Albany's run ignited by "must-win"
In the span of eight days, Albany went from being a winless team to a squad with a 3-1 record, a pair of wins against ranked opponents, and the No. 12 spot in The Sun’s latest poll.
The Great Danes had opened the season with a 14-7 loss to Drexel on Feb. 26, but have since registered victories over Delaware, then-No. 7 Massachusetts and then-No. 16 Ohio State.
Coach Scott Marr pointed to the team’s 11-9 win against the Blue Hens on March 5 as kick-starting the current spurt.
“It was a big win and a win that we needed,” he said Monday. “We kind of looked at that Delaware game as a must-win as far as our program was concerned and where we were at. Considering how things had started for us last year at 0-5, we just didn’t want to be in that hole. … We had a chance to play three quality programs in a week, and our goal was to be 3-1 at the end of the week, and you can’t get to 3-1 until you’re 1-1. So the Delaware game was, in our eyes, a must-win. And I thought we came out and played well.”
Marr credited part of Albany’s transformation to some personnel changes after the loss to the Dragons. Freshman goalkeeper Edmund Cathers replaced junior John Carroll, senior defenseman Scott Raffensberger took over for senior Mike Finnegan and junior faceoff specialist Keith Olson filled in for sophomore Matt Mackenzie.
Cathers has settled the defense, posting an 8.92 goals-against average and a .586 save percentage in three starts compared to Carroll’s marks of 14.67 goals-against average and .476 save percentage in the season opener.
Marr conceded that making a change in the net was a difficult one.
“John had played for two years without a ton of competition behind him, and then you get somebody in who’s going to compete for the spot with him and push him,” Marr said. “It was a tough decision because John cares for his teammates and this program, and he comes out every day and works hard. He supports Eddie right now. It was tough to make that change, but I just felt that we just needed a different look at the time, and we just needed some kind of a spark.”
The Great Danes will test their ranking against No. 1 Syracuse on Tuesday night at the Carrier Dome and could be forced to play without their starting midfield of seniors Brian Caufield and Derek Kreuzer and junior Rocky Bonitatibus, according to Lacrosse Magazine.
Still, the players are excited about their 3-1 start, and Marr said he won’t do anything to rain on their parade.
“It’s a good feeling,” he said. “It’s a feeling we actually haven’t had in a couple of years. The last couple years have really been riddled with injuries and really sub-par play at times. You want them to feel good about what they’re doing, but you certainly want them to keep progressing and keep learning from each game. We did some things against Ohio State that we can certainly correct. Our clearing game in the fourth quarter was awful. So we’ve got to learn how to take care of the ball better and clear the ball better. So there’s certainly a lot of room for improvement, but I think excitement and enthusiasm and being positive are qualities that you want to take into games because sometimes those can push you over the edge and help you get a win.”
