As Terrapins men’s lacrosse coach John Tillman watched film of North Carolina ahead of the squads’ showdown Saturday afternoon, he took notice of how the Tar Heels’ lost to Denver, the nation’s top squad.
The Pioneers, who beat the Terps in last year’s national championship, scored with nine seconds left in regulation to escape Chapel Hill with an overtime victory.
Tillman realizes his team will have its hands full this weekend, but that’s not breaking news for the Terps. The two programs have squared off at least once every season since 1964, with single-digit margins of victory becoming commonplace.
Saturday’s clash at Maryland Stadium represents a chance for this year’s Terps to add to the storied rivalry.
“I tell you what,” Tillman said at the conclusion of his conference call Tuesday morning, “that Carolina team is really good.”
Nail-biting finishes between the Terps and Tar Heels have been a constant in Tillman’s first five years in College Park. The average margin of victory in these contests was 3.5 goals.
Before last season, the Terps came out on the losing end in all but two of those outings. In 2015, they downed the Tar Heels, 10-8, in Santa Ana, California, in the Pacific Coast Shootout and cruised to a seven-goal win in the NCAA quarterfinal two months later.
Midfielder Joe LoCascio finished with four points and faceoff specialist Charlie Raffa went 12-for-19 in the X in that game, but both players have since graduated. Fresh faces, though, are eager to fill in and be a part of the rivalry.
Faceoff specialist Austin Henningsen has taken Raffa’s place, earning Big Ten Specialist of the Week honors after a career-best 16-for-20 performance in the X with 10 ground balls against Albany on March 16. The team also features a new starter in each third of the field.
“Putting on a Maryland uniform, you have all those great guys who have played before you,” midfielder Colin Heacock said. “You never want to disappoint them.”
Tillman has taken cues from the program’s past, too.
“Being a group that is very physical, tough-minded, a group that is going to battle you,” Tillman said of what he’d learned from Dick Edell, who coached the Terps from 1984 to 2001 and was honored at halftime of their game against the Great Danes. “We don’t want to get away from that. We want to build on that.”
The players couldn’t participate in Edell’s moment at midfield, but another former coach’s influence wasn’t far away. “Be the Best” is printed on each helmet, a nod to the late Bud Beardmore, who earned the program’s two national title victories more than 40 years ago.
Those two leaders endured their bouts with the Tar Heels. And though 2016 is just the second season the Terps face North Carolina as nonconference foes, the Terps are eager to write the next chapter.
This edition comes on the heels of 10 days of rest for the Terps. Four games in 12 days, three of which came away from Maryland Stadium, left the team in need of rest, physical therapy and a mental break, Tillman said.
“It’s a good time for some guys that are a little banged up,” midfielder Bryan Cole said after facing the Great Danes. “Get a little bit more healthy.”
The light atmosphere was evident as Heacock stood in the Varsity Team House entryway Tuesday afternoon, propping the door open with his back.
He held a container of fruit in one hand while pointing to midfielder Lucas Gradinger and defender Matt Dunn, exclaiming ‘It’s good to see you! And it’s good to see you!’ as they approached the facility.
The Terps’ leading goal-scorer doesn’t anticipate greeting the Tar Heels with quite as warm a welcome, though.
“It’s always a close game between the both of us,” Heacock said. “It’s always a dogfight.”
