Jackson Szurley replaced Andrew Bolland in the third quarter of Washington College's 15-7 loss to Washington and Lee on Saturday, and coach Jeff Shirk saw enough from Szurley to announce that the sophomore goalkeeper will start Wednesday's game against St. Mary's.
"We're going to let Jackson Szurley get the start," Shirk said Tuesday morning. "It's one of those things to where it's always a difficult thing from a coaching standpoint. You don't want to get into a guy's head, and Andrew has played at a really high level. But in the first-game-and-three-quarters that he was in there, he's just not seeing the ball real well. I think Jackson has earned an opportunity. So we're going to start Jackson and definitely talk to Andrew that this doesn't mean that he can't earn the starting job back or that anything is set in stone. This is definitely going to be a work in progress the whole year."
Bolland, a senior, surrendered 11 goals against five saves in the first 36:52 of play Saturday. Szurley, who replaced Bolland with 8:08 left in the third quarter, gave up four goals while making four stops.
Shirk, whose Shoremen (0-2) have dropped from No. 4 to No. 16 in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll and have allowed an average of 12 goals, said he liked what he saw from Szurley coming off the bench.
"I just thought he did a really good job of jumping in and being solid," Shirk said. "That's all we're looking for, some consistency. And what we try to stress to all the goalies is, we need you to make the saves that you're supposed to. We're not looking for you to steal any saves right now. You guys are both kind of new in your role as a starter.
"I think as guys get older and get more comfortable as they have started for a little longer, then they're not only making the saves that they should, but they're also stealing some saves – which we've had the luxury of with Teddy DiSalvo and Peter Stewart. So I'm just trying to take the pressure off the guys a little bit and yesterday, we were working on a lot of fundamentals, making sure that we're stepping the right way and fundamentally doing what we need to do to make the right saves that we should."