2017 Lacrosse

[irishrb 0]

Notre Dame by the numbers right now...

 

Poll #6

RPI # 1

Early Selection Committee Release #4

[jfschellcrna 11]

Well the Irish managed to hold off marquette yesterday, 11-10. They started off on fire with an 8-2 lead and the offense looked amazing. Pretty much all down hill from there....TERRIBLE face-offs, Terrible.

 

Seems to be a recurring theme.. Is it a matter of recruiting someone who can consistently win face offs, or is it coaching??

[NDMJ1984 0]

Seems to be a recurring theme.. Is it a matter of recruiting someone who can consistently win face offs, or is it coaching??

 

Face-off specialists (FOGO's) are difficult to recruit. Its really not a position of focus in the high school game, and the elite players who take face-offs in high school are usually the elite players you don't want taking face-offs in college since they get so banged up doing it. Corrigan's strategy seems to be to recruit a lower ranked player with a football or wrestling background and hope it translates (P.J. Finley was a state wrestling champion). There's a lot of empirical evidence supporting this approach - Duke had a guy (name escapes me) who was a backup safety on the football team and became a dominant FOGO around 2010 - 2012, and the current alpha FOGO, Trevor Baptiste from Denver, was a D3 level recruit who Denver offered at the last minute on the advice of the coach of that D3 school, who had played for Denver's head coach when he was the head coach at Princeton. He's built like a house and quick as a cat, but can barely cradle.

 

But you're correct, its been a big problem since Nick Ossello's junior year when he developed into a more offensive minded middie and stopped taking face-offs as frequently. Its fair to wonder how many national championships they would have won over the past 3-4 years with even a 60% guy in there, let alone a 75%+ guy like Denver and Syracuse have.

Edited April 18, 2017 by NDMJ1984

[irishrb 0]

Seems to be a recurring theme.. Is it a matter of recruiting someone who can consistently win face offs, or is it coaching??

 

FOGOS are definitely hard to recruit..mostly because you really don't know how they will transfer to the collegiate level too. There are plenty of face-off specialists out there getting one-on-one training though. Find them!

 

Also, I don't believe ND has a coach who specializes in this. There are teams out there that do.

 

I also believe that Corrigan gets a little set in his ways.

Finley is 65-151 .430

Trav is 25-53 .472

 

IMO, Finley is just too slow...with the clamp, and to attack the ground balls. I think Trav creates a scrum more often, and is more disruptive, which creats more 50/50 opportunities. I'd like to see him get more opportunities.

 

I do believe ND gets the right people out there on the wings, which are very important.

Edited April 18, 2017 by irishrb

[jfschellcrna 11]

thanks for the response.......

[irishrb 0]

Face-off specialists (FOGO's) are difficult to recruit. Its really not a position of focus in the high school game, and the elite players who take face-offs in high school are usually the elite players you don't want taking face-offs in college since they get so banged up doing it. Corrigan's strategy seems to be to recruit a lower ranked player with a football or wrestling background and hope it translates (P.J. Finley was a state wrestling champion). There's a lot of empirical evidence supporting this approach - Duke had a guy (name escapes me) who was a backup safety on the football team and became a dominant FOGO around 2010 - 2012, and the current alpha FOGO, Trevor Baptiste from Denver, was a D3 level recruit who Denver offered at the last minute on the advice of the coach of that D3 school, who had played for Denver's head coach when he was the head coach at Princeton. He's built like a house and quick as a cat, but can barely cradle.

 

But you're correct, its been a big problem since Nick Ossello's junior year when he developed into a more offensive minded middie and stopped taking face-offs as frequently. Its fair to wonder how many national championships they would have won over the past 3-4 years with even a 60% guy in there, let alone a 75%+ guy like Denver and Syracuse have.

 

Pretty sure you're talking about Fowler...He was good.

[NDMJ1984 0]

Pretty sure you're talking about Fowler...He was good.

 

I think it was Fowler. Had long hair right?

[irishrb 0]

I think it was Fowler. Had long hair right?

 

Yes. It was him.

[irishrush 60]

Thoughts on the UNC game RB?

I got to see a good chunk of on the game flipping back and forth with the BG game.

Wynne was on fire. Crazy finish.

[irishrb 0]

Thoughts on the UNC game RB?

I got to see a good chunk of on the game flipping back and forth with the BG game.

Wynne was on fire. Crazy finish.

 

Just got to watch the game....at an LAX tourney all day....

 

My thoughts...

 

ND won the game today because of faceoffs. Trav went 10/14 and Finley went 9/16...and this is against one of the best in the league. It was good to see them giving Trav more opportunities! He just creates more 50/50 opportunities. Winning faceoffs kept ND's offense in a flow. It enabled lots of people to be involved....Costabile, Collins, Gleason all had some good moments. Everyone knows ND has Garnsey, Wynne, and Perk. IF other players can step up, this team has a chance....

 

Their D still looks a little sloppy and slow to me and Doss continues to be inconsistent. If ND doesn't get face-offs Doss has to be their wild card...I just don't think the D is quick enough on their feet. Doss has to be more consistent on the weak shots, and weak angles.

 

Major Concern....Garnsey got hurt at the very end. He was running some clock and went down oddly...and stayed down forever...I was fuming because I was yelling for Corrigan to call a Time Out because you could tell he was getting gassed. It didn't look good to me and if he's out that will really suck.

[irishrb 0]

Notre Dame held off duke and advances to the ACC championship game on Sunday.

 

Notre Dame decided to play a visibly injured Garnsey and Perk. You have to wonder if that's in their best interest long term???????/

The Irish looked quite sloppy, but their D really stepped up. Their slides were perfectly timed and they really took duke out of their game.

[irishrush 60]

Did they ever disclose what the injuries were? I thought I heard them say wrist for Perk.

[irishrb 0]

Did they ever disclose what the injuries were? I thought I heard them say wrist for Perk.

 

I don't know if they ever really disclose any injuries in lacrosse. It is definitely Perk's wrist. He wasn't looking to shoot at all. I'm pretty sure his follow through was really painful for him. Not quite sure about Garnsey, but it definitely looks like an ankle There were times that he was really hobbling, and one or two series where he took himself out.

 

Personally, I would have rested them. That would give them at least another week until Army instead of two games in two days. Now they have to face unc again, who basically is playing for a birth in the tourney. If unc loses, they are done. If they win, as defending champion, they will most likely get in.

The other side is if ND does beat unc, and then army, there's a good chance they are the one seed, with no worse than a 2. I will be absolutely shocked if they take unc down tomorrow...shocked...I think they lose, and it's not pretty....and then to me, it's just not worth beating your injured players down. Hopefully they prove me wrong!

[irishrb 0]

As expected, ND got pretty smashed up by unc. The worst part of the game was that Corrigan insisted on playing Perk, who was noticeably in pain, and ended up hurting his wrist even more. I truly have no clue what Corrigan was thinking this weekend. There is absolutely no reason to play Perk or Garnsey in an ACC tourney that really didn't mean much to the Irish. Now, he compromised, not only the team for the real tourney, but the health of his best players in Perk and Garnsey. Total injustice to the team, and more importantly to the players. Really inexusable and one of the worst coaching decisions I have ever seen.

[BrianKellyWasNotTheMan 12]

As expected, ND got pretty smashed up by unc. The worst part of the game was that Corrigan insisted on playing Perk, who was noticeably in pain, and ended up hurting his wrist even more. I truly have no clue what Corrigan was thinking this weekend. There is absolutely no reason to play Perk or Garnsey in an ACC tourney that really didn't mean much to the Irish. Now, he compromised, not only the team for the real tourney, but the health of his best players in Perk and Garnsey. Total injustice to the team, and more importantly to the players. Really inexusable and one of the worst coaching decisions I have ever seen.

Maybe, this is the type of **** why he's never won a championship? IMO he need's to go. I've never seen many coaches whose been at a school for 30 years and yet to win a ring.

[irishrb 0]

Maybe, this is the type of **** why he's never won a championship? IMO he need's to go. I've never seen many coaches whose been at a school for 30 years and yet to win a ring.

 

He's put them on the map, but that is a looooong time. He's had enough talent during the last 10 years to win a tiltle.......At this point, I don't think it would be a bad thing to have some fresh blood at ND lacrosse, at least for the offensive side!

[BrianKellyWasNotTheMan 12]

He's put them on the map, but that is a looooong time. He's had enough talent during the last 10 years to win a tiltle.......At this point, I don't think it would be a bad thing to have some fresh blood at ND lacrosse, at least for the offensive side!

 

Only, positive thing he's done is put ND on the map. TBH might be the most popular LAX team in college.

[irishrb 0]

Irish end the year at army tomorrow. Will be interesting to see what they do with Perk and Garnsey, and, if they play, how they look. This is definitely a seeding game for the Irish....Win and they could go as high as a 2. Lose and who knows how far they drop..

GO IRISH!!!

[irishrb 0]

No Garnsey, No Perk, No win. The Irish fall to army 10-9 in OT, with a bad finish to the game. Glad they rested Perk and Garnsey...Still amazed they didn't do it last week against duke. Hopefully they are healthy next week, or ND could very well go out in the first round. Selection show is tomorrow night.

[irishrb 0]

ND ends up getting a 4 seed and will host marquette on Sunday at noon. IF they win that, they'll get denver...The selection committee pretty much sucked it up and put most of the power teams in the top half of the bracket. maryland, unc, and albany are all above them.

Hopefully Perk and Garnsey are good to go. IF they are, they should move on to the second round, where they will still be underdogs. If they aren't the game vs. marquette will be 50/50 at best.