Assists leader ignites offense
After taking passes the past 2 years, Patterson is now dishing them out
University at Albany junior attack Jakob Patterson was on the receiving end of Connor Fields’ brilliant passes for the past two years.
Now it’s Patterson dishing out the assists at an impressive rate, and whether or not he’s the next Fields, he’s certainly doing a reasonably good impersonation.
Patterson has collected 13 assists over the Great Danes’ last two victories while earning America East Offensive Player of the Week twice in a row.
“Honestly, I’ve just been playing a little more with the ball and my teammates have been finding the open looks and I just have to make the pass and they do the rest,” Patterson said. “I have basically the easy job out of this. So it’s been really fun to play the past couple of weeks, so we’re just excited for tomorrow.”
The Great Danes (3-4) return to action for a game at Harvard (4-4) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Patterson had 16 assists in the first 40 games of his career, then almost matched that total in the last two. Prior to this, he was known more as a goal-scorer who had 23 as a freshman and 42 as a midfielder while moving between the attack and midfield.
“It’s actually fun,” he said. “Most of my career here, I haven’t been an assist guy, so it’s a little different.”
That duty used to fall upon Fields, who graduated last year ranking 11th in Division I history with 165 career assists. But even Fields needed to make that transition when he took over for Ualbany great Lyle Thompson, the all-time leader with 225.
“It’s just like Fieldsy after Lyle, you know, you kind of grow into that role and each year Fieldsy got better and better with assists and moving the ball and stuff like that,” Ualbany coach Scott Marr said. “And playing in our offense, we play in kind of a freer system, and it’s free-flowing, so (Patterson) has the opportunity to make the passes when they’re necessary.”
Patterson shied away from the Fields comparison.
“I’m trying,” he said. “I’m not going to be what he was. When we’re moving the ball on offense,
it’s just going to be good for our whole team.”
Marr has tinkered with his lineup this season, allowing Patterson to play behind the net with sophomore Tehoka Nanticoke up top.
“It gives (Patterson) a little more opportunity to have the ball, but Tehoka’s doing a great job of coming in from the box and they make kind of a nice combination, not just as two attackmen but as two offensive players,” Marr said.
Patterson did acknowledge he’s more comfortable at attack after playing in the midfield last season.
“I’ve been playing this position since I was 3, so it’s always been comfortable out there,” he said. “Maybe it took a couple of games to get used to it because I did play middie last year, but it’s always exciting for me.”
Patterson, an Arizona native, said he still hasn’t adjusted to the cold. He wears tights and thermals in every cold-weather game. He said he’s looking forward to facing Harvard, which has been competitive in losses to nationally ranked North Carolina and Umass.
“They’re very physical,” Patterson said. “They’re athletic, they’re a smart team and we have to be really ready to play.”
Ualbany can get over .500 with wins against Harvard and at home against Hartford on Saturday.