Throughout the season, Maryland men’s lacrosse coach John Tillman has searched for a successful formula in the faceoff X, rotating between specialists Austin Henningsen, Jon Garino and Will Bonaparte.

But 12 contests into the campaign, with the Terps approaching their final regular-season game against Johns Hopkins on Saturday, Tillman has not solved the problem. In an overtime loss to Ohio State on Saturday, Maryland went 7-for-25 on draws, enabling the Buckeyes to storm back from a five-goal deficit.

As the Terps close in on another trip to the NCAA tournament, the coach admitted he’s worried the team’s difficulties with faceoffs will have a negative impact during postseason play.

“You put yourself in a really tough spot if you’re struggling at the X,” Tillman said. “You can’t really get a lot of momentum because you have to work so hard to get possession. … That just puts a lot of pressure on you.”

[Read more: Without Colin Heacock, Maryland men’s lacrosse struggled to score late vs. Ohio State]

After recording a .524 team faceoff percentage last year, Maryland has won draws at a .506 clip this campaign.

Henningsen was named a preseason honorable mention All-American, but his inconsistency has given Garino and Bonaparte increased playing time. Henningsen didn’t return to the field after losing the first three draws against Ohio State.

Garino, meanwhile, received just seven faceoff opportunities against the Buckeyes despite holding the team’s best faceoff percentage (.605) this season. He converted on two of those chances.

Instead, Tillman granted Bonaparte the majority of the faceoffs Saturday because of his experience going against physical opponents. But matched up with touted Ohio State faceoff specialist Jake Withers, he went 5-for-15 in the X.

“I have a lot of respect for Jake Withers,” Tillman said. “He’s terrific. He’s as good as anybody we’ve seen, and we’ve seen some really good ones.”

Nonetheless, Tillman was frustrated by Maryland’s inability to win draws. During a 20-minute scoreless stretch in which Ohio State transformed a five-goal deficit into an 8-7 lead, the Terps lost seven of nine faceoffs. In that run, the Buckeyes followed up a draw victory with a goal within one minute of the previous score twice.

This far into the season, it’s unclear whether Maryland can turn around its faceoff play against top-caliber opponents. But with enough focus on other areas, such as picking up ground balls and limiting turnovers, Tillman thinks it’s possible to overcome his squad’s struggles.

“You can [win without playing well in the X],” Tillman said. “But I think your margin for error gets smaller when you reduce the number of possessions you get. … If the other team is getting a lot more possessions, you’ve just got to make the most of the possessions you do have.”

That’s something Maryland failed to accomplish in its showdown at Ohio State, costing it a chance to earn at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season title. Now, the Terps need the Buckeyes to lose at Rutgers this weekend to have a chance at winning the conference championship outright.

Although Saturday’s defeat highlighted Maryland’s shortcomings, the squad was already intent on making improvements heading into the conference and NCAA tournaments.

“Everybody knows what’s at stake,” Tillman said. “I don’t think this team should need [extra motivation] at this point. We need to play better and realize that some of the mistakes we make … will prove costly.”