Mount St. Mary's is on spring break, but it's no vacation for the Mountaineers.
After a listless performance in a 14-7 loss to a Jacksonville program in its first year of Division I lacrosse on Tuesday night, Mount St. Mary's coach Tom Gravante expressed disappointment in his players and their 0-2 start.
"Maybe they think they're better than they are, which appears to be the message that they're sending with their body language and their effort," Gravante said Wednesday morning. "So we're going to have to break them down in practice and build them back up because they're not playing good lacrosse."
The Mountaineers' struggles are surprising considering that the team was coming off a year in which it finished second in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and made the tournament championship game for the league's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament despite playing with 17 freshmen. Gravante vowed to bench starters and call up reserves to find the right mix of players.
"I'm going to have to make some changes in personnel," Gravante said. "Kids are going to have to take a seat and fight their way back into the lineup if they're not playing good lacrosse. Offensively, our attack is just not playing to help lead this team. You've got to have great middies, but the offense starts with your attack. They're the guys who are supposed to create and keep the team solid offensively, and they're just not doing it. We've got a good one in Cody Lehrer who can shoot the lights off the cage, but there's nothing else out there with him. So we have to make some adjustments in both practice and with personnel."
Lehrer, a sophomore from Baltimore who played at Dulaney, leads the team in scoring with eight points on seven goals and one assist, but is getting little assistance. Fellow starting attackmen Christian Kellett and Brett Schmidt combined for just two assists in the loss to the Dolphins, who outscored the Mountaineers, 9-3, after sophomore midfielder Bryant Schmidt scored to bring Mount St. Mary's to a 5-4 deficit with 9:12 left in the third quarter.
Gravante took issue with his defense not protecting junior goalkeeper T.C. DiBartolo, but he reserved his harshest criticism for the lack of offense.
"We're not giving the defense any support by not maintaining possession and organization on offense," he said. "So yeah, there's plenty of ball left, but we've got to correct our problems quickly and get on track or else it will be a tough season for all. … It's real disappointing when you've got one of the best goalies in the country and the best thing they can do for him is give him seven goals."
With Mount St. Mary's not scheduled to play until March 16 against Robert Morris, Gravante said he will use the break as an opportunity to review his players and his coaching staff.
"Some kids have had their chances, and they've done nothing but play poorly," he said. "So they had their chance, and now they're going to sit. I'm going to go with other kids. They're going to get hand-slapped and have to play themselves back into a starting job by the 16th. But for now, there's going to be changes come Friday both in personnel and within my staff on a few things, and we're going to see if they respond. We'll go with those who can versus those who can't. Players make plays. If you're faced with adversity from the coaching staff, you have to respond or lose your job. … So I'm going to use this time to get more organized, get kids more hungry and more angry and to play with more passion."