WHO: Mount St. Mary’s at Maryland
WHERE: College Park, Maryland
WHEN: Saturday February 8 @ 12:00pm EST
Maryland and Mount St. Mary’s will faceoff this coming Saturday for their season openers. This game should explode all over the field with intensity and athleticism, as it dually serves as season openers and momentum setters.
These two opponents do not share a specific rivalry and, in fact, have many similarities. However, they each have 2014 schedules filled with top-notch competition in the NEC.
MARYLAND
The Terps enter their 2014 season with high hopes. They ended their 2013 season on good notes of a 10-4 record and a loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
On personal levels, a number of players have been in the professional spotlight for the past few months. Selected in the 2014 MLL Draft were Michael Ehrhardt (D), Mike Chanenchuk (M), Niko Amato (G) and Brian Cooper (SSDM).
For those who live under a rock, the FIL World Championships are this summer in Denver, CO (equivalent to the Olympics of lacrosse). Maryland lacrosse has a history of being a strong program, and a hefty number of tryout players for Team USA are Maryland Alumni: Ryan Young (’11), Dan Burns (’11) and Lee Zink (’04) suited up on the Blue team. Jeremy Sieverts (’09), Drew Snider (’12), Jeff Reynolds (’09), Brett Schmidt (’11) and Brian Farrell (’11) were members of the White team. (Per article on Maryland Athletics website)
Maryland faces an uphill struggle with their 2014 schedule. Their consistency in and results of this game with Mount St. Mary’s will be a real marker of confidence, momentum and abilities heading into the mammoth of 2014 competition. The Terps’ schedule includes:
Syracuse
Duke
Villanova
North Carolina
Virginia
Johns Hopkins
Notre Dame
Many more
These are the best of the best of the best in NCAA men’s lacrosse. If Maryland has goals of reaching the NCAA Tournament in May, they’ll have to play some of the best lacrosse in the program’s history.
MOUNT ST. MARY’S
The Mount are quite a force to reckon with. As the saying goes, “It’s always the quiet ones,” and this program has a history of putting up a fight. Unfortunately, they are in a tough conference and don’t always end the season on a fighting note.
They are coming off a mediocre 6-7 record in 2013, and had losses to teams such as Maryland (2013 season opener), Towson, Virginia and Johns Hopkins. Half their losses were close, the other half were blowouts. In watching what counts – winning – they’re victories were packages of close games (except 2 or 3 that were blowouts in their favor).
Being prepared for tough opponents is not necessarily a bad mindset to have. Teams like Maryland and Duke are used to the high-caliber competition, and go into each game with a mental measure of each opponent. On the contrary, the Mount go into every game knowing it will be a battle. In my opinion, that is the best way to enter every game.
The Mount have sent their share of players off to the professional playing level, also. T.C. DiBartolo (’11 – D), Andrew Scalley (’13 – A), and Bryant Schmidt (’13 – M) were all selected in this year’s 2014 MLL Draft. DiBartolo already has two years’ MLL experience and is switching teams.
As they sit in the tough Northeast Conference, their 2014 schedule includes:
Georgetown
Delaware
Virginia
Johns Hopkins
UMBC
Bucknell
Wagner
Many More
GAME PREDICTION
Given the circumstances, I feel Maryland will come out on top. The Mount can expect to compete equivalently on offense, but their defense is not yet accustomed to offenses such as Maryland’s. This will be a first half battle and second half steal, in the Terps’ favor.
Terps: 19 Mount: 8
