Although the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team left yesterday’s ACC Championship watching Virginia celebrate its first ACC title since 2006, it feels the experience could be a foreshadowing of sorts for another championship run.
All four conference teams are ranked in the top five nationally, and the No. 4 Terps (9-3) realize that a journey to the Final Four and beyond will likely run through another conference foe.
“You not only play each other once a year, but you play them in the ACC Tournament and then sometimes you see them in the NCAA Tournament,” attackman Grant Catalino said. “So you know pretty much every single one of their guys, and they know every one of your guys, so it makes it that much tougher.”
The competitive play inside the league, which culminated yesterday when No. 2 Virginia (13-1) topped the Terps 10-6 to win the ACC Championship, should prepare the Terps for a stretch of strong competition they will continue to face in the postseason’s second phase.
“The competition is fierce,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. “If you’re a kid, and you get a choice of one of these four schools, your life is pretty good. You’ve got coaches at all these different programs trying to do what they can to be at the top, and we’re taking each others’ heads off in an attempt to be the one left standing in the end.”
On paper, the ACC’s dominance in lacrosse is easy to see. The conference is 35-1 this season in nonconference action, with the one defeat coming in Duke’s 11-7 loss to Notre Dame on Feb. 20.
The ACC also boasts three schools in the top 10 in goals per game, two of the top 10 in goals-against per game, three of the top five in man-up scoring percentage and three of the top six in ground balls per game.
“You’ve got four of the most talented teams in the country in personnel, size, depth and athleticism. Each week it’s a bruising battle,” coach Dave Cottle said. “We came up on the short end, but we’ll be better the next time we play.”
Although yesterday’s game, which likely amounted to a play-in game for the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, ended in disappointing fashion for the Terps, their weekend showing likely secured them a first-round home game. According to Cottle and ESPNU analyst Quint Kessenich, should the Terps conclude their regular season with wins against No. 17 Fairfield and Colgate, the team’s strong record and strength of schedule warrants a bid for the field’s No. 3 seed.
But it was this weekend’s sampling of some of the nation’s best teams that gave the Terps a preview of what they’ll see in May, when the NCAA Tournament kicks off.
“These are the teams you gotta beat to be the best, and when we get to the NCAA Tournament, I’m sure we’re gonna see either one or two of these teams,” Catalino said. “So we know what’s on the road ahead of us. We’re looking forward to it and we gotta get better.”
engelke@umdbk.com
