TFBO2F's Scouting Report: Navy at Maryland

Navy Insider Dick Long is on vacation. But he filed a scouting report for the game tonight and is offering to file a post-game report, too. That's dedication.

On Maryland

Fear the Turtle? Absolutely. Maryland has a very balanced and dangerous team. Their freshmen attackmen should be hesitant and naive. They are just the opposite. Their midfield is athletic and with Max Ritz up top creates more problems, as he has the mindset of an attackman. They run three midfields and the 3rd line with Robert Morrison scoring on an invert against Virginia adds still another wrinkle.

On the Game's Tempo
Fast breaks are a dying breed in lacrosse. Coaches become such control addicts that they don't trust the athleticism of their players to bring it on a 3 on 3 or 4 on 4 situation. Coaches would rather go 6 on 6 with a controlled offense than allow athletes to be athletes. The mindset is to rest your defense and allow a more strategic controlled attack.

However, in the Virginia game when they started to come back Md answered with face-off goals and fast break goals and you could see the Wahoos heads drop. It was a BIG part of the game momentum.

On Navy
Navy played Gtown two different ways. First half they valued possession and took 10 shots scoring 3 goals. In the 2nd half, realizing that 10 shots were not enough, they opened up and showed a side to Navy that was refreshing. They attacked the goal. They were aggressive and scored on determination and pure hustle. They had Gtown on their heels and basically controlled the 2nd half of that game.

In OT they had the opportunities but everyone on that 6 on 6 offense must want the ball and I felt maybe one or two were playing not to lose rather than to win. May not be fair but Navy deserved better as they had that game in their grasp.

Navy's Defense
Navy needs to counter the "big and little" offense that Md used against Va. Md isolated a pole and a shorty behind and off of picks try and get an advantage for a wrap around or just getting an attackman on a short stick. UVa put a shorty on Travis Reed thinking they could save a pole for out top and this backfired as Reed had 3 goals and 2 assists which I think was one of the main turning points in the game.

Maryland's attack is crafty and hopefully Navy will use their balanced, athletic defense and let the shorties defend out top.

I still beleive Navy needs a single digit scoring game in order to win. They need to control the ball thru face-offs and value time of posssession BUT all in the context of continually attacking the goal. I would hope that they return to fast break offense and "push it" every chance they get an unsettled opportunity.

By Christian Swezey |  April 4, 2008; 10:51 AM ET  | Category:  Insider Information
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