After a disappointing blowout loss to Cornell in the first round of the NCAA tournament in May, Terrapins men’s lacrosse coach John Tillman hit the recruiting trail to finalize his incoming freshman class.
The Terps would be losing more than half of their offensive production from 2013 — including four of their top five goal scorers in seniors Jake Bernhardt, Owen Blye, Kevin Cooper and John Haus, who combined for 77 goals — and Tillman desperately needed to find replacements entering his fourth season in College Park.
The coach responded by polishing off a star-studded group of recruits featuring Inside Lacrosse’s four highest-rated attackmen in the nation: Matt Rambo, Tim Rotanz, Connor Cannizzaro and Colin Heacock. The long list of standouts prompted the website to rank the Terps’ recruiting class No. 1 in the country — a label Tillman and his older players originally accepted wearily, expecting a wide array of inflated egos and bloated confidences from players who were all focal points of their high school teams.
But when the 14 rookies arrived on the campus in August to begin training, Tillman and his returning players quickly realized they had received quite the opposite: a hard-working, selfless group of immensely talented individuals committed to the team and its goal of winning the program’s first national championship since 1975 — a quest that begins with tomorrow afternoon’s game against Mount St. Mary’s at Byrd Stadium.
“They’re all very humble,” said midfielder Mike Chanenchuk, who led the Terps last season with 23 goals. “They didn’t come in and just think they deserved it. They worked hard for it.”
Chanenchuk said the idea of an even playing field regardless of age has been a model for the Terps during the preseason. Freshman or senior, No. 1 recruit or the final signee of the class, each player on the roster must earn respect and, more importantly, playing time.
“Everyone just works really well together,” Chanenchuk said. “They’ve done a really good job of embracing what Maryland is all about.”
In an attempt to promote competition within his squad, Tillman did not schedule a single fall scrimmage against another school. Instead, he turned fundamental drills into contests, creating a fierce but fun environment at preseason practices.
The Terps’ first action came in scrimmages against Bucknell and Towson on Jan. 25. For the freshmen, it was their first time playing college-level lacrosse. Tillman’s squad fell behind early in both contests but strung together impressive scoring runs — seven unanswered goals in the final 11 minutes against the Bison and 11 unanswered goals during a stretch of more than 40 minutes against the Tigers — to earn two victories.
“The fourth quarters were typically younger guys on either side,” Tillman said Jan. 25. “What that tells me is that we’re deeper than we’ve been.”
Tillman said he plans to use that depth to his advantage, rotating five attackmen, no less than six or seven midfielders, and four or five defenders during the first half of the Terps’ season opener against the Mountaineers.
“If some of these guys keep improving, we’ll be able to play a lot of parts, which is what would be ideal for us anyway,” Tillman said. “We’d have more guys sharing, playing at a faster pace, knowing that there are other guys to come and relieve them.”
Tillman said the biggest obstacle in dealing with a young team is making sure the schemes implemented are simple enough for the freshmen to understand but not so predictable that defenses can scout them and shut them down.
“Some of those guys, just based on the numbers we have, are going to have to compete for us,” Tillman said. “And it’s not a bad thing.”
A defensive unit that is returning several key pieces — defenders Goran Murray and Michael Ehrhardt, and goalkeeper Niko Amato — will help complement the Terps’ youthful front. Ehrhardt earned Preseason First Team All-America honors, while Murray and Amato were named to the second team.
“Us as defensemen and goalies, as older guys, we can push the offensive players to get better just by challenging them every day in practice with our best ability,” Amato said.
Tillman said his team is not one that is “tailor-made” to be successful from the first game. As with any young team, the season is going to be a learning process during which development and improvement occur every time players are on the field.
The first step, though, is building cohesion. And according to players and coaches, the Terps are ahead of schedule on that front.
“We don’t really look at them as freshmen anymore,” defensive midfielder Brian Cooper said. “They’re just part of the team.”
