Musings and Whatnot

Musings and Whatnot
by flanner96 (2024-04-22 11:12:39)
Edited on 2024-04-22 11:35:29

1) I didn't get to see the game Saturday but I did see some highlights. Dobson's goal is the kind of thing we're going to need more from him against UVA. I'm okay with him loading up from up top in order to loosen everything else up. Make UVA's defenders have to decide if they want to get in front of that sot.

2) It will be interesting to see if Faison has a little more zip from here on out now that spring football is over. My guess would be he will. With an increased load on D, too, he may almost find the pace of the next month relaxing, compared to what he was doing for the last 30 days or so.

3) PKav needs 4 points Saturday to pass Randy Colley as ND's all time leading scorer. It's worth taking a moment or two to remember just how good Randy was. Pretty much every game, the opposing team's defensive game plan would be "stop number 7" and he still would go out and get 4 and 3. In '95 he led the upset over Duke in the NCAA first round and nearly got us into the semis.

4) I see Buchner got his first point of the season Saturday (an assist). A reminder for folks who may be popping in from Rock's House: his playing time this year is not an indictment of his skills, rather it is an endorsement of the depth ahead of him. It's hard to break into even our 3rd midfield, especially when before February, you hadn't had any game action in 4 or more years.

5) Jeffry Ricciardelli has 8 goals on 11 shots this year. Not to look too far ahead, but it's going to be really fun to watch him and CKav play together in 2025.

6) I did not fully appreciate what a big addition McClane would be. Having an attackman's finishing skills knifing down the alleys--- he's been huge all year. Not the leader that Tevlin is (and I don't know that many people on the planet are) but he's such a threat.

7) Raging Bull called Entenmann the best goalie in the history of the college game earlier this year. While I am going to defer his knowledge of goalie play everyday of the week and twice on Sundays, it felt strong to me at the time. But after most of a season, I think I'm ready to agree with him. I never saw Larry Quinn play, so I can't compare. But I think the closest analogs to Liam are Scott Baccigalupo of Princeton and Brian Dougherty of Maryland. Both of those guys were a little bit more frenetic in cage (and in Baccigalupo's case, more than a little unhinged). The thing that is so impressive about Liam is how calm he remains. He's focused, communicating and then his hand snap up or his leg flashes to cover the far post. He's just remarkable. If he doesn't win the top goaltender award again this year, the voters should all be given wedgies.

8) One of my favorite things abut this year is watching Lyght truck people on picks and then recover effortlessly. I hope it happens several times on Saturday.

Edit:
9) Remember when the schedule made us a little nervous? With this week's rankings, we have 4 wins over top ten teams, and we can make it 5 Saturday.

Are You Sure You & Matt Ward Didn't Have a Talk?

Ward did color commentary on Saturday's game. Per your points:
- he's in awe of Entenmann. Notes he goes to his knees often, but he keeps his stick up, so a shooter can't deke and go high easily.
- Marvels at ND's ability to find stellar athletes like Lyght at defender.
- In an aside comment on which attackman he'd pick first in the draft, he noted that O'Neil and Shellenberger can be shut down by big, strong defenders. The ND model is what he has in mind (more later)
- McLane is a great addition and meshes with the Kav's and Taylor.

- Per Pat Kav, Ward thinks his ability to keep contributing game-in and game-out is a standout (along with his toughness). Throw this defense at him; fine, he'll adjust. Creativity and slightly off-beat timing are elements he keeps coming back to, as well .

- Buchner, if my eyes weren't mistaken, was at d-mid on Saturday. He got the assist on a fast break.

I do think Ward does a great job

...but he is one of the many people who have never been in my kitchen.

But I love that point about Pat. He's got such an ability to lull defenders into a false sense of security and then one step or glance... by the time they realize what's happening, it's already too late.

Interesting re: Buchner. If he can provide some help on d, that's terrific as we get into May.

I had no idea Faison was also doing Spring football

What an athlete.

If they don't give Entenmann the Tewaararton this year, and they won't, they should just stop listing goalies on the watch list.

He wasn't actually practicing. He was attending all the

meetings and go through "mental reps" at practice but not actually suiting up and running around. Not having to do all that will still free him up greatly, but he wasn't pulling double duty from a physical aspect for both sports.