The Terrapins men’s lacrosse team had no answer for Cornell attackman Matt Donovan in the first half of Saturday’s first-round NCAA tournament game at Byrd Stadium.

On three separate occasions during the second quarter, Donovan — who entered the contest with a team-high 54 points — dodged past Terps defender Goran Murray behind the cage and scored. Donovan completed his hat trick with 12 seconds remaining in the first half when he picked the top corner with a left-handed shot to send the Big Red into halftime with a commanding four-goal lead.

But Donovan didn’t have the same success after the break, largely because of Murray’s increased on-ball pressure and aggressiveness. The shifty attackman failed to score for the remainder of the contest, and the Terps held Cornell to two goals in the final 30 minutes of play to escape with an 8-7 victory and avoid elimination.

“Goran’s one of the best,” coach John Tillman said. “We wouldn’t trade him. I think there are some fundamental things he can do better. I think he chose a couple tough moments to throw some checks, which opened up some opportunities. And when he just sits down and stays disciplined, he’s a tough guy to beat.”

For most of the week leading up to Saturday’s game, both teams debated how to approach the matchup between Murray and Donovan.

Donovan said he spent countless hours breaking down film with his coaches to try and find weaknesses in Murray’s defensive techniques.

Ultimately, Donovan got the best of Murray in the first half, and the attackman credited his relentless preparation as a factor.

“The way you practice is the way you’re going to play in these types of games,” Donovan said. “I just felt like I had a step on him. … He’s a little stronger, but attack and this game is a quickness game.”

Likewise, Tillman spent the days leading up to the game analyzing the one-on-one battle. He reached out to coaches who had already faced Donovan this season to gain valuable information on the versatile attackman, though there was a great deal of disagreement about which defensive scheme — if any — would be most efficient.

To start the game, Tillman limited the number of slides his defensive unit made on Donovan when he dodged and advised Murray not to pressure the attackman too hard. But without the help of defense, Donovan burned Murray for three goals in 12 minutes.

In the second half, Tillman let Murray loose, and the defender used his strength to disrupt Donovan’s offensive rhythm. The Terps’ defense also started sliding more frequently to the junior, though it did backfire once when Donovan found attackman Dan Lintner wide open on the crease for a goal in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter.

“We pressed out a little more in the second half, and I thought that suited Goran’s style a little bit more because he is so fast,” Tillman said. “When he gets out there, he can run with just about anybody.”

By the time the buzzer sounded, Donovan had four points against Murray, and no other Big Red player had scored more than once in the game.

With the game tied at seven with 3:45 remaining on the clock, Donovan let a low pass slip under his stick and roll out of bounds for a costly turnover.

The Big Red got the ball back after forcing Terps attackman Mike Chanenchuk into a giveaway, but it couldn’t get a shot on net in its ensuing possession.

The Terps maintained control of the ball for the final two minutes of action before Chanenchuk buried the game-winner with two seconds on the clock.

Sitting in the postgame press conference, Donovan choked back tears while replaying his mishandled pass in his head.

“I felt pretty good, had a pretty good day,” Donovan said. “But I would trade zero goals, zero assists for a win.”