Offense an early issue for Danes
Initial worries about goaltending, faceoffs not problem in opener
The goalkeeping was solid. The faceoff unit was acceptable.
In fact, both areas of perceived weakness in the preseason were good enough that the University at Albany men’s lacrosse team could have won its season opener at Syracuse last Saturday.
Instead, the Great Danes were let down by their offense in the 13-5 loss to the Orange. It’s an unfamiliar problem for a program that’s led the country in scoring for five of the past six years.
“In all the talk about the faceoffs and the goalie, right now, those have been down the list, as far as our concerns,” Ualbany head coach Scott Marr said Wednesday. “Our concern right now is putting the ball in the back of the goal. That’s the biggest concern. We’ve had our years when we’ve struggled to score, and I don’t think we’re going to struggle to score. It’s just a matter of us figuring out which offense works the best for this personnel.”
In their first game in the postconnor Fields era, the Great Danes scored their fewest goals in a game in nine years.
This week, they worked on tweaking their offense before traveling to Drexel (1-1) for a match in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon.
One change Ualbany is making, according to Marr, is putting sophomore attack Tehoka Nanticoke into more of a finishing role so he doesn’t have to move with the ball and cut as much.
Without being specific, Marr said Nanticoke is playing hurt. Syracuse double-teamed him often and held the 2018 America East Rookie of the Year to two goals and no assists.
“He’s just struggling,” Marr told a group of reporters. “He’s got a few issues, yeah.”
Marr said Nanticoke knows he needs to do a better job of not holding the ball too long when he’s being doubled. But Marr added the whole team has work to do. The Great Danes committed 17 turnovers against the Orange.
“It’s a process for us this year,” Marr said. “This is not an instant-gratification team like we’ve been the last couple
of years. We’re going to have to work and we’re going to figure it out as we go along. I think we’re doing a better job this week and we’ll be ready to go Saturday.”
Ualbany lost the ground ball battle 44-24 against Syracuse, an alarming deficit for a team that Marr had described as “blue collar” during the preseason. The Great Danes did ground ball drills in practice this week.
“We got out-ground-balled by 20 ground balls, so that’s a lot,” Marr said. “That’s 20 possessions they had that we didn’t have. We have to get it down in the range of being even, really. All that is, is hustle and desire and wanting to get out there and get the ball.”
On the positive side, Ualbany goalkeeper Nate Siekierski made 16 saves in his first game replacing All-american JD Colarusso.
Also, Ualbany was 11-for-21 on faceoffs in its first game since the transfer of TD Ierlan to Yale. Sophomore Austin Jones won 10 of 16 and sophomore backup Anthony Altimari was 1-for-3. Pat Barrow, a junior, was 0-for-2.
Jones missed Wednesday’s practice with an illness but was expected to be ready for Drexel.
“It was definitely exciting, a little nerve-wracking going into (Syracuse),” Altimari said. “Didn’t do as well as we expected to do, but hopefully looking to move past that and move forward and get the next one at Drexel.”
Senior midfielder Jack Burgmaster, a wingman on faceoffs, said he thought the duo performed admirably.
“Altimari and Jonesey, it was their first game in the Dome and that scenes, I think they handled it well and will just continue to improve from there,” Burgmaster said.
Ualbany beat Drexel 18-5 last season, winning 25 of 27 faceoffs. But the Dragons have gone overtime with 16th-ranked High Point and Michigan this season. Drexel lost to High Point 15-14 and beat Michigan 17-16.
Junior attack Reid Bowering leads the Dragons with 10 goals. He went scoreless against the Great Danes last year.