Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said Wednesday morning that starting defenseman Robert Enright will not play Saturday against No. 18 Princeton and is out indefinitely.
Pietramala said Enright, a senior who has six ground balls and two caused turnovers in four starts, was dealing with "a serious injury." Inside Lacrosse reported Saturday that Enright left Saturday's 13-11 loss at No. 4 North Carolina with what appeared to be a right knee injury.
Pietramala declined to call it a season-ending injury, saying that the coaches have not received a complete diagnosis from the team's medical staff. But he did confirm that Enright, who started all 16 games last season and finished with 18 ground balls and six caused turnovers, will miss an extended period of time.
Enright was part of a defense that is tied for 22nd in Division I in average goals allowed (8.5) and fifth in man-down defense (90.0 percent). But Pietramala said the unit can continue to play well even without Enright.
"It's next man up, and that's always been our philosophy," Pietramala said. "We play a system-oriented defense and when one player is unable to participate, the next player has to step in and step up. We do some things throughout the weeks of practice to be prepared for this, and we felt like we needed to do that.
"In [Saturday's] game, you saw us make a pretty seamless transition by moving [senior long-stick midfielder] Mike Pellegrino down low, and that was the right answer for those matchups in that game. Whether that will be the same as we head into Princeton is to be determined. But nonetheless, we felt like Mike moved down, and we didn't miss a beat. … We feel for Robbie right now, and his status is in limbo. But it's the next guy to step in and step up."
If the No. 12 Blue Jays (2-2) elect to move Pellegrino down to close defense, that would seem to open the door for senior Nikhon Schuler to start at long-pole. The team also is considering having either senior Eddie Schurr or junior Eddie Morris join senior John Kelly and sophomore Nick Fields as starters on close defense.
"Eddie Schurr and Eddie Morris are two guys that have been down there and are seeing time," Pietramala said. "Eddie Schurr is on the man-down [defense]. He played in our Carolina game. … So Eddie Schurr has got some experience with that. Eddie Morris is a guy that we are trying to groom a little bit.
"So we'll make the right decision based on what's best for our team and what's best for the matchups with our opponent."