Lax 2008

[CornellFan]

Sorry if I missed it down below... but I was in Baltimore and I did not want to read the 100+ posts since Friday....

Any thoughts on next year?  We are losing so many seniors (Matt M., Pittard, Mitchell etc).  Yes, we have Max-a-million back, but do we have a chance to take Ivy again next year?  What about another Final Four run?

I will be honest... I dont know much about our reserves and underclassmen.  Would love to hear some thoughts.  Lets hope we have a breakthrough recruiting year due to the last 2 years of terrific success.

[Hillel Hoffmann]

It feels wrong to focus on 2008 so soon. I'm still soaking up the good vibes of 2007.

With all those seniors graduating, there will be some growing pains next year, no doubt. It's not easy to replace three super midfielders, the national goalie of the year, the national defenseman of the year, and the entire starting attack unit at the same time.

Although losing Belisle is tough, at least there are two talented and experienced players returning at defense (2008 juniors Moyer and Gradinger). We'll see if MacDonald, the 2007 freshmen who got the most playing time, gets moved to close defense or stays at long-stick middie.

In my opinion, goalie and attack are the biggest potential soft spots. McMonagle was a great stopper, but he was even better at the other little stuff, like initiating transition opportunities with quick, accurate outlet passes. I don't know that much about Myers, the transfer from Syracuse, but it wouldn't be fair to expect him be as complete a goalie as McMonagle was.

On attack, Cornell will open the 2008 season with an entirely new starting unit, with no proven finishers and no Pittard at the helm to control the pace and flow of the offense. That's scary. I expect big things from two players in that great junior class who haven't had an opportunity to shine yet: Finn and Pastirik. Finn looked super coming off the bench in 2007; he's a tough hombre who'll continue the recent tradition of hard-riding attackmen. Pastirik is small, but he can really shoot. It's insane to predict who'll win the long offseason fight for starting slots yet, but I like the idea of Finn, Pastirik, and 2008 sophomore Hurley. The latter, a lefty, really impressed me last offseason. He's assertive and explosive; whenever he touched the ball, good things seemed to happen. I suppose it's possible that Espey might move back to attack, his position in high school. Kyle Doctor seems to have some of the quarterback qualities of Pittard. And recruit David Lau is kicking butt this year for Cold Spring Harbor, even without injured All America (and Penn-bound) attackman Vecchio at his side. Lau might compete for time too.

The 2006 freshmen class, as anyone could have predicted, will become the heart of the 2008 team. Seibald, Moyer, Gradinger, and Romero all have a year or two as elite starters under their belts. Glynn has become their classmate because of his redshirt year in 2006. That's a great foundation for a minor rebuilding job. I don't think one should count on a return to the final four, and Princeton will be tough to beat for the Ivy crown with Hewit returning in goal (although the Tigers lose some great players too: Jungers, Sowanick, Trombino, etc.). But like Jeff Hopkins said, "In Tambroni We Trust." As long as Cornell is as hard-working and focused as recent Tambroni teams, the 2008 team has the potential to go far.

[CornellFan]

Thanks HH.  Sounds like there is room to be optimistic.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Wow.  Quoted in a Hillel Hoffmann lacrosse analysis.  I'm honored.  :-D

To add to Hillel's comments, Pastirik came in on first EMO team a lot.  He's had a good deal of experience in that area, which says to me our EMO will likely get better.  All he really needs to do is expand to an even strength role.

My biggest concern next year is faceoffs.  We need to get better at that, the Duke game notwithstanding.  Either Schmicker needs to get better, or we need a new specialist.

[billhoward]

[quote Jeff Hopkins '82]Wow.  Quoted in a Hillel Hoffmann lacrosse analysis.  I'm honored.  :-D

To add to Hillel's comments, Pastirik came in on first EMO team a lot.  He's had a good deal of experience in that area, which says to me our EMO will likely get better.  All he really needs to do is expand to an even strength role.

My biggest concern next year is faceoffs.  We need to get better at that, the Duke game notwithstanding.  Either Schmicker needs to get better, or we need a new specialist.[/quote]
An amputee learns to write with his other hand. We can work around a < 50% faceoff percentage. During the entire season, we lost only one faceoff that mattered.

[ugarte]

[quote billhoward][quote Jeff Hopkins '82]Wow.  Quoted in a Hillel Hoffmann lacrosse analysis.  I'm honored.  :-D

To add to Hillel's comments, Pastirik came in on first EMO team a lot.  He's had a good deal of experience in that area, which says to me our EMO will likely get better.  All he really needs to do is expand to an even strength role.

My biggest concern next year is faceoffs.  We need to get better at that, the Duke game notwithstanding.  Either Schmicker needs to get better, or we need a new specialist.[/quote]
An amputee learns to write with his other hand. We can work around a < 50% faceoff percentage. During the entire season, we lost only one faceoff that mattered.[/quote]
Very results oriented thinking. We went to OT against Albany because winning at the X gave them a lead we had to overcome. We fell way behind Duke because losing at the X gave them a lead we had to overcome. I didn't see any of the other games but since we only beat Duke and Syracuse by a single goal (and Brown by only 3!) during the regular season, I'm going to guess that faceoff problems played a part there as well.

Anyway, the problem wasn't that we lost the faceoff with 17 seconds left, it was that we didn't pressure Lamade after he picked up the ground ball just to burn time. Once Lamade got the pass to Greer, that ball was going in the net.

[Hillel Hoffmann]

This'll teach me to do anything lax-related that requires thought in the lax post partum period. My '08 pre-pre-preview post above has a bunch of stupid mistakes and omissions:

> Cornell recruit David Lau's Penn-bound attackmate at Cold Spring Harbor isn't Vecchio, it's Corey Winkoff. CSHHS just won the Nassau Class C championship again. And that in turn reminded me that I once said Lau was a Suffolk County guy.

> I forgot to include 2008 soph Chris Ritchie in that paragraph about possible attack starters next year. He's in the mix for sure; his vision and feeding instincts might make him a nice EMO addition and a good complement to shooters like Pastirik or Hurley.

> I also forgot to mention recruit Mat Martinez (Babylon) in the goalie discussion. Although Myers' experience gives him the edge, Martinez is an exciting prospect.

> Midfield looks solid and deep again next year. Losing Clayton and Lewis hurts for sure, but with upperclassmen like Seibald, Glynn, Espey, and Romero returning and guys like the Corbolotti brothers and McCready waiting to compete for the two remaining slots on the first two lines, midfield will be a strength. Once again, most of Cornell's offense likely will be generated from up top, where the combined presence of Seibald and Glynn will cause defensive game planners to have a collective cow.

[Josh '99]

[quote Jeff Hopkins '82]My biggest concern next year is faceoffs.  We need to get better at that, the Duke game notwithstanding.  Either Schmicker needs to get better, or we need a new specialist.[/quote]I'm not as concerned about that as about some other things.  We saw both Seibald and Glynn have some success in that area in the NCAAs, and I have to imagine Schmicker will improve with experience.

[redhair34]

[quote Josh '99]I'm not as concerned about that as about some other things.  We saw both Seibald and Glynn have some success in that area in the NCAAs, and I have to imagine Schmicker will improve with experience.[/quote]

Agreed.  But, you don't want your two best players taking the majority of the faceoffs.  Players expend a ton of energy at the X and it often takes away from their offense.  It's time for Schmicker or someone else to step up.

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote redhair34][quote Josh '99]I'm not as concerned about that as about some other things.  We saw both Seibald and Glynn have some success in that area in the NCAAs, and I have to imagine Schmicker will improve with experience.[/quote]

Agreed.  But, you don't want your two best players taking the majority of the faceoffs.  Players expend a ton of energy at the X and it often takes away from their offense.  It's time for Schmicker or someone else to step up.[/quote]
I'm amazed I didn't notice this during the game, but apparently Glynn did nothing in the second half except take faceoffs.  It's impressive that Peyser seems to both take faceoffs and play first midfield for Hopkins.

And didn't someone once say Austin Boykin was going to be a hotshot at the X?

[Hillel Hoffmann]

If there ever was an illustration of how exhausting faceoffs are, it was watching John Glynn trying to get off the field after each fourth quarter faceoff in the semifinal. What a heroic, selfless effort.

Cornell's roster, like most college rosters, is loaded with guys who were great faceoff men in high school: Schmicker, Kirwan, Seibald, Glynn, Boykin. That doesn't always translate into success at the Division I level. Seibald may be the best of them -- not because he has super technique, but because he's so strong and smart and tough and instinctive that he finds a way to get the ground ball even after conceding the initial clamp or rake. (Shoot, he's probably the team's best short-stick defensive midfielder too.) But like redhair34 and others have said, it drains so much energy that it's not worth putting a superstar offensive player at the X except in emergencies -- sort of like the way the Redskins used to let All-Pro cornerback Darrell Green return punts only in the playoffs. Even the best faceoff men go through bad spells, often because of undisclosed injuries. It's a brutal task.

Another complicating factor is recent rule changes, which really crippled some great faceoff men who had cleaned up using the old methods.

On the whole, I though Schmicker really improved this year. One underrated aspect of his game is his ability to play short-stick defensive midfield once he has lost a faceoff. Many FOGOS are useless after the draw, win or lose, and dealing with a post-faceoff substitution can create a window of opportunity for opposing offenses.

One of Cornell's less heralded but intriguing recruits next year is Jon Thomson, a Canadian field and box player who's currently on the Orangeville Northmen roster in Ontario Junior A along with last year's OLA Jr. A rookie of the year Jesse Gamble, another Cornell recruit. Thomson faces off too. Although Canadian players are less well known for their faceoff game, there have been a few great ones lately, especially Denver's Snider.

(By the way, the Northmen are undefeated so far this year. Gamble has been putting up some nice numbers already.)

[Josh '99]

[quote Al DeFlorio][quote redhair34][quote Josh '99]I'm not as concerned about that as about some other things.  We saw both Seibald and Glynn have some success in that area in the NCAAs, and I have to imagine Schmicker will improve with experience.[/quote]

Agreed.  But, you don't want your two best players taking the majority of the faceoffs.  Players expend a ton of energy at the X and it often takes away from their offense.  It's time for Schmicker or someone else to step up.[/quote]
I'm amazed I didn't notice this during the game, but apparently Glynn did nothing in the second half except take faceoffs.  It's impressive that Peyser seems to both take faceoffs and play first midfield for Hopkins.[/quote]I didn't notice that either.  Peyser was something else - seemed like he must've come away with the ball (by a win or a false start by the other guy) like 70% of the time in the final.

[mttgrmm]

[quote Josh '99][quote Al DeFlorio][quote redhair34][quote Josh '99]I'm not as concerned about that as about some other things.  We saw both Seibald and Glynn have some success in that area in the NCAAs, and I have to imagine Schmicker will improve with experience.[/quote]

Agreed.  But, you don't want your two best players taking the majority of the faceoffs.  Players expend a ton of energy at the X and it often takes away from their offense.  It's time for Schmicker or someone else to step up.[/quote]
I'm amazed I didn't notice this during the game, but apparently Glynn did nothing in the second half except take faceoffs.  It's impressive that Peyser seems to both take faceoffs and play first midfield for Hopkins.[/quote]I didn't notice that either.  Peyser was something else - seemed like he must've come away with the ball (by a win or a false start by the other guy) like 70% of the time in the final.[/quote]

it definitely seemed like it... i think he won the first 7 or 8 faceoffs of the game, it was pretty ridiculous.  he was officially 9 of 14 and JHU was 17 of 26

[peterg]

I'm not sure if it is still the case, but the NCAA changed the face-off rules for colleges three seasons ago (if I am remembering right), but high school rules were not changed at the same time.  

Hot-shot high school face-off men have not been using the same rules as the college boys, so not only is there all that a freshman has to deal with playing against opponents 3, 4, or in the case of playing Duke next year, or 5 (or even 6 - yikes!) years older and more physically developed, they have had to re-learn how to face off.  Not easy.

[Al DeFlorio]

Here's what Inside Lacrosse thinks about 2008: http://www.insidelacrosse.com/page.cfm?pagerid=2&news=fdetail&storyid=166066