Last week in Columbus, Ohio, Maryland men’s lacrosse attackman Colin Heacock watched from the sideline as Ohio State midfielder Johnny Pearson whipped a left-handed shot into the net. The effort gave the Buckeyes an 11-10 overtime win that ended the Terps’ five-game winning streak.
An ankle injury prevented Heacock from participating in the loss, snapping a streak of 65 consecutive games played.
On Saturday against Johns Hopkins, Heacock again waited on the bench as the game finished. But this time, it wasn’t an injury keeping him off the field.
Instead, he’d returned to the starting lineup, notched four points and helped Maryland secure a large enough lead that coach John Tillman replaced him and the rest of the Terps’ starters in the final seconds of the 12-5 win.
“We took the long-term approach,” Tillman said of Heacock’s absence against Ohio State. “It was super hard for him to be on the sideline. I don’t think he’s ever been hurt.”
Entering last weekend, Maryland had expected Heacock to be healthy enough to play. But two days before the game, his ankle pain flared up, putting him out of commission.
“If we play him [last week] and he gets hurt worse, we might not have him [this week],” Tillman said. “And knowing that we have … potentially three games in eight days, we may not be able to have him for there and even farther down the road.”
Despite Heacock’s absence, the Terps jumped out to a 7-2 lead over Ohio State. But the offense went scoreless over the next 23 minutes and 10 seconds, allowing the Buckeyes back into the game.
“When you look at Heacock, everyone knows he’s an All-American, so missing him, you’re going to feel that,” long pole Nick Brozowski said earlier this week. “Not even [just] his playing time or ability, but also his emotional leadership. His presence on the team and on the field is very well known.”
Though the Terps lost, Tillman thought their performance on the road “said a lot” about the other players on the team, adding that the team was satisfied with its play early in the game.
Maryland again started fast Saturday, taking an 8-0 lead early in the second quarter and a 9-1 advantage at halftime, thanks in part to a goal and an assist from Heacock.
But unlike the loss to the Buckeyes, the Terps didn’t slow down, never allowing the Blue Jays closer than seven goals following their early burst. Heacock added goals in the third and fourth quarters, earning the 14th hat trick of his career and helping his team keep its initial advantage.
Tillman said the team owed its improved execution to a week of hard practices.
Due to a punishing schedule and a grueling triple-overtime game against Rutgers on Apr. 16, when Heacock hurt his ankle, this past week was the first time the team had trained at full intensity in a while.
So, the Terps and Heacock came out fast and sustained their success against Johns Hopkins, dominating the Blue Jays from start to finish with the Big Ten regular season title on the line.
The long-term approach concerning Heacock, combined with a full week of practices, paid off.
“You’ve got to manage injuries but you also need to play at a certain speed, or it’s going to take you a while in games to execute at the level you want,” Tillman said. “That [practice schedule] was a big benefit for us.”
