2006 lacrosse preview
Posted by Hillel Hoffmann
2006 lacrosse preview
Posted by: Hillel Hoffmann (---.chesnh01.pa.comcast.net)
Date: February 25, 2006 01:11AM
Pondering the prospect of the 2006 lacrosse season without the class of '05 is sort of like sitting in Base Camp IV and imagining an Everest ascent without oxygen tanks: "We think we can go on without you, but you're kinda the main reason we got anywhere near the summit -- now excuse me while I hurl."
The accomplishments of last year's seniors have been listed before [elf.elynah.com], but here's the best way to illustrate the class's role in Cornell's reversal of fortune:
Ivy Champions
1996: Princeton
1997: Princeton
1998: Princeton
1999: Princeton
2000: Princeton
2001: Princeton
2002: Princeton
2003: Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton
2004: Cornell, Princeton
2005: Cornell
So what do you do when half of your starting line-up (and most of your scoring) gets ripped from your roster? You seek out and land the biggest and best crop of freshmen and transfers in the program's recent history. And what happens when all those newbies -- and all those untested sophomores and juniors who waited patiently behind veteran stars -- take the field and assume major roles in 2006? Coach Jeff Tambroni said it best in yesterday's Post-Standard: "I don't know what to expect."
I'll tell you what to expect: wicked fun. And some indigestion.
Cornell's style has evolved in recent years as Tambroni and DeLuca brought better athletes with better stick skills into the hive. Now, it seems, the coaching staff has enough trust in the team's athleticism to play a bolder, faster, more risky game. The first step was the development of a transition game in '05, fueled by Cornell's superb defensive midfielders, now perhaps the best unit on the team. Long-time Cornell fans who saw SSDM Dave Bush flying down the field or LSM Mike Pisco whip a 35-yard feed from the midfield stripe to the crease (as he did at Syracuse last year) must've thought they'd spun the turnstiles into Bizarro World. Hey, you're not dreaming, it's real. But the makeover isn't over. The next step is upping the aggression of Cornell's defensive schemes. All of Cornell's defenders have motors these days, and they know their slide packages well enough to cope with the risks of pressing their marks far from home. The staff seems to be willing to extend the defense. Cool.
The reports from scrimmages were almost too good to be true. Cornell beat all comers -- Hobart and Hofstra on Long Island in the fall, then Colgate and Johns Hopkins in Ithaca, and finally Loyola in Baltimore last weekend. Half of the scrimmages, including the session two weeks ago against defending national champs Hopkins, have been monster blowout wins.
You never want to read too much into scrimmages, but even if you dismiss the scores, you had to love the freshmen, many of whom have emerged as potential stars. The frosh generating the most buzz are midfielder Max Seibald (Hewlett), a big, fast, strong Long Islander who can shoot to kill on the run with either hand; Matt Moyer, a talented long pole from the Philly area who played his prep ball in Delaware; Rocco Romero, an offensive middie from Colorado (via Boys' Latin in Baltimore); Nick Gradinger, a giant of a close defender from southern California (via a post-grad year at Deerfield); and Chris Finn, an attackman from Manhasset who can finish. Freshmen also may be the saviors of Cornell's most dysfunctional enterprise, the faceoff. Tommy Schmicker, Pat Kirwan, and Seibald all seem capable. Shoot, even getting a smidge over half the draws would be a triumph (and that's exactly what's been happening in scrimmages). Expect Seibald, Moyer, and Romero to have the most immediate impact.
Even the schedule has been upgraded. The North Carolina game has been lost, but it was replaced by a midweek March away game against the best team in the nation, Duke, and a dangerous midweek March home game against fast-improving Lehigh (don't laugh, the M'hawks ended up just south of 25 in the RPI last year).
A massive transfusion of new talent. Kicking butt in scrimmages. A rip-snorting midfield, led by superstar Joe Boulukos. Better schedule. Improved play at the X. Proven goaltending. So what's not to like?
Plenty.
First, there's no way that a team starting so many players with limited experience will be able to get through a season without major hiccups. This team will have meltdowns. I guarantee it. Last weekend's scrimmage offered some foreshadowing: A parent who attended the Loyola session said that Cornell's young players completely fell apart after getting an 8-2 lead, permitting the Greyhounds to nearly pull out the win. That's what happens with freshmen: vapor lock.
Second, despite all the goals in scrimmages, there's no way you lose the 50-odd-point production of attackmen like Greenhalgh and Nee without suffering some consequences. The good news is that there is unprecedented depth at the position. In scrimmages, Cornell ran two lines of attackmen almost like they were middies. There are at least seven who've been getting significant minutes: junior Henry Bartlett, soph John Espey (who also has been tried at midfield), freshman Chris Finn, senior Derek Haswell, junior David Mitchell, junior Eric Pittard (Dave Pittard's brother and a transfer from Virginia), and soph Drew Webb, who spent much of the offseason being tested as a middie. But who's the go-to guy? Haswell, who has never been matched up with opponents' shut-down defender, is going to have to prove he can be more than complementary.
Third, they're a bit thin (again) at close defense. Senior Mike Pisco, who matured so much last year at LSM, will be staying on the defensive side of the field in '06, joining the team's only incumbent starting close defender, junior Mitch Belisle. That leaves the big annual mystery: Who the heck will be the third close d-man? This offseason, they've given extended minutes to sophomore Danny Nathan, who like Belisle is a converted short-stick middie. They've also given Gradinger a chance to show his stuff, but he has been slowed by injuries. They've tried promising junior JC transfer Todd Olson from Colorado. They've tried LSM Moyer. There are more options than last year, for sure, but that's not saying much.
There's also concern about depth in goal. Freshman Dave Grossman from Ithaca, who had starred in goal for Central New York's great Empire State Games team last year, recently vanished from the roster (he's still enrolled), leaving junior Matt McMonagle as the only goalie on the team. Yikes. For now, junior LSM Ethan Vedder, who was once a top-shelf goalie prospect, is McMonagle's back-up, so I assume that his practice-time at the pole has been significantly reduced (it's lucky they have such depth at LSM). McMonagle is a legitimate All America candidate, but it's scary not having a full-time back-up -- if only for practices. A top-10 team like Cornell shouldn't be in this position. Expect another goalie's name to appear on the roster in the near future.
Finally, the competition in the Ivies should stiffen in '06. Princeton lost very little to graduation and brought in a splendid recruiting class (look out for freshman middie Mark Kovler from DC). Harvard, who I'm picking for third place in the Ivies, also lost little and they're returning key players who were injured in '05. Dartmouth (killer attack despite tons of graduation losses), Brown (solid goaltending), and Yale (FO genius) are dangerous too.
I think Cornell will finish second behind Princeton. I know I come off sounding like a pessimist, but with all these freshmen, transfers, and untested former reserves on the roster, I don't see how anyone could think otherwise. If Cornell wins the Ivies, it would be Tambroni's greatest coaching achievement to date.
But even a whiner like me can't help but be excited about this season -- and beyond. Cornell already appears to have landed a handful of solid recruits, including Mt. Sinai's assist-machine Chris Ritchie and a really intriguing prospect from -- get this -- Minnesota, a big kid called Ryan Hurley who had been chased by Syracuse and just about everyone else after wowing folks while barnstorming various travel-team tournaments. (I can't get over the changing geography of lacrosse; next year Cornell could put together a solid starting 10 exclusively with guys from Texas, Colorado, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Saskatchewan.)
Projecting a starting line-up is pointless with all the roster upheaval and likely frequent substitutions, but here goes:
Attack: Haswell, Mitchell, Pittard
O-midfield lines: (a guessing game) Boulukos, Lewis, Seibald / Clayton, Romero, Webb
FO: Schmicker
LSM: Moyer
SSDM: Bush, Marchant
Defense: Belisle, Pisco, Nathan
Goal: McMonagle
Quick hits:
* Cornell lost their second assistant, Pat Myers, to Bucknell. He was replaced by a familiar face: last year's co-captain and first-team all-Ivy defenseman Kyle Georgalas. It's unusual for a staff to have no offensive assistant.
* Hey, Chicago alums: Cornell is making a rare appearance near you this year. The away game at Notre Dame was moved to noon Saturday, March 4, at Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. Nice.
* One regular season game on TV this year: The Syracuse game in Ithaca on Tuesday night, April 11, will be on CSTV.
* Sean Greenhalgh '05, the NLL's Rookie of the Month, keeps lighting the lamp for the Philadelphia Wings. Hard to believe some people mocked this draft choice. With Mike French '76 as their co-founder/owner, this is the most Cornellcentric franchise in pro sports. They deserve your support.
* Here's a shout-out to Cornell lacrosse's parents, the most cohesive and supportive group of CU sports parents I've ever encountered. Shoot, even the parents of players who've graduated go to their tailgates. I was told they outnumbered Loyola fans at last weekend's scrimmage … in Baltimore! They're getting a national reputation. And you better believe they help recruiting.
The accomplishments of last year's seniors have been listed before [elf.elynah.com], but here's the best way to illustrate the class's role in Cornell's reversal of fortune:
Ivy Champions
1996: Princeton
1997: Princeton
1998: Princeton
1999: Princeton
2000: Princeton
2001: Princeton
2002: Princeton
2003: Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton
2004: Cornell, Princeton
2005: Cornell
So what do you do when half of your starting line-up (and most of your scoring) gets ripped from your roster? You seek out and land the biggest and best crop of freshmen and transfers in the program's recent history. And what happens when all those newbies -- and all those untested sophomores and juniors who waited patiently behind veteran stars -- take the field and assume major roles in 2006? Coach Jeff Tambroni said it best in yesterday's Post-Standard: "I don't know what to expect."
I'll tell you what to expect: wicked fun. And some indigestion.
Cornell's style has evolved in recent years as Tambroni and DeLuca brought better athletes with better stick skills into the hive. Now, it seems, the coaching staff has enough trust in the team's athleticism to play a bolder, faster, more risky game. The first step was the development of a transition game in '05, fueled by Cornell's superb defensive midfielders, now perhaps the best unit on the team. Long-time Cornell fans who saw SSDM Dave Bush flying down the field or LSM Mike Pisco whip a 35-yard feed from the midfield stripe to the crease (as he did at Syracuse last year) must've thought they'd spun the turnstiles into Bizarro World. Hey, you're not dreaming, it's real. But the makeover isn't over. The next step is upping the aggression of Cornell's defensive schemes. All of Cornell's defenders have motors these days, and they know their slide packages well enough to cope with the risks of pressing their marks far from home. The staff seems to be willing to extend the defense. Cool.
The reports from scrimmages were almost too good to be true. Cornell beat all comers -- Hobart and Hofstra on Long Island in the fall, then Colgate and Johns Hopkins in Ithaca, and finally Loyola in Baltimore last weekend. Half of the scrimmages, including the session two weeks ago against defending national champs Hopkins, have been monster blowout wins.
You never want to read too much into scrimmages, but even if you dismiss the scores, you had to love the freshmen, many of whom have emerged as potential stars. The frosh generating the most buzz are midfielder Max Seibald (Hewlett), a big, fast, strong Long Islander who can shoot to kill on the run with either hand; Matt Moyer, a talented long pole from the Philly area who played his prep ball in Delaware; Rocco Romero, an offensive middie from Colorado (via Boys' Latin in Baltimore); Nick Gradinger, a giant of a close defender from southern California (via a post-grad year at Deerfield); and Chris Finn, an attackman from Manhasset who can finish. Freshmen also may be the saviors of Cornell's most dysfunctional enterprise, the faceoff. Tommy Schmicker, Pat Kirwan, and Seibald all seem capable. Shoot, even getting a smidge over half the draws would be a triumph (and that's exactly what's been happening in scrimmages). Expect Seibald, Moyer, and Romero to have the most immediate impact.
Even the schedule has been upgraded. The North Carolina game has been lost, but it was replaced by a midweek March away game against the best team in the nation, Duke, and a dangerous midweek March home game against fast-improving Lehigh (don't laugh, the M'hawks ended up just south of 25 in the RPI last year).
A massive transfusion of new talent. Kicking butt in scrimmages. A rip-snorting midfield, led by superstar Joe Boulukos. Better schedule. Improved play at the X. Proven goaltending. So what's not to like?
Plenty.
First, there's no way that a team starting so many players with limited experience will be able to get through a season without major hiccups. This team will have meltdowns. I guarantee it. Last weekend's scrimmage offered some foreshadowing: A parent who attended the Loyola session said that Cornell's young players completely fell apart after getting an 8-2 lead, permitting the Greyhounds to nearly pull out the win. That's what happens with freshmen: vapor lock.
Second, despite all the goals in scrimmages, there's no way you lose the 50-odd-point production of attackmen like Greenhalgh and Nee without suffering some consequences. The good news is that there is unprecedented depth at the position. In scrimmages, Cornell ran two lines of attackmen almost like they were middies. There are at least seven who've been getting significant minutes: junior Henry Bartlett, soph John Espey (who also has been tried at midfield), freshman Chris Finn, senior Derek Haswell, junior David Mitchell, junior Eric Pittard (Dave Pittard's brother and a transfer from Virginia), and soph Drew Webb, who spent much of the offseason being tested as a middie. But who's the go-to guy? Haswell, who has never been matched up with opponents' shut-down defender, is going to have to prove he can be more than complementary.
Third, they're a bit thin (again) at close defense. Senior Mike Pisco, who matured so much last year at LSM, will be staying on the defensive side of the field in '06, joining the team's only incumbent starting close defender, junior Mitch Belisle. That leaves the big annual mystery: Who the heck will be the third close d-man? This offseason, they've given extended minutes to sophomore Danny Nathan, who like Belisle is a converted short-stick middie. They've also given Gradinger a chance to show his stuff, but he has been slowed by injuries. They've tried promising junior JC transfer Todd Olson from Colorado. They've tried LSM Moyer. There are more options than last year, for sure, but that's not saying much.
There's also concern about depth in goal. Freshman Dave Grossman from Ithaca, who had starred in goal for Central New York's great Empire State Games team last year, recently vanished from the roster (he's still enrolled), leaving junior Matt McMonagle as the only goalie on the team. Yikes. For now, junior LSM Ethan Vedder, who was once a top-shelf goalie prospect, is McMonagle's back-up, so I assume that his practice-time at the pole has been significantly reduced (it's lucky they have such depth at LSM). McMonagle is a legitimate All America candidate, but it's scary not having a full-time back-up -- if only for practices. A top-10 team like Cornell shouldn't be in this position. Expect another goalie's name to appear on the roster in the near future.
Finally, the competition in the Ivies should stiffen in '06. Princeton lost very little to graduation and brought in a splendid recruiting class (look out for freshman middie Mark Kovler from DC). Harvard, who I'm picking for third place in the Ivies, also lost little and they're returning key players who were injured in '05. Dartmouth (killer attack despite tons of graduation losses), Brown (solid goaltending), and Yale (FO genius) are dangerous too.
I think Cornell will finish second behind Princeton. I know I come off sounding like a pessimist, but with all these freshmen, transfers, and untested former reserves on the roster, I don't see how anyone could think otherwise. If Cornell wins the Ivies, it would be Tambroni's greatest coaching achievement to date.
But even a whiner like me can't help but be excited about this season -- and beyond. Cornell already appears to have landed a handful of solid recruits, including Mt. Sinai's assist-machine Chris Ritchie and a really intriguing prospect from -- get this -- Minnesota, a big kid called Ryan Hurley who had been chased by Syracuse and just about everyone else after wowing folks while barnstorming various travel-team tournaments. (I can't get over the changing geography of lacrosse; next year Cornell could put together a solid starting 10 exclusively with guys from Texas, Colorado, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Saskatchewan.)
Projecting a starting line-up is pointless with all the roster upheaval and likely frequent substitutions, but here goes:
Attack: Haswell, Mitchell, Pittard
O-midfield lines: (a guessing game) Boulukos, Lewis, Seibald / Clayton, Romero, Webb
FO: Schmicker
LSM: Moyer
SSDM: Bush, Marchant
Defense: Belisle, Pisco, Nathan
Goal: McMonagle
Quick hits:
* Cornell lost their second assistant, Pat Myers, to Bucknell. He was replaced by a familiar face: last year's co-captain and first-team all-Ivy defenseman Kyle Georgalas. It's unusual for a staff to have no offensive assistant.
* Hey, Chicago alums: Cornell is making a rare appearance near you this year. The away game at Notre Dame was moved to noon Saturday, March 4, at Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. Nice.
* One regular season game on TV this year: The Syracuse game in Ithaca on Tuesday night, April 11, will be on CSTV.
* Sean Greenhalgh '05, the NLL's Rookie of the Month, keeps lighting the lamp for the Philadelphia Wings. Hard to believe some people mocked this draft choice. With Mike French '76 as their co-founder/owner, this is the most Cornellcentric franchise in pro sports. They deserve your support.
* Here's a shout-out to Cornell lacrosse's parents, the most cohesive and supportive group of CU sports parents I've ever encountered. Shoot, even the parents of players who've graduated go to their tailgates. I was told they outnumbered Loyola fans at last weekend's scrimmage … in Baltimore! They're getting a national reputation. And you better believe they help recruiting.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2006 01:26AM by Hillel Hoffmann.
Re: 2006 lacrosse preview
Posted by: billhoward (---.union01.nj.comcast.net)
Date: February 25, 2006 10:41PM
Awesome summary. Thank you. You ever think of being a stringer for the Ithaca Journal?
Who got the best recruiting class this year (frosh now playing)?
Who would most AD's hire as lax coach if there was a draft and everyone's name was in it? I suspect incoming freshmen have a better and better idea of who's good (as a coach) than a generation ago.
How is the central/upstate (not Long Island) talent pool these days and where is it matriculating?
Was David Mitchell's 8 goals against Suny Binghamton Saturday a statistical fluke?
Backup goalie in sight? Cornell's unbeaten hockey season came with no goalie backing up Brian Cropper other than a lacrosse goalie who laced on skates ... but still, scary just to have one.
Who got the best recruiting class this year (frosh now playing)?
Who would most AD's hire as lax coach if there was a draft and everyone's name was in it? I suspect incoming freshmen have a better and better idea of who's good (as a coach) than a generation ago.
How is the central/upstate (not Long Island) talent pool these days and where is it matriculating?
Was David Mitchell's 8 goals against Suny Binghamton Saturday a statistical fluke?
Backup goalie in sight? Cornell's unbeaten hockey season came with no goalie backing up Brian Cropper other than a lacrosse goalie who laced on skates ... but still, scary just to have one.
Re: 2006 lacrosse preview
Posted by: Redscore (---.hsd1.ma.comcast.net)
Date: February 26, 2006 08:03PM
I agree. These reports are awesome. Thanks from all of us fans who have a hard time getting to go to games these days. I really look forward to your posts.
Re: 2006 lacrosse preview
Posted by: Hillel Hoffmann (---.chesnh01.pa.comcast.net)
Date: February 26, 2006 10:07PM
BH: Best recruiting class?
Hard to say. I like Syracuse's (Abbot, Hardy, Nims, Perrit, etc.).
BH: Best (fantasy) coach hire?
Absolutely impossible to say; different jobs require different coaches. Tierney is the best -- but he makes me crazy.
BH: State of CNY lax?
On the decline, relatively speaking, because of explosive rise of lax the non-traditional areas (but same could be said for other hotbeds such as LI and Baltimore). Best CNY kids still go to Syracuse (see Hardy, Nims above), but there are odd, transient pipelines elsewhere (Loyola, for example).
BH: Mitchell's 8 goals a statistical fluke?
Dude, eight goals in one game by anyone anytime is like some kind of harmonic convergence.
Hard to say. I like Syracuse's (Abbot, Hardy, Nims, Perrit, etc.).
BH: Best (fantasy) coach hire?
Absolutely impossible to say; different jobs require different coaches. Tierney is the best -- but he makes me crazy.
BH: State of CNY lax?
On the decline, relatively speaking, because of explosive rise of lax the non-traditional areas (but same could be said for other hotbeds such as LI and Baltimore). Best CNY kids still go to Syracuse (see Hardy, Nims above), but there are odd, transient pipelines elsewhere (Loyola, for example).
BH: Mitchell's 8 goals a statistical fluke?
Dude, eight goals in one game by anyone anytime is like some kind of harmonic convergence.
Re: 2006 lacrosse preview
Posted by: Redscore (64.80.233.---)
Date: February 28, 2006 03:28PM
Hillel Hoffmann
BH: Mitchell's 8 goals a statistical fluke?
Dude, eight goals in one game by anyone anytime is like some kind of harmonic convergence.
I know Wurtzberger (sp?) had 7 goals at least a couple of times (and Goldstein had 7 assists more than once) but I can't recall if either of them hit 8 (goals or assists) that awesome year.
Thanks, Hillel
Posted by: JasonN95 (---.nrp4.mon.ny.frontiernet.net)
Date: May 05, 2006 10:35PM
Well, it's the end of the regular season for lacrosse and I'm getting around to posting a reply I should have done at the start. When it comes to sports (pro or amateur) I'm far and away a Cornell hockey fan first, but coming in second is Cornell lax. Perhaps it has something to do with my allegiance to those teams being forged while both slid down into their modern day nadirs. One of the most emotional moments for me at a sporting event was the improbable win over Princeton my senior year (which may have been Richie Moran's last year, or perhaps his second-to-last). Not a whole lot of fans, probably mostly team member friends and family, but the ones there cared. When the game ended the fans and team went wild and Coach Moran ran onto the field, turned to the fans, and blew kisses in or direction! But I'm getting away from the point of this post. Whereas hockey is a sport I thoroughly understand (have watched and played since I was a kid), I've never had that level of understanding for lacrosse. And whereas this site and general college hockey sites online make it relatively easy to gather a wealth of info on Cornell hockey, it's next to impossible to do the same for Cornell lax. For me, your season preview and in-season posts here are invaluable. Thanks for the effort you put in to keep lacrosse neophytes like me informed about Cornell's lax team.
Re: Thanks, Hillel
Posted by: WillR (209.2.89.---)
Date: May 07, 2006 01:56PM
Would like to pretty much just echo what Jason said. Thanks for the exceptional run down back in Feb.
Re: Thanks, Hillel
Posted by: RichH (---.hsd1.ma.comcast.net)
Date: May 08, 2006 12:01AM
JasonN95
One of the most emotional moments for me at a sporting event was the improbable win over Princeton my senior year (which may have been Richie Moran's last year, or perhaps his second-to-last). Not a whole lot of fans, probably mostly team member friends and family, but the ones there cared. When the game ended the fans and team went wild and Coach Moran ran onto the field, turned to the fans, and blew kisses in or direction!
Definitely ranks as one of the top 5 sporting memories of my years on the hill. After that game, I floated back to my apartment, and threw myself onto a sofa to take some time to let it sink in. I realized I was still shaking, and my stomach had that wonderful mix of butterflies and exhaustion from screaming so much. If memory serves me, Cornell took a 1-goal lead with 8 minutes left and then held the defending national champions (and #1 or 2 ranked team?) off the scoreboard for 8 excruciatingly long minutes.
Re: Thanks, Hillel
Posted by: Al DeFlorio (---.hsd1.ma.comcast.net)
Date: May 08, 2006 12:20AM
For some reason lacrosse minutes go by much more slowly than hockey minutes. Maybe because when someone shoots at the goal the odds are high they'll get the ball back and be able to do it again--and again and again. Plus, it's much easier to maintain control of a lacrosse ball carrying it around in a little basket than it is a hockey puck with your stick on the ice. The other side of the coin, I suppose, is the rules preclude pulling your sieve to gain an extra attacker.RichH
If memory serves me, Cornell took a 1-goal lead with 8 minutes left and then held the defending national champions (and #1 or 2 ranked team?) off the scoreboard for 8 excruciatingly long minutes.
___________________________
Al DeFlorio '65
Al DeFlorio '65
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2006 12:23AM by Al DeFlorio.
Re: Thanks, Hillel
Posted by: Swampy (---.219.128.131.dhcp.uri.edu)
Date: May 10, 2006 06:30PM
Al DeFlorioFor some reason lacrosse minutes go by much more slowly than hockey minutes. Maybe because when someone shoots at the goal the odds are high they'll get the ball back and be able to do it again--and again and again. Plus, it's much easier to maintain control of a lacrosse ball carrying it around in a little basket than it is a hockey puck with your stick on the ice. The other side of the coin, I suppose, is the rules preclude pulling your sieve to gain an extra attacker.RichH
If memory serves me, Cornell took a 1-goal lead with 8 minutes left and then held the defending national champions (and #1 or 2 ranked team?) off the scoreboard for 8 excruciatingly long minutes.
Yeah, but OTOH your sieve can become an attacker if you keep a player back. When you're a goal down, you can move up all four players in the defensive zone up to the midfield stripe.
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