Midfield

Navy's offense returns its top two scorers from last year in junior attackmen Tucker Hull (23 goals and 24 assists) and Sam Jones (18, 13). After them, only one other player (attackman Taylor Reynolds who has since graduated) finished with more than 20 points. That includes the midfield, a group that returns a pair of starters in junior Pat Durkin (13, 1) and senior Bryce Dabbs (9, 3). The midfielders will be counted on by coach Rick Sowell to be more effective in the upcoming campaign.

At Stevenson, playing defensive midfield is almost as much about athleticism as it is about defensive commitment. A unit composed of long-stick midfielders Chad Williams, Ryan Rubenstein and Warren Pumphrey and short-stick midfielders Connor Curro, Dylan Muti, Marcellus Preston and Peter Green must keep an opponent's midfielders at bay and turn defense into instant offense. “You've got to get your best athletes out there, and that's what we have,” said Williams, a freshman. “We have a bunch of athletes that are willing to put 110 percent as a team and play good team defense.” Added Curro: “We stress on it a lot, getting up and down the field and clearing and transition.

The road to the final four has led Loyola, Maryland, Duke and Notre Dame to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. But their midfields could drive them to a coveted national title. Each of those four programs boasts a productive but distinct midfield. Loyola has the top playmaking unit. Maryland's is the most diverse. Duke features the postseason's most potent unit, and Notre Dame's is the deepest. Here is a look at the four different midfields. Loyola's playmakers Everyone knows about junior attackman and Tewaaraton Award finalist Mike Sawyer (51 goals and eight assists)

ESPN analyst Mark Dixon was in the network's studio in Charlotte providing his perspective on each of the four games in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals this past weekend, and he will do the same this Saturday before appearing in person at Monday's title game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The former Blue Jays midfielder, who can be followed on Twitter @Dixonlacrosse, discussed the most intriguing game of the quarterfinal round, top-seeded Syracuse's 7-6 decision against Yale, and his thoughts on the Final Four.

One of the bright spots in Navy's season-opening 14-7 victory over VMI on Saturday was the play of the starting attack. Sophomores Sam Jones and Tucker Hull and senior Taylor Reynolds combined for 12 goals and six assists. Jones, an Annapolis native and Severna Park graduate who was named Monday the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week, paced the offense with five goals and four assists, while Hull chipped in four goals and two assists. But while the attack took center stage, the starting midfield of senior Nikk Davis, junior Bryce Dabbs and sophomore Pat Durkin struggled.

For the past few years, McDaniel has relied on an attack-heavy offense that has been powered by standouts like Gibbs Preston, D.J. Rickels and J.S. Duke. But with Rickels, Duke and Ben Yanchseki graduating in May and taking a combined 76 goals and 37 assists with them from 2012, reloading on attack could be an arduous process as the team seeks quality candidates to join freshman Pat Bivons, who recorded eight goals and six assists in 12 starts That's why coach Matt Hatton is hoping that the returning first midfield of freshman Matt Dupras (12, 8)

Throughout fall workouts and the preseason, Navy coach Rick Sowell has openly voiced his opinion that the midfield needs to play better to alleviate some of the scoring burden on the attack. The attack got some help in Saturday's season-opening 20-7 thumping of VMI, but it was the second line that outperformed the starters. Junior Erik Hoffstadt registered three goals and one assist, and junior Sean Price and freshman Kevin Wendel each contributed a goal. That trio's play made an impression with Sowell.

To see why Taylor Cummings stands above her peers and repeats as the Player of the Year, you need only look at the final three minutes of the No. 1 Eagles' 12-11 victory over Maryvale in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference championship. With the game tied and Maryvale preparing to set up its attack, Cummings checked the ball away from a Lions player. After a two-minute Eagles stall, she scored a highlight-reel game-winner and then won the next draw to seal the victory - McDonogh's fourth straight A Conference title and 69th consecutive win. "She has everything," Maryvale coach Jessica Randisi said of the Under Armour All-American.

Of the 11 different players who have started in UMBC's midfield, freshman Pat Young has the most starts with 11 and junior Conor Finch is second with six. Next on that list is senior Joe Lustgarten, who has made five starts after spending the last two seasons as a starting attackman. As the Retrievers prepare for Thursday's America East tournament semifinal against Hartford at Stony Brook, Lustgarten is slated to make his fifth consecutive start in the midfield. In the team's last four contests, he has scored four goals on nine shots and assisted on five others.

As a freshman, JoJo Marasco found a spot on the midfield, squeezing out nine goals and eight assists in 10 games. As a sophomore, he flourished as a starting attackman, registering 23 goals and 18 assists. This season, as a junior, Marasco has returned to the midfield, where he ranks second on No. 7 Syracuse in assists (five) and third in points (nine). It's a role that he is re-familiarizing himself with. “It's been an experience, and I'm embracing it,” said Marasco, an honorable-mention All American last year.

Each week, The Baltimore Sun publishes a Q&A with a college lacrosse player or coach to get you more acquainted with the player and his/her team. Today's guest is Notre Dame junior midfielder Jim Marlatt , a Clarksville native and River Hill graduate who leads the team's midfielders in goals with 18 and assists with 10. The Fighting Irish (11-4), who are the second seed in the NCAA tournament, will meet seventh-seeded Duke (13-5) in a quarterfinal Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Three goals from freshman attackman Brady Dashiell and a suffocating defensive effort fueled No. 12 Salisbury's 7-4 upset of No. 8 Washington and Lee in Saturday's second-round contest of the NCAA tournament. But that does not mean that all is well with the reigning national champion. The first midfield of senior Eric Kluge and juniors Tyler Smith and Greg Korvin finished with zero goals and zero assists against the Generals, marking the first time this season that the trio had been shut out since partnering together in March.

Senior defenseman Parker Bratton is fully expected to make his customary start when No. 4 Stevenson welcomes No. 13 Lynchburg to Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills for Wednesday night's NCAA tournament quarterfinal. Whether the Baltimore native and McDonogh graduate plays the entire 60 minutes is a different matter. Bratton, who is tied for fourth on the team in caused turnovers with 17 and ranks seventh in ground balls with 47, has been bothered by a turned ankle suffered about two weeks ago. Coach Paul Cantabene said he is not too worried about Bratton, who has missed two games this season.

ESPN analyst Paul Carcaterra participated in a Q&A Monday. The former Syracuse All-American midfielder, who can be followed on Twitter via @paulcarcaterra, also offered parting commentary on the three programs from Maryland that were in the NCAA tournament - sixth-seeded Maryland, Loyola and Towson. After Maryland's 16-8 loss to Cornell Sunday, senior long-stick midfielder Jesse Bernhardt and senior midfielder John Haus said the setback would not define a senior class that had advanced to back-to-back NCAA title games without winning the championship.

Loyola's Chris Layne has been diagnosed with what is being described as a “testicular mass,” but the senior midfielder still plans to play in the team's NCAA tournament first-round contest at seventh-seeded Duke this Sunday. The school made the announcement via a statement from Layne's family, who revealed that the mass was discovered earlier in the week. It is unclear if the mass is cancerous, but it apparently will not prohibit him from trying to help the Greyhounds (11-4) retain the national championship they won last spring.

When Towson offensive coordinator Anthony Gilardi brought up the idea of shifting Thomas DeNapoli from midfield to attack in their end-of-the-year meeting in 2012, the suggestion did not faze DeNapoli. That is because he had done it in the past. A midfielder in his junior year at Lynbrook High School in his native New York, DeNapoli moved to attack in his final season there after graduation sapped that unit of several keep players. Fast forward to last summer, and DeNapoli found himself in a familiar position.

By now, many folks in the lacrosse community have already written off Stony Brook as a major player in the NCAA tournament after the Seawolves won the America East tournament crown despite a sub-.500 overall record (7-9). Plus, they must take on No. 2 seed Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field in Baltimore Sunday afternoon. That's not the approach Blue Jays coach Dave Pietramala is taking, especially with Stony Brook's first midfield. Junior Jeff Tundo and seniors Robbie Campbell and Russ Bonnano rank 2-3-4 on that offense in points with 42, 38 and 32, respectively.

Six midfielders have started for Towson this spring, but the team seems to have found its first line of the future in junior Andrew Hodgson and sophomores Justin Mabus and Greg Cuccinello. That trio has started the last three games and has been fairly productive. In a 7-6 win against Hofstra on March 30, they combined for four goals on 12 shots and four assists. In a 9-5 victory over Massachusetts on April 6, they totaled two goals on 13 attempts and one assist. And in a 10-8 loss to No. 10 Penn State last Saturday, they combined for six goals on 18 shots and two assists.

As a long-stick midfielder for the No. 2 McDonogh boys lacrosse team, senior Eric Levin has had a season filled with tests. They come regularly in practice when he goes up against teammates Austin Frederick and Brinton Valis. They continue in games where every Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference foe has a quality attackman that draws his attention. "At this level, every week I'm playing against a top-notch midfielder and that only serves to make me better.