We are trying something new today for the Syracuse vs Denver NCAA Quarterfinal game, where we will be updating this post throughout the game with live updates. Stay tuned all afternoon as we give goal updates, thoughts on the schemes, and all other updates!
To start this one, I’ll be watching the following:
- Stathakis vs Kohn at the X
- Syracuse ability to score from the outside against Denver
- Denver’s ability to keep Syracuse dodgers down the alley
Stay tuned for more!
First Quarter
15:00 – How cool is is that two Canadian Head Coaches are playing against each other in the quarterfinals. This one should be fun!
14:55 – First faceoff goes to Stahakis. Matchup to watch today!
13:44 – Mark will want that one back… Syracuse goes zone on first possession and plays great D. Syracuse will give those up…
13:00 Denver gives up the middle too easily. English finds Leo. 1-1
Syracuse playing man on man for the second possesion. Maybe it’s a first line / second line thing? Something to watch.
10:30 – Long hang-up situation defended well by Denver. Spallina vs DiBenidetto round one goes Denver’s way.
7:30 – Multiple great saves from Kleban including in transition on Billy Dwan.
7:00 – SU back in zone, Mark gets his first big save. GREAT sign for SU.
6:22 – English scores a sick twister down the alley. If you’re Denver, you can live with the down the alley but have to think about supporting to English or hope Kleban stays really hot.
Advantage so far to Syracuse. Multiple great looks, combination of zone and man seems to be working well. This is a big media timeout for Denver, as it lets Matt Brown set his zone offence. He’s got a deep bag of tricks, let’s see what comes out…
6:15 – Mullen TO off faceoff win, those are killers
5:03 – Lampert wins a matchup and scores off big/little from X. He seems to be the only guy really winning matchups so far. Denver needs to play faster, but Lampert bails them out.
4:48 – Another Cuse TO off faceoff but Pioneers need to be careful here. Giving up lots of fast breaks.
3:15 – Another good save by Kleban on Leo. Leo needs to get to his spots on the lefty wing, settled a bit down the alley there.
1:45 – Rhoa hits the pipe. Denver sits so far back on defence, notice how many times they are sitting at 15 yards and waiting for the dodgers. Cuse needs to take the middle.
0:49 – Carlson unassisted similar to the English goal. Syracuse was not ready to slide. Cuse has been a little sloppy here.
0:00 – Cuse didn’t leave much time to play with and clock runs out. Denver is packed in so tight, I wonder if Hiltz or others could just step into some of the outside shots.
Denver has to be happy with that first quarter, especially defensively. They need to continue dodging hard and try to battle at the faceoff X.
Second Quarter
14:52 – Another great save by Kleban on Kohn. DENVER HAS TO BE CAREFUL WITH THESE FACEOFF FAST BREAKS!
13:30 – Denver is just blowing up every pick. You can’t roll when you’re on the ground. Should be a penalty imo.
Syracuse offence needs to be more physical off-ball. Denver is playing strict man on man, they need to set screens to get open.
Playing without equipment is a stupid rule. Malawsky gets blown up and somehow gets violation from the ground.
11:30 – Refs letting the boys play here. Denver could have had several penalties by now.
10:33 – Another big Mark save. Denver needs to feature Lampert more.
9:30 – Another Orange TO. Denver is massive and just not playing the SU shooters in the midfield. Someone needs to score from distance.
7:51 – Good matchup for Leo. Key was he’s going from his sweet spot. He’s awesome in that spot. 3-3.
I agree with Quint here about SU offence. But the Denver defence just won’t follow you around. Hard to clear out space when they just want to stay in the middle. Nobody on SU is a threat out to 15 yards, at least Denver doesn’t think so.
6:42 – DiBenidetto with another great set against Spallina. Spallina and Thomson hit the fish hook play, great save by Kleban.
5:48 – Good timeout by Coach Brown. Extremely slow and low-scoring game right now. I think that favors Denver big time.
Curious to see what happens out of the timeout here. Metzbower is running the huddle to will be his play. In a tight game, they could use a schemed-up goal here.
If it’s me, I am trying to get Lampert going again here. He’s their best player imo against this Cuse D.
Cuse zone out of the timeout. Zone has been very effective. Denver settling for bombs and Mark looking sharp.
4:40 – What a play by Dan Anderson for Denver. Just big-dogs Spallina in the big/little behind the net. Denver defence is FUN.
3:17 – Denver finally draws a slide but Mark up to the challenge. He has been massive. And a huge smile from D coordinator John Odierna. That’s a good feeling for a coach.
Expect more zone here from Cuse out of the timeout. Syracuse needs to set better picks for Spallina. Slip picks and slick moves won’t work against a Denver team not sliding. Set hard picks and get switches.
2:50 – Mark becoming a story here. Locked in.
Curious when we will see a Stevens, English, Thomson all together with Leo at attack. Mule getting the shorty is killing Syracuse right now.
1:14 – Timeout by Denver. Need more Lampert like I need more cowbell. Someone gotta win here for Denver. This game has been a slugfest so far.
0:30 – On cue… Denver gets Lampert onto a shorty and Hussey hits the step down. That had some gas on it. More Lampert!
0:00 Skirmish at the end of the half. Orange getting fired up about something. Leo may have gotten away with a cheap shot behind the play. Should be a fun second half here.
Halftime
Let’s talk through some adjustments:
Denver: You can’t keep letting Mark see these easy ones from the outside. I think they can get deeper into shot clocks as they are taking some mediocre shots. They need to do what they can to get more switches and more Lampert as well, and they have some time to discuss their zone strategy. Outside shots will always be there with zone, find dunks.
Defensively, nothing changes.
Syracuse: I’m curious if there is a lineup adjustment here… depth is important, but not having Stevens on the field down the stretch seems harder and harder to stomach. Putting Leo to attack and adding Stevens up top for a super line makes sense to this writer.
Cuse will want to increase the pace, but how? One thing is capitalizing on some of the faceoff advantages they have had, they normally turn some of them into goals. I think the length is bothering them from the DU defence.
30 Minutes left with a chip to the dance on the line. Buckle up!
Third Quarter
15:00 – Did Quint just say that Kleban approaches 240 lbs? Seems hard to believe. What a beauty either way, he’s having a day!
13:43 – Canadian wrong-hand alert! Good take my Malawsky… not sure we are going to get the right angle here.
Something I didn’t consider until now. The logistics of field lacrosse in outdoor stadiums makes the over the net camera angle basically impossible. Video review is basically useless without any sort of in-net camera.
12:48 – Nice take by Hussey. Unassisted on the run. Seems so far that low > high on Mark.
You can still play zone if you want. Just get a stop…
11:30 – That’s should have been a penalty on Denver. Pios taking the 90’s Pistons approach of just fouling most possesions. Can’t call em all!
10:20 – That was gross by Malawsky. He looks so comfortable in there. There were shades of Mark Matthews there. What a move.
9:34 – Good take by Hiltz. Denver finally getting a penalty and Syracuse needs to capitalize. Feels like a big moment in this game.
8:32 – Shot clock violation by Syracuse on a powerplay. WOW!
7:13 – Syracuse can’t buy one. Seeing Leo at attack now though.
Spallina needs to look for his shot more. He has time to go at his man.
8-3 Denver. What an amazing play by Syracuse native and Pioneer Sophomore Dan Anderson. Second time in the game he’s just taken the ball off of guys. What a beast. Talked a bunch of s**t on the way off the field to Leo too. Playoffs!
5:12 – Post by Hiltz. Denver out and running. Kleban has been an X factor here. Pushing this D from great to friggin great. That’s a big difference.
3:42 – 8-4 now as Stevens gets one for Cuse. Busted coverage by Denver. Most teams will try to switch picks with two shorties, that was the cause of the miscommunication.
3:30 – Mullen gets stuffed by Kleban who turns it over. Lacrosse is a game of runs.
2:50 – Cuse starting their run now, sick pass by Hiltz inside to English. Picks to the middle are working for Cuse. Wasn’t much of a slide but a good fade by English leads to easy goal.
2:13 – 9-5 Denver HUGE goal from Sillstrop. DU draws a slide and nice righty finish by Sillstrop (natural lefty). Denver uses size advantage on ball to score.
0:44 10-5 Denver. What a play by Lampert and the ipad is back out. Third one of these shot clock goals we have seen now as there were two yesterday.
I don’t think Cuse will win this one. Losing the timeouts is an absolute killer. Cuse was thinking about transition already I think, Mark will want that one back. Lampert is a baller either way.
0:25 – Remember that save by Mark if Cuse comes back. Mercurio is a BEAST.
End of third: We’ve seen crazier stuff, but not very often and not that much crazier. Cuse needs to find a way to force some TO’s and get some easy one. For Denver, no faceoff goals allowed has to be the memo. Get it to 6v6 where you have dominated.
Fourth Quarter
Expect English and Stevens to play a ton here. Look for them in non-offensive situations.
12:29 – Quint and Anish are moving to the post-mortem too soon. Huge goal by Leo on a great pick by English. Seals his own man to give Leo space.
11:22 – KILLER of a turnover in the clear by Cuse. That’s the kind of play that sinks you.
9:45 – Good save by Mark but two more mins off the clock. Nine mins for Cuse to cover four goals. Certainly doable. Leo getting aggressive again.
8:29 – Finn Thomson goes top shelf from the low angle. Fun fact: he went to my high school. Less fun fact: I did not teach him how to shoot like that. 10 – 7 Denver with 8.5 to play. Tick, tick, tick…
8:04 – Hidden ball trick misses the net. Wowzers.
6:43 – Cuse D has been locked in. Giving the boys a chance. Super-line out now for Cuse.
5:34 – Denver defence is awesome and deep. Hard to tell with their jersey numbers who is who, but they always look the part. Caldwell making the play there.
4:15 – Elite clock management by Denver just bleeding this clock.
3:18 – Sick move by Hiltz. We have a ball game!
Faceoffs obviously going to be huge here. Denver has basically punted on a bunch of these late possessions and it could come back to bite them. Cuse can score in bunches and they have time now. Everything going through Leo and would expect that to be the case the rest of the way.
3:18 – Not how you draw it up there as Cuse takes the penalty for a faceoff violation. Time for the penalty killers to make a play.
Denver could really use a goal Not ragging time yet.
Pipe by Syracuse. That hurts. Timeout Denver.
I’m unbiased but I love seeing the Junkyard Dogs making the play for Syracuse. I respect people who think differently, and also love giving more roster guys a shot. Good for those kids making a play in the big time. Sports are the best.
Turnover Denver. Lots of time!
Maybe an unpopular opinion but I would rather just play without the timeout. Chaos favors the offence in these scenarios. Now Denver has time to throw some junk at you.
If this starts with anyone other than Leo, I’d be surprised. He’s been their best dodger.
Shorty on Hiltz is example of the Junk I was talking about. Pios keep turning it over. Sports!
Missed cage and Pios backup. Man…
Jake Stevens is a ridiculously good lacrosse player and will play for a long time. This game can be brutal sometimes.
Thanks for following along all afternoon. What a gutsy performance by Denver. I don’t think anyone has much of a chance against Notre Dame, but this Denver defence will be a tremendous pain to play on championship weekend.
Syracuse played super hard, and will still return many of their best players next year. They took a lot of great steps this year. They’re back, maybe not all the way, but they’re back in the mix with the best teams.
We will have the UVA game this afternoon as well. See you all in a few minutes.