Maryland-Navy Preview

No time to look back and think about all the "what ifs" that happened in the heartbreaking loss against UVA. Maryland remains at #5 in the pools after consecutive losses...to the top two teams in the country. This game could have a couple major milestones for the Terps:

Brian Phipps needs only 4 more saves to become just the 6th goalie in Terrapin history to notch 400 career saves.

Grant Catalino [120 career points] can break out of his slump while moving up in the all-time scoring charts in Terrapin history...with another 4 points, he will tie Alan Lowe for 25th in UMD history.

The Naval Academy's strength has been in goal this year with sophomore/2nd year starter RJ Wickham. He only needs to more stops between the pipes to make it into the top-20 single season saves record book [he has 141 currently].

As for Navy, the story of the season has been the injury bug, and boy it bit them hard. Their best attackman went down with a torn ACL at the beginning of the season and that has really hurt their offense. Tim Paul's absence has had a huge effect on the Midshipmen and their offense.

Zack Schroeder and Jaren Woeppel, Navy's best long-stick middies have missed significant playing time this year, but will play in this physical match-up.

Both teams win less than 50% of their face-offs so Bryn Holmes and Jake Bernhardt will play a huge role as always. When Maryland gets the ball quickly in those situations and runs up and down the field, the offense looks like a work of art.

Patrick Moran has 6 hat tricks this year which is the third most in the nation. Navy has such a potent offense, nothing new to the Maryland defense. They have had to deal with some of the top attack and middies in the country their entire season so a huge burden will be on Farrell, Bohlander, and the Schmidts yet again. Defensively against UVA, the Terps were outstanding. After giving up a goal to the Wahoos the first time Maryland played a man-down, the D came up with 3 big stops in a row.

Last year, Yeatman and Young had two goals apiece for the Terps in the 10-4 loss. The Terps need to take advantage of a weak Navy defense and get into as many man-up chances as they can. They have the second best EMO conversion percentage in the country. Offensively and Defensively, Cottle has something special when the yellow penalty flags come out.

The midfield started off scoring at such a high rate and lately, that has been a problem. It would be good to see some more production from the middies, especially now that Yeatman might continue to start at attack. Against Virginia, he had 4 goals in his first game starting up top this season. Putting him alongside Catalino just seems unfair. They could be the two biggest offensive weapons in lacrosse, at least the biggest AND talented combined. If Ryan Young can continue to shake defenders out of their cleats, the offense can keep on rolling...and of course with Phipps in goal, the Terps are never out of a game.

That's all for now and until game time. Remember to listen to wmucsports.com to listen to the Navy game at high noon this Saturday at Byrd Stadium. Just click on the link and Listen Live! Go Terps!