Blog from Todd Carton
When the B1G scheduled Maryland as Ohio State’s opponent for the Buckeyes’ seventh annual Showdown in the Shoe, they probably knew it would be a showcase for Big Ten lacrosse but it’s impossible to know whether anyone anticipated the number of elements that would combine to add layers of significance to the contest. You see, because of its timing, the Showdown in the Shoe is the most important date on Ohio State’s lacrosse calendar. The game precedes the Ohio State spring football game and by the time the fourth quarter rolls around typically has a crowd in excess of 25,000.
In the 2014 edition, the announced attendance was a bit over 17,000 but the crowd had swelled to over 31,000 by game’s end. With the Buckeyes coming off a National Championship, it’s reasonable to expect that a few more people will be on hand for the spring game. The Terps Will Likely be in front of the largest crowd they will see before Memorial Day weekend.
This was the predicted order of finish in the conference’s preseason poll:
Johns Hopkins
Maryland
Penn State
Ohio State
Rutgers
Michigan
This is how the conference stands (with national rankings in parentheses) as the Terps head to Columbus:
(#3) Maryland 3-0
(#11) Ohio State 3-0
Johns Hopkins 2-1
Michigan 1-2
Rutgers 0-3
Penn State 0-3
A quick glance at the standings shows one reason this game has gained added weight. It is a meeting between the B1G’s only two ranked teams. It’s also a meeting between the only two undefeated teams in conference play. With only two games remaining, the winner is assured of at least a share of the conference championship. After Saturday, Ohio State travels to Rutgers while Maryland hosts Johns Hopkins which, if they beat Michigan at home on Saturday would also have a chance to share in the title.
When I asked Maryland head coach John Tillman about it, he noted that the Terps had played in other big venues including playing at Ravens Stadium last year. He added,
“We’ll try to get a little bit better handle on how to prepare our guys and what they might be walking into on Saturday. We’ve just to make sure to remember that once we’re on the field, it’s fundamentals and playing Maryland lacrosse and doing the things that we’ve been trying to do all year against a really good team. We can control what we can control and it goes back to doing what we’ve done in practice all year.”
What may be difficult for Tillman and his staff to control is the adrenaline rush and shock that could accompany playing in front of such a large crowd.
Maryland eked out one goal wins last week against Loyola and Rutgers. Against Loyola, the Terps held a three goal lead late in the third quarter only to see the Greyhounds go on a three goal run to tie the score with just under six minutes to play. Bryan Cole netted the game winner with 3:05 left in the game.
The latter stages of the game at Rutgers had a similar pattern. Maryland nabbed a two goal lead early in the fourth period only to see the home standing Scarlet Knights tie things up with three and a half minutes to play. The Terrapins took this one much closer to the wire before Matt Rambo’s brilliant dodge found the net with just 13 seconds remaining.
While the close game experience could be beneficial, Tillman opined,
“Those close games put your kids in a position where they have to manage situations. They have to have late game awareness and factor in a lot of different things in terms of clock management, realizing that we’ve got to get stops if it’s late and then when you get the ball being able to execute in maybe a little bit of a time pinch. So the hope is that going forward those things will hopefully help us because we see that we’re going to be in more close games going forward. It’s this time of year. People will scout you. They prepare for you.
We have some good teams coming up. The two teams with the best record in our conference are still in front of us. Our expectations would be that we would be in a lot of close games down the stretch here and having the kids go through that you hope would help us. It doesn’t always mean that but at least the kids have done it in a game. We try to do that stuff in practice and as much as you do get some dress rehearsals there, it’s never the same as a game. I’m hoping that maybe that does help us but that’ll be proven out on game day.”
In addition to the big stadium and possibly intimidating atmosphere, the Terps will have to contend with an Ohio State team that’s playing very well. The Buckeyes have won three straight since losing to Notre Dame after winning at Towson and beating Denver in Columbus. SInce being shut out by the Irish, they have scored in double digits in their wins at Penn State and Michigan as well as in their home win over Johns Hopkins.
Defensively, Ohio State holds their opponents to under eight goals per game likely aided by goalie Tim Carey’s .559 save percentage. The Buckeyes have also been very strong at the faceoff ‘X’ where they win over 62 percent. In this, they’re led by Chris May who has a .647 success rate. Tillman described the challenge,
“We have a big challenge in front of us in Ohio State. Watching the film the last couple of days, they’re really impressive. They’re playing their best lacrosse. Their faceoff guy is at about 65 percent which is really impressive. Chris May is a grad student, a local kid. They’re only giving up less than eight goals a game.Their mad down defense is about 18 percent and they have the preseason player of the year in Jesse King so this is going to be a battle. We’ve got to clean up some things and play our best 60 minutes of lacrosse on Saturday.”
The coach was coy about the availability of Maryland’s faceoff specialist, Charlie Raffa. “We had yesterday off so I didn’t see him yesterday (Monday). I’ll take a look when we get to practice and evaluate it then. We’re going to be smart with him. We’d love to have him back but if he’s not 100 percent or if he’s in a way where we could compromise his long term health we’re going to err on the side of caution.
I thought John (Garino) did a really good job in the second half (against Rutgers). We’d love to have Charlie but we’ve got to be smart. Again, we’re looking at a guy on the other side, Chris May, who’s done a terrific job – both their faceoff guys have and as a team they’re 62 percent so we have to be really prudent there.”
While the Terrapins, playing without their top faceoff man, may not be earning the style points apparently necessary to impress certain commentators, Maryland has won 10 consecutive games – their longest such streak in nearly three decades. Half of those wins have come against teams ranked in the top twenty. Picking up an 11th straight win Saturday could go a long way to solidifying the Terps’ postseason position.
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