The Terps suffered their first loss of the season in brutal fashion.
No. 1 Maryland men’s lacrosse’s defense was on a redemption arc.
The Terps were in the midst of their worst defensive outing of the season by far. The defenders looked sluggish, Logan McNaney was off and the Terps gave up 10 goals in 60 minutes of action.
But the offense carried the Terps into overtime, giving the defense a chance to go again. And again they went, holding the Wolverines without a shot for two overtime periods.
In the third overtime, the Terps had to hold on for one more Michigan possession. And as Emmett Houlihan rounded the net, Colin Burlace went for a big swing and slipped. With his marker on the floor, Houlihan found a slip pass to Nick Roode. And just like that, Maryland was no longer undefeated, falling to Michigan, 11-10, Saturday in College Park.
“We’ve won some close games. This one didn’t go our way,” head coach John Tillman said. “At the end of the day, I think there’s definitely some plays we’d like to have back, and maybe some things that I could have done better to help the guys. … we’ll learn from that.”
The Wolverines, led by ex-Maryland defensive assistant Kevin Conry, got off to a dream start, scoring two goals on their first two possessions. The Wolverines efficiently sliced through the defense that Conry knew so well, with Lukas Stanat and Bo Lockwood each notching a goal.
The first seemed to have a bit of luck involved — it took a dubious bounce up and off McNaney, an omen of things to come — but Michigan’s quick lead was no accident. The Wolverines dominated faceoffs early, winning six of seven in the opening frame,
Maryland punched back quickly. Braden Erksa scored one and created another with a massive turnover-inducing hit to secure his fourth multi-point game of the season just eight minutes in.
Early in the second quarter, things were no better for Maryland. The two teams traded goals at the end of the first frame, but the Terps fell flat at the restart, giving up two goals in four minutes.
Facing a serious challenge from their conference foes, Maryland did some soul-searching and switched things up to keep themselves in the game.
Tillman rolled out freshman faceoff specialist Jonah Carrier in an attempt to boost the team’s fortunes at the X. Carrier won nine of 12 faceoffs on the day, giving Maryland an opportunity to get in the groove offensively.
“Jonah came in and flipped the script in the second quarter,” Tillman said. “We have high hopes for Jonah. He’s done a really good job again.”
The Wolverines’ game plan was to nullify Eric Spanos by giving star defender Pace Billing a man assignment — and it had worked, with Spanos barely getting a touch. A winding run from Spanos to break free eventually got the senior a goal, and a 60-yard clear to his stick got him another chance.
And the equalizer for Maryland came from an unlikely source. Jack Dowd had 261 career points in four years at Division III Salisbury, but needed some time to adjust to the Division I game. Getting on the field for a man-advantage opportunity after very limited minutes, Dowd got the ball and loosed a missile at the net from 15 yards — if you blinked, you missed it. But there was no missing the reaction from the Terps for getting even and seeing Dowd score.
“We’ve been waiting for that, we’ve seen it in practice,” Tillman said. “We’re psyched for him.”
And after Michigan won the ensuing faceoff, the Terps dialed up the press and caused a turnover. Eric Spanos was free, and his frustration was palpably channeled into a punishing shot to snatch back the lead.
The teams traded blows. Stanat and Kelly each got their second in the 90 seconds before half. The Wolverines came out from the break and scored two, before Daniel Kelly tied the game back up with his hat trick.
And yet something was off with the Maryland defense. The Wolverines got good shots, and for the first time this season, McNaney looked mortal. Michigan put two more goals past him late in the third, ending the quarter up 10-8.
McNaney saved just six of Michigan’s first sixteen shots on goal and finished with a 45% save percentage, his first sub-.570 mark of the year.
But entering the fourth quarter, Bryce Ford stepped up. Maryland’s starting midfield had been held to just two assists through three frames. It found gaps in the Michigan defense twice, converting both chances to tie the game at 10 with just under nine minutes remaining.
At the 90 second mark, the Terps gave up a critical turnover. With plenty of time on the shot clock and a good opportunity to fashion a shot, Jack Schultz tried a soft handoff pass to Elijah Stobaugh, with the ball falling short. Michigan took the turnover and fashioned two chances in the final 10 seconds — the first blocked, and the second saved by McNaney. With that, the game went to overtime.
Michigan had two offensive possessions in the first overtime, but both ended with turnovers. The Wolverines didn’t get past the Maryland 40-yard line, with Eric Kolar and Will Schaller combining to force one turnover, and Jackson Canfield causing the other.
Then, the Terps went to a third overtime for the sixth time in program history. It began with a lost faceoff in overtime for the first time since February 2020, breaking a 13-faceoff win streak.
That was the moment it was clear something felt different.
The Terps held strong again but were unable to create a shot going forward; after turning it over for the 21st time, Michigan got its goal and left the Terps to lick their wounds.
“Some mistakes and things we definitely have to clean up,” Schaller said. “At the same time, the sun’s going to come up tomorrow. I have a lot of faith in the group that we have and the group we’re going to become. … we got to just keep improving and keep having faith and trust in what we buy into, and we’re going to be in good shape.”
Three things to know
1. Assists paint the picture. All 10 Maryland goals came from an assist, with the Terps unable to find space for any one player to make their impact one-on-one. By contrast, just three Michigan goals came off assists — the Wolverines converted good looks unassisted eight times.
2. Maryland was vulnerable early in frames. The first, second and third quarters were all scripted the same way. The Terps gave up two goals in the first five minutes of each of the first three quarters, a trend that ultimately sunk the Terps.
3. The Terps continue their Wolverine skid. Entering Saturday, Maryland had lost three consecutive games against the Wolverines, with Michigan averaging 14 goals a game in those contests. Saturday marked the fourth consecutive loss to the Wolverines — just the second time the Terps have dropped four in a row to an opponent under Tillman (Notre Dame, 2014-17).