Faceoffs

Stevenson has thrown as many as six guys out for faceoffs, but three - senior Doug Reidt, junior Sam Ramatowski and freshman Sam Wyatt - have taken at least 96 draws each. Reidt owns the best percentage this season at 53.6 percent and has taken the most faceoffs (181). Ramatowski ranks second in attempted draws (110) and has won 51.8 percent. Wyatt has been the team's first option in the Greyhounds' last two contests, winning a combined 59.1 percent (13-of-22) in victories against Ohio Wesleyan and Birmingham-Southern.

Salisbury coach Jim Berkman is fond of saying that it's fitting for the only two undefeated teams in Division III - the Sea Gulls (22-0) and SUNY-Cortland (21-0) - to meet in Sunday's NCAA tournament final at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Tyler Granelli has an entirely different motive. The junior faceoff specialist was cut by the Red Dragons in the fall of 2010 after compiling six points and 11 groundballs in 14 games as a freshman in 2009. Granelli elected to transfer to Salisbury and after sitting out 2010 to rehabilitate a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, he has won 66.0 percent (446-of-676)

For the second time in the last three contests, Maryland gave freshman Charlie Raffa more faceoffs than junior Curtis Holmes. In the team's 12-8 victory over Mount St. Mary's on April 25, Raffa took 10 faceoffs, winning six. Holmes won 4-of-10. The disparity was much wider in the Terps' 13-11 loss to Colgate last Saturday when Raffa went 12-of-24 and Holmes was 0-of-3. As the team prepares to meet No. 7 seed Lehigh and junior Ryan Snyder (132-of-259 for 51.0 percent) in Sunday night's first-round NCAA tournament game, Maryland coach John Tillman confirmed that he intended to go with the player having the most success on faceoffs.

Salisbury is 9-4 in this series against its Capital Athletic Conference rival, but since coach Paul Cantabene took Stevenson's reins in 2005, the Mustangs have tagged the Sea Gulls with four of their eight losses over that same span. Stevenson (18-4), which has won its last four contests, is making its third Final Four appearance in the last four years, but has never gotten to the NCAA tournament final. The nine-time reigning national champion Sea Gulls (21-0) haven't lost since April 16, 2011 - to the Mustangs - and are playing to get to their 14th title game.

With his eye-opening 22-of-30 performance in Denver's 16-14 upset of No. 8 seed North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA tournament last Saturday, Pioneers junior Chase Carraro ranks fifth in Division I with a 62.9 faceoff percentage. But as important as faceoffs are to determining possession, it's what Denver does after the faceoffs that has caught the attention of No. 1 seed Loyola, which will face the Pioneers in a quarterfinal contest at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis this Saturday.

After hovering over the 50 percent mark on faceoffs for much of the season, Mount St. Mary's has fared worse against Northeast Conference opponents. The team won just 10-of-24 draws against Quinnipiac, 11-of-30 against No. 20 Bryant and 13-of-33 against Robert Morris. The Mountaineers collected six more groundballs than the Bobcats did, but they finished with a -23 margin against the Bears and a -12 differential against the Colonials. In Saturday's 17-14 loss to Robert Morris, coach Tom Gravante resorted to unusual measures by moving starting attackmen like Andrew Scalley and Brett Schmidt and starting midfielder Bryant Schmidt to the wings on faceoffs.

The most prominent storyline of Wednesday night's NCAA tournament quarterfinal between visiting Cabrini and No. 1 seed Salisbury involves the Cavaliers' top-ranked defense against the Sea Gulls' top-ranked offense. Another thread figures to be the battle on faceoffs between Cabrini freshman Anthony DiNenno and Salisbury junior Tyler Granelli. DiNenno ranks first in Division I with a 69.6 percentage (211-of-303). Granelli isn't far behind, ranking third with a 68.4 percentage (210-of-307)

Last season, Justin Radebaugh won 42 of 71 faceoffs for Salisbury after transferring from UMBC. But the Lutherville native and Boys' Latin graduate has not made an appearance in each of the team's first two games this year due to post-concussion symptoms. That means more reps for junior Tyler Granelli, who has taken 70 of the Sea Gulls' 85 faceoffs this season and won 44. “It's pretty much a one-man show because Justin has a concussion,” coach Jim Berkman said last week.

What was an area of concern for Johns Hopkins entering the season has developed into a strength.With the departure of Steve Vecchione, who handled faceoffs for four years, coach Tony Seaman found a successor in Peter Jacobs, a 6-foot-5 junior midfielder from Manhasset, N.Y.Jacobs has won 63 percent of his faceoffs, including 11 of 19 in last week's win over Maryland in which he also collected 15 ground balls and three goals."

As practice ended on Monday and the Maryland lacrosse players dispersed, coach Dick Edell approached Brian Haggerty and simply winked.No words. No explanations.It's Hopkins-Maryland week, and nothing needs to be said, especially to Haggerty."It was to the effect: 'You remember last May, don't you?' " said Edell, referring to the Terrapins' 9-7 loss to Johns Hopkins in last year's NCAA quarterfinals. "He has a personal agenda to put that memory behind him."It was 11 months ago when Haggerty, a freshman reserve, was thrust into a prominent role when Maryland's top faceoff specialist, Chris Nohe, reinjured his back after the opening draw.

With his eye-opening 22-of-30 performance in Denver's 16-14 upset of No. 8 seed North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA tournament last Saturday, Pioneers junior Chase Carraro ranks fifth in Division I with a 62.9 faceoff percentage. But as important as faceoffs are to determining possession, it's what Denver does after the faceoffs that has caught the attention of No. 1 seed Loyola, which will face the Pioneers in a quarterfinal contest at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis this Saturday.

The most prominent storyline of Wednesday night's NCAA tournament quarterfinal between visiting Cabrini and No. 1 seed Salisbury involves the Cavaliers' top-ranked defense against the Sea Gulls' top-ranked offense. Another thread figures to be the battle on faceoffs between Cabrini freshman Anthony DiNenno and Salisbury junior Tyler Granelli. DiNenno ranks first in Division I with a 69.6 percentage (211-of-303). Granelli isn't far behind, ranking third with a 68.4 percentage (210-of-307)

Mike Poppleton didn't score a goal, dish out an assist or register a save, but he clearly was the most dominant player on the field in Johns Hopkins' 19-9 win over Stony Brook on Sunday in an NCAA tournament opening-round game. From the onset to the final whistle at Homewood Field, the junior midfielder from Manlius, N.Y., won 20 of 26 faceoffs and the Blue Jays won 24 of 31 in a game that was never seriously in doubt. Poppleton's dominance came on a day when the Blue Jays defense struggled with Stony Brook's offense around the crease.

At the end of No. 1 seed Loyola's convincing 17-5 win in Saturday's NCAA tournament first-round contest at Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore, Canisius won 14 faceoffs to the Greyhounds' 12. Through the first two quarters, however, it wasn't that close. Over that span, the Golden Griffins won 7-of-9 draws. After three quarters, Canisius was still humming at 10-of-15. It was a somewhat stunning outcome as the Golden Griffins had entered the contest winning just 48.5 percent (150-of-309)

Gettysburg has a slight 2-1 lead in the series and defeated Stevenson, 12-7, in a NCAA tournament semifinal in 2009. The Bullets (11-6) had dropped their three previous contests until beating Ohio Wesleyan, 7-4, in the first round on Wednesday. The Mustangs (16-4) have won 11 of 12 games at home this season, most recently against Birmingham-Southern in the first round. Here are a few factors that could influence this NCAA tournament second-round contest at Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills Saturday night.

Stevenson has thrown as many as six guys out for faceoffs, but three - senior Doug Reidt, junior Sam Ramatowski and freshman Sam Wyatt - have taken at least 96 draws each. Reidt owns the best percentage this season at 53.6 percent and has taken the most faceoffs (181). Ramatowski ranks second in attempted draws (110) and has won 51.8 percent. Wyatt has been the team's first option in the Greyhounds' last two contests, winning a combined 59.1 percent (13-of-22) in victories against Ohio Wesleyan and Birmingham-Southern.

Ben Trapp doesn't claim he's the strongest or quickest faceoff specialist. Instead, the Mount St. Mary's freshman credits his prowess at the "X" to his determination. "I just know where the ball's going to be, and I just fight for the ground ball," Trapp said. "Most of the time, I don't win it on the initial clamp, but I just fight for it afterward. ... I don't really have an advantage over the other guys." Trapp's opinion doesn't jibe with the statistics. The Timonium native and Dulaney graduate has won 69.2 percent of his faceoffs (18 of 26)

COLLEGE PARK -- It began with attackman Steve Speers TC beating a Johns Hopkins long-stick midfielder. By the time the third quarter ended with the Blue Jays' Brian Piccola banging a shot off the pipe, the North Carolina run had taken the Tar Heels into the NCAA final.The Tar Heels dominated the faceoffs, ground balls and possession in a nearly perfect period of lacrosse yesterday that carried them to a 16-10 semifinal victory over Hopkins before a record crowd of 21,529 at Byrd Stadium.The third-quarter masterpiece came after a subpar first half, a surprise considering the Tar Heels had a year to think about the slow start that doomed them against Princeton in the 1992 semifinals.

The way Loyola coach Charley Toomey explains it, J.P. Dalton wasn't supposed to be the team's primary faceoff specialist. “We didn't expect that he would be the guy this year,” Toomey said Thursday of the senior who has won 54.2 percent (180-of-332) of his draws this season. “We had a young man here who we had every intention of probably taking every faceoff, but he's not in the locker room at the moment. J.P. was forced into this role and has just never given it up to anybody else in our locker room.