By Eli Davis, Maryland Athletics Student Assistant
Just over a month into the 2015 NCAA lacrosse season, the Maryland men's lacrosse team (4-1) has made its defensive presence known nationally.
Led by junior goalie Kyle Bernlohr and senior co-captain Casey Ikeda, the Terps rank first in the nation in scoring defense (5.00 goals allowed/game) while Bernlohr sits atop Division I in goals against average (4.91) and save percentage (.696).
“He [Bernlohr] has been doing a phenomenal job,” said junior defenseman Matt Dunn. “I think one of the best things we've seen, not only has he been great in the goal, but he's proved to be a great leader as well. He's confident, which is huge to have a guy in the cage behind you that you know you can trust.”
“I think Coach Conry has done a lot with the defense getting them organized. We have pretty smart defensemen down there,” said head coach John Tillman. “They are pretty cerebral guys and they put a lot time into it. Kyle has played pretty well as well and has been making most of the saves we hope he will make.”
While it may be easy to credit Bernlohr or Ikeda for the team's defensive success, a complete team effort in practice leads to results in the game.
“One of the biggest things that has helped our defense is the scout guys we have in practice,” said Dunn, who has scooped up two groundballs and caused three turnovers this year. “We've been getting great looks from a lot of the guys that don't see a ton of time in games, but they haven't been taking plays off in practice.”
Similar to the team-oriented defensive system, other units on the field are making the job easier to keep opponents off the board.
“The way we look at it is it's just one team. When the attackers are able to possess the ball for long periods of the game, then the other team can't score,” Dunn said. “The stats might show that we haven't given up many goals, but in reality, if Charlie [Raffa] is winning faceoffs, then we have the ball and we're not going to give up as many goals.”
The unit is coming off perhaps its best performance of the season, limiting a prolific Princeton offense to just four goals. The Tiger's Kip Orban saw his then-Division I leading 30-game goal streak snapped in an 11-4 Terps victory.
“Our scout team did a phenomenal job preparing us for them and we just had a game plan and stuck to it,” Dunn said. “We played disciplined, which is one of our greatest strengths, and had a game plan and stuck to it.”
The Terps hit the road for three road games before returning home for the start of Big Ten conference play against Michigan on Sun. March 29.
“We know that each team gets better each week throughout the season and we have to continue to improve as well,” Dunn said. “People have to continue to step up and stay focused.”
