Xander Ritz doesn’t buy the comparisons between his move from attack to midfield during his senior season on the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team in 2006 and a similar switch made this season by his brother, Max Ritz.
Xander scored 46 points as a senior while splitting time between midfield and attack on an offense that featured proven veterans such as Joe Walters and Bill McGlone. Plus he had experience playing midfield throughout high school.
The former Terp said he admires Max’s willingness to learn a completely new position as one of the team’s few returning proven scorers.
“His attitude has been phenomenal,” Xander, who now plays for the Los Angeles Riptide in Major League Lacrosse, said. “I know if I was in his position, I’d have a tough time making that transition. I’ve been just really impressed with the maturity he’s shown.”
With three highly touted freshman attackmen entering the program this season, Max Ritz has adjusted to life as a midfielder. It has not been easy for Ritz, who has just 13 points in 12 games this season after notching 93 in his first 46 career games, but his production will be a key factor to the Terps’ success the rest of the season.
“It’s a sacrifice you make when you come to a program like Maryland that you know will get the best talent they can get,” Ritz said of the move, which coach Dave Cottle first approached him about in the fall and then implemented in the preseason.
Ritz, who had started 39 games at attack in his Terp career, had not played midfield since “8th or 9th grade,” he said. But Cottle thought starting freshmen attackmen Travis Reed, Grant Catalino and Ryan Young would work best for his team.
Ritz never complained.
“There’s no real sense in taking it negatively,” Ritz said. “If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. You might as well work hard and make the best of it. It’s not like he’s asking me to pick up a goalie stick; he’s just asking me to move to a different part of the offense.”
The preseason honorable mention All-American may have accepted the move wholeheartedly, but the transition did not start well. Ritz called it “a pretty serious learning process.”
His 20-game scoring streak was stopped in the season opener at Georgetown. He did not notch his first point of the season until a second-half goal in a blowout loss at Duke in the team’s third game.
While the three freshmen attackmen have produced 44 goals and 33 assists this season, Ritz has failed to find a rhythm playing on the Terps’ first midfield line.
Ritz said he expected his numbers to drop this season, but he just wanted the opportunity to end his career with a national championship.
“If you look at the stats all over the country, it’s attackmen that have the most points,” Ritz said. “But if that’s something you’re interested in, then your head is not in the right place.”
Cottle said the move was in the best interest of the team, but he feels a little guilty about making it. He even moved Ritz back to the starting attack against Johns Hopkins on April 12 in place of Reed, who was suspended, but the Terp offense did not play well. Ritz was back on the first midfield line Saturday against Penn.
Despite the lack of production, Cottle said he respects the job Ritz has done adapting to the position and has seen steady improvement.
“He said, ‘I’ll do anything it takes to win.’ He’s tried hard on defense when he’s been out there, and I think he’s done a good job,” Cottle said.
Xander Ritz does not like to discuss tactics with his brother during their regular phone conversations, but he has tried to help because of his experience with both positions.
“One thing I told him is he needs to be really aggressive and really assertive because you only get so many runs per game,” Xander said. “At attack, it’s a little easier to let the game come to you because you’re on the field for 60 minutes.”
And Max has to capitalize on those opportunities.
One of the main causes of Ritz’s struggles has been shooting. His shot percentage is 20 percent, nearly 11 points lower than his career average. Ritz said after shooting everything from “about eight feet away” as an attackman, he has been working hard in practice to improve his range. Cottle said Ritz showed the ability to make the longer shots in the preseason, but it has not translated into the regular season so far.
If the Terps are going to make a deep run into the postseason, that will have to change. Cottle has called on his veteran offensive players to improve, saying the team’s lack of offensive leadership when the team is struggling is its biggest flaw.
As a senior co-captain, Ritz realizes it is the time in his Terp career, which has included an ACC Championship and a pair of NCAA final fours, for him to step up.
“I hadn’t really thought about it too much earlier in this season, but it’s really crept up on me,” Ritz said. “It’s now or never, as they say, just because there aren’t that many games left.”
No matter how Max’s Terp career finishes, Xander said he will respect the growth he’s seen in his brother since the two played together during Max’s freshman and sophomore campaigns.
“I really don’t even think he knows how proud I am because of how different this has been,” Xander said. “It’s been a learning experience, and he’s matured a lot. People always talk about sports teaching you life lessons, and I think years down the road he’ll really appreciate what he’s learned from this season.”
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