When Colgate returned to its on-campus locker room Friday night after its short trip home from a 12-9 victory at Syracuse, Matt Karweck did what so many other coaches would do in the same situation: He said he and his staff were proud of the Raiders.
He didn’t stop there.
“I said, ‘If we would’ve lost, we would’ve felt the same,’” Karweck recalled this week as Colgate prepared to face Binghamton on Saturday. “The kids were kind of like, ‘Yeah, but we won.’ But it doesn’t matter. We’re two saves away on their end and two goals away on our end away from talking about a different outcome. We played with poise, got better as the game went along and when Syracuse changed things up, both offensively and defensively, our guys handled it. They didn’t overthink things.”
Basically, the Raiders stuck to the basics to snag their first victory over the Orange since 2007, in the process delivering a victory for Karweck in his first game as the program’s head coach. It was fitting fashion considering the methodical, common-sense approach Karweck has taken since arriving after a stint as an assistant at Notre Dame.
He schedules “reminder practices,” whole days devoted to basics like footwork or catching the ball. He emphasized skill work over tactics in the fall and the preseason. Defending isn’t about preventing shots; it’s about affecting the quality of shots.
“We’re not overcomplicating things,” Karweck said. “We want to make sure we’re good at these simple things. Then you get into the nuances and where the beauty of it comes on. If you don’t do the simple things, then you don’t get to enjoy the way you play defense or the ball movement on offense.”
Helping matters considerably was a receptive roster. Colgate went 7-8 last year, dropping five of its last six. Coach Mike Murphy resigned in June, and it wasn’t until July 26 that Karweck’s hire was announced.
Karweck wisely opted against the sort of “my-way-or-the-highway” approach that can alienate a roster. And he inherited a group determined to take a step forward in 2019.
“The senior class had an interesting opportunity,” Karweck said. “When Coach Murphy left in the summer, there was about a month before I was hired, and what that did was create an opportunity for leadership. The seniors called everybody and said ‘Hey, we’ll be all right. We’ll find a coach. Just make sure you get your workouts in.’”
The early returns in the Patriot League suggest a promising season. Loyola blasted Virginia. Army knocked off Massachusetts. Navy handled Vermont.
Colgate played its part, too, by dismissing a Syracuse team that walloped it 17-5 in the Raiders’ finale last year. Nicky Petkevich scored a career-high four goals, while Connor Mullen had 11 saves. Karweck, who stressed his respect for the Orange and its staff, said he was honored to collect his first victory at Colgate at the Carrier Dome.
“It’s important that we coach positively and constantly emphasize what they can do, not what they can’t,” Karweck said.
Based on the opener, the Raiders might be able to do quite a bit this spring.
Charalambides’ return
Rutgers did what it could to play it smart with attackman Adam Charalambides, who missed the last two seasons with injuries.
He wasn’t in every ground ball drill in practice in the fall. The Scarlet Knights’ coaching staff limited his reps in the preseason.
They had bigger things in mind.
“I thought it worked well,” coach Brian Brecht said. “He’s very mature about it and understood it was about us wanting him to be at his best when it’s February and also in May.”
The Big Ten’s freshman of the year in 2016, Charalambides had eight goals and two assists for Rutgers (2-0), which plays host to Army (1-0) on Saturday. And he’s a vital part of what looks to be an explosive offense that helped secure a 19-15 victory over St. John’s on Saturday.
Kieran Mullins already has nine goals and five assists, including a six-goal effort against St. John’s, and Tommy Coyne added a hat trick. But it’s telling that five different players scored during the Scarlet Knights’ game-ending 7-0 run.
“Our attack is very prolific and can be extremely dynamic as they continue to gel and develop,” Brecht said. “We’re deep at the midfield. It’s relative, and you always want more as a coach. But as far as what I’ve been accustomed to and how we like to play, I do feel we have a lot of people that we can plug and play. I’m not saying they’re all All-Americans or Tewaaraton Award players. But they’ve been very good for us within our program.”
The Scarlet Knights could get another valuable player back Saturday. Goalie Max Edelmann missed the first two games with an undisclosed injury, but did noncontact work this week and is considered day to day.
Virginia keeps perspective
Virginia’s 17-9 loss at Loyola on Saturday was its most lopsided setback in a season opener since 1965. It also came against five-goal, two-assist effort from Greyhound senior Pat Spencer, who overwhelmed a Cavalier defense that’s struggled for several years but is hoping to turn the corner this season.
“We need to be better at giving [goalie Alex] Rode shots he can see, and if we can do that, we can improve as a defense,” defenseman Logan Greco said.
It was striking how even-keel the Cavaliers approached the postgame assessment of the loss. There was no ignoring the need to make progress, but also a clear sense the opener in no way would define Virginia.
“This is just the first test, and we’re going to grow from every one of them,” third-year coach Lars Tiffany said. “There’s a culture of standards, and it just doesn’t change with one game. We are taking that long view. What you witnessed here reflects the messaging we’ve been giving them. We’re building this thing. We want to build it faster than it is happening, but we’re going to build this thing.”
Utes settle into routine
There was justifiable hoopla surrounding Utah’s first varsity game earlier this month. The Utes represent the western-most outpost in the Division I men’s game, and are the first Pac-12 school to add the sport.
There were fireworks. The game was played at the school’s football stadium. And the 21-6 loss to Vermont was televised.
So what came next? Simply a businesslike week and a 13-9 defeat of Mercer, an appropriate approach for a program stressing a “no big games” approach.
“We kind of got back to our roots on Saturday,” said coach Brian Holman, whose team visits Hofstra on Saturday for its first road game. “The guys were much more relaxed versus the previous Friday.”
Part of the program’s first victory was a seven-goal outing from Josh Stout, a first-team MCLA All-America pick last year in the Utes’ previous iteration. Holman credits two things for Stout’s immediate success in Division I — his own effort and the work of assistants Marcus Holman and Will Manny.
“Josh gets exactly what he deserves because he works so hard, and when you’re the hardest worker, typically good things happen,” Brian Holman said. “He has two all-world players helping him on a daily basis. The cool part is to watch his growth from year one to year two to year three. As coaches, that’s really the fruit of the labor.”
Numbers of note
13
Penn State attackman Grant Ament had seven assists in the Nittany Lions’ season-opening defeat of Villanova, and then six in last week’s rout of Robert Morris. He’s the only player in the country with a six-assist game so far. More significantly for Penn State, 13 assists would have ranked second on the season for the Nittany Lions last year. Just another reminder on how much Jeff Tambroni’s team missed an injured Ament in 2018.
7
Hobart sophomore Eric Holden had seven goals in a season-opening 21-12 rout of Canisius. The last Statesman to score seven goals in a game was Ray Gilliam against Roanoke in the first round of the 1986 NCAA Division III tournament.
15-for-15
Maryland’s Austin Henningsen won all 15 of his faceoff attempts in a 10-9 defeat of Richmond, the first perfect day of the season for a player with at least 10 tries. It happened five times last season, with then-Albany faceoff ace TD Ierlan accounting for three of them.