Connor Fields vs. Matt Dunn: The matchup to watch in Cash App Championship
By Zach Carey | Sep 10, 2024
Sunday’s Cash App Championship presents a matchup between a pair of former first-team All Pros in Utah Archers attackman Connor Fields and Maryland Whipsnakes defender Matt Dunn. It’s a battle between Maryland’s 1-A defenseman and Utah’s 1-A attackman.
Fields and Dunn are physical players who embrace contact, win with core strength and dominate angles in tight. Fields is must-see TV, while Dunn is arguably the most technically sound defender in the game. Their matchup will be a significant factor in determining who lifts the Cash App Championship Trophy on Sunday.
The Archers’ offense respects Dunn as an elite on-ball cover, so their goal is typically to switch the matchup. In fact, across these clubs’ last three contests, Fields has scored four goals and notched two assists when Utah has forced Maryland to switch via a pick. The Archers are one of the most pick-heavy offenses in the league, and their midfielders do a good job of setting effective screens to get short sticks guarding attackmen.
In the Utah-Maryland game this summer, the Archers picked on Whipsnakes short-stick defensive midfielder Roman Puglise. They repeatedly ran big-littles for Fields on the lefty wing with whichever Utah midfielder Puglise was guarding. In the first half alone, Fields scored two goals off slam picks that caused Puglise and Dunn to switch.
Fields is practically unguardable with a short stick. He’s too strong, too shifty, too crafty to contain for most poles. But for shorties? Forget about it.
Utah also does a great job of giving him space to operate one-versus-one. In the play above, after Matt Moore sets the pick and forces the switch, he clears out with the rest of the Archers’ offense high and away in shooting positions. That makes it costly to send an early slide to get the ball out of Fields' stick.
The Archers are also a really good picking team. They don’t just set picks to set picks; they do it with intention and will re-pick in creative ways again and again until they either create a switch, force the defense to overcommit on-ball or get the ball-carrier a step.
Rookie Dyson Williams has been an immediate contributor in that sense. While he’s known for his unique finishing ability, he’s also particularly effective at working in the two-man game on the lefty wing. In his professional debut against the Whipsnakes, he worked flawlessly with Fields to generate a switch between Dunn and Puglise.
He started by positioning Puglise far enough upfield – at five-and-five – for the pick to be in a threatening spot. Then, when Fields rolled back, Williams flawlessly shouldered into Dunn to ensure the switch before moving to the crease to pull the slide away. The rest was merely Fields madness.
Because of how Fields dominates switches, he causes strain on defenses to fight around picks and maintain matchups. That was evident against the Whips back in Boston when Williams set another pick for Fields while guarded by Puglise.
With the pick coming farther upfield, Dunn was able to get under it while Puglise showed momentarily in order to hold topside. But Dunn’s commitment to getting past the pick and closing off topside cost him. When he overcommitted, Fields even gave Dunn a stutter step to feign that he was trying to get over the top before rolling back away from his lunge.
Once he had a step, all Fields had to do was score a between-the-legs, off-hand, low-to-high, SportsCenter No. 1 goal to beat Dunn.
Against almost any other player in the world, that’s completely sound, lockdown defense from Dunn and Puglise in the pick game. Fields is, unfortunately for his opponents, a whole different beast.
He can score diving across the crease, backhand from 10 yards out, behind the back from even farther or even between the legs while running out of angle. That’s all while he absorbs checks from defenders – like Dunn – who are 40-plus pounds heavier than he is.
Bottom line, Utah needs to feed the beast to go back-to-back on Sunday.
On the flip side, Maryland has to limit Fields. Trusting Dunn – the 2018 and 2020 Defensive Player of the Year – to maintain the matchup is hardly a poor strategy. But Fields and the way the Archers create opportunities for him to flourish make relying on Dunn to contain him a pretty difficult proposition.
Making Fields a passer and sending early help is, realistically, the only way to keep him from scoring. Because he’s so effective as a re-dodger who can take blow after blow from a defender and still find a way to score, there are times when he’s susceptible to an early slide or backside double team.
Fields is a capable passer when he can read the defense as it’s sliding and recovering. So getting to his hands early is critical when being aggressive, as is actually getting the ball out of his stick.
Utah spaces the field well when Fields is attacking, so identifying when and where to send help is a challenge. Yet it’s one Maryland will have to overcome to limit Fields and the Archers’ offense.
If Fields lights up the Whipsnakes – like he has in their last three matchups by scoring 4.7 points per game – then the Archers will hold a major edge over the Maryland defense. If the Whips can limit him, then the tide will turn in their favor.
Find out who wins out on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. ET on ABC.
