Maryland men’s lacrosse midfielder Will Snider fired a strike from the right side of the crease in the third quarter of Saturday’s Big Ten tournament matchup with Johns Hopkins. It found the net, giving the No. 1-seed Terps a two-goal lead after playing from behind for much of the first half.
For the second time in as many weekends, the junior found open shooting lanes facing the Blue Jays’ defense. Snider scored the game-tying and game-winning shots in Maryland’s 8-7 win against Johns Hopkins last week. However, in their 13-10 loss to the No. 2-seed Blue Jays, the Terps were unable to maintain the advantage Snider provided.
Snider’s two scores were Maryland’s only goals of the third quarter. While the Blue Jays’ attack was dominant, the Terps’ offense didn’t have a response, costing Maryland a Big Ten tournament title and resulting in its first loss to Johns Hopkins under coach John Tillman.
“I’m disappointed with tonight,” Tillman said. “We didn’t play well enough to win. We’ve got a good team. We’ll stay confident and keep our focus and get back to work on it.”
[Read more: No. 1 Maryland men’s lacrosse loses Big Ten tournament final to No. 2 Johns Hopkins, 13-10]
Despite the loss, Maryland earned the No. 1-seed in the NCAA tournament bracket released later Sunday night.
The first time the rivals met in Baltimore on April 28, the Blue Jays contained attackman Jared Bernhardt and midfielder Connor Kelly. Maryland’s top offensive threats shot a combined 0-for-24, but Snider and midfielder Logan Wisnauskas provided the offense with a spark. That wasn’t the case in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the Big Ten championship on the line.
[Read more: No. 2 Maryland men’s lacrosse beats No. 11 Rutgers, 12-9, in Big Ten tournament semifinals]
Kelly capitalized on the Blue Jays’ defensive miscues in the first half, scoring twice in the second quarter to give Maryland its first lead. However, he was unable to continue that success after intermission. Johns Hopkins held Kelly to 2-for-10 shooting and kept Bernhardt off the board on two shots.
Despite winning seven of 15 faceoffs in the second half, Maryland’s offense couldn’t respond to the Blue Jays’ runs. After Snider scored for the second time with about nine minutes remaining in the third, the Terps’ attack went silent, failing to execute on its seven shots in the period. Meanwhile, Johns Hopkins strung together a 5-0 run, capped by midfielder Thomas Guida’s score with 12 seconds remaining in the quarter.
“We’re up two in the third and starting to get the momentum, but they had the ball for the next five or six minutes,” Tillman said. “We played a lot of defense.”
Little changed in the fourth. Faceoff specialist Justin Shockey drove to the net and scored after winning the first faceoff of the quarter to make it a two-goal game. That was as close as the Terps would get. Blue Jays attackman Cole Williams scored three unanswered to secure the win.
Maryland attackman Louis Dubick scored twice before the end of the game, but the length of the possessions left the Terps with little time to even the score.
So, the team lost its final game before the NCAA tournament, which Maryland will begin May 13 in College Park against the winner of Canisius and Robert Morris.
“Looking at the big picture, with all of the new parts, to be where we are right now is a credit to the hard work of the kids,” Tillman said. “For us, we’ve got to keep learning.”