Long-stick midfielder Matt Neufeldt walks off the field after the Terps’ 9-6 loss to Ohio State in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament at Byrd Stadium on April 30, 2015.
Matt Rambo had a chance to push the Terrapins men’s lacrosse team’s lead to three goals late in the third quarter Thursday night.
The attackman received a pass behind the cage and wheeled around the crease. Outmuscling several defenders, he beat Ohio State goalkeeper Tom Carey while falling to the ground, seemingly pushing the Terps’ lead to three. But before Rambo released the shot, his feet grazed the goalie crease, and the officials called off the goal.
“Maybe if he released a little earlier, maybe we get it,” coach John Tillman said. “We were that close to getting it to three late in the third. That really changes your mindset.”
From there, Buckeyes midfielder David Planning started a six-goal Ohio State run when he bounced a shot past goalkeeper Kyle Bernlohr a second before the end of the third in the Big Ten tournament semifinals. The No. 2-seed Terps couldn’t fend off a late-game rally for the second game in a row, and fell to the No. 3-seed Buckeyes, 9-6, before an announced 1,328 at Byrd Stadium.
Ohio State will challenge top-seeded Johns Hopkins in the conference final Saturday night.
“When you’re down, you got to start chasing,” Tillman said. “We certainly do those things. [But] it’s not who we are.”
On April 18, Ohio State (11-5) led the Terps (12-3) for the first 58 minutes of the game and held a 9-6 lead with 4:22 seconds left in the game. The Terps, however, scored five consecutive goals for a comeback overtime win.
“They beat us on our home turf in Columbus,” Buckeyes defender Evan Mulchrone said.
Thursday, the roles were reversed. Tillman’s team outscored Ohio State through three quarters and appeared primed for a rematch against archrival Johns Hopkins two days later.
But the team’s top-ranked defense broke down late, as Ohio State kept finding openings around the crease. Four Buckeyes scored two goals apiece.
“I don’t think we ran out of gas,” defender Casey Ikeda said. “They just did a really good job of, when we were chasing, finding the open guy and taking advantage of some open spaces. When we had Kyle out of the goal, they used the net as an extra guy.”
Five days after tying a season-high with 12 goals, the Terps matched their season-low six-goal showing at Yale on Feb. 21.
With faceoff specialist Charlie Raffa sidelined for the majority of the game, the Terps struggled to gain possession. Buckeyes faceoff specialist Christopher May overpowered midfielders Jon Garino Jr. and Andrew Walsh, keeping the ball out of the Terps’ sticks.
Raffa entered the game after midfielder David Planning gave the Buckeyes a 6-5 lead with 11:47 left in the game, but he was unsuccessful on three faceoffs. Without possession, the Terps couldn’t spark a comeback.
After an 11-game winning streak that began the third game of the season, the Terps’ NCAA tournament hopes are in the hands of the NCAA selection committee, which will announce the bracket Sunday at 9 p.m.
While the Terps have built a strong resume this season and have a good chance at an at-large bid, Tillman lamented his team’s missed opportunity at securing a spot in the finals of its inaugural Big Ten campaign.
“There’s no guarantee that we are going to get into the postseason. That’s up to somebody else,” Tillman said. “You’d like to control your destiny.”
