Early in the fourth quarter of Maryland men’s lacrosse’s game against Notre Dame, the Terps scored two quick goals to even the score, then earned an extra-man opportunity as they searched for their first lead since before halftime.

Attackman Jared Bernhardt got a good look during the man-up advantage, but goalkeeper Matt Schmidt saved it, keeping the game deadlocked and preventing Maryland from capitalizing on the penalty.

Still deadlocked five minutes later, the Terps forced a turnover deep in their territory and tried to advance the ball. But defender Brett Makar’s pass went awry, and the Fighting Irish scooped it up and scored a go-ahead goal with 4:52 remaining.

Notre Dame prevented the Terps from converting any of their three extra-man chances and forced them into five failed clears, both of which were crucial to pulling off the 14-13 upset in overtime and dishing Maryland its first defeat of the season.

“It’s one of the reasons that we play them,” coach John Tillman said. “You know that you’re going to have to play well, and it kind of reveals some things that maybe you’re not as good at — what you need to keep working on.”

[Read more: No. 2 Maryland men’s lacrosse falls 14-13 in OT to No. 17 Notre Dame]

After scoring four goals in the first 10 minutes, the Terps offense slowed to a halt for the rest of the first half. They scored just once more before halftime despite having two six-on-five chances that could have jump-started their struggling attack.

The three missed chances dropped the Terps to 3-of-13 on man-up situations this season. Tillman said the coaches will look at what adjustments are needed to fix that problem.

“Kind of look at ‘hey, are we doing the right things?” Tillman said. “Do we need to look at personnel? Certainly, it’s early in the season. That’s all stuff we contemplate, whether we win or we lose.”

The unit currently consists of attackmen Logan Wisnauskas, Louis Dubick, Steven Shollenberger and Bernhardt, along with midfielders Bubba Fairman and Anthony DeMaio.

Bernhardt, who is tied for Maryland’s leading scorer, said he’s looking forward to continuing to work on those man-up chances in practice under the direction of offensive coordinator J.L. Reppert.

[Read more: Maryland men’s lacrosse plummets to No. 7 in latest Inside Lacrosse poll]

On the other side of the field, Maryland came away with stops in important moments, but on five occasions failed to follow those stops with a successful clear. Notre Dame’s attackmen and the 20-second clear time constantly pressured the Terps.

“That’s just something that we’re going to have to get out and work on,” defender Curtis Corley said. “I tip my hat to them. They got us there in that aspect of the game.”

Tillman acknowledged that playing on a field six yards narrower than usual — due to weather, the teams played indoors — made clearing more difficult, but the ninth-year coach credited the Irish’s aggressiveness for making Maryland uncomfortable.

With Notre Dame losing the faceoff battle 20-10, the second chances created by Maryland’s failed clears were instrumental in balancing the possession discrepancy. The Irish turned four of those failed clears into goals, including the score that put them up 12-11 with less than five minutes left.

The Maryland coaching staff isn’t planning on overreacting to any one game, and Tillman said his policy is to give players 24 hours to be upset after a loss before turning their attention to preparing for the next game.

This week, that means focusing on six-on-five chances and clear attempts.

“What we always try to do is say, ‘All right, these are the things we did well, that’s positive. But, man, we need to get better here,’” Tillman said. “If you’re not doing it well, people will look at it. They’ll see you on film and they’ll take advantage of it.”