Frostburg State coach Tommy Pearce decided to give Blake Grudzien his first start of the season in Wednesday night's home game against St. Vincent, and the junior attackman didn't disappoint.
Grudzien, who replaced junior Spenser Love, led all scorers in goals (four) and points (five) to power the Bobcats (10-0) to a 20-3 rout of the Bearcats (3-4). He took just four shots and posted a hat trick and his lone assist in the first quarter.
"We've kind of been playing him and Spenser Love both this season, and going into this game, Blake had normally been coming off the bench," Pearce said Thursday morning. "We just kind of wanted to see how he would handle starting the game. But both of those guys played and both of those guys got some goals. They're both playing pretty well."
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Grudzien, whose strength is moving off-ball, showed a cohesion with senior Devin Colegrove (Dulaney) and junior Nick Stailey that Pearce said has been developed in practice since the preseason.
"In practice every day, those four guys play together all the time," Pearce said, adding Love in the mix. "We have eight attackmen, and we have four guys on one end and four guys on the other. So those guys all year long are in practice every day and play together equally. So it's not like it was the first time they had played with Blake. They play together every day, and I think all four of those guys have great chemistry with each other."
Pearce wasn't prepared to say whether Love, a Winters Mill graduate who has 13 goals and six assists, will return to the starting lineup for Saturday's home game against Capital Athletic Conference rival Christopher Newport or if Grudzien will make his second consecutive start.
"We haven't talked about that yet," Pearce said. "We finished up at nine o'clock last night, and we're just getting back into the office. We need to watch the film and talk about it as a staff. We'll see. Whoever starts, both of those guys are going to play a lot."