Graduation takes a toll on every team, but Washington College arguably sustained the biggest losses.
The program bade farewell to five starters in attackmen Jim Cusick (46 goals and 10 assists) and J.D. Campbell (30 G, 7 A), midfielder Kodie Englehart (11 G, 20 A), defenseman Casey McKnight (44 ground balls, 12 caused turnovers) and goalkeeper Ted DiSalvo (7.50 goals-against average, .605 save percentage).
The Shoremen also lost first-team All-American midfielder Hunter Nowicki (36 G, 41 A) and fourth defenseman Stephan Pappas (11 GB, 4 CT).
Despite the losses, coach Jeff Shirk said the returning players are not nervous or worried about the upcoming season.
"I think from the guys' perspective, it's a really confident group, especially among the 12 seniors that we have," he said. "They are just really confident and really determined to not look ahead, but to be more successful this year than we were last year. I think us as coaches, one of our biggest roles is to make sure that we take the pressure off of them and to make sure they look at the small tasks ahead instead of the big picture.
"But I think the guys are confident. I think they've got the ability to play a really high level, and I think they know that. They're also willing to work really hard."
As pleased as Shirk is about the team's attitude, he also wants to ensure that the players aren't getting ahead of themselves.
"I think we definitely need to rein [expectations] back," he said. "If you're starting to look to May and are always thinking about May, that's when you have some hiccups in February and March and April that might not even allow you to get that chance in May. So, I think from looking at the big picture, we're reining them back and focusing on whatever task is at hand – whether that's practice or an upcoming scrimmage or our next game.
"But I also want them to remember how fun it was to be one of the last teams to play in May and to use that as motivation to where as we're going through the grind of the regular season, they continue to push through that and play at a really high level, knowing that this could be the end result if they don't put the work in now."