When Washington College meets St. Mary's on Wednesday at The Calverton School in Huntingtown at 7 p.m., the Shoremen might be at less than full strength.
Senior Grant Hughes, a member of the first midfield, pulled his hamstring in the second quarter of Saturday's 15-7 loss to then-No. 14 Washington and Lee and did not return. Coach Jeff Shirk described Hughes, who has scored three goals in Washington College's 0-2 start, as being day-to-day.
"We want him healthy," Shirk said Tuesday. "So if we need to sit Hughes, we'll sit Hughes on Wednesday and even Saturday and as long as we have to because hamstrings can be nagging if you don't let them heal. I think we've got some pretty good depth, and it opens up opportunities for other guys to step up."
Hughes had been rotating with junior Sid Looney, senior Luke Birnbaum and sophomore Stephen Goff Jr. on the first line. Senior David Pim, junior David McBrien and sophomore Matt Allen could also make some runs with the first unit, Shirk said.
"We need to play more guys, and I think we wore down a little bit as the game went on," he said. "So we're going to make a conscious effort to play more guys."
Shirk also said senior faceoff specialist Michael Trapp injured cartilage in his wrist in Saturday's loss. He played through the injury and didn't say anything until Monday's practice.
Trapp, who set school records in faceoff wins (257) and ground balls (171) in 2014, has won 21 of 41 draws (51.2 percent) thus far, but could take a seat and open the door for sophomores Kyle Gangemi and Ryan Leigh.
"When you have injuries and guys sit, it opens up opportunities for other guys to step up and take advantage of them," Shirk said. "We've got Kyle, who is a transfer for us [from Loyola Maryland] and a good faceoff guy. We've got Ryan Leigh, who's a sophomore for us and a good faceoff guy. So we'll see what the doctor says today, but I don't have any issues in sitting Trapper to get him healthy. Again, it opens up an opportunity for one of our other guys to step in, and I think we've got some good guys who are able to do that. So we'll absolutely sit him down if we need to."