On the strength of one of its best first halves of the season, the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team found itself essentially one goal away from returning to the NCAA final four, May 17.

The Terps had watched Virginia erase its three-goal lead in the teams’ third meeting of the season to force overtime in the NCAA quarterfinals at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. But a single goal was all that separated the young Terps from what would have been their third – and most unlikely – final four trip in four seasons.

Virginia’s Ben Rubeor’s unassisted goal ended those hopes with 31 seconds left in the first overtime, but it did not dim the accomplishments of a team that included 18 freshmen, according to senior midfielder Will Dalton. “In the beginning we were a really young team, and we really didn’t know who we were or what we were,” Dalton said. “To do what we did, the end of the season actually made me happy as a senior. We came a long way.”The loss capped a second-straight 10-6 season for the Terps, who were projected to finish last in the ACC entering the season but finished the regular season second in the conference. Coach Dave Cottle said the Terps exceeded his expectations for a squad that started four freshmen for much of the season.

“We were a first-round playoff loser the year before, Cottle said. We were inexperienced on defense, and we weren’t sure at attack.” “We thought we could be an NCAA tournament team, but some things had to go our way. With our schedule and everything like that, I think we improved a great deal.”

The Terps had some big wins, such as a season-opening victory at then-No. 4 Georgetown and an upset of then-No. 1 Virginia at Byrd Stadium on March 29.

But at times, they showed their inexperience, notably in consecutive losses to Navy and Johns Hopkins in the weekends following the Virginia win. The offense struggled without suspended freshman attackman Travis Reed.

The Terps battled a lack of consistency in their half-field offense throughout the season, while the defense, which was forced to replace a pair of All-American defenders, proved to be a cornerstone of the team behind senior Joe Cinosky, a 2008 USILA second team All-American.

Junior Jason Carter and sophomore Brian Phipps split time in goal, alternating starts, but neither distanced themselves from the other enough to win the job outright. Although Cottle said he was uncomfortable with the situation, he praised the goalies for turning the Terps’ depth into a strength by the end of the season.

“Defensively, we gave ourselves a chance to win almost every game,” Cottle said. “And now what we have to do is to be able to score more than 10 against a top opponent, and that’s obviously something we have to work on for next year.”

The offense relied on its all-freshman starting attack of Grant Catalino, Ryan Young and Reed for much of its production. The freshman trio combined for nine points in the win against Georgetown and shouldered the offensive load for much of the season, finishing as the team’s top three scorers. Yet their production slowed as the season wore on and teams routinely marked them with long poles.

“This team really didn’t have any hype, so I think that brought us closer together because we knew that in order for us to be successful, we’d have to play as a team,” senior defender Ryne Adolph said.

For the returning players, that experience should serve the Terps well in the coming seasons. The Terps lose all three defenders who started for them in the two tournament games and midfielder Max Ritz, who finished his Terp career with 111 career points, along with Dalton, who was a reliable face-off man for the past four seasons. But with both goalies, their top five scorers and many young players who earned valuable minutes this season returning next year, there is reason for optimism.And coming up just short of a final four appearance this season just adds fuel to the fire.

“The way I felt after the last game made me more excited about next year and more hungry,” Catalino said. “It made me want to work harder to get ready to go further next year.”

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