Wednesday's entry is the first installment of a week-long series taking a look at each of the eight Division III programs in this state according to their order of finish from last season. The Sun's lacrosse preview is slated to be published on Friday, Feb. 17. This is Frostburg State's turn.
Overview: In their first foray in Division III lacrosse, the Bobcats won six of 17 contests. While not exactly a gaudy record, the six victories were somewhat of a surprise for a squad that did not boast a single senior. The objective this year is to add a few more wins on the ledger and improve on a 1-7 mark in the Capital Athletic Conference enough to finish in the top six and qualify for the season-ending league tournament.
Reason for optimism: One of Frostburg's strengths is that the team did not lose a player to graduation. And just five of the 45 players on the rosters are seniors and juniors. That continuity is valued by coach Tommy Pearce. "Some of these other teams really lose some guys, and at some of those other schools the freshmen and sophomores are waiting for guys to graduate before they get their first chance to get in games," he said. "Because we're a start-up program, our freshman class last year kind of got thrown into the fire early, and we're hoping that early experience is going to pay off when we have them for three more years here."
Reason for pessimism: Call it jitters, an intimidation factor or just lack of confidence, but the Bobcats at times last season put themselves in the hole at the beginning of each half. They were outscored 46-29 in first quarters and 53-35 in third quarters. "One of the difficult tasks I had with my guys last year was convincing them before we got on the field that even though we were a young team, we could play with teams," Pearce recalled. "And sometimes they would go out and it would take them well into the first quarter before they began to agree with me and could see that they can really start playing with guys and kind of get over the fact that we're one of the younger teams in Division III. I think late in the season, we started to play a little bit better even though we were playing some pretty tough teams."
Keep an eye on: Opponents averaged 10.4 goals per game against Frostburg – a number aided by the presence of sophomore goalkeeper Tyler Haines. The Westminster native and Winters Mill graduate ranked second in the CAC with 198 saves, and he stopped 22 and 19 shots in back-to-back losses to league powerhouses Stevenson and Salisbury. "He's really got the ability to stop the ball," Pearce said. "If we can limit the number of shots he sees and he keeps saving them at that rate, we think that we can really put ourselves in the ball game a little bit more from the defensive end."
What he said: The Bobcats surrendered 11 or more goals in eight contests in 2011. If they hope to reach the conference tournament, that pattern must end. "Last year, we think we had the ability to score some goals, but there were times when we just gave up more than we would have liked to," Pearce said. "Even against some pretty good teams, we managed to put up six or seven or eight goals, and if we can hold a team under 10, then we're going to put ourselves in a lot of those games this year. So we really want to continue to communicate well and strengthen our defense."