As the regular season comes to a close this Saturday, this week's Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog is taking care of some housekeeping with some odds and ends, including Senior Day, the upcoming NCAA Tournament, Terps in professional lacrosse, information on Maryland Men's Lacrosse Summer Camps, Tournaments and Clinics, and more. Let's take a look ...
A quick turnaround for the Terps means a quick, but fact-filled, edition of the Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog. First up will be a look at ACC tournament history in Chapel Hill, including the high-scoring affair the last time UNC hosted the event. The blog will then give a historical perspective on 20-save games. Let's get to it.
Welcome to a special Photo Edition of the Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog, which gives Terps fans a look at some of the sights from last Saturday's Alumni Reunion and other sights from Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium from the April 13 Maryland-Johns Hopkins game. Take a look:
What a weekend for the Terps with a 9-7 win at Virginia! In this week's Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog we will preview this Friday's opponent Navy and give a little history lesson on the Maryland-Navy rivalry. We will also take a look at double-digit scorers and how this year's Terrapins stack up with recent teams through eight games.
In this week's Maryland men's lacrosse blog we will look ahead to this week's game at Virginia, as a the Terps finish up their ACC slate, as well as take a look at why the season isn't over after the first loss. There will also be some information on the upcoming Men's Lacrosse Alumni Reunion. Let's get to it ...
It's been this way for the past 35 years and for at least
one more this is the week that the annual four-week stretch of Carolina-Virginia-Navy-Hopkins begins. This week's Blog takes a closer look at "The Stretch" and a look at this week's
opponent - UNC. There's also a quick look
at Terps who have scored at least 50% of the team's goals in a victory with regards to Jay Carlson's five-goal outing at Villanova.
The Blog was off last week with the midweek game on the
schedule (yes all of the work was done to get ready for it even if it wasn't
played), so that means there's a whole heck of a lot to get to this week.
We will preview this Saturday's game at Villanova and the impact the Philadelphia area has had on Maryland lacrosse, rewind the wins at Duke and over Stony Brook and give an update on your chance to own a special piece of
Terp memorabilia.
Welcome to the first Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog featuring
the No. 1 team in the country. Of course, we will rewind the Loyola game and
preview this Saturday's Duke game, but we will also take a look at the Terps'
history as the top team in the nation.
Plus, we will also look at the Terps' leading scorer through
three games and what's unique about that situation.
What an opening week for the Terps, but it's just a start
and there's so much more to go in the 2013 season, beginning with a game just
up the road in Baltimore on Saturday.
We will preview the game at Loyola (Can we call this one a
rematch? Read on and find out.), including some interesting ranking stats to go
along with it, the historic start of Kevin Cooper and rewinding the Terps' win
at Hartford.
A quick turnaround means a short blog this week (well, short
is a relative term for this blog). But there's plenty to get to as we look back
at the season opener, including some eye-opening last times and the number of
different scorers. We will also look ahead to the game at Hartford and some
other tidbits as we go.
By Patrick Fischer on February 5, 2013 3:18 PM
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Welcome to the first edition of
the Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog for the 2013 season. This is the sixth season
for the Blog and there is sure to be plenty to cover as the Terps embark on
another season looking to claim the brass ring.
For those new to this (we do get
new fans every year), the Blog is posted to umterps.com every Tuesday around 3
p.m. (give or take a few minutes) during the season. The Blog covers everything
to do with the Terps, along with some news, insights and opinions (mine alone
as the writer) concerning the overall landscape of college lacrosse.
Welcome to a special edition of the Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog. Throughout the day I will be posting regular updates from the Terp bus as Maryland hits the road to the Final Four in Foxborough.
There's so much to get to in this NCAA quarterfinal edition
of the Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog, including a preview of the Terps-Blue Jays
meeting, a history of "College Lacrosse's Greatest Rivalry" in the postseason,
a lot of good moments from the Lehigh win with one being "the moment" for one
Terp and we will finish with why everyone should find a way to wear some purple
in Annapolis on Saturday.
Here we go. The preseason is long gone and the regular
season is in the books, so that can only mean one thing - the postseason is
here! This week we will take a look at the Terps' NCAA opponent, Lehigh, as
well as a quick hit on every first round game. We will also touch on why Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium was "Home Sweet Home" in 2012 and a rewind on the regular season finale.
Wow, a lot has happened since the last blog, which was on
hiatus last week due to the Terps' midweek game at Mount St. Mary's. Since I
last posted the Terps have played three games, going 2-1, a Maryland senior
reached a historic milestone and apparently the rest of the lacrosse world has
turned upside down heading into the NCAA tournament. Oh, and by the way,
Maryland still has a huge game left on the regular season schedule. Let's get
to it all.
So much to get to this week,
including a preview of this week's game vs. Duke at the ACC tournament and
remembering the life and legacy of Maria Young, but there's really only one
place to start ...
For as long as I've written this blog this week has always
started with one thing - It's Hopkins
Week! There really isn't anything more that needs to be said. But we'll get
into the matchup with the Terps and Jays a little bit more, as well as
rewinding the Navy game from last Friday. We'll also tell you about a certain
Terp who has proven to be a true CLASS act.
Not a lot of topics this week, but there's still a lot to
get to, including a rewind on the Virginia game with some insight into the
Murray-Stanwick matchup and a look at the importance of the scout team and what's
the big difference between last year's squad and this year's. But we start with
a preview of this Friday's Maryland-Navy game.
Week two of "The Stretch" is here and that means there is a
lot to get to this week, starting with why Saturday's Maryland-Virginia isn't
really a true rematch. We will look at the Cavaliers and the ACC implications
of the game.We also have a complete list
of promotions for this week's game, as well as a look back at last week's UNC
game. There's also the announcement of a Terrapin "Doc" that could make a house
call at the Hall of Fame. So, lets get to it.
This is the week every year that things get really
interesting for the Terps. This is the week that the annual four-week stretch
begins that goes a long way toward determining Maryland's fate in May. This is
the week where questions get asked and start to get answered. We'll begin
things here with a closer look at "The Stretch" and a closer look at
this week's opponent - UNC. Then we'll also take a look back at last week's
game vs. Villanova and finish up with a terrific story about a true Terp
Ambassador.
The Blog was off last week with the Tuesday game, so there's
a lot to get to this week. We'll rewind the Marist, UMBC and Duke games with an
interesting look at two other midweek night games from the past eight seasons. Several
Terps had some firsts during the past three games and there's also a past-meets-present
moment captured for all to see. But first we're going to preview this Saturday's
big top 10 matchup with Villanova.
If you couldn't get AC/DC's "Back In Black" out of your head
on Friday night you're probably not alone, but we'll get to the Terps' latest
fashion statement in a bit. First up this week is a more serious topic and how
you, lacrosse fans, can help. Plus, we'll look back on the Georgetown game and
ahead to the ACC opener vs. Duke.
So much to get to coming off of the Terps' 12-6 season
opening win vs. Hartford. We'll look back at the 19th straight opening day win
for Maryland, including looking at Curtis Holmes' dominance at the X and how
youth was served at close defense. All that and much, much more in this week's
edition of the Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog.
A day late,
but not a dollar short, welcome to the 2012 Preview Edition of the Maryland
Men's Lacrosse Blog.
In addition
to debuting the 2012 video preview, there is also a written outlook of this
year's Terrapin team. We'll also give fans a sneak peek at the new uniforms, as
well as a quick review of the Syracuse scrimmage and a look ahead to a tough
season opener.
There's a lot to cover in week two of the Maryland Men's
Lacrosse Blog - the first scrimmage of 2012, this year's team captains and some
history of Terp captains, congratulating a Hall of Fame Terp, the annual look
at the preseason polls and what they mean, and more - so lets not waste any
more time.
Welcome to the first edition of the 2012 Maryland men's
lacrosse blog! This begins what promises to be an exciting and interesting
season for the Terps.
Welcome to the Fall Ball edition of the Maryland men's
lacrosse blog. Fall Ball will wrap up officially this weekend with a trio of
events, so this is a good opportunity to catch Terrapin fans up on what's been
going on over the past couple of weeks.
First, we'll start with this coming weekend and works
backwards a bit. Let's get going ...
Welcome to the final regular edition of the 2011 Maryland
Men's Lacrosse Blog. This week we'll wrap up the season with a look back at an
incredible championship weekend, including an tremendous turnout by Terp alums,
and sending out some thank you's.
Losing stinks. There's no other way to put it and it's a
part of why sports are so special - the highs are so incredibly high that they
make the lows that much harder to take. But, let's have some perspective and
appreciate what the Terps accomplished this year. The loss hurts, but this team
has a lot to be proud of this season.
This will be short and sweet this week (this time I mean
it), because there is so much going on with getting ready for the Final Four.
So, let's get to it.
Short and sweet this week due to a lot of things needing to
be done in a short amount of time, so we're not going to waste time with a
witty intro. Here we go.
This is what the past 16 weeks have led up to. This is what
all of the blood, sweat and tears have been shed for. It's May and that can
only mean one thing - the NCAA tournament is here.
This week we'll look at Round 3 of Maryland-North Carolina,
give the tournament field a quick overview and look back at last week's Colgate
game, plus a few more tidbits.
May is here! The season is winding down, which brings to
mind a number of things, including Senior Day and the NCAA Tournament.
This week we'll touch on those two items, plus a look at how
the Terps spent their "free" Saturday. But first we're going to look at
something even more important (to some at least) - uniforms!
On Saturday the Terps lost a game. On Sunday we lost a
member of our family.
I'll get into the game vs. Johns Hopkins, but in reality
there are more important things to start with this week. We will also give you
a peek inside the Lacrosse Reunion and preview this weekend's ACC tournament.
There doesn't need to be any long build up. It's really that
simple - it's Hopkins Week!
We'll get into some of the history of the Maryland-Hopkins
series and look at this year's match-up. We'll also take a quick peek back at
the Navy game and catch everyone up on the ACC tournament seeding scenarios.
Things look a lot better for the Terps as they enter the
third week of "The Stretch" than they did going into week two. It's funny how
that happens after a big win.
This week's edition of the
Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog is going to touch on a number of different topics,
including a Navy preview with a remembrance of a fallen hero, a quick review of
the Virginia game, a big event coming to College Park on April 16, how John
Haus stacks up to former Maryland All-America middies and a reminder about the
importance of purple.
This week the Terps return to the scene of the inadvertent whistle. Ok,
what happened two years ago may not matter to this game, but there's no way to get ready for
this week's game at Virginia without going back and looking at the last time
Maryland played in Charlottesville (you know - that game).
The Virginia game will be
the main focus of this week's Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog, but we'll also
touch on the terrific job Curtis Holmes has done facing-off and we'll shed some
light on the milestone Ryan Young reached last weekend.
This is the week things get really interesting for the
Terps. This is the week that the annual four-week stretch begins that will go a
long way toward determining Maryland's fate in May. This is the week where
questions get asked and start to get answered. We'll begin things here with a
closer look at "The Stretch," including a closer look at this week's opponent -
UNC. Then we'll also take a look back at last week's games vs. UMBC and St.
Joseph's and finish up with a quick peek at the latest NCAA rankings.
It's another two-game weekend for the Terps this week and in
this edition of the Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog we'll get into the games vs.
UMBC and St. Joseph's, take a look back at the Towson game, get a complete (or
as complete as we can get) history of 100-point scorers and breakdown the
Terps' shooting so far this season.
It was a four-day whirlwind for the Terps. In this somewhat
abbreviated edition of the Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog we'll touch on the Bellarmine,
including the importance of playing mid-week games and Duke, including why
purple is one of this Maryland team's colors, games.
Wow! Did anyone see that coming? Of course, I'm talking
about the Terps blitzing the Hoyas in the second half en route to hanging 20 on
Georgetown last Saturday.
We'll start with a look back to that game in this week's
blog, but we'll also get into this weekend's big ACC showdown in Durham, N.C., take
closer look at the Terps' dominating defense and we'll answer the question
"What the heck is a Hard Shell?"
It seemed like it took a long time to get here and then it
was over in the blink of an eye. Yes, the 2011 season finally got underway last
Saturday with an unorthodox thumping of Detroit Mercy at Capital One Field at
Byrd Stadium.
Inside this week's blog we'll take a look back at the
opener, including an inside view of what happened with the illegal stick, look
ahead to this coming Saturday, which is sure to be a great one for all lacrosse
fans. So, let's get started ...
It's game week! When it comes to the season opener it
doesn't matter who it's against it is always an exciting game. This year the
Terps open their season vs. Detroit Mercy at 1 p.m. at Capital One Field at
Byrd Stadium.
Tickets can be ordered
online or purchased by calling the Terrapin Ticket Office at 1-800-462-TERP (8377) or at the gate.
Today all over the country calendars flipped to February,
which can only mean one thing - actual lacrosse games will be played beginning
this month. While real games are still a few weeks away, the change from
January to February means the wait is almost over.
The 2011 season is here! The first practice is in the books
and the journey to M&T Bank Stadium has begun.
So what did we learn from the first practice? Honestly,
nothing that we really didn't know prior to Monday's practice. But you can check out the highlights for yourself:
Welcome back to the fourth year of the Maryland Men's
Lacrosse Blog!
We're less than a week away from the start of spring
practice and there is a level of excitement in the air for the upcoming season
from the coaches to the players to the support staff.
The season is over and there has been some time to digest
all that's gone on since May 22, so this is as good a time as any to wrap up
the season with the final regular Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog for 2010.
Not many teams can replicate Notre Dame's Scott Rodgers in practice when preparing to play the Irish. Not many teams have a goalie that can match, or even come close, to Rodgers' 6-foot-4, 254-pound size. Even if a team does have a goalie close to Rodgers' size, it's doubtful that guy is left-handed, like Rodgers.
Thankfully, the Terps have a goalie that is not only left-handed, but at 6-foot-3, 215-pounds, he is close to Rodgers' size - redshirt freshman MJ Leonard. Throughout this week Leonard donned football shoulder pads to provide a little extra size as the scout team goalie. He even took things to the next level by putting on Rodgers' usual eye black and even drawing on Rodgers' snake tattoo. Click the link below to take a look.
There are no style points at this time of year - it's
survive and advance and that's what the Terps did last week against Hofstra.
We'll touch on that game, but first we'll look ahead to Notre Dame and check
out the News & Notes.
The first season is over. Let the second season begin. The
Terps are the No. 3 seed in the 2010 NCAA men's lacrosse tournament and we'll
start there with the Hofstra game, then get into some News & Notes,
including some thoughts on the NCAA tournament and finish with a look back at
last week's Colgate game.
This week the blog breaks from its usual pattern with News & Notes kicking things off with an overview of what we know about the NCAA tournament. Then we'll get into reviewing the win over Fairfield and looking
forward to the game vs. Colgate, .
There's a lot to get through this week, so we'll skip the
witty (if they ever were witty) intro paragraph and get right to last week's
ACC tournament, news and notes and this week's game vs. Fairfield.
The Terps' four-week run through Carolina, Virginia, Navy
and Hopkins is over, but the fun isn't, as Maryland now has to get ready for
the ACC tournament and a semifinal meeting with the No. 3 North Carolina Tar
Heels Friday night. We'll touch on that game, as well as some news and notes,
but first - let's talk about the Hopkins game.
There's only one thing that needs to be said about this week
- it's Hopkins week! For the 106th time (or 96th officially for the Terps - the
first 10 were played before men's lacrosse program was an official university
athletic program) the Terrapins and the Blue Jays will hook up on the lacrosse
field.
In a bit of a switch, we'll start with Hopkins, look back at
the Navy game and then finish with some news and notes.
There's no time for worrying about what coulda, woulda,
shoulda with regards to last Saturday's Virginia game (although we will get
into that a bit here), because it's Navy week. Let's take a short review of the
game vs. the Wahoos, get into some news & notes and finish with an early
look forward to the Mids.
It might not be too much of an oversimplification to say that which ever team wins the battle when the ball is on the ground will win the game in Saturday night's primetime showdown between No. 4 Maryland and No. 1 Virginia at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium.
The Wahoos lead the nation in groundballs with 40.00 per game. Maryland is third in the country at 37.29 per game. Those numbers can be fudged a bit depending on how stats are called during a game, but one thing that might be a bit more fair is groundball percentage, which looks at the percentage of groundballs in a game or a season that a team gets.
Virginia has a groundball percentage of .596, which is the best among teams ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA rankings for groundballs per game (I'm not going to do all 58 Div. 1 teams). Maryland checks in at No. 6 in groundball percentage with .549.
However, Virginia has played only one team (Syracuse) ranked in the top 10 in groundballs per game. Maryland has played three of the top 10 already in 2010.
No one said this season was going to be easy. The North
Carolina game is in the rearview mirror and with No. 1 Virginia coming up on
Saturday there is no time to dwell on the past. However, we will take a look
back at the Terps' trip to Chapel Hill, get into some news and notes and finish
with a preview of the Wahoos.
I was really pleased with our team's progress and effort
last week during spring break. I think we made some improvement as a team and
we had an opportunity to work on some areas of concern.
To win three games in eight days, two versus in-state rivals
and one beating a much-improved Penn team, shows we made outstanding progress.
This week's challenge is North Carolina and it is our goal
as coaches to put our team in a good position to be able to play the best
lacrosse that it can play. We must put our players in a position to be
aggressive, be positive and play with good effort, toughness and execution.
That has to be the focus of what we need to do. We cannot focus on the result,
but our focus must be on the progress of things that will allow us to play the
best lacrosse both individually and collectively.
This game is about the players. There are a lot of good
players on both teams. North Carolina is very well coached and plays with good
effort and toughness. In my opinion they have three first team All-Americans.
They are an outstanding team. However, we have All-Americans, great leadership
and play with great effort and toughness too.
We are improving each week and we must continue to get
better. We must prepare with great concentration and focus so that we can play
our best game of the season.
The team that plays the best will win this Saturday's game.
Hopefully, that team will be ours.
And so it begins - the annual four-week stretch (which is
actually five weeks this year thanks to the ACC tournament not moving with the
NCAA tournament) that can define Maryland's season.
But before we look ahead, lets look back on last week's game
vs. UMBC and get into some news and notes.
Two down,
one to go. Maryland's three-games-in-eight-days grind is in the home stretch. Towson
and Penn are in the rearview mirror and UMBC is straight ahead. Let's take a
quick look at the two games, which were as different as they were similar, and
then get to some news and notes.
It's getting to be a bit redundant, but what a game last Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium. The Terps and the Blue Devils put on a show even casual sports fans could appreciate. Overall it was a great day for lacrosse. Let's take a look at some of the things that stood out.
Coach Dave Cottle announed the weekly award winners for the Duke game.
The Captains' Awards go to senior goalie Brian Phipps and junior attackman Grant Catalino. Phipps made 15 saves vs. the No. 9 Blue Devils, including one in overtime, to go along with three groundballs. Catalino had a career-day in the Face-Off Classic with a career-best five goals, including the game winner, and one assist.
The Coaches' Award was also split with senior short-stick defensive middies Dean Hart and Bryn Holmes being selected. Hart and Holmes were terrific on the defensive end, helping hold Duke's midfielders to just two goals and two assists. Both guys also played key roles in the game-ending sequence. Holmes made the big hit on Blue Devil midfielder Will McKee that caused a weak shot that Phipps was able to keep out of the goal. Once redshirt junior Brian Farrell scooped up the groundball, Hart hustled down the field running from defense to offense to keep Duke on its heels. Hart ended up getting the assist on Catalino's game-winner by taking a feed from Farrell and making a smart "one-more" pass to Catalino on the left wing.
Maryland junior attackman Grant Catalino and Virginia junior
midfielder Rhamel Bratton were named the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's
Lacrosse Co-Players of the Week for the period ending on Sunday, March 7.
Catalino had a career-best five goals, including the
game-winner, one assist, and four groundballs in the seventh-ranked Terrapins'
11-10 overtime victory over No. 9 Duke at the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic
at M&T Bank Stadium. The Webster, N.Y., native tallied his first career overtime
goal at the 1:50 mark in the extra period, while Maryland possessed the ball
for only eight seconds of the overtime period. Catalino had two goals in
the first quarter, one in the second and third and his final goal of the day in
overtime. With his second goal of the game, Catalino reached the 100-point mark
for his career and now has 104 points on 62 goals and 42 assists. Catalino was
also a key component in Maryland's defensive presence with his four groundballs
and a caused turnover.
Maryland is now 56-17 all-time against Duke. The 56 wins are
the most for the Terrapins against any one opponent, and the overtime win
marked Maryland's first since defeating Navy 8-7 in two OTs in 2007.
Bratton tallied a career-high four goals in No. 2 Virginia's
11-10 victory in front of 7,501 fans at Klöckner Stadium over top-ranked
Syracuse. The Huntington Station, N.Y, native's goal at 5:46 in the second
quarter helped erase an early 5-2 Orange lead and gave UVa the lead for good,
6-5. Bratton scored three of his goals unassisted on All-American goalie
John Galloway and added two groundballs for the winning effort.
The last four meetings between Syracuse and Virginia in the
series each have been determined by one goal, with UVa holding the 3-1
advantage during the span. The victory is also UVa's second consecutive over
Syracuse when the Orange are ranked No. 1 in the nation and the Cavaliers are
No. 2.
Obviously, there were a lot of good things in the Duke game
after watching the film.
Our guys played hard and competed throughout the game. When
negative things happened, our leaders stood up to the task. We kept playing the
whole game at an intense level. We stayed together as a team and never lost
focus.
While we did a lot of good things against Duke, we also have
a lot of things to work on. We did not clear the ball as well as we should and
we must improve our effort on riding, particularly with our attack. We didn't
win the groundball battle at times and that caused us to play a lot more
defense than we should have had to play. We lost a lot of 50-50 groundballs on
the face-off that we could have had. We also didn't do a good job handling the
ball on the offensive end in the final four minutes of the fourth quarter. We
got several stops and turned the ball back over to Duke. Moving forward we must
get better organized and our attack must work harder to get the ball, sprint
with it when they have it, and make better decisions.
We were happy to win the game, but must continue to focus on
the areas we need to improve on. A famous coach once said it is no different
than when you start to get a cold; if you do nothing about it, the odds are it
is going to get worse. However, if you take care of yourself, you will minimize
your chances of getting sick.
Certainly, we want to maximize our potential, to get better
and continue to improve not only through knowledge and understanding, but to
get the right people on the field that have the ability to execute what we need
to do and have the right motivation and discipline to carry it our when they
are in the game.
Towson is our next opponent and we have a lot of respect for
its coaches, players and program. They have a Hall of Fame coach who will have
his players very well prepared, organized and motivated. Towson is a team that
always plays hard. This game has always meant a lot to their coaches and
players and we will have to match their intensity and enthusiasm.
This will be our first game on grass and we must be able to
make the adjustment to a new surface.
Monday will be a day to fix some mistakes and improve our
team. Tuesday, our players will start preparing for the Tigers.
Saturday will be our first home game in Capital One Field at
Byrd Stadium since 2008 and we are very excited to play our first game at home.
New this year for the Maryland men's lacrosse team are weekly award given by the team captains and the coaching staff.
For the Bellarmine game, junior close defenseman Ryder Bohlander was selected for the Coaches' Award, while sophomore midfielder Jake Bernhardt was the pick for the Captains' Award. Bohlander made his second career start in the season opener at Bellarmine and led the defense with a career-best two caused turnovers and a groundball. Bernhardt made his first career start vs. the Knights and set career-bests with three points and two goals.
Senior midfielder Will Yeatman was a double winner following the Terps' 15-13 come-from-behind win at Georgetown. Yeatman was chosen for the Captains' Award and was co-recipient of the Coaches' Award with redshirt junior Brian Farrell. Yeatman had his first hat trick as a Terp vs. the Hoyas, scoring all three goals during Maryland's decisive 7-0 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters. Farrell was easily the best defensive player on the field vs. the Hoyas. The long pole, who missed nearly all of 2009 with a rib and internal injuries, returned to his All-America form and set career-bests with 10 groundballs and six caused turnovers. He also contributed to the offense with an assist on Scott LaRue's second quarter goal.
A message from Coach Cottle on the Georgetown victory and
the upcoming game against Duke:
Well, first I want to give a brief summary of the Georgetown
game.
I think the key was playing hard, not just for part of the
game, but for all 60 minutes and winning the fourth quarter. Scoring 15 goals
was enjoyable to see and the offense picked up the slack for the rest of the
team.
I think we responded to adversity in that game - even if
some of the adversity was self-inflicted. We need to learn how to play our game
as a team. We made some mistakes in the game that are correctable, but we have
to reduce those mistakes.
We have to put the team first in terms of making personal
choices and decisions, whether it is technique or discipline. We must, as a
group, be collectively responsible in order to continue to improve. It is our
responsibility as coaches to ensure this happens.
As good of a win last week's game was, we have to put it
behind us and prepare for our next challenge.
Duke is a great team with a great coaching staff. They are
well coached in every area and present a great challenge. Our team must
continue to improve this week and prepare with great concentration. We must
play this game with great emotion, toughness and effort. This will be a great
test for our team.
Playing in M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore is a great
opportunity that we are looking forward to.
Lastly, we need to learn to get off to a fast start and
finish strong. I think we need to emphasize this to our players so we can play
with consistency over a 60-minute period. The season is an on-going process and
we need to focus on every player getting better, which in turn will make our
team better.
An inadvertent whistle on a timeout that wasn't called by
Maryland head coach Gary Williams wiped out a half-court three by Greivis
Vasquez that would have won the game for the Terps.
That sounds eerily similar to the inadvertent whistle that
wiped out Grant Catalino's would-have-been game-winning goal just seconds into
the first overtime at Virginia last March.
Unlike the lacrosse game, which went an NCAA-record seven
overtimes and saw the Cavaliers pull out the win, the basketball refs were bailed
out by Terp junior Cliff Tucker, who buried a three-pointer as time expired to
give Maryland the 76-74 victory.
We're back! The blog took a week off to dig out from the historic snowfall that hit Maryland over the past 10-12 days. But there is great news - the 2010 season is just days away (despite all of the obstacles Mother Nature has thrown in the Terps' way).
With the season getting ready to unfold Coach Cottle has issued the following statement and challenge to his team as it prepares for Bellarmine on Saturday.
The Maryland men's lacrosse scrimmage vs. Cornell,
originally scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 6, has been moved to Friday, Feb. 5 at
1 p.m. at the J. Logan and Louise Schutz Football Practice Complex located
behind the Varsity Team House off of Stadium Drive.
The Terps' second scrimmage with Loyola, originally slated
to follow the scrimmage with the Big Red, has been cancelled.
There is no public parking adjacent to the Varsity Team
House. Paid parking is available in the Stadium Drive Garage. The digital pay
station facilities hours are 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. daily. Current rates at
this facility are $3.00 per hour, with a $15.00 per day maximum.
What a difference a week makes. Early last week the weather
was great with temperatures in the 60s. Yesterday (Feb. 1) there was snow and
ice on the practice field, temps were in the 20s and practice was moved indoors
to the bubble. I guess I should not be surprised since we are still in the
middle of winter.
Week two of practice has
started and so has the spring semester and that means that the team is getting
used to its regular practice schedule (not to mention their class schedule).
The first day (and second by the time this is posted) of
practice is in the books and the 2010 season has officially begun for the
Maryland men's lacrosse team. National championships are not won on the 18th of
January, but everything has to start somewhere.
So, how did 2010 start for the Terps? Early. There were no
classes on Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, so the Terps
were able to get on the field at 1 p.m. The early start also made for great
weather with temps in the mid 40s and sunshine throughout practice.
This is going to be just a quick update simply because practice has not officially started and there is not a lot of news to report. Next week will be a completely different story however - practice starts on Monday!
Welcome to the start of the third year of the Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog. I hope everyonel had a safe and happy holiday season.
As readers and fans have seen during the past two years, this blog is mostly about the Maryland program -- its players, coaches, staff, alumni, friends and family. But, from time to time, I'll address some of the bigger-picture issues in college lacrosse.