England v Germany Preview
Two summer’s ago England squared off against Germany in the European Championships final. The game started with Dave Elwood’s side in cruise control – strolling to a 6 – 1 halftime lead, and ended as a thriller, the German’s just coming short of an incredible comeback and eventually falling 8 – 7. A heavy schedule and the heat were roundly blamed for England’s second half performance, two excuses that this current squad have removed from their vocabulary. Fitness is now a strong point for this team, and judging by the look of the German side today as they fell to the Iroquois 14 – 6, England should have the upper hand stamina wise on the Astroturf at TD Waterhouse stadium.
Germany present an interesting challenge, they don’t have the depth of the English squad but do have talented individuals who could pose some problems if left unchecked. Nicholas Schmidt, who played in the MLL in 2005, will dodge and shoot the ball relentlessly from the midfield – he is not a feeder, but can go with either hand, and he has a good lateral bounce step in all his dodges that helps him free up a big righty slingshot or a nice lefty overhand bouncer. In attack Joseph Kesterman heads up a group that can all carry and possess the ball well, Kesterman has some experience at the Division 1 level with UMBC, and like Schmidt will create more for himself than others. Alongside the former Retriever, the du Bois Reymond brothers, Heinrich and Freddy are both smooth offensive players, and good athletes to boot. Heinrich will take on poles more readily, but Freddy is Germany’s best feeder, and gives needed balance to a team that have struggled to generate assisted goals. Philipp Nedelmann will take the bulk of Germany’s face-offs, leading a two-man rotation that actually won the majority of centres against the Iroquois. LSM Andy Behles played Division 3 at Goucher College, and while he is neither lightning fast or overwhelmingly strong, he is very smart and will be absolutely key to Germany’s organization of a six-man zone, which will play a prominent part in their game-plan. At the back, the defensive unit was untested until today’s game, and as is to be expected, struggled with the Iroquois crease movement and finishing ability. They didn’t do a great job of getting to shooter’s hands off a skip pass or a redirect, but coped much better when asked to run with ball carriers and defend obvious isolations. Germany’s goalkeeper, RJ Degenfelder, played Division 2 lacrosse at CW Post, and sees perimeter shooters well, hence the German tendency to fall into a zone. He is an above average clearer, but finds intermediate shooters on the move more challenging and will drop to a knee and guess low if he doesn’t get a clear read on a release.
England spent two hours today fine-tuning their offensive package for the anticipated zone, and then took the afternoon and evening to relax and rest. Mark Reynolds has declared himself fit again after sitting out most of the Canada game with an abdominal strain, and Dave Bryant and Pete LeSueur are expected to continue playing through minor injuries, as they have all week.
This is the first game in which England start as clear favourites, and they must come out and find the tempo they had against Canada from the first face-off. Alistair Wallace and Tom Gallon should provide a welcome superiority in terms of possession from centre, but England have racked up almost double the penalty minutes of their opponents, and need to be smarter on their presentation to the referees. I think you can use the only common opponent these teams have, the Iroquois Nationals, as a good measuring stick for today’s match-up. They beat England by a close three and Germany by an easy eight, so look for at least a five-goal margin in favour of Dave Elwood’s squad.
ATJ | 
