Cornell Men's Lacrosse 2015

[billhoward]

And after yesterday's results, they no80.92% chance of receiving an at-large bid.  So I guess that 100% from earlier in the week wasn't really 100%.

Wonder what it is after today's debacle.  Three goals in three periods against a porous defense?  With five returning players in the offensive end, two of whom are All-Americans, you'd think they'd have a consistent offense.  Long scoring droughts are the norm this year.  Offense is stagnant with little movement and seemingly little purpose much of the time.  I'm not convinced about Kerwick.  He's wasted a lot of senior talent this year.

Wonder where the team will get sent this year.

Might as well just get sent home.

You owe Semsox a drink for that perfect setup.

[semsox]

Frankly, the team is just depressing given the talent on it. Much like 2013, this was supposed to be a year you circled as one to make a run in. Loaded to the brim with seniors and talent at every position. Remember coming into the year when faceoff was the biggest question mark? More than anything though, the lack of offensive production is truly staggering to me, and I have no idea what to make of it. Kerwick was coach last year too, right? In particular, Lintner is about 20 goals under what he scored last year, which makes sense, since of all people, Lintner's production is the most indicative of good offensive sets, since most of his goals are lay-ups off of cuts or nice passes. That movement is lacking this year. I've also commented on this a few times at laxpower, but in my mind Knight has been one of the most disappointing parts of the whole season. SV% is about 0.07 points lower than last year, which is a HUGE difference. He's already played about 100 more minutes than last year, and has about 20 less saves than he did last year. If he were playing the way he did last year, I have to think we'd have about 3 less losses and be in line for a homegame. Just a frustrating year so far.

[Al DeFlorio]

Kerwick was coach last year too, right?

There were signs of the offense's stagnation last year, too.  Second half against Harvard.  Last ten minutes against Hofstra when we went from 9-7 to 9-10.  Scoreless fourth period of the Penn game in the Ivy tournament.  Second half against Maryland in the NCAAs.  Even the first half at Maryland wasn't so hot, with three goals coming unassisted from Donovan on his move from behind the cage.

[BearLover]

Somehow, Cornell still has the same 80.92% chance of an ALB: laxpower

[billhoward]

Somehow, Cornell still has the same 80.92% chance of an ALB: laxpower

Table shows Yale just ahead of us, Princeton just below the field of 16 (at 18) in probabilities which suggests we'd fare better if Yale beats Princeton. A Princeton win might make it a three-Ivy tournament. We do have the highest SOS (9) of any Ivy.

[Johnny 5]

Perhaps the most telling moment in the game was the Princeton goal at the end of the first half.

At the onset of this season I had almost no confidence in any aspect of this team's play, except in net.
Boy, was I wrong.
It has seemed that the surest way for Cornell to win has been to not allow the opponent to shoot.
They shoot, they score.

Add that to the fact that we have a totally lackluster, predictable offense.......

I wish I could say wait until next year.

::bang::

[Jim Hyla]

And after yesterday's results, they now have an 80.92% chance of receiving an at-large bid.  So I guess that 100% from earlier in the week wasn't really 100%.

Wonder what it is after today's debacle.  Three goals in three periods against a porous defense?  With five returning players in the offensive end, two of whom are All-Americans, you'd think they'd have a consistent offense.  Long scoring droughts are the norm this year.  Offense is stagnant with little movement and seemingly little purpose much of the time.  I'm not convinced about Kerwick.  He's wasted a lot of senior talent this year.

Agree

[kingpin248]

Not only does Cornell get a bid, but the no. 8 seed; the Big Red host Albany in the first game of the tournament at noon on Saturday.

[Chris '03]

Not only does Cornell get a bid, but the no. 8 seed; the Big Red host Albany in the first game of the tournament at noon on Saturday.

Cornell better relearn offense fast.

[Al DeFlorio]

Cornell teams that deserved a seed the last two years were not seeded, and this team, that looks lost recently, gets a seed.::doh::  Frankly, I'd rather have gone to Maryland or Virginia than get Albany in Ithaca.  I suppose it's nice the seniors get another home game, though.

[Johnny 5]

Not only does Cornell get a bid, but the no. 8 seed; the Big Red host Albany in the first game of the tournament at noon on Saturday.

Cornell better relearn offense fast.

And, 65th out of 68 in saves??
Somebody needs to re-string that hole in Knight's stick.

"He shoots, he scores!!!!"

::help::

[jeff '84]

Cornell Greats Rank Thompson Among Best Ever

http://laxmagazine.com/college_men/DI/2014-15/news/050815_cornell_all_time_greats_rank_lyle_thompson_among_best_ever

[billhoward]

2015 was the year of the missing children. Ben DeLuca was dismissed fall 2013, giving Class of 2018 recruits, this year's freshmen, time to commit elsewhere. IIRC, a couple times on broadcasts I heard that so-and-so new at, say, Notre Dame had planned on Cornell.

Cornell definitely underperformed the second half of the season. Does a school fire a new coach who steps in cold, wins two Ivy RS titles, makes the NCAAs both years, advances to quarterfinals last year and almost to the final four? There'd be a chilling effect on new coaching candidates. We could say, let's wait for the new recruiting class to be known. But a lot of Cornell's best players have been off the recruiting top-100 radar. We go into 2016 without five of our seven best players - seniors Buczek, Donovan, Stevens, Hogan, Lintner - so we'll win a lot of faceoffs and then hope Christian Knight rebounds.

[scoop85]

2015 was the year of the missing children. Ben DeLuca was dismissed fall 2013, giving Class of 2018 recruits, this year's freshmen, time to commit elsewhere. IIRC, a couple times on broadcasts I heard that so-and-so new at, say, Notre Dame had planned on Cornell.

Cornell definitely underperformed the second half of the season. Does a school fire a new coach who steps in cold, wins two Ivy RS titles, makes the NCAAs both years, advances to quarterfinals last year and almost to the final four? There'd be a chilling effect on new coaching candidates. We could say, let's wait for the new recruiting class to be known. But a lot of Cornell's best players have been off the recruiting top-100 radar. We go into 2016 without five of our seven best players - seniors Buczek, Donovan, Stevens, Hogan, Lintner - so we'll win a lot of faceoffs and then hope Christian Knight rebounds.

It's an interesting dilemma. I agree with many others that the coaching appeared less than stellar at times this year, especially down the stretch, and that we underperformed our talent level. This year's freshman class had no one make an immediate impact; as Bill mentioned, the top recruit, Mikey Wynne, had decommitted and is starting at attack for Notre Dame. Another top recruit, Logan Greco, also decommitted and is starting at defense for Virginia.

For those looking for the glass half full, next year's recruiting class may be our best since this year's senior class of Buczek, Donvan, et. al.  Jake McCulloch, an attack/middie from Ward Melville, was just named an Under Armour All American.  Attackman Colton Rupp, from Landon in D.C., is rated a top-40's recruit by Inside Lacrosse. There are lots of other promising kids including defenseman Tom Reilly, also from Ward Melville, Zach Ward, an attackman from Pennsylvania; Ryan Bray, another highly regarded attackman out of Long Island (and a former Ohio State commit); and Clark Peterson, a middie out of the Hill Academy in Canada.  The 2016 class looks just as strong, featuring attackman Jeff Teat, who's one of the most highly regarded players in the junior class.

But next year could be very ugly.  We'll win a lot of faceoffs, but who knows who will be able to score.  Expect lots of freshmen to be getting trial under fire.

[Towerroad]

2015 was the year of the missing children. Ben DeLuca was dismissed fall 2013, giving Class of 2018 recruits, this year's freshmen, time to commit elsewhere. IIRC, a couple times on broadcasts I heard that so-and-so new at, say, Notre Dame had planned on Cornell.

Cornell definitely underperformed the second half of the season. Does a school fire a new coach who steps in cold, wins two Ivy RS titles, makes the NCAAs both years, advances to quarterfinals last year and almost to the final four? There'd be a chilling effect on new coaching candidates. We could say, let's wait for the new recruiting class to be known. But a lot of Cornell's best players have been off the recruiting top-100 radar. We go into 2016 without five of our seven best players - seniors Buczek, Donovan, Stevens, Hogan, Lintner - so we'll win a lot of faceoffs and then hope Christian Knight rebounds.

Good analysis. The DeLuca debacle, justified or not, hurt the program badly. I think it has been on autopilot since. I don't think we have the right coach. Our terrible offense, with skilled, senior rich talent closed that deal for me. So, I think we bite the bullet and find someone that can build a new program. It will take a while.

The AD could get on his hands and knees and crawl 90 miles to the South and beg Jeff Tambroni and his wife to return. But, I suspect that he would rather see the program suffer than admit his mistake. Besides that, he will be too busy preparing his next video.