Sitting in his office in early February, before he had ever walked the sidelines as the Terrapin men’s lacrosse coach, John Tillman acknowledged the transitional issues that often come hand-in-hand with a coaching change. Still, it was a deeper belief — that the Terps could make a deep run in the postseason and, with enough hard work and sacrifice, win the program’s first national championship since 1975 — that mattered most.
“If we do everything right and we are there and ready, why can’t we compete with everybody?” Tillman said. “Why can’t we beat anybody in the country?”
The coach’s preseason ruminations nearly came to fruition, but in the end, the Terps once again fell just short.
Playing in the program’s first national championship since 1998, the Terps lost to ACC rival Virginia, 9-7, on May 30, ending an unlikely run through the postseason that featured wins over No. 8 seed North Carolina, No. 1 seed Syracuse and No. 5 seed Duke. The loss to the seventh-seeded Cavaliers on Memorial Day extended the program’s championship drought to 36 years.
“Walking into that locker room a second ago was pretty tough,” Tillman said after the title-game loss. “We obviously had certain goals in mind, and we didn’t reach them. But you have to build on some of the positives.”
Even though the Terps’ season ended in disappointing fashion, Tillman’s focus on the positives following the loss to Virginia had backing.
The Terps (13-5) won their first ACC Championship in six years by defeating North Carolina and Duke in April. They appeared in their first Final Four since 2006. They also earned the No. 2 ranking in Inside Lacrosse’s final media poll.
“This was a great year in getting Maryland back on the national map,” senior midfielder Dan Burns said. “This is our first year back in the Final Four in five years. Coming in next year, we’re going to be the team to beat. We’re going to be on everybody’s map. The standard’s been set to get to the Final Four.”
The Terps’ loss to Virginia capped an up-and-down year in which the team experienced difficulties both on and off the field.
Dave Cottle, the Terps’ coach since 2002, stepped down from his position last May after the Terps had failed to advance to the Final Four for the fourth straight year. Less than four weeks after Cottle’s departure, former Athletics Director Debbie Yow hired Tillman, forcing a Terp team with 17 seniors to start over with a new coach.
After a fast start to the season — the Terps scored 36 goals in wins over Detroit Mercy and Georgetown — the team struggled at the beginning of ACC play, losing its first two league games.
Facing the prospect of going winless in conference play for the first time since 1993, the Terps rallied to beat Virginia, 12-7, in Charlottesville, Va., on April 2. The win seemed to turn the Terps’ season around and silenced detractors who had begun to question the team’s postseason worthiness.
“A lot of people were criticizing us for our performance,” attackman Ryan Young said after the regular-season win against Virginia. “It just showed everyone else that we’re not just a team you can blow over.”
With the Terps succeeding on the field, they were forced to deal with a heavy blow off it. Young’s mother, Maria, died April 17 after losing her four-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
The Terps rallied around Young and played the rest of the season in Maria’s honor, donning purple stickers with her initials, “MY,” on their helmets and wearing purple T-shirts on game days with a script “Forever Young” across the back.
A surprising loss to Colgate in the Terps’ regular-season finale ensured they entered the postseason as an unseeded team. But after wins over the Tar Heels, Orange and Blue Devils in three consecutive weeks, the Terps found themselves playing on the sport’s biggest stage at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
The result, though, didn’t fall in line with the script from the rest of the Terps’ season.
“It’s hard to separate,” Tillman said. “But emotionally, when you take [the national-championship loss] away, to beat the last two defending national champions, to get to Memorial Day, Ryan to fight through all the adversity with his mom, I’m really proud of how they did things.”
“This team, we’re a brotherhood,” Young added. “It feels terrible right now, but we had a successful year. We’re going to keep our heads high. I couldn’t be more proud of this team. These guys are going to be my best friends for the rest of my life. It’s just hard to take right now.”
Even though the Terps graduate 17 seniors, the future of the program remains bright. The team returns all but one starting midfielder, two top offensive options in attackman Owen Blye and midfielder Joe Cummings, faceoff specialist Curtis Holmes and goalkeeper Niko Amato. The Terps also have a Divison I-best six recruits playing in July’s Under Armour All-American game, an event equivalent to the McDonald’s All-American game in basketball.
After the Terps’ loss to Virginia last month, players talked about their expectation to come back strong next year and ensure the work that the Terps’ senior class did this past season wouldn’t be for naught.
“The example that our seniors have set is priceless,” Cummings said. “It’s something that I’m going to carry into my senior year. The legacy that they’ve left is huge.”
engelke@umdbk.com
