Late loss makes path to title a bit tougher
With a recent history of uninspired play in the NCAA tournament, Maryland takes its shot this year with a new coach, John Tillman. Can the former Harvard mentor get the Terrapins running at peak efficiency in May?
It’s a feat that eluded Tillman’s otherwise accomplished predecessors, Dick Edell (1984-2001) and Dave Cottle (2002-10). Since winning an NCAA title in 1975, Maryland has lost five times in the championship game and nine times each in the semifinals and quarterfinals.
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Some of the defeats have been particularly inexplicable. Of the last 10 NCAA losses, six have come against lower-seeded teams.
This year, Maryland (10-4) won’t have to worry about that happening since it enters the tournament unseeded. Despite winning the ACC title and beating each team in the league once, the Terps must travel to North Carolina (9-5) for an opening-round game Sunday against a team it has already played twice.
Tillman refuses to dwell on the Terps’ seeding misfortune.
| UP NEXT |
| Maryland at No. 8 North Carolina |
| When » Sunday, 1 p.m. |
| Where » Fetzer Field, Chapel Hill, N.C. |
| TV » ESPN |
“Our big thing is we have a chance to play again against a really good team,” said Tillman, 41. “It’s do or die. So we really need to play well. Any other way you look at it, you’re wasting your time and effort.”
Maryland appeared destined for a high seed after beating North Carolina and Duke in the ACC tournament. But a stunning 10-8 loss to Colgate on Senior Day proved, in fact, to be the last home game for the Terps, much to their surprise.
“I think we deserved to be seeded and get another game at home,” senior long-stick Brian Farrell said. “But we’re still excited. We’re one of 16 teams to be in the tournament.”
Losing to Colgate, in a game in which Maryland committed 14 turnovers and forced just seven, has challenged the Terps’ powers of positive thinking. But five days later, they viewed it as a powerful lesson about overconfidence and what can happen when attention to detail wavers.
Senior midfielder Dan Burns says the Terps are happy to face a tough challenge in the opening round.
“They dislike us. We dislike them,” Burns said. “I think in years past we’ve overlooked our first-round opponents. This year, big opponent, first round, you gotta bring your ‘A’ game.”
According to Burns, Maryland came into the season with two goals: win the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament. The title game is set for Memorial Day at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
“Going into the ACC tournament, we lost to [Johns] Hopkins beforehand, a really tough loss. It really hurt a lot of us,” Burns said. “But we found a way to come up with two top-10 wins against ACC rivals. We love starting this tournament against an ACC rival.”
If Maryland emerges against UNC, No. 1 seed Syracuse (14-1) is the likely opponent in the quarterfinals. Two years ago, the Orange beat the Terps en route to their record 10th national championship.
“They’ve kind of been the standard as far as success in the postseason in the last 15, 20 years,” Tillman said. “I know we’d be pumped up about it.”
What better way to reverse a trend?
