Brian Tedder/Collegian

Even in years of great success, the Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team has struggled to defeat Albany. The Minutemen hope to reverse their four-game series losing streak, as well as the current two-game slide, when they take on the Great Danes this afternoon at Garber Field; faceoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.

The No. 18 Great Danes (0-3) pose a difficult matchup for an undermanned UMass (1-2) team with their combination of speed and skill offensively and raw physicality on the defensive side.

Despite the graduation of both of Albany’s leading scorers from last season, Frank Resetarits and Merrick Thompson, Tewaaraton Trophy candidate Jordan Levine leads an upstart and talented Great Dane offense.

“They’re a very athletic group; they’ve got some guys that have been playing like that for four years,” Cannella said. “Jordan Levine is one of the best midfielders in the country. They’ve got two twins [Steve and Mike Amman] who are excellent specimens as athletes.”

Like UMass, Albany hasn’t enjoyed the early success teams hope for in the preseason. However, the Great Danes three losses have all come on the road to teams currently ranked in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Men’s Division I Media Poll by a combined seven goals – No. 4 Johns Hopkins, No. 7 Notre Dame and No. 8 Delaware.

The reason for UMass’s early struggles is no secret; its offense has not consistently created enough scoring chances. Even when the UMass offense has managed to find a high-percentage shot, opposing goalkeepers have made quality saves. UMass has scored nine goals in its last two games, the lowest two-game total since Cannella took over as head coach in 1995.

“We cannot consistently win games scoring five, six, seven goals. We have to score in double digits,” Cannella said. “You can’t expect your defense to hold teams down to three goals. It’s not fair, and there are too many good teams out there that are going to score more.”

The Minutemen were in both of their two losses until late runs by their opposition put the games out of reach primarily because of the outstanding play of their defensive unit. For most teams in the country, allowing an average of 6.33 goals per game would be more than enough to win games.

Aside from the problems finding shots, faceoffs and turnovers have become problem areas for the Minutemen. Junior Joe Reale took a majority of the draws in the first three games and will see most of the time at the face-off X in today’s game. After a 10-for-16 performance against Hofstra in the season-opener, he is 5-for-20 in the losses to Yale and Harvard.

Faceoffs are an area of concern for Albany as well. Four Great Dane players combined for a .343 percentage in the season’s first three games. Cannella expects to see Levine take a majority of the draws today – he is 9-for-20 on the season.

“[Reale] is going to go out there and we’ll see how he does,” Cannella said. “We’ll see if Nick [Glasser] can take a couple again, and Bobby Hayes did a pretty good job Saturday. [Albany] is going to face off a couple different guys. Jordan Levine will take some. That’s a real dangerous matchup for us anywhere on the field, particularly on the faceoff if he gets it out in transition.”

Notes

Senior team captain Rory Pedrick has not played in a game this season and will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury. He is scheduled for surgery Friday