nova - Home, "opener" Saturday, Feb 28, 1pm

[Cluck U]

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/side ... 0227032402

Technically, we had a home game against Utah, but it was moved, indoors, to Wilmington...with no fans. So, tomorrow is the team's first game in front of a home crowd at the Tub.

nova comes in with a 1-2 record having beat #7 Penn State 14-13 in OT, lost 9-11 to a solid St. Joe's team (our fellow conference member) and an 8-7 loss at #18 Rutgers. I'd be happy with nova's low 9 and 7 offensive outputs, but they did put up 14 against PSU.

Over 39 shots on goal per game...just not putting it in the net as much as they'd like. 32-40 (.444) on face offs, so we should have a shot. The wildkitties clear well (close to 91%) and their opponents have struggled a bit (56-73...that's .767), so I hope we can clean our effort up a bit of we could be in trouble.

Hens have a chance to right the ship with a good game against a good opponent.

Tomorrow's weather is a perfect Spring day: sunny, low-to-mid 50s, 5mph wind from the SW.

Free parking...tickets are inexpensive ($20...up from $15 last year)...add another $10 for Club access)). Tailgating is permitted.

[bluehenbillk]

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/side ... 0227032402

Technically, we had a home game against Utah, but it was moved, indoors, to Wilmington...with no fans. So, tomorrow is the team's first game in front of a home crowd at the Tub.

nova comes in with a 1-2 record having beat #7 Penn State 14-13 in OT, lost 9-11 to a solid St. Joe's team (our fellow conference member) and an 8-7 loss at #18 Rutgers. I'd be happy with nova's low 9 and 7 offensive outputs, but they did put up 14 against PSU.

Over 39 shots on goal per game...just not putting it in the net as much as they'd like. 32-40 (.444) on face offs, so we should have a shot. The wildkitties clear well (close to 91%) and their opponents have struggled a bit (56-73...that's .767), so I hope we can clean our effort up a bit of we could be in trouble.

Hens have a chance to right the ship with a good game against a good opponent.

Tomorrow's weather is a perfect Spring day: sunny, low-to-mid 50s, 5mph wind from the SW.

Free parking...tickets are inexpensive ($20...up from $15 last year)...add another $10 for Club access)). Tailgating is permitted.

You’re kinda optimistic…

[CaliHen98]

Thank you for the preview, Cluck!

[CaliHen98]

Down 5-2 after 2nd period. It appears we have been doing a better job clearing (8 of 11), but an anemic 4 total shots on goal at the half...ugghh.

[CaliHen98]

Down 5-2 after 2nd period. It appears we have been doing a better job clearing (8 of 11), but an anemic 4 total shots on goal at the half...ugghh.

Correction, make that 8 of 12 clears at the half (plus 13 turnovers). We actually have more turnovers than total shot attempts (11) at this point.

[WingT]

Gonna be a long season. I am a Deluca fan but there are some major gaps on this team.

Can we beat Nova in any sport? Jeez I can’t stand them …….

[77HEN]

Gonna be a long season. I am a Deluca fan but there are some major gaps on this team.

Can we beat Nova in any sport? Jeez I can’t stand them …….

Yes, not a good year to enter the A10. I am a big Deluca fan also but something really is awry. There is big work to do in every area of the game. So glad I will be away and will miss the MD game.

[Cluck U]

Wonder what happened to Matt Montgomery?

We needed that guy's experience.

All CAA 2nd team in 2024, but missed 2025 with an injury. Said he was coming back for 2026 as a grad student and is on the roster, but has not played.

As to the game...another ugly mess. Didn't get a possession (for more than a few seconds before we'd turn it over) until 8:47 left in the first, and even that was ridiculous as our guy trying to clear ran straight into 2 defenders, lost the ball, but luckily got it back. Smart time out by DeLuca.

Clears were ugly...what is with the length of the field shots/off target passes? Silly 5-10 second possessions.

Got beat from in back of the net...yet again...with a lack of speed or lack of footwork.

Something is wrong...going straight to the fundamentals and lack of communication. I keep hearing we have talent...but it is becoming harder to see how that talent isn't translating to anything on the field.

Happy to have Maryland come to the Tub, but sheesh...not a good looking opportunity.

[dchen]

In this top 20 - UMass, St. Joes and Richmond (as #1) are all ranked. As is Maryland.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... e_vignette

[LILax]

Matt Montgomery is back this year but obviously injured. This has forced DeLuca to start the Hens two best LSMs at close defense (Cowen and Gillin). Owen Black is also injured and not able to contribute at LSM. I am not sure why he didn't keep Gillin at LSM where he was a real asset on the wings of faceoffs and a real threat to score on clears. Makes very little sense to me. The Hens replacement LSMs have a combined 6 GBs through 4 games. That is insanely low.

I noticed that DeLuca had freshman four star Grayson Dunn (Archbishop Spaulding) out for a couple runs in the first half at LSM. He looked very fast and athletic and forced a turnover before his stick got stuck in the Nova midfielders jersey and was called for a loose ball hold.

The Hens have way too many converted attackmen running at midfield. These guys don't have to speed or ability to run past a defender. They seem uncomfortable at midfield. More suprisingly is the lack of inverts to get these traditional attackman behind the net. The lack of real midfielders is even worse now that Hank D'Ambrogi has missed his third straight game with an unknown injury. Not sure why Maverick Smith isn't getting more run at midfield. To my eye he is the fastest and most athletic midfielder with a very hard shot.

I would expect to see DeLuca mix things up this Friday against Maryland which will be more of a debacle than what we probably expected, especially with Maryland coming off THREE STRAIGHT losses. Expect a blood bath.

Lots of season left. Atlantic 10 playoffs is still in play. Just have to finish in the top 4.

[WingT]

Looking at current rankings, it’s really impressive how fast Richmond built a powerhouse program. Wow

[dchen]

re Richmond: I wonder how they can do that versus our progression:

1. we're in the same conference
2. We are probably both expensive to out of state recruits, if not on scholie
3. Maybe they have better NIL.

I also wonder how the House settlement effects our recruiting. Are we expanding from the 11+ NCAA limit to the 48 now allowed?

[BlueHenBill]

re Richmond: I wonder how they can do that versus our progression:

1. we're in the same conference
2. We are probably both expensive to out of state recruits, if not on scholie
3. Maybe they have better NIL.

I also wonder how the House settlement effects our recruiting. Are we expanding from the 11+ NCAA limit to the 48 now allowed?

Private colleges have an advantage over public colleges in Lax recruiting ue to the preppy nature of the sport. The rankings usually reflect thsi advantage strongly. There are exceptions with so-called public Ivies like UNC. This is why many programs that didn't have Lax for decades after UD's first Men's lax team in 1948 have passed UD's program. See Nova & St. Joe's for just two examples.

[LILax]

re Richmond: I wonder how they can do that versus our progression:

1. we're in the same conference
2. We are probably both expensive to out of state recruits, if not on scholie
3. Maybe they have better NIL.

I also wonder how the House settlement effects our recruiting. Are we expanding from the 11+ NCAA limit to the 48 now allowed?

Private colleges have an advantage over public colleges in Lax recruiting ue to the preppy nature of the sport. The rankings usually reflect thsi advantage strongly. There are exceptions with so-called public Ivies like UNC. This is why many programs that didn't have Lax for decades after UD's first Men's lax team in 1948 have passed UD's program. See Nova & St. Joe's for just two examples.

How many NCAA tourney wins do Nova and St. Joe's have? Nova has made the NCAA tourney three times (2009, 2011, 2018) ZERO wins.
St. Joes has made the NCAA tourney twice 2022 and 2024 and lost both times. Delaware has beaten St. Joes 17 out of 21 times they have played, including 4 of the last 5 they have played since 2017. So two down years for Delaware and these two programs have passed UD?

[dchen]

re Richmond: I wonder how they can do that versus our progression:

1. we're in the same conference
2. We are probably both expensive to out of state recruits, if not on scholie
3. Maybe they have better NIL.

I also wonder how the House settlement effects our recruiting. Are we expanding from the 11+ NCAA limit to the 48 now allowed?

Private colleges have an advantage over public colleges in Lax recruiting ue to the preppy nature of the sport. The rankings usually reflect thsi advantage strongly. There are exceptions with so-called public Ivies like UNC. This is why many programs that didn't have Lax for decades after UD's first Men's lax team in 1948 have passed UD's program. See Nova & St. Joe's for just two examples.

Of the 80 or so D1 MLAX Programs, only about 20 or so are public.