Denison held an intra-squad scrimmage yesterday for its men's lacrosse team under the lights. I know a couple different members follow the Big Red, so I thought I would check it out and give some observations. I got through Q1 before having life call with other duties, so I will update in the comments as I go through more of the game. In the interim, here we go.
1) SNG makes a big difference. As some of you know, the rules committee changed up the faceoff to ban outright the motorcycle style of facing off. And you can see the impact it has on the game. Only one of the faceoffs I saw was one by a FOGO, and it was a defensive exit (ball was pulled towards the defensive side of the field). The wings are going to be so important this year, even as good as Justin Inacio is. I think Steven Zupicich will have a big year as an LSM.
2) Denison loves a high wing dodge. The Big Red initiated almost exclusively from the "Ice Cream Cone" formation (3 high middies, 2 men on the crease even with the goal posts, and a man behind). Ohio State did this a lot in 2018, but didn't have the dodgers to make it work, or the interior actions to evolve into a worthwhile offense.
Denison would dodge with the middie on either side, then mirror with the man on the crease. If there was enough space, the dodger would go for a dive goal. If not, the ball would move through X to the opposite side of the field. Generally, as a result of the dodge, the formation would transition to a straight 1-4-1, with a middie dodging from the mid-wing slot to try and get a shot in the middle. Failing that, the Big Red would drag a middie guarded by a short to X for an inverted dodge.
3) Lot of work to do on the inverts. Each time I saw the invert run, it was pretty rough. The Big Red slide super early from the crease, but there never seemed to be enough movement to take advantage. Half the time, it seemed like, a good invert resulted in a turnover. Hopefully it gets better later on. Still, something to watch moving forward.
4) Denison's goalies are GOOD. They have a lefty who was a brick wall for the red team, though a small portion of that was failure of the white offense to adjust their shooting spots to account for the backwards options.
Once you see a lefty, you have to mirror all your shot selections, or it becomes a very frustrating day. Still, there were a ton of really good saves from both starting goalies. That will be huge for the Big Red moving into 2021.
Like I mentioned above, I will keep watching the scrimmage and update with any new thoughts I come across. I can try to shoehorn some Ohio lacrosse updates into this forum if there's any interest. It won't be as much as Ohio State's, obviously, but big news I can cover. Sound off if you want more Denison, OWU, ONU, etc. content in the comments.
