Entering the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon against Quinnipiac, the Maryland men’s lacrosse team knew it had to overcome its recent slump at the faceoff X.
About two weeks ago, the Terps went 5-for-22 at the X in their regular-season finale against Johns Hopkins. In two games during last week’s Big Ten Tournament, the Terps lost the draw battles to Penn State and Rutgers.
Faceoff specialist Austin Henningsen didn’t start either of those contests. While he played in the conference tournament, he hadn’t taken the opening faceoff since injuring his leg against Penn State on April 10. But Sunday afternoon at Maryland Stadium, the rookie, who ranks 12th in the country with a .617 winning percentage, crouched at midfield for the first duel.
Henningsen won the first draw against the Bobcats, and he won the next 11 after that, helping the Terps enter halftime with a 12-0 edge at the X. The possession advantage allowed No. 1-seed Maryland to open an early lead en route to a 13-6 victory against the Bobcats.
With the win in which three Terps (15-2) notched hat tricks, coach John Tillman’s squad advances to face either No. 8-seed Syracuse or Albany next Saturday in the quarterfinals in Providence, Rhode Island.
“To go 12-for-12 in the first half just allowed us just so many possessions, that candidly, we wish we had done a little bit better job [with],” Tillman said. “Austin Henningsen and the wing guys were terrific.”
Though the Terps started each first-half possession on offense, Quinnipiac (12-4) struck on its first possession 95 seconds into the game when Bobcats midfielder Anthony Carchietta cut to the left side of the net to bounce a shot past goalkeeper Kyle Bernlohr, who finished with seven saves. Maryland, though, responded with a 3-0 run in a less-than-three-minute span to build a lead it never relinquished.
Cole, who finished with three goals and one assist, started the scoring spurt off a feed from midfielder Connor Kelly. Attackman Matt Rambo’s first of a team-leading five points on three goals and two assists came next, as the junior withstood a sandwiching hit from two defenders in the middle of the zone.
Defender Bryce Young, who entered the contest with two goals this season capped the run. The sophomore fielded a ground ball that squirted away from a defensive scrum and ran down to the attacking third. As he approached the goal, Young faked a pass before cutting toward the right pipe and slotting his look into the lower left corner of the net.
The defense had suffered an early lapse, and Tillman felt his offense had played out of rhythm in the first seven minutes. But once the reserve defender rocketed the ball past Quinnipiac goalkeeper Jack Brust (10 saves), the sixth-year coach knew his team hit its stride.
“We get in transition,” Tillman said, “And it was like ‘All right, here we go.'”
The Terps notched another transition score at the end of the third frame to cap a 5-0 stretch that extended the team’s lead to 12-4 after leading by four at the break. Four of Rambo’s five points came during that run. He fed midfielder Henry West, who also notched three scores, and attackman Louis Dubick while slotting two looks of his own.
Sunday’s contest marked the third straight game that Rambo tallied at least five points.
Defender Matt Dunn sparked the series of passes that led to the junior’s final tally, clearing the ball from defense and dishing a pass to Dubick on the right side of the goal. The rookie then relayed the ball to attackman Colin Heacock on the right post before Heacock fed Rambo across the net. With one second left on the clock, Rambo punched in the score, leaving Brust sprawled out and face-down in the crease.
“I usually don’t play in transition too often, so coach was kind of joking about it earlier,” Dunn said. “Everybody is looking for the open guy, looking to make the right play.”
Quinnipiac outscored the Terps, 2-1, in the fourth quarter. The Bobcats also collected six of the half’s nine faceoffs with the Terps inserting many of its reserves midway through the fourth period.
Still, their late push wasn’t enough to prevent the Terps from extending its winning streak to 14 games.
“One of the biggest differences in the game was we made some mistakes along the way and they exploited every one,” Fekete said. “They’re the No. 1 team in the country for a reason.”
