Gilman Hopes For A Return To Lacrosse Playoffs

Last year, the Gilman varsity lacrosse team (9-10 overall, 6-7 in conference) missed the playoffs for the first time in Brooks Matthews' six-year tenure as head coach. This spring, the Greyhounds hope to return to the MIAA A conference playoffs.

“I’m pretty optimistic right now,” Matthews said during a recent interview.  “I expect us to be in the mix, to be very competitive.”

Matthews is counting on the strong finish from last spring to carry over into this year.

“We finished the season very strongly—we won four of our last five—and just one game out (of the playoffs),” Matthews said. “The one we lost was to Boys’ Latin by one goal, and they ultimately were in the championship game.”

The team’s strength is its returning players—five at midfield, five at defense, the leading scorer on attack and a goalie who went 4-1 in those final five games of last season.

Senior midfielder Ryan Tucker, who is headed to the University of Virginia next year, had 19 goals and 10 assists last year and led the team in securing ground balls. He, along with junior Jake Matthai and seniors Justin George, Garret Paglia and Ben Hearn, will form the nucleus of the Greyhound midfields.

Conor Doyle, a senior attackman who will enroll at Notre Dame next year, led the team in scoring last year with 37 goals and 21 assists.

Whereas the attack end of the field has the least amount of returning depth, Matthews has several players who played some last year yet did not get a lot of minutes. He expects seniors Pete Senft, Jack Feketie and Peter Devine, along with junior Gordie Koerber, to be in the mix.

“There is some good balance and some good balance in the skill sets as well,” Matthews said. “So we have several options on attack and it will just be a matter of how the guys gel.”

Defensively, Gilman returns two starters—senior John Henrich and junior Robbie Haus. Another senior—Andrew Riina—and juniors T.J. Trusty, Tim Jenkins and Brandon Smith all return.

“Unfortunately, John was injured a little bit last year, but he’s back and healthy,” Matthews said. 

Jenkins, Trusty and Smith will all probably get a chance to play long-stick middie, according to Matthews.

“Depending on who starts in close defense, those guys could play long-stick middie or close defense,” the coach said.

Palmer Murray, a senior, returns to the goal where he took over as starter midway through last season.

“We’re really looking forward to having him in the goal from the beginning of this year,” Matthews said.

Whereas Matthews would not completely credit Murray with last year’s late surge, he did say the goalie played a role.

“It’s one of those things where he certainly didn’t hurt us, and I think he was integral to help having our defense continue to improve as the year progressed,” Matthews said.

As for league competition this season, Matthews foresees it as very similar to the way it has been the last few years.

“There haven’t been too many dominant teams lately and I imagine that there are teams with a lot of guys back,” he said.  “Boys’ Latin, St. Paul’s, Calvert Hall— clearly people are talking about them as having the best talent returning, so I think those are the teams that people are looking to.

“But you look at Loyola and St. Mary’s—these schools always have a lot of great athletes and are deep, and McDonogh is very well coached, so I think the league is going to be pretty even. There’s going to be a lot of—as always—challenging, hard-fought games.”

Looking at Gilman specifically, Matthews said he hopes people see a balance.

“I think they would see a dedication to defense and to the fundamentals of tough defense on the ball and team defense off the ball,” he said.
           
“I would hope that they would see a team that has discipline up and down the field—that plays smart, tough lacrosse—that gets ground balls, and on offense, has a sense of timing and rhythm.”