Cornell @ Brown Men's Lacrosse Saturday, April 5, 2025, 12 noon

[CU77]

So in the end, the 13-9 final score was close to the Massey prediction of 14-9, but getting there was not linear.

I'm not a fan of late with-a-lead stall ball against the 10 man. I say: keep the ball in front of the cage, shoot early and often at the empty net. The usual argument against this is that it leaves you open to a run of make-it-take-it goals by the opponent, but if their FOGO is not exceptional, I doubt that stalling is truly the optimal strategy.

[billhoward]

We need to figure out how to kill the final seconds against the pulled goalie/trap defense.

I had the same thought. Knowing we are 60% on faceoffs this day ... Go. To. The. Net. ~90% chance of going up by one more goal and then a good chance of getting the ensuing faceoff, that seems like good odds.

When you run along the endline, you can only be attacked from one side, not two. But you then get pushed out of bounds. But, hey, that's hindsight. As Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State coach of the Cold War / Vietnam era said, "Monday morning, anybody can tell me the right play to call. On Saturday afternoon, you have 25 seconds to pick the right play."  Off topic: In WW II, without a college degree, Daugherty rose from private to major, won a bronze star. Also: He was early on bringing in Black players. In the 1967 draft, Michigan State had four of the eight top picks, all Black, including #1 pick Bubba Smith, he of later Police Academy fame. And a really funny or raunchy, take your pick, Pat Nixon joke.

[billhoward]

Credit also to Knust and Cornell's settled defense in 2nd half as the settled defense allowed only 1 goal. Brown's defense clogged things up and ground balls were pretty even.

Cascadden also had a huge game. His presence is a big difference from last year.

I can see into the future: Cornell recruits a 70% FOGO, we make it as far as the title game, then for his sophomore year the NCAA replaces the faceoff with other-team-gets-the-ball thing to spend up the game.

Right now, of the top fifty faceoff specialists, Cornell junior Jack Cascadden ranks #15 at .590. Of key remaining opponents, we are only at a significant disadvantage against the Orange:

Code Select Expand


 5  John Mullen    Syracuse   Soph  0.642
35  Spencer Reagan  Dartmouth  Fr    0.533
Harvard is outside the top 50, has 3 FOGOs who've taken 50+ each, most prolific is Jackson Henehan, 61-147, .415. The other two are.462 and .313.

Among the other top 5 times, i.e. the ones we'd most likely see if we make final four weekend, Notre Dame would be a challenge:

Code Select Expand


 6  Notre Dame, .638
17  Maryland, .577
30  Ohio State, .546
NR  Princeton,  .414 vs. Cornell
TD Ierlan was .751, career best all-time, for Albany then Yale then Denver. 2017-2021.  

[mike1960]

Syracuse 9-5 over Notre Dame starting the 4th quarter.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Syracuse 9-5 over Notre Dame starting the 4th quarter.

Now 13-7, 'Cuse.

And Sucks stomped Dartmouth 18-7

[mike1960]

Syracuse 9-5 over Notre Dame starting the 4th quarter.

Now 13-7, 'Cuse.

And Sucks stomped Dartmouth 18-7

14-9 Syracuse final. Gait's got them playing really well. We'll have our hands full next week.

[Chousnake]

Syracuse 9-5 over Notre Dame starting the 4th quarter.

Now 13-7, 'Cuse.

And Sucks stomped Dartmouth 18-7

14-9 Syracuse final. Gait's got them playing really well. We'll have our hands full next week.

I watched it. Always love seeing ND lose.  That also helps Cornell.  Syracuse will likely be in the top 5 now.  And the game was not as close as the score.

[Swampy]

Credit also to Knust and Cornell's settled defense in 2nd half as the settled defense allowed only 1 goal. Brown's defense clogged things up and ground balls were pretty even.

Cascadden also had a huge game. His presence is a big difference from last year.

I can see into the future: Cornell recruits a 70% FOGO, we make it as far as the title game, then for his sophomore year the NCAA replaces the faceoff with other-team-gets-the-ball thing to spend up the game.

Right now, of the top fifty faceoff specialists, Cornell junior Jack Cascadden ranks #15 at .590. Of key remaining opponents, we are only at a significant disadvantage against the Orange:

Code Select Expand


 5  John Mullen    Syracuse   Soph  0.642
35  Spencer Reagan  Dartmouth  Fr    0.533
Harvard is outside the top 50, has 3 FOGOs who've taken 50+ each, most prolific is Jackson Henehan, 61-147, .415. The other two are.462 and .313.

Among the other top 5 times, i.e. the ones we'd most likely see if we make final four weekend, Notre Dame would be a challenge:

Code Select Expand


 6  Notre Dame, .638
17  Maryland, .577
30  Ohio State, .546
NR  Princeton,  .414 vs. Cornell
TD Ierlan was .751, career best all-time, for Albany then Yale then Denver. 2017-2021.  

For today's faceoffs, Cornell's wings played much better than in some of the games earlier in the season. This might be affecting Jack's statistics.

[semsox]

Credit also to Knust and Cornell's settled defense in 2nd half as the settled defense allowed only 1 goal. Brown's defense clogged things up and ground balls were pretty even.

Cascadden also had a huge game. His presence is a big difference from last year.

I can see into the future: Cornell recruits a 70% FOGO, we make it as far as the title game, then for his sophomore year the NCAA replaces the faceoff with other-team-gets-the-ball thing to spend up the game.

Right now, of the top fifty faceoff specialists, Cornell junior Jack Cascadden ranks #15 at .590. Of key remaining opponents, we are only at a significant disadvantage against the Orange:

Code Select Expand


 5  John Mullen    Syracuse   Soph  0.642
35  Spencer Reagan  Dartmouth  Fr    0.533
Harvard is outside the top 50, has 3 FOGOs who've taken 50+ each, most prolific is Jackson Henehan, 61-147, .415. The other two are.462 and .313.

Among the other top 5 times, i.e. the ones we'd most likely see if we make final four weekend, Notre Dame would be a challenge:

Code Select Expand


 6  Notre Dame, .638
17  Maryland, .577
30  Ohio State, .546
NR  Princeton,  .414 vs. Cornell
TD Ierlan was .751, career best all-time, for Albany then Yale then Denver. 2017-2021.  

For today's faceoffs, Cornell's wings played much better than in some of the games earlier in the season. This might be affecting Jack's statistics.

Agree with this. I certainly don't think there's 14 guys I'd rather have taking face-offs than Cascadden, and his availability is a force-multiplier. I just think of all the face-offs we lost last year, putting more wear on the defense, etc. Not so this year.