BALTIMORE — Maryland’s bid to win a 3rd straight Large Ten males’s lacrosse match championship fizzled amid a stagnant assault, miscommunication defensively and different breakdowns in a 14-5 loss to Michigan on Saturday at Homewood Area.
Maryland
Terps come out flat in Big Ten men’s lacrosse tournament title game
Eric Spanos, a sophomore attackman, led seventh-ranked Maryland with three targets, and freshman attackman Braden Erksa added two in a loss that was tied for essentially the most lopsided of the season for the reigning nationwide champions. The Terps scored their fewest targets of the yr and located the online simply as soon as within the second half.
“Foolish turnovers. Simply not clear,” Coach John Tillman stated. “I didn’t love our first shot; it was not an important shot. And we had a pair turnovers. So we had the chance to type of get off to begin, get right into a circulate, and I felt like we actually by no means did.”
No. 14 Michigan obtained 5 targets from Michael Boehm and 4 from Bryce Clay in a sport it by no means trailed. Boehm has 9 targets this season in opposition to Maryland, which was unable to unravel Wolverines goalie Hunter Taylor (season-high 14 saves) with regularity.
The Terps fell behind for good late within the first quarter on Clay’s first strike of the sport, which gave Michigan a 3-2 lead. Clay scored once more lower than a minute and a half later, and Peter Thompson’s objective with 52 seconds to play grew the margin to 5-2.
“I don’t know if it’s actually sunk in, to be trustworthy with you,” stated sixth-year Wolverines coach Kevin Conry. “We had been simply strolling off [the field] and one another like, ‘Did that simply occur?’ ”
4 consecutive targets by Michigan over eight-plus minutes within the second quarter left the Terps trailing 10-4 at halftime. It was the biggest halftime deficit of the season by far for Maryland, which trailed by one on the break in a 16-11 loss to Michigan on Feb. 11 in Faculty Park.
Boehm scored three targets within the second quarter, together with two in 4 seconds to match a Large Ten match document. His first with 9:54 to play got here from 5 yards contained in the restraining line. Michigan’s Justin Wietfeldt gained the following faceoff in opposition to Maryland’s Luke Wierman, sprinted towards the objective and delivered a cross to Boehm, who beat freshman goalie Brian Ruppel (eight saves).
The Terps remained with out goalie Logan McNaney, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear in February. Maryland additionally was lacking, amongst others, beginning shut defenseman Ajax Zappitello, who was injured April 22 in a loss to Johns Hopkins.
“Quite a lot of guys’ first time, haven’t performed two video games in three days,” Terps captain Brett Makar stated. “It’s only a totally different expertise for lots of the younger guys we had on the market, so it’s actually arduous to type of replicate that. You attempt to put an emphasis on it and inform the blokes it’s not a straightforward factor to play two, not to mention win two, particularly in opposition to an important workforce like Michigan. However credit score to them. They had been prepared for us.”
Right here’s what else to find out about Maryland’s loss:
Taylor, a freshman, made simply his fourth begin of the season for the Wolverines and performed a whole sport for simply the second time, however repeatedly he pissed off the Terps with saves in shut quarters.
The previous standout at Landon Faculty in Bethesda had 5 saves within the fourth quarter to blunt any Maryland comeback aspirations. He additionally ran three-quarters of the sphere for an unassisted clear that energized Michigan’s bench.
The Wolverines had been utilizing a mix of goalies this season. Conry elected to go together with Taylor as a substitute of junior Shane Carr (Severna Park) in an important sport in program historical past.
“Hunter has been working actually, actually arduous, type of staying in a extremely poised place,” Conry stated. “Probably the greatest elements about Hunter’s sport is Shane Carr’s presence as nicely and his assist of him.”
Tillman and his gamers indicated they gained’t dwell on this loss for lengthy with the NCAA match choice present revealing the sphere of 18 — and Maryland’s opening opponent — at 9:30 p.m. Sunday (ESPNU). The Terps will watch the present collectively and start preparations anew Monday.
“Positively going ahead, that is going to be an important studying expertise for us,” Makar stated. “As a pacesetter, as a captain … I’ve obtained to put on it. Anytime we now have a sport like this, you go to the management, and it displays you. I positively take this personally, and also you’ll positively see a way more centered and ready group subsequent week.”