Cornell- Virginia lacrosse post-game

While it's disappointing to lose the game, there are some positives to take away from it:

1. Pannell is the real deal. Two goals and four assists against Ole Virginny and at their yard--especially given that he's a freshman and this is only his third game--is very impressive. He also piled up some points against Bingo and would have had more against the Arms had we been able to finish more effectively.

2. Moyer did a great job on Glading--one of the best attackmen around. I think Glading ended up with one assist. Again, very impressive. Overall, our defensive work against their attack looked good. Other than Steele Stanwick (That name sounds familiar--does that guy have his own TV mini-series?), nobody else on their attack line did much in the scoring chart.

3. Despite giving up a potential confidence-deflating goal just a few seconds in the game, we kept our composure and were actually ahead at halftime.

4. Hurley continues to look strong this year. And it's encouraging to see him step up in a big game like this one. His scoring dropped off a lot last year against the tougher competition.

On the other hand, there were some problems.

1. Goaltending looked weak. Ole Virginny only put 18 shots on goal, and 14 went in.

2. Clearing, normally a Cornell strength, looked ghastly in the third quarter. The game seemed to turn during this quarter.

3. Face offs didn't go our way in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter when we were 0-7.

4. They are obviously a deeper an more-experienced team than us. While we controlled their attack well, we couldn't shut down the midfield, and their midfielders seemed to bury the shots they got. We didn't seem to have the horses to run with them in the second half.

I don't think you can expect to save less than a quarter of the opposition's shots, clear poorly and lose 11 of 13 faceoffs in a half against anyone and still be in the game no matter who you play. In this case, despite doing all that, we still managed to make the score respectable against a very good team. With at least decent goaltending and faceoffs in the second half, who knows? This one may have been different.

On to the Silver Giffiths on Tuesday.

During halftime the team stayed out on the field. Anyone know why they wouldn't go back into the locker room? Given that they were wearing dark red on a relatively warm and humid day I wonder if that contributed to their flat 2nd half.

KenP
During halftime the team stayed out on the field. Anyone know why they wouldn't go back into the locker room? Given that they were wearing dark red on a relatively warm and humid day I wonder if that contributed to their flat 2nd half.

Virginia consulted with Ned Harkness on the design of the visitors' locker room.

Our offense seems to have a tendency to go silent for long stretches. I believe there was a good 15 minutes or so (also in the 2nd half) against Army where we didn't score, allowing them to take a game that we had had a small, but consistent lead, and make it a lot closer.

(Checking the box score: Yes, we didn't score from 10:56 left in the 3rd to 7:51 left in the 4th - a stretch of just over 18 minutes - allowing Army to take a 7-4 game and make it 7-6, and eventually 8-8)

In this game, we were silent from 1:07 left in the 2nd until 1:41 left in the third - just under 15 full minutes. And then silent again until 4:27 left in the 4th, another 12 minutes.

I don't know the game well enough to know why - perhaps faceoffs and clears had a lot to do with it (probably?) - but it'll be hard to win games against good teams if you don't score for 15 minutes stretches at least once a game.

I think the concern at this point should be goaler. Our faceoffs and clears were solid against the Arms so it could be that 'Ol Virginny really IS that good and gave us problems in those two areas. And I see alot of upside with our offense. Panell could be the second coming of Goldstein. Ok, maybe that's taking it a bit too far...for now.

But I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet when it comes to our goaler. I watched the Army game and it appeared Harer let a few get by that he could have saved. And although I didn't watch the UVA game the stats are pretty scary; 4 of 18 saves.

We'll probably blow out the Griffs this week and pad our stats. Then it's on to Duke this weekend. If Harer can come up with some big saves I think we have a great chance of beating them down there...for the third straight time. (maybe they'll schedule a game at our crib some time this century but I'm not holding my breath)

For us to be sitting at 4-1 (1-1 against the ACC) before we start Ivy League play is pretty solid.

Germ is probably right. If I had to pick just one area to shore up at this point, it would be the goaler position. Too bad our key recruit from Ithaca H.S. doesn't hit campus until next fall.

Depending on how the game goes, maybe our other goalers will get a chance to play against Canisius. The Griffifths are 0-2, with a 15-11 loss to the 'Gate Men and a 14-6 loss to the Princes. I think Canisius was up 3-2 at halftime against the Princes before the wheels came off.

Pannell, by the way, is quietly leading the nation in points per game (5.3) and assists per game (3.3).

Good point. Is Harer a lock at number one and/or do we have a legit number two who we can platoon with him?? We need to run the Griffs out of the building early so we can pad our stats (see Duke '07) and give Tambroni a chance to play everybody.

Pannell would have more helpers had Doctor not bricked some of those feeds against the Cadets.

The Princes might be 4-0 and ranked, what, number 3 but when was the last time they beat us in Ithaca? Cuse on the other hand will be difficult.

Su has the same issue as Cornell. they lost their faceoff man for the year and need to find someone to do a decent job. you cant go 0-7 and stay in a game. 2-5 probably swings the game 1-2 goals closer.

'Cuse will kill us if we don't get better goaltending. If we get a big lead on Canisius I propose we don't use a goaltender in goal, but rather bring him out like a third short stick defender to double the biggest scoring threat on the other team or to use as a sort of mixed zone defender.

How much worse can it be???

TimV
'Cuse will kill us if we don't get better goaltending. If we get a big lead on Canisius I propose we don't use a goaltender in goal, but rather bring him out like a third short stick defender to double the biggest scoring threat on the other team or to use as a sort of mixed zone defender.

How much worse can it be???

At the very least, it'd be interesting to watch and see how it turned out.

fyi... Brian Delaney is doing a nice job with scoring updates and some commentary on the Canisius game over at the Ithaca Journal website.

[www.theithacajournal.com]

Meyers is getting some time towards the end of the game in goal. He has already made 2 decent saves, and in my opinion looks better than Harer has. I don't actually know what i'm talking about though.