Last year's Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament ended early as Mount St. Mary's was bounced by Manhattan in the semifinals. Guess which teams will play in the first semifinal on Friday at 4 p.m. at Marist?
"These kids know that this is the team that knocked us out last year from the playoffs," Mountaineers coach Tom Gravante said. "So they have an opportunity at redemption. I'm excited for them for Friday. But we play one game first. We focus on one game before we move on to whoever is the next opponent."
Mount St. Mary's (10-4 overall and 7-1 in the conference) earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament -- in part -- by defeating the Jaspers (7-8, 5-3) in the regular season. The Mountaineers won a 5-4 decision on April 17, but the offense was stymied over the final 26 minutes, 36 seconds.
"Offensively, we became hesitant and stiff," Gravante recalled. "We weren't playing with that same kind of poise that we were going at the start of the game. We got up on them 4-0, and then my young offense sort of broke down mentally. That provided opportunity for Manhattan, and they were able to cash in on it. What we need to do to counter that is help the kids to stay focused. Put the excitement of the game aside, and stay focused on the task at hand."
Mount St. Mary's could help its own cause by getting contributions from a man-up offense that ranks 20th in Division I after converting 26-of-66 opportunities for a 39.4 percentage. The problem is that Manhattan's man-down unit is ranked first in the nation after surrendering just 10 goals in 58 short-handed situations.
"We need to move the ball a little bit faster, and we need to practice on our man-up situations," Gravante said. "We have become more organized in terms of when to run a play, but that's a part of practice that is very, very important. We were 1-for-7 against Marist. If we go 4-for-7, it's a different ball game, which I continually remind my staff of. We need to spend more time practicing man-up, and that's one way you can improve."