Midfielders Charlie Raffa (7) and Isaiah Davis-Allen (26) collapse on the ball after a faceoff during the Terps’ 8-1 win over Navy at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Feb. 14, 2015.

The 2015 Terrapins men’s lacrosse season began the same way the previous two years did: Faceoff specialist Charlie Raffa took his spot at the X, placed one knee on the ground, lined his stick up with his opponent’s and waited for the opening whistle.

Raffa went a combined 16 of 23 in the Terps’ previous two season-openers, which both resulted in victories over Mount St. Mary’s. But in the Terps’ 8-1 win at Navy on Saturday, Raffa hardly resembled his typically dominant self.

The senior, a preseason third-team All-American player, went 4 of 11 at the X. That forced the No. 7 Terps to grind out long defensive possessions and limited a new-look offense’s time to develop with an important non-conference battle at No. 14 Yale looming on Saturday.

Still, coach John Tillman remains confident in his captain and expects the senior to return to form as the season progresses.

“He looked a little rusty,” Tillman said. “We’ve got to continue to push him and get him back into game shape.”

Tillman said Raffa spent much of the team’s fall season resting his injured knee, and the senior didn’t play much in the team’s two preseason scrimmages.

“It wasn’t so much that I wasn’t healthy to play in [the scrimmages],” Raffa said. “I just didn’t want to bang myself up for this year.”

Last season, Raffa had a pair of eventual professionals — long pole Michael Ehrhardt and defensive midfielder Brian Cooper — providing support from the wings during faceoffs.

Ehrhardt, a first-team All-American player, and Cooper, the 64th selection in the 2014 MLL draft, provided an advantage for Raffa against other opposing units.

“There’s some nonverbal communication that goes on,” Tillman said. “You just have a sense of where that ball is going.”

In the Navy game, Tillman plugged an array of different players around Raffa, including defensive midfielder Isaiah Davis-Allen, midfielder Bobby Gribbin and long poles Mike McCarney and Matt Neufeldt.

“They’re my brothers,” Raffa said. “So it’s not the end of the world to not have Mike and Brian.”

Navy faceoff specialists Joe Varello and Brady Dove split time at the X against Raffa on Saturday.

Dove, a member of the 2014 All-Patriot League Second Team, got most of the playing time, winning 7 of 9 faceoffs. But when the Terps handed Navy a 12-6 loss in their 2014 regular season finale, Dove recovered just five opportunities, while Raffa went 16 of 21.

The team will need Raffa to be at his best Saturday, as Yale used multiple players to corral 22 of 26 faceoffs in its 19-4 win over UMass-Lowell last week.

Raffa might have turned in an uncharacteristic performance against the Midshipmen, but the Terps don’t think it will become the norm.

“When you faceoff, you’re putting yourself in a very compromising position,” Tillman said. “We want to get him back, but we don’t want to do it so fast that we push him backwards.”

INJURY UPDATE

Two players who were expected to be significant contributors this year — attackman Tim Rotanz and midfielder Nick Manis — didn’t play in the Terps’ season opener.

It also might be awhile before either player returns to the field.

Junior Manis,  is nursing a foot injury. Tillman said Manis probably won’t be healthy until the end of the season at best.

Rotanz, meanwhile, is dealing with a head injury he sustained during the summer. Tillman preached caution for Rotanz, who scored three goals and added three assists last year.

“We’re just trying to get a sense of what’s going on up there,” Tillman said. “We’ve been really patient, and we’re going to continue to do so.”