AlbanyFan2018

UVM is down this year for sure after a good run, Stony Brook is no longer in the conference. I guess you could say Bryant is solid, but other than that Bingo is what Bingo is, NJIT is a bit better but still not a top team, and UMass L is bad. I don't think how the announcer could make the case that the AE is a good conference. I'll stand by the fact that this is probably the first team in 4-5 years that is showing some serious grit and getting better. The defense to include D middies needs to get better, but this team could definitely get into the tournament with winning the AE conference tournament.

100% agree with you. I have not been happy with this staff for a while, but I do have to say this team is showing much more grit and has improved through the season as opposed to what we have seen the last several years. This is the weakest the AE has been in a while, but a nice road win for sure.

The youth does show, and we have been young for a number of years without a lot of development. Rather than get negative I will have to sign off. The last five years or so after the great run we had are tough to watch. I think we had the chance to be the Gonzaga of college lacrosse, but for some reason it slipped through our fingers. It is tough to watch the same mistakes being made over and over again. I do think we have a nice crop of freshmen on the team, but we haven't seen the sort of growth you would expect over four years. I said it years ago, I applaud and love Coach Marr's loyalty, but it is time to look out side the program for the coaching staff. It is only natural for things to get too comfortable. Time to shake things up, and bring in some fresh eyes.

I think this is going how it going to look. A little sloppy with younger players, but this group seems to be playing with a lot more heart than other recent teams. I still hate the slide packages, and we create more offense then we actually give up.

Looks like Piseno, at least for now, back at LSM, but not for long!!

Silly defensive breakdown leads to a point blank shot for a goal and Piseno as good as he is just made a terrible missed check in close and the goalie bails us out. That has got to cleaned up ASAP.

Just saw the starting lineup for today's game and Hogg has been moved back to attack.

I agree with you. What I think happened at the end, and is to be expected, is that when we had the ball in that last 90 seconds after Colgate scored, there wasn't a go to guy to run the play through or to try and take the game over. That's why I was a bit surprised, at least for now, that Hogg was playing up top. Over his career he has been pretty effective at beating his guy from X or at least getting the defense moving. I'm not sure I love Piseno playing down low, but I say that not having a clue anymore of who can really do what down low. I just think he is much more disruptive in the middle of the field and his go for broke defensive style is better suited in space then in close. He did give up one or two yesterday going for a high risk reward check. That is better suited in space then in close. I just don't think playing close plays to his strengths. There were some bad slides and ball watching by a few guys, but hopefully that gets cleaned up as they get more time at game speed. The freshmen goalie looked really good. At least 3-4 of the goals he gave up were from poor defensive plays where he had little to no chance.

I would agree. I still am not seeing anyone who can win a one on one matchup. That is one reason I am a bit surprised Hogg is coming out of the box. He was pretty much a non factor on offense, especially for a 5th year senior. All depends on the growth over the next 2-3 games, but for a team playing its 4th game vs our first overall I felt OK with it.

I know he is out of school, but not sure if he is trying to play somewhere else or not.

Seeing the same defensive mistakes over and over the last 5-6 years.

He is not

Let's go Danes - Can't say I love another youth movement but we will see.

Finally got that monkey off our back! Gutsy call by Marr to put Heller in at goalie and it paid off big.

Definitely some good pieces on offense. Have to give the coaches kudos for moving Salit to attack. Hopefully Hogg will be OK to play in the tournament because if he does play the 4th attack out of the box he can cause the defense to rotate. It was a solid effort start to finish, but when that is what we have to hang our hat on after a loss to Bingo that should be unacceptable for our program. Somehow have to get this program back to the Dane Train days. I see some bright spots with some of the younger offensive players, but we just can't seem to recruit or develop the two way middie's who really made that offense hum with great outlet passing. I am not sure how Sam Stratton got in the dog house. IMO he should be playing, and played well last year as a starter for most if not all of the year. The poles are playing OK but the breakdowns yesterday were once again the short stick defenders

Definitely the best effort game of the season. Would have one another game or two if we could have played with that kind of energy from start to finish.

That was quite the brawl. Haven't seen Scott that fired up in a long time. Agree it was that late slash by Merrimack.

Never miss when Yale comes to town. Somber start to the start of the game with the tribute to Coach Marr's mom. It was an odd game from my perspective, because we did come out with good energy and it was a tight game with solid goalie play. We looked pretty quick on offense with Hogg playing the 4th attack from up top, but just couldn't score. Then we got the usual defensive breakdowns, unforced turnovers, and while we got a decent amount of looks we just couldn't score. I bet we had more shots than Yale and I thought overall both goalies played good games. Something just isn't right.

Totally agree. I guess I have a slightly different take because I had a bit more of a front row seat. I didn't do a great job of articulating my point and thanks to HOF as I was not taking a shot at Carino, but more pointing that out as an example of pumping up a new player with no recent lax experience as the possible missing piece. I meant to add the constant changes in offense, two way middle, no two way middie, the constant defensive scheme changes........ For the last 4-5 years there just has been little to no identity. I completely agree that you always try to recruit guys who are better than the ones you have and if they are, work hard and develop then those are the guys who should be on the field. I am just aware of a few too many instances when the players know who can and who can't get it done and have lost confidence.

Not animosity, but when you shine a light on a guy who hasn't played a second of lacrosse in several years IMO it erodes team morale, and he hasn't been a factor. I was pointing out this has been a recurring theme, and rather than developing players the staff continually seems to be searching for something

100% There is always going to be tweaking, and players can't stand on the their laurels and just expect to have their spot. I used to coach a bit with one of better area travel teams and the two guys your rarely saw at events were Desko when he was still at Cuse and Coach Marr. Since D1 lacrosse hasn't grown too much in terms of number of teams, and more kids playing you would sort of think with so many kids fighting for not a lot of spots that given our recent history we would be winning our share of the recruiting battles. I do think our facilities and things like the locker room, supplemental food and what not hurts us to some degree, but there is enough talent out there. I have been on several recruiting trips to help several families out and there is no question we are the minor league when it comes to the bells and whistles part of the program. You could be right about why certain guys get pushed out in favor of new recruits, but I haven't seen something like we have been seeing, especially when the recruits are as you have said, and I agree not highly rated.

Thanks, I hadn't seen it and just read it. Unfortunately, no real meat to the story, but at least everyone on this forum has seen this and screaming at the top of our lungs for a while now. I've heard a few things second hand so can't say, but the one thing that has struck me for years is the disconnect between fall ball and the inability to start the season knowing who your 20-28 guys are with reasonable certainty. For the last 4-5 years there has been constant experimenting to try and find the elusive chemistry. Then you see guys disappear for a whole host of odd reasons. I don't know the Carino kid, but if I were on the team, and I guy who has played no lacrosse, and really hasn't shown anything, gets a ton of hype leading into the season at the expense of kids who have been busing their butt in the program IMO is the sort of thing that gets under player's skin. I don't know that is a problem per se, but there have been things like that, and what I call the shiny new penny syndrome over the last few years which can't help team cohesion.

I didn't get a chance to comment on what appeared to be a very good performance against UMBC, but today is a complete and utter disaster. This lack of preparation is what was happening at the tail end of our time with the program and is 100% on the coaches. Time to blow it up.

I think the demise of the offense has been more about not having stud two way middies, and the ability to bring another dangerous attack men out of the box to give us that 4th option that we did so well. It seems as if Coach Marr and the OC have struggled ever since. No doubt the names you mention are a big part of the problem, but the Thompson's in particular were generational type of players that most teams never have on their roster. The biggest surprise to me is the continued lack of Canadian influence, and lack of stick skills/ball movement, but it all starts with one or two guys who can break down a defense and get it moving, and if you don't have that then you have to do it with creative two man games, picks, and crisp ball movement. Did we just happen to catch lighting in a bottle? It is beginning to look like that might have been the case.

We've lost to UVM the last eight times, UMBC rising, Bryant looks solid and now I am seeing ranked in some polls. I love my Danes, but this is a pretty epic collapse of a program, and whether it is Benson or whomever, someone needs to stop living in the past and figure out what has gone wrong. I am tired of listening to Wyland's show on Monday and hearing nothing but coach speak and softball questions.