1) Towson must press the attack. A young attack unit that graduated Bill McCutcheon, last year’s leading scorer, took another blow with sophomore Matt Lamon sitting out due to an emergency appendectomy. Sean Maguire scored nine goals last season, and Stephen Norris has been impressive in the fall and winter. Both sophomores will join returning starter Tim Stratton on the attack, but the absence of Lamon could have an impact. "That hurts us," coach Tony Seaman said. "That really puts a damper on the attack because he’s coming back with Stratton with the experience."

2) Beware the Bison’s bite. Bucknell has a pair of standouts on offense in senior attackman Austin Winter (a team-high six points on two goals and four assists) and sophomore midfielder Charlie Streep (3, 1), but five other players have posted multiple points thus far. Fortunately, the Tigers return a solid defense in senior defenseman Joe Wascavage, sophomore defenseman Marc Ingerman (a member of the Colonial Athletic Association All-Rookie team last year), senior long-stick midfielder Cameron Zook and junior short-stick defensive midfielder Peter Mezzanotte. That unit will be anchored by returning goalie Rob Wheeler. "This is the first time in four years that I will have a goalie who started last year," Seaman said. "That’s huge."

3) Figure out the face-offs. The Bison spend a lot of time on offense because junior face-off specialist Jake Clarke is one of the best in Division I. Clarke, who broke school records for face-off wins and groundballs last year, has won 22-of-35 face-offs for a .629 percentage in two games. Towson will start freshman Matt Thomas and could use sophomore Andrew Pollos and freshman Ryan DeSmit, but will miss sophomore Ian Mills, who blew out his knee in the fall. "This will be a great test for Matt and for us," Seaman said. "I know that Ohio State told me that they thought they lost the game to Bucknell because of the face-offs. So this kid definitely has a big influence on the game."