On a sunny day with a frosty
The game was a good step
forward after taking a step back during the Skidmore scrimmage. The team came out with intensity and focus
and adjusted quickly to a patient NEC team which was a better team than
previous NEC squads we have faced. In
the past they have gone toe-to-toe with us a little and the result has been
some lopsided scores. This year they
played a zone defense and were patient on offense. Their goalie also played extremely well,
making 25 saves. I was slightly
discouraged by our finishing and shooting, but felt better after the game when
I learned who was playing in the goal. He had been a PG and at another college
for a year and was an outstanding prospect. I saw him a number of years ago in
the CT Super Juniors game and he was fantastic.
He must have recently transferred to NEC and definitely adds a new
dimension to their team. I still believe
we will shoot and finish better as we get more confidence and experience, but
he also made some quality saves.
Their zone is slightly
unorthodox with short sticks shutting off random players and their long sticks
playing a box. It forces you to handle
and generate vs. long sticks. When the
attack has the ball behind they are being played by long sticks, just as they
would in a man defense, so the defense looks just like a soft man-to-man. With an inexperienced attack, however, we were
reluctant to spend the entire game handling and generating with the attack.
This led us to generate with our middies and if we created an overload on one
side we could force one of their short sticks off the crease on the other side
and generate a dodge vs. that short stick, making it a more comfortable offense
for us. I was impressed with the
patience of our offensive players as we did not have a scout on that zone going
in, so we had to develop strategies as we played. With a few exceptions throughout the day, we
had nice ball movement and good possessions.
Captain Christopher Davis (
Our defense was stifling and
was led again by Junior John West, who won the game ball. John has been dominant for us on-ball,
sliding, picking up ground balls and running the field. He has done this consistently in each
practice as well as the scrimmages to date.
All of our long sticks did great as well, and I thought Dave Leach was a
standout at short stick d-middie, contributing two
assists in transition. As has become our
tradition, our d-middies are some of our best athletes and overall middies, but
we like to play them on defense, to solidify that end of the field, but also to
give us easy scoring opportunities in transition. Leach, Mike Murray, Mike Frissora
and Greg Bastis give us as much talent and depth in
the defensive midfield as we have ever had.
Next up is Colby, Saturday,
March 15 at Middlebury at