Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 17, 1993 TAG: 9304170280
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS BACHELDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SMITH HELPS MAROONS STAY ON THE ATTACK
This time last year, Brett Smith was taking Roanoke lacrosse statistics.Now he's making them.
When a mysterious injury spelled a quick end to his 1992 season, Smith pushed pencils in Roanoke's push to the Division III championship game. But he's back on the Roanoke attack and he's keeping his sideline successor busy.
Smith, a swift-shooting attacker at the business end of Roanoke's fast-break offense, is on a record-wrecking pace midway through this season. In eight games, he has 48 points on 40 goals and eight assists.
If he maintains his scoring pace, he will raze the school record for goals in a season and edge the Maroons' mark for points in a season. Both records are more than a decade old: Sean Smith scored 51 goals in 1981; Paul Goldstein racked up 81 points in 1982.
"I'm just happy to be actually playing in games," said Smith, from Baldwin, N.Y., on Long Island. "To tell the truth, I don't think I'm doing anything special. I'm just finding the right openings and guys are getting me the ball in shooting spots. A lot of my goals come in the transition game and most are assisted."
As a sophomore in 1991, Smith led the Maroons in scoring with 59 points (44 goals). He had four goals and three assists in the first three games last season and went to bed happy after the team's 15-10 win over Salisbury State.
But he couldn't get up in the morning. He awoke with a painful groin injury and never played another game in Roanoke's run to the national final.
Smith said he saw six doctors and none solved the injury. Some said muscle pull, some said infection, but no treatment worked.
"It was really tough," Smith said. "I felt like everything was taken away and I couldn't do anything about it."
Fifth-year Roanoke coach Bill Pilat didn't know what to expect of Smith this season.
"By the national championship game [last season], he was about 50 percent. In practice, he was going half-speed and was still our best attacker. He just couldn't play in a game."
Smith is repeating his third year of eligibility. He was granted a hardship year, and he said he will return next season for a fifth year.
This season, he is second in scoring in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and a two-time ODAC player of the week. Against Whittier (Calif.) on April 4, he fired in a school-record 10 goals and tied a Roanoke record with 13 points.
"That was a fun day," he said. "It was a day when nothing went wrong."
Said Pilat, "Every time he caught it, he scored. And he was not hogging the ball. He's a team player.
The Maroons (7-1) have won seven straight and are ranked fourth nationally after wins last week over 17th-ranked Lynchburg and 14th-ranked Denison. Today, Roanoke will play third-ranked Nazareth (5-2), winner of five straight.
The 2 p.m. game in Rochester, N.Y., is a rematch of the national championship, which the Golden Flyers won 22-11. Nazareth also edged Roanoke 13-12 in Salem during the 1992 regular season. The Flyers lost six senior All-Americans and Roanoke lost two, but the Maroons will have Smith back in uniform.
The Roanoke team flew to Rochester on Friday morning, a luxury made possible by vigorous fund raising. Smith's parents and two younger brothers - one a lacrosse starter at Syracuse - will be at the game.
"This is a huge game," Smith said. "It's emotional for the team because we lost twice to them last year. And especially for me. I watched it twice."