The postponement of the Terrapins men’s lacrosse team’s season opener against Navy, which was scheduled for Feb. 13 but moved to April 19 due to weather concerns, left the Terps feeling like “caged animals,” coach John Tillman said.
The Terps had been excited to start the campaign. After all, Tillman said his players “live for game day.”
So faced with another week of playing against teammates in practice rather than an opponent in live action, the Terps relied on veteran players to set a patient tone.
When the Terps finally took to the turf at Maryland Stadium on Saturday afternoon, the team’s leaders used the same approach they displayed through the week to keep their teammates calm and confident to endure a first-half threat from High Point and grab a 15-10 win.
“It obviously was a little bit of a struggle there [after we led 2-0], and our guys could have panicked and could have felt sorry for themselves,” Tillman said. “A lot of the seniors and juniors — they were very poised, and they were very positive, and they kind of pulled us through.”
Midfielder Bryan Cole led the way with a career-high seven points, including three assists and one goal in the final 30 minutes.
The Terps also received hat tricks from a pair of juniors — attackman Dylan Maltz and midfielder Colin Heacock — who tallied all of their production in the second half after the Terps faced a three-goal deficit late in the second quarter.
After the game, Maltz credited Cole, along with Tillman, as the calming presence in the locker room during intermission.
Cole remembered the Terps had trailed at the break during three games last season. Plus, he and many of the Terps’ seniors have been to three final fours and played in two national championships during their time in red and black. Cole knew the Terps were “battle-tested.”
“Cole was positive throughout the whole entire halftime break,” Maltz said. “We knew we could come back, so as long as we make the little things, and as long as we make the easy play, it’ll all fall into place.”
That helped spark the Terps’ dominant third quarter, when they outscored the Panthers 7-3 and endured three ties to end the frame with a two-goal lead.
The Terps’ younger players followed suit to leave their mark in the action during that stretch, too.
Freshman attackman Louis Dubick and redshirt freshman longpole Nick Brozowski tallied their first career scores to bookend the third period.
Midfielder Connor Kelly, meanwhile, almost matched his freshman year production when he tallied two assists Saturday — one on Dubick’s score and another to Cole in the third quarter — after he finished 2015 with three feeds in 19 games.
In total, 27 Terps earned playing time against the Panthers, a testament to the depth Tillman said he wants to foster on the team as they look to stay fresh in anticipation of what they hope is another deep postseason run.
Against the Panthers, Tillman got to see that mix of leadership and youth take form on the field, and his squad weathered its first test after the weather denied them the opportunity the week before.
“The younger guys look to the older guys every day from September on, and they follow what the older guys do because that’s the only thing they know,” Cole said. “If an older guy’s panicking, that just starts them in a little panic as well.”
