After losing to Maryland 10-7 during the regular season last year, Duke earned a cathartic 6-5 win against the Terrapins in the ACC tournament semifinals. But the same Maryland squad that the Blue Devils defeated en route to winning the conference championship knocked Duke out of the NCAA tournament with a convincing 16-10 victory in the semifinals.
Reeling from a 14-9 loss to a then-unranked Pennsylvania squad, the No. 19 Blue Devils (2-3) hope to dethrone the No. 1 Terrapins (3-0) from their position atop the rankings Saturday morning at Koskinen Stadium in the first ACC lacrosse game of the year.
“These are the games that [people] talk about,” Maryland head coach John Tillman said.
The Terrapins’ leading scorers from last season, Joe Cummings and Drew Snider, are gone after notching 31 and 24 goals, respectively, in 2012. But Maryland still returns six double-digit scorers from last season and prospered on the recruiting trail, landing two highly-ranked attackmen in Tyler Brooke and Bradlee Lord. Hailing from Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Penn., the duo has already made an impact on the offensive end, scoring three goals in the team’s three games.
“I’ve played with [Tyler and Bradlee] all my life,” said Duke sophomore Tanner Scott, who also played for Conestoga. “They’re both strong lefty attackmen who know how to shoot very well.”
Maryland’s All-American goaltender Niko Amato, who recorded 31 saves and scooped up 12 ground balls in the Terrapins’ three matchups against Duke last season, continues to anchor Maryland’s defensive unit as a junior. Juniors Brian Cooper and Michael Ehrhardt and sophomore Goran Murray will start together at defense for the second consecutive year. Murray garnered All-America and ACC Freshman of the Year honors following a successful rookie campaign.
Seniors Landon Carr and Jesse Bernhardt, who play defensive midfielder and long-stick midfielder, respectively, round out the Terrapins’ defensive unit. Last year, Bernhardt was named ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Year in addition to earning All-America and NCAA All-Tournament Team accolades. He picked up seven ground balls and caused four turnovers in the NCAA tournament.
“It’s nice having all the veteran guys back,” Bernhardt said of the defense. “Last year there were question marks coming in. But we were pretty cohesive as a unit.”
Those question marks resurfaced in the Terrapins’ emotional 12-10 win Feb. 23 against No. 4 Loyola, which routed Maryland 9-3 in the national championship last year.
“That was anybody’s game,” Tillman said. “We got one there, but we can’t keep playing like we did Saturday. We could have communicated better on defense and done defensive picks better.”
The Blue Devils have larger concerns than defensive mistakes in a win against the fourth-ranked team in the country. With lopsided losses to No. 10 Denver, No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 15 Pennsylvania, Duke is already below .500. The Blue Devils have been focusing on in-the-box offense and defense this week. In their struggle to find the back of the net from inside the box last Friday against Pennsylvania, they did not manage a single 6-on-6 goal in the second half.
“We only scored two man-up goals in the second half, and that’s it.” Duke head coach John Danowski said. “We didn’t score.”
The Blue Devils have worked on decision making, execution and shooting in the box to avoid a similar outcome against Maryland. Defensively, the Blue Devils have surrendered 41 goals in their three losses this season, which is not a function of having to play a disproportionate amount of defense—junior Brendan Fowler has won 63.9 percent of his face-offs on the year.
The problem, instead, has been defensive lapses, which the team has been trying to correct in practice this week. In particular, the Blue Devils have been focusing on off-the-ball defense, aiming for better slide angles.
The team has been not only working on its technique on both ends of the field, but also mentally preparing to play a rivalry game.
“There’s a different feel the week that we play Maryland,” Fowler said. “[The Terrapins] are a great team. It’s always a big deal when they come to town, and our team is all fired up for it.”
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