Offense has diverse look

Soon after taking over the Terrapin men's lacrosse team in June, coach John Tillman took one look at his team's roster and knew just what he was getting offensively from a senior-laden attack trio.

Attackmen Grant Catalino, Travis Reed and Ryan Young, all of whom have started since their freshman seasons, were returning after successful junior years in which they combined to score 73 goals. Among players returning this year, the trio was responsible for more than 48 percent of the Terps' goals and 55 percent of their points last season.

The unit's dominance didn't leave a lot of room for other players to make a huge impact last season, and the question of who would fill a secondary scoring role was a concern Tillman often faced during the preseason.

And despite the No. 7 Terps' (4-1) heavy reliance on Catalino, Reed and Young for offensive production, the team has benefited from a diversification of scoring this year, with the team's midfielders contributing heavily in the season's early going.

Last year, the team's top-scoring midfielders were Joe Cummings (16 goals), John Haus (12 goals) and Jake Bernhardt (11 goals). Just five games into this season, those three players have already combined for 17 tallies, well above their total at this point in 2010. Add in contributions from other midfielders such as Drew Snider and Landon Carr, who have scored six and four goals, respectively, and it's easy to see how this year's midfield unit has taken some of the pressure off the Terps' vaunted attack unit.

"We're a group where we're never going to ride one guy," Tillman said. "One of our strengths is that if one guy goes down, we can keep doing what we're doing."

The Terps' diversity in scoring was especially evident in their 8-4 victory over Towson on Saturday, when seven different players scored a goal. The Tigers (1-3), who boast the nation's fifth-best defense in terms of goals against average, locked onto Catalino, Reed and Young for much of the day, forcing the team's midfielders to carry some of the offensive load.

They responded ably, combining to record eight points off four goals and four assists. Cummings scored the eventual game-winner off an isolation dodge from the top of the restraining box, beating Towson defender Michael Landy down the alley before rifling an overhand bounce shot into the back of the net.

"Obviously, our midfielders tend to get overshadowed by the explosiveness of our attackmen sometimes," Tillman said. "But they're held to the same high standard as everyone else."

The team's balanced attack has resulted in a 12.8 goals-per-game average — good for the nation's fourth-best mark and the Terps' highest in seven years — and offered a bright spot in a game that Tillman otherwise painted as "sloppy."

"We feel like we can score at any time," Haus said. "So it was just a matter of things coming together for us."

TERP NOTE: In the third quarter of Saturday's game against Towson, Reed left the field with what appeared to be an upper-body injury. He returned to the sideline during the fourth quarter wearing team warm-ups and a sling around his arm, but Tillman declined to disclose the extent of Reed's injury following the win.

The attackman's status is uncertain for Friday's game against UMBC.

"He tried to go back in for a bit, so that makes me optimistic," Tillman said Saturday. "He's a high-energy kid who's really been doing well in practice, so I'm confident that he'll excel when gets a chance out there again."

Staff writer Connor Letourneau contributed to this report.

jengelke at umdbk dot com