Salisbury's offense averaged 13.5 goals last season, but it will have to find similar production without starting attackmen Rhett DePol and Luke Phipps, who combined for 77 goals and 67 assists.
Senior Mike Kane (48 goals and six assists) is back, but two potential starters are out for an extended period and could miss the entire year. In a span of several days in January, sophomore Nathan Blondino underwent sports hernia surgery and senior Jesse Rabishaw ruptured his Achilles tendon.
There's a chance Blondino and Rabishaw could return by midseason. Until then, sophomores Chris Joyce and Carson Kalama, who did not start a game last spring, have joined Kane as starters, with freshman Chase Berquist serving as the fourth attackman.
"Our best player coming out of the fall is injured, and that's Nate Blondino, who just had surgery two weeks ago," coach Jim Berkman said. "He was our best player in the fall. So Carson kind of got his opportunity in that spot. … Chris Joyce has emerged. Jesse Rabishaw blew out his [Achilles]. Chris and him were competing."
In Saturday's 24-1 rout of Greensboro, Joyce had six goals and an assist and might prove a good complement to Kane (four goals and three assists against Greensboro) and Kalama (one goal and one assist).
"The emergence of Chris Joyce in the left-hand attack spot, he had six goals in his first start," Berkman said. "That was good for him to get some confidence."
Still, the development of the attack figures to be a subject of interest as the No. 3 Sea Gulls tangle with No. 4 Stevenson, No. 5 Washington College, No. 7 Cabrini, No. 8 Lynchburg, No. 11 York and No. 17 Ohio Wesleyan this season.
"Our biggest concern is the evolution of the attack," Berkman said. "The attack played pretty well on Saturday and has been playing pretty well in practice. But their evolution in continuing to get better and get game experience will go a long way to our success."