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Terps’ second midfield is ‘still a work in progress’
Part of Maryland’s successful run a year ago to a program-record 16-game winning streak and an appearance in the NCAA tournament final was the playof the second midfield. The trio ofPat Young,Tim Rotanz and Lucas Gradinger not only scored points, but also meshed well enough with the attack to give the starting midfield much-needed rest.
This season, the No. 10 Terps (4-2) have not received similar production from the second unit. No one from the backup midfield has more than three points. That’s why coach John Tillman acknowledged that working with that unit is one of the biggest areas of need for him and his coaching staff.
“I think we’ve got to get better there, and I think that’s something we’re working on, certainly this week,” Tillman said. “I think most coaches would tell you that they’d like to get more from their second midfield. We’re still a work in progress there. I’m still optimistic that we can get some moredevelopment.”
Senior Ben Chisolm, a Davidsonville resident and South River graduate, and junior Adam DiMillo are the mainstays on the second midfield. Sophomore Timothy Monahan and freshmen Steven Shollenberger and Jack Wilson have gotten runs with the unit with Monahan filling out the line for now.
None of the aforementioned players took more than three shots last spring, and Tillman said it is foolish to expect them to play as well as Young, Rotanz and Gradinger did.
A terror in nonconference play: McDaniel will open play in the Centennial Conference on Saturday at Haverford with a 5-3 record, marking the Division III program’s first winning record against nonleague competition since the 2012 squad went 6-4.
It’s a welcome change from last season, when the Green Terror labored to a 2-5 start en route to a 3-12 record. Coach Keith Euker said this year’s team has had chances to be even better.
“There are certainly some things we’d like to have back,” he said this week. “This year,we’ve struggled a little bit in putting together a full game. We’ll play strong in two quarters and then at times we’ll lose our focus a little bit.
“I think it has to do with our youth. We’re playing a lot of freshmen this year.But overall, I’ve been pleased with the way we’ve executed at times,with the effort we’ve been putting in, and I’m excited to see how that transpires now that we’re moving into conference play.”
One factor in McDaniel’s resurgence has been improved play on offense. After averaging 6.4 goals and 34.6 shots last spring, the unit has 11.9 goals and 41.9 attempts thus far. Led by freshman attackman Carson Marshall’s team-leading 18 points and senior attackman Timothy McNichol’s team-leading 13 goals, the offense features seven players with10 points or more, and Euker said that distribution has made the team more dangerous.Towson hopes bye week helps: With no game last Saturday, Towson coach Shawn Nadelen gave the players Thursday and Friday off before scheduling practice for noon Saturday at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
Whether it was a surplus of energy built up from back-to-back days off or something else, every player was on the field 30 minutes before practice. That display — just three days after the No.16 Tigers lost, 6-3, to No. 4 Ohio State — delighted Nadelen.
“It was the response I was hoping for after how the game went on Wednesday and after conversations with a few guys over the two days prior to that,” he said. “We were disappointed as a team in our effort on the field and the way we played, and we were excited to get back out there again and get that taste out of our mouths the best we could.”
Nadelen was even more encouraged after remembering that Friday was St. Patrick’s Day.
“They were ready to go, and it was great to see, especially with the day before being St. Patrick’s Day,” he said. “College kids can be college kids,but I don’t think our guys really got into that. It was great to see them have a strong practice on Saturday.”
Towson (4-2) is on spring break this week, and Nadelen said he trusts that players will take it upon themselves to work on their games or their strength and conditioning with a sudden supply of free time.
The Tigers will close out their nonconference schedule when No.
7 Denver (5-2) visits Towson on Saturday at noon. They will open Colonial Athletic Association play April 1 at Drexel. edward.lee@baltsun.com twitter.com/EdwardLeeSun
This season, the No. 10 Terps (4-2) have not received similar production from the second unit. No one from the backup midfield has more than three points. That’s why coach John Tillman acknowledged that working with that unit is one of the biggest areas of need for him and his coaching staff.
“I think we’ve got to get better there, and I think that’s something we’re working on, certainly this week,” Tillman said. “I think most coaches would tell you that they’d like to get more from their second midfield. We’re still a work in progress there. I’m still optimistic that we can get some moredevelopment.”
Senior Ben Chisolm, a Davidsonville resident and South River graduate, and junior Adam DiMillo are the mainstays on the second midfield. Sophomore Timothy Monahan and freshmen Steven Shollenberger and Jack Wilson have gotten runs with the unit with Monahan filling out the line for now.
None of the aforementioned players took more than three shots last spring, and Tillman said it is foolish to expect them to play as well as Young, Rotanz and Gradinger did.
A terror in nonconference play: McDaniel will open play in the Centennial Conference on Saturday at Haverford with a 5-3 record, marking the Division III program’s first winning record against nonleague competition since the 2012 squad went 6-4.
It’s a welcome change from last season, when the Green Terror labored to a 2-5 start en route to a 3-12 record. Coach Keith Euker said this year’s team has had chances to be even better.
“There are certainly some things we’d like to have back,” he said this week. “This year,we’ve struggled a little bit in putting together a full game. We’ll play strong in two quarters and then at times we’ll lose our focus a little bit.
“I think it has to do with our youth. We’re playing a lot of freshmen this year.But overall, I’ve been pleased with the way we’ve executed at times,with the effort we’ve been putting in, and I’m excited to see how that transpires now that we’re moving into conference play.”
One factor in McDaniel’s resurgence has been improved play on offense. After averaging 6.4 goals and 34.6 shots last spring, the unit has 11.9 goals and 41.9 attempts thus far. Led by freshman attackman Carson Marshall’s team-leading 18 points and senior attackman Timothy McNichol’s team-leading 13 goals, the offense features seven players with10 points or more, and Euker said that distribution has made the team more dangerous.Towson hopes bye week helps: With no game last Saturday, Towson coach Shawn Nadelen gave the players Thursday and Friday off before scheduling practice for noon Saturday at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
Whether it was a surplus of energy built up from back-to-back days off or something else, every player was on the field 30 minutes before practice. That display — just three days after the No.16 Tigers lost, 6-3, to No. 4 Ohio State — delighted Nadelen.
“It was the response I was hoping for after how the game went on Wednesday and after conversations with a few guys over the two days prior to that,” he said. “We were disappointed as a team in our effort on the field and the way we played, and we were excited to get back out there again and get that taste out of our mouths the best we could.”
Nadelen was even more encouraged after remembering that Friday was St. Patrick’s Day.
“They were ready to go, and it was great to see, especially with the day before being St. Patrick’s Day,” he said. “College kids can be college kids,but I don’t think our guys really got into that. It was great to see them have a strong practice on Saturday.”
Towson (4-2) is on spring break this week, and Nadelen said he trusts that players will take it upon themselves to work on their games or their strength and conditioning with a sudden supply of free time.
The Tigers will close out their nonconference schedule when No.
7 Denver (5-2) visits Towson on Saturday at noon. They will open Colonial Athletic Association play April 1 at Drexel. edward.lee@baltsun.com twitter.com/EdwardLeeSun
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