What We Learned: Week 11

The Wings Over-Complicate It

Despite their undeniable star power (i.e., Mitch Jones, Brennan O’Neill, Blaze Riorden and the newly activated hometown product Michael Sowers), the Philadelphia Wings still find themselves trailing in the scoring department. Though their forwards were moving the ball well this weekend, they were crowding each other ball side, shutting off the adjacent passing lanes and clogging the crease after working themselves ragged to get through Halifax’s unforgiving defense. Consequently, this created several transition opportunities for the Thunderbirds to pad a steady lead. Additionally, the Thunderbirds outshot the Wings by a significant margin, dishing and crashing with the explicit purpose of manufacturing quick, easy dodges down the middle.

The Wings’ dynamic offense harshly contrasted Halifax’s fundamental style, overworking themselves to get defenders to bite on head fakes or lunge in numbers situations, even though their most successful plays came from quick dodges to space and feeds to the backside shooters—like Mitch Jones’ quick assist to Phil Caputo on the left pipe in the second quarter, or his assist on O’Neill’s diving goal in the third. The Wings have the muscle and the skill to be this season’s biggest contender if they’d just start making it easier on themselves.

Colorado Catches Dobson Leaning

Keeping to their Week 10 trend, the Georgia Swarm found themselves in the middle of another offensive shootout, competing with the Colorado Mammoth for shots, rebounds and clip count in the game recap. The Swarm were eager to capitalize on Week 10’s success, looking to cement an early lead through the middle and from the top corners. Their ball speed and two-man game off-ball were specifically designed to create separation from the topside defender and generate shots from the top corner, dragging the low defender below the pipes to empty out the skip lanes across the play and to the crease.

Conversely, Colorado took advantage of Georgia’s cautious perimeter play, pulling the on-ball defenders out into space and into two-on-one situations, causing a defensive shift to allow them to better cover the Mammoth’s spread offense. Colorado’s outside shooters were also able to take advantage of goaltender Brett Dobson inching to the top of the crease to support his high defenders, sweeping over the picks topside and catching him leaning towards the next pass. Colorado’s Zed Williams was able to tie the game 12-12 late in the fourth quarter this way, fading away momentarily to give Dobson the impression that he was passing across to Connor Robinson before burying the ball off-hip, with Ryan Lee close behind to collect a Mammoth road win.

The Roughnecks Hammer It In

The Vancouver Warriors earned themselves an uphill battle inviting the Calgary Roughnecks into Rogers Arena this weekend. Finding and holding a lead early in the first half, Calgary made it clear there would be no easy plays for Vancouver, muscling their way through to the crease in settled situations before dishing to the top center forward, or just putting it in the back of net once the Warriors dropped back into their shape. The Roughnecks were quick to take advantage of Vancouver’s dedication to the defensive set, holding the ball through stacked coverage just to break away and feed or shoot through the chaos. This style of play allowed Dane Dobbie to claim his ninth-place spot for all-time NLL points, surpassing the legendary Gary Gait.

The Warriors did manage to find a lead in the third quarter, with Adam Charalambides and Keegan Bal accruing five points between the two of them to tie the game 12-12 with less than three minutes in the quarter, but Calgary captain Jessie King and Tanner Cook put two more in before the horn to keep the lead going into the final quarter. Roughnecks’ goalie Cam MacLeod held the Warriors scoreless for the duration of the fourth and was instrumental in holding on to their two-goal lead. His eagle-eyed reactions to shorthanded shots and deep takes from the Warriors prevented any additional possessions for the attacking team and kept the momentum in their favor.

San Diego Keeps the Steam

The San Diego Seals stuck to their guns and played to their strengths, despite feeling the pressure from the Toronto Rock late in Saturday’s game. The Seals caught an early lead against Toronto by taking risks on the defensive end. They were quick to pressure the ball carriers and get checks on hands. Similarly, they were not afraid to throw themselves into harm’s way, soaking shots and pushing hard in transition. the Seals trusted in the fact that a backside defender in white would be behind them to find the rebound. However, Toronto pushed past the pressure in the second half, tallying five consecutive goals in the fourth quarter to take their first and only lead of the game.

The Rock took advantage of several numbers situations to close the gap on the scoreboard, shooting between the gaps in transition, and putting the shoulder down on the crease to draw the slide and collapse the San Diego defense. Toronto was breathing down their neck with just minutes to go, but San Diego doubled down on the physicality, getting aggressive on the boards and pressing out on the adjacent forwards, looking to initiate a one-on-one dodge. Additionally, their quick decision making in the off-ball two-man game allowed the Seals to keep traffic through the middle to a minimum and create shooting lanes directly into goalkeeper Christopher Origlieri’s pads.