A Boys' Latin graduate and midfielder who registered 120 goals and 91 assists, Richard Grieves was inducted into the Washington College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998. If his son continues to put up performances like he did in the Shoremen's 11-9 upset of then-No. 15 Washington and Lee, the father might have some company.
Casey Grieves, a sophomore midfielder, lodged two goals and four assists in Saturday's victory. He had a hand in the Shoremen's first four goals, assisting on the first two and then scoring two.
"Casey was ready to go," coach Jeff Shirk said Monday. "… He's done a great job for us. A very good lacrosse player and just a great kid, a hard worker. I just love his demeanor around the team and I'm excited for him because he had a really good day on Saturday."
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Grieves originally committed to Hobart, and spent his freshman year in 2015 there. But he sat out what would have been his sophomore year and then elected to transfer to Washington College – which had recruited him – where he informed Shirk that he wanted to play again.
Grieves had a quiet start, scoring one goal in a 13-4 win over Birmingham Southern on Feb. 18.
"In the first game after watching the tape, we were playing a little selfish where it might be one pass or two passes and then a shot, and we were not taking advantage of really good looks if we would have just made the one or two extra passes," Shirk said. "So the guys saw that on film, and they really bought into it in the week preparing for W&L. There were a lot of opportunities where our middies got more chances from seven yards with their hands free because we just moved the ball for one or extra two passes instead of settling for a 12- or 14-yard shot like we were doing in the Birmingham Southern game. So I think the results that Casey had were a product of the offense and some of the adjustments we made."
Grieves leads the team's midfield in goals and assists thus far, but Shirk said Grieves will continue running on the second line with classmates Trey Ritter and Brady O'Neill (one goal and one assists each) so that the team can feature two productive midfields.
"I project seeing him in the same spot that he is because we think we've got six middies and two groups that work really well together," Shirk said. "He got all of that production with the second midfield group. So I don't think we're going to mess with anything right now when you get that kind of production from your second midfield."