The Maryland men’s lacrosse team used transition offense on Feb. 18 to demolish High Point, 19-5, and claim its third-straight win to begin the season. Afterward, coach John Tillman told reporters his traditionally slow-paced attack would continue to push the tempo in future contests.

With senior attackmen Matt Rambo, Colin Heacock and Dylan Maltz leading the front line, the coach said he trusted his team to play at a quicker speed than previous seasons.

However, in a 5-4 loss at Notre Dame on Saturday, Maryland was forced to play at a more deliberate pace. Despite the Terps’ increased patience, the squad struggled to protect the ball, wasting a strong defensive effort in the defeat.

“I think candidly both teams really wanted to play fast,” Tillman said. “But both teams did a good job trying not to let the other team get out and get breaks.”

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During a 4-0 start to the year, Maryland scored at least four goals in a quarter nine times. But in the loss to Notre Dame, the Terps scored four goals total and committed a season-high 20 turnovers.

Rambo, Heacock and Maltz fumbled the ball on 12 occasions while registering just four combined points.

Tillman credited the Fighting Irish for playing tough defense, causing 13 turnovers, but lamented his team’s unforced giveaways. He said the mistakes came from basic exchange passes and poor decisions — unusual problems for a veteran unit.

Saturday’s display, combined with an inconsistent offensive performance in a win over Yale the weekend before, forced Tillman to question the amount of time he’s spent on ball security drills in practice. After all, the coach felt the whole team was careless at Notre Dame.

“That’s something we’re going to have to look at and talk to the guys about,” Tillman said. “Being able to handle the ball well and handle it clean is important … Are we doing enough work on that and emphasizing that? [We have to] make sure we’re practicing with game-like passes at game-like speed all the time.”

Maryland’s turnovers placed the defense under pressure, but the group held the Fighting Irish to five scores, its best effort against a ranked opponent since a 10-5 win over then-ranked No. 7 Navy last season. On Saturday, the Terps went 15-for-15 on clears and forced 12 giveaways.

The stable display from a defense Tillman described as a “work in progress” a few weeks ago made an impression on the coach.

“The guys [on defense] did a pretty good job today,” Tillman said. “Not only the score, but I actually thought they played so much defense, too … For all the defense we actually played, the fact we only gave up five goals was pretty impressive.”

But Maryland’s inability to keep the ball and consistently find the back of the net prevented it from overcoming Notre Dame.

The Terps hope to rediscover the dynamic offense that led to 62 goals through their first four contests. They know subdued performances like the one against the Fighting Irish will not produce much success in the future.

“When you score four goals,” Tillman said, “you’re just not going to win.”