Johns Hopkins sophomore defenseman Patrick Foley, a U.S. U19 gold medalist who was expected to help the Blue Jays rebound from one of the worst defensive seasons of the Dave Pietramala era, will miss the 2017 season, the university announced Sunday.

Foley will not be enrolled at Johns Hopkins for the spring semester, but may return in the fall if he meets academic requirements.

“We look forward to Patrick’s return for the 2018 season and know that he will dedicate his complete efforts to doing everything he can to rejoin us in the fall,” Pietramala said.

Foley was the only freshman to start all 15 games for the Blue Jays in 2016. He had 23 ground balls and a team-high 11 caused turnovers. His absence leaves senior Nick Fields, an honorable-mention All-American, as the lone returning starter on a defense that surrendered 11.6 goals per game, ranking 58th out of 68 teams in NCAA Division I.

“We have always expressed to our players that you never know when the call for the ‘next man up’ will be and several players have quickly demonstrated that they are ready for the challenge and have prepared accordingly,” Pietramala said.

Foley is the latest casualty in a preseason of significant attrition for several nationally ranked teams. According to various media reports:

• Preseason favorite Denver will be without senior Zach Miller. Coach Bill Tierney said the first-team All-American midfielder moved back home (the Allegany Reservation in Steamburg, N.Y.) to be with his daughter. Miller ranked second on the team with 27 goals and 50 points last spring.

• Navy and Saint Joseph’s lost their top scorers, junior midfielder Casey Rees (34 goals) and senior attackman Mike Rastivo (35 goals), respectively. Both were honorable mention All-Americans in 2016 and suffered knee injuries in the fall.

• Rutgers’ Adam Charalambides, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, likewise will miss the 2017 season due to injury. His 43 goals were the most by a first-year player in Scarlet Knights history.

• North Carolina speedster Shane Simpson, who started 14 games at midfield for the NCAA champion Tar Heels last year, is not enrolled at the school.

• Ian Kirby, a redshirt sophomore attackman who proved to be particularly potent on extra-man offense, transferred from Towson to Adelphi.

• Gale Thorpe, who was expected to compete for a spot on Syracuse’s starting attack line, went down with a lower body injury in the first practice of preseason and is out for the season.

These unexpected absences came on the heels of a busy offseason of transfers.

• Johns Hopkins lost and gained a goalie, with former Michigan keeper Gerald Logan landing at Homewood. Logan, a redshirt senior, ranked fourth in Division I with 12.31 saves per game in 2016. Former Blue Jays goalie Hunter Sells transferred to Bucknell.

• Syracuse also added to its stable between the pipes, grabbing U.S. U19 starting goalie Willie Klan from Ohio State.

• Towson addressed its faceoff needs by adding Bellarmine transfer Connor Harryman, who went 151-for-258 (58.5 percent) for the Knights.

• Villanova midfielder Sean Cerrone (seven goals, 14 assists) transferred to Duke.