Here is the fifth installment of a series that checks in with the eight Division III programs in the state to give a glimpse into the past and the future. Teams are scheduled to appear according to the chronological order in which their seasons ended. Monday's visit was with McDaniel. Tuesday's visit is with Washington College.
REVIEW
The good: After three straight campaigns of at least 11 victories and berths in the NCAA tournament, the Shoremen crashed back to earth, going 6-10 overall. They did compile a 5-3 record in the Centennial Conference to earn the fourth and final seed in the league tournament, but were humbled, 23-5, by top seed and regular-season champion Gettysburg. The team endured a 1-6 mark against nonconference opponents, but had a never-say-die attitude that became apparent when it scored two goals in the final eight seconds of regulation and the game-winning tally in overtime in a 10-9 win against Swarthmore on April 22.
"It's easier when you're winning and you lose a game here or there," coach Jeff Shirk said. "If you look at the season, guys could have packed it in after the out-of-conference [schedule], but they didn't. If you look at the Swarthmore game, we were down by two with 14 seconds left and we could've packed it in, but we didn't and we found a way to win a game that was so improbable of us even tying it. So I don't think there's any quit in these guys. I just think it was a struggle."
**Shirk said the team's refusal to give up was encapsulated by senior faceoff specialist Michael Trapp. Trapp graduated as the program's all-time leader in faceoff wins (817) and ground balls (478) and the Centennial Conference's record holder in faceoff wins and single-season ground balls (171 in 2014). This past spring, Trapp ranked 20th in the country in faceoff percentage (63.7 on 177-of-278) and scooped up a team-leading 92 ground balls despite battling a season-long wrist injury.
"He didn't back down, he didn't quit, he didn't pack it in," Shirk said. "He just worked through it and did what he does because he's a competitor and he cares and he wants to win. So I think he did a great job this year."
**Another bright spot was Washington College's ability to hold onto the ball. The team committed an average of 14.9 turnovers, which was the 11th-lowest mark in the country. While the offense failed to take advantage of extra possessions, Shirk said the low number of giveaways confirmed to him that the players were not as bad as their record suggested.
"I think we have guys that can play lacrosse," he said. "For whatever reason, it didn't come together and click for this group. I think just that stat alone shows that we protect the ball, we clear the ball, we've got guys that can handle the ball, we've got a good system to where we push the ball but we also want to make sure that we don't have a ton of turnovers. We want to be fundamental with it. … If we're able to finish on a few more shots per game, every single game is different."
The bad: The Shoremen were top-10 darlings in many publications' preseason polls as they were ranked fourth by Lacrosse Magazine, fifth by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association and ninth by Inside Lacrosse. But a 1-3 start to open the season dropped them from the top 20, and the team never sniffed the rankings again. Still, Shirk thought that Washington College was talented enough to warrant the preseason prognostications.
"Believing in the guys that we have and seeing how hard they worked over the offseason, I thought we were going to be right there," he said. "But like any season, you get a couple of key injuries and few guys not performing to the level we thought they were going to play at, and it just made for a little bit of a tough season. But I still think we had talent. Maybe we weren't top five, but I thought we were pretty competitive going in. Just had some question marks and unfortunately, it took us a little while to answer some of those questions and some of the questions were never answered the way we wanted them to because of injuries."
**After three consecutive seasons of double-digit averages in scoring, the offense stumbled, managing just 7.9 goals per game this past spring. The unit averaged just 3.7 assists, which was the second-lowest mark in the Centennial Conference. But Shirk was more frustrated with the team's 19.0 shooting percentage (127-of-668), which ranked dead last in the conference and 214th out of 221 Division III offenses.
"Our shooting was a work in progress all year, and we never got there," Shirk said. "We tried all sorts of different things. We would show the film of good things and say, 'Nice job.' We'd show the film of bad things and say, 'This didn't work.' Then in practice, we would try to reinforce better shooting habits and that kind of stuff. Maybe it was just too late in the process, but we were getting our opportunities. We were getting the shots in every game. We weren't settling for 15- to 18-yard shots. We were getting eight- to 10-yard shots pretty easily every single game and just weren't finishing them. So I think the approach in the fall is really hammering home the shooting mechanics and making sure that we're putting ourselves in a good position to be able to score as opposed to some of the bad habits that kept recurring like slinging the ball to the goal instead of shooting it to a good spot or dropping their hands and just chucking it as opposed to changing planes."
**Just as the offense struggled, the defense encountered its own troubles. The 11.6 goals opponents averaged against the Shoremen were the most since 2011, and their generosity ranked them last in the Centennial Conference and 170th in the country. Instability in the cage – senior Andrew Bolland started the first two games before sophomore Jackson Szurley took over – didn't help, but Shirk said there were many factors that contributed to the defense's issues.
"What we expected and anticipated from what we saw in the fall and in the preseason, it just didn't pan out once we started the games," he said. "We got a couple defensemen that we thought were going to be starters, and they got nicked up a little bit and didn't play as well as we thought they could. So then we tried to piece people in. … You can't just point to one aspect of it. The goalie situation did play a factor, but at every position, the defense wasn't as productive as it was a year ago because we were constantly changing guys, trying to plug holes because of injuries or guys just not performing as high as we needed them to perform."
PREVIEW
Personnel changes: Washington College graduated a pair of starting attackmen in Stephen Luck (32 goals and six assists) and Luke Birnbaum (12 G, 9 A) and a first-line midfielder in Sam Birnbaum (12 G, 10 A). Freshmen Tyler Powers (12 G, 10 A) and Tanner Barbieri (15 G, 4 A) return on attack, and Shirk said sophomore Owen Evans (7 G, 2 A in seven starts before suffering a concussion) is the leader in the clubhouse to rounding out the starting trio.
"Toward the end of the year because of injuries, our two freshmen, Powers and Barbieri, got a lot of time, and they played well as freshmen," Shirk said. "So we're hoping that as sophomores, they'll be able to step in and have some more confidence. Owen Evans, who was one of the starters as a sophomore for half of the season until he went down with a concussion, we're hoping that he fully recovers and we can get him back and have him playing at the level he was playing before he got hurt. Is it going to be tough to replace Luck? Absolutely. He was a first-team All-Conference [choice]. But when Bennett Cord graduated, Jimmy Cusick stepped in. When Jimmy Cusick graduated, Luck stepped in. So there's that formula of the next guy up, and right now we've got three."
**The defense also lost two starting close defensemen in Dan Pulzello (26 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers) and Tyler Shaw (5 GB, 4 CT). Junior Brad Wollman (23 GB, 20 CT) returns as a starter, but Shirk is hoping that sophomores Keita Christophe (14 GB, 4 CT) and Bennett Lloyd (2 GB, 1 CT) and freshman Sam Cloud (11 GB, 3 CT) will show the improvement he and the coaching staff are looking for.
"It's all about developing the young guys, getting them confident, making sure we're helping to improve some of the returning guys, and seeing who's mentally ready," Shirk said. "I think they've all got the ability. That's why we recruited them. It's about getting over that barrier of the mental aspect of the game. … You'll probably see a lot younger group on the defensive end depending on how it pans out."
**The Shoremen must also find a replacement for Trapp, a three-time All-American choice and a three-time first-team Centennial Conference selection. Junior Will Rate (59.6 percent on 28-of-47 and 11 GB) is the most experienced faceoff specialist left on the roster, but Shirk said sophomores Kyle Gangemi (62.5 percent on 20-of-32, 11 GB) and Ryan Leigh (50.0 percent on 4-of-8) will also compete for the primary role.
"We've got guys in the pipeline," Shirk said. "It's a matter of making sure that we develop them and keep them healthy and see who's going to step up and take over the reins."
Forecast for 2016: Cloudy. After advancing to the NCAA tournament semifinals in 2014, Washington College did not enjoy nearly that amount of success in 2015. And graduation took a toll on the roster, sapping the team of three of its top six offensive players, two starting defensemen and its best faceoff specialist. The Shoremen's youth suggests that they will be able to find replacements to plug holes and are built for the long haul. But that youth must also mature, and with the top six teams in the Centennial Conference finishing with records of .500 or better, the program may not have much time to cultivate its young personnel group.