UAlbany Men's Lacrosse Giving Ball To Pair of Freshmen Attackmen

The youth movement has begun at Albany.

Freshmen Miles and Ty Thompson, who are cousins, are slated to open the season as starting attackmen. The Thompson cousins will be paired with junior Joe Resetarits, who is returning from a broken foot that allowed him to play in just five games last spring.

Great Danes coach Scott Marr said promoting the Thompson cousins to starters became apparent after watching them play in the fall.

“They kind of have elevated everybody else’s play,” Marr said Tuesday. “Ty and Miles’ stick skills and creativity are kind of beyond their years. It’s just fun to watch them play and how smooth they are. In everything that we do in our settled offense and transition, they’re so crafty and they’re so good at making that extra pass and finding the open man. They’re making everyone better, and it’s similar to what Frank [Resetarits] and Merrick [Thomson] did for us a couple years ago where a lot of attention will be paid to try to stop Miles and Ty from scoring, but they’ll have opportunities to put the ball in the net as well. So their creativity is just great and their skills are unbelievable.”

Their presence allows Marr to move Brian Caufield and Derek Kreuzer from attack to midfield.

“The benefit is that it allows us to put Bryan and Derek up at the midfield, and now you’re talking about Bryan or Derek possibly playing against a short stick, which lends to a lot of things for us offensively,” Marr said.

Other notes:

*Goalkeeper John Carroll started all 16 games last season, turning back 51.4 percent of the shots he faced. But the junior has yet to cement his grip on the starting role because of the play of freshman Edmund Cathers. “John comes in with the experience of playing the last two years, and John has been really, really good for us at times,” Marr said. “And then he’s been okay at times. He’s been giving us more of what we’ve been looking for out of John since we got back in September. His consistency at clearing the ball has gotten better. Those are the things we’re looking for from John.”

*Because of the uncertainty in the cage, Marr said he’s looking for the offense to carry the team until the defense finds its rhythm. “We want to get back to scoring in double digits,” he said. “The last two years, it’s been reverse. We’ve been giving up double digits and only scoring in the single digits. So we certainly want to reverse that trend. But we certainly want to try to do a better job of possessing the ball and giving the defense a little bit more of a break this year.”

By Ed Lee