Spring semester finals were one week away, but Terrapin men’s lacrosse midfielder Jeff Reynolds was sitting in the Varsity Team House on May 7, preparing for a different test.
Despite an uneven season, the Terps were once again in the NCAA Tournament.
That result was standard for the fifth-year senior, who had made the dance in each of his previous four seasons. But this season, the tournament berth was preceded by an unfamiliar emotion – doubt.
“Just with the whole situation, there was a lot of uncertainty for that week, not knowing if we were going to be in the tournament,” Reynolds said. “It was kind of scary. Something I’m not used to.”
Back in February, that thought would have been unexpected. But Reynolds’s anxiety summed up what amounted to a season of underachievement for the team, which ended in the quarterfinals with an 11-6 loss to eventual National Champion Syracuse.
The consensus heading into the season was the Terps had the elite talent to improve on a surprising 2008 campaign, in which the team made a run to the quarterfinals with four freshman starters.
An early loss at home to Georgetown was a bit of a headscratcher, but the Terps rebounded with a 11-8 win against Duke. The next three weeks featured an avoidable loss to University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and a thrilling upset of North Carolina.
The inconsistency seemed to grate on the Terps, who continually awaited the arrival of that elusive season-altering game until there were no games left.
“We had stretches of maybe one or two games, but we never had that four- or five-game stretch,” sophomore attackman Grant Catalino said. “That’s important. That’s what really builds confidence and shows who we are, shows us that it’s not just a fluke.
“We would beat one good team and then lose the next game,” Catalino added. “It’s hard to define a team like that.”
But those inconsistencies did define the Terps as a maddening bunch. And for a team that thrived on swagger, the losses hindered the Terps’ development.
As coach Dave Cottle mentioned several times, the Terps seemed to come “unglued” – especially offensively – when the going got rough.
After starting an all-freshman attack the previous season, many expected the more experienced offense to build on their last season. The arrival of heralded junior transfer Will Yeatman made the unit one of the top attacks in the nation on paper. But the offense failed to meet expectations, and the Terps managed double-digit goals just four times after February.
“Compared to last season, our whole offense was returning.” Catalino said. “I figured that we would put up between 10 and 15 goals every game, but it ended up not being like that. Every game something different – shooting, turnovers, whatever. We had the players to put up big numbers, and we didn’t do that to our full advantage.”
Midway through the season, Cottle admitted the team’s development was behind schedule. Still, he did not waiver in his opinion the team could fix itself in time to make a postseason run.
Cottle attempted to make those fixes himself, fiddling with the lineups up until the final game of the regular season, when he moved Catalino to the midfield.
And it wasn’t until right before the NCAA Tournament began that Cottle tapped goalie Brian Phipps as the permanent starter, ending a two-year rotation with goalie Jason Carter.
Though ultimately Cottle’s moves seemed to help, there was not enough time in the season for the Terps to make a complete turnaround.
A first-round upset of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., May 10 showed the Terps’ capabilities, but they appeared clearly inferior when facing the Orange a week later in Hempstead, N.Y.
But next season holds a brighter outlook for the Terps. After all, there were some pleasant surprises for the Terps during what Catalino termed “a good example of a season with a lot of ups and downs.”
The defense exceeded expectations this year, especially given the injury to defender Brian Farrell, who redshirted after sustaining a rib and sternum injury.
Sophomore Max Schmidt emerged as a leader on the unit, which finished with the eighth-best scoring defense in the country (7.71 goals per game). Long pole Brett Schmidt played admirably in his switch to close defense, leading Cottle to consider moving Farrell back to long pole next season.
Phipps will miss fall practice as he recovers from an ACL injury, but the Terps return seven starters. The midfield will be a point of interest next year, and if Cottle can find an effective lineup and stick with it, the Terps should once again be dangerous.
After a second straight quarterfinal loss, they are eager to improve next season.
The final remnants of their consecutive Final Fours appearances have graduated, but at least one player was already thinking about getting back as he watched the championship game on Memorial Day – in which the Orange came back to defeat Cornell.
“I was kind of rooting for Cornell even though Syrcause beat us,” Catalino said. “It’s about time for someone else new to win, spread the love around. Hopefully next year that can be us.”
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