At this time last season, the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team was preparing for its earliest regular season opener in program history.

But when constructing this season’s schedule, coach Dave Cottle knew his young squad could use more practice time before the games actually started counting.

The Terps will wait to start their regular season until Feb. 23 at Georgetown. In the meantime, they’ll continue to get ready with their third set of scrimmages tonight at 6 p.m. The games against Harvard and Binghamton will be held at the football practice complex.

“For this team as young as they are, I thought it was important for us to have an extra week,” Cottle said. “It feels like we’re not in that sense of urgency. Now that’ll change next week, but this week it’s a good feeling knowing we have another week to practice without practicing for an opponent.”

Instead of playing a game that counts this weekend like 28 Division I teams are doing, the Terps, whose roster features 18 true freshmen, can continue to build team chemistry and get everyone playing time, a priority for Cottle when it comes to scrimmages.

The Terps opened preseason play two weeks ago, hosting Loyola (Md.) and Delaware, and they traveled to Princeton to play the Tigers and Villa Julie last Saturday.

Freshman attackman Ryan Young said he’s felt more comfortable after each scrimmage. With two more, and a week of practice left before the games matter, he’s grateful for the prolonged preseason.

“It gets us ready for real competition, and it shows us the speed difference between high school and college,” Young said.

Senior attackman Max Ritz said he’s been impressed with the development of the freshmen, but the extra week of preparation gives the team an opportunity to give the No. 4 Hoyas its best shot.

“Having a scrimmage here instead of a real game gives us that much more time to get our younger guys some more game time and situational experience, so when we do play a big game like Georgetown next week, it will pay off,” Ritz said.

For more on the Terps’ goalie battle, check out The Diamondback sports blog at blogs.diamondbackonline.com.

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