Even though Brian Phipps was the No. 1 rated goalie in the 2006 recruiting class, according to Inside Lacrosse, he thought he would have a tough task earning playing time in his first season at Maryland. Phipps entered the preseason at No. 3 on the Terps’ depth chart behind Harry Alford, a two-time All-American and the starter for the last two seasons.

But as soon as the Terps started their preseason workouts, the depth chart became irrelevant. Before playing a single game, Maryland lost five of its players to injuries, including Alford to shoulder surgery and backup goalie Jason Carter to a broken collarbone.

‘It was the craziest thing that I’d ever seen,’ Maryland head coach Dave Cottle said. ‘We thought going into the season that we had three goalies that were pretty good, and it was going to be a pretty competitive fight for the position.’

Instead of three goalies fighting for the job, Maryland was left with Phipps as the only scholarship goalie entering its season opener against Bellarmine. Cottle brought two goalies from club teams to fill out the roster, but the starting job belonged to Phipps.

‘I kind of got pushed in,’ Phipps said. ‘I was a little nervous, but excited. I didn’t expect it coming into Maryland as a freshman, but I just had to run with it.’

The Terps won the game, 11-6, and have since gone 8-3 with Phipps between the pipes. Phipps has played a large role in the team’s success, recording a 61.2 save percentage, eighth in Division I through Sunday. But he is quick to identify help from his teammates as primary causes for his success. While injured, Alford spent time mentoring Phipps in his first games.

Another source of support for Phipps has been his brother Michael Phipps, a senior attackman for Maryland. Both have enjoyed their first season as teammates, and despite spending most of his time at the other end of the field, Michael Phipps has found time to give his little brother some advice. When Brian Phipps earned the starting job, his brother told him to listen to his defenders and not let a shaky start ruin an entire game. The advice was heeded.

‘If you look at how he plays now and how he did in the first game, he just has a different demeanor about him,’ Michael Phipps said. ‘He’s a lot more confident, and you can tell because he talks more now as opposed to in the beginning of the year, when he was kind of quiet and didn’t really say anything. Now he’s just playing with a level of confidence, and you can tell.’

It wasn’t always easy – the Terps dropped to 2-2 with early losses to Duke and Georgetown. But after a five-game winning streak and a double-overtime win at Navy on Saturday, Maryland has recovered from its rocky start and is in good position with three regular season games remaining.

‘What it did is it forced us to change our plan about four or five times as the season went along,’ Cottle said of the early-season injury situation. ‘And when you have four or five plans at the beginning, you don’t have one. And we were really reeling a little bit.’

As the season winds down and the Terps prepare for the postseason, Brian Phipps’ success is beginning to pose a problem for Cottle. Alford has been practicing for nearly a month and has played in three games. As of Saturday, he told his coach he felt 80 percent healthy. When he gets up to 100 percent, Cottle said he will have a problem on his hands, having to choose between a two-time All-American and his season-long starter with the second highest save percentage in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

‘It’s one of those things,’ Cottle said. ‘You’ve got to do right by your team and so we’re just going to play the guy that gives us the best chance to win, and if it’s both of them that give us the best chance to win, then we’ll play them both.’

Duke charges droppedOn Wednesday the state of North Carolina dropped all charges against three former Duke lacrosse players, stemming from an assault at an off-campus party. The scandal made national headlines last year and resulted in the cancellation of Duke’s entire season and the dismissal of its coach, Mike Pressler.

Parity ContinuesWhen the season started with Syracuse, Johns Hopkins and Virginia all losing early games, it was surprising. What’s more surprising is that with only a few games left in the season, Johns Hopkins is 4-4, and has lost its last three. Syracuse sits at 3-6 and must win out to be eligible for the postseason. Virginia has gone 10-1 to unofficially secure a spot in the NCAA tournament, but Syracuse and Johns Hopkins still have work to do.

Published on April 11, 2007 at 12:00 pm