While the Maryland men’s lacrosse team preaches unity, the Terps boast rivalries within the squad.
The five faceoff players have formed the Hawg Pen, complete with an Instagram account. Attackmen Matt Rambo, Dylan Maltz and Colin Heacock, meanwhile, refer to themselves as “Run DMC,” leading the “chirping” in practice, off-field video game contests and comedy in the team’s group messages.
And then there’s the Gold Gang, which midfielder Tim Rotanz deemed “the front-runners for the best group on the team, for sure.”
Rotanz, Lucas Gradinger and Pat Young, the Gold Gang trio, comprise the Terps’ second-line midfield. None of the players logged more than two games in a Terp uniform last season, but the unit has emerged as a complement to the starters leading up to Saturday’s NCAA tournament semifinal against No. 5-seed Brown.
With the top-seeded Terps hoping to win two games in three days during championship weekend, the Gold Gang wants to the provide the spark on and off the field that the team has relied on throughout its 15-game winning streak.
“Our second midfield right now is as good as we’ve had in the last three, four years,” coach John Tillman said. “They’ve been more consistent. Their production kind of speaks for itself, and that’s been helpful.
The Terps shuffled positions entering its game against Notre Dame March 5. Heacock moved up from midfield, while Rotanz joined the rotation with Young and Gradinger.
In that contest, the Terps’ most recent defeat, Gradinger posted a goal, while Rotanz and Young tallied assists. Then the team flew from California to Philadelphia for a midweek contest against Drexel in which Young and Rotanz each notched two scores.
Against Princeton four days later, the line combined for eight points.
At that point, Rotanz said the lines were playing “pretty evenly,” so the coaches labeled the starters “red” and the second line “gold” instead of “one” and “two.” After the Terps downed the Dragons, Rotanz suggested the trio call itself the “Gold Squad.”
Young had a different idea.
“He immediately shot that down and said ‘No, we’re the Gold Gang,'” Rotanz said. “We all were like, ‘All right, yeah, that will work.'”
Now they’re making black shirts with the nickname blazed in gold across the chest and their name and number on the back. Gradinger’s brother is a designer, and they have friends to help print them.
“Got to pay for them, which is going to suck,” Rotanz said, “but it’s worth it.”
Their teammates, meanwhile, maintain the Gold Gang’s impact extends beyond its apparel.
Last year, Rotanz and Gradinger redshirted their sophomore seasons as Rotanz battled vertigo and Gradinger dislocated his shoulder in the second game. This season, Rotanz has 16 points and Gradinger has nine after the duo combined for seven points as rookies.
Young, meanwhile, transferred from UMBC to play his senior year in College Park. He’s compiled 15 goals, including a season-high four scores in Maryland’s 13-7 victory against Syracuse in the quarterfinals.
“We understand that we’re second-line midfield, but we don’t play like it,” Rotanz said. “We go out there with a ton of confidence, almost like we’re a first line, and we fly around and have fun.”
Midfielder Isaiah Davis-Allen said the Gold Gang brings “swagger” off the field, too.
At the team’s hotel Friday night while the players were waiting for the elevator after dinner, Young and Rotanz started cheering for no reason.
Everyone joined in.
“You don’t know why those [kinds] of things happen, but everyone’s doing it, and everyone’s feeding off of each other, so you just kind of go with it,” midfielder Bryan Cole said. “When they come out hooting and hollering and ready to go, it just kind of trickles down to everyone.
“It’s been a really good spark for us this year.”
