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!
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