REVIEW

The good: The Mustangs reigned atop the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll for a good portion of the season, winning 19 games, losing twice only to eventual national finalist Salisbury, and making it to the NCAA Tournament semifinals for the second consecutive year. "I thought we played pretty steady," coach Paul Cantabene said. "We had two losses to one team, and we made it to the NCAA semifinals again. I thought we got a little bit better winning our first conference championship." … The team was headlined by superstars like two-time national Attackman of the Year Steve Kazimer (46 goals and 49 assists), fellow first-team All American Jimmy Dailey (44, 37) and second-team All American Richie Ford (57, 35), but the program mined the most out of its depth. Eleven players finished with at least 10 points, and 30 players played in at least 11 games. "I thought we were a deeper team this year," Cantabene said. "I thought we were a little bit more talented this year, and also, I thought we played more guys. A year ago, we didn’t play as many guys. This year, we were a little fresher at the end of the year." … Graduating midfielder Greg Furshman who paced the team with a 63.6 face-off percentage (110-of-173) was lessened by the emergence of junior Ray Witte, who won 62.9 percent (300-of-477) en route to being named a second-team All American. "Our face-off guy, Ray Witte, exceeded our expectations big-time," Cantabene said. "He had a tremendous year for us."

The bad: As mentioned before, Stevenson advanced to the national semifinals for the second consecutive year. That’s certainly nothing to sneeze at, but team is still looking for its first trip to the NCAA title game. Still, Cantabene chose to be positive about the team’s showing. "Not too many teams for the last two years got to the national semifinals," he said. "We were just a hair away from being in the finals, and I think it shows that from where this program was six years ago, nobody would have thought that was possible. So we’re pretty happy with where we are, what we’re doing, how our kids work, how our program’s going. We hope to be around for a little while." … Injuries are a part of the game, but that aspect took a toll when senior goalkeeper Geoff Hebert and junior defenseman Evan Douglass missed significant time. Hebert sat out eight games with a broken left pinkie finger, and Douglass did not play in two contests after suffering bruised ribs and a bruised lung in a 16-10 loss to Salisbury. Mustangs supporters might inquire what might have been if Hebert and Douglass had been healthy for that loss to the Sea Gulls on April 3.

PREVIEW

Personnel changes: Cantabene has already made it clear that he is not looking to replace Kazimer, who graduates as the school’s record holder for points in a single season (95). Rather, Cantabene said he is looking for somebody to run with Dailey and Ford. "We’re trying to find the next guy who can be a great complement to those two guys," Cantabene said. "We think we have some good transfers coming and some good freshmen, and [junior] Neal Barthelme, who scored 34 goals this year, was our fourth attackman." … Finding a successor to Hebert might be even a bigger priority. Hebert, who registered a 7.97 goals-against average and a .636 save percentage, was 29-3 as a starter and 3-2 against Salisbury. "So I think the toughest thing to replace about Geoff is his leadership," Cantabene said. "We might be able to find somebody to replace the saves and stuff, but the leadership he provided our team was just tremendous. We have a freshman this year in Pete Wesselman and [sophomore] Ian Bolland played a lot for us this year. We hope they can come in and step in and replace Geoff." … Long-stick midfielder Mike Gustowarow (41 groundballs and 26 caused turnovers) earned a spot as an All-American honorable mention. Junior Joe Valderas and freshman Kyle Fendlay are just two names that could replace Gustowarow.

Forecast for 2011: Sunny. The Mustangs are overflowing with talent, so it’s not terribly difficult to envision the team finding replacements for Kazimer and Hebert. Whether the starting goalie is Bolland or Wesselman, he will derive great comfort from the return of all three starting defensemen in Douglass (37 groundballs and 37 caused turnovers), junior Ian Hart (29 groundballs and 16 caused turnovers) and junior Eric Schell (24 groundballs). Stevenson should challenge Salisbury again for dominance in the Capital Athletic Conference and the country as a whole.