During the Maryland men’s lacrosse team’s meeting Monday afternoon, coach John Tillman asked attackman Dylan Maltz to share a memory from his freshman year.
Maltz started his college career at Syracuse before transferring to the Terps program as a sophomore. In his 2014 campaign up north, the Orange’s season ended with a one-goal loss to Bryant, which had to win a play-in game to reach the postseason, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The Orange felt they could win the national championship that season, Maltz said. Plus, the attackman’s older brother was a senior on the team, and that defeat was the last time the duo took the field together.
As the No. 1-seed Terps begin their postseason run Sunday against Quinnipiac, which also had to prevail in a play-in game for the right to travel to College Park, Maltz cautioned his team to not look past the MAAC champions.
“Instead of me saying it, it was one of their friends and teammates [saying,] ‘Hey, that can happen,'” Tillman said. “The regular season’s over. What you did, that’s great. But you’re 0-0 in this tournament, and everybody’s got the same chance.”
The Terps (14-2) enter the tournament fresh off seven straight Big Ten wins, the last two of which helped them hoist the conference tournament trophy. The Bobcats, meanwhile, advanced to the first round of the tournament after downing Hartford, 14-9, on Wednesday evening for their ninth-consecutive victory,
Winners of 13 straight, Tillman’s squad is familiar with the Bobcats’ momentum, and the Terps worked in this week’s practices to ensure the team’s roll continues.
Tillman moved Wednesday’s session to the evening so the Terps could watch Quinnipiac’s game together in the Varsity Team House. After they learned their first opponent, the Terps took the field in Maryland Stadium for about 90 minutes. The sixth-year coach sensed his group’s urgency.
The players were swarming to the ball. They were competitive in set situations. There was banter between the units.
When the offense scored, they harped on the defense. When the backline settled in and kept the attack off balance, Tillman said the players shot back.
“By the way, the last three times you guys haven’t put anything in the back of the net,” Tillman recalls them saying. “How about giving us a little more?”
Some of the players asked to do more drills. Many of the Terps live together, and they didn’t want to finish with their roommates holding the advantage.
“These guys realize on game days, we need each other,” Tillman said. “But the more they push and challenge each other during the week, the better each is going to be.”
The team has looked to its veteran players to build that competitiveness. Despite not having lost a game since March 5, the Terps maintain there are areas in which they need of improve.
Maryland combined to go 23-for-53 with four violations at the faceoff X in two Big Ten Tournament matches. These performances came on the heels of the Terps’ 5-for-22 outing against Johns Hopkins in the regular-season finale.
Quinnipiac, meanwhile, boasts a .530-winning percentage this season on draws.
“We just need to keep our focus, not really let other people [say], ‘Oh you’re the one-seed. You’re going to win. You’re going to do all that,'” said defender Greg Danseglio, who also plays on the wings. “We try to block out all the noise and say ‘This is what we have to do to win.'”
Danseglio said the team’s drive comes from the sting of last year’s ending. The team reached the national championship but didn’t leave Philadelphia with the title.
Their path back to the championship starts Sunday, with the winner advancing to face either Albany or Syracuse, the team the Terps have tried to take a lesson from.
“We’re 0-0 right now,” midfielder Tim Rotanz said. “It’s a new season, and we’ve got to prove that we earned that 14-2 record, so that’s how we’ve got to play.”
