Johns Hopkins at Delaware: Three things to watch
Both teams enter Tuesday night’s meeting without a mark in the loss column. The No. 11 Blue Jays are 1-0 after beating Towson, 10-6, while the No. 19 Blue Hens are undefeated in three games thus far. Here are a few factors that could play a role in the outcome in the contest.
1) Youth gone wild. One of Johns Hopkins’ pressing questions was seemingly answered Saturday as the team’s freshmen and sophomores combined for five goals and seven assists. The rest of the points came from senior attackmen Kyle Wharton (three goals) and Chris Boland (two goals and one assist), but coach Dave Pietramala said the younger players have a standard for future contests. “That’s what we’re going to have to get to win because that’s who’s playing,” he said, noting that eight of the 10 starters were freshmen and sophomores and 13 of the 23 players who got into the game were freshmen and sophomores. “We started two seniors and six sophomores and two freshmen when you look at our attack, midfield and defense. That’s where the production’s going to have to come from. We got five goals from our two seniors in Boland and Wharton. So you hope you can expect that, but at this point, when you look at things statistically, where else are you going to look?”
2) False starts on faceoffs? After moving early 25 to 30 percent of the time on faceoffs last season, the Blue Jays emphasized discipline, which paid off as the faceoff unit moved early just three times in fall workouts and preseason scrimmages. But Johns Hopkins regressed against the Tigers, which contributed to the team winning just 11-of-20 faceoffs. That could be an issue against Delaware junior Dan Cooney, who has won 41-of-56 (.732) faceoffs thus far. “Going into this game, that guy allows them to control the tempo,” Pietramala said of Cooney. “The other thing he does is, he’s good enough that he likes to pinch and pop it out and then he creates transition. The last thing we want to afford this team is being able to run up and down. So that area is a huge factor.”
3) Drawing out the defense. The Blue Hens boast one of the larger defensive fronts in Division I with 6-foot-6, 235-pound Pat Dowling, 6-4, 236-pound Matt Stefurak, 6-2, 195-pound Connor Fitzgerald and 6-1, 212-pound Jared Bowe. But Pietramala hopes to use their strength against Delaware, which has committed 19 penalties this season. “When you’re going to be aggressive like that, you’re going to take some chances, beat up a little bit, but you’re also going to foul,” Pietramala said. “It’s like a blitzing defense. You’re going to take a chance and blitz, but you’re going to go offsides a few times. So you hope we can draw some fouls, but maybe more importantly, if we draw them, we’ve got to be able to capitalize on them. We were 1-of-4 the other day. So whether they foul you or not isn’t the big thing. It’s what you do when they foul you, and we’ve got to be a little more efficient there.”
Categories: Johns Hopkins, Three things to watch
