COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Spring football is in the books and the men's and women's lacrosse teams are on fire. In this week's umterps Notebook we will look at the current winning streak for the men's lax team, a quick recap of the Red/White Game, the women's lax team's amazing home record, and more.
Men's Lax Goes Streaking
The Maryland men's lacrosse team defeated local, long-time rival Navy, 10-5, Tuesday night to extend its winning streak to nine games.
The Terrapin offense couldn't have been more balanced as they produced five points on three goals and two assists from the starting attack of Matt Rambo, Colin Heacock and Dylan Maltz, six points on four goals and two assists from the Red midfield unit of Bryan Cole, Henry West and Connor Kelly, and three points on three goals from the Gold midfield unit of Tim Rotanz, Lucas Gradinger and Pat Young.
The defense was solid, but was largely unchallenged despite the Mids holding an 11-8 advantage at the faceoff X. That's thanks to aggressive riding which saw Navy successfully clear the ball on only 9-of-13 clears. Three of Maryland's eight caused turnovers came from offensive players on the ride, which helped generate opportunities and momentum.
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The Terps' nine-game winning streak is the second longest in the nation, trailing only Air Force's 11-game winning streak. That in and of itself isn't hugely significant, but consider this – the nine-game winning streak is the fifth longest winning streak in program history since 1971, which is when men's lacrosse was officially recognized by the NCAA.
Longest Winning Streaks for Maryland Men's Lacrosse
12 – 1987 (12-1 – lost in NCAA semifinals)
11 – 2015 (15-4 – lost in NCAA title game)
10 – 1976 (10-1 – lost in NCAA title game)
10 – 1973 (10-0 – won school's first NCAA Championship)
9 – 2016 (???)
8 – 2004 (13-3 – lost in NCAA quarterfinals)
8 – 1998 (14-3 – lost in NCAA title game)
Looking at that list, the only Maryland men's lacrosse team with at least an eight-game winning streak to not make it to the Final Four was the 2004 squad, which was one unfortunate pipe-shot away from an 8-7 win over Princeton and a trip to championship weekend instead of a 9-8 loss in overtime.
But, like they say in financial ads – prior results do not guarantee future performance.
The Navy win wasn't the only one of note for the Terps since the last umterps Notebook. Maryland defeated a much-improved Rutgers team, 11-8, last Saturday to improve to 3-0 in the Big Ten.
What made the win over the Scarlet Knights different is that the Terps won despite the Red (or for historical purposes – the first) midfield line not scoring a point.
That doesn't happen very often.
In fact it was the first time in 106 games that Maryland's first midfield line did not register a point in a game.
The last time was on March 13, 2010 in a 12-8 win over Towson. The first midfield line of Jake Bernhardt, Adam Sear and Will Yeatman didn't register a point or an assist, but they were picked up by the second midfield line of Michael Shakespeare, John Haus and Drew Snider, who scored two goals apiece, in the victory over the Tigers.
The Terps will look to wrap up at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title this Sunday when they host Ohio State at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium (BUY TICKETS). The game will also be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.
Ending On A High Note
Spring football is over for the Maryland Terrapins and the Terps wrapped up their first spring under new head coach DJ Durkin in fine style with an entertaining Red/White Game this past Saturday at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium.
The game was played with defense vs. offense scoring, which almost always favors the defense, especially when the offense is still installing a new scheme. In the end the Red (defense) out-scored the White (offense) 51-35.
Defensive lineman Roman Braglio starred for the Red with four sacks and six total tackles. In total the defense finished the day with 12 total sacks and 20 tackles for loss.
However, that doesn't mean the offense didn't come to play.
The quarterback battle was on full display with seniors Caleb Rowe and Perry Hills each showing positives.
Rowe's penchant for making big plays was evident with scoring strikes of 48 yards to Levern Jacobs and 63 yards to Jacquille Veii.
Hills was efficient, completing nearly 60 percent of his passes, including his own big play – a 40-yeard TD to Malcolm Culmer.
Perhaps the most impressive performance – not surprisingly considering offensive coordinator Walt Bell's run-first philosophy (which we touched upon in last week's Red/White preview in the umterps Notebook) – belonged to sophomore running back Ty Johnson. The speedster finished up with 167 yards on just 11 carries, including showing off his breakaway ability on an untouched 64-yard TD dash down the sideline.
Durkin was impressed with his team's coach-ability this spring and the student-athletes' desire to get better. That will need to continue, Durkin noted, if the Terps are going to take the next step in their preparation for the 2016 season, which begins Sept. 3 at home vs. Howard (BUY TICKETS!).
“The next phase now is our summer program,” Durkin continued. “To get better during this part of the year, you need to have good leadership amongst the players. It's a critical part. It's a time when you can make a jump on your opponents.”
Home Is Where The Wins Are
The Maryland women's lacrosse team celebrated “Senior Day” on Saturday with the Terps' final weekend regular-season home game of the season. The Terrapins, as they have been doing on the regular this year, put a 15-5 whooping on the No. 8-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.
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With the victory, the senior class of Bryn Boucher, Caitlin Crouse, Taylor Cummings, Molly Fleming, Annie Lynch and Alice Mercer is now a perfect 41-0 at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex since arriving in College Park for the 2013 season.
What makes the 41-0 mark even more remarkable is that Maryland has won 22 of those 41 games again teams ranked among the Top 20 at the time of the game.
Another remarkable stat is that only four of the 41 home wins since 2013 have been decided by two goals or less. Two games were one-goal victories, while two were two-goal wins.
The two one-goal wins came in the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Maryland defeated No. 2 North Carolina, 14-13, in 2013. The Terps edged out No. 4 Boston College, 10-9, in 2014.
The first two-goal victory came in the 2015 home opener against No. 2 North Carolina. The Terps held a four-goal lead late in the second half, but the Tar Heels scored twice down the stretch to make it a two-goal margin.
The other two-goal win came just two weeks ago as Maryland trailed by three early in the second half to Johns Hopkins, but the Terps out-scored the Blue Jays 6-1 in the final 22 minutes of play to earn the 10-8 win.
As you can see, close games are not the norm for the Terps these past four seasons at home. Maryland has a 7.9 goals scoring margin over opponents at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex since 2013.
This season, Maryland is outscoring visiting opponents by a whopping 10.3 goals per game at home with only two of its eight games being decided by less than 10 goals.
Fans have a chance to see the Terps for the final time in the regular season (they will be hosting NCAA tournament games unless something apocalyptical happens) tonight. Maryland hosts long-time rival Virginia at 8 p.m. at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex (Buy Tickets).
If you can't make it out to College Park then be sure to tune in to the Big Ten Network, which will carry all of the action between the Terps and the Cavaliers.
Quick Hitters:
• Terp fans wondering what's going on with the New Cole Field House project can now see for themselves with a “Live Look” site on umterps.com. Cameras, which are scheduled to update every 60 seconds (barring any tech glitches, maintenance or the cameras having to be relocated), provide fans a look inside and outside Cole Field House.
• There were no records set by the Terps track and field squads this past weekend, but that's probably only because they didn't compete. After enjoying a weekend away from competition Maryland is back at it this weekend with some Terps heading to Baltimore for the Morgan State Legacy Meet, while other Terps will venture to Princeton for the Larry Ellis Invitational.
• The Maryland women's tennis team completed a successful “Senior Day” with a 7-0 sweep of George Washington on Saturday. Nataliya Bredikhina, Olga Bredikhina and Olga Gaistruk all enjoyed victories to cap off their home Terrapin careers.
• Good luck to the Maryland men's and women's golf teams, which will be competing in the Big Ten Championships this weekend in Indianapolis. The men's tournament gets underway on Friday at the Victoria National Golf Club, while the women will also tee off on Friday at the Fort Golf Resort.
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.
