Attackman Joe Cummings, right, and midfielder David Miller walk off Homewood Field after the Terps’ 9-6 victory Saturday over rival Johns Hopkins.
BALTIMORE – A young team grew up Saturday night.
Playing in front of a sold-out crowd of 8,500 at Homewood Field, the Terrapins men’s lacrosse team was down 6-3 to No. 3 Johns Hopkins in the early stages of the second half. The No. 10 Terps’ third loss in four games seemed imminent. After all, the Blue Jays rarely allow rallies. Especially in their house.
Yet when the final whistle sounded Saturday, it was the Terps’ bench storming the field in jubilation. It was Terps fans embracing one another in the stands. And it was the Terps departing Baltimore with a 9-6 victory.
“We like when it’s a grind,” long pole Jesse Bernhardt said. “I think we just kept fighting.”
Bernhardt should know. He helped the Terps’ defense – a group that included just two players with significant experience entering this season – shut down a potent Blue Jays attack for the final 29:17.
After Johns Hopkins attackman Chris Boland scored within the opening minute of the third quarter to give his team a three-goal lead, the Terps rattled off six unanswered goals to secure just their third win at Homewood Field since 1996.
Perhaps the most impressive feat of all? They did it with a significant possession disadvantage. The Terps (7-3) won just five of 19 faceoffs, allowing the Blue Jays (9-2) to hold the ball for extended stretches throughout Saturday’s game.
In the second quarter, the Terps possessed the ball for less than three minutes and tallied just two shot attempts. Still, Johns Hopkins struggled to capitalize on its numerous opportunities and managed only a 5-3 lead entering halftime.
It wouldn’t be enough.
The Terps emerged from the break more poised and more polished. At last, they started executing their game plan: let Blue Jays midfielders John Ranagan and John Greeley initiate the offense while being defended by shortstick midfielders, then have a long pole double-team the midfielders and make them give the ball up.
“Us just being able to slide them, being able to get the ball out of their stick,” coach John Tillman said, “I think that really helped us.”
It also didn’t hurt that attackman Owen Blye had a career night. The junior needed just five shots to explode for four second-half goals, shouldering much of the offensive burden while top scorer Joe Cummings was held scoreless for just the second time this season.
Yet the Terps understood that Johns Hopkins isn’t one to fold. So even when Blye curled around the right post midway through the fourth quarter to give his team its first lead of the game at 7-6, the Terps knew a season-defining victory was far from secured.
“I can always remember coach saying, ‘It’s never as good as it seems and it’s never as bad as it seems,'” Blye said. “So that’s always in the back of our heads.”
The Terps’ defense held up when it mattered most, though, as Johns Hopkins missed its final 11 shots. When Kevin Cooper scored at the end of a transition break for a three-goal lead with 2:31 remaining, it was unmistakable – the Terps had accomplished the unthinkable.
They had rallied from a three-goal deficit to steal a win from arguably the country’s most storied program in their 108th all-time meeting. Any doubts of earning an NCAA Tournament berth were put to rest, and last month’s two-game skid was a distant memory.
The inexperienced Terps had grown up.
“Coming into the season, we knew we had some challenges,” Tillman said. “And certainly in August we had some difficult moments, knowing that it was going to be a long road. But these guys really have stuck together and continued to fight and battle.”
TERPS NOTE: The ACC Tournament’s field has been set. The No. 4 seed Terps will face No. 1 seed Duke in the first round Friday in Charlottesville, Va.
letourneau@umdbk.com
