Before the Terrapins men’s lacrosse team took the field Saturday afternoon at Byrd Stadium for its final regular-season ACC matchup with then-No. 1 Duke, coach John Tillman gave defender Goran Murray the difficult task of guarding Blue Devils attackman Jordan Wolf.

Wolf entered the contest with a team-high 10 goals, and when the final whistle blew against the then-No. 2 Terps, the 2013 United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association All-American had scored twice and added an assist against Murray. But the rest of the Blue Devils failed to produce in the same fashion thanks to a dominant and cohesive performance from the Terps defense.

The Terps emerged with a 10-6 victory — their second win over a top-ranked opponent in as many weeks. And while Wolf might have gotten the best of Murray individually on Saturday, the defender said the final score is all that matters to the nation’s newly top-ranked team.

“You can talk about matchups and you can talk about who’s guarding who,” Murray said. “I think everyone on our defense — the unit, across the board — can play with anybody.”

The Terps surrendered five goals in the first 20 minutes but locked in defensively from the middle of the second quarter through the beginning of the fourth quarter, holding the Blue Devils scoreless for a stretch lasting more than 26 minutes.

The offensive drought was so substantial that goalkeeper Niko Amato, who made 17 saves in the contest, lost track of time.

“Honestly, in the third quarter, I came out and then I looked up and there were two minutes left,” Amato said. “I didn’t even know where the time went.”

Two weeks ago, the Terps completed a similar feat at then-No. 1 Syracuse, preventing the Orange from finding the back of the net for more than 18 minutes in a 16-8 win at the Carrier Dome.

Despite facing two of the nation’s best offenses in back-to-back games, the Terps are tied for No. 1 in the country in scoring defense, allowing five goals per game.

“We’ve been keying in on our film,” Murray said. “We’ve been keying in on buying into [the fact that] this is a team defense.”

Murray attributed the success of the Terps defense — featuring defenders Matt Dunn and Casey Ikeda along with Murray and long pole Michael Ehrhardt — to the group’s overall experience.

Ehrhardt is a senior and a three-year starter, Murray is a junior and a three-year starter and Ikeda is a junior and a two-year starter. The youngster of the group is Dunn, a sophomore, who played 12 games during his rookie season last year. Not to mention, Amato, the Terps’ preseason All-American anchor in net, is a fifth-year senior and four-year starter.

“For most of us, it’s our third or fourth year together,” Amato said. “So we’ve really grown to know each other a lot, especially this year.”

After Saturday’s win, Tillman made a point to compliment Murray on his willingness to sacrifice personal gain for the team.

He was given the most difficult defensive assignment of the day, and though Wolf got the better of him at times, Murray still had a hand in another stingy performance by the Terps.

“Goran, this week, he’s been so selfless,” Tillman said. “He’s improved so much as a complete defenseman where he could care less if Jordan scored eight goals and we won, he was going to be happy.”