Postscript from UMBC at Towson
Towson may not finish the season with a 40-goal scorer or a 70-point player, but that may suit the Tigers just fine.
Towson (3-5) has three players with seven or more goals each and four with at least 10 points, which speaks to the shared responsibility the players feel on offense.
Wednesday night’s 10-7 victory over UMBC was a good example of that cooperative effort as seven different players scored goals. This season, the Tigers are 3-1 when six or more players score goals, but 0-4 when less than five players score in a game.
“We’re a team offense,” said junior attackman Tim Stratton, who registered his second hat trick of the season against the Retrievers. “We don’t really have any go-to guys. On any given night, someone can put up a couple points. Everyone can score, and we’re a team that scores when we run our offense, not when we’re just giving it to one guy and watching. We’re successful when we’re running plays and guys are getting touches on the ball.”
That’s not to suggest that the team couldn’t use an unstoppable finisher or a primary distributor. But for Towson’s needs, a scoring-by-committee approach fits the personnel.
“Earlier in the year, I said my biggest problem was who was going to play out on the field for us in the midfield and attack because we’ve got so many people that are equal,” coach Tony Seaman said. “That’s good in some regards, but it’s horrible in other regards when you would love to have somebody who just stands up and scores goals for you. But it backs up what I said. We’ve got very good depth.”
Other notes:
Towson (3-5) has three players with seven or more goals each and four with at least 10 points, which speaks to the shared responsibility the players feel on offense.
Wednesday night’s 10-7 victory over UMBC was a good example of that cooperative effort as seven different players scored goals. This season, the Tigers are 3-1 when six or more players score goals, but 0-4 when less than five players score in a game.
“We’re a team offense,” said junior attackman Tim Stratton, who registered his second hat trick of the season against the Retrievers. “We don’t really have any go-to guys. On any given night, someone can put up a couple points. Everyone can score, and we’re a team that scores when we run our offense, not when we’re just giving it to one guy and watching. We’re successful when we’re running plays and guys are getting touches on the ball.”
That’s not to suggest that the team couldn’t use an unstoppable finisher or a primary distributor. But for Towson’s needs, a scoring-by-committee approach fits the personnel.
“Earlier in the year, I said my biggest problem was who was going to play out on the field for us in the midfield and attack because we’ve got so many people that are equal,” coach Tony Seaman said. “That’s good in some regards, but it’s horrible in other regards when you would love to have somebody who just stands up and scores goals for you. But it backs up what I said. We’ve got very good depth.”
Other notes:
*Pat Britton recorded only his second multi-goal game of the season, scoring twice Wednesday night. The junior midfielder, who sat out last Saturday’s 9-7 win against Delaware due to a concussion, is known as having the hardest shot on the team, but his accuracy has been sub-par. He was 2-for-2 against UMBC, and Britton hopes he has found his rhythm. “It was huge for my confidence,” he said. “I hadn’t been hitting the cage too well lately. It felt good to go out there and take two shots and score two goals. In practice, I hadn’t been shooting too well, so I did a lot of work in practice – shooting after practice, before practice, just trying to get my shot back. And hopefully, it’s back for good now.”
*Freshman defenseman Ben Strauss did not play after suffering a bruised knee during Monday’s practice. Initially feared as being one of the season-ending variety, the injury was not deemed serious as there was no ligament damage, according to Seaman. “He’s walking pretty well tonight, and the doc’s pretty happy with that,” Seaman said of Strauss, who ranks second on the team with seven caused turnovers in five starts. “We’re hoping that he’s going to be ready for UMass [this Saturday].”
*UMBC went with a different goalkeeper again, electing to start freshman Adam Cohen. Cohen played well, making 12 saves including five in the first quarter. Afterwards, coach Don Zimmerman declined to delve too deeply into is reasoning for starting Cohen after senior Kevin Kohri played in last Saturday’s 14-11 loss to Stony Brook. “I’m going to put the best guy in the goal,” said Zimmerman, who also would not name the starter for Saturday’s contest against Binghamton. “So if Adam Cohen was in the goal, he was our best guy.”
*The Retrievers (1-7) are off to their worst start since the 1985 squad opened that season with nine consecutive losses, but Zimmerman said the team’s morale remains high. “We had our three best practices of the year coming into this game, and so, I’m proud of the guys,” he said. “We’re 1-7, but we were 1-6 going into this game and you would never have known that by the way our guys practiced. Our guys are keeping their heads up and trying hard. We’re just making mistakes that hurt us right now. Some of that’s youth, and some of that’s just, guys who should know better just aren’t reacting the way you would hope.”
*Freshman defenseman Ben Strauss did not play after suffering a bruised knee during Monday’s practice. Initially feared as being one of the season-ending variety, the injury was not deemed serious as there was no ligament damage, according to Seaman. “He’s walking pretty well tonight, and the doc’s pretty happy with that,” Seaman said of Strauss, who ranks second on the team with seven caused turnovers in five starts. “We’re hoping that he’s going to be ready for UMass [this Saturday].”
*UMBC went with a different goalkeeper again, electing to start freshman Adam Cohen. Cohen played well, making 12 saves including five in the first quarter. Afterwards, coach Don Zimmerman declined to delve too deeply into is reasoning for starting Cohen after senior Kevin Kohri played in last Saturday’s 14-11 loss to Stony Brook. “I’m going to put the best guy in the goal,” said Zimmerman, who also would not name the starter for Saturday’s contest against Binghamton. “So if Adam Cohen was in the goal, he was our best guy.”
*The Retrievers (1-7) are off to their worst start since the 1985 squad opened that season with nine consecutive losses, but Zimmerman said the team’s morale remains high. “We had our three best practices of the year coming into this game, and so, I’m proud of the guys,” he said. “We’re 1-7, but we were 1-6 going into this game and you would never have known that by the way our guys practiced. Our guys are keeping their heads up and trying hard. We’re just making mistakes that hurt us right now. Some of that’s youth, and some of that’s just, guys who should know better just aren’t reacting the way you would hope.”
