some will say there is no such thing as a positive loss. but considering most of our starting lineup are underclassmen, and we started a freshman goalie in his first start, and a defenseman in his first game as defenseman, against #1 Maryland, who just beat up on two previous #1 teams... pretty good that we were within 2 with 6 min left to play. i bet ya the terps were sweating a bit and id like to think the thought that they could lose entered their minds.
maryland as i said earlier shoots well- in particular, i mean outside shots and low angle shots. we protected the crease well and didnt give up transition.
there wasnt much transition today; maryland was deliberate in slowing us down and possessing the ball. this is how we lost to marist and duke- too much defense. and sometimes our defense gets criticism, but now theyve kept this might offense to 11, that's pretty good.
i think in the end we didnt capitalize enough opportunities. our first 5 minutes of play were very good, but we were off our game (credit to the terps again) and didnt play offense the way we wanted- that is, until the second half. in that half, we played better. so its the same story as duke, no? play from behind, win a few faceoffs, pump in a few goals, and its a game.
positives- EMO, faceoffs, going on a run in the fourth. ive been more conscious of SOG% this year. ive never seen such a lopsided stat- maryland was 18 of 48! so we took angles away and forced low % shots. (unfortunately, they scored 11/18)
negatives- too many flags; too many 50/50 ground balls we lost. giving one player 17 shots (arguably, no one should have over 6 on a big day).
also, amato was spectacular, especially low at the feet, and had he not been, this couldve been a one goal game. he saved them today. GO SB