One of the areas of concern for St. Mary's was the stability of a defense that had graduated three defensemen and a long-stick midfielder from last year's squad. But that unit shined in the No. 19 Seahawks' 12-9 upset of then-No. 3 Dickinson on Saturday.
The starting close defense of juniors Justin Harty and Dalton Yohn and sophomore Tripp Trainor and senior long-stick midfielder Peter Windsor shut out the Red Devils for 19 minutes, 42 seconds spanning the second, third and fourth quarters. The offense took advantage, scoring seven goals during that stretch.
St. Mary's coach Chris Hasbrouck said the defense, which combined for 10 caused turnovers, has been feeding off the steadiness of senior goalkeeper Stu Wheeler.
"We're athletic down there and fortunately so far, we've matched well," Hasbrouck said. "I've got a couple kids that we can do some different things with. … I think the main thing is at that end of the field, we're not trying to do too much. We know we have an offense that – as long as we're moving the ball and shooting intelligently – is going to score goals. That takes a little pressure off the defense. We don't feel like we have to hold teams to five goals to win the game. We don't have a senior defenseman on the roster. So it's great that Stu is giving us the leadership, really commanding the defense. That's been a huge help to us."