Keeping It Hot, 4/30

Why Mount St. Mary's Is So Young
Sixteen of Mount St. Mary's 32 players are freshmen. That includes its leading scorer, starting goalie and the player who accounted for its goal in a 12-1 loss to Johns Hopkins on Monday night.

After the game, Coach Tom Gravante explained that having so many freshmen on the roster was not planned. He said he fell behind a little bit in recruiting while battling a blood-related cancer in 2004.

"We have two seniors who are healthy and two seniors who are injured that we're hoping to get back on medical redshirts," Gravante said. "And we have [two] juniors. We're very young, but that's related to my health. I couldn't get out and do an effective job of looking for players. It's going to take some time to rebuild."

The incoming freshman class has more than 20 members. That includes commitments from players from defending Washington Catholic Athletic Conference champion St. Mary's Ryken and defending MIAA A Conference champion Loyola Blakefield.

The Mountaineers finished the season 2-12 while playing a non-conference schedule that included Maryland, Navy, Bucknell, Virginia, Georgetown and Johns Hopkins. Gravante hopes to play the same schedule next year.

"We think it will be a duplicate," he said. "One of the things we tell recruits is, only a certain number of players can play at a program like Hopkins. If you can't play with them, the next-best thing is to play against them."

Three freshmen in particular stood out. Attackman Dan Mohr led the team in scoring with 26 goals and 9 assists. Goalie T.C. DiBartolo, a Bowie native and graduate of Spalding, had 15 saves on Monday; it was the most for an opposing goalie against Johns Hopkins this year. And midfielder Jon Rodrick scored the team's only goal on Monday.

Not Giving Up Much
One Hopkins player who likely can't wait to see Mount St. Mary's again is sophomore goalkeeper Michael Gvozden. In 97 minutes 34 seconds of playing time against the Mountaineers dating from last season, Gvozden has given up two goals.

Hobart's Fall From Grace
The Syracuse paper has a very interesting story about players and parents reacting to Hobart going back to Division III after it spent 14 seasons in Division I. The paper purports that several of the players and parents were surprised by the decision. Another article examines why Hobart went Division I and why it's going back to Division III.

For Those Who Like Bracketology
Larry Feldman at Laxpower.com has a statistics-driven look at the projected NCAA tournament field. Navy fans may not want to read it.

By Christian Swezey |  April 30, 2008; 9:12 AM ET
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Posted by: Erik | April 30, 2008 12:34 PM

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