themselves un-fire; if you like, but don't give up on this blog. A lot of GOOD people on this blog who ALL LOVE UA athletics.

Would also like to see this question answered by someone?? Doherty was suppose to compete for playing time right away and Hutch was predicted to Red Shirt. Was one just recruit hype and the other just a big surprise?? Did UA get lucky on one and just bombed on the other?? These are questions the STAFF needs to be answering, at least among themselves. Not saying the staff needs to report to us; but I would like to know the answers to the above. All opinions on the matter welcomed. ps My assessment on the game. Shoot a % or 2 better and we win the game. Give brook credit they played great D; but couple more makes and we win that game. We most definitely can compete with brook and by default vt also. Not saying UA will win the league, but I for one think they will be right in there at the end. Lastly if this was baseball, Olaniyi should be checked for STERIODS. Speaking of UA players not progressing; this kid went from about 7 points per game last year and 3 rebounds or so to almost 20 per and a double double machine.

A little confused? You said "both" games. Is there a second scrimmage?? Cornell is first regular season game--NOT a scrimmage.

Any update on scrimmage with $ienna Time & Place? Maybe it is a game time decision based on weather?? Also, with first real game 2/15; you would think UA would want another scrimmage? More than two full weeks between 1/25 [$ienna] and Cornell for real??

Maybe BEST first 25 minutes all season! Then the drought????? I think we went 10+ minutes with NO ONE other than Clark scoring a point [at least it seemed that way.] I don't know if Clark makes bonehead plays and forced shots because he simply has to carry this team on his back OR because he is not doing his job getting others involved?? IMHO the former. Maybe it is the old chicken/egg first question.

absolutely terrible call. listening to roger and marinella, muted local buffoons long ago. Replay absolutely showed NO foul on drive or block!

Name??? if you can.

2018 NICE assessment. I was writing mine at the same time as you; and funny to see us both using the word "storm". Pretty much agree with all you said, but being optimistic about "at large" if everything clicks.

Looking at the roster, my very early thoughts: like football UA is going to surprise a lot of people. IMHO last year an anomaly. Perfect storm: head coach and offensive coordinator off @ FILA much of time, defensive coach @ llc; not to mention graduations, transfers, injuries and other personnel issues. But IMHO the single biggest issue is the team was unable to adjust their style to the new 80 second clock {and all of the previous mentioned storms contributed to this.} Being a fast paced team already, I think UA did not realize the clock would require much adjusting too. But as we saw (at least I did) the clock brought subtleties which seemed to help slower paced teams disproportionately. Like hof I've been frustrated with the lack of posts; but maybe it will help UA fly under the radar? Last year a lot of hype may have also contributed to the storm. So I'll stay on the cautious side top 15; top 10 not out of the question.

Agree game tough to watch. Disagree Maine SO bad. They are big, long, have multiple guys who can hit the 3; and they are young. If they can channel their toughness without fouling SO much, they are going to win some games in the ameast. Also Healy makes his usual 35-40% from 3, game not close.

DEFENSE is NOT the problem. Putting the ball in the net and turnovers IS.