PHILADELPHIA — The logistics entering of the Terrapins men’s lacrosse team’s game Tuesday made coach John Tillman nervous.
The Terps were coming off the high of downing former ACC rival North Carolina three days earlier. Then they took a break to celebrate Easter on Sunday. And their clash at Franklin Field came at 4 p.m., an earlier start time for a midweek game than the team is accustomed to.
But perhaps most troubling for the sixth-year coach was trying to game-plan against Penn’s director of operations, Casey Ikeda. The former defender who joined the Quakers program in July was a captain for the Terps during their run to the national title game in 2015, ending his career with 50 consecutive starts.
Tillman could smile after the game, though, pleased to have reunited with his former star, because the Terps managed to overcome Ikeda’s inside knowledge of their scheme and personnel to earn a 13-8 victory in Philadelphia.
“He’s a guy that just did great, great things on and off the field,” Tillman said. “It made the matchup that much harder.”
A season ago, Ikeda completed a redshirt senior year that ended with Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-America recognitions.
His daily routine required showing up at the Varsity Team House each day “to strap on the helmet and get after it,” Ikeda said, reminiscing on his days in red and black while standing outside the Quakers locker room.
Ikeda is still a regular on the practice field, but now he’s setting up equipment and assisting coach Mike Murphy’s staff with whatever they ask. Off the turf, Ikeda is in charge of organizing Penn’s travel, hotels and meals, all in an effort to gain experience and insight as he aims to become a Division I head coach in the future.
“It’s definitely a massive change of pace,” Ikeda said. “It’s more thinking about what needs to be done and what can help the team win instead of just going out there and playing and doing what I’m told by one of the Maryland coaches.”
Entering the bout against his former squad, the Berwyn, Pennsylvania, native took a more active approach in film sessions. He helped the coaches put together a game plan against the players he teamed up with to form the nation’s top scoring defense in 2015.
Ikeda told the Penn players to not run straight at defender Matt Dunn or head-on against goalkeeper Kyle Bernlohr. Instead, three of the Quakers’ first four scores came with a player running around the left side of the cage and shooting across Bernlohr’s body.
The third of those connections — about four minutes into the second quarter to cut to Terps’ lead to two goals — left Bernlohr with his hands on his hips. He shrugged a few times while talking to teammates before turning around in hopes of watching a replay on the video board.
“I kind of was able to know what they like to go against, so we [tried] to do things that they don’t like to see,” Ikeda said. “It’s kind of picking our spots and making sure the coaches knew how good these guys actually are.”
The Terps, though, didn’t let Penn’s inside knowledge spoil their pursuit of a fifth straight win in their final outing before Big Ten play starts this weekend.
After the game, Ikeda went through the postgame handshake line, hugging each of his former teammates and coaches. A few of the Terps found time to chat with their former captain, too, mingling on the field before parting for the visiting locker room.
“Casey’s one of my best friends, so just seeing him on the other sideline is pretty funny,” Bernlohr said.
“He’ll always be a Terp through and through.”
