Terps crowd around as head coach John Tilman speaks late in their 11-6 loss April 12, 2014 at Homewood Field in Baltimore.
It’s been 40 years since the Terrapins men’s lacrosse team has won a national championship, but former coach Bud Beardmore still remembers the 1975 title game fondly.
“We beat Navy, and we did it on Johns Hopkins’ field,” Beardmore said with a chuckle in a phone interview last week. “It was a double whammy.”
The Terps fell in the NCAA final the following season and have been trying to claim the program’s third NCAA Championship ever since. Coach John Tillman has led the Terps to the sport’s final weekend in three of the past four years but hasn’t been able to break through despite talent-laden rosters.
With a storied past and a steady influx of the nation’s top recruits, championship expectations stick with the Terps. The road to the 2015 NCAA championship in Philadelphia won’t be easy, considering that the Terps, who open the season Saturday at Navy, won’t have several standouts from last season’s squad, including attackman Mike Chanenchuk, goalkeeper Niko Amato and defender Goran Murray.
The Terps, though, don’t fret over the impatient expectations of a championship-starved fan base.
“I do know what [a national championship] would mean to a lot of people,” Tillman said. “So in certain ways, it certainly drives as you as a coach, to try to do something that would make a lot of people happy. That’s a motivating thing. But in terms of our kids, I want them to enjoy this moment.”
The Terps rank eighth in the nation with two NCAA Championships but have made the third-most appearances (11) in the title game. In their two most recent trips to the national championship, in 2011 and 2012, the Terps fell to Virginia and Loyola, respectively. Last season, the Terps had an opportunity to qualify for their third championship game in four years, but never led in an 11-6 loss to Notre Dame.
“We’ve been knocking on the door,” Tillman said.
Amato, a four-year starter, played a large role in the Terps’ recent postseason runs. As the team evolved over the past four years, Amato was a reliable defensive anchor and a well-liked teammate.
Tillman seems confident in the Terps’ ability to replace Amato, with goalkeepers Kyle Bernlohr and Dan Morris impressing in practice.
“A lot of people gravitated towards [Amato]. But that’s not something that you need to be a great goalie,” said defender Casey Ikeda, a senior captain. “[Bernlohr and Morris] are completely different than Niko. But both have the respect of the team, and both, when they step in the cage, are just as competitive as Niko was.”
Ikeda, who shares captain duties with faceoff specialist Charlie Raffa, will need to make up for Murray’s departure. Murray, a first-team preseason All-American, was ruled out for the 2015 season for an undisclosed reason, leaving Ikeda and defender Matt Dunn as the lone returnees to the Terps’ close defense unit.
Murray isn’t the only dependable defender the Terps need to replace, with long pole Michael Ehrhardt and defensive midfielder Brian Cooper also departed. The Terps prevented opponents from scoring in double digits in 13 of 17 games last year, often buoying a young and stagnant offense.
“We don’t live and die by one guy being able to cover one guy,” Ikeda said.
The defense has holes to fill, but so does the offense. Without Chanenchuk, who scored or assisted on 31 percent of the Terps’ goals, the unit will carve a new identity.
Attackman Matt Rambo’s status is still unknown after he was suspended indefinitely in October following two charges of assault. Rambo, the Terps’ leading returning scorer, didn’t participate in two preseason scrimmages despite practicing with the team.
If Rambo doesn’t begin the season on the field, much of the offensive burden will likely fall to attackman Jay Carlson and midfielder Joe LoCascio. Tillman also mentioned attackmen Dylan Maltz, Dave Goodwin and Ian Robertson as players who could receive playing time in Rambo’s absence.
Beardmore captured the only two NCAA Championships in program history, but he knows what it felt like to lose, too. Beardmore’s teams fell in the title game four times, including 1974, in between their finals triumphs.
“It takes the wind out of your sails,” Beardmore said. “And you’ve got to back and start all over again. You just never give up.”
Beardmore’s health has declined in recent years, and he said he’s been in and out of the hospital lately. But the old coach is “fired up” for the upcoming season; Beardmore believes in Tillman and the Terps’ talent.
He doesn’t want to just see the Terps playing deep into May, though. That won’t cut it.
“I’m getting tired of saying, ‘This is the year,’” Beardmore said. “I want it to be the year.”
