Familiar face in Johns Hopkins’ path
One of the more interesting storylines embedded in Saturday’s men’s lacrosse game between Johns Hopkins and No. 3 Maryland in College Park will center on the first meeting between some of the Blue Jays players and their former offensive coordinator Bobby Benson, who has taken on the same role for the Terps.
That subject has been a topic of conversation among the Johns Hopkins players who know Benson well.
“We were just talking about that during practice,” senior attackman Connor DeSimone said Tuesday. “It’s definitely going to be an interesting experience seeing him in red and black. But we’re just going to do what we do best and be patient and run our offense. But it’s going to be funny seeing Coach Benson for the first time in a while.”
Another wrinkle will be a Blue Jays offense that erupted for 14 goals in Saturday’s seven-goal thrashing at Michigan after being held to only eight in a six-goal loss to No. 12 Ohio State on Feb. 20. Against the
Wolverines, junior attackman Joey Epstein scored a season-high six goals, and DeSimone notched a career-best six points on two goals and four assists.
DeSimone said two promising signs were 10 goals occurring in six-on-six situations and 10 assists.
“We were a lot more patient, and we shared the ball a lot more,” he said. “Those numbers just showed our patience and our maturity from Week 1 to Week 2.”
Fifteen turnovers committed by Johns Hopkins (1-1) remains an area of concern for new coach Peter Milliman, who said he had to use one of his two first-half timeouts on the offense’s third possession of the game after the unit gave away the first two possessions. But he was encouraged by only five turnovers over the second and third quarters, which coincided with the team outscoring Michigan 11-2.
“We’re trying to get the guys to understand to be a little bit more patient and take some time to get to know the situation and what they’re dealing with,” he said. “Sometimes they get all revved up, and it doesn’t benefit us that early in the possession.”
The Blue Jays offense will now be tasked with outpacing a Maryland unit (2-0) that is tied for seventh among its NCAA Division I peers in scoring at 16.5 goals per game.
Terps’ Griffin going strong
Grace Griffin is building a case as the most indispensable player for the No. 7 Maryland women.
The senior midfielder leads the 14-time NCAA champion Terps (2-1) in ground balls (seven), is tied for second in goals (seven) and caused turnovers (four), and ranks third in both points (nine) and draw controls (eight). In Sunday’s 12-9 victory over then-No. 18 Michigan, the Sykesville resident and Liberty graduate scored a game-high four goals on seven shots, scooped up a career-high five ground balls, and forced two turnovers.
“Grace is everywhere,” redshirt senior defender Lizzie Colson said. “I feel like every time I look around, Grace is right there picking up a ground ball or turning the ball over [from an opponent], and I think that was awesome.”