PrisonMike

Defense could use some coaching up. Slides/ doubles have been bad for years. Often unnecessary and poorly timed, and they don't do a good job hedging. The offense hasn't done well capitalizing on their high percentage looks, which shows in their low shooting percentage. Hogg did a lot of damage in his first couple years as an off ball shooter on the right side of the offense, I wonder if he moves back to attack. Any updates on Salit? I don't think he's dressed for any games this year, is he injured?

Outstanding individual performance by Heller, he was the difference in this game. There's one long pole in particular that is overly aggressive with his slides and slides to the SSDM when they're not even close to being beat. It ends up creating offense for opposing teams, but luckily Heller stood on his head in goal.

I've been a big fan of Salit since his freshman year and always thought he deserved more playing time. Since moving to attack he has been averaging 4.29 points per game which would put him at #28 in the country for points per game. I think hes a player that could have learned a lot with one year playing under someone like Lyle Thompson or Conor Fields. He has a bright future and two more years of eligibility if he chooses to stay for a grad year. One of VanValkenburgh's strengths this year have been his quick outlet passes to Piseno that initiate the transition offense, unfortunately not many have translated into goals or even good looks. The SSDM were giving up the top side way too easily. I expect Vermont to put a lot of pressure on the SSDM this Thursday. They like to attack the short sticks from X to draw a quick slide, which leaves their shooters with open looks from the outside.

Gash with a walking boot and crutches was not good to see. Hopefully hes alright and its just precautionary. There have been quite a few injuries this season. I saw Fingar on the box score but I thought he was out for the season? There was no quit in this team today, they played hard until the final whistle. Eleven assists was a season high, and an overall solid offensive performance should build confidence heading into the tournament.

They played well for the first 20 minutes but after going up 8-3 with 8:27 left in the second they only scored 3 goals the rest of the game, and one was a pole goal. I don't understand the strategy of running a majority of the offense through 2nd, 3rd, and 4th string midfielders. Get the ball in the sticks of your best players, and create ways to get them good looks. Salit is the clear number one on offense, and you have great shooters in Hogg, Pucci and Richmond. Salit has shown every game that he can win a one on one matchup from x and teams aren't sliding to him, let him work more. Maybe try a big little to get him matched up on a short stick and if a quick slide comes get the ball to one of shooters on the outside. Wheres the two man game been? I think we saw the first two man goal the previous game against Merrimack. Let Hogg work off ball, Richmond has thrown some great passes he doesn't have to just be a finisher. The defense often gets themselves in trouble when they get overly aggressive with their slides, the communication isn't always there. They have the talent to play with anyone. There is a lot of talent on this team at every position, and they are very capable of winning the AE tournament. You don't want to still be figuring things out 13 games into the season but you never what could happen.

It was good to see Salit finally get a chance. He had a solid all around day with 4 GBs to go along with his 6 points. The attack line of Salit, Richmond and Sheehan looked pretty good. The coaches still tried to run a lot of the offense through Hogg in the midfield but I think Salit deserves a chance to initiate more from X especially if Hogg is dealing with a foot injury. He's been having a down year and has more turnovers (18) than points (17). This was an important win because Albany and UMBC could both be fighting for the fourth playoff spot in the AE tournament at the end of the year.

This offense is painful to watch. They cant even get a good look on a man up, let alone 6 on 6. In the 1st quarter against lowell the offense was playing well with hogg, sheehan and salit on attack, and richmond coming out of the box. Then the second quarter starts and they're back in the same offense that hasn't been working all season. There have been a few puzzling coaching decisions. Vermont comes in with a similar offensive game plan year after year and Albany is never ready for it. "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Eventually something has to change. I dont know the contract situations, but Marr needs to bring in new assistants after this year. It should have happened after last years abysmal season. Go after young coaches who played in the ACC or Big Ten. Vermonts assistants played at Maryland and Michigan. UMBC's assistants are from Virgina and Lehigh. You need guys who come from top tier programs.

I expect VanValkenburgh to get the start again and a lot of 10 man ride from Albany. Umass has struggled clearing the ball this season. They have a .796 clear percentage, which ranks them 62 out 73 D1 teams. Solid SSDM play has really improved Albany's defense this year. The offense has yet to figure things out. Too much hero ball where you have one player dodging and trying to do it all while everyone else stands around watching. The ball has been dying in one players stick; ball movement hasn't been great. Kesselring seems like a natural feeder. Would like to see him and Salit initiate more, and Hogg less. They're both great dodgers and can draw slides to get defenses moving. There hasn't been as much two man game the past two seasons. Salit and Kesselring are great dodgers who would pair up well with shooters like Pucci, Hogg or Richmond.

You could be right. As much as I would like to have him back on the team, I think thats just the Albany fan in me dreaming.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_P992YBwjb/?utm_source=ig_embed Interesting comment from jack burgmaster about deleting that post. TD back to Albany?

It will be interesting to see how this effects spring sports

This team needs assistant coaches who have experience

Incredibly frustrating

After quickly fast-forwarding through some of the replay I placed too much blame on Altimari. In a close game like you want to see players give it everything they have all the time, similar to running through first base on a ground ball. I agree with all thats been said about 6 on 6 defense. Communication and slides have been improving every week. There have been a lot of changes made during the first few games of the season that usually get ironed out in the preseason. The team has been improving since week 1 and as they get more practice and game time together they should continue to get better. Hay has a good stick and helps a lot with clears and transition, he even had one or two shot backups yesterday, but I think his on ball defense is where he can improve the most. I caught some of the Duke vs Richmond game this weekend and heard Quint mention how Danowski has been throwing a lot of players on the field just trying to see what works, but said its time for him to set the depth chart and let his top guys play. It seems like the same thing is going on at Albany. Outside of the offensive and defensive starters, and a few midfielders, it doesnt seem like there is any structure to the depth chart. Theres been a lot of experimenting with players in close games and critical situations when your top guys should be in make sure the game doesnt get away. In addition to the others mentioned Chase Noah also got his first action yesterday.

This team is good when then can control the faceoff and don't have to play defense. Altimari looked good at times but his complete lack of effort when in pursuit after losing faceoffs gave harvard multiple fast break goals, coaches cant let that happen. Unsettled/ transition defense is horrible, nate didn't play well for three quarters but the defense is constantly giving up high percentage opportunities and leaving him out to dry. Hay has work to do, I don't think hes one of the top three close defenders on the team. Otherwise, the defense plays hard and with a lot of effort and has done well creating turnovers and forcing shot clock violations. Theres no Fields or Thompson on this team but Patterson and Nanticoke are the best, and most experienced players on offense, and should be initiating most of the time. Tehoka might not have elite vision as a passer but he seems to be feeling doubles better this year and moving the ball when he needs to. He gets defenses rotating and out of position. The offense as a unit feels like its lacking an identity and hasnt hit its stride completely. Could be due to patterson and John missing preseason and fall ball. Theyre getting good looks but havent been cashing in on the "easy" and high percentage looks. What happened to Mccomber? Hes been MIA the past two games. Its been touched on by others but the team doesnt look well coached at times. Theres sloppy play, unforced turnovers and sometimes lack of effort. Theres still work to be done if this team want to win the AE and be competitive in the tournament. Unrelated to the game, but as someone who can make it to games the video production of the online streams has gotten worse this year. The commentators are great but way too often the cameras are following players sub off the field or are focused on midfield while theres action going on out of frame.

After such a strong fall and preseason watching the game against Cornell was incredibly frustrating and disappointing. Marr needs to pick a fogo and give him a chance. His idea of putting a pole out for the faceoff and making it a 50-50 ground ball seems like a good idea in theory, but albany isnt a strong ground ball team thats going to win those ground balls. And on top of that it increases opponents chance for a fast break and an easy goal, which we saw often yesterday and last season. Its also time to move away from two middies, theres a reason why at least 95% of D1 doesnt play two way middies. Were making offensive guys play defense and its hurting the team more than its helping. Opposing teams target our SSDM every game and it works for them because its a huge hole in the defense. I know albany's identity is playing fast and pushing transition and that can still be accomplished without two way middies because of the poles we have, specifically Hay and Piseno. If we have dedicated SSDM who practice with the close defense week in and week out than maybe it will help with communication and slides which was an issue in yesterdays game and has been a problem for years. I'm not ready to give up on the season after one game especially when it looks like a couple changes can go a long way. At the same time I'm not sure the coaching staff will make any changes, Marr seems stuck in his ways.