First, I want to give a big thanks to LAX for a great thread. I appreciate your time, and insightful thoughts about lacrosse. Seriously, thanks for the information.
Second, I am still po'd about ND's loss. I'm having a hard time accepting it....So I was thinking about next year. Key contributors that I can think of off they top of my head that ND will be losing...Kemp, Rogers, Miller, Murphy, Foley...anyone else?
Replacing Kemp will not be easy and is obviously huge but I expect big things again from the Irish next year...
LAX, what are your thoughts????
You have no idea how ticked I am still about the loss. Simply put, we played well enough to win. Take out all garbage goals and/or lucky breaks and we probably win that game something like 10-6. Duke got about half their goals on total BS. Even with 5 blown clears, we outplayed them handily. We shot the ball well, ran good offense, played solid 6-on-6 defense... but they just got handed goal after goal on fluke plays or bad calls and somehow they finished with 12 while we had 11. But that's Duke come playoff time... they somehow find a way to win.
Next year... well, it will be interesting. Lots of replacements at key positions. The Kemp replacement might actually be the easiest with how bad he played this year. Conor Kelly was the #1 goalie in his class and has sat for two years (got some limited reps this year as a backup) and should be legit. I've seen him play/practice and he's got 3 years now to take the reigns and should be very good next year.
At attack, replacing Rogers isn't a big deal. At all. He's a good shooter/passer/all-around player but he has always struggled mightily against teams with really good defenders because he is neither an elite dodger or off-ball finisher. He's B/B+ at everything and we will miss his leadership... but someone like maybe John Scioscia or Westy Hopkins in rotation or a breakout player from somewhere else should be able to fill in without much dropoff. Kavanagh and Doyle should both be very good next year.
At midfield, it's a bit of a cluster ****. The best way I can put this is that for all of our frustration as fans, I was told by someone after last week's game that there is just as much frustration on the team about the midfield lines and the ineptitude of certain players (re: Will Corrigan). It came to a head after the Big East tournament loss to Syracuse and you saw some adjusted midfield lines. So I don't know what is going to happen there. 3 of your 5 "regular" midfielders are graduating (Murphy, Kimball, Foley) with only Marlatt and Corrigan returning. And who knows what will happen with Corrigan. The sixth spot was always in flux with Ossello and Hopkins and who knows what will happen with either of those players. Pat Cotter should be back from injury and he's basically a better version of Corrigan. So really you're looking at Marlatt plus an amalgamation of unknowns for the other 5 or so midfield spots. Really too soon to tell what will happen... will have to wait until fall ball to get a good grasp of what young guys can contribute. Ben Pridemore is a name to watch for incoming freshman... he could play attack or midfield and wouldn't be surprised to see him make a midfield line. He's legit.
At defense... man, we really weren't great this year. And we lose our best SSDMs. And Matt Miller who was our best defender. I really wasn't impressed with the communication in general when it came to off ball defense and I doubt that will get much better with a frosh goalie and losing Miller. O'Hara is legit and Buglione probably holds onto his spot but there are a lot of people who could work their way into the mix. One name to watch is incoming freshman Garrett Epple who is athletically very gifted and could break into the lineup at some point. Chris Prevoznik is probably in line right now to step in for Miller as RS Soph... he played in quite a few games this year. So if there is one position to look for a continued drop off, this would probably be it. It's really too bad that Corrigan burned redshirts on Miller/O'Hara in blowout wins over Providence to give them minimal game action.