The Terrapins men’s lacrosse team needed three days to game-plan for No. 10 Albany.
They had to prepare for the Great Danes’ potent attackman tandem of Seth Oakes and Connor Fields. Then the Terps had to become comfortable with the slides, recoveries and mismatches Albany’s then-seventh-ranked offense would require.
“Sunday and Monday, we were struggling a little bit,” coach John Tillman said. “It took us about three days to get everybody where they needed to be, and we still made a few mistakes.”
But Tillman’s squad didn’t let those mistakes dictate the outcome of its 10-7 victory Wednesday night at Maryland Stadium.
After scouting and film sessions, the Terps defense built on March 12’s five-goal lockdown at Princeton and limited Albany to a season low in scoring.
“We didn’t want to get so consumed by individuals,” goalkeeper Kyle Bernlohr said. “Stick to our game plan and try to get the looks that we wanted, and I think we found success.”
From watching video of previous Albany games this year, Tillman picked up on some of the Great Danes’ tendencies — wing picks, isolations on the wing and “big-little” work behind the goal.
He knew Oakes and Fields, who entered the game with a combined 33 points, were the focal points of Albany’s attack. Last season, Oakes ranked sixth in the country with 3.18 goals per game. Fields, meanwhile, was the America East Rookie of the Year with 66 goals.
So during practice, the coach drilled the Terps on the duo’s tendencies and used attackman Tyler Brooke to simulate the Great Danes’ top scorers. The senior’s work on the scout team helped the Terps limit Fields to two assists and no goals on three shots, only one of which was on goal.
While Oakes, who was shadowed primarily by defender Matt Dunn, tallied three goals, Tillman said the senior second-team preseason All-American’s presence — Wednesday was Dunn’s fourth game after an offseason injury lingered into the start of the campaign — steadied the backline.
“Having Matt there allows everyone else to kind of get in the right spot,” Tillman said after Dunn missed the team’s matchup with Yale and played sparingly March 5 against Notre Dame. “[Wednesday] was the most he’s played, and we certainly needed him tonight.”
The Terps managed to hold Albany to three shots in the first quarter, and Bernlohr had to wait until about four minutes before halftime to make his first of seven saves on the night.
The Great Danes, however, didn’t surrender without a fight, racking up three unanswered goals in the third quarter to capitalize on the Terps’ four turnovers in the period.
The last one in the spurt came with defender Greg Danseglio on the sideline.
Referees flagged the redshirt senior for pushing, leaving the Terps shorthanded for 30 seconds. Midfielder Sean Eccles made the Terps’ man-down unit, which ranks third in the country, pay.
“I would love to have that one back,” Bernlohr said.
Tillman chimed in: “They had some guys that can sling it on their man-up.”
An assist from midfielder Bryan Cole to midfielder Connor Kelly 52 seconds into the last period helped ease Bernlohr’s bitter feeling.
The senior netminder tallied three saves, and the defense limited the Great Danes to four shots to finish the contest, drawing on their pregame preparation to help the Terps close out their first win over a ranked opponent.
“Kyle, the defense, they were able to dig in and get stops and win possessions,” Cole said. “[They were] really able to kind of open the door for us to play loose and kind of play at ease.”
