Men's lacrosse

Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala previews matchup with No. 1 Syracuse

Whether it’s the wings helping at the faceoff circle, defenders sliding to help teammates or the offense swinging passes, head coach Dave Pietramala said his Johns Hopkins squad will have to have to play as a team to beat Syracuse on Saturday.

No. 16 JHU (3-3) will be looking for improvement on its mixed bag of close losses and wins when the Blue Jays play No. 1 Syracuse (5-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) in the Carrier Dome on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Last season, JHU attack Ryan Brown scored eight goals, an effort that fell short in the Blue Jays’ 12-10 home loss to the Orange. Pietramala hopes for a more balanced attack this season.

“You can’t count on eight goals from anybody,” Pietramala said of Brown’s performance last year. “… I think, for us, we have to play offense with six guys. We can’t allow them to just focus on Ryan Brown and that be enough to stifle us offensively.”

Brown, who leads JHU with 26 points, is in better shape and has learned to fit into the Blue Jays offensive scheme, which was completely new last season, Pietramala said. This year, Pietramala said the junior has become less one-dimensional, learning to let his teammates play off of his success.



The Blue Jays’ leading scorer will have help from brothers and fellow attacks Wells and Shack Stanwick. Wells, a senior, and Shack, a freshman, won Big Ten offensive player of the week and Big Ten freshman of the week, respectively, last week.

While Shack has amassed 17 points this season, Pietramala said he still has made “freshman” mistakes and has to keep developing his strength and training. JHU’s offense will have to pull the Orange’s defenders out of position with quick passing, but Pietramala said the Orange looked reluctant to slide on film.

Defensively, Pietramala said his team will have its hands full with the Syracuse attack trio of Kevin Rice, Randy Staats and Dylan Donahue. The Blue Jays’ defenders can’t be left on an island against any of them, Pietramala said. But if JHU defenders slide to help a teammate, they may leave one of SU’s attacks open. So Pietramala said it’s all about making the right decision when to help out teammates.

Said Pietramala: “You can’t just go out and think we’re going to cover Rice, and I’ve got my man and you’ve got your man and we’re going to play six guys against six guys and just play individual defense.”





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