Aggie Lacrosse Week 1 Review Aggies over Texas State

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Athendor
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Aggie Lacrosse entered this season flush with expectations. A strong campaign in 2016 resulted in an 11-6 record and a bevy of accolades on the all conference lists. Despite falling in the semifinals of the conference tournament to eventual conference champion, and perennial powerhouse, SMU the Aggies could feel very good about a successful regular season including a 6-1 February including a 9-8 win over t.u. in Austin.

The Aggies got off to a tremendous start this season with a huge victory over conference powerhouse Texas State. For years the Lonestar Alliance South has been searching for a challenger to the seemingly annual dominance of Texas State. Well last Saturday the Aggies made a bid that they may finally be returning to power to the tune of a 15-11 season opening win in front of a nice sized home crowd of around 200 people.

The game had everything you could want from a good lacrosse contest. A&M star attackman AJ Hepting (coming off a 1st team all conference freshman year) had three goals while freshman GW Bodden contributed three as well. Of special interest was offseason transfer and sophomore man Auggie Buerkle who shone with 6 goals and an assist. The offense certainly put up tremendous stats but some flaws were there. Several times A&M had trouble keeping possession against a very aggressive Texas State defense. On numerous occasions the Aggies would advance the ball downfield only to commit an easy turnover via mental error or failure to get the ball out of trouble spots. Additionally, early in the game the Aggies showed a propensity to score and score fast. While not typically a problem this lead to A&M primary faceoff man Levi Jobe having a rough night and the Aggies gave up many answering goals off poorly played faceoffs. All in all it was a solid night from the offense who was able to slam the door on Texas State late in the 4th by scoring three goals in under two minutes inside the five minute mark. Such explosiveness on offense means we cant count the Aggies out late in games.

On the other side of the field the Aggie defense had a nice day as well with sophomore goalie Marco Robertson racking up a stellar 18 saves. He had a tremendous performance and really showed an impressive bounce back after a rough second quarter. He made the right calls on defense and when the time came was able to stonewall a lot of shots on goal. The Aggie defense was simply able to out physical the Texas State attackmen for most of the game. Again the team was not without criticism. Aggie midfielders had some trouble on the left side where many of Texas States goals came from. As a whole a few times there was some confusion in getting set during quick change scenarios. Another big issue for the Ags was a number of nearly critical errors when trying to flip field position after a save or turnover.

So lets break down my top three and bottom three takeaways from Saturdays game against Texas State

Top 3

#1 Diversity on offense
Being able to score from any position at any time is crucial against elite defenses in the game of Lacrosse and what the Aggies did very well last Saturday was put guys into positions to make great shots. The Aggie offense looked unselfish and downright outstanding at times.

#2 Goalie
Marco Robertson had a tremendous day and a great goalie can be the difference between a good team and a championship one. He really laid a great foundation for the rest of the season.

#3 Youth performing
Out of 37 players on this team only 9 are upper classmen and a lot of the stars of this game were young guys. Just a note to think about moving forward.

Bottom 3

#1 Faceoffs
Winning the faceoff is essential to winning in the game of lacrosse. A team with a great faceoff man can string together goal after goal all the while keeping the ball away from their defense. A&M struggled mightily until the end of the fourth quarter with the Texas State faceoff team. A&M cannot afford to give up free possessions at the rate they did Saturday. Sophomore Levi Jobe MUST rise to the challenge.

#2 Clearing
The clear is an important play in Lacrosse. Bad plays here nearly always lead to disaster whilst a good clear sets the offense up for a quick score on a fast break play. A&M produced only a handful of good clears (and one great one) on more than 18 chances. The defense and midfielders need to do better on these plays.

#3 Time of possession
The Aggies severely struggled in the first half to keep the ball in the hands of the offense for any length of time. Any number of things contributed to this but the result was a late surge by Texas State that kept them in the game. A&M must get better at keeping control of the ball. Stringing together clears, goals, and faceoffs should be a top priority for this team. Too much time of possession by an opposing offense wears down midfielders and puts a ton of stress on a defense.

The Aggies also posted a 17-4 victory over UTSA on Sunday but I was not able to attend as I was shooting engagement photos with my fiance! This means the Aggies completed the opening weekend sweep and are now 2-0!

The Aggies return to action on the 11th of February at 7PM against division foe and rival t.u. at Penberthy Fields on campus. Come on out and BTHO t.u.!!!
Athendor
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I will X-Post these from premium from now on. Expect week 2 later today as I catch up!
Athendor
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Some useful links will be posted here

Aggie Lacrosse website
http://aggielacrosse.com/

Aggie Lacrosse Twitter Account
https://twitter.com/TexasAggieLax?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

MCLA Lacrosse homepage
http://mcla.us/

Aggie Lacrosse Twitter has instructions for those who want to purchase team swag
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