By PAUL ATTNER
Washington Post Staff Writer
If the first half of this year’s jnaugural National Lacrosse League season could be tossed out, Cy Coombes of the Maryland Arrows would be the circuit’s likely. coach of the year, but the Arrows and Coombes must live with their poor record over the first 29 games. They feel the only way will receive the recognition he deserves is by winning the playoffs.
“Cy has done the job, he’s the best coach in lacrosse,” says Arrows’ star Paul Suggate, the league’s leading scorer. ” He’s turned us into the best team around,” claims the Arrows’ John McKenna, not known usually for such outspoken statements. “We always had the ability, Cy just knew what to do with it.” Coombes took over from Paul Clancey midway through the season and promptly lost three straight games. The Arrows found themselves in last place with a 6-12 record, a rink full of unhappy players and the possibility of losing a surprisingly large nucleus of boisterous fans.
Suddenly, the whole situation changed. Coombes got the Arrows playing his brand of lacrosse — a controlled fast break and a set offense — and they proved to themselves they could play defense, something the rest of the league doubted.
Over the final 19 games of the season, Maryland was 16-3. Two of those defeats came a few weeks ago on the road, when the Arrows took large leads into what had been their strongest period — the third — and promptly lost both the leads and the games. “Otherwise, we should be 18-1 since we lost those says Coombes. Maryland’s climb three straight,” stopped one point short of second place, but in the process, the Arrows showed that they could handle the two teams ahead of them, Philadelphia and Rochester.
They took the season series from Philly, 5-3, winning the last four in a row. Likewise, they held a 5-3 margin over Rochester. Yet, the Arrows preferred to meet Philly, and quickly. “That’s why we really weren’t that upset about finishing third,” said Coombes. “Except for the money we lost out on, we couldn’t be more pleased. The guys get a little extra satisfaction out of playing Philly.” Maryland has had a year-long feud with the Wings, who ran away with the regular-season title despite the absence over the final half of their best player, Carm Collins, whose broken collar bone probably will keep him out of the playoffs.
“All year they have been saying stuff about how we weren’t that good and we were out of shape and overrated,” said Coombes, who played under Wings’ coach Bobby Allan at Peterboro in the Canadian league last year. “I think we will have a mental edge because of their talk. We also match up well with them physically. To win, we’ll have to control their offence and make sure we win the faceoffs.”
The Arrows will also look to goalie Roger Williams, and midseason on, to continue his solid play. Williams perhaps was the one player who made the Arrows into a winner, releaving Suggate of some of his burden. Maryland must also receive a good series from Bill Coghill, especially on faceoffs during power plays; Gord Keates, who does the bulk of the regular faceoff work, and Wayne Granger, the team bully who has ‘turned into a fine scorer.
And, of course, Suggate must continue his torrid scoring. “I’ve been getting checked playoff-hard all season,” he said. “So it won’t be any different for me, but it will be for some of the other guys who don’t get hit all the time.” Suggate means so much to the Arrows. He scores, he plays on the power play and when his team is a man down. He is their best after a loose ball, one of their top checkers, one of their smartest strategists, and the acknowledged team leader. “We depend on Paul, but the guys have found out they can Win when he doesn’t score,” said Coombes. “We’ve got it all going for us now. I couldn’t be more pleased, except if we could win it all.”