UM preparing for possible return of Yale’s Reeves
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Yale junior attackman Ben Reeves was pulled during the second quarter of his team’s season-opening 16-11 win against Villanova on Saturday, and Lacrosse Magazine reported that he was favoring his right hamstring.
Reeves, who ranked third in Division I last season in points per game (3.9) and fourth in total points (79), is one of several names mentioned as candidates for the Tewaaraton Award, which is given to the top college player. He was crucial in the Bulldogs’ 8-5 upset of Maryland on Feb. 27, 2016, with two goals and one assist.
But there’s a chance he could sit out Saturday’s game between No. 8 Yale (1-0) and the co-No. 1 Terps (3-0) at noon at Maryland Stadium in College Park.
Still, Maryland has seen this before from an Ivy League opponent with a star attackman. In last year’s NCAA tournament semifinals, Brown’s Dylan Molloy battled through a broken right foot to score two goals on three shots before Maryland prevailed, 15-14, in overtime on May 28. So pardon Terps coach John Tillman if he’s not sold on Reeves missing Saturday’s game.
“Kind of having been through this last year with Brown, our plan is we’re going to prepare for him to be full-go and play a great game.
Ithink anything other than that would be a mistake on our part. But like anything, we’ll prepare for that first, and then we’ll have some contingencies if he’s limited and then if he doesn’t play. But we’ve got to be prepared for all three and again, we sawthat in the national semifinals. So to do anything other than that would be foolish.”
In that victory over Villanova, Yale got five goals and one assist from freshman attackman Jackson Morrill (McDonogh) and one goal and five assists from sophomore midfielder Joseph Sessa.
Tillman pointed to those performances as reasons not to get caught up in Reeves’ availability.
Hopkins protecting possessions: Through the first three games of 2016, Johns Hopkins committed 47 turnovers. Not surprisingly, that squad started 1-2.
In 2017, the Blue Jays have changed their ways. They have given up the ball only 25 times en route to a 3-0 mark and the No. 4 ranking in the latest Inside Lacrosse poll.
Johns Hopkins is tied for the fourth-fewest turnovers per game (8.3) in Division I, and coach Dave Pietramala cited a few factors in the team’s dramatic improvement in that department from last year, when the Blue Jays ranked 25th with 12.7 turnovers per game.
The Blue Jays have avoided turnovers in the clearing game and handled the ball better in transition, and that hasn’t come at the expense of their creativity, Pietramala said.
Ball protection figures to be key Saturday, when Johns Hopkins faces reigning NCAA champion North Carolina (3-0), the third-ranked team in the nation. Opponents have averaged 16.3 turnovers against the Tar Heels, who have caused 7.7 turnovers per game thus far.
“You’re looking at a team of Who’s Who of Under Armour All Americans, and they’re very well-coached, and they’re very talented, and they can put a lot of pressure on you in all three phases of the game — special teams, offense and defense,” Pietramala said.
“So certainly you would hope that you’re able to secure the ball better against a team like this, but this is also a team that tends to have caused turnovers. So we’ve got to value the ball in a way that doesn’t hurt us.”
Loyola could be without key players: No. 11 Loyola Maryland has given up 30 goals while starting 0-2, and the defense will likely visit Patriot League rival Lafayette without a pair of seniors in defenseman Jack Carrigan and long-stick midfielder Ryan Fournier.
Carrigan is dealingwithan arm injury, while Fournierhas abalky hamstring. Neither player participated in Saturday’s 14-13 overtime loss at No. 4 Johns Hopkins, and Fournier also sat out the season-opening 16-15 defeat against No. 7 Virginia.
While calling both Carrigan and Fournier “day-to-day,” coach Charley Toomey said he is “not optimistic” they will return for Saturday’s game.
Their absence is significant. Carrigan started 15 of 18 games last spring, recording 37 ground balls and 22 caused turnovers. Fournier played in all 18 games, posting 49 ground balls, 16 caused turnovers, seven goals, and two assists.
“What we feel like we’ve been able to do in years past is create some turnovers on the defensive end because of the pressure we’ve been able to put on the ball,” Toomey said. “When you take a guy like Jack Carrigan off the field after he had 22 takeaways and you take away a kid like Fournier who had 16 caused turnovers, you’re taking almost 40 caused turnovers off the field for us by not having those guys. And you’re also taking veterans and team captains off the field.”
Junior Zac Davliakos, a Stevensville resident and Severn graduate, has started for Fournier and had 10 ground balls and two caused turnovers. Junior Ryder Harkins picked up one ground ball in replacing Carrigan against the Blue Jays.
Navy’s Dove thriving on faceoffs: When observers begin talking about the best faceoff specialists in Division I, names such as Denver junior Trevor Baptiste, North Carolina senior Stephen Kelly, and Syracuse senior Ben Williams are mentioned.
Brady Dove might find himself popping up in that conversation.
The Navy senior ranks 10th in the country in faceoff percentage with a 65.6 success rate, and only three players have won more than the 40 draws he has claimed thus far.
Dove is already the program’s all-time leader in faceoff wins (508) and ground balls (263), and set a school single-game record with 21 wins in a 15-12 loss to then-No. 2 Maryland on Feb. 11. Last spring, he became only the ninth player in Patriot League history to win 400 draws.
Navy coach Rick Sowell said the most impressive number to him is zero — the amount of turnovers Dove has committed thus far.
“He has taken care of the ball. That’s the area where he’s improved the most,” Sowell said. “We feel a lot more comfortable when he picks it up and makes sure that we’re playing offense. He just seems to be very comfortable there after three-and-a-half years of playing and taking so many faceoffs and getting the experience.”
The No. 17 Midshipmen (1-2) will welcome conference foe Boston University (3-0) to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis on Saturday at noon, but fans might miss out on one of the more anticipated matchups at the faceoff X. Terriers senior Sam Talkow, who has won 490 career draws, has not played because of an unspecified upper-body injury. edward.lee@baltsun.com twitter.com/EdwardLeeSun
Reeves, who ranked third in Division I last season in points per game (3.9) and fourth in total points (79), is one of several names mentioned as candidates for the Tewaaraton Award, which is given to the top college player. He was crucial in the Bulldogs’ 8-5 upset of Maryland on Feb. 27, 2016, with two goals and one assist.
But there’s a chance he could sit out Saturday’s game between No. 8 Yale (1-0) and the co-No. 1 Terps (3-0) at noon at Maryland Stadium in College Park.
Still, Maryland has seen this before from an Ivy League opponent with a star attackman. In last year’s NCAA tournament semifinals, Brown’s Dylan Molloy battled through a broken right foot to score two goals on three shots before Maryland prevailed, 15-14, in overtime on May 28. So pardon Terps coach John Tillman if he’s not sold on Reeves missing Saturday’s game.
“Kind of having been through this last year with Brown, our plan is we’re going to prepare for him to be full-go and play a great game.
Ithink anything other than that would be a mistake on our part. But like anything, we’ll prepare for that first, and then we’ll have some contingencies if he’s limited and then if he doesn’t play. But we’ve got to be prepared for all three and again, we sawthat in the national semifinals. So to do anything other than that would be foolish.”
In that victory over Villanova, Yale got five goals and one assist from freshman attackman Jackson Morrill (McDonogh) and one goal and five assists from sophomore midfielder Joseph Sessa.
Tillman pointed to those performances as reasons not to get caught up in Reeves’ availability.
Hopkins protecting possessions: Through the first three games of 2016, Johns Hopkins committed 47 turnovers. Not surprisingly, that squad started 1-2.
In 2017, the Blue Jays have changed their ways. They have given up the ball only 25 times en route to a 3-0 mark and the No. 4 ranking in the latest Inside Lacrosse poll.
Johns Hopkins is tied for the fourth-fewest turnovers per game (8.3) in Division I, and coach Dave Pietramala cited a few factors in the team’s dramatic improvement in that department from last year, when the Blue Jays ranked 25th with 12.7 turnovers per game.
The Blue Jays have avoided turnovers in the clearing game and handled the ball better in transition, and that hasn’t come at the expense of their creativity, Pietramala said.
Ball protection figures to be key Saturday, when Johns Hopkins faces reigning NCAA champion North Carolina (3-0), the third-ranked team in the nation. Opponents have averaged 16.3 turnovers against the Tar Heels, who have caused 7.7 turnovers per game thus far.
“You’re looking at a team of Who’s Who of Under Armour All Americans, and they’re very well-coached, and they’re very talented, and they can put a lot of pressure on you in all three phases of the game — special teams, offense and defense,” Pietramala said.
“So certainly you would hope that you’re able to secure the ball better against a team like this, but this is also a team that tends to have caused turnovers. So we’ve got to value the ball in a way that doesn’t hurt us.”
Loyola could be without key players: No. 11 Loyola Maryland has given up 30 goals while starting 0-2, and the defense will likely visit Patriot League rival Lafayette without a pair of seniors in defenseman Jack Carrigan and long-stick midfielder Ryan Fournier.
Carrigan is dealingwithan arm injury, while Fournierhas abalky hamstring. Neither player participated in Saturday’s 14-13 overtime loss at No. 4 Johns Hopkins, and Fournier also sat out the season-opening 16-15 defeat against No. 7 Virginia.
While calling both Carrigan and Fournier “day-to-day,” coach Charley Toomey said he is “not optimistic” they will return for Saturday’s game.
Their absence is significant. Carrigan started 15 of 18 games last spring, recording 37 ground balls and 22 caused turnovers. Fournier played in all 18 games, posting 49 ground balls, 16 caused turnovers, seven goals, and two assists.
“What we feel like we’ve been able to do in years past is create some turnovers on the defensive end because of the pressure we’ve been able to put on the ball,” Toomey said. “When you take a guy like Jack Carrigan off the field after he had 22 takeaways and you take away a kid like Fournier who had 16 caused turnovers, you’re taking almost 40 caused turnovers off the field for us by not having those guys. And you’re also taking veterans and team captains off the field.”
Junior Zac Davliakos, a Stevensville resident and Severn graduate, has started for Fournier and had 10 ground balls and two caused turnovers. Junior Ryder Harkins picked up one ground ball in replacing Carrigan against the Blue Jays.
Navy’s Dove thriving on faceoffs: When observers begin talking about the best faceoff specialists in Division I, names such as Denver junior Trevor Baptiste, North Carolina senior Stephen Kelly, and Syracuse senior Ben Williams are mentioned.
Brady Dove might find himself popping up in that conversation.
The Navy senior ranks 10th in the country in faceoff percentage with a 65.6 success rate, and only three players have won more than the 40 draws he has claimed thus far.
Dove is already the program’s all-time leader in faceoff wins (508) and ground balls (263), and set a school single-game record with 21 wins in a 15-12 loss to then-No. 2 Maryland on Feb. 11. Last spring, he became only the ninth player in Patriot League history to win 400 draws.
Navy coach Rick Sowell said the most impressive number to him is zero — the amount of turnovers Dove has committed thus far.
“He has taken care of the ball. That’s the area where he’s improved the most,” Sowell said. “We feel a lot more comfortable when he picks it up and makes sure that we’re playing offense. He just seems to be very comfortable there after three-and-a-half years of playing and taking so many faceoffs and getting the experience.”
The No. 17 Midshipmen (1-2) will welcome conference foe Boston University (3-0) to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis on Saturday at noon, but fans might miss out on one of the more anticipated matchups at the faceoff X. Terriers senior Sam Talkow, who has won 490 career draws, has not played because of an unspecified upper-body injury. edward.lee@baltsun.com twitter.com/EdwardLeeSun
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