Detroit at Mount St. Mary's: Three things to watch
The surprising aspect of this matchup is that the Titans are the only team with a victory. Detroit is 1-5, but has lost three games by four goals or less, including a one-goal setback to No. 16 Ohio State. The Mountaineers limp into the contest after a 0-2 start, but they defeated the Titans, 12-9, last April. Here are some factors that could play into the outcome of Wednesday’s contest at Waldron Family Stadium in Emmitsburg.
1) Avoiding a slow start. Mount St. Mary’s spent about 15 minutes following their 11-3 loss to Towson on Saturday in a closed-door team meeting, and one of the themes emphasized was playing faster and with more focus from the first whistle. Coach Tom Gravante said he’s been pleased with the tenor and pace in practice over the last three days. “I expect to field a different team that’s going to get off to a better start,” he said. “Our starts against UVA and Towson were the same. We basically made it easy for both of those teams to hit the cage and get to our star goalie. So we’ve made some adjustments, and we’re pretty confident as a staff that we’re going to get off to a much better start tomorrow on both sides of the field.”
2) Forcing the action on Detroit’s midfielders. The Titans’ top three scorers are attackmen. Freshman Shayne Adams (17 goals and zero assists), junior Scott Harris (4, 7) and freshman Alex Maini (6, 4) have accounted for 58.7 percent of the offense’s goals and 56.7 percent of the points, which is why the Mountaineers will try to funnel the action to Detroit’s midfielders. “We’re going to try to press out on those three young men and really get the ball into the hands of their midfielders,” Gravante said. “But we’re going to do some things a little bit differently.”
3) Utilizing Ben Trapp. One way for Mount St. Mary’s to get off to a quick start is to take advantage of senior faceoff specialist Ben Trapp. Trapp has won 24-of-41 draws (58.5 percent) and will face either Titans sophomore Brandon Davenport (38-of-90 for 42.2 percent) or sophomore Tyler Corcoran (6-of-17 for 35.3 percent). “We’re asking Ben Trapp, who had a great game against Towson, to dominate. He played well and went 50 percent against Towson, and in draws where he actually won but we lost the faceoff, we had him at 72 percent. We’re asking him to dominate for us, and that will help us get off to a good start.”
Categories: Mount St. Mary's, Three things to watch
