Such has been the pattern for much of the season for the reigning national champions who head into the NCAA tournament for a Division I record 20th consecutive time as the No. 4 seed but hardly the juggernaut from last year that finished a program-best 18-0.

Virginia is No. 2 seed in NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament; Maryland is No. 4

Maryland (10-5) instead faces Army Saturday night in College Park saddled with more losses than in its previous three seasons combined and relying on youthful regulars who have little to no NCAA tournament experience. It’s not exactly the blueprint for a run to a fifth national championship.

“Brett brought it up to me last night, he’s like there was one point in the game Saturday where he was the only guy on the field that played last year, and we were playing in a Big Ten championship,” Terrapins Coach John Tillman said. “It’s been a different journey.”

A rash of injuries to front-line players has left the Terrapins among the most depleted teams in the NCAA tournament. The misfortune began during a practice in September in which junior attackman Eric Malever had his season end with severe damage to his right leg that required surgery.

The next calamitous injury unfolded in the second game of the season after starting goalie Logan McNaney, the most outstanding player in the 2022 NCAA tournament, was lost for the year with a torn ACL. Freshman Brian Ruppel has taken over for McNaney.

Then nearly three weeks ago, all-American defenseman Ajax Zappitello departed with a hand injury during a loss to visiting Johns Hopkins, 12-11, in the regular season finale. Will Schaller, a freshman, has been starting in place of Zappitello.

In the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament, the roster was compromised again when long-stick defensive midfielder John Geppert aggravated a leg injury and played sparingly the following week in a redemptive victory over Johns Hopkins, 14-9, in Baltimore.

“When you’re playing with as many young guys as we are right now defensively, when you have young guys who haven’t played two games in three days, having to bounce back like that, get into the prep, it’s difficult,” Makar said. “At the same time super proud of this group. Where we were two weeks ago until now, just made some great strides.”

Malever’s absence in the offensive zone, meantime, has placed additional onus on talented freshman Braden Erksa. Erksa leads the Terrapins in points (43) and assists (21) and ranks third in goals (22), but Tillman recently said the search for a true alpha player on that end of the field remains a work in progress.

Last season, Maryland enthusiastically leaned on fifth-year attackman Logan Wisnauskas. The Tewaaraton Award winner owns the Terrapins’ career record for goals (205) and points (340). His 103 points in 2022 also set a program record.

In 2021, senior attackman Jared Bernhardt claimed the Tewaaraton Award, leaving as Maryland’s all-time leader in points (290) and goals (202) as well as for single-season points (99) and single-season goals (71).

When the Terrapins won the national championship in 2017, Matt Rambo collected the Tewaaraton Award after the senior attackman ended his career as the program’s leader in all-time points (257) and goals (155).

“It’s been hard this year, but not bad hard,” Tillman said. “It has put a lot of stress on the coaches and the leadership just because we are so young, and again not necessarily in a bad way. You just realize with so many young guys that you feel like you’re letting them down if you don’t prepare them.”

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To that end, Tillman has been reminding his charges of what they’re capable of accomplishing — most notably a thrilling win in overtime, 14-13, against then-No. 1 Virginia on March 18 — with the proper focus, both mentally and physically, in addition to clean execution and trusting teammates.

Patience has been a point of emphasis this week too, given the Black Knights’ second-ranked scoring defense (8.7 goals per game) with goalie Knox Dent as the centerpiece. The senior is second in Division I in goals against average (9.0) and tied for 10th in save percentage (.542).

“This is going to be a big challenge for us,” Tillman said. “But at this time of the year everybody in the NCAA tournament poses challenges, and certainly this one does too. We’ve got to get back to work and make sure the guys realize that, you know, when they do things the right way, and they’re all on the same page, and they’re humming, they’re a darn good team.”