Review & preview: Johns Hopkins

A look at the 2012 season for the Blue Jays and a glimpse into 2013

Personnel changes: The Blue Jays graduate just two starters, but one is the aforementioned Boland who could dodge and find open teammates. He averaged almost four points in eight starts (18 goals and 13 assists), and his leadership was almost as important. Stanwick is the leading candidate to join junior Zach Palmer and sophomore Brandon Benn as starters. “Wells Stanwick is the guy who – when Chris went down – went in,” Pietramala said. “While at the time, you’d rather not have that happen, it’s certainly a blessing in disguise as we move into next year because Wells received a significant amount of playing time as a starting attackman. So the fact that he received that time – at times he played the other team’s top defenseman – will help him tremendously as we go into next year. We’ll look at guys like him and Palmer and Benn and [junior] John Kaestner and [freshman] Mike Daniello.” … As mentioned earlier, Reilly is slated to succeed defenseman Gavin Crisafulli and join juniors Tucker Durkin and Chris Lightner as starters on close defense. Pellegrino rounds out the long poles. “Obviously, there will be competition for all those positions, but it will be their jobs to keep or lose,” Pietramala said. “We feel like we’ll be more athletic down low, we feel like we’ve got a pole that can handle the ball, is good off the ground and on the wings on faceoffs, and can make some plays. I think we’re a very solid group down low with Reilly, Lightner and Durkin if they can all stay healthy.” … Pietramala has been told that junior midfielder John Greeley is projected to return in time for the 2013 season. But Pietramala said he’s not opposed to shaking up the midfield lines in an attempt to get more consistent results from the midfield. “You want to see how guys develop,” he said. “We’re hoping that [freshman] Bronson Kelly comes back and really develops. We’ve got a nice group of young guys coming in whom we really like. We’ll see how they project. It’s hard to project that a freshman is going to walk in and start on the first midfield, but we’ll certainly open it up and create some competition there to see who will go where.”

Forecast for 2011: Sunny. Graduating just two starters means Johns Hopkins has a plethora of talent coming back for next year. The departure of Boland hurts, but it does allow for Stanwick to return to his natural position after being a member of the second midfield. Moving Reilly back to close defense solidifies that unit in front of junior goalkeeper Pierce Bassett, and faceoffs should be solid with Poppleton and freshman Drew Kennedy. With starting short-stick defensive midfielder Marshall Burkhart graduating, the return of Castronova from a torn anterior cruciate ligament is vital for the defensive midfield. If a few new faces can contribute immediately, the Blue Jays could find themselves near the top of the rankings again.