Sophomore attackman Ryan Brown did not make his usual start in No. 5 Johns Hopkins' 17-2 thrashing of Mount St. Mary's on Monday.
Coach Dave Pietramala was mum about Brown's absence, which Lacrosse Magazine reported was caused by a minor injury that the Calvert Hall graduate suffered late in the team's 11-6 victory over No. 6 Maryland on Saturday.
"Ryan didn't play," Pietramala said on Thursday morning. "He was with the team but did not dress."
Asked whether Brown – the team's leader in goals with 32 this season – would return against Navy (4-7) on Friday at 7 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Pietramala replied, "I don't know yet."
Brown's spot was filled by senior Kevin Interlicchio, who in his first career start scored two goals on seven shots and picked up two ground balls for the Blue Jays (8-3).
"Kevin did a good job," Pietramala said. "Kevin's a senior that has paid his dues. … Kevin has had some injuries that he has battled over the last year, and to his credit, he's just continued to battle through them. Kevin's been a very good teammate. He's worked hard, he works with our first offense in practice. So inserting him was not a challenging thing to do. He's up on all of the offensive stuff."
Interlicchio was one of many reserves who saw extended playing time on Monday. Many of starters played into the second quarter but were parked on the sideline during the second half.
"Every member of our roster got in and played," Pietramala said. "… It's one of those games where you're really excited to reward those other guys that practice so hard every day and put forth all the energy to finally get that opportunity. It was an opportunity to rest some of the other guys. I think [junior long-stick midfielder] Mike Pellegrino took one or two runs in the second quarter and none in the second half. We've been trying to play a greater number of short-sticks as the warmer weather is here. We did so against Maryland, and we did it in this game. So it was good for those other guys to get more significant time, not just a run here and a run there, to get out, get into a rhythm, get up and down the field a bit. Overall, it was very much a positive to do that."