One week closer to Fall 2014 events and teams will be ready to face competition from outside opponents, even if it is alumni. Most teams do welcome back the alumni to start or finish their fall practice season. It will allow the recent alumni to remember what it took to be a Division Athlete and to wise the team well this Spring.
On the docket first is a three-way scrimmage with Navy, UMBC, and Michigan at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis. The second is Towson, Loyola, Princeton, and Air Force at Play for Parkinsons the following day. There could be a lot of early storylines coming from these scrimmages.
Michigan
Michigan is officially opening the Big Ten Lacrosse Season this Spring. There is a wealth of talent making its way to Ann Arbor, no it is time to make some noise with those additions. With the money being put into the budget at UM, they need to make moves this year.
Last season had five wins and eleven losses, but the scoring will show that they are not performing. Aside from the win at Robert Morris to close the season, the wins have come against the lowest ranking teams in Division I. The majority of the competition is still lopsided losses.
As each year progresses, the Wolverines need to find its offense and defense growing in stature. The starting attack needs to produce for the team to move up. A freshman attackman led the team in scoring, while the second options who will be seniors were mucher further down the rankings.
The defense gets its 2013 starter and 2014 starter both returning. Scoring nearly ten goals a game isn’t far off pace, but the 12.6 goals against is troubling. The goalie competition will solidify the defense as to who will be the leader, but the pieces in front need to play better. Michigan wants to come away from 2015 with its first win in the Big Ten this season.
Navy
Navy has a more intense need to get the ball rolling forward. A few stagnant years since the end of the Meade Era in Annapolis, left the administration paying some big money to get the next great coach. Ricky Sowell has had a rough go of it to date, so the Midshipmen need a good season for recruiting and alumni support if anything else.
Navy needs to find offensive pieces quickly. There top two scorers have left and in total, 6 of their top 10. The offense was predicated on points that Sam Jones and Tucker Hull could produce. They were the top two scorers their entire careers at the Academy. Jones had more than twice the number of assists than any other player on the roster last season. This means that they can only get goals if they win individual one-on-one matchups all season, a feat not easily accomplished in Division I Lacrosse any longer.
The defense was a respectable at under ten goals against per game, but to be elite, the number has to fall further. The stable of goalies largely remains intact from last season, which is a luxury to have. The league itself is known for it methodical and gritty games, a trait that the Mids should find to their approval.
The Patriot League always has a mess in the middle of its standings. Navy needed to two game swing to get into the tournament last year and couldn’t get over the hump. Four wins cannot be repeated if Coach Sowell wants to remain in Annapolis. An upset in the Spring could be starting with the semblance of a youthful, driven squad against UMBC and Michigan.
UMBC
The Retrievers have not made many headlines since the departure of Brendan Mundorf and Drew Westervelt, so they are looking to reverse fortunes starting this fall. The pendulum stayed even with the team’s offense and defense producing identical results, 11.5 gaa and 11.5 gfa
At eight wins, seven losses, the team fared well against their competition. The offense was able to score to keep them in most of their games, aside from Hopkins and Maryland. The team went toe-to-toe with Albany during their regular season contest, lost a shootout against High Point, and placed 17 goals against Vermont to secure their place in the America East Tournament.
Key pieces need to be replaced for the Retrievers to be successful. Phil Poe was able to win possessions for the capable UMBC. Long time players, Matt Gregoire and Zack Linkous are now needing of replacement as well. Linkous didn’t produce much, but was a mainstay on the team’s midfield rotation for all four years. Gregoire paced the offense with forty-six goals.
The defense loses only one part time starter and their goalie is coming back for just his sophomore season. Even though the defense gave up a good amount of goals, they will be battle hardened and ready to win games on their own. The attrition is certainly elsewhere on the roster, so the can apply the lessons from last year and move forward in 2015.
The youth that UMBC has will be a benefit to the program. A year older and wiser, they will be able to build on early season career successes and failures. Ending the year losing to Albany has a been consistency that they would like to replace. The Retrievers have lost four times in five years in the AE Tournament to Albany, the fifth was a loss to Hartford.
