Midfielder John Haus (right, 26) celebrates after scoring.

ANNAPOLIS — The Terrapins men’s lacrosse players run onto the field each game behind a Maryland flag because they play for their state. Their opponent Friday night, the U.S. Naval Academy, runs onto the field behind the American flag because they’ll one day fight for their country.

So the No. 1 Terps knew the underdog Midshipmen wouldn’t back down. Even when Navy fell behind 3-0 in the game’s first nine minutes, it didn’t falter. It simply responded with five straight goals to take a surprising 5-3 lead.

But the Terps withstood that spurt and outlasted a relentless Navy team the rest of the way to earn an 11-8 victory in front of 6,961 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Friday night. Coach John Tillman’s Terps matched Navy’s energy and ultimately wore down the Midshipmen with their overwhelming firepower.

“It’s always a fierce battle. We have so much respect for [Navy] and for this rivalry,” said Tillman, who served as an assistant coach at the Annapolis school from 1996 to 2007. “We knew coming in here you better work hard for 60 minutes, and I give our kids credit: They did.”

Tillman called the game a “dogfight,” but the Terps’ (8-1) physicality and offensive balance were the deciding factors as they took 22 more shots than the Midshipmen (3-8) and won the ground-ball battle, 35-27, in the three-goal victory.

For the first eight minutes of the second quarter, though, Navy seemed the superior team. After penalties from Terps defender Matt Dunn and long pole Jesse Bernhardt gave the Midshipmen a two-man advantage to start the frame, attackman Tucker Hull scored to get Navy on the board and cut the lead, 3-1.

From there, Midshipmen attackmen Sam Jones and T.J. Hanzsche continuously penetrated the Terps’ defense, and Navy dominated for a significant stretch against the nation’s top-ranked team.

“We didn’t play as smart as we could have,” Bernhardt said. “We fell into a little bit of a trap and made some mistakes.”

Then the Terps displayed some resiliency. Midfielder Mike Chanenchuk found midfielder John Haus cutting in front of the net for a crucial man-up goal to snap a 14-minute scoring drought. Two minutes later, defender Casey Ikeda forced a turnover to jumpstart a breakaway that ended with a goal from attackman Kevin Cooper.

The Terps tied the game at five before halftime, but the Midshipmen weren’t willing to go away.

“We knew they were going to fight and be determined,” Haus said. “For them to hit a few goals and make a few good plays, it didn’t really surprise us.”

The intrastate rivals traded goals to start the second half before Chanenchuk, whose father was a three-time All-American at Navy in the 1970s, fired a goal from 20 feet out to give the Terps a 7-6 lead. They never let go of that lead, as five different players scored during a 5-0 run from that point to give the team a 10-6 edge.

Eight different Terps found the back of the net by game’s end, and the experienced crew totaled eight team assists.

Tillman’s squad was just too difficult to guard, Navy defender Austin Miller said. Chanenchuk led the way with four points, but Cooper, Haus and Owen Blye each added three points for the Terps.

“You could really go down the [Terps’] roster,” Miller said, “and really consider everybody a threat.”

Despite the Terps’ daunting list of skilled players, Navy wasn’t intimidated. The group put pressure on the Terps throughout the game and confidently attacked their highly touted opponent.

The Terps, though, were prepared. Tillman warned his team about the emotion the Midshipmen would play with against a heated rival, so the Terps matched that intensity and hung on for a victory that clinches the program’s best nine-game start to a season since 2004.

But it wasn’t easy. It never is against Navy.

“We knew they were going to come out hard; the Navy-Maryland rivalry is always big,” Bernhardt said. “We were kind of ready for it, and I think we responded very well.”

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