Penn 2/24

[LILax]

All of the hand wringing over this loss to Penn is a little bit much. Hens have been very good at overcoming possession differentials over the last couple of years. They had Tyler Barbarich who was well above .500 and Jake Hervada who battled injuries but finished his career at .500, so it has not been that long since they had studs at FOGO.

I would expect a close game with Michigan this week because the team is really good at limiting turnovers and playing solid defense. The Hens have an awesome offensive unit too. Michigan's Justin Wiedfelt is going to crush the Hens on faceoffs on Saturday, but that doesn't mean the game won't be competitive. The purpose of these out-of-conference games is to make the Hens stronger when they play in the CAA. They have to win the CAA to get in the NCAA tourney anyway, and that is their only goal every year.

If you go back to 2007 the Hens had a ton of tough games and losses (lost to #4 Albany, lost to #7 Georgetown, lost to #5 Duke, lost to #14 Towson, Lost to Drexel) before beating Towson and Drexel easily on their way to the final four (beating Virginia and UMBC) before losing to Hopkins 8-3.

In 2010, the Hens lost to Hopkins, Villanova, Stony Brook, Towson and Hofstra before cruising past Towson and Drexel to win the CAA and get in the tourney, when they nearly beat North Carolina in the first round 14-13.

In 2011, the Hens lost to Hopkins, Albany, Stony Brook, Villanova, Penn State, UMass before beating UMass and Hofstra in the CAAs and nearly beating Duke in the first round of the NCAAs 15-14.

In 2022, the Hens lost to #7 Duke, #16 Michigan, Villanova, UMass, Hofstra before smoking Drexel and Towson in the CAAs and then they went on to beat Robert Morris 20-8 and then beat #2 Georgetown in the first round and then nearly beat #7 Cornell 10-8.

In 2023, the Hens lost by one to Villanova, lost to Michigan, lost to #9 Hopkins before running through the CAA and cruising through the CAA tourney and play in game against Marist 25-10 before succumbing to #1 Duke in the first round of the NCAAs 12-11.

The Hens are going to lose regular season games. Every team does. But if they learn from these losses and overcome the inevitable losses at the faceoff x, they will be just fine. This year the Hens are VERY young, particularly at midfield and defense. They are trotting out Freshmen Ryder Villani (Middie), Ryder Buell (SSDM), Louie Atkinson (Close defense), John McCurry (Attack) and Tyler Owings (Middie). They are also playing a lot of sophomores who didn't play last year including Patrick Gillin (LSM), Hank D'Ambrogi (Middie) and Troon Houlton (SSDM). That is a ton of young players that will get better every game. They should be primed to be competitive in the CAA and go for the three-peat. That is really the only thing they care about. Beating Michigan or Syracuse is going to be tough. But not impossible. You have one of the best coaches in the sport. Have some faith.

[77HEN]

Not handwringing LILax, just supposing. I agree, this team is young in many aspects but quite competitive and fun to watch. At Penn, the team evened the possessions by winning the turnover battle. Just imagining how could it could be if we did better at face offs these days. There is some possibility of rain in the forecast for Saturday but we will be there to support Hens LAX.

[BlueHenBill]

Not handwringing LILax, just supposing. I agree, this team is young in many aspects but quite competitive and fun to watch. At Penn, the team evened the possessions by winning the turnover battle. Just imagining how could it could be if we did better at face offs these days. There is some possibility of rain in the forecast for Saturday but we will be there to support Hens LAX.

+1 UD shouldn't have to be in the all too frequent position of being dominated at FO against higher ranked teams and trying to compensate for those large disparities in FOs. The UD FO percentages cited by LI Lax are probably somewhat misleading. Those FO percentages probably reflect high FO win percentages against weaker competition that UD dominated and low FO win percentages against higher ranked opponents with which UD struggles. UD could have been and could yet be be a Men's Lax power house if they took what they have now and in the past under DeLuca and added FO men who can win 40%-50% against the strongest FO men and programs that UD faces. DeLuca has proved that he can recruit top players at attack, midfield, defense , and goalie so why not at FO? Like goalie, It should be easier to recruit a top FO man every 3-4 years because barring injury or other issues you only need one.

[LILax]

Not handwringing LILax, just supposing. I agree, this team is young in many aspects but quite competitive and fun to watch. At Penn, the team evened the possessions by winning the turnover battle. Just imagining how could it could be if we did better at face offs these days. There is some possibility of rain in the forecast for Saturday but we will be there to support Hens LAX.

+1 UD shouldn't have to be in the all too frequent position of being dominated at FO against higher ranked teams and trying to compensate for those large disparities in FOs. The UD FO percentages cited by LI Lax are probably somewhat misleading. Those FO percentages probably reflect high FO win percentages against weaker competition that UD dominated and low FO win percentages against higher ranked opponents with which UD struggles. UD could have been and could yet be be a Men's Lax power house if they took what they have now and in the past under DeLuca and added FO men who can win 40%-50% against the strongest FO men and programs that UD faces. DeLuca has proved that he can recruit top players at attack, midfield, defense , and goalie so why not at FO? Like goalie, It should be easier to recruit a top FO man every 3-4 years because barring injury or other issues you only need one.

Not really interested in getting into an argument about this. But your comment about "those percentages probably reflect high FO win percentages against weaker competition that UD dominated and low win percentages against higher ranked opponents" is patently false. Tyler Barbarich finished his career with .576 win percentage and dominated in the CAA where three of the top FOGOs in the country played. He went on to be the FOGO coach at the University of Maryland and helped that squad win a national championship. Jake Hervada, when healthy, had a lot of success versus Zach Cole at St.Joes and Alex Woodall at Towson (two of the all-time greats).

And BTW, Michigan has won 14 of 16 faceoffs against Jacksonville tonight at halftime and are LOSING 8-6. But they'll probably win

[Cluck U]

Heck, figured I would post it twice.

Penn beat #1 Duke 14-12.