Zach Sirico's appearance in Saturday's 8-6 win over No. 18 Penn State was earlier than anticipated, but just as welcomed by No. 8 Loyola Maryland (1-1).
The sophomore attackman had been dealing with an unspecified illness and had only returned to practice the week before. His numbers of zero shots, one assist, one ground ball, one turnover and one caused turnover were very modest, but his presence was more than enough to please his teammates and coach Charley Toomey.
"I think he's still finding his way," Toomey said Monday. "I think his best lacrosse is ahead of him as he gets his feet under him. But we were happy to see him take the field. I think between he and [sophomore] Jordan Germershausen, we feel very good about that spot continuing to develop. Those guys are going to be out there in tandem, and we're just going to continue to monitor them and hope that they can both continue to grow and develop until one of them takes the lead role."
Sirico has drawn comparisons from the Greyhounds coaching staff to Justin Ward (Old Mill), who finished his career as the program's career leader in assists with 120 and set a single-season record with 53. During one sequence against the Nittany Lions (1-1), Sirico floated a pass from behind the cage to junior midfielder Tyler Albrecht standing alone at the top of the box, but his shot sailed wide.
But Sirico isn't fully healthy yet, and Germershausen – who has one assist in two starts – could start again at No. 16 Towson (1-0) on Wednesday at 12 p.m. at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
"It's a day-to-day thing in terms of where they are," Toomey said of who will join senior Nikko Pontrello and junior Zach Herreweyers as the third starting attackman. "They're both getting 50 percent of the reps, and I don't make that decision quite honestly. I allow [offensive coordinator] Ryan Moran to make that decision based on practice. I know that those guys have a great working relationship. With Zach, it's not only getting back and getting his legs under him, but he's also got to get the timing down. So there's a lot of things that go into play there, and he's working hard to make sure that with our transition offense and our half-field sets, he's in tune with. Part of that is just getting reps, and you can't do that just on game day. You've kind of got to be there for practice."