Lacrosse fans are in for a good one tonight as Army travels up to Syracuse to take on the Orange. As a student-athlete, midweek games could be challenging.
As a fan, they’re great.
Army and Syracuse both find themselves in the top ten, as Syracuse currently sits at number 8/7 in the national polls, while Army sits 5/5. Army has yet to lose this season in three games, while the only setback for the Orange came in overtime against Maryland.
The game presents some sharp differences in styles, but both teams are strong everywhere. The below table shows how each team ranks in major national metrics.
| Army | Metric | Syracuse |
| 12th | Goals Per Game | 6th |
| 10th | Goals Against Per Game | 4th |
| 23rd | Assists Per Game | 2nd |
| 10th | Faceoff Percentage | 2nd |
With that being said, let’s get into five keys to watch for tonight.
1. Is anyone going to dominate the faceoff? And can anyone score off it?
Both teams currently sit in the top ten of faceoff percentage nationally. For Syracuse Mason Kohn is winning 69% of his draws, while Army’s Will Coletti comes in at 71%.
Perhaps more importantly, both players are looking to score. Kohn has 9 points through five games which ranks sixth on the whole team. Coletti has 5 points in three games, which also ranks sixth on the team.
The transition from both teams looks a little different. Syracuse is prepared to attack from anywhere and with anyone. Army’s transition is structured and straight to the point. Coletti is looking to win it out the front and sling it. The faceoff battle will be interesting and important, but the most important factor for either team will be winning the goals-off-faceoff battle.
Check out the below tweet on this matchup from recent LCTV guest Jerry Ragonese.
2. Spallina vs Pilate
Lacrosse is a team game, and these two teams are deeper than most. But there is no denying that the battle of the game will be Joe Spallina against Army All-American Aj Pilate.
Pilate looks bigger than he is (side note, Army’s black jerseys make all their defenders look way taller than they are) and does a great job of extending to make his opponents like difficult.
Against Rutgers, Pilate followed Ross Scott around and never let him get comfortable. Most importantly in that game, Army navigated picks very well. While they are clearly willing to support their defenders around the field, it was obvious in the Rutgers game that they were determined to keep Pilate on the ball.
This was similar to Maryland, who did a nice job throughout the day of navigating picks on ball, and keeping Ajax Zappitello on Spallina. If Cuse can set better picks and create lanes for Spallina, they will be in business.
One of the unique aspects about Spallina’s game is where he likes to dodge from. Rather than on the wing or at X, he starts many of his dodges deep in the corner of the field. This gives him options to come over the top, drive left handed to get to the far side of the goal, or blow by his man to get right inside.
When they can set good picks, it works well.
The downside of these dodges is that Spallina likes to catch the ball far from the goal. Against a rangy defender like Pilate, life gets complicated. Pilate will surely press out and try to deny the ball, and even when you dodge against him he uses his length and power to stay in the play.
How and where Syracuse gets him the ball, and what he can do against Pilate, will be key to victory.
3. Can the Army defence keep structure against Syracuse offence?
Both of these teams play great offence in very different ways. Syracuse is an amoeba, they attack from all over the field and have one of the slickest groups in the country. Army will need to be at high alert for slip picks and unplanned cuts.
This goal from Owen Hiltz shows how hard that can be. If you look away for a second, the ball is behind you.
Once they get to settled offence, Syracuse does a few unique things. First of all, they almost always play with their strong hands to the middle (the Canadian way) and they almost never take the alley. Sweeping to the middle has some advantages, namely that it allows you to look through the defence and make skip passes.
The problem with sweeping is that the dodgers momentum can sometimes be going horizontally on the field, meaning that only the heaviest of shooters can reliably score on the run from way out. Defences can sometimes bait teams into shots their goalie can handle.
Syracuse begins almost every possession on the same side of the field as the substitution box, meaning that their offence looks different from quarter to quarter. When working right to left on the television screen, Finn Thomson and Sam English do the initiating.
Thomson almost never dodges from that spot. He usually throws it down to Spallina and sets a pick. With the option to slip or stick the pick, Thomson is dangerous in this area.
When English has it, he has the ability to make defenders look silly. WIth only three points this year, English’s value far and away exceeds his production. Here is an example of how hard it is to cover him, and how valuable he is. As a reminder, he did not get an assist on this play.
When working the other end of the field, Michael Leo takes control and begins the offence. Again, he almost always sweeps, opening up a variety of options for Thomson, English, and Spallina to weave back over the top. For teams that build gameplans around keeping dodgers down the alley, Syracuse causes problems.
Defensively, Army acts like a Boa snake. They start possessions out wide, trying to make life difficult on the perimeter. But as possessions develop, they tighten up to protect the most important areas. Unlike some teams that clearly designate second slides, Army seems to fill open space with a combination of all their defenders. They all take up space and when they do support, they do aggressively and decisively.
This is difficult to do against a team as skilled as Syracuse, especially when they are set up to get to the middle of the field with their strong hands. Pay attention to Army and their ability to cover up skip passes early in possessions.
4. Can Syracuse cover the multiple schemes from Army?
Like Cuse, Army fields a six-man offensive unit that forces defences to guard everyone. Unlike Syracuse which seems to have one trigger and then plays relatively unstructured, Army clearly has different offenses that they run.
The first is a 2-3-1 (from the top) look that they use to get midfielders on short sticks in the low alley (more on that later).
The second is a classic 2-3-1 power dodging setup that spreads the defence out and forces you to cover aggressive midfielders.
When the second line comes in for Army, they typically go immediately into a 2-2-2 setup that uses the dive/sit principles in front of the net. When the dodger initiates, one player cuts and the other sits in the middle. Their spacing is flawless and since that second line presumably spends most of their time running it in practice, it can be effective.
In an era of unscripted offence, Army shows the value of organization. Their players are comfortable in their roles, and aggressive everywhere.
Most importantly, all of their players can beat short sticks and score unassisted. Only 38% of Army’s goals this year are assisted, compared to nearly 50% by Syracuse.
On defence, Syracuse flies around, using their speed to get in lanes and disrupt offensive flow. They will have a detailed scouting report and will know most of what Army likes to run. Matching their intensity and physicality will be the key. Don’t be surprised if Syracuse supports matchups early, to test out the passing ability of the Army offence.
Short stick play will be huge. These Army players will bring the fight to you, hanging in at the point of contact is crucial. It’s going to be a fun battle to watch.
5. Michael Leo and Jacob Morin
Lastly, I wanted to highlight two dynamic lefties who perform similar functions for the offence. With a combined 16 goals and 3 assists, their roles are pretty clear: Beat short sticks and let it fly.
Leo benefits from the front side action of Thomson, English, and Spallina. When the ball swings, is a load to handle. He has impressive range and the ability to drive underneath or step back and shoot through screens. Teams don’t want to slide against the Orange, and Leo punishes that.
Morin loves to do much of the same. He can really shoot it and benefits from the attention given to Evan Plunkett. Army loves to run a dummy dodge into a throwback for Morin to get to the wing.
And when things get a little stale, he can just go to work.
In a game that is loaded with talent, these two could be the X factors. Whoever can produce for their team will have success.
Stay tuned to Lacrosse Culture Daily for more content all season long.