The oncoming finals crunch takes mercy on no one, not even the members of the Terrapin men's lacrosse team, who just wrapped up fall practice and weight training to begin studying for their exams.
The Terps have retooled their defense, changed the roles of their midfielders and worked in a new class of talented freshmen.
"We're trying to play a faster tempo," coach Dave Cottle said. "One of the biggest changes is bringing back offensive middies. They'll be two-way players - offense and defense. That was the most important part of our fall."
That means junior Dan Groot, named the team's best overall midfielder at the team's annual banquet in October, will be asked to play a bigger role offensively this spring.
"We worked a lot of transition, a lot more two-way guys," said Groot. "Offensively, we worked on a lot more spread offense and freedom to do what we want instead of set plays."
The Terps can afford to play aggressively because of their athleticism, which got a boost during the off-season with the arrival of a strong recruiting class. Freshman attackmen Travis Reed, Grant Catalino and Ryan Young could all see significant playing time this year, as well as freshman midfielders Warren Hansen, Bobby Kercher, Tony Mendes and freshman defender Max Schmidt.
"Those guys are going to be very good players for us someday," Cottle said. "We're the youngest team in the league. It's going to be like old-school Maryland: up-tempo, running up and down."
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