Fairfield University Preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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