In 2016, I think Tillman made a huge mistake by not putting newcomer Pat Young on the first line, which ultimately contributed to the lost national championship. Pat was a proven all-american before MD and proved his superior skills as a pro afterwards. He was way underutilized all season.Wheels wrote: ↑Fri Nov 05, 2021 7:59 pmTills and Benson will always put the best 6 out on offense regardless of "position," so going through the traditional units is a bit hard. But I'd guess we'll see Wisnauskas, Khan, Malever, and Maltz getting most of the time at "attack." Wisnauskas will be the one who never leaves the field. Then you'll have DeMaio, Fairman, and Long on that first "midfield" line with Donville getting runs in there and probably on the EMO because of his shooting. It's when the second MF line gets in that things could be pretty interesting. I would not be surprised at all to see Donville and Malever flipping spots when the 2nd MF line is in so that Donville can play inside to use his box finishing skills while Malever gets chances to dodge shorties. Koras, Brennan (back from injury), and Jake Smith (back from injury), and Owen Murphy could be in that 2nd MF mix. Brennan showed he could shoot but was also sneaky good at getting down the alleys. Jake Smith was playing well in the COVID year before things shut down. He's a former HS attackman and has a similar kind of look to him as Malever (size, mobility, athleticism).Matnum PI wrote: ↑Fri Nov 05, 2021 11:29 amThis (above) is from June. Any thoughts on the players getting PT this coming season?AreaLax wrote: ↑Wed Jun 02, 2021 2:23 pm On to the next year
Seniors/Grad Students: 16
Departing; Bernhardt/Grill/Holden/Brown /Miller
Returning confirmed: Wisnauskas
Unknown status : Fairman/Shockey/Rahill/Puglise/A DeMaio/Morris/Martellucci/A Smith/Higgins/Trucksess
Junior - 7
Cope/Geppert/Long/J Smith/Coffman/Brandau/Makar
Sophomore - 17
N DeMaio/Koop/Calderone/Sawyer/Sherrer/Gibbons/McNaney/Duff/Whalen/Maltz/Siracusa/
Brennan/Roche/Burlace /Wynne/Ridley/Wierman
Freshmen - 9
Malever /Goforth/Koras/Wicks/Kelly/Zappitello/Redd/Marshall/McDonald
Incoming Class by Position - 14:
2 D: Schritzer/Burlace (brother already on the team)
4 A: Whittier/Spanos/Erkas/Koras (brother already on the team)
1 G: Schmidt
1 FO: Keethler
6 M: Kolar/Holmes/Beacham/Davidson/Tucker/ Trader(also a football commit)
Transfer -
Incoming : rumor of two possibilities on the offense side
Outgoing : 1 rumored
The entire rope unit returns, even though Alex Smith is coming off of an ACL repair but is expected to be ready by spring. Higgins is also coming back from a similar injury but is supposed to be 100%. Josh Coffman is their most dynamic shorty and probably the best pure athlete of that group. Then you Puglise, who has been basically a starter since his freshman year. They built some depth with Cope at shorty spot when Higgins got hurt. Geppert will get AA votes this year, as he should. He's so underrated as a LSM. Sherrer is a really good 2nd LSM, and they're high on Ajax Zappitello, who got minutes in the title game at the LSM. It's such a good group that Redd and BJ Burlace barely see the field.
At close, Makar, Rahill, and Prybyklski are probably the starters. They're high on Colin Burlace and Jack Shirtzer as freshman. You have to wonder if BJ Burlace gets more looks at close than LSM.
Wierman, Tygh, and the freshman Keethler will rotate at the FOGO.
McNaney, Morris, and Marshall probably in that order in goal. McNaney, of course, is the starter. It's who is the primary back-up that will be interesting.
Those would be my guesses. It's hard to see any of the freshman getting much run. Trader, as of now, is still planning on playing lacrosse this spring, but he's been getting more and more time at safety for the football team.
I think Donville is a similar case. We will see, but from the tape it does not look like there is a better player on the roster for the role that he plays.