Terrapin Faithful Bid Seniors Farewell

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!