Maryland Gameday...

[LaxAddict38]

It’s no coincidence that Notre Dame and Virginia had the most 1st, 2nd, and 3rd team All Americans last year, and I think they were the best two teams in the country last year (Virginia should have beaten Notre Dame last year if Griffin Shutz doesn’t make a bonehead play and try to score when they were up by 2 goals with only 2 minutes to go; it was an Awesome save by Entenmann though). Who are our 1st, 2nd, or 3rd team All Americans this year? Mark’s save percentage isn’t great this year (16th best in the country right now), so he may not even make it again.

First time commenter, long time reader.

I would argue that having All-Americans, as you describe, can actually be a product of winning games. If Cuse beats MD this past weekend on that crease dive I would bet that a couple extra Cuse players would be on the mid-season AA list in a couple weeks. Sergio Perkovic got 1st team AA his senior year over Zach Currier despite Currier having the edge in every statistical category... The reason? Princeton was mediocre and Notre Dame was a top 5 team in the country.

It's chicken or the egg, but this team has talent... if they can put together some wins I would expect multiple All-Americans when it is all said and done.

Great coaches will tell their players, "You want to be an AA? Be a team player and win games. Almost every starter from the Final 4 gets AA."

 

[Zack80]

Eric Kolar was back playing for the Terps today at ssdm.

 

[BomberOrange]

Eric Kolar was back playing for the Terps today at ssdm.

Who?

 

[Zack80]

Who?

Eric Kolar, a regular ssdm for the Terps last season, who had been injured so far this season.

 

[SUlax88-09]

Good question. It's still really early in the season so hard to make any definitive statements. So much of the scoring has been done by Spallina this season that he's kind of overshadowed the rest of the offense. He's clearly been playing at an All American level, but as the season stiffens up, you have to imagine other guys will have pick up some of the slack. Michael Leo seems like the next best bet with the way he has been playing, especially if teams continue to short stick

Great stuff. I agree with Leo being a possible All-American, although I just can’t imagine teams continuing to put a short stick on him (I was surprised that Maryland never poled him). I also agree that Rice has been our best player on defense this year! I think Thomson is a star, but he just has to show it. If Spallina, Leo, Kohn, and Mark can all be All-Americans (1st, 2nd, or 3rd team), then that would be awesome and I think we could make some noise this year. I think that‘s a big If though. The appetizer of our season has now ended (with the exception of Maryland), and as we start the main course of our season, I’ll be looking for who will be able to step up to an All American level and carry this team back to the Final Four, or at least just the playoffs. If we don’t have at least a few players playing at a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd team All American level, then we may get exposed by the better teams. I don’t care too much about individual points (which can be racked up against weaker teams) or even losing an early season close game against a great team like Maryland, because I’m more interested in looking for potential All-Americans or for any team glaring weaknesses. I don’t think we have any locks for making the All-American team, but I agree that we have multiple potential players that could make it, which is exciting! Having All-Americans on your team means that they can carry your team against the best teams and in the biggest moments. Virginia looks too good this year, but we always play them tough, and if we have All Americans of our own, then who knows?!