Sophomore Travis Holmes celebrates after a goal yesterday against Bucknell. The Terps used a late six-goal run to dispose of the Bison, 14-10, in Lewisburg, Pa

LEWISBURG, Pa. – It shouldn’t have been this difficult.

The Terrapin men’s lacrosse team dominated No. 18-ranked Bucknell in every facet of the game except goalkeeping and shooting percentage.

After upsetting then-No. 2 Navy only three days before, the Bison followed the same script for most of the game — keeping the score close enough to make a run in the final minutes.

But unlike Navy, the Terps took care of the Bison at the end of the third quarter and continued into the fourth to squelch Bucknell’s upset bid. The Terps escaped Christy Matthewson Memorial Stadium with a 14-10 win.

“We never thought that the game was going to slip away from us,” senior midfielder Dave Matz said. “It was more the goalie playing huge and keeping it close. Then we came out in the second half and everything started clicking from offense to defense, and the goals started coming one after the other.”

The No. 4 Terps (3-1) led by only one goal at halftime, despite taking 13 more shots and scooping up 16 more ground balls than the Bison. At the end of the first half, the Terps had shot a miserable 21 percent. After an offensive explosion in the second half, they finished at 31 percent.

“At halftime I told them, ‘You’re doing so many things the right way; you just haven’t been rewarded,’” coach Dave Cottle said. “I thought we really played well, but we didn’t score. But we just kept playing.”

Down three goals late in the third quarter, Bucknell (2-2) was in the same situation they faced against Navy, when they scored the game’s last four goals to win in overtime. The Bison tallied two goals in a span of 30 seconds to bring the score to 7-6 with two minutes, four seconds left in the third quarter.

“It could have gone either way. But we stuck with it and played hard,” junior attackman Joe Walters said. “You know that they have talent to play Navy, so we really had to play hard.”

But a six-goal run started by sophomore midfielder Travis Holmes fifty seconds later put to rest any Terp worries to rest. Bill McGlone (two goals, two assists), Brendan Healy (three goals) and Michael Phipps (two goals, one assist) chipped in to take a commanding lead.

Bucknell goalie Matt Baran had 17 saves, eight of which came within the first quarter. Bucknell didn’t record a shot until seven minutes and 44 seconds into the contest. By that time, Baran had faced eight shots, one of which was a wide-open breakaway by Walters.

“I felt confident. I was seeing the ball well,” Baran said. “But these guys are great shooters. They start hitting corners and fast breaks. Maryland is a good team.”

“It was extremely frustrating. This whole day was extremely frustrating for me,” Walters said. “But we won, so that’s all that matters.”

Bucknell took their only lead with 12:50 left in the second quarter. But with the Terps still racking up shots, scooping ground balls and causing turnovers, they scored two goals to end the first half and another two to open the second.

Maxwell Ritz notched his first career goal on an open-net shot late in the second half. Holmes’ goal was his career first on only his third career shot and Matz netted two scores, the most points of his career.

“I usually know my role,” Matz said. “I just try to shoot when I have open shots.”