After falling just short of an NCAA tournament bid last season, the No. 21 Penn State men's lacrosse team is heading into the year full of uncertainty.
On paper, the Nittany Lions have a pretty good squad. They return 17 players from last season's 6-7 team, including their top six scorers. Defender Matt O'Malley is a loss, but sophomore Matt Mulqueen has been slated to take over a relatively deep defensive unit. Leading goal scorers Nate Whitaker and John Eremus return and sophomore Brian Boyle, a transfer from Notre Dame, has been added to the attack.
In the midfield, the Lions return senior captains Will Jones, Mike Jacober and Marc Young, along with Will Cutler, and Josh LaGrow is back in goal. With plenty of experience and last year's victories against Virginia and Ohio State, both of whom made the NCAA tournament, expectations were supposed to be high.
Then something happened: Penn State got hit by the injury bug -- hard. The Lions have not practiced as a full squad all preseason. At least one starter at every position has been injured at one point or another.
"I can't say we've had a good practice all year," Penn State coach Glen Thiel said. "It's been bizarre. In 38 years of coaching, I have never seen this many injuries."
Mulqueen, the Lions' top defender, broke his leg and fellow defender Dan Saltsman just returned from a high ankle sprain that caused him to miss virtually the entire preseason. Whitaker and Boyle, expected to be the focal points of the Penn State attack, have been sidelined the last two weeks, and midfielder Gil Pearsall missed time with an eardrum injury.
"They've worked really hard," Thiel said. "Maybe we're overtrained. Maybe we worked too hard and lifted too much. Maybe they like the training room too much. It's like somebody who goes to his mother and starts complaining. She doesn't let him do anything. Well, these kids go to the training room, and then they're out for three weeks."
Even the goalies have not escaped injury. Though LaGrow started last year, Thiel was very high on freshman Chris Courteau.
With LaGrow's inconsistency last year, the starting job was up for grabs and the freshman seemed to have the advantage. Then Courteau broke his thumb.
"Courteau is just naïve enough not to understand the pressure of being in goal," Thiel said. "We were disappointed when he broke his thumb because he was ready to win the job."
If Penn State plans to hold down the fort until everyone is healthy, the upperclassmen must lead the way. That starts with LaGrow. Last year, he was very up and down, spectacular one week and shaky the next.
"If [LaGrow] can be as good as he was against Ohio State or Virginia last year, we can beat anybody in the country," Thiel said. "He was not at that level when we played Fairfield or Hobart. He wasn't the same goalie, so he has to equalize his play from week to week and be a much more consistent player. If he can do that on a weekly basis, we're fine, but when he drops down to a 40-percent save percentage, we're not going to beat anybody."
The Lions take on nine ranked teams this year, and they will be tested right away. In their first four games, they take on No. 14 Ohio State, No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 17 Loyola and No 13 Duke. Those games, along with a tough Eastern College Athletic Conference schedule, are tough enough. Add the injuries, and the Lions may be fighting an uphill battle.
"We have a pretty good lacrosse team here, and we didn't win a game in the league last year," Thiel said. "It's a very talented, competitive league. It's brutal week in and week out so we better get healthy fast or we'll be in trouble."
Penn State's midfield is going to have to carry the load in the early going. The midfield is the healthiest position for the Lions, and they are very deep and versatile at the position. Pearsall, who was moved to midfield this year after playing attack, along with Cutler and Young may play some attack to fill the void that the injuries to Whitaker and Boyle have left.
If and when the Lions do get healthy, they will have a lot of depth all over the field. The midfield will run two strong offensive lines. Jones, Pearsall and Patrick Heim will make up the first line with Cutler, Jacober and Elliot Jones as the second unit. Offensively, Whitaker will take on a new role off the ball. Boyle, a great passer who makes others around him better, according to Thiel, will do the ball-handling, allowing Whitaker to gain more space as the third guy on attack next to Boyle and Eremus. Thiel has high hopes for freshman Max VanArsdale on the attack as well.
On the defensive end, Mulqueen is hoping to work with Sean Etter to anchor a squad that brings back experience with Dan Saltsman and Keith Benjamin, both of whom played significant roles last season. Young, described by Thiel as the best short stick Penn State has ever had defending, will lead the defensive midfield.
For now, however, questions still remain.
Will the Lions ever get healthy? Will they be able to overcome so many injuries? Is their schedule too tough right now? Will Penn State be good enough to get to the tournament?
"I don't know," Thiel said. "If we do get our players all back, we've got a really nice squad. If we don't get them back, it will be a little bit interesting."
