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Jarrod Neumann vs. Connor Fields: A potential rubber match of the century

By Hayden Lewis | Sep 7, 2024

The Carolina Chaos have a long-standing defensive scheme that allows Jarrod Neumann to guard an opponent's top left-handed attackman. 

On Saturday, when the Chaos take on the Utah Archers in the semifinals of the Cash App Playoffs, Neumann’s matchup will be Connor Fields. After watching every possession in both games the teams have played against each other this season, it’s safe to say the Neumann-Fields matchup will be nothing short of entertaining. 

In the first matchup, Neumann got the better of Fields. Yes, the two-time All-Pro attackman had two points (1G, 1A), but when you comb through the film, Neumann wasn’t at fault. 

Above is the clip of the Fields assist. 

Fields is known for being one of the hardest one-on-one covers in the league because of his slippery dodging game. In most cases, once Fields works to the two-point arc, he fights his way back down the alley to attack the cage because he’s not a heavy outside shooter. 

Neumann played that tendency while Will Bowen slid because he saw jersey numbers, granting him the green light to double. Fields felt the pressure and made a great play on the assist. 

Outside of this clip, there were a few other times that Fields eluded Neumann in their first meeting this season, but Blaze Riorden was his usual brick-wall self and helped pick up the slack in the form of big saves. 

However, game two was all Fields, to the point where Carolina felt the need to switch Neumann off the Utah attackman. 

Two-man games like this from Fields and lefty sniper Mac O’Keefe tormented Neumann and the Chaos defense in the teams’ most recent matchup. Two-man games between Fields and O’Keefe are a staple of the Utah offense. 

The reason why they were ultra-effective in the last matchup between these squads starts with O’Keefe’s screens. Each time he muscled himself in Neumann’s lane to throw him off his path, allowing Fields to navigate free green grass easily. The Chaos defense has a tendency to stay in a Cover 0 defense and not slide until the absolute last second because they trust each guy in coverage and know they have Riorden behind them anyway. 

In these two-man games, the short-stick defensive midfielders from the Chaos are hesitant to slide because they know O’Keefe is a lethal shooter, which forces them to choose between hoping the pole can recover and staying put, or sliding and leaving O’Keefe open to fade and pop. 

In other words, defending Fields and O’Keefe in a two-man game is a bottled-up migraine ready to explode in your head as soon as you make your defensive decision. With Tom Schreiber injured, the Archers are going to live and die by these two-man games because they don’t have the mirroring Tre Leclaire-Schreiber two-man games on the right-handed side.

What will it take for Neumann to shut down Fields and his two-man games? A mix of physicality and patience. 

Neumann can’t overcommit to a brute-force defensive game because Fields is excellent at drawing defenders in and exposing them with rollback after rollback. Anything outside around the two-point arc needs to stay passive so Neumann can work around screens and stay with Fields rather than running himself into switches. 

Anytime Fields works inside 10 yards, Neumann’s physicality will be needed to deter the crafty finisher from nearing the cage. 

In reality, there is no formula for stopping Fields' game entirely, but if there is a player who can hold him at bay, it’s Neumann. 

On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the lacrosse world will get to witness the rubber match of the century between Neumann and Fields on ESPN+.

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