Virginia at Johns Hopkins: Three things to watch
No. 2 Virginia (7-1) has survived some hiccups, but the Cavaliers have thrived against Johns Hopkins, winning the last six meetings and 10 of the last 14. The No. 9 Blue Jays took top-ranked Syracuse to double overtime, but was saddled with a 5-4 setback. Here are a few factors that could influence the outcome at Homewood Field in Baltimore.
1) Virginia is no Syracuse. One factor in Johns Hopkins’ ability to stymie the Orange a week ago was slowing the tempo and holding onto the ball for extended possessions. That kept the Orange’s high-octane offense in neutral, but it also hampered the Blue Jays offense. So coach Dave Pietramala didn’t sound too optimistic about repeating that game plan against the Cavaliers. “I’m not sure we can hold the ball as we did against Syracuse,” he said. “For one, I don’t think Virginia necessarily will allow that. And number two, we’re going to have to score some more goals, so we’re going to have to take some more chances. We didn’t get a chance to really push a lot of transition against Syracuse, and we need to do that. We need to get some more chances, and we need to be better on the extra man.”
2) Boland and Wharton must contribute more. Senior attackmen Chris Boland and Kyle Wharton combined for 0-of-5 shooting, zero assists and seven turnovers against the Orange. That must change against Virginia, Pietramala said. “We need our two senior captains to be very visible in games like this,” he said. “And what I mean by that is, they’ve got to be very vocal with our team. They’ve got to get our team in the right sets, but they’ve got to be productive. Now production doesn’t always mean scoring a goal. But they’ve got to make sure the ball moves well. They’ve got to make sure that we attack the goal. So those two are very important to the success of our team. So we need to get Kyle some more looks. We need to get Chris more involved. Those two are very, very important to our success. So we’re going to need them to play well as we move forward.”
3) To double-pole or not to double-pole. One dilemma opposing coaches face is whether to assign a long-stick midfielder and a defenseman on the Cavaliers senior midfield duo of Shamel and Rhamel Bratton. The problem is that could leave either sophomore attackmen Connor English or Matt White or freshman attackman Mark Cockerton alone with a short-stick defensive midfielder. Not surprisingly, Pietramala was non-committal about the defensive game plan. “We’ll try to come up with the best game plan to defend them, but also one that will fit our personnel,” he said. “That’s the important thing. You’ve got to do things that fit your personnel, and with this young group, we’ve got to be careful and still allow them to continue to grow and avoid putting them in situations where they can’t be successful. So any game plan we put together is going to be based on what we think we’re capable of doing.”
Categories: Johns Hopkins, Three things to watch
