WMUC Sports Men's Lacrosse - Cottle's Crew

2010 MLL Draft

2010-06-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Brian Phipps! 4th on the all-time saves list at the University of Maryland and one of the best goalies to ever don a Terps uniform, Phipps was the 23rd pick of this years Major League Lacrosse Draft. The "local" Chesapeake Bayhawks took Maryland's keeper with their 5th overall pick.

He will join Michael Kimmell of John's Hopkins (#2 overall) and Brian Carroll (#6 overall out of UVA) on the roster.

48 players were taken in the 8 rounds with Duke's Ned Crotty the top overall selection. Crotty will play for the Chicago Machine. 6 of the top 8 picks came out of the ACC.

Phipps joins 5 former Terps who are currently on the Bayhawk's roster:
Jeff Reynolds (2009), M
Andrew "Buggs" Combs (2001), A
Joe Cinosky (2008), D
Ray Megill (2007), D
Jeremy Sieverts (2009), M

Still no word on who is going to be the next coach for the Terps. Cornell's Tambroni is the most recent candidate to turn down the job offer.

Go Terps!

2010 USILA D-1 All-Americans

2010-05-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

The USILA just realeased its 2010 Division 1 All-American teams. No player from the University of Maryland made the first team, although there were 5 players from the same conference made the cut. One odd sight is that Max Quinzanni, the favorite to win the Tewaaraton Award for Player of the Year, was left off the 1st team.

John Galloway, the keeper from Syracuse, who put up some staggering numbers, was the top goalie this year. Brian Farrell and Joel White, the top two long pole hybrid defenders-middies, had to be split up. Farrell was the only Terp to make the 2nd team, also a significant honor. Maryland will be happy to see their junior captain return for his senior season, after missing all of 2009 with a lung injury. His return to health was a key part of the Terrapin's success this year.

Grant Catalino, who led the Terps in scoring, earned 3rd team honors as part of the Attack unit. Defender Brett Schmidt joins Catalino as the only other Terps to make an All-American team.

The Honorable Mention list was quite lengthy but there are a few notable players from College Park. Ryan Young was part of the Attack group. Maxwell Schmidt was the defender from Maryland's backline. Brian Phipps, the anchor for Cottle's defense was one of 6 goalies to garner Honorable Mention honors.

Congratulations to all the players, especially the Terps, who made the All-American list. Go Terps!

The Final Four should be a great weekend. If you are in the area, make sure you catch the games on Saturday and Monday at M&T Bank Stadium. Cornell vs. Notre Dame at 4pm Saturday and Duke vs. Virginia at 6:30pm. The ACC will have a shot at another national championship.

Phipps Stars in Classroom

2010-05-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Senior Goalie, Brian Phipps. The USILA just released its 2010 Scholar All-American list which consists of 70 players from all 3 levels of NCAA competition.

40 D-1 athletes were on the list, as well as 2 from D-2 and 23 from D3. Phipps is the only representative from the University of Maryland on the list. Just another reason why it will be very difficult to replace such a complete player and person in the net next year. Go Terps!

End of an Era

2010-05-25T18:49:00.001-07:00

Dave Cottle will no longer be the head coach at the University of Maryland. The Men's Lacrosse program will have to find a new coach for the 2011 season.

After 9 seasons and a 99-45 (.688) record, Cottle will not resume his coaching duties, after his contract ended this year...in disappointing fashion, losing in the NCAA Quarterfinals to Notre Dame, 7-5 as the #3 seed. He led the Terrapins to a 12-4 record this year, including an 1-2 mark in ACC play with an appearance in the conference championship game (where they lost to UVA for the 2nd time this year).

Taken from umterps.com:
"I have decided to step down as head coach at the University of Maryland," said Cottle. "I would like to thank Dr. Mote and Dr. Yow for the opportunity to coach at Maryland and in the Atlantic Coast Conference. I have enjoyed my nine years at Maryland. This season, I enjoyed coaching this team as much as any team I have ever been around. I have developed tremendous relationships with many Terp alumni, former coaches and have had some of the finest parents any lacrosse program has had."

Coming into the season, there was a ton of pressure on Cottle. It was widely assumed that if he didn't make it back to the Final Four, he would not have his contract renewed. The road to Baltimore looked really good after an 11-8 win over Hofstra in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but Maryland couldn't find the offense to get past the Fighting Irish. Just another example for the critics of how Cottle couldn't win the big one.

Ironically, Notre Dame's head coach, Kevin Corrigan, is on the long list of potential replacements. The other top candidates according to reporting done by the Washington Post include:
Mike Pressler - U.S. national team head coach; coached at Duke as well, but was forced to resign after the 2006 rape allegations of 3 players...which was proven false.
Gary Gait - finalist for the job after Dick Edell left (when Cottel was hired in 2001); primarily coached women's lacrosse including a stint with the Maryland's Women Program in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

I think Cottle has done a great job during the 2 years that I have covered the Men's Lacroose team. He really cares about his players and I think they care about him as well. It was definitely a positive relationship and his team always played with the most heart. Effort as never an issue.

However, with the kind of talent that Maryland gets through recruiting in the middle of the hotbed for lacrosse, it is quite shocking that the 2010 seniors are just the 2nd class in Maryland history to not make at least 1 Final Four in their time in College Park.

I wish him the best of luck in the future. I hope the new coach is ready for the kind of pressure that will be over his head constantly at UMD. And if all the pieces fall into place, the new coach will be able to take a talented group, and lead them back to the promised land. Go Terps!

No Luck As Maryland Falls to Fighting Irish in Quarterfinals

2010-05-24T16:29:00.000-07:00

The Maryland Terrapins will not play at M&T Bank Stadium for the 3rd time in 2010. They will not play in the Final Four in 2010. The #3 Terps (12-4) lost to Notre Dame (9-6) 7-5 in the NCAA Quarterfinals in Princeton, New Jersey on Saturday.

For just the 2nd time since the NCAA Tournament began in 1971, a group of Maryland seniors will not have the chance to play in the final weekend for just the second time. Brian Phipps made 13 saves for the Terps as they held the Irish to just 7 goals in a rematch of last year's first round game, but it was not enough to overcome a terrible day offensively against a team that barely made it in to the tournament.

Travis Reed scored 1 goal on the day...the only goal that came from a member of the Terrapin's vaunted attack unit. No goals from Grant Catalino who put up 34 goals prior to this game. No goals from Will Yeatman who was playing against his alma matter. No goals for Ryan Young, who led the offense the entire season from behind the net with much bravado.

Notre Dame's stifling defense never allowed Maryland to get into a rhythm on offense and goalie Scott Rodgers made some sensational saves from point blank range to take down another seeded opponent. The Irish came off an 8-5 win over #6 Princeton in the first round and were the unanimous underdog coming into this game as well.

The defense sagged in and forced the Terps to shoot from the outside for the most part. However, even when Maryland was able to find gaps, they could not connect on passes or simply dropped balls right in front of the crease. Coach Dave Cottle said that his team needed to get to 10 goals to beat Notre Dame, and they only managed to score half that total, well below their season average of 11.7.

The difference maker in the game for Notre Dame was Trever Sipperly who dominated the faceoff battle, winning 10 of the 15 50/50 balls in the middle of the field. Andrew Irving, a long stick middie for Notre Dame was exceptional and coach Kevin Corrigan praised his unhearalded midfielder for his effort as he won 7 ground balls.

The Terps needed to come out strong against a team that relies on defense...at the very least, they could not fall behind early. But Sean Rogers (3G) scored the first goal of the game. Scott LaRue answered for Maryland to tie the game at 1-1, but Notre Dame scored the next 3 goals to take a commanding lead after the 1st quarter.

Sophomore Jake Bernhardt seemed to ignite the Terps with an athletic play in the 2nd, after the Terps fell behind 5-1. Running to his left, after dodging an opponent, he ripped a shot into the low right corner. He showed the sense of urgency that the rest of the team appeared to lack. That snapped a scoreless stretch of 16:24, by far one of the longest droughts the Terrapins underwent all year long. Freshman John Haus scored a few minutes later on a beautiful 1v1 move, getting his shot past the shoulder of the 2010 All-Big East 2nd Team keeper.

However, Notre Dame would extend its lead to 7-3 after halftime and Maryland could not muster enough offense towards the end of the game. As the clock continued to dwindle, the pressure began to mount and UMD just couldn't find a way to score.

It was their first loss to Notre Dame ever and overall, the team falls to 19-11 in quarterfinal games with a 13-7 record as the #3 seed.

Maryland was outhustled on the day. They lost the ground ball battle 31-24 and couldn't even convert on the one man-up opportunity they got. The teams strength all year long had been their EMO unit, #2 in the nation, and their gritty play. But at the end of the day, they didn't find the right combination of players to score enough and you can't win an NCAA Quarterfinal game scoring 5 goals.

Notre Dame will advance to the Final Four where it will play Cornell, who thrashed Army 14-5, after Army upset #2 Syracuse in the first round. #5 Duke rolled past #4 UNC 17-9 and #1 Virginia scraped out a win over #8 Stony Brook, 10-9 to advance to the Final Four on the other side of the bracket. Coach Corrigan said his team was pulling for Duke...it was in the first game of the season for Notre Dame against then #2 Duke, an 11-7 win, that got them into the tournament in the first place.

Unfortunately for the Terps, their season comes to an end much earlier than anticipated. As sad as the team is to not make it the final weekend, they had a tremendous season. For the first time since 2001, 3 players (Catalino, Young, and Reed) scored at least 37 points and ALL of them return next season.

The key losses as the team looks to 2011 will be:
#17 Bryn Holmes, who is the toughest player that Coach Cottle has ever coached in his career. You will not find a player who puts his body on the line more often than Holmes did for UMD, winning 61 ground balls, causing 18 turnovers. But he is most known for taking faceoffs. He won 145 faceoffs on the year for a .553%.
#23 Will Yeatman, who battled injuries all year long but still managed to 22 points (15G, 7A) as he switched from attack to midfield.
#30 Brian Phipps was the anchor for this defense and played incredible lacrosse down the stretch. He made 158 saves in 2010 and had a 7.75 goals against average.
Adam Sear, who was the star of Maryland's #2 EMO attack group. He scored 8 goals after Maryland drew a penalty with his 100+ mph shot. You will not find a goalie who wanted to see #12 rip a shot.
#7 Dan Halayko, who played in all 16 games this year as the 4th long pole on defense. He played admirably with the Terps man-down unit and picked up 20 ground balls.
#16 Dean Hart played with more heart than anyone. He scored just 3 goals and added 2 assists as a defensive minded middie who did all the little things for the team.
#35 Fran Gormley came back after two years away from the team, walking on in 2010. He earned all the playing time he got and scored 2 goals and had an assist as well.

If you were keeping track, every senior of the 2010 class will be missed next year. Thanks for a great season. I had a blast covering the team and they have a bright future. Can't say the same for Cottle as he might have stood on the Maryland sideline for the last time.

For the rest of the 2010 Men's Lacrosse crew please keep supporting us at wmucsports.com. We look forward to next season and I will keep posting big news about the team throughout the off-season. Congratulations to the team once again for a great season. Go Terps!

NCAA Quarterfinals - Notre Dame Preview

2010-05-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

The Maryland Terrapins (12-3) will wrap up their scholastic year on Wednesday and head up to Princeton, New Jersey on Thursday after practice according to Patrick Fischer's blog. They will play Notre Dame (8-6) in the NCAA Quarterfinals in a rematch of last year's only first round upset. The Terps won 7-3 over the Irish who were undefeated coming into the game and earned the #7 seed in the 16-team field in 2009.

The strength of this year's Notre Dame team is in the cage. Senior goal Keeper, Scott Rodgers (a pre-season All-American pick), has a 7.99GAA on the year and was HUGE in their victory over #6 Princeton. His 58.4 save percentage will make it very difficult for the Terps to put points on the board...but they have faced top goalies all year. In fact, they get to play Brian Phipps in practice everyday. Phipps has an 8.27GAA and a 54.9 save percentage. Over the last seven games, Phipps has stepped up his game even more with a 7.45GAA.

Scoring wise, Notre Dame gets most of their production in the midfield. #33 David Early scored 5 goals against the Tigers, as many goals as Princeton had as a team. #12 Grant Krebs (22G, 4 A) also has more than 20 goals this year, and their points leader is #28 Zach Brenneman, who has scored 35 points this year (23G, 12 A). Their fourth best scorer is #11 Neal Hicks (19G, 13A), second on the team in points.

#7 Trever Sipperly is a true FOGO. He has won 153 of his 274 face-offs (and only missed out on 14 total face-offs). His win percentage is 55.8 while Bryn Holmes is on a tear, winning 64.1% of his face-offs in the last 7 games.

The Irish have actually been out-ground-balled on the year, 397-379. Maryland dominated Hofstra in that category, 41-21, in the first round.

The other thing that is always a factor are the penalties. Maryland sports the 2nd best EMO unit in the country while Notre Dame is phenomenal on defense when playing with a man-down. Because they only commit 2.2 penalties per game, they give up goals 25.8% of the time in those situations.

Marlyand's well-balanced attack is a strength in this game. 40% of the Terps that played against the Pride scored (10 out of 25). This way, the defense can't focus on just Grant Catalino who leads the team in goals, or Travis Reed, or even Ryan Young. One last note for the game, this should be an emotional one for Will Yeatman who transferred from Notre Dame last year.

Listen to wmucsports.com for all the action! Go Terps!

1st Weekend Wrap-Up

2010-05-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

So after the first weekend in the 2010 NCAA Tournament, the University of Maryland's road to the Final Four in Baltimore just got a bit easier....on paper. Notre Dame traveled to Princeton, New Jersey and beat the Ivy League Champs 8-5 in a defensive battle.

Senior goalie Scott Rodgers made 14 saves for the Irish, Will Yeatman's former school, while the long poles in front of him held the #6 Tigers to just 1 second-half goal. They earned their 6th win in the NCAA Tournament and will now face your Maryland Terrapins on Saturday @ 12PM in Princeton.

In the bottom portion of the Terp's bracket, Army pulled off a monumental upset over 2-time defending champ, Syracuse. The Black Nights won in double overtime by a final score of 9-8 as the final seconds of the 2nd OT ticked away.

They will play Cornell who held off Loyola after blowing a 8-2 lead. The Big Red avoided another heartbreaking overtime loss...lasting 3OTs in their first post season game since losing to the Orange in last year's title game. The winner of that game will play the winner of UMD-ND in the national semi-final.

UNC took down the University of Delaware 14-13 after a rain/lightning delay. Billy Bitter (2010 ACC Player of the Year) and Curtis Dickson (2010 Tewaaraton Finalist) were shut down in the contest; the focal points of the opposition for sure. They will play fellow ACC power house Duke who put up 18 goals in a dominating 1st round win. That game should take a bit out of both schools before the winner of that quarterfinal will play the survivor of UVA-Stony Brook.

With Army taking down Syracuse and Notre Dame pulling the other 1st round upset, Maryland's road appears easier. With their upcoming potential games, they could be the favorite to make it out of their bracket and get to the Championship game.

Later in the week, I will take a look at Notre Dame's season. From their game today, I saw a suffocating defense and a big, physical team; one that won't back down to Maryland's imposing size on both sides of the ball.

1st Round NCAA Tournament

2010-05-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

It was an upset-special on paper. Hofstra came into the game scoring more than 13 goals per game, with an offense that was held to single digit goals just once this season (they scored 9 in that contest). Maryland has been ridiculed for not performing to its ability in the NCAA Tournament. In the second half, Hofstra scored the first two goals to take a 5-4 advantage. Then the Terps woke up.

All season long the motto has been to finish strong. Coach Dave Cottle was proud of the way his team fought back in the game, "We fight for sixty minutes, and we know that there are going to be peaks and valleys. We're in the process of climbing a mountain."

The other thing that epitomizes the team is that they don't rely on any one player for offense. Although Grant Catalino came into the game with 33 goals, definitely the team leader in that category, 10 Terrapins scored in the 11-8 victory over Hofstra.

The game started off pretty slow on the scoreboard, although both teams sport high-octane offenses. Each goalie made 3 saves in the opening minutes to help stifle both attack units. Brian Farrell got the scoring going as he scored his 6th goal of the season. All year long teams try to game-plan for the long pole as if he was on the midfield or attack. Jay Card responded next with the first of his 4 goals on the day. He along with fellow Canadian, Jamie Lincoln (53 points before the game), were the focal point of Maryland's defensive plan. Lincoln didn't record a point thanks to #34 Ryder Bohlander. Bohlander gets overshadowed by 2009 All-American Max Schmidt and Brett Schmidt who made Laxpower.com's first team All-American list this year, but because of his stellar play, there is truly no weakness in front of Brian Phipps.

Freshman John Haus scored his first post-season goal to give the Terps a 3-1 lead with a beautiful low-high shot. It seemed like the Terps finally figured out Andrew Gvozden, brother of Hopkin's keeper, the 2009 All-CAA Freshman goalie.

But both goalies played exceptionally in the first half, stone-walling both teams. Phipps had 7 saves by halftime and Gvozden already made 10 saves as Maryland went into halftime with a 4-3 lead. Ground balls were key for Cottle's team as they had a 19-8 advantage in the first half and 41-21 difference by the end of the contest.

After Tim Holman scored his first goal of the year for the Pride, Maryland was in a familiar position...trailing. Coming back from a 4-1 deficit to Johns Hopkins, and a 6-0 hole to UVA earlier this year, Maryland kept playing well and never got discouraged. Joe Cummings, who started in place of Will Yeatman, scored with 7:36 left in the 3rd to tie things up on a fancy switch.

Jesse Bernhardt ignited the transition game yet again and found his brother, sophomore Jake Bernhardt who raced past midfield, lost the ball, but Dan Burns was there to pick it up, flip it back to Jake who almost lost his jersey on the follow through of his low line drive. Senior Dean Hart's curled around the back of the goal to give Maryland a 7-5 lead. All the momentum was in Maryland's favor and it stemmed from Bryn Holmes solid play. He dominated the face-off battle and he laid out one of the Hofstra players in front of the Maryland crowd. He proceeded to stand over the fallen player intimidatingly...kind of like Pippen's look after he dunked on Patrick Ewing in the playoffs almost 20 years back.

Later Hofstra stopped the momentum with a big defensive play, not allowing the Terps to score on their first man-up opportunity of the game. Hofstra face-off man John Antoniades got into a scuffle with Ryan Young. Antoniades hit Young up-front, jarring Young's stick loose. Young didn't back down, had a few choice words for his nemesis. A very aggressive team, Maryland did not let their emotions get the better of them after Antoniades got two-minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. Young received 1-minute in the penalty zone for the altercation which seemed to energize the Terps.

Maryland then went on a 4-0 run. Adam Sear connected on his 8th EMG of the year, which leads the team. Ryan Young scored 2 relatively easy bounce shots as quick ball-movement by the Terps got Hofstra out of position. Yeatman's empty-netter with about 3 minutes left iced the game and made the score 11-6. Hofstra scored two late goals, but the result was not in doubt at that point.

Owen Blye, also scored in the game for the Terps. Tim Holman scored 2 goals and had 2 assists to tie Jay Card for the points lead for Hofstra in this 1st round game.

Player of the game has to be Bryn Holmes. He won a majority of the 23 face-offs, 15 of them for Maryland. The defense also needs to get a ton of credit. They basically held one of the best offenses in the nation to 6 goals during the competitive portion of the game. Phipps made one HUGE mistake, Cottle called it an assist in the postgame press conference, as his errant pass led to a goal for Hofstra, but for the most part, his 14 saves were spectacular. Maryland's defense played at a championship level and if Catalino or another player can get hot offensively, watch out. Travis Reed didn't even score a goal. Will Yeatman picked up 2 assists in the game.

Maryland will play the winner of the Notre Dame/Princeton game which will be played tomorrow. The Quarterfinal game is in Princeton on Saturday the 22nd. Wmucsports will be there for the call. It should be a great game as Maryland tries to get to their 4th Final Four under Dave Cottle, and first since 2006. Go Terps!

NCAA 1st Round Preview

2010-05-13T07:43:00.000-07:00

The Maryland Men's Lacrosse team (11-3, ACC at-large) will get a visit from Hofstra University (9-4, CAA at-large) this Saturday at noon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Interestingly, the Pride did not even make their own conference tournament, but got an at-large bid. Between Notre Dame (7-6) and Hofstra, local rival Georgetown was left out of the tourney, but the Terps should not take this team lightly.

Seth Tierney, head coach of the Pride, said that "There are 16 teams playing and we couldn’t be happier," according to an article in The Chronicle. The Pride finished the year with wins over three top 20 teams (Army, Brown and Towson) as well as a top 10 win over Johns Hopkins. They were on the bubble with a 2-3 conference record.

Hofstra's offense is extremely potent. They put up 13.3 goals per game. Hofstra has 3 players who have scored at least 40 points this season, more than the Terps can say. The top scorer, #8 Jamie Lincoln, hails from Canada and has 33 goals with 20 assists. 53 points on the season just like Grant Catalino. Right behind Lincoln is another Canadian, #20 Jay Card (27G, 22A = 49 points). #14 Stephen Bentz (28G, 12A) rounds out the starters who have at least 40 total points.

Maryland's defense will surely be tested. Brian Phipps needs to step up and play like he has the last month. Laxpower.com just released it's All-American team and defender Brett Schmidt made the 1st team. Ken Clausen of UVA and Ryan Flanagan from UNC also made the team with a long pole from Syracuse, John Lade. Brett and Max will have to play like the All-Americans they have been in their careers to stifle Hofstra's offense.

#42 John Antoniades has taken a majority of the face-offs for the Pride. He is 73-135 for a .562 win percentage on face-offs. #7 Steve DeNapoli has scooped up 47 ground balls to lead the team. Overall, they have a 429-345 advantage.

Defensively they have given up 8.84 goals per game to opponents. There hasn't been 1 goalie to start more than 7 games for the season, but it seems as though Andrew Gvozden has secured the starting position with a 4-1 record with a 9.06 GAA. The last four games, 42 balls have found the back of the net while he has stopped just 30 shots.

Their man0up offense is 23-70 on the year, so as usual, Maryland will have the advantage if they can draw some yellow flags. The midfield will be important as they need to control the tempo of the game. Dan Burns, Jake Bernhardt, and Ryan Young need to keep the pace in favor of the Terps. Coach Cottle regularly uses around 30 players off his bench and that depth will come in handy against such a high octane offense. Look for the Terps to try and get on the board early. When Maryland gets off to a quick start, they gain a mental advantage as their opposition feels like they need to play catch-up.

Coach Cottle thinks very highly of the Pride, "they have Final Four talent." Catch all the action on wmucsports.com starting with pre-game analysis at 11:45 AM! Go Terps!

Selection Sunday - Running Diary

2010-05-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

8:30 - A bit of a late start, thanks to UC Irvine vs. Cal Poly and the 18-8 drubbing. I'm so happy ESPNU is showing this instead of the Selection Show on time.

8:37 - Yup, still 18-8 in the 9th inning...is it just me? Or do the Ant Eaters have the WORST nickname in all of sports?

8:39 - Make that 18-10 with Cal Poly after 2 runs...put those rally caps on!

8:40 - Go Red Sox! Hermida doubles to deep left as J.D. Drew scores the first run. 1-0 Red Sox against the Yankees.

8:47 - 18-13 win by UC Irvine! Comeback just short. Worst 9th inning ever.

8:48 - Time for Selection Sunday to really begin! One 'Cuse and Blue Jay to analyze the picks. And no surprise, a bit of a tribute to Yeardley Love. It was a shock to everyone and my heart and prayers go out to Love's family and friends. Bob Holtzman says that the majority of the work on the case is done.

8:52 - Virginia gets the #1 overall seed. They open up on Saturday @ 7:30pm against Mount Saint Mary's (MAC Automatic Qualifier). The MAC Champion will try and get the first win in the NCAA Tournament for their conference which 0-8 all-time in the Big Dance.

8:57 - Stony Brook (America East Champion) is the #8 seed and will open @ 5pm on Saturday against Denver (ECAC Champion). Denver already beat Stony Brook by one goal earlier in the season. 71 points for Midfielder Kevin Crowley, leads the nation in goals per game.

8:59 - Duke is the #5 seed and will host Johns Hopkins @ Noon this Saturday. I can't believe they actually made the tournament. 7-7! I know they had a tough schedule but if they didn't make the previous 38 tournaments in a row, would they have made it? That's like giving Coach K the easiest path to the Final Four....oh wait. Duke has beaten UVA this year, the only team to do so, and should win this game.

9:01 - Alright! UNC gets the #4 seed and will host the CAA Champion, Delaware @ 5pm on Sunday. The Tar Heels get screwed over and get the dreaded #4 spot. They will have to play the Blue Devils if both take care of business in the first round. Great news for Maryland.

Billy Bitter was just described as unguardable. I recall a certain ACC Semi-final when Brett Schmidt held Bitter scoreless.

The top half of the bracket is set. I see a UVA-Duke final in that portion. Duke seems to be rolling right now. They hit a speed bump in the conference tourney against the Cavaliers. I just think they have the weapons to get past North Carolina's dominating defense.

9:06 - YOUR MARYLAND TERRAPINS!!!! #3 seed and Cottle's Crew will open up against Hofstra @ 12pm on Saturday. Quint is giving Young, Catalino, Yeatman, and Farrell some good props. Hard workers in some ugly wins. Hofstra is 3rd nationally in scoring margin although they appear to give up lots of goals.

9:08 - Princeton in at #6 and will host Notre Dame @ 2:30pm on Sunday. The Tigers have 6 national titles, yet haven't won since 2001. They are coming off a last-second win in the Ivy League tournament final over Cornell (down 7-3 in the game at one point). If the Irish advance, it could be an interesting game for Will Yeatman and his old school. Go Terps!

9:09 - Cornell in at #7 and will host Loyola (MD) up in Ithica, NY at 2:30 on Saturday. A little bit of a shock to see Loyola in the NCAA Tournament after blowing their championship game to Hopkins.

9:11 - Syracuse gets to play Army (Patriot League Champions) as they are the #2 overall seed and tops in the lower half of the bracket. The Orange is going after its 3rd straight NCAA Title. Quint thinks that their goalie deserves goalie of the year. A defense-oriented team will try to upend the Patriot League Champs.

That was awfully quick. Not terribly pleased with the show. But really happy that Maryland got the #3 seed. I never truly thought the Terps were going to jump over Syracuse for that #2 spot just because of the toughest schedule in the nation and such a high RPI. An 11-3 season is nothing to shake a stick at. Time to get ready for Hofstra. Be sure to tune in to wmucsports.com! Go Terps!

Maryland Finishes On High-Note

2010-05-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

The University of Maryland defeated Colgate University in their final regular season game. The Terps beat the Raiders 18-10 to improve to 11-3 on the season, while Colgate drops to 3-10 on the year...two teams going in opposite directions in 2010.

Just a day away from Selection Sunday, it will air on ESPNU at 8:30pm on Mother's Day, Travis Reed and the Terrapin offense put on a clinic through the first 3 periods. They built an 18-6 lead before senior Goalie Brian Phipps was sent to the bench as back up goaltenders Mark White and MJ Leonard played the final 17:24 getting 2 and 3 saves on the day.

Junior Travis Reed scored 5 goals and had 2 assists to score a career high 7 points. Ryan Young had 4 points on 2 goals and 2 helpers in his relative homecoming. Grant Catalino and Will Yeatman scored 3 points apiece with identical stat lines (2G, 1A).

Dan Burns, Scott LaRue, Jake Bernhardt, and Warren Hansen also scored goals in the game. Bryn Holmes and Max Schmidt scored their first goals of the season in the contest as well. Holmes was a beast on face-off duty winning 10 of his 17 face-offs taken. Maryland was 1-1 on man-up chances. Sophomore Joe Cummings scored the EMO goal for the top-ranked unit in the nation.

Brian Farrell, Jesse Bernhardt, and Dean Hart had 3 ground balls each. Maryland played with energy and they seem to be clicking at just the right time. Less than 24 hours before Selection Sunday, Coach Cottle and his team should be looking at a top 4 seed and will host a first round game this upcoming Saturday at Byrd Stadium.

Avoiding the #4 position will be critical for everyone not named UVA because there are 5 teams above the rest....all four from the ACC and Syracuse. That means whoever gets the 4 seed will have to play another powerhouse in the second round, instead of waiting to see such a difficult match-up in Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Final Four.

Regardless of what happens, it was a great regular season, one that everyone should be proud of. Grant Catalino is now 21st on Maryland's all-time scoring list after his 53 points during 14 games before the NCAA Tournament. Ryan Young scored over 40 points and is the first player to score over 100 career points while getting more assists than goals under Cottle. And Brian Phipps (6 saves against the Raiders) has proven to be one of the best keepers in Maryland history.

Be sure to listen in to wmucsports.com for all the action! Go Terps!

Maryland Heads North to Finish Regular Season

2010-05-06T09:37:00.000-07:00

The Maryland Terrapins (10-3, 1-2 ACC) are going to Manhasset, NY to take on Colgate University (3-9, 2-4 Patriot League) for their final regular season game...the home town of All-American Ryan Young.

On paper, this match-up should favor the Terps in almost every facet of the game. The Raiders' offense puts up 8.75 goals a game. #26 Ben McCabe leads the Raiders with 32 points on the season (24G, 8A). #15 Peter Baum has scored 27 goals this season, a team-high, and has just a single assist for 28 points. All in all, there are 5 players on Colgate who have double digit point values. #13 Patrick Campbell leads the team in assists with 12 helpers, along with his 11 goals.

Conversely, Maryland's trio of juniors on attack all have at least 14 assists this season, including Young's 26 feeds. 10 Terps have 10 or more points on the season. Even defender and team captain Brian Farrell has put up double digit points in 2010. That has propelled Maryland's offense to new heights. The Terrapins put up 11.31 goals per game.

On defense, Colgate allows 9 goals a game, one of the reasons for their losing record. #1 Jared Madison has started 9 of the games in goal for the Raiders. He has made 95 saves and sports a 8.57 GAA. #38 Tim Harrington has started the other 3 games and seen action in 6 on the season. He has made 32 saves in 2010 and gives up 10.54 goals per game.

Despite the struggles, #43 Jim Carroll has won almost 60% of his face-offs this year. Carroll has won 121 of his 205 face-offs, better than Bryn Holmes or Jake Bernhardt. We might even see Curtis Holmes take some face-offs in this contest. Curtis played a fair amount in the rout against Fairfield last Saturday...the 17-4 drubbing propelled Maryland into the #2 spot in the RPI rankings.

The Raiders take care of the ball, giving up the ball fewer times a game than their opponent. For ground balls, they have a 319-282 advantage. Their Man-Up unit has converted on just 10 of 30 chances this year. That number does look much lower than Maryland's .548 conversion rate, which still leads the nation, but most teams are in the same position.

I would expect to see Coach Dave Cottle go to his bench fairly early, similar to last week. Maryland shouldn't overlook their Patriot League opponent. If they can handle their business, there is a chance they earn the #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Maryland has an extremely deep team and there is no point in risking any unnecessary injury the week before UMD makes another run at the national championship.

Again, wmucsports.com won't be able to travel up to New York for the game, but the first round game, which will be at home in Byrd Stadium, your #1 Maryland Student Radio Station will be on the call. We will be following the team for each post season game. Go Terps!

Maryland Remains #3 in Polls

2010-05-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

After dismantling a Fairfield team 17-4, after a grueling weekend filled with ACC Tournament action, the Terps are still considered the 3rd best team in the country. At 10-3, Maryland just earned its 8th straight season winning at least 10 games.

In the Nike Division 1 Top 20 Poll, UMD was 30 points behind #1 Virginia, who picked up 14 of the possible 16 first place votes. The second to last poll had the same Top-5 as last week, with UNC and Duke rounding out the creme de la creme with Syracuse still #2 in the country.

The top 5 teams were the same in the USILA Dvision 1 Coaches Poll, although UVA only got 4 of the possible 7 first place votes. The other 3 went to the Orange...which are separated from the #1 overall spot by a single point.

Army joined the rankings after winning the Patriot League Championship, beating their arch-rival, Navy. Denver upset former #6 Loyola in the ECAC Championship over the weekend to cap a perfect conference record. They are just the second team in history to win their conference tournament, thus receiving the automatic qualifying bid, in their first season. The other team to accomplish that feat was Georgetown in 2001.

Cornell, Stony Brook, Princeton, Loyola, and Hofstra are in the top 10 for Nike's Poll. Stony Brook, Cornell, Princeton, and Drexel fill out the top 10 in the Coaches Poll.

Georgetown is ranked #14 in both polls as they continue to fight for a NCAA Tournament bid.

Maryland finishes out their regular season at Colgate on Saturday. If they win that game, they should be able to avoid the #4 overall seed...and a potential second-round match-up with Duke. Go Terps!

In an unrelated story, wmucsports.com sends out its condolences to the friends and family of UVA women's lacrosse player, 22-year old Yeardley Love. In an article from the Charlottesville Daily Progress, her body showed physical trauma and fellow UVA athlete, 22-year old George Huguely, is being charged with first-degree murder. On the field, Huguely has played in every game for the Cavaliers this season, a member of their second-midfield. Love has started 9 games as a junior and 3 games this season on defense.

Terrapin Faithful Bid Seniors Farewell

2010-05-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

For the last regular season game of their careers, seniors Fran Gormley, Dan Halayko, Dean Hart, Bryn Holmes, Brian Phipps, Chris Ready, Adam Sear, and Will Yeatman suited up in Terrapin red and took the field at Byrd Stadium. On a picture-perfect day, with a couple clouds in the sky and temperatures reaching the mid-80s, Maryland didn't leave anything to chance.

A 6-0 start in the first period propelled Maryland (10-3, 1-2) to a 17-4 victory over Fairfield University (8-5). By the end of the 3rd, it was 15-1 as Coach Dave Cottle pulled Phipps, 4th on the all-time saves list in school history. Although Will Yeatman was not in the game as he recovers from a concussion sustained over a week ago, UMD's attack unit tallied 13 points. Grant Catalino scored 4 goals and had 1 assist to reach 50 total points on the season (31G, 19A) while teammate and fellow 2010 All-ACC member Ryan Young scored 2 goals and had 3 helpers to get his 5 points on the day. Young now has 40 points in his junior season (14G, 26A). Travis Reed found teammates for goals twice on the day and scored once himself.

In the first half the Terps appeared as though they were going to be in an unexpected battle with Fairfield, but a would-be goal was taken off the board when the stick check showed an illegal head on the Stags. The game would have been tied at 1-1 and served as a wake-up call for Maryland's offense. Sophomore Joe Cummings had a hat trick in the first half as the sophomore stole the show in the first 2 periods making the most of his starting minutes in Yeatman's absence.

At halftime it was 10-1 in favor of UMD and the Stags, led by former Maryland assistant coach and offensive coordinator, Andrew Copelan. Brent Adams led his team with 2 goals and Max Trunz now has the most assists on his team after 2 in today's game (he has 13).

But Sam Snow, the super-star freshman Stag, was held scoreless on the day. Brett Schmidt and Max Schmidt had close to 100000 caused turnovers. Coming into the game the Terps were #2 in the nation in that category. Along with Ryder Bohlander and Halayko and Farrell who acted as the 4th long pole, Maryland's stingy defense harassed Fairfield all day and made things very difficult. Maryland out-shot their opponent 51-23, with 45 shots coming in the first 3 periods before Cottle took the foot off the gas pedal. Ground balls were dominated by UMD, a 39-24 advantage in favor of the home team.

Bryn Holmes did well on face-offs before giving way to his younger brother, freshman Curtis Holmes, for much of the second half. 15 of the 24 face offs were won by the Terps. Steve Golmont won 9 and now is just the 4th player who has played at Fairfield to win more than 100 in a season.

Even Maryland's attack worked their butts off on defense. Not allowing the Stag's defense to clear the ball easily...7 of the 20 chances were broken up, including a play late in the game when Catalino picked off a pass from the keeper and launched a 45 yard shot into an empty net.

Charlie Cipriano played the last 30 minutes after the nation's best goalie, statistically speaking at least, Joseph Marra, let in 10 goals in the first half. A shot off of Eric Boyle's stick landed on the goal line and Marra poked it into his own net as he tried to pick it up.

Freshman Mike Poiter scored his first goal of his career. We will definitely be hearing his name in the years to come. Owne Blye had 2 assists, his first of 2010 as well. Gormley scored in his final home game. But it was a day for the senior class. They have a 40-22 record in their careers and have 3 NCAA tournament bids to their names. A 4th is likely coming when the 16 team field is announced. If they can wrap things up at Colgate next week, the Terps are looking at a possible top-4 seed and could be #2. A strong RPI helps and with the country's hardest schedule, their resume is as impressive as any other team...aside from UVA which everyone is chasing.

Unfortunately, wmucsports.com will not be able to make the trip to New York for the next game, but we will resume coverage of the Terps for the home game against TBA in the first round of the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament. Go Terps!

Fairfield University Preview

2010-04-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

Just two days away from the first of two games to tune-up for the NCAA Tournament. Maryland made a strong case this past weekend for a potential #2 seed. With the 3rd highest RPI and the toughest schedule in the nation, the Terps, although they have 3 losses on the season, are in a great position if they can take care of business against Fairfield University and Colgate in the upcoming weeks.

Fairfield (8-4, 4-2 MAAC) is coming of a 9-8 loss to #16 Denver on April 24th. That loss dropped them out of the rankings. The Stags were previously ranked #17 in the country. Away from their home field, they have an impressive 3-1 record, while they are close to .500 at home with a 4-3 mark on their own turf.

As a team, the Stags score 8.83 goals per game while they only give up 7.42 goals each contest. In fact, the highlight of their team is Senior Goalkeeper Joe Marra. He sports the nation's best statistics while standing between the pipes, giving up a stellar 7.09 GAA. His save percentage is an astounding 61.6% as he has given up just 81 goals on the season. Marra has 130 saves which is just 12 shy of the Stags single-season top-10 list. With a game against the high-powered Terrapin offense which normally out-shoots their opponent, Marra should be well on his way into the top spots in his school's record books.

Fairfield University's offense has scored 106 goals while the entire team has yielded just 89 scores to opponents. Leading the way up top on attack is a freshman. #24 Sam Snow (15G, 12A), is the only Stag who has more than 20 points this season. The 6-3 200 pound force has been named ECAC rookie of the week 4 times this season. Against Denver, he notched his second career hat trick. An assist gave him 4 points on the game which was also the second time he has accomplished that feat since getting to college.

There are 8 other Stags with at least 11 points on the 2010 season. #13 Max Trunz (7G, 11A) and #6 Matt Plominski (10G, 6A) follow Snow on Fiarfield's current team. Snow does lead the team in each scoring category. #37 Steve Golmont takes most of the Face-Offs for coach Andrew Copelan. He has won 93 of the 182 face-offs he has taken this year (good for a .511 win percentage) while the team as a whole wins .494 of the pure 50/50 balls. Fairfield holds a 347-322 advantage according to the ground ball statistic. Maryland's newfound focus on playing a more physical brand of lacrosse should benefit them in this game. Bryn Holmes has the advantage on paper and the toughest player Cottle has ever coached has the chance to get Maryland's offense off to a great start.

The EMO story is one of two distinct tales. Maryland leads the country when they play with a man-up while Fairfield has converted on 16 of 36 chances when they have an extra man on the field. Fairfield has out-shot their opponents on the season, 240-224.

As we just saw last night in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a hot goalie can change a game and easily win one for a team. If Marra plays lights out, the Terps will have trouble getting on the scoreboard. However, the level of competition clearly favors the Terps. Fairfield has played just 3 teams that are currently ranked in the top 20. The Terps seem to have a top 5 or 10 show-down every week these days. If the Terrapins can play up to their ability and come out strong, they might be able to win the battle on the field as well as the mental one.

Listen to wmucsports.com for all the action. Go Terps!

2010 All-ACC Team

2010-04-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Before the ACC-Tournament, the 2010 All-ACC team was announced and your Maryland Terrapins had 4 players represented on the team...the most of any ACC school. 2 more than #1 Virginia, 1 more than #5 Duke, and 1 more than #4 North Carolina.

Leading the way were Junior Tewaraaton Nominees Grant Catalino and Brett Schmidt. Schmidt's best game was this past weekend against UNC when he held 2010 ACC player of the year, Billy Bitter to just 1 shot and 0 points; the first time Bitter was held scoreless in 30 games.

Junior Ryan Young was also on the team. He is 7th in the nation with 2 assists per game which is good for 2nd in the conference. Senior Goalie Brian Phipps rounds out the All-ACC honorees who wear red and white.

Congratulations to all the Terps on the team and the rest of the team who play for the 9-3 Terps. Their average ranking of opponents is 13.8. They easily have the toughest strength of schedule in D-1 Lacrosse.

Seniors Fran Gormley, Dan Halayko, Dean Hart, Bryn Holmes, Brian Phipps, Adam Sear and Will Yeatman will all be honored before the game this Saturday against Fairfield.

One more note about the game from Patrick Fischers blog on the Maryland Athletics website: "Saturday's game will also be the Terps' Power In Pink game to help Under Armour in the fight against breast cancer. The Terps will not be wearing pink uniforms, which is the norm for many of the women's teams, but will sporting pink shoelaces and wristbands to show their support for those fighting breast cancer. All proceeds from sales of Under Armour's Power in Pink items go to national breast cancer charities."

Tune in to wmucsports.com to catch all the action! Go Terps!

Terps Fall to UVA, Rise in Rankings

2010-04-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

The Maryland Terrapins showed that they belong in the national title discussion this weekend. After dropping regular season contests to UNC and UVA earlier, they battled back and defeated the Tar Heels by 8 in the ACC Semi-final and played Virginia close before the new #1 team in the country went on a 5-0 run to close out the game and beat the Terps 10-6. But Coach Dave Cottle showed that he can change his game plan and adjust to an opponent after UNC frustrated UMD in the 9-7 loss in March.

With their impressive showing in the ACC Tournament, they moved up to the #3 spot in the country in the first RPI rankings of the year. Maryland actually leapfrogged Syracuse according to the computers yet remained behind ACC foe UNC. Virginia is now the #1 team again after losing the top spot to the Orange, with resounding wins over Duke and your Terps.

In the Nike Division 1 Top 20 Poll, Maryland was ranked 3rd behind UVA and Syracuse. Duke rounded out each poll and the RPI rankings at #5. The USILA Division 1 Coaches Poll has the same top 5 spots as the Nike poll.

Following the ACC and Syracuse, who have separated themselves as the clear-cut favorites as the NCAA tournament nears according to Quint Kessenich, are Loyola University, Princeton University, and Stony Brooke University. Cornell and UMass occupy the #9 and #10 spots respectively in each poll, with the Coaches putting the Big Red at #10.

The ACC Tournament was a great weekend and showed how strong a league it really is. Syracuse is the other team in the top 5...a top 5 that is head and shoulders above the rest of the Lacrosse world. Hopefully the Terps can win their last two tune-ups before the big dance. Catch all the action right here on wmucsports.com. Go Terps!

Terps Fall Short in ACC Tourney

2010-04-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

Earlier this season, the University of Virginia came to Byrd Stadium as the unanimous #1 team in the country. They came out on fire and took an early 6-0 lead, stunning the Terps who were coming off a loss at North Carolina the week before. Building a massive lead at halftime, UVA almost collapsed completely as Maryland almost tied the game up at 10-10 late in the 4th quarter before Ryan Young's goal was waved off due to a controversial crease violation. Instead, Shamel Bratton raced down the field while the fans the players in red were celebrating to ice the game and give UVA an 11-9 victory. Maryland had not lost since that night and got wins over Johns Hopkins. They won their semi-final game in dominating fashion, 13-5 over the Tar Heels.

On Sunday, in the clash for the ACC crown, UVA (13-1, 2-1 ACC) did not need to hold off a furious comeback by Maryland (9-3, 1-2 ACC). Adam Ghitelman was superb in goal and held the Terrapins to just 6 goals after giving up the first 3 before making a single save. Will Yeatman didn't play because of a mild concussion and Grant Catalino and Travis Reed scored 1 goal apiece. Ryan Young couldn't find the back of the net either.

Maryland out-shot the Wahoos 36-27, won just as many face-offs (each team had 10 in the game), and kept the ground ball battle close , with UVA holding a 32-28 advantage in that department.

The game resembled the scoring of a basketball game with both teams going on runs throughout the day. Maryland started the scoring off with a 3-0 streak, getting goals from Owen Blye, Drew Snider, and Michael Shakespeare. Virginia responded with a 4-0 run of their own led by their talented midfield with Brian Carroll and Rhamel Bratton scoring a goal apiece in the run. Reed tied things up with his only goal.

Steele Stanwick put the Cavaliers up 5-4 before the half and then Catalino responded with his only goal. After that UVA put the game out of reach with a 5-0 run. The Terps were held scoreless for 28 minutes. Catalino's two points, he had an assist in the game as well, tied him with Dave Dempsey for 22nd on the all-time scoring list.

Stanwick and Rhamel Bratton led UVA with 3 points each (2G, 1 A). Virginia's close defense also helped hold Maryland's EMO unit, best in the country, to 0-2 on the day. But Ghitelman took home the MVP trophy. He had 16 saves against the Terps in the final and 28 overall, while only giving up 18 goals.

Maryland got 4 players on the All-ACC-Tournament team. Grant Catalino, John Haus, Brett Schmidt, and Brian Farrell grabbed the honors.

Maryland will close out it's regular season home schedule this Saturday against Fairfield. It will be the final home game for the seniors.

Quick shout-out to the Maryland Women's Team. They beat #1 UNC in their final and should take over the #1 spot in the country themselves.

Terrapins Run Over Tar Heels

2010-04-24T15:31:00.001-07:00

The ACC tournament was bound to have some high scoring. In the first contest, Duke and UVA took the field at Byrd Stadium in a rematch of a game from 1 week ago in which the Blue Devils handed Virginia their first loss of the season, 13-9. In the second meeting between the two schools, the Cavaliers prevailed, 16-12. Duke had won the previous 8 games with UVA. They won with face-offs [22 of 32 went their way in the contest]...the key to success in any lacrosse game. Brian McDermott won 17 of his 19 battles in the middle of the field. He dominated Bryn Holmes in the game at Byrd with Maryland earlier in the season. Coach Dom Starsia said "the ground ball play in the middle of the field was really good."

Thanks to Maryland's own hustle in the middle of the field, the Terps were able to play a high-octane game and defeat North Carolina 13-5 after dropping the regular season game in Chapel Hill 9-7. Grant Catalino had a career high 6 goals in the game, giving him 23rd place on the all-time scoring list at Maryland with 132 points, passing Pat O'Meally and C. Rennie Smith. He is only 2 points away from tying Dave Dempsey for 22nd place on all-time scoring list.

Bryn Holmes was incredible in the middle 1/3 and his 5 ground balls puts him in 5th place with 223 career ground balls. Face-offs were a big part of the 13-5 win for UMD. He won 13 of the 20 that he took for the game.

The Terps never trailed in this game, much different then the game at UNC where they were playing catch-up for much of the game. Down in Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels defense stunned the Terps and really took them out of their comfort zone. with such great size, they don't need to double Catalino or Yeatman, who are both at least 6-5. Brian Farrell scored a couple transition goals. Some analysts have said that his return to the team is a big reason why Maryland has a legitimate shot at getting back to the Final Four...which just happens to be at M&T Bank Stadium this year. Maryland already has two victories against quality opponents (Duke and Johns Hopkins) there this year. They know how to win close games and now have a conference blowout under their belts.

For the first 22:44 seconds of the game, UNC could not get a shot past Brian Phipps. The senior keeper helped keep an offense that was scoring over 11 goals a game at bay. With 13 saves on the day, he has 427 career saves and passed Steve Kavoit for 4th place on the all-time saves list. Much of the success in front of Phipps was with junior defenseman Brett Schmidt. He checked All-American attackman and Tewaraaton Nominee Billy Bitter to 0 points for the first time in 30 games. Bitter was injured last game against the Tar Heels. Traditional thought would have given the edge to #3 UNC especially now that they had their squad completely healthy. But Schmidt and the defense won the battle on the ground, 42-33. Bitter was held to one shot and 6 turnovers while being shadowed predominantly by Brett Schmidt. It was truly an All-American performance [with teammate Max Schmidt earning those honors last year].

Freshman John Haus tallied his first hat trick ever against UNC. It must have been a very emotional game for the talented second-midfielder as he grew up in Chapel Hill and almost committed to the school before his dad was fired a couple years ago. He recruited many of the players that Coach Joe Breschi is leading at the moment. Haus came to UMD despite the family ties and outscored everyone on the field...aside from Catalino who finally had a HUGE game against a HUGE opponent.

Maryland will play UVA at 3:30pm Sunday at Byrd Stadium for the ACC crown. Although not every team in D-1 plays in conference tournaments, they do carry some heavy meaning. If Maryland can continue their winning ways and beat Virginia the second time around, then they might be in line for the #1 overall seed. Even if Syracuse wins the Big East, which they recently joined, I think that getting wins over the #3 and hopefully #2 teams in the country would give Coach Cottle and his players a reasonable chance at taking over the #1 spot in the nation.

Catch all the action on wmucsports.com! Go Terps!

Terps Get Set for Rematch with Tar Heels

2010-04-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

For the first time in 10 years, the ACC Tournament makes its way back to College Park. Byrd Stadium will host three games this weekend featuring the #2-#5 teams in the country in what should be the best weekend in lacrosse this season [yes, better than the Big City Classic which featured the top 4 teams at the time]...why? It's the ACC baby.

Back on March 27th, Maryland went down to UNC for a match-up of two undefeated teams. The Terps were clicking on all cylinders, especially on offense, yet were dominated on both sides of the ball in Chapel Hill. Carolina didn't even have their best offensive player, All-American Billy Bitter. Freshman Marcus Holman [a product of Baltimore powerhouse, Gilman] scored 4 goals to pick up the slack. UNC was also without the services of Sean DeLaney for much of the game after he left with a hand injury.

Maryland's fantastic EMO offense was 3-4 on the day, but they never really got into a groove. Grant Catalino was held without a goal until he made the score 9-7 with just about a minute left; the game was well out of reach by then. UNC's towering defense (Ryan Flanagan stands 6-6, Michael Jarvis is listed at 6-5, and Kevin Piegare is the "shortest" of the bunch at 6-2). They were more physical and out-hustled the Terrapins...two of the keys for Maryland's late success.

Senior Bryn Holmes has stepped up in a big way. Coach Dave Cottle described him as the "toughest son of a booger" he has ever coached. He took virtually every face off against Johns Hopkins in the 10-9 victory. Ever since the back-to-back losses to UNC and UVA, Maryland has gotten back to its lacrosse roots. Being the tougher team on the field, winning with effort and not just talent.

UNC is coming of a 17-14 shoot out with Robert Morris. Gavin Petracca scored a career best 6 goals and Bitter, Holman, and Cryder DiPietro each had 2 goals in the win. Their only loss since the UMD game was against UVA as well. Virginia prevailed 7-5 over the Tar Heels on April 10th. After falling behind 5-0 (UVA seems to play extremely well against their ACC foes in the first half; remember the 6-0 lead they took over Maryland and this past weekend versus Duke, they were outscored 8-3 in the second half as the Blue Devils won 13-9). Steele Stanwick of UVA notched a hat trick while UNC was led by Bitter who had 2 goals. Both coaches admitted they held a little back with the strong possibility of playing 2 more games against each other.

On the season, UNC is led by Bitter (19G, 20A) and Gavin Petracca (20G, 15A). They have 4 more players who have scored at least 20 points and DiPietro has 19 points on the season. Chris Madalon brings a 6.97 GAA to College Park. He has done a solid job between the pipes, but that low number can be attributed to the stellar defense. UNC has outscored opponents 138-84 on the season, including holding Virginia and UMD to season low totals.

Michael Burns (103-203 FOW) has taken most of the face-offs. Against the Terps in late March, he beat everything Cottle threw at him. Be it Jake Bernhardt, Jesse Bernhardt, or Bryn Holmes, Burns won seemingly every face-off. As always, if Holmes can get the ball rolling in Maryland's favor, the offense will get a chance to really test Madalon in the cage. When the Terps were able to shoot in the game at UNC, they were able to get the ball in the net.

Travis Reed has the hot hand with 8 points (6G, 2A) in his last two games. Ryan Young is moving extremely well with the ball in the X spot behind the net. He is 7th in NCAA D-1 Lacrosse with 2 assists per game. Grant Catalino also appears to have shot himself out of his mini slump. He has 5 goals in the past two games and with his confidence back, has shown his fearlessness that was a trademark in his first two years in College Park.

Maryland, UNC, and UVA rank in the top 6 in the nation in terms of ground balls per game. Joe Cummings got his first collegiate hat trick against the Tar Hells last year in the ACC Tournament loss to Carolina (16-10 L). Maryland's EMO offense is #1. The unit is converting 61.8% of their chances when they play with a man-up. Adam Sear leads the way in this category with 6 goals in those situations (the team was a perfect 4-4 against Hopkins).

Although there is no Automatic Bid at stake, a top-4 seed in the NCAA tournament is. I would have to believe that all ACC schools will get a top 8 ranking if they win their final games after the conference tournament. Traditionally, schools like Syracuse and Johns Hopkins refused to join a conference (although Syracuse just became a member of the Big East). However, now the conference tournaments give teams the chance to increase their RPI and get another quality win or two, especially for the ACC juggernauts.

It should be a great weekend and hopefully Maryland can bring the trophy back to College Park. I know I'm not alone when I say that its been too long since championships have graced our campus. The path to a potential Final Four in Baltimore could become much easier as well. Listen to wmucsports.com for all the action. Go Terps!

New Polls as ACC Tourney Looms

2010-04-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

The 4/19/2010 rankings are out and Maryland (8-2) remained at the #4 spot in one of them and flopped positions with #5 Duke (11-3) in the other after the Blue Devils dominated former #1 Virginia (11-1) AT UVA.

In the Nike Division 1 Top 20 Poll, Syracuse (10-1) garnered 12 first place votes to claim the top spot from the Cavaliers, who got 6 first place votes themselves. Right in the rear view mirror sat UNC, a recipient of 1 first place vote sporting an 11-1 record. Maryland kept its 4th place ranking, followed by the last ACC team, Duke.

Maryland will face off against UNC Friday night, after Duke and UVA dook it out in a rematch of Saturday's contest between the two.

As for the USILA Division 1 Coaches Poll, the Orange took 9 of the 13 votes, while the Wahoos grabbed 4 nods from the men on the sidelines. UNC is the unanimous #3 team and Duke took Maryland's place in the #4 spot, while the Terps dropped to #5 in the country.

Princeton (9-2), Loyola (8-2), Cornell (8-3), and Villanova (8-3) follow the top 5 teams in order on both polls. Rounding out the top 10 in Nike's Poll is Drexel University (9-3) and the Coaches think the 10th best team in the nation is Georgetown University (7-4).

We'll go with #5 in the country, since Duke is the hottest team in lacrosse at the moment. But still, the ACC dominates the polls with all 4 teams in the top #5 along with the defending national champions. Go Terps!

Sweet Success for Seniors

2010-04-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

For the Maryland seniors, they finally beat Hopkins. With so many family ties to Maryland Lacrosse, losing all 4 match-ups against their arch-rival was just not an option. The starting attack unit of Travis Reed (2G, 1A), Ryan Young (1G, 2A), and Tewaaraton Nominee Grant Catalino (2G, 1A) combined for 9 points. Each player had 3 points to lead a well-balanced Maryland offense.

The main story of the day was how well the EMO units fared. Maryland's defense committed 6 penalties in the first half, yet they did not allow Hopkins to capitalize. For the entire game, the man-down unit held the Blue Jays man-up offense to 1-7. Offensively for the Terps, it was the same old story. Adam Sear got his 6th EMO goal of the season and the Terps were 4-4 on those chances.

The defense, led by senior keeper Brian Phipps, held Hopkins scoreless for a 23 minute stretch at one point. They picked up the intensity in the second half, after losing the groundball battle 15-12 in the first 30 minutes. The 3rd quarter was the difference in the game. Maryland won 10 of the 13 groundballs and out-hustled Hopkins.

Maryland now has 3 wins against JHU since Dave Pietramala took over and is the only team from the state of Maryland to beat a Pietramala led team. Will Yeatman returned to action after breaking his thumb in the first week of April. He missed the game against Navy and once he stepped onto the field, the Terps played with a much higher energy level. Yeatman easily had the play of the game in the second half when he baited two Hopkins defenders towards the edge of the box on the near sideline. He slowed down, turned his broad shoulders and raced towards the goal with a great change of pace. A 3rd defender checked him to the ground, but it was too late...Yeatman shot low and got the ball past Bassett for his lone goal of the game. Every fan was on the edge of their seat and the Hopkins contingent went quiet after that showing.

Maryland went up 10-7 late in the 4th and tried to stall for the last 3 minutes, when freshman keeper Pierce Bassett was forced to play defense to help cause turnovers. The strategy seemed to work for Hopkins because they got two turnovers and two quick goals to come back within 1 goal of the lead. It seemed as though the Terps would lose yet another 1-goal game. However, as Brian Farrell and his team have said all year...they finished strong. Just like the last time at Ravens Stadium, when Duke scored with :19 seconds left to force OT, the Terps kept their composure and Bryn Holmes, the "toughest son of a booger" that coach Dave Cottle has ever seen, was able to run out most of the final minute.

Although Steven Boyle had a hat trick and MIchael Kimmel had 2 goals and 2 helpers, the defense did a tremendous job, as Brett Schmidt held Tom Palasek without a shot the entire game. Phipps stopped 8 Hopkins shots and now has 414 saves in his career to move past Pat McGinnis for 5th all time on the saves list.

Grant Catalino now has 126 career points, moving him into sole possession of 25th place on the all-time scoring list.

Maryland will now play UNC in the ACC-Semifinal on Friday night at Byrd Stadium. The winner of that game faces off on Sunday against Duke or UVA, in their rematch of the Blue Devil's 5th straight win over the Cavaliers (13-9 at UVA on Saturday night). They outscored the Wahoos 8-3 in the second half and are the hottest team in D-1 Men's Lacrosse. At 82 (1-2), Maryland picks up another quality win for their tournament resume and the monkey is off the back of Coach Cottle...the first of many as they try to make their way back to the Final Four for the first time since 2006. Go Terps!

Smartlink Day of Rivals

2010-04-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

After Army defeated Navy for the 2nd time in 3 seasons in a riveting 7-6 victory (putting Navy in a bind after the Terps beat them last week in College Park), the Greatest Rivalry in Lacrosse took the field and was just as exciting.

Another slow start forced the Terrapins 8-2 (1-2) to play catch up for the rest of the game, adding to the pressure of not having beaten Johns Hopkins 5-6 (IND) for 3 years. But the team rallied in the second half and held on at the end as Hopkins staged a furious rally to leave M&T Bank Stadium victorious, 10-9.

Not one player in red had more than 2 goals or 3 points, a testament to the depth that this team has. "Our bench brings tremendous energy," said the Coach after getting the monkey off his back. And for the next 24 hours, Coach Cottle will let the team celebrate the huge win. However, this game wasn't described as THE rivalry. As much as possible, the team tried to treat it like just another game. I agree with Coach's comments after the game. Is this necessarily the best UMD rivalry? How about UVA? What about Duke [the most hated school by far for any Terp]? You can't have a rivalry when one team beats the other all the time. Plus, Cottle doesn't think these "rivalry" games define his coaching career. He was just so happy for the seniors to get the win; more so than for his coaching pedigree.

But for Brian Phipps and the senior class, they focused on the team success over the individual accomplishment. "Growing up a Maryland fan, you always root against Hopkins, it feels really good to win." Phipps is one of several Maryland lacrosse players with family ties to the school and it's storied lacrosse program.

Maryland fell behind early, 3-1 in the first period, getting a lone goal from Grant Catalino, and held it together during the second 15 minutes to pull within 4-3.

Although they were prone to penalties, reminiscent of the game last year against Hopkins in which the Terps had 10 yellow flags, while the Blue Jays only had 4, the Man-Down defense was spectacular. In the first half, Johns Hopkins was 0-6 on EMO chances. Brian Farrell and Brett Schmidt played at All-American levels, and the Terps won the decisive ground-ball battle 31-21. Cottle praised the effort of his team, winning the 50/50 balls in the second half. "We were out ground-balled in the first half, we out ground-balled them in the second half...it's a simple game...you get more ground balls, you shoot it better, you play tough, you win."

Maryland opened the game wide open coming out with a vengence in the 3rd as the seniors did not want to leave Raven Stadium losing for the 4th time in just as many tries against their arch rival...who just happened to be riding a 19-win streak when leading at half time. But since September workouts in the weight room, the motto has been to Finish Strong. "It's very easy to coach a group of kids who work this hard." And they needed every bit of composure when Hopkins started to fight back after going down 10-7 in the 4th.

Junior Captain Brian Farrell pointed to the earlier game against Duke, also played in the heart of the Charmed City, for how the Terps keep their cool. "We're a calm team, we always keep our heads up. If something bad happens, we get the next play."

Will Yeatman warmed up but was not in the starting line up. He provided an emotional lift for the offense and represents a match-up nightmare. Travis Reed, who had 2 goals and 1 assist himself called his teammate an insane athlete. That was never more relevant than on a sequence in the 4th quarter when he had 2 defenders riding him, then he stutter-stepped towards the sideline, turned around and raced past a 3rd defender and ripped a low shot as he fell to the ground.

However, it was the face-off battles that really sparked UMD's offense. Bryn Holmes was incredible and showed his great body control in the closing minute as he ran down the clock for an entire minute while dodging 2 Hopkins defenders, nursing a 1-goal lead. "That is the toughest son of a booger that any of us has been around in my coaching career."

Steven Boyle netted a hat trick for Hopkins and Michael Kimmel scored twice while getting 2 assists to lead the team with 4 points. But it wasn't enough to stop the overall team effort by Maryland.

Play resumes on Friday night against UNC in the ACC tournament. There is no automatic berth in the NCAA tournament at stake, but with an 8-2 record and a #4 ranking, the Terps are in a fantastic position. Besides, the finally shook off that gorilla in the room. Instead of letting Hopkins roll into this game with a record around .500 and then reel off win after win, it seems that Maryland picked up some momentum and can hopefully carry this into the conference and national tournaments.

More analysis from the game to come later in the week. Also, #5 Duke just defeated #1 Virginia 13-9 tonight in Charlottesville, VA.

Go Terps!

Maryland-Johns Hopkins

2010-04-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

Since coach Dave Pietramala took over the reigns at Johns Hopkins 10 years ago, the Blue Jays have dominated the Maryland Lacrosse landscape. They are riding a 23 game win streak against foes from the Old-Line State. The last loss came in 2006 against the Terps. Hopkins has a 46-2 record against teams from MD. In fact, both losses came against the Terps.

Both the Blue Jays and Terrapins have played daunting schedules. The difference is that Maryland has beaten top 10 teams this year. Hopkins is 0-5 against the best of the best in 2010. Their only win against a ranked opponent came against Hofstra (currently #11). Maryland took down a ranked Georgetown team and current #5, Duke.

No matter how much we dissect the past, and try to see who has the upper hand based on the location of the game, or what team is coming into the game on a hot-streak (both teams just snapped losing streaks of 4 for JHU and 2 by the team from College Park)...it's all about the players.

Catalino seems to have broken out of his slump. Coming up empty-handed against UVA and scoring a late, meaningless goal against UNC in back-to-back losses, Grant scored his hat trick against Navy in just 2:28. His talent and ability to score at will (when he decides to step up) is big reason why he is a 2010 nominee for the Tewaaraton Trophy. He leads the team with 34 points this year, but he needs to bring a high level of intensity every game, and every time he steps onto the field. The team has shown that they can hang with UVA and UNC without Catalino making an impact, but it would be much easier with him.

Travis Reed had 4 goals against Navy and an assist after he was also held scoreless against the Wahoos. Yeatman's absence (broken thumb) hurts the Terps' size up top, but Reed has proved that he is worthy of playing alongside All-American Ryan Young and the face of the offense, Catalino. As long as those two carry the Terps while Yeatman is out, the offense should continue to chug along.

The Extra-Man-Opportunity unit is still 2nd in the nation. They are 17-30 so far for a .567 conversion rate. Australian senior Adam Sear has 5 goals with the EMO team and Joe Cummings has tallied 4 goals with the man-up group. If Maryland continues to shoot the ball that well, they have a great shot at getting the first win against Hopkins for the senior class.

On the defensive side, Farrell leads the way as the Terps 2nd Tewaaraton Trophy nominee. A junior captain, Farrell's return has sparked the defense which has been the team's steady hand, though the stats might say otherwise.

Farrell has caused 15 turnovers this year and has 31 ground balls. Farrell's biggest strength is his ability to push the ball into the offense end of the field after winning it in the defensive zone. He has 2 goals and 4 assists on the year, gaudy numbers for defensemen.

In goal, Phipps stick has been sensational. Phipps carries a 8.94 GAA and is making saves at an astounding .532 rate. The senior is enjoying the relaxed mind-set that comes from job security. For the first time of his decorated career, he is the lone starting gaolie donning a Terrapin uniform.

Brett Schmidt and Max Schmidt both have 21 groundballs on the year and have anchored UMD's backline. Unhearalded long pole, Ryder Bohlander, has 12 groundballs on the year himself. They have done a great job holding some of the top attack units below their season average (UNC failed to reach double digits and UVA "only" scored 11 goals, more than 3 below their season average). After giving up 13 goals to Georgetown in the first tough game of the year, the group has settled down and shifted much better. Their stick work has been tremendous and the short-stick-middies like senior Dean Hart, and Dan Burns have shown the ability to move up and down the field flawlessly.

I think the X factor in this game will be Jake Bernhardt. I love watching him play and run circles around opposing teams. They simply have no answer for him (aside from UVA possibly with the Brattons). He has 7 goals and 2 assists on the year, but at times, he can be the most dominant presence on the field because of his athleticism. Aggressive and fast, Jake uses his blazing speed to dodge multiple defenders at a time. If he can have an impact, bringing out Hopkins defenders, and opening up his teammates, Maryland will be that much better. We know the attack will be great if they play up to their potential. It's all about how the midfield will react to a prime-time game with the possibility of playing without Yeatman for the second straight game (his status is un-determined as of now, I believe he will be a game-time decision).

That's it until game time. Remember to listen to wmucsports.com for all the action. I will be up in the press box, taking in the game's Greatest Rivalry. Go Terps!

Great Photos from last year's game between Maryland and Johns Hopkins.

Official 2010 Tewaaraton Award Nominees

2010-04-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

The Greater Washington Sports Alliance has announced the top remaining candidates for Lacrosse's most prestigious award...the Tewaaraton Award. The Tewaaraton Award was formally established in August of 2000 and is the pre-eminent lacrosse award, which is given annually to the NCAA men’s and women’s lacrosse player of the year.

Nominees for the sport's top honor are screened and selected by two Selection Committees. The Selection Committees are comprised of collegiate coaches, one committee for the men and one committee for the women.

Maryland has multiple players from its lacrosse program, both on the men's side and the women's side [who are ranked #3 in the country behind Northwestern and ACC rival, UNC]. Coach Cathy Reese has done an incredible job leading the Lady terps and is now just 1-win away from getting her 100th win at the program...in just 4 years.

From Cottle's Crew:
Grant Catalino, University of Maryland – Junior (Attack), Webster, NY

Brian Farrell, University of Maryland – Junior (Midfield), Baltimore, MD

There are 9 other players from the ACC on the list for Men's Lacrosse.

From Reese's Side:
Karri Ellen Johnson, University of Maryland – Sophomore (Attack), Annapolis, MD

Caitlin McFadden, University of Maryland – Senior (Midfield), Phoenix, MD

Karissa Taylor, University of Maryland – Senior (Defense), Easton, MD

Congratulations to the 5 Terrapins who were named official nominees for the award. Only 10 players from the list of roughly 50 will be selected as finalists - 5 men and 5 women.

Remember to listen live to all the action this Saturday as Maryland tries to beat Hopkins at 6:30pm, on wmucsports.com. Go Terps!

Johns Hopkins Preview

2010-04-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

This Saturday at 6:30pm at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, MD, your Maryland Terrapins will face off against in-state rival Johns Hopkins for the 106th time. That's right, the greatest rivalry in all of lacrosse makes it way to the Charmed City's professional football stadium for the Smartlink Day of Rivals. These games mean more than just a simple win or loss. Coach Cottle played down the importance of the game saying "This game means an 8th win, a good seed in the NCAA tournament, and winning at a great venue. If we win it means that we were the best team in the stadium that day and hopefully we’ll learn to be the best team at the end of the year, win or lose." But in reality, this game is so much more for all the players. They are playing for their legacies at their schools. It's UMD-JHU that is remembered for the rest of the players' lives.

Although this series has been a bit lopsided this in the past decade, with the Blue Jays winning 8 of the last 10 games (and three strait), Maryland comes into this contest as the higher ranked team for the 3rd time in 4 years. In the entire history of the rivalry, the edge goes to Hopkins 67-37-. None of that matters Saturday night as the Terrapin seniors, including goalie Brian Phipps, get ready for their last shot at beating their arch nemesis.

This is easily one of the most youthful teams that coach Dave Pietramala has fielded in a long time. Hopkins has a 5-5 record on the season, which included a ridiculous stretch against Syracuse-UVA-UNC (the 3 top teams in lacrosse, which no team has had to do...kind of like Maryland's conference schedule). For the first time, more than half of the starting line up consists of freshman. Coach Pietramala has been very proud of his young team's willingness to listen and learn from the more-experienced players "They’re a phenomenal group of guys. They’ve been really energetic and respectful. They want to follow the older guys, they want to be led." After sitting behind senior keeper Mike Gvozden for 8 games this year, freshman goalie Pierce Bassett has started the past two games for Hopkins, a 16-7 win over Albany and an 11-7 loss to #2 UNC. He was also in goal against #10 Hofstra during a 14-6 loss. The young guns who are putting up points for the Blue Jays are Zach Palmer (10 goals, 4 assists) and John Ranagan (8 goals, 2 assists). Tucker Durkin has started all 10 games for Hopkins on the back line (18 GBs, 14 CTs).

Showing them how to play the right way is a trio of talented upper classmen. Attackman Steven Boyle (24 goals, 16 assists), Midfielder Michael Kimmel (14 goals, 12 assits), and Attackman Kyle Wharton (15 goals, 8 assists) lead Hopkins in scoring all with over 23 points. Boyle continues to climb the record books. With 149 career points, he's just 1 point away from being the 19th Blue Jay ever to have 150 points, and ranks 24th and 18th on the goals and assists lists respectively. Kimmel is 4th on the career assist list for midfielders who have donned a Hopkins jersey, trailing only Kevin Boland, Del Dressel, and Paul Rabil (who ripped the game winning shot in 2007 against the Terps in an 8-7 OT victory for Hopkins as they went on to win that years national title).

They anchor an offense that scores 10.8 goals a game and ranks 8th in the nation in terms of shooting percentage, connection on 108 of 319 shots for a .339%.

As a team, they are 22nd in the country under scoring defense, allowing 9.5 goals a game. Bassett has a 9.88 GAA with 18 saves made on the season, although he has only started 3 games.

Taking face-offs for Hopkins this year has been senior Michael Powers, and junior Matt Dolente. Powers has won 63 of his 118 face-offs, a .534% and Dolente has won half of his 94 face-offs. For those without a calculator near by, that is exactly 50%. This is always a key matchup when Maryland plays. Holmes really sparks the offense when he is winning the battle in the middle circle.

Hopkins Man-Up offense is not nearly as good as Maryland's. They have converted just 13 of 36 chances, for a pedestrian .361 conversion rate. If Maryland can keep those numbers down when the do commit penalties, it will give the senior class a great chance to finally get the monkey off their back and get a long-awaited victory over Johns Hopkins.

Stay tuned for a preview of Maryland and all the key matchups for this highly-anticipated prime-time showdown. If you can't make it out to the game, remember to listen to wmucsports.com for all the action. I can't wait to broadcast the game. It should be a great one! Go Terps!

Terps Climb to #4 in the Polls

2010-04-12T12:12:00.001-07:00

After defeating Navy 11-9 on Saturday, the Terps jumped Princeton and rose to #4 in both the USILA Coaches Poll and the Nike Division 1 Poll.

Every team in top 20 of the Coaches Poll remained ranked after this past weekend. The coaches of D-1 Lacrosse think that the ACC is very deserving of it's prestigious reputation. UVA is still the unanimous #1 team in the nation, while UNC fell 1 spot to #3, followed by your Maryland Terrapins and then the Duke Blue Devils (Duke is #6 in the Nike Poll, just behind Princeton, which fell to Syracuse in the Big City Classic. However, although the Big east and ACC dominate the 60-team field in Division 1 Men's Lacrosse, they do not receive automatic bids for the 16-team NCAA tournament. Georgetown, which Maryland beat 15-13 earlier this year, rose to #8 to compliment the Orange who are looking to defend their national title from a year ago.

Virginia and North Carolina battled it out in a defensive chess-match with Steele Stanwick leading the way for the Cavaliers, scoring 3 goals and notching 1 assist, in the 7-5 UVA victory. Keep track of the injury to Sean Delaney and Thomas Wood for the Tar Heels who have been battling injuries all season long (remember that All-American Billy Bitter did not play against the Terrapins when UNC beat Maryland 9-7 earlier this season).

Maryland's next opponent, Johns Hopkins, is ranked #16 in the Nike Poll and #15 by the coaches. At 5-5 this year, the Blue Jays are in need of a huge win against Maryland, and they should play better than their .500 record this Saturday in a prime-time showdown with their biggest in-state rival. The Terps must bring their A-game.

Will Yeatman broke his thumb during practice last Monday and wasn't on the sidelines for the win against Navy. The attackman/midfielder needed surgery to repair his thumb, including seven screws and a surgically inserted plate. Thank you to the Diamondback's Kate Yanchulis for that information in the Monday edition of the Diamondback.

Terps Bounce Back, Sink Midshipmen

2010-04-11T13:45:00.001-07:00

The Maryland Terrapins stopped their 2-game slide with a solid performance against in-state rival Navy, beating the Annapolis squad 11-9. Although Will Yeatman was out of the game with a broken thumb (more details to come regarding that injury), the potent attack unit of Grant Catalino, Ryan Young, and Travis Reed combined for 8 goals and 5 assists in the game.

On a beautiful day Saturday in College Park, Maryland overcame a slow start, thanks to the stellar play by Navy sophomore keeper RJ Wickham. Going down 2-1 in the first quarter, the Terps seemed like they were in a funk, after 2 straight losses to UNC and UVA. Owen Blye scored the first goal of the game, his second of the season, to start things off, but it would be the only tally in the first 15 minutes as Maryland missed multiple shots by a few inches.

A second consecutive goal by Joe Lennon for Navy put the Midshipmen up 3-1 early in the second period, but Maryland would respond. In a fairly hostile home environment (Navy had a very strong showing of fans, which was to be expected for a school under 1 hour away), Grant Catalino got out of his own personal scoring slump and notched yet another hat trick in the next 148 seconds. Scoring 1 goal and getting 1 assist in the last 2 games combined, Catalino had to step his game up if Maryland was to get back on track, and he would not be stopped. 3 absolute lasers found the back of the net before the period ended and the Terps had a 4-3 lead going into halftime.

Bryn Holmes was unstoppable on face-offs, taking and winning 15 of the 21 face-offs he took (as a team, Maryland won 17 out of the 23 face-offs). That was one of the big difference makers in the game and a key for the Terps. Nikk Davis tied things up with the first goal of the second half, but after goals by Travis Reed (who had quite the ballgame himself, scoring 4 goals and 1 assist, earning him player of the game honors), and Joe Cummings, the Terps would not relinquish their lead for the rest of the afternoon. Surprisingly, Maryland's EMO offense was 0-2, but the defense kept their hot-hand going, stopping Navy on 3 out of the 4 man-up chances the Mids got.

Kyle Kapron and Joe Lennon had hat tricks for Navy, but the Mids could not stop Maryland's attack. The midfield struggled to support the attack offensively, most likely due to the mid-week injury to Will Yeatman, but with Young getting 4 helpers in the game and Catalino and Reed both scoring at least 3 goals, the midfield didn't need to put up points on their own. If Maryland keeps this up on attack, they might not any kind of scoring from the midfield. Just solid defense. The groundball battle was dominated by the Terps. They had a 47-26 advantage. Captain Brian Farrell and junior All-American Max Schmidt both had 5 ground balls, and freshman Jesse Bernhardt had 4, tying a career high. Brett Schmidt held Navy's second leading scorer, Andy Warner to just one assist and one shot on the day. Brian Phipps had 10 saves between the pipes, and as usual, made plenty of point-blank saves that fans in College Park have become accustomed to seeing.

Phipps only needs 2 more saves to tie Pat McGinnis for 5th place on the all-time saves list in Maryland Men's Lacrosse history. He should easily reach that total Saturday, as the Terps head to Baltimore for their match-up with their biggest rival. Johns Hopkins and the Terps play at the home of the Baltimore Ravens, M&T Bank Stadium at 6:30 this Saturday. Be sure to listen to the game as wmuc brings you all the action on wmucpsports.com. Go Terps!

Maryland-Navy Preview

2010-04-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

No time to look back and think about all the "what ifs" that happened in the heartbreaking loss against UVA. Maryland remains at #5 in the pools after consecutive losses...to the top two teams in the country. This game could have a couple major milestones for the Terps:

Brian Phipps needs only 4 more saves to become just the 6th goalie in Terrapin history to notch 400 career saves.

Grant Catalino [120 career points] can break out of his slump while moving up in the all-time scoring charts in Terrapin history...with another 4 points, he will tie Alan Lowe for 25th in UMD history.

The Naval Academy's strength has been in goal this year with sophomore/2nd year starter RJ Wickham. He only needs to more stops between the pipes to make it into the top-20 single season saves record book [he has 141 currently].

As for Navy, the story of the season has been the injury bug, and boy it bit them hard. Their best attackman went down with a torn ACL at the beginning of the season and that has really hurt their offense. Tim Paul's absence has had a huge effect on the Midshipmen and their offense.

Zack Schroeder and Jaren Woeppel, Navy's best long-stick middies have missed significant playing time this year, but will play in this physical match-up.

Both teams win less than 50% of their face-offs so Bryn Holmes and Jake Bernhardt will play a huge role as always. When Maryland gets the ball quickly in those situations and runs up and down the field, the offense looks like a work of art.

Patrick Moran has 6 hat tricks this year which is the third most in the nation. Navy has such a potent offense, nothing new to the Maryland defense. They have had to deal with some of the top attack and middies in the country their entire season so a huge burden will be on Farrell, Bohlander, and the Schmidts yet again. Defensively against UVA, the Terps were outstanding. After giving up a goal to the Wahoos the first time Maryland played a man-down, the D came up with 3 big stops in a row.

Last year, Yeatman and Young had two goals apiece for the Terps in the 10-4 loss. The Terps need to take advantage of a weak Navy defense and get into as many man-up chances as they can. They have the second best EMO conversion percentage in the country. Offensively and Defensively, Cottle has something special when the yellow penalty flags come out.

The midfield started off scoring at such a high rate and lately, that has been a problem. It would be good to see some more production from the middies, especially now that Yeatman might continue to start at attack. Against Virginia, he had 4 goals in his first game starting up top this season. Putting him alongside Catalino just seems unfair. They could be the two biggest offensive weapons in lacrosse, at least the biggest AND talented combined. If Ryan Young can continue to shake defenders out of their cleats, the offense can keep on rolling...and of course with Phipps in goal, the Terps are never out of a game.

That's all for now and until game time. Remember to listen to wmucsports.com to listen to the Navy game at high noon this Saturday at Byrd Stadium. Just click on the link and Listen Live! Go Terps!

Navy Season Preview

2010-04-06T16:13:00.001-07:00

As shown on the upcoming games, the Naval Academy makes their way to College Park this Saturday for a 12pm game against your Maryland Terrapins. The Terps are 6-2 (1-2) on the season after dropping two straight contests, albeit they were to the top 2 teams in the country [a 9-6 loss at UNC two weeks ago, and this past Saturday's controversial 11-10 loss to UVA]. After going down 7-2 at half, the Terps started to slide better on defense and using their big bodies, picked their way through...literally...the Cavalier's defense exposing what some say is a glaring weakness for the team. Will Yeatman had a career high, 4 goals, but Grant Catalino was completely shut out. He has just 2 points in the last two games, although he still leads the team with 31 points.

Navy, 5-5 on the year including a 2-2 record in OT games, is coming off 2 extra time games. They took down Colgate in New York 10-9(OT) with a late 6-1 surge in the final 16 minutes of the game on March 27th. Senior middie Patrick Morgan had a hat-trick, and nailed the game winner just 1:37 into the overtime period. Similar to what Coach Cottle has been saying the last two weeks about his team's performance, Navy head coach Richie Meade said after the game, "We've been able to fight our way this season through the highs and lows and for that I am proud of our guys. But we've got to start playing an entire 60 minutes."

On April 3rd, the fell to #13 Georgetown (a team Maryland beat 15-13 earlier this season, which included a wild 7-goal run by the Terps after falling behind the Hoyas) 13-12(OT). Max Seligmann hit the game-winning shot for G'Town 52 seconds into the extra period. Navy never led in the game, yet scored 3 in a row to force overtime. Patrick Morgan had another hat-trick as well as Brendan Connors, and Andy Warner led the team with 4 helpers.

Overall, the offense is scoring 9.4 goals a game while their defense only gives up 8.4 each contest. They sport a .390 EMO conversion percentage, a far cry from Maryland's .607 percentage on those man-up chances which ranks 2nd in the nation. Navy's opponents have 56 more ground balls than the Midshipmen and they have been outscored 94-84 this season, but still remain a .500 team. Last year, Navy beat the Terps 10-4 as Maryland's play declined toward the end of last season...an unexpected result, but not as surprising as a win this week would be.

Morgan, Warner, and Connors all have at least 23 points on the season, Morgan with 20 goals through 10 games. Maryland has dropped 5 of the last 6 games to Navy after winning 11 straight games against their in-state rival. Navy is looking to boost their team with just their 3rd win (if they come out on top) against a team with a winning record, while the Terps are trying to win that elusive "state championship" (if they can win the next two games, they will have beaten the 4 main lax teams in the state). It means a lot for both teams, especially if the Terps want to build a little momentum before their game at Ravens Stadium on the 17th against Hopkins.

Make sure to tune in to wmucsports.com for the game! Go Terps!

Konica Minolta Big City Classic Preview

2010-04-06T15:49:00.000-07:00

If you are in the New York/New Jersey area this weekend, you are in for quite a treat. The Konica Minolta Big City Classic will be held at the brand-spanking new Meadowlands, and most likely break the lacrosse-only crowd record of 22,000.

It will feature the top 4 teams in the country (with an additional game between University of Delaware against a little bit of local flavor with Hofstra before-hand at 2pm in a warm-up for the fans). #1 UVA will face off against #2 UNC for the ACC title presumably at 4pm [UNC already beat Duke and Maryland earlier this season and UVA just held off the Terps in another classic matchup. I would say that they have a good shot at defeating the Blue Devils if they prevail this weekend]. Virginia already won a 1v2 matchup this year on March 7th, beating the Syracuse Orange.

Since 2005, every time the two top-ranked teams in college lacrosse have faced off, an ACC school was part of the action. Just goes to show you that Maryland's last two losses can't be that bad as they sit at 6-2 (1-2). They are still #5 in the Inside Lacrosse Power Rankings and should be there in the other polls as well.

Syracuse and Princeton will be the other marquee mathcup as the #3 and #4 teams respectfully, tipping off at 6:30pm. Syracuse just joined Johns Hopkins as one of two programs with 800 wins [the Blue Jays define lacrosse with 896 wins in their storied history]. Princeton is in the driver seat to win the Ivy League title again, now that their All-American goalie, Tyler Fiorito, is back in top-form.

This should be one of the best weekends for lacrosse of the entire season. Maryland hosts navy at noon this Saturday at Byrd Stadium and they play their most fiercest rival, Johns Hopkins at M&T Bank on the 17th. Come out and support the team! Listen to the call at wmucsports.com. Go Terps!

Wahoos Trump Terps

2010-04-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

UVA once again opened up ACC play with a thrilling 1-goal victory over the Maryland Terrapins. With poise and an incredible 6-0 run to start the game, the Cavaliers were able to withstand a couple late surges by the Terps and remain unbeaten this year and showed the country [another ESPNU game for Maryland and it was also on ESPN radio] why they were the #1 team in the country.

I was able to watch the game from the sideline right behind the benches as we tried sideline reporting for the first time this season. It was great to see how fast the game is from a coach's standpoint. Even making a simple substitution requires plenty of teamwork. I really enjoyed being so close to the action and getting a different view, instead of way up in the press box.

Personally, I would be surprised to see the Terps drop more than 2 spots after this loss. They stayed at the #4 spot after losing to UNC last week who was ranked #2 in the nation, and UVA looked twice as good in the first half.

Chris Bocklet had 3 goals to start the game off right for UVA. The Terps were slower and were not sliding very well on defense, and their ACC-rival took advantage. After the first period, it was 6-1 in favor of Virginia and it seemed as though there was a tremendous gap between the Wahoos and the rest of D-1 lacrosse. In fact, it appeared as though that gap was the size of the Grand Canyon after last week when they dismantled powerhouse Johns Hopkins 15-6.

But over the last 45:06, the Terps outscored UVA 10-5, but as goalie Brian Phipps says, "it took us a while to match their intensity and speed, we just got to come out from the start."

Coach Cottle said they were simply playing "at a speed we weren't used to at the beginning of the game...give them credit, they made some great plays early." But he reiterated the fact that they needed to come out and play hard for an entire game, just like they failed to do last week against North Carolina. "The thing I'm proud of is that our guys kept fighting, they kept fighting at the end."

The Terps slowed down the floodgates slightly in the 2nd as they held Virginia's attack, which was averaging over 14 goals a game coming into this contest, to just a single goal. Some shots bounced off the pipe and every groundball was going Virginia's way.

The second half looked much better after the first goal by Bocklet [his 5th game this year scoring at least 4 goals]. Maryland's unstoppable transition game started to pick up as Bryn Holmes and Jake Bernhardt starting winning faceoffs and the entire team picked the intensity up. From the sideline, you would have thought Maryland was ahead at half. They showed a ton of poise and never doubted their abilities, even when things got hectic in the 4th as both coaches had plenty of words for the refs.

Maryland cut the lead to 8-5, after a transition goal by Dean Hart. UVA responded like the #1 should with two quick goals, and then it was time for Yeatman and the Terps to take over. Yeatman notched a career high 4 goals in the contest, bruising his way through the defense. Steele Stanwick opened up the 4th with back-to-back goals [the sophomore attackman had 4 goals himself] before the final Terrapin surge.

Trailing by 5 after Stanwick's personal 2-goal run, Maryland got 2 goals out of their incredible man-up offense. Cummings and Young scored between the two EMO goals during a physical game. No love was lost between these two teams, as players hit the ground hard. Multiple double teams came just for checking and every player felt it. Feeding off the crowd, the Terps cut into the UVA lead 10-9 and were about to tie things up in the final 2 minutes. However, the refs made a....questionable call and waved it off as the team celebrated. Young was called for stepping into the crease, although the replays on the big-screen clearly showed that Young was outside the red line before he got the shot off. However, the game was still going on and Shamel Bratton scored the game-winner amidst the mass-confusion.

Who knows what would have happened if the refs swallow their whistle and let the players decide the outcome. Yeatman tried to will his team back getting his last goal to pull his team within 1 again. And to finish off the game with 8 seconds left, the Terps got a loose ball [after pulling Phipps for an extra defender] and Brett Schmidt tried to shoot with 3 seconds left but had his stick hit and the ball sailed over the goal.

After the game Phipps held his head high, but knew that his team had the game in their reach.

"We competed well in 3 quarters, 45 minutes of the game, we gotta bring out A-game for Virginia...there are no moral victories in lacrosse," said Phipps. Phipps had 16 saves in the game, keeping his team around and giving them a chance to win. He is now in sole possession of 6th place on the all-time saves list.

Maryland proved they belong in Final Four talks and are definitely in the upper-echelon of college lacrosse. If they bring their A-game for 60 minutes, they will be amazing and can beat anyone.

Next Saturday, the Terps are home again for an earlier game against Navy. Catch all the action on wmucsports.com. Go Terps!

Pictures from UVA Showdown - Part 2

2010-04-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

Terps celebrate with each other after what appeared to be the game-tying goal during a furious 4th quarter comeback. Cutting a 10-5 deficit to just 1 goal, but the refs called off Young's goal because they thought the All-American stepped inside the crease (a violation in lacrosse).

All-American Ken Clausen forced Will Yeatman to get dirty for his points. Yeatman was physically superior in the loss with 4 goals and an assist.

Grant Catalino was shut out completely by UVA's defense, although the junior still leads the team with 31 points this season.

Pictures from UVA Showdown - Part 1

2010-04-04T16:01:00.000-07:00

Bryn Holmes digs in against UVA FOGO (Face-Off Get-Off) specialist Brian McDermott.

7,636 Fans came to Byrd to support their Terps.

Maryland Comes Out Amped Up for the Night-Cap

Shamel Bratton, Rhamel Bratton, and Brian Carroll Warm Up

Midseason All-American Teams

2010-03-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the following Terps who have made the IL Midseason All-American Teams.

1st Team Members:
Grant Catalino - Attack
Brett Schmidt - Close Defense

2nd Team Members:
Brian Farrell - LSM

Other Terps have really stepped up this year and a 6-1 (1-1) record is something to be proud of. There were 5 other ACC players on the 1st team, which shows how great the conference is. The ACC is 30-4 this year, with 3 of those loses coming inside the conference. In addition, 4 of the top 7 teams this year are from the ACC.

Maryland remains at #4, and Virginia is still #1, with #2 UNC hot on their heels.

One last note, the Terrapins have a sensational .625 EMO conversion rate, good for 2nd in the country. They only trail Robert Morris [who has not played a ranked opponent all season].

Just a few more days till #1 UVA comes to Byrd. 8p.m. game and you can catch all the action on wmucsports.com. Go Terps!

Season Preview of UVA

2010-03-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

Virginia Lacrosse has built a reputation for being a powerhouse year in and year out. For the majority of the season, they have presided over the top spot in the rankings, which is where the Terps find them coming into this week's game against their closest ACC rival. Last year, the two top 5 teams made history. They played 7 overtimes before a winner was established which is the longest game in D-1 Lacrosse history. UVA was victorious, 10-9. Steele Stanwick notched 4 goals and Danny Glading had 4 assists. For the Terps, Will Yeatman led the team with 2 goals and 3 helpers. Ryan Young and Travis Reed had 2 goals each in the game as well so many of the current Terps know what it is like to play versus Virginia. UMD also put up 52 shots in the contest, and will need to have that same tenacity on offense in this game as well.

At 9-0 (0-0), UVA is yet again undefeated and atop the lacrosse world, although they have yet to play an ACC game this year. Unlike Maryland 6-1 (1-1), which is coming off it's first loss of the season, a 9-7 loss down in Chapel Hill, NC. Although the Terps were not able to pull out a victory against the Tar Heels, some positives they can pull from the match include holding such a potent offense to under double digit goals. That was only the 2nd time in 17 matches for UNC to be held under 10 goals.

The week after facing off against a team with 4 players (well 3 started the game, until Sean DeLaney left the game with an injured hand and left the Tar Heels without their top 2 offensive players) who have 20 points or more, UMD gets a brand new challenge. Leading the way for the Cavaliers are Chrise Bocklet [29 Goals and 6 Assists = 35 points] and sophomore sensation Steele Stanwick [12 Goals and 18 Assists = 30 points] thus far in the season respectively. They lead an offense which has scored at least 11 goals in every game this season including 5 games in which they put 15 or more goals into the net.

Most recently, UVA is coming off a thorough 15-6 beatdown of another Maryland lacrosse stalwart, Johns Hopkins. Both the Bratton brothers, Shamel and Rhamel, tallied hat tricks in the game while their fellow first Middie, Brian Carroll had 2 goals and 3 assists. Their smothering defense held JHU to 0-4 shooting on EMO chances and they dominated the ground-ball battle, 36-22.

Face-offs this season have been controlled by UVA. They have won 129 out of 226 with Ryan Benincasa and Brian McDermott winning more than 44 FOs apiece and over 60% of their FOs taken.

Minding the net again this year is Adam Ghitelman who's posting a 7.36 Goals Against Average and has only let in 73 goals, starting all 9 games this year. And in front of Ghitelman, one of the heroes of last years epic win against the Terps is senior Ken Clausen. The 2-time 1st Team All-American has shut down opposing team's best players. One of UVA's captains, he has been nominated for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. One of 10 finalists for the prestigious award given to a senior who represents the best of what it means to be a student athlete, excelling in the classroom, character, community and competition.

However, UVA has not played any conference games this season, although they beat then-#1 Syracuse 11-10 at home on March 7th. As for Maryland, it will be the last time they get to play an ACC opponent before the ACC Tournament which will be played at Byrd stadium in College Park April 23+25.

Game begins at 8p.m. and the pregame show will start at 7:45p.m. and you can catch all the action, as always, on wmucsports.com. Go Terps!

Tar Heels Trounce Terps

2010-03-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

UNC was completely unfazed by the game-time decision to sit All-American Billy Bitter, the team's leader in points and a top candidate for the Tewaaraton award this year, due to a leg injury. They dominated 3 out of 4 periods as they rolled to a perfect 9-0 record on the year, and claiming the top spot in the ACC at 2-0 (although Virginia has yet to play an ACC game this season). Bitter remains day-to-day.

Taking his place was Freshman Marcus Holman, a product from Baltimore, MD lacrosse powerhouse Gilman High School. Holman was sensational. "Opportunistic" was the word Coach Dave Cottle used to describe the young attackman who scored 4 goals in place of Bitter.

But the big difference in the game was defense, defense, defense. North Carolina had only given up double digit goals in 1 game this season, a 12-11 victory over Princeton. In every other contest, the defense held opponents to 7 goals or less and today was no difference. Grant Catalino was held without a goal until the final minute of the game...scoring a meaningless goal, his 30th on the season to go along with 1 assist, giving him 31 points through 7 games. Travis Reed had an assist but was also essentially shut out of the game by the Tar Heels stifling defense. Ryan Flanagan has the size to match-up with Yeatman and Catalino. Flanagan is 6-6 and weighs 237. Many of Maryland's opponents have not been able to deal with the size or athleticism of their offensive weapons, but UNC was able to keep the Terps attack off-balanced, beating them to most 50/50 balls.

Dean Hart had the first goal of the game before the Tar Heels responded with 4 straight goals. The Terps seized back the momentum with a 3-goal rally to tie the game at 4 apiece going into halftime including drawing a penalty. Unfortunately, they couldn't capitalize on an EMO chance. Cottle pointed to the non-goal sequence as the turning point in the game.

Even without Bitter for the whole game and DeLaney, the other returning All-American [along with Flanagan], who injured his hand after scoring in the first half, UNC was able to muster 9 goals and dominate seemingly every facet of the game.

Jake Bernhardt did a good job in the 4th period winning face-offs as he tried to get the Terps back in the game with his stick and at least 3 MASSIVE hits, but it wasn't enough in the end.

I want to give a huge shout out to #13 Owen Blye who scored his first career goal in the game. The Terps will have a chance to bounce back from their first loss and get their second ACC win next week against Virginia. The game will be at home at 8p.m. against the unanimous #1 team in the nation. Be sure to tune in to wmucsports.com for the game.

Captain Brian Farrell

2010-03-26T14:50:00.000-07:00

As the first junior captain to lead the Terps since 2005, Farrell has been incredible in his return from a lung injury that caused him to lose 25 pounds last season. Tomorrow's game vs. UNC will be just as big for him as the rest of his 6-0 team against the offensive juggernaut from Chapel Hill. We would like to congratulate Farrell as he was featured in an InsideLacrosse.com this week article:

Remember to tune in to wmucsports.com for the huge game at 2PM tomorrow as myself, Daniel Baker, and Brendan Ponton bring you all the action.

Go Terps!

Quick Hits

2010-03-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

Through 8 games, the Tar Heels have 4 players with at least 20 points:
Billy Bitter - 27
Sean Delaney - 26
Thomas Wood - 24
Gavin Petracca - 22

As for Maryland, the Terps are shooting incredibly well at 34%, well above Cottle's desired 30%.

Their dominant EMO attack is scoring with ease. The unit is 12 for 20 this season, a rate of 60%.

The match-up of unbeatans should be an offensive shootout and will certainly not disappoint.

Terps Travel To Tobacco Road in Pivotal Matchup

2010-03-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

The Terps are getting ready to head down to Chapel Hill to take on the #2 team in the nation. Maryland and UNC are 2 of the last 4 remaining undefeated teams remaining in D-1 Lacrosse. Virginia, the unanimous #1 team in Men's Lacrosse, was expected to be without a loss at this point in the season, but the biggest surprise of the entire season has been the Lafayette Leopards, who have climbed to the #10 spot in the country. There sudden ascension to the top of college lacrosse is due in large part to the play of Tewaaraton Watch List candidate, junior attackman Stefan Bauer, who has 16 assists and 9 goals in 2010.

But all eyes will be tuned in to the game down in North Carolina which pits the top two players in lax this season, Billy Bitter of the Tar Heels and Grant Catalino. Catalino has 29 points through 6 games this season which is the most since 2002, when Dave Cottle came to College park. UNC has risen quickly in the rankings nationally and in conference, breaking a looooooong losing streak in ACC tournament play with a 16-10 victory over the Terps in 2009.

The Tar Heels return 3 All-Americans from last year including Bitter and Sean DeLaney who combined for 114 points last season. The 3rd star of the team has to be Ryan Flanagan who leads the team on defense and shadowed Duke's Ned Crotty and one of UMBC's All American from last year, Alex Hopmann. One of the best best on-ball defenders in the nation for sure. James Petracca started 6 games last year, including two in the ACC Tournament and 2 more in the NCAA Tournament.

The Terps need to come out strong and get quality play and scoring from the 1st and 2nd midfield units. If both can put pressure on UNC and make the Tar Heels play catch up, they can lean on Phipps and the rest of the long poles who have kept opponents under 10 goals for 3 games in a row. With a daunting schedule looming, the Terrapins are in their make-or-break stretch and at 6-0, this team looks like it's finally ready to make some big noise.

Remember to tune in to wmucsports.com for the 2p.m. game this Saturday. Pre-game show will start around 1:45p.m.

Hot Start Continues

2010-03-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

The Terps are now 6-0 for the first time since 2004 when the Terrapins began the season 8-0.

Leading the way for Maryland as usual was standout attackman, Grant Catalino, who tied a career high for points in a game with 7 against UMBC. Catalino's 4 goals and 3 assists were a big reason why UMD was able to snap a 3-game losing streak against their rival to the north.

On a perfect day in Catonsville, and with a large contingent of fans donning Terrapin red, Maryland defeated the Retrievers 13-7, thoroughly dominating the game....playing like the #5 team in the nation. After losing consecutive games to UMBC for the first time since 1998-1999, the Terps came out a little sluggish on offense, but their defense propelled them to victory.

Brian Phipps and his defense only gave up 6 goals [the final tally coming off the stick of 2009 All-American Kyle Wimer with just over a minute left to play and the outcome in hand as Mark White spelled Phipps for a few well-deserved minutes of rest]. Against a UMBC team that led D-1 lacrosse connecting on over 50% of their EMO chances last year, the tenacious defense kept the Retrievers off the scoreboard while killing a penalty. UMBC was 0-3 when playing with an extra man.

After allowing UPenn to control the tempo of the game, slowing the game down in College Park, the strategy employed by Cottle consisted of placing two long poles on UMBC's talented midfield. From the net, Phipps explained how the offense truly starts from the back, "we forced them to move the ball around quicker, and we got the ball on the ground, getting the ball up to the offense...our defense contributed to that getting the ball on the ground."

Averaging 12 goals a game this season, the offense did not disappoint. Ryan Young had 3 assists from the "X" spot behind the net and Travis Reed had 2 goals and 2 assists as well. The Terps pushed the ball every chance they got.

The epitome of the game came in the first half when sophomore stud, Jake Bernhardt, came on the field from midfield in a quick substitution, caught the ball on his way to the box in stride, and dodged 2 defenders before he ripped a shot across his body and past the stick Kevin Kohri.

The lone bright spot for UMBC was the play of sophomore attack, Shane Ryznar, who played high school lacrosse down the road from College Park at Dematha. He had a hat-trick on the day, the second most goals of anyone on the field.

Leading by 5-7 goals for much of the second half, coach Cottle went to his bench early and took the starters out for good in the 4th quarter. Seldom-used senior Fran Gormley was able to get an assist on the day as he hit a streaking Michael Shakespeare down the middle of the box, completely untouched...which seemed to happen quite often. The Terps were more physically imposing seemed to play at a much higher speed than their opponent.

Next week the team travels to UNC to face the #2 Tar Heels down in Chapel Hill on Saturday. That will start a stretch of games against top 10 teams including a prime-time home match-up against #1 Virginia on April 3rd and another game at M&T Bank Stadium when they will take on #8 John's Hopkins on the 17th of April.

For the first time in years, the Terps are playing to their own ability. If they can continue to score at a high rate and keep offenses at bay, the rest of the ACC and NCAA should watch out. These terrapins are talented, fast, and they love to score.

Terps Look for Revenge versus Retrievers

2010-03-19T14:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog for WMUC. My name is Daniel Baker and will do my best to give you a look at each upcoming game and provide some analysis after each contest. I had the pleasure of covering the Men's Lacrosse team last year during my freshman "season" and I hope to witness another great year in College Park.

Coming into the season, Maryland was picked to finish in 4th place in the ACC out of 4 teams. They were also the 7th ranked team in NCAA Men's Lacrosse. Although it is the smallest conference in the country, there is no doubt that the ACC is the best. With UVA, Duke, and UNC in the picture for a national championship, Maryland will be thoroughly tested with the 7th hardest schedule in 2010.

The Terps have responded in the early part of the season climbing to the #5 ranking in Men's Lacrosse after amassing a 5-0 record, including wins over then #13 Georgetown in a stunning 15-13 come-from-behind victory, and an 11-10 OT victory thriller against ACC rival, Duke at M&T Bank Stadium in the Face-Off Classic.

Grant Catalino has been the star of an extremely talented attack unit; one that Inside Lacrosse ranks as tops in the nation. Catalino has notched 10 goals and 12 assists in 2010 so far which ties him in Maryland history for the most points through five games. Ryan Young, Travis Reed, and Joe Cummings make up the rest of an attack group that has 54 points through 5 games, with 27 goals and 27 assists.

The Terps weakness was supposed to be in the midfield, however Will Yeatman moved back from his natural attacking position to help out the young crop of midfielders which includes sophomore stud, Jake Bernhardt out of Florida, who led the second-midfield last year. Even the middies have shown great depth in 2010, combining for 6 goals in the 12-8 March 13th win over Towson as the first midfield was shut down.

Bryn Holmes has dominated Face-Offs for the Terps this season and is a key ingredient to the potent transition attack. When the Terps can get out and run in the open field, they are almost unstoppable. They are converting over 64% of their EMOs[Extra-Man-Opportunities].

Brian Farrell returns to lead the defense after missing most of 2009 with a lung injury. He lines up alongside Max and Brett Schmidt (of no relation) and Ryder Bohlander is the other starting LSD for Maryland. Brian Phipps is coming of an ACL tear, suffered in the NCAA Quarterfinal loss to Syracuse. He has been shutting down the opposition at an impressive rate, with a 50.5 save percentage and blocking 9.2 shots per game.

The senior and Pre-Season All-ACC goalie has the ability to lead the Terps back to the Final Four, somewhere they have not been since 2006 and not nearly enough for fans in College Park since Dave Cottle took over in 2002. He has pressure to perform this year in a loaded conference, but has all the pieces to contend for a national title.

The Terrapins look to end a 3-game skid against their intrastate rivals from UMBC on Saturday. Maryland has dominated the all-time series versus UMBC, holding a 24-7 advantage, but their neighbors to the north have won the 3 most recent contests including their match-up in the 2008 NCAA tournament,.

Last year UMBC won the matchup with the Terps 9-7 in Baltimore. 2009 All-Americans Peet Poillon, Alex Hopmann, and Kyle Wimer led the Retrievers, as they represented the best midfield unit in the country. With 4-year starter and fellow All-American, Jeremy Blevins, in goal, UMBC was able to hold off a potent Maryland attack. However, this team looks much different. The only holdover from last years crop of top-tier talent is Wimer who tallied 24 goals and 18 assists last season. This year he has been limited to 5 goals and 10 assists and has been shadowed closely by the competition. UMBC is a mere 1-4 this year, not quite on pace to match the 12-4 record from last year which included the 3rd straight America East Title.

3 different players have tried to replace Blevins in goal, with Adam Cohen leading the way playing about 50% of the time for the Retrievers.

On paper this looks like a good chance for the Terps to end their losing streak against UMBC, but that means little. Grant Catalino and Ryan Young had hat-tricks against UMBC in the 9-7 loss last year and if they can have similar outings, Maryland should be able to improve to 6-0 on the season.