On Friday, November, 7th, Providence College held an intra-squad scrimmage to give their players some live action as the fall calendar winds down. Rather than a typical scrimmage of likely starters vs. everyone else, the squad was split into two groups (black and white) that were established earlier in the fall, making the competition between teams much more balanced. This afforded us the chance to see plenty of players and really evaluate the schemes in use more than defined units as you will in the spring.
Defensively, both the black and white teams were very strong on the ball. What was most impressive with the defense was how few scoring opportunities were granted by way of any single player dodging to the goal. There was plenty of energy on that end of the field and no ground ball went uncontested. Speaking with defender Jarrod Neumann after the game, he mentioned that this is the brand of lacrosse they’re trying to employ. Neumann described how they want to close fast on the ball and ensure the offense doesn’t have time and space to operate and pick their spots. When asked how this team is different than last year, he brought up the larger number of freshman, especially in the defensive midfield, which has created some great competition as they are all fighting for spots. He also mentioned how communication has improved this year as many of the defenders are on the same page and they’re having much more fun playing together. With teams like Denver and Duke on their schedule next year, playing with speed and communication will be an absolute priority and things were looking good based on this evening’s display.
On offense, crisp passing and ball movement were the name of the game. As both defenses were winning the majority of the one on one matchups, team offense was relied upon heavily. The leading scorer on the night was Freshman attack Nick Preston out of Victoria, BC with three goals, two of which were during extra man opportunities. What really stood out when looking at both offenses as a whole was that only four goals were unassisted. Out of those four, one was at the end of the game on an empty net and another was a face-off win and score (more on that later). Last year, Providence was last in the Big East in both assists per game and goals per game average. They lost their top two scorers, but return the next seven on the list. They also have several talented freshman pushing for time. This all adds up to a team ready to make a jump in the conference in 2015.
Speaking of freshman, one of the most noticeable performances of the night was at the face-off X. After graduating last year’s specialist, sophomore Colin McKendry went up against freshman Thomas Laupus for the entire evening. Laupus started out winning the first seven, although three of those were violations and one was a push on the wing. McKendry would win the next three including a goal right off the face-off for his third win. When the dust settled, Laupus would finish the night winning fourteen to McKendry’s seven. What was most impressive was that six of Laupus’ wins were completely solo, needing no help from the wings. This will definitely be a spot to keep an eye on in the spring.
The final tally had the white team edging black 12-8. It was excellent for the team to have another opportunity to see game situations before shutting things down for the winter. Based on the performance, Providence should be in a good position to noticeably improve on their 2014 season. The next major opportunity to see the Friars in action will be in February, when they open up with a scrimmage against Yale. Their season officially start with a game against Fairfield on February 17.
