McDaniel has won its past two games by scoring a combined 12 goals. That worked because Dickinson and Haverford scored a total of 10 goals, but Green Terror coach Matt Hatton knows that the team is playing with fire.
"Scoring four goals in a conference game is probably not going to get the job done very often," he said Monday, referring to Saturday's 4-3 overtime win against Haverford. "We've got a couple guys that are dinged up, and we're trying to get them healthy, and this week should help with that. We're trying to do a better job of scoring goals."
McDaniel (5-4 overall and 2-1 in the Centennial Conference) has averaged just 7.3 goals so far. The defense has held opponents to 7.1 goals per game, but Hatton said the offense can help the defense by being more effective.
"It's challenging to hold teams to seven goals," he said. "If you can only score seven, it's hard to win, especially in this conference. We feel like if we can generate more quality shots, if we can cut down on the unforced turnovers that have hurt us and then we can get toward that nine or 10 goals per game that I think we're more than capable of doing, then I think we can be a pretty formidable opponent because our defense has been pretty good at limiting our opponents' offensive output so far. We still have a lot of work to do on both ends of the field, and I feel like our best lacrosse has still yet to be played."
One reason for Hatton's optimism involves a trio of seniors working themselves back into the starting lineup. Attackman Patrick Serio, who had 29 goals and six assists in 2014 before breaking his wrist in the fall, has started the past two games and scored five goals.
Midfielder Sean Brett, who had 21 goals and nine assists last season but is in the midst of a slump, matched his season total with two goals on Saturday. And midfielder Matt Dupras, who compiled eight goals and 16 assists, has played sparingly in six games after suffering a hip injury.
"For us to get where we want to be, we're going to need get more from those guys," Hatton said. "I think that's a little bit of a work in progress with those three guys right now."
The Green Terror have taken just 31 shots per game, and Hatton said the mission is to raise that average to more than 40.
"It can be fixed," he said. "I'm confident that it will get fixed. I'm confident that we can be successful. We're just working through those things."