First, the drive was 5 h and the accommodation was good.
The Orange came out running and dodging. Their cuts to the net were not met w/ very effective slides from JHU. If defence is the hallmark of this BlueJay team then JHU is in trouble.
Bear in mind not every year can produce a banner or renowned defence, The imponderables such as communication and fit are always big joker factors in team performance.
The Jays did adjust to the offensive pattern of ' Cuse but the score was already 4 or 5 to 1.
The Jays came out flat and continued an error prone process. Turn-overs, many unforced , rewarded ' Cuse w/ possession repeatedly and the Orange did not squander many chances. I looked up and saw numbers such as 6 goals / 12 shots. Lights out shooting.
Overall, the analysis says that you need to do something right in order to win beyond straight old serendipity. Perhaps lulled by a season opening set of performances by Poppleton at the " X " Hopkins has grown complacent w/ large time of possession
advantages.
The give aways by all levels of the team gifted the Orange w/ numerous and key opportunities. Even when the Jays closed to within 2 goals, Syracuse shut the door b/c the Jays did not finish plays or take care of fundamentals. Again, the luxury of getting multiple possessions to dominate an opponent did not happen here.
The best take away from this game is the total failure of the TEAM all over the field for Hopkins. It is very unlikely that a complete breakdown such as this will happen again.Furthermore although, this game was # 7 for the Jays, no one can assume that all areas of the program at Hop are in sync, strategy, manpower and game implementation can still be formative.
FYI -the Syracuse program emphasized the time and concentration on this game by the Orange during this spring break week. Kudos to Syracuse for an energetic, consistent effort on Saturday.
Wondering - did you see a difference in the game with the new rules and if you did, what did you think?
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