All seven local Division I college lacrosse coaches joined Glenn Clark Radio on Jan. 31 to discuss the 2023 season. Here’s a little of what they had to say.
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins went 7-9 in 2022, the fourth straight non-winning season for the Blue Jays. Hopkins head coach Peter Milliman wants his players to focus on the task at hand throughout 2023 rather than the expectations and tradition at Hopkins.
Milliman: Really, all we’re responsible for doing is being the best version of the 2023 Blue Jays that we can, and I think guys are really embracing that. To reference the past is kind of a necessity here just because of its proximity. You’re around it all the time, the tradition. There’s success all over this program, but we want to make sure they understand the appropriate place that it needs to be in our overall program and in our focus week to week. Recognize where you are and that this is a program that excellence is the standard. Beyond that, it’s just doing the best we can to be our best version and keeping that focus internal and the expectations of the guys internal.
Loyola
After three seasons with Sam Shafer as the starting goalie, Loyola has a new netminder in junior Luke Staudt. Greyhounds head coach Charley Toomey was excited by what he saw out of Staudt leading up to the season.
Toomey: He’s a good player, and we’re lucky that we have him. I think guys in front of him really enjoy playing for him because we always say, “You want a goalie that makes somebody play better,” and I think those guys feel organized when he’s in there. I think they really want to dig in and force low-angle shots, which is important for us. But Luke is this year catching the ball, and if you can catch the ball, you can play fast. If you can’t catch the ball, and it’s a rebound or you’re resetting and you’ve got to kind of throw down to the sides, then it’s hard to run. Luke’s doing a really good job and allowing us to be a team that wants to run.
Maryland
Maryland head coach John Tillman is trying to leave last year’s 18-0 undefeated championship season behind to focus on the 2023 season. The Terps’ top four scorers from a year ago are all gone, but the program does return standouts like goalie Luke McNaney and faceoff specialist Luke Wierman, among others.
Tillman: The concern is always, “Are you as hungry as you were before? Are you putting in that much effort? Do you have that level of focus? Are you pushing yourself that much harder, as you did in the past?” Certainly the be-the-best mentality, to me it shouldn’t matter how the last year goes. We reset it and we start from scratch, but you’d be crazy as a coach not to kind of be concerned with that given what happened last year, so I think our kids are trying to do a good job with that. We do have really good leaders. I think all of us kind of talked about how this is a new opportunity, and I think our kids are smart enough to realize a lot of those guys aren’t here anymore, so this is a new year with new challenges and we have a lot of guys in new spots. What happened last year isn’t going to carry over, and I think our kids have done a pretty good job with that.
Mount St. Mary’s
Mount St. Mary’s head coach Tom Gravante is now in his 28th season as the head coach of the Mountaineers and his 31st on staff. But this year is a little different for Gravante, as his son, TJ, is a freshman attackman on the team and is expected to start throughout the spring.
Gravante: Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to be in this position. I tried as his dad to help him through the process, get him to some of the schools that he had on his radar, as most parents would like to do for their kids. I think this is my 31st season since ’93, and I’ve seen a lot of the administrators’ kids be born and grow up. A lot of them, because they grow up in the Mount St. Mary’s family, they want out. They want to get out and maybe go to a bigger school. All along I was quietly letting him know that sometimes bigger isn’t better. It is very unique and exciting, but it can also be very trying — and not so much trying to coach up your son. Our relationship on the field, he gets it. It’s not like he’s never played for me before. I think I coached him all the way up to eighth grade in the youth and the club teams. But once he was going to high school, that’s where I separated myself.
Navy
Navy junior attackman Xavier Arline, who scored five goals and dished out eight assists in six games in 2022, is also set to enter spring football practices as the starting quarterback. Mids lacrosse coach Joe Amplo is confident Arline can handle the balancing act.
Amplo: I’m blessed to have a great relationship with the football staff and [head coach Brian] Newberry, and he’s given us the opportunity to let X chase his dreams. We couldn’t do this with every other player. X is a special young man, and he’s able to handle it. Right now, it’s not a challenge. He’s a full-time lacrosse player. Once spring football starts just after spring break here, it will become difficult in the sense that he’s going to have to balance playing football. He’ll go to the practice field there when they do practice, and he’ll miss some lacrosse throughout the week. Now, their schedule is demanding. However, it matches up pretty good with ours where the days he’s going to miss we just have to make sure we’re mindful of that and we prepare him in other ways.
Towson
Towson fell to Delaware, 11-6, in the CAA championship game in 2022. The Blue Hens made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament and are once again expected to be the class of the CAA. Tigers head coach Shawn Nadelen says his team has the experience to make a run at the CAA title.
Nadelen: We definitely were not what we wanted to be in that championship game, but Delaware was also excellent and they showed what they were capable of — not just down the stretch in the CAA but definitely through the CAA tournament and into the NCAA Tournament, and they return everybody. We know that they’re going to be an extremely strong and an even more experienced team. We’ve got to be able to rely on [our experience] to counter that and combat that. Obviously they’re the team that everybody’s looking at right now for this year in the CAA, but there are a lot of other pretty strong teams as well, so it’ll be as always a great battle every week in the CAA.
UMBC
UMBC sophomore attackman Jordan Galloway earned America East Rookie of the Year honors in 2022 after scoring 13 goals and picking up 13 ground balls. Retrievers head coach Ryan Moran was pleased with Galloway’s development last year.
Moran: Jordan had a great freshman year, and if you asked me if he was going to be conference Rookie of the Year in the fall I would have said probably not, if I’m being honest with you guys. I think it’s just a testament to athletics and working really hard, being consistent and reliable in practice, earning your opportunity to get on the field at a young age like Jordan did and then seizing that opportunity and gaining a lot of confidence. He allowed that confidence to roll the whole spring, starting [against Drexel when he scored two goals] and then from there it just kind of spiraled into every game we expected him to have at least two or three points, whether it be a goal and two assists or vice versa. He had that consistency and reliability.
Photo Credits: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics, Phil Hoffmann/Navy Athletics, Ed Wolfstein