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!
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