COLLEGE PARK, Md. - This Saturday offers Terp fans a very unique double-header at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium with the annual Red/White spring football game at 12:30 p.m. and the men's lacrosse game vs. Rutgers at 4 p.m. This week's umterps Notebook will take a look at how the 2016 Terrapin football team is shaping up and how the men's lax team survived at Penn State prior to playing the Scarlet Knights.
Spring Fling
When Saturday finally gets here it will have been 151 days from the end of the 2015 Maryland football season to the 2016 Red/White Spring Game.
A lot has happened in those 151 days, but on Saturday it will be back to playing football at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium.
First, the Red/White Spring Game is scheduled for a 12:30 p.m. start this Saturday. Admission and parking are free of charge. Complete game information can be found by clicking here.
This will be Terps fans first chance to take a look at new head coach DJ Durkin's first Terrapin team, which features position battles all across the field.
The defensive side of the ball took the biggest hit and only five student-athletes are listed as returning starters in the 2016 Spring Notes.
Senior Roman Braglio and junior Azubuike Ukandu return as starters on the defensive line with 10 and eight starts, respectively, in 2015. Ukandu started those eight games in place of redshirt-sophomore David Shaw also returns after missing the final eight games of 2015 due to injury after starting the first four. Sophomore Jesse Aniebonam also made three starts in 2015 and should be poised for a big 2016 season.
Juniors Jalen Brooks and Jermaine Carter are solid returners at linebacker, which also features a returning Abner Logan, who was projected as a 2015 starter before missing the entire season due to injury, and sophomore Brett Zanotto, who led all Maryland freshmen with 23 tackles last season.
The defensive area with the biggest question marks is the defensive backfield, but that spot also saw the biggest boost of the offseason when William Likely announced in January he would be returning to College Park for his senior season.
Seniors Jarrett Ross and Alvin Hill each played in all 12 games in 2015 and each have more than 30 appearances for their careers. They're competing with fellow upperclassmen Denzel Conyers, Jarrett Ross and Darnell Savage, among others.
When it comes to the offensive side of the ball most fans' eyes will be on the quarterback position, which will be sure to feature seniors Perry Hills and Caleb Rowe. Terp fans have seen what Hills and Rowe could do in previous seasons, but how they fare in offensive coordinator Walt Bell's offense remains to be seen.
By the way – in case you're not familiar with Walt Bell's offense, during his two seasons as Arkansas State's OC the Red Wolves averaged 45.3 points per game in conference games and 38.3 points per game overall. And that's not with a pass-happy offense. Bell's ASU offense was a run-first attack that saw running back Michael Gordon turn in back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. (The last Maryland running back to post consecutive 1,000-yard seasons was Charlie Wysocki in 1979 & 1980).
Back to the Terps – The offensive line will also be a key position for fans to watch as senior Michael Dunn and sophomore Damian Prince are back after playing large rolls on the o-line in 2015. Junior Mike Minter also returns after missing the final nine games of 2015 with an injury. Sophomores Derwin Gray and Brendan Moore are also competing for positions on the depth chart.
Wide receiver and running back are the deepest spots on the field for Maryland.
Sophomore Ty Johnson saw significant time in the backfield last season and will compete with senior Wes Brown and Virginia Tech-transfer Trey Edmunds. Senior Kenneth Goins has primarily been used as a fullback, but could also be used as a feature back. Bell's history at ASU points to using multiple feature backs as three running backs each had at least 99 carries in 2015.
Wide receiver has names Terps fans are very familiar with in brothers Levern and Taivon Jacobs, sophomore D.J. Moore and senior Malcolm Culver.
Special teams aren't usually high on fans' list of positions to watch, but Mr. Reliable Brad Craddock has graduated, leaving the place-kicking duties up for grabs. Junior Adam Greene had a chance to show what he could do when Craddock was injured last season seems to have a leg up on the competition.
Punter is completely up for grabs with sophomores Nicholas Rubinowicz and Lee Shrader competing with freshman Australian Rules Football veteran Wade Lees for the spot.
Fans shouldn't expect to see a finished product at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium on Saturday, but they can expect to see Durkin's Terps compete and work to get better.
“Every day throughout spring we've made progress and we've gotten better," Durkin said earlier this spring. "We still have a ways to go, but we've gotten better. These guys are very willing to do what we ask them to do and we just have to keep working.”
Just Win, Baby!
It wasn't the prettiest game to watch, especially early on, but that doesn't matter in the end because the only thing people will remember about Sunday night's men's lacrosse game at Penn State is that Maryland came back to win in overtime.
A win is a win. That's all that matters.
Early on in the second quarter Penn State opened up an 8-4 lead, but Maryland responded on both ends of the field.
The Terps' defense didn't allow another goal in the first half. In fact, the Nittany Lions only got off two shots in the final 9:39 of the second quarter.
Offensively, the Terrapins ripped off three straight goals in the final 5:23 to be down just one at the half. Colin Heacock started the run with this third goal of the first half. After Louis Dubick scored a man-up goal to cut the deficit to two with 3:39 to play, Connor Kelly got his first of two goals to make it an 8-7 game.
Henry West scored twice in the third quarter, while Penn State could only net one goal to make it 9-9 heading into the fourth.
Kelly scored less than 5 min. into the fourth to give the Terps their first lead since the 4:55 mark of the first quarter. Penn State tied the game at 10-10 and neither team could find the net during regulation.
Will Bonaparte, who won 11-of-17 faceoffs, won the draw in overtime, but Heacoack's shot was turned aside by PSU goalie Will Schreiner, who finished with eight stops.
Penn State had its chances on its lone overtime possession, including hitting a post with 2:36 to play, but Bernlohr made his season-best 14th save of the game on a Mike Sutton-shot at the 1:44 mark and Tim Muller scooped up the groundball to give Maryland a chance to win it.
A few things on that defensive stand by the Terps.
First, All-American Matt Dunn showed tremendous discipline and patience while covering Penn State's Nick Aponte, who had two goals and a pair of assists in the game, when Aponte had Dunn hung up in front of the net while Aponte was behind the cage.
Maryland's off-ball defense was terrific. Aponte was looking for someone, anyone to separate from a Terrapin defender, but the Terps each stayed with their man forcing Aponte to try to initiate.
Once he did, Aponte used a screen in front of the left pipe to get free from Dunn, but Isaiah Davis-Allen made the switch and forces Aponte up the field enough that Aponte's show sailed wide of the goal.
Finally, Bernlohr's last save was phenomenal. Sutton got underneath Terp short-stick Adam DiMillo, but Bernlohr hugged the pipe and didn't give Sutton any net to shoot at. DiMillo got just enough of a piece of Sutton to keep him wider than he wanted and cut down his angle of attack, making Bernlohr's job just a bit easier.
The rebound bounced right to Muller and he fought off a tough ride by Aponte to clear the ball.
Penn State sat in a zone for the final possession daring Maryland to beat them from the outside.
Bryan Cole did just that when he used a little two-man weave with West to get free in the left alley and he buried his second-straight game-winning goal after winning the game vs. Michigan in the final minute last weekend.
Back-To-Back In One-Goal Games
This marks back-to-back one-goal victories for the Terps, which just doesn't happen that often and it's even rarer that the same player scored the game-winning goal in both games.
Maryland won three-straight one-goal games last season, but each time a different Terp scored the game-winner.
Cole scored the game-winner in the 11-10 win over Loyola on April 8 with 3:05 left in the fourth, while Matt Rambo netted the game-winner with 13 sec. left at Rutgers on April 12. Maryland won its third-straight one-goal game on April 18 when Jay Carlson scored with 49 sec. left in OT at Ohio State.
Prior to last season, the last time Maryland won back-to-back one-goal games was 2004. Brendan Healy scored the game-winner in double-overtime in a 9-8 win over Notre Dame on May 1. The Terps then topped Virginia 12-11 in the ACC semifinals, but that one was a little different as Maryland led 12-7 heading into the fourth quarter and the Cavaliers scored four in the fourth to make it a one-goal game.
The last Terp credited with back-to-back game-winning goals in one-goal victories was Dan Lamonica in 2001, but neither of those goals were go-ahead goals in a tie game. In the 6-5 win at Navy on April 7, Lamonica's goal put the Terps up 6-4 and the Mids make it a one-goal game late. The same happened the next week vs. Johns Hopkins as Lamonica scored to give the Terps a 10-8 lead and Maryland would hang on to win 10-9.
The last Terp I could find that scored the game-winning, go-ahead goal in back-to-back one-goal wins was Matt Hahn in 1997. The former all-time goals leader scored the game-winning goal with 12 sec. left in a 10-9 win over Virginia in the NCAA quarterfinals on May 18. Hahn then broke a 17-17 tie with a goal at the 2:27 mark vs. Syracuse in the NCAA semifinals to lift the Terps to an 18-17 win.
Quick Hitters:
• The Maryland women's lacrosse team improved to 12-0 on the season and 2-0 in Big Ten play with an 18-3 victory at Rutgers on Sunday. Taylor Cummings set the tone winning 13 of Maryland's 16 draw controls. Megan Whittle led the way with four goals, while Caroline Steele added three goals and an assist.
In case you're keep track after last week's breakdown of the Terps' scoring and scoring margin, this years Terrapins are now averaging 15.4 goals per game and have a scoring margin of 8.9 goals per game.
• The Maryland baseball team swept Ohio State this past weekend at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium to improve to 4-2 in the Big Ten. Mike Shawaryn struck out 10 Buckeyes in 6.1 innings of work on Sunday, while Anthony Papio knocked in three runs in the 5-4 victory.
The Terps head to Minneapolis this weekend for a three-game series at Minnesota. All three games are scheduled to be streamed on BTN2Go.
• The Terps softball team took two of three from Michigan State this past weekend to win the series. Brenna Nation earned both victories in the circle for Maryland. If you haven't read Brenna's heart-felt message about her late father, do yourself a favor and check it out. You'll be glad you did.
• Congratulations to men's golf's Tom Harris on tying for first at the Robert Kepler Invitational this past weekend in Columbus, Ohio.
• Records continue to fall for the women's track & field team. CiCi Onyekwere broke Marita Walton's 34-year-old discus record with a throw of 54.24 meters at the Virginia Quad Meet last Saturday in Charlottesville.
• The women's tennis squad earned a split in its trip to Michigan this past weekend, topping Michigan State 5-2 on Saturday.
Wrapping Up
That's it for this edition of the umterps Notebook. Don't forget to follow Maryland athletics on all of the social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Patrick Fischer is the Director of Digital Media and Website Management for the University of Maryland Department of Intercollegiate AthleticsThe views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Maryland athletics department or its athletics programs.
