With less than two minutes to play in the Terrapins men’s lacrosse team’s Big Ten opener, Michigan’s Patrick Tracy had a one-on-one look against goalkeeper Kyle Bernlohr. The redshirt senior lifted his stick up to deny the look — even as his momentum pushed him the opposite direction.

The Terps cleared the ball, hustling down the field amid blustering snowfall and winds with the score locked at seven.

Midfielder Bryan Cole grabbed the ball in his stick on the left side, gliding toward the goal, dodging one defender, juking his hands and unleashing a shot.

The shot sailed into the bottom corner of the net to put the Terps up one with 43 seconds left. Cole strode behind the cage before pulling his arms across his chest in a move similar to Cam Newton’s Super Man celebration.

Moments later, Bernlohr and defender Matt Dunn embraced before the rest of the team huddled around. The Terps withstood three shots, though none as open as Tracy’s, in Michigan’s final possession to escape with an 8-7 victory.

“That was one where we just we just continued to push,” Tillman said. “Bryan showed a lot of poise and a lot of skill there just to be able to put the ball in the back of the net there in a tough situation.”

Cole’s four points on a pair of goals and assists paced all players. Before he ended the game’s scoring, he fed attackman Matt Rambo on the crease about three and a half minutes after the opening whistle.

The redshirt senior, who many of the Terps have cited as one of the vocal leaders of this year’s squad, then helped dig his team out of a 4-3 halftime deficit, the second time they’ve trailed at intermission in nine games.

The duo connected again with less than two minutes into the second half, despite Michigan holding the Terps scoreless in an extra-man situation. It resulted from one of the Wolverines’ four penalties for a combined three minutes.

Then Cole netted one of his own 27 seconds later in another man-up look.

Before the second half, Tillman told the commentators on Big Ten Network he wanted his team to increase their offensive tempo. Before five minutes elapsed in the third fame, the Terps had turned their one-point hole into a two-goal lead.

It didn’t hold.

The teams spent much of the day fighting for the game’s combined 52 ground balls with the Wolverines winning the battle, 32-20. The Terps also committed 17 turnovers to Michigan’s 11, further hindering their rhythm.

The players often spun circles to search for the ball, a small white object lost in the sea of snow flurries. After locating it, the squads would struggle for control — juggling, flicking, pushing and hacking before the scrums gave way to a chase.

“It definitely impacted,” Tillman said. “We had some sloppy plays.”

One of the instances early in the fourth quarter left Cole face down on the far sideline after taking a high hit in the process of fielding possession. He walked off with a trainer moments before Michigan attackman Peter Kraus, who notched a hat trick with his team’s top two leading scorers out with injury, knotted the game at six.

Cole returned later in the period, only to be slammed down again.

As soon as Cole finished his Super Man motion late in the game, midfielder Colin Heacock and attackman Dylan Maltz barreled to him for a group hug. Midfielder Henry West charged in, too, leaping the crouched defender Cole had just beaten to pile atop the embrace.

“Our guys showed a lot of poise; they stuck together,” Tillman said. “A lot of teams could have lost today.”