Last week, the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team members spent most of their time trying to learn everything they could about an unknown Denver team in preparation for their first-round NCAA tournament game.
As the Terps get ready for the second round, that sense of mystery is missing.
The No. 7-seed Terps will take on No. 2-seed Virginia in Annapolis on Saturday, the teams’ third match this season.
“I think it adjusts the focus,” senior defender Joe Cinosky said. “We don’t have to focus on Virginia. It’s going to be about fixing what we need to fix. With Denver we didn’t know what they were doing, but now we can focus on us.”
That might be a good thing. Defensive coordinator Dave Slafkosky said even after watching hours of film on Denver, the Pioneers still did things the coaches were not expecting.
This time, the only problem could be the teams, which will be meeting for the ninth time in four seasons, are too familiar.
“It’s kind of like a picture-perfect matchup: two top ACC schools meeting up again in the quarterfinals,” senior midfielder Drew Evans said. “It’s real exciting but kind of nerve wracking, because both teams know each other pretty well.”
Each team boasts a home win in the series this season.
The Terps jumped out to an early lead and upset then-No. 1 Virginia 13-7 in College Park on March 29.
On April 25, the Cavaliers used an uncharacteristically physical performance to take the rematch 11-8 in the first round of the ACC tournament in Charlottesville, Va.
In the coaches’ game of chess, coach Dave Cottle knows it is his move.
“They changed a great deal as far as matchups from game one to game two,” Cottle said. “Now it’s our turn to make adjustments for game three.”
Evans said preparing for the third meeting is mentally tough, because by this time, it seems both teams know all they need to about one another. He was a freshman the last time the Terps played an opponent three times in one season, in 2005. The Terps split the first two meetings with Duke before falling to the Blue Devils in the NCAA semifinals.
“You talk to the coaches and it seems like a broken record because you’re going over the same things all the time,” Evans said. “But at the same time, they’re even more important the next time, because you really have to execute.”
Cottle knows the Terps have their work cut out for them if they are to advance to their third final four in four seasons. He was candid about what it would take for his team to win the rubber match against the Cavaliers, whose only other losses this season were to No. 1 Duke.
“If it’s a talent game, we probably come up on the short end of the stick,” Cottle said. “What we have to do is make up for it in other areas, whether it be through schemes, hard work, character, enthusiasm, toughness. There are some intangibles we have to bring to the table to offset the talent.”
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