Attackman Drew Snider and the Terps were outscored 7-1 in the final 16 minutes of Saturday’s loss to No. 1 Virginia. The Terps have allowed five fourth-quarter goals in each of their losses this season.
Standing in a weight room inside the Gossett Team House, Terrapins men’s lacrosse coach John Tillman fielded questions from a handful of reporters Saturday afternoon. For about six minutes, he broke down his team’s 12-8 loss to No. 1 Virginia, touching on everything from personnel changes to fourth-quarter struggles.
Seeing that Tillman had said enough, team spokesman Patrick Fischer ended the interview. He directed the reporters toward Virginia coach Dom Starsia, who was waiting patiently near the door with star attackman Steele Stanwick.
As the scattering of recorders and notepads moved toward Starsia, Tillman had a rare moment to himself.
“Mistakes,” he muttered, his voice heavy with grief. “Just too many mistakes.”
It was a telling scene.
Less than a month earlier, Tillman’s team was one of college lacrosse’s biggest surprises. Despite losing more than half their starters from last year’s national runner-up roster, the youthful Terps opened the season with convincing wins over three NCAA tournament hopefuls. After a 10-7 victory over then-No. 8 Duke, they appeared ready to face the game’s heavyweights.
A lot has changed in almost four weeks.
The No. 12 Terps have dropped three of their past five games. They’ve lost two straight conference matches, knocking them out of contention for the ACC regular-season title. They’ve even gained national attention for their part in an on-field fight.
The cruel reality of it all? If lacrosse games were three quarters long, the Terps could be undefeated.
In each of their three losses this season, the Terps have surrendered five goals during the fourth quarter. Separately, they’ve squandered a three-goal lead, a two-goal lead and a one-goal lead within the games’ final 16 minutes.
“We’ve just got to put together a full game, 60 minutes,” midfielder Landon Carr said. “We’ve played probably 40 and we need to play 60, defensively, at least.”
Possession has made all the difference of late. In each of their fourth-quarter collapses, the Terps have lost two pivotal battles: faceoffs (a combined 8-for-21) and groundballs (19-52). Unable to hold on to the ball, they’ve been forced to lean heavily on sophomore goalie Niko Amato.
For even the former All-ACC selection, however, the late-game workload has proved to be too much. Particularly against the conference’s top attackmen.
North Carolina’s Thomas Wood netted two fourth-quarter goals to capture an 11-10 Tar Heels win on March 24, and Stanwick tallied three points during an important three-plus minutes midway through the final period to secure the Cavaliers’ victory on Saturday.
“We just pick and choose our battles in the fourth quarter,” Stanwick said. “For the most part, that worked out for us.”
Of course, being shorthanded hasn’t helped the Terps.
They faced Virginia without second-line midfielder Kevin Cooper, who was serving a one-game suspension for his part in the fight at North Carolina a week earlier. Starting midfielder Mike Chanenchuk (undisclosed injury) also was limited almost exclusively to extra-man opportunities.
Combine those setbacks with the return of just two defensive fixtures from a year ago – Amato and long pole Jesse Bernhardt – and late-game struggles seemed almost inevitable.
What’s less understandable, though, are the Terps’ faceoff troubles. Midfielder Curtis Holmes won 62.9 percent of his draws as the team’s faceoff specialist last season and seemed poised to dominate this year. He’s won just 50 percent of them through eight games, however, and Tillman has started using midfielder Charlie Raffa at the X.
“He’s getting more experience,” Tillman said of the freshman. “That will serve us down the road.”
If Tillman can’t get his team on track soon, the Terps’ road may not extend as long as he would like. They have games against Navy and No. 3 Johns Hopkins before starting the ACC Tournament later this month. If they can’t pull out a win against the Midshipmen on Friday, there is a real chance the Terps could miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002.
So the time is now for the Terps to cut down on the mistakes. And if the look on Tillman’s face Saturday was any indication, he knows it.
“We’ll learn from our mistakes,” Amato said. “We’ll get in the film room and work with our coaches with what we can improve on.”
letourneau@umdbk.com
