ualbany mlax MLAX - Game 8/Conference Game 3 Apr 1 (Sat) 1:00 PM Albany, N.Y. Bob Ford Field at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium

[cwdickens]

If you remember, I stated the importance of this past Saturday's match-up was to the season.  With that said, the need to re-group and play for a win is essential to avoid relying on others to determine if we make the America East Conference Tournament.  UMBC's record is 6-2 against somewhat soft opponents.

Apr 1 (Sat) Time Change to 1:00PM

AE

vs 

UMBC

Albany, N.Y. Bob Ford Field at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium

 

• Live Stats
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• History

Edited March 31, 2023 by cwdickens
update

[cwdickens]

Weather forecast for:  Saturday

Rain. High near 63. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 90%.

 

Why not, a bad forecast for what has been a dreadful season. 

[dslyank]

Not sure what these mean exactly; but IL mid season efficiency ratings out.

UA Offensive Eff. Rating 44th:   65 goals on 266 possessions aprox. 24%

UA Defensive Eff. Rating 50th:   85 goals allowed on 277 possessions aprox.  30%

There are 75 D1 teams and UA's goal total is 7th worse in the country (my unofficial eyeball test); but its 85 allowed is actually top 20-25 form my observation. [same total as #1 Eff. rated North Carolina 85 allowed but out of 477.]

GOT TO GET BETTER;  Especially on the offensive end. For all the talk about needing  a new defensive assistant coach; IMHO from the eye test at least, the defense has not been the problem and except for a couple of duds [SU & VT] has played well for the most part. The offense simply does not score enough goals and does not get enough possessions and/or maintain the ball enough.

 

[nysteve661]

40 minutes ago, dslyank said:

Not sure what these mean exactly; but IL mid season efficiency ratings out.

UA Offensive Eff. Rating 44th:   65 goals on 266 possessions aprox. 24%

UA Defensive Eff. Rating 50th:   85 goals allowed on 277 possessions aprox.  30%

There are 75 D1 teams and UA's goal total is 7th worse in the country (my unofficial eyeball test); but its 85 allowed is actually top 20-25 form my observation. [same total as #1 Eff. rated North Carolina 85 allowed but out of 477.]

GOT TO GET BETTER;  Especially on the offensive end. For all the talk about needing  a new defensive assistant coach; IMHO from the eye test at least, the defense has not been the problem and except for a couple of duds [SU & VT] has played well for the most part. The offense simply does not score enough goals and does not get enough possessions and/or maintain the ball enough.

 

Yup.  When Marr does not have an 1st team All-American attackman, ie. Restateris, Thompson, Fields, we are mediocre at best on offense over the past 15 years.  Time to find the next 1st teamer coach.  Or UA will be a middle of the road team offensively year after year.

[cwdickens]

On 3/28/2023 at 9:40 AM, cwdickens said:

Weather forecast for:  Saturday

Rain. High near 63. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 90%.

 

Why not, a bad forecast for what has been a dreadful season. 

Improving forecast:Saturday

Rain before 2pm, then showers after 2pm. High near 65. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 90%.

[AlbanyFan2018]

On 3/28/2023 at 11:04 AM, nysteve661 said:

Yup.  When Marr does not have an 1st team All-American attackman, ie. Restateris, Thompson, Fields, we are mediocre at best on offense over the past 15 years.  Time to find the next 1st teamer coach.  Or UA will be a middle of the road team offensively year after year.

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.

Edited March 30, 2023 by AlbanyFan2018

[cwdickens]

The forecast is updated as of Friday morning for: Saturday

Rain before 2pm, then a slight chance of showers after 3pm. High near 68. Southwest wind 14 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Edited March 31, 2023 by cwdickens
update

[dslyank]

4 hours ago, AlbanyFan2018 said:

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. 

+++

 

4 hours ago, AlbanyFan2018 said:

about not having stud two way middies, and the ability to bring another dangerous attack men out of the box

Thought, Decker & Moran and Pucci might be the answers here? But like pretty much the entire offense, inconsistent at best. Believe you are right on with your comment (+++) above. Hopefully Marr et company can figure out how to get some/more movement around and in front of the crease, and the offense will come around.

[cwdickens]

UAlbany has just announced that starting time for tomorrow's match is now 1:00 PM.

The threat of thunderstorms, for later in the afternoon, is the reason.

[cwdickens]

The team seem focused in both in their settle offense sets and particularly artful in unsettle offense situations.  Further, Jack Vanvalkenburgh saw UMBC shots much better than other recent games.

Men's Lacrosse Defeats UMBC 12-6

[cwdickens]

12 hours ago, cwdickens said:

The team seem focused in both in their settle offense sets and particularly artful in unsettle offense situations.  Further, Jack Vanvalkenburgh saw UMBC shots much better than other recent games.

Men's Lacrosse Defeats UMBC 12-6

There have been a number of posts, in the past and recently, about our assistant coaches in both basketball and lacrosse, concerning the long-term relationship with their programs.  Well, as I noted earlier, the team played well and the Sunday Times Union article outlines changes made by the assistant coaches.

UALBANY 12, UMBC 6

 

Changes pay off for Danes

UAlbany bounces back from its lopsided loss last week at Vermont

 

By Mark Singelais

Jim Franco / Times Union

UAlbany sophomore TJ Sheehan makes a move in front of UMBC senior Talon Campbell on Saturday. Sheehan scored two goals in the Danes’ win.

Photos by Jim Franco / Times Union

UAlbany senior Graydon Hogg scores a goal against UMBC in an America East game on Saturday at John Fallon Field. Hogg had a pair of goals and an assist in the victory against the Retrievers. Hogg has 13 goals so far this season.

UAlbany junior Peter Salit winds up for a shot against UMBC on Saturday. Salit scored three times for the Great Danes in his second start of the season. He was moved from midfield to attack for this game. Salit added three assists.

ALBANY — Coming off a blowout loss at Vermont, the University at Albany men’s lacrosse coaching staff made sweeping changes, right down to the team’s pregame warmup.

The players responded.

The Great Danes scored the game’s first five goals en route to an easy 12-6 win over Maryland-Baltimore County on Saturday at John Fallon Field.

“It’s the first time in a long time we’ve had a win like that, where we really dominated,” UAlbany coach Scott Marr said. “I think we dominated probably 55 out of the 60 minutes of the game.”

Freshman Silas Richmond and junior Peter Salit each had a hat trick for the Great Danes, who improved to 3-5 overall, 2-1 in the America East Conference.

Marr said he gave game balls to assistant coaches Merrick Thomson, John Maloney and Corey Yunker for their work during the week following a 14-7 loss to defending champion Vermont.

“We really spent a lot of time evaluating how to get our team to have energy through the course of the week and on game day,” he said.

Thomson, the offensive coordinator, researched pregame routines. The Great Danes changed the way they stretched and their ballwork and went back in the locker room before coming out a second time.

UAlbany also switched back to its two-way midfield system and started Salit, normally a midfielder, at attack. Salit finished with three goals and three assists.

“Peter runs well and he’s very skilled and he’s got good vision,” Marr said.

The Great Danes were also helped by the season debut of senior defenseman Will Pepe, a Shaker High graduate who missed the first seven games with a broken collarbone suffered in a preseason scrimmage against Siena.

Pepe said the changes were necessary after the performance against Vermont.

“I mean, after last week’s game, we knew that we couldn’t have anything like that happen again,” Pepe said. “So it was nice to see an active change in what (the coaches) do. I mean, they’re always tweaking little things, but after that game, we knew we needed something big and I think they showed that.”

UAlbany, which didn’t score in the first quarter against Vermont, jumped to a 3-0 lead against UMBC in the opening 15 minutes.

Richmond scored the first two goals on the man advantage and then Salit electrified the team with his score with 2.6 seconds left in the period.

Great Danes senior defenseman Blake Runkle threw a length-of-the-field pass that bounced once over UAlbany’s Keelan Seneca and UMBC defenders right to Salit, who deposited the ball past UMBC goalie Jayson Tingue.

“I saw the clock was at 20 seconds and I called over, I think it was Silas and Keelan at the time and said, ‘Let’s get in front of the net in case they chuck it down here,’” Salit said. “The (UMBC) kid missed the ball and it ended up right on my stick.”

UAlbany seized leads of 5-0, 7-1 at halftime and 8-2 in the third quarter before UMBC (6-3, 1-2) scored three straight goals to end the period. But Salit scored coming from behind the goal just 1:44 into the fourth period for a 9-5 lead that stopped the Retrievers’ momentum.

▶› msingelais@timesunion.com 518-454-5509 A @MarkSingelais

[HOF2013]

My thoughts are that we played more Man Def. and  it helped.  It seems that every game that we have done that we have played great!  Gotta stay away from the zone.  Some of our kids just are too slow laterally to keep step with quick attacks and don't slide quickly enough.  No names BUT I think it is abvious to many of us.  They scored a couple against our kids because they were slow reacting.

Edited April 3, 2023 by HOF2013

[dslyank]

UA played a very complete game in all aspects. UMBC, especially their defense (goalie on Tewaaraton watchlist) is nationally ranked. UA pretty much dominated all Stats and certainly the eye test. Impressed with almost 50% (12 goals out of 25 shots on goal against watchlist keeper and strong defense.) Thought shot selection had been an issue most of the year; yesterday UA did a good job mixing up low/high/90's. 

Also, agree with Hof UA man-to-man D, much better than zone.

Now, we need to take yesterday's energy/effort/execution and do it on the ROAD also.

Edited April 2, 2023 by dslyank

[Laxdawg20]

Great game played by Danes I do not remember the team playing zone at all this year I missed the 1st quarter vs Vermont did they come out in zone to start that game? They were in man to man even vs Maryland & Cornell 

[HOF2013]

1 hour ago, Laxdawg20 said:

Great game played by Danes I do not remember the team playing zone at all this year I missed the 1st quarter vs Vermont did they come out in zone to start that game? They were in man to man even vs Maryland & Cornell 

Played a lot of zone against Syracuse and Vermont.  Down low all they did is step aroung our guys and shoot.  We seem to be better in man.  Thus Cornell and Maryland and the other day where they stayed predominately in man.  Our guys seem to slow to step out to the guys coming around the corner when we are in the zone.  I think sometimes we play a mixture.

From an expert on Def in lacrosse>  "Zone defense in lacrosse is different from man-to-man defense in that, instead of guarding a particular player, each zone defender is responsible for guarding an area of the field, or “zone”, and any offensive player that comes into that area. Zone defenders move their position on the field in relationship to where the ball moves."  We do it a lot on LS close D...

I suppose I could have my head up my butt but........................

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by HOF2013