In last year’s national championship loss to Denver, the Maryland men’s lacrosse team couldn’t generate a scoring run.
The Pioneers took a 4-1 lead in the first quarter. None of the Terps points in the 10-5 defeat came in succession. Denver used a 3-0 spurt in the third quarter to pull away.
Maryland, though, has used a 16-game run to return to the final contest of the season. Coach John Tillman’s squad hasn’t lost in almost three months, and it’s been a year since the Terps left championship weekend without the first-place trophy.
Monday afternoon, the Terps have a chance to build on this season’s streak and claim the program’s first national championship in 41 years.
With last year’s disappointing finish as a guide, the Terps are aiming to beat North Carolina at Lincoln Financial Field to end their fourth trip to the finals in the last six years with a different result than the first three.
“You don’t come to Maryland to play in the championship,” Tillman said. “You come to win the championship.”
Fresh off collecting a ground ball on the overtime faceoff in the Terps’ 15-14 victory against Brown in the semifinals, defender Matt Dunn said he would approach this year’s title preparation with more efficiency than last season. He learned the importance of hydrating, eating healthy foods and resting as a way to combat the quick turnaround.
Tillman, meanwhile, equated the two games in three days to a race to prepare and install a game plan. The Terps, who played in the second semifinal again, didn’t have the luxury of exclusively scouting the Tar Heels like North Carolina’s staff after winning the early game.
After postgame press conferences finished Saturday evening, the Terps started to watch film on the Tar Heels, who cruised to an 18-13 victory over No. 7-seed Loyola after opening a 9-2, first-quarter lead.
Tillman said the scouting report wouldn’t start from scratch because the teams met March 26 in College Park when Maryland prevailed, 11-8, behind six points on three goals and three assists from midfielder Connor Kelly.
Attackman Matt Rambo, who has 17 combined points in the Terps’ three tournament games on eight goals and nine assists, tallied four scores in the regular-season meeting.
At the final four banquet Thursday night, North Carolina coach Joe Breschi said to Rambo, who the Tar Heels recruited coming out of high school, he remembered the junior looking at the his sideline after tallying his fourth.
“Yeah, I was wondering when you were going to start doubling me,” Rambo responded.
The Terps, though, said they won’t harp on that victory entering Monday’s rematch. The Tar Heels, who downed No. 6-seed Marquette and No. 3-seed Notre Dame, are “a really, really good team that’s playing as hot as anybody,” Tillman said.
Instead, Tillman’s squad is reflecting on an experience from the beginning of this month.
When the Terps claimed the Big Ten tournament title — the program’s first conference tournament crown since 2011 — they beat Penn State and Rutgers in a three-day span.
“It’s a little bit confidence booster for us knowing we can turn around and play 48 hours later,” midfielder Bryan Cole said before this weekend’s slate.
The Terps opened the game on a 6-0 run to beat the Nittany Lions by seven goals and used a 6-2 run midway through the first half to down the Scarlet Knights by six goals, adding the Big Ten tournament championship to their regular-season conference title.
Monday, the Terps have a chance to add to the trophy collection.
“Last year, we got where we wanted to go,” defender Greg Danseglio said before the NCAA tournament began, “but we didn’t get what we wanted to get.”
