Mount St. Mary's preview
Saturday’s entry is the sixth installment of a week-long series taking a look at each of the seven Division I programs in this state according to their order of finish from last season. Check back on Sunday for a preview of Maryland, and The Sun’s lacrosse preview is slated to be published on Thursday, Feb. 17. Today is Mount St. Mary’s turn.
Overview: Despite back-to-back season-opening losses, the Mountaineers accomplished their goal of claiming their first berth in the NCAA Tournament since 2003. The team rode an improved, emerging offense, and although the defense surrendered more goals than the previous spring, both sides propelled the school to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament crown. Having made the move to the Northeast Conference, Mount St. Mary’s was picked to finish third behind leader Robert Morris and Bryant.
Reason for optimism: As mentioned previously, the offense paced the Mountaineers. After averaging almost six goals per game in 2009, the unit exploded to score 10.6 goals per contest last spring. Junior attackmen Cody Lehrer and Brett Schmidt and sophomore Andrew Scalley each scored at least 17 goals, and junior midfielders Bryant Schmidt and Jake Willertz each notched 21 goals. And all six starters return this season. Junior midfielder Mike Adkins, a starter last season, will likely be replaced by junior Eric Ososki (10 goals and three assists), who is moving from attack to midfield. “We have a pretty solid, a pretty powerful offense,” coach Tom Gravante said. “And they’re still pretty young. I’m really excited about them.”
Reason for pessimism: Graduation most impacted the defense, taking away starters Russell Moncure and Matt Nealis. Senior Andrew Miller is the lone returning starter, but senior Justin Schmidt, who started at long-stick midfielder, is making the move to close defense, and senior Kevin Downs is the leading candidate to be the third starter. A pair of freshmen in Shane Pierce and Tim Durkin will be part of the rotation. “We’re a little bit young down there,” Gravante said. “We still have our All-American goalie [in senior T.C. DiBartolo] coming back, but we have some kids down there that were coming in off the bench last year. They didn’t see a lot of solid playing time last year, and that’s going to be the question.”
Keep an eye on: DiBartolo has been the linchpin in the team’s success on defense. He ranks second in school history with a 9.42 career goals-against average and third with 556 career saves. But Gravante has emphasized reducing some of the workload for DiBartolo. That task will fall on the defense to funnel opponents to low-percentage shots that either miss the cage or can be easily gobbled up by DiBartolo.
What he said: There is no automatic qualifier associated with capturing the Northeast Conference Tournament, but Gravante is hopeful that a non-conference schedule that includes tilts against Virginia, Loyola, Georgetown, Drexel and Towson can help boost the team’s strength-of-schedule rating during the NCAA Tournament selection process. “I think the strength of this conference coupled with the schedule that we have outside the conference gives us an opportunity to maybe get votes for an at-large bid,” Gravante said. “… I think if these young men can sweep the NEC and go 3-for-5 [against the non-conference opponents], there could be an opportunity to get there. … The opportunity is there. The kids know that. There’s one answer and it’s win. That’s it. Win and you get there.”
