It lends itself to variability, which Hopkins has displayed. It smothered Jacksonville 12-7, found a way to outscore Georgetown 13-12 and held North Carolina in check before becoming unglued toward the end Tuesday.
But even then, Hopkins led going into the fourth quarter, was tied with nine minutes to go and squandered a two-man advantage with less than six minutes left while trailing 9-7.
In short, the Blue Jays didn’t get pummeled, and even at their worst (so far), they found themselves in a winnable situation until late.
“Maturity and discipline is a big thing when you’re playing against a team that chaotic,” Marcille said. “They play really fast, and I think we lost ourselves.”
For one night, anyway. Yet the three-game sample suggests that even if Hopkins isn’t necessarily back in a go-ahead-and-book-travel-for-Philadelphia sort of way, it is decidedly better.
Much of that improvement appears to have come at the defensive end.
Hopkins allowed opponents to average 12.6 goals and shoot 30.2 percent last season (remove a 22-7 pounding by Maryland as an extreme outlier and those numbers dip to 12 goals and 28.8 percent). This year’s early returns? The Blue Jays are yielding 10 goals an outing and opponents are shooting just 23.6 percent.
Marcille has provided stability in the cage and even delivered the Blue Jays’ first goal from a goalie since 1986, and Mazzone (who starred at long pole at Georgetown) has provided an infusion of unrelenting energy to Hopkins’ close defense.
The offense feels a bit more unsettled. Garrett Degnon is a option known on attack after scoring 40 goals last year, and Angelus is the clear-cut table setter (his eight assists are already almost halfway to his total of 20 last season). Melendez is off to a fine start with five goals, and all six of Hopkins’ starters have between five and 10 points already.
The new pieces include offensive coordinator John Crawley, whose return to his alma mater was well-received in the offseason. It’s also one more variable in the development process that Milliman intuitively knows will take some time (even if he wishes it didn’t have to).
“I think it’s an element of every team,” Milliman said. “When you start a new year, a new season, it’s a new group, a new leadership dynamic, everything. So, you have to start over with some of those things. We have some guys that played some big minutes, but I also think this is the first time we’ve been the favorite or at least expected to be competitive in a top-level game in a little while. That may be the biggest element of maturity.”
At the very least, it’s one of the few definitive things about this Hopkins team. A quick start fostered actual external expectations — one that didn’t entirely exist coming off last year’s 7-9 season but blossomed as a sign of respect after two solid victories.
So, Hopkins might be back. Or it might not. It probably depends on the day, which still represents progress. The sort of mistakes the Blue Jays made Tuesday were bound to happen. Not making them again will be the yardstick of growth as the season unfolds.
“We really just needed to know how to compete in the top 10 if we expect to stay here,” Milliman said. “If we’re going to beat a top-five team, it can’t be luck. It can’t be random. We have to find ways to play that level of lacrosse consistently, and I think it’s partially the team development and the stage of the program. We have to find a way to earn our spot back there and demand that we stay there.”
