Attackman Owen Blye scored four goals on five shots against the Blue Jays to help the Terps overcome a three-goal second-half deficit.
BALTIMORE – It was the biggest game of the season on the biggest stage in the sport, and the Terrapins men’s lacrosse team desperately needed someone, anyone.
Trailing No. 3 Johns Hopkins by three goals with 10 minutes to play in the third quarter, the Terps’ time was running out. Star senior attackman Joe Cummings had been all but shut down by the Blue Jays’ defense, leaving the team’s sluggish offense in limbo.
Owen Blye answered the call. The junior attackman scored his first of four goals with 9:04 left in the third quarter and was a catalyst in a comeback that included six unanswered goals to end the game.
Blye scored again less than three minutes after his first goal, bringing the score to 6-5. After a rip from midfielder Michael Shakespeare tied the game at six with 17 seconds left in the third quarter, Blye added two more goals in the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter to seal victory.
Even as the game appeared to be slipping away in the beginning of the third quarter, Blye said the team never panicked.
“We always try and preach throughout the year, ‘Never get too high, never get too low,'” he said. “So that’s always in the back of our heads.”
The Terps possessed the ball for a mere 2:53 in the second quarter, allowing the Blue Jays to extend their lead to as many as three goals. Being dominated in possession put a tremendous strain on the Terps’ defense, but it was a time when Blye said the team finally began to come together.
“When that happens, you have to keep each other up, keep saying we can get the ball, keep executing every time we get it and don’t get out of your game plan,” Blye said. “You can’t change what you do just because you haven’t had the ball.”
Blye’s explosion filled the void left by Cummings, who finished with just one assist. The senior was a clear focus for the Blue Jays’ defense from the first whistle, and he was held off the scoreboard on just three shots.
Blye, meanwhile, scored four goals for the second time in his career. It was also his third hat trick and 11th multi-goal game.
Despite his contributions, Blye was adamant that a team effort had led the team back into the game.
“Every time we bring it and talk about our offense, we say that no one guy has to put the world on his shoulder,” Blye said. “We say that if everybody does the little things, the big things will come. And when you take that approach, good things seem to happen.”
Four times, to be exact. When no one else could, Blye stepped up and carried the Terps to a victory that will be long remembered in the history of the storied rivalry. Watching the hard-fought battle on quaint Homewood Field in Baltimore, thousands saw a possible star-in-the-making put the world on his shoulders.
Even if he won’t admit it.
popper@umdbk.com
