Brian Tedder, Collegian

The Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team knew entering the season it would go as far as its offense would take it. Following an 8-4 victory over Hofstra, the Minutemen looked to have the potential for a special season and rose to No. 16 in the Nike/IL media poll.

However, UMass dropped a 7-4 decision at Yale last weekend after the Minutemen had trouble maintaining possession and developing offense from set-piece situations.

Now back to Garber Field and having fallen out of the poll, the Maroon and White want to prove it is the team that handily defeated the Pride and not the one that looked anemic offensively last Sunday.

“They were disappointed; you put a lot into it then you don’t come out on top,” UMass coach Greg Cannella said of his players’ reaction to Sunday’s loss. “Obviously as a coach you want to see that. Hopefully they have the wherewithal to improve.”

The Minutemen (1-1) face a young and inexperienced team in cross-state rival Harvard (1-1) Saturday afternoon.

Though Saturday’s battle features the Bay State’s only two Division I lacrosse programs, Cannella does not place more emphasis on beating Harvard than any other team on the schedule.

“I don’t think it’s any more special to me or any of us,” Cannella said. “All of these games are very important. Every game we try to prepare the same way. If you try to prepare differently, it can become a problem.”

Harvard has a new coach and a large roster turnover from last year’s 5-7 campaign. In addition to the bevy of scorers lost to graduation, the Crimson lost faceoff specialist John Henry Flood – one of the nation’s best in the faceoff circle in 2007.

UMass lost 11-of-14 draws against Yale. But Cannella hopes his team can take advantage of the Crimson’s inexperience at the position. Expect junior Joe Reale to retain the primary duties, but the coach also wants to get junior Nick Glasser and freshman Stephen Zorkers involved. Sophomore Bobby Hayes lost two faceoffs on Sunday.

“We have a lot of faith in Joe,” Cannella said. “But you gauge that decision on how the game is going. You have to make a change if you’re not winning them and that’s why we put Bobby in there.”

Yet even when the Minutemen had possession in Sunday’s loss, the team struggled mightily to create consistent scoring chances during six-on-six situations. It is unclear if the offensive unit will improve over time since several of the group’s expected key components are serving indefinite suspensions.

“You need everyone to be able to go 100 percent, but also be unselfish,” Cannella said. “When you talk about guys needing to do more, they can misjudge that and hold the ball a little too long and that will cause trouble too. I tell them just to do their job and have faith that everyone will do their job as well.”

The attackers played well in both games while the midfielders struggled to aid the offense. The midfield by nature plays an important role in transition offense – a part of the game nearly nonexistent for UMass last weekend.

“I think transition offense and scoring the ‘easy ones’ is very important,” Cannella said. “I think in the college game, defenses and goalies are better than they’ve ever been, so it’s become hard to consistently score six-on-six. You have to score as many of those goals as you can. We only had one against Yale, and against Hofstra we had three or four. So it makes a big difference in your scoring total.”

Regardless of UMass’s offensive struggles, the team’s defense has played well enough in both games. Adding the fact that Harvard lost its top four scorers from 2007, the Minutemen should deliver another impressive performance on defense.

In fact, Cannella hopes his defense can develop into a weapon to cause turnovers. Though, he is careful to tell his players not to risk too much in front of their own net.

“I don’t think you encourage it, but the guys playing in front of [UMass goaltender] Doc [Schneider] know that if they do take a chance at some point that Doc’s there to back him up,” Canella said. “So there’s a certain comfort level that they have so they don’t have to play tight, where if they give their opponent an inch the ball will be in the back of the net.”

Michael King can be reached at [email protected].