One of the few bright spots from No. 8 Johns Hopkins' 10-7 loss to No. 2 Syracuse last Saturday was the play of sophomore attackman Tom Palasek, who scored two goals in a span of 4 minutes, 54 seconds in the fourth quarter and added an assist.
But for now, it doesn't sound like Palasek will be replacing either fifth-year senior Tom Duerr or junior Kyle Wharton in the starting lineup.
"There's been that consideration since the beginning of the year," coach Dave Pietramala said. "We just felt at the time that Tommy Duerr, a fifth-year senior and a captain, had earned that right. We were very excited to see Tom Palasek step up at critical moments in the game when we really needed a spark and give us that spark. The decision you have to make is, do you want to start him and guarantee him a pole? Or do you want to keep doing what you've been doing and at least occasionally – if a team doesn't get a pole to him – take advantage of that opportunity that we've created by running him through the box?"
ESPN analyst Matt Ward, the 2006 Tewaaraton Trophy winner who helped Virginia capture two national titles, said Palasek is a tough match-up for opposing defenses.
"He's quick, and I think he brings another dodger to the table," Ward said. "He's someone that you can't really game-plan for. When you look at Johns Hopkins' attack, [senior Steven] Boyle can take it to the cage, but Wharton's a guy you can scheme. You can take him out of a game because he's not much of a threat with the ball in his stick. He shoots the ball better than anybody, but he has to get open to get those shots, and the only people getting him the ball are [senior midfielder Michael] Kimmel and Boyle. They need someone else who can create, and it looked like Palasek was the answer. They need to get someone like him who is confident in carrying the ball to get other players involved."
Pietramala said Palasek will continue to see extended playing time as the team's fourth attackman and first off the bench.
"We did it last year when he was a freshman in an effort to get him some playing time," Pietramala said. "So it's not something that we've done that is new."