When the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament bracket was released at the beginning of May, it’s likely that Maryland fans circled May, 23rd on their calendars with either relish or angst. The reason: A (possibly unlikely) pair of wins by Maryland coupled with a (possibly unlikely) pair of wins by Johns Hopkins would set up a rematch of the April 25th game that Hopkins won 15-12 on the Terrapins’ home field.
So, the reason for anticipatory relish is clear. The Terps not only have the opportunity to even the score but, in doing so, also have the chance to savor a particularly tasty victory that would dash the Blue Jays’ national title aspirations. Conversely, Terrapins’ fans might find it difficult to dismiss the the sharply honed edge of anxiety arising from three consecutive losses to their rivals from Baltimore.
Even Maryland head coach John Tillman recognizes some degree of angst, “Winning on Saturday is a tall task,” he said in an interview Wednesday afternoon. He added, “We’ve got the hottest team in the field that’s already beaten us once. We’ve really got to focus on how do we win on Saturday. Whatever we need to do, we need to do.”
A brief review
Early in the first game for the Rivalry Trophy when the Terps and Blue Jays met at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium, it looked as though Maryland would possess the giant wood crab. Charlie Raffa dominated early at the faceoff ‘X’ winning the first five and six of nine in the period. Matt Rambo turned those into an early 2-0 Terrapins lead.
After Hopkins broke the ice, Jay Carlson scored on back to back possessions for the Terps giving Maryland their largest lead of the game at 4-1. The quarter ended with Maryland ahead 5-3 but a change at the ‘X’ by the Blue Jays couple with some particularly physical play focused on Raffa allowed Hopkins to draw even at seven all by the end of the first half.
However, Maryland is a team that sometimes struggles to score and the scoring pace certainly seemed to favor Johns Hopkins at that point. Here is what I said and wrote at halftime of that game:
While the Terps dominated at the faceoff ‘X’ with a 10-6 edge, they negated that advantage with seven turnovers. One failed clear completely negated the faceoff edge. Additionally, I remarked to several colleagues in the press box, that I thought the score favored Hopkins as I did not think Maryland had the firepower to maintain that pace. The second half would prove me right.
The teams alternated scoring in the third quarter with the Terps scoring the first, third and fifth goals and Hopkins the second and fourth. Maryland entered the fourth quarter clinging to a precarious one goal lead. However, the manner of play through the first three quarters accrued one significant advantage to the visiting team. Their persistent physical attacks on Raffa including two hits that drew major penalties, eventually took its toll and knocked the Terrapins’ faceoff specialist out of the game by the fourth quarter.
The Blue Jays won seven of eight faceoffs while outscoring the Terps 6-2 in that decisive quarter. In his interview Wednesday, Tillman said, “I candidly feel like the last time we played we got tired defensively in the fourth quarter and I think that was pretty evident for everybody. That was a little bit of a point of emphasis in the last two games. We can’t leave our defense out to dry as much as we did.”
Hopkins attacker Ryan Brown dominated the half scoring six of his eight goals including four in the final period. That domination led to Hopkins 15-12 win.
In the weeks since
When Tillman called Johns Hopkins “the hottest team in the Tournament,” it was not mere hyperbole. In their final two regular season games (including the win over Maryland), JHU scored 31 goals. In their two wins to clain the Big Ten Tournament title, they scored 27 and have registered 35 in their first two NCAA wins heading into Saturday’s contest. Thus, the Blue Jays are averaging 15.5 goals per game over their last six games and 17.5 per game in the NCAA Tournament.
While Hopkins has other capable scorers such as Joel Tinney who notched a hat trick against Maryland, or Connor Reed and Holden Cattoni who did the same in the B1G semifinals and finals respectively, it’s the big three of Brown and the Stanwicks – Wells and Shack – who continue to pose the biggest threats. These three have combined to score 29 of the Blue Jays 62 postseason goals.
The freshman Shack Stanwick leads the way with 11 while Brown and older brother Wells have scored nine each. Another aspect that makes them particularly difficult to guard is their willingness to share the ball and find the open man. The three have also combined for 24 assists in four postseason games.
Meanwhile, the Terps floundered scoring just six times in the B1G Tournament loss to Ohio State. That loss had a hidden benefit, however, as Tillman explained, “The defining moment for us was whether we were going to play Charlie (Raffa) against Ohio State. We made a decision to limit Charlie in that game and, to be honest with you, it’s probably the most important decision we made all year. Charlie got three reps that game but for the most part, had a week off. And then had another week of rest going into Yale and by getting that extra rest it rejuvenated the guys. It got us refocused. It got us a mental and physical rest and it gave us a chance. We didn’t know if we’d get here but we felt like a healthy Charlie was really the only way we had a chance.”
Which brings us to
the keys of the game. And the first of those is Charlie Raffa. In the first meeting, Raffa’s early dominance in getting Maryland possessions led to the Terps getting an early advantage. Raffa’s play will again be key in the rematch.
The final stats from Maryland 14-7 quarterfinal win over North Carolina Sunday show that the Terps held just a 13-12 edge in faceoffs. However, Raffa, who rested most of the fourth quarter, won 12 of 19. The dilemma Tillman faces is the need to have Raffa in the game against Hopkins on Saturday and balancing that against the possibility of needing him to back that up with another effective game Monday should the Terps come out on the long end of the score.
But Raffa’s importance to the team extends well beyond the faceoff dot. Said Tillman,
“Charlie’s value goes so much more than just at the faceoff ‘X’. He’s a team captain. I think he’s a guy that the younger players look to and believe in. He’s been a mentor for a lot of those guys. He sets the tones in terms of how hard he plays. His relentlessness. It’s amazing his impact on us. I haven’t had many guys that I’ve ever coached who when they’re on the field and when they’re playing well have been such a big difference maker.”
Who will score for Maryland? While the Terps scored 12 times in the first meeting, some of their key offensive players were dormant for long stretches. Matt Rambo scored twice in the game’s first four minutes and had only two shots the rest of the game. Similarly, Jay Carlson scored back to back goals midway through the first quarter but went silent until about three minutes remained in the third.
With 14 goals, Maryland had their highest output of the season against North Carolina in the quarterfinal game as Bryan Cole (4) and Connor Kelly (3) emerged as surprising scoring threats. If the Terps are to win on Saturday, they will need this combination. That is, they need a more consistent stream of goals from the expected sources such as Rambo and Carlson and scoring from an unexpected spot or two be that Cole or Kelly or Colin Heacock, Dylan Maltz, or Henry West.
How will Maryland slow the Hopkins’ attack? in playing North Carolina, Maryland faced one of the nation’s best scoring teams with a trio of exceptionally gifted scorers and, for all intents and purposes, shut them down until the game was out of reach. They will need to repeat this effort against Johns Hopkins.
Ryan Brown is a very talented offensive player. In the first game against Maryland, the Terps continually lost sight of him and, especially in the second half, he scored more or less at will torching the Terps for a total of eight goals. Tillman summed it up, “We’re not winning if he scores that many goals again.”
The Terrapins will need to play what their coach calls “Maryland defense.” This means if they get caught in a bad match-up they need to slide and go. They need to help when mismatches happen.
Another way Maryland can help themselves is to a better job in other area and try to limit the Blue Jays’ possessions. This means winning faceoffs, getting to ground balls and no loose turnovers. It might also mean having slightly longer offensive possessions to give the defense a chance to rest.
For Maryland’s fans, while winning the first Rivalry Trophy game would have been nice, I think they would gladly trade that for a win on semifinals Saturday and a chance to bring the NCAA Championship back to Maryland for the first time in four decades. The last leg of that journey begins Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia half an hour after the first semifinal game between Notre Dame and Denver.
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