It seems like a long time since last Memorial Day when the Terps lost their 2nd consecutive national Lacrosse final but the memory was cleared away today with a thrashing over the much improved? Mt St Mary’s squad. Last year at the Mount Maryland struggled to a close victory. But not today –it was total domination, superior depth, goaltending and face off work.
Jake Bernhardt is abck and kicking. He scored 4 goals today teaming up several times with Kevin Cooper, the player of the game who had 3 g and 3 assists. As I have often said jake was a tru team leader last year though sidelined for the near Championship run all year with an injury. He was hungry right from the start firing bullet shots into the net.
Kevin Cooper secretly had been preparing at attack and certainly the switch was successful. Early in the 2nd half , he received a razor thin pass from John Haus on the crese which he converted for his 3rd goal. later on he returned the favor for Jake.
Charlie Raffa and Curtis Holmes absolutely dominated the X position, making it impossible for the Mount to mount any comeback.
Joe Lacasio, Rustin Bryant, Freshman Bradlee Lord, and just about everyone Tillman used scored at will. Finally when he was using the end of the bench, Tillman had to call off the attack. Maryland virtually stalled out the final 7 minutes without attempting a shot.
The Terps go on the road for 3 games at West Harford on Saturday and then the game the lax world has been waiting for–a rematch of the 2012 National title game with Loyila at Ridley Field.
Coach Tillman’s comments on the game today:
Maryland Head Coach John Tillman
Opening Statement:
“We kind of knew, once we read last night that a freshman was starting, we felt like with Niko [Amato] in our goal and them starting a freshman we would hope that we would have the value of a third year guy versus a young guy. Then we looked at last year’s film and we did pretty well with that so we were hoping that really in the two areas that you want to be strong, we’d be strong. Faceoff and goalie play; it allows for a lot of mistakes and allows you to get into rhythm. And you don’t always have that luxury but luckily tonight, Charlie [Raffa] and Curtis [Holmes] did a good job. It really gave us a chance to get into rhythm.”
On Kevin Coopers’ versatility:
“Owen [Blye] had been out for a while and he’s coming back. We played Kevin up top a lot in the fall because we didn’t have Michael [Chanenchuk] in the fall. So then when Owen went down this spring we started having him play down low a bit just to give us a little more presence, a little more leadership.”
On the fast start:
“For us to get off on the start and to really get after it was important. We watched film and people might think I’m crazy but their two attackmen are really good. If you don’t play them right, they can give you problems. There were a couple of times where they got shots or good looks, but again, we didn’t give them many chances. Last year it was 3-0 us early, and then it was 3-3 and that game settled in. We anticipated last year’s game being kind of similar, but then they bring back Burns who is a good pull, we didn’t really see what he could do tonight, Ososki is pretty good. Wardis a guy that wasn’t played last year and he got hurt on like the first possession and didn’t come back but we think he’s pretty good. I think that changed things a little bit. Because we thought they’d two pole up on the wings and try to create some havoc and that’s something that’s hard to simulate practice with ort scout guys.”
On Jake Bernhardt coming back with a strong outing:
“I think that meant a lot to him and the team. After the way he got hurt last year, I think a lot of air went out of the balloon that day when he went down because everybody likes him so much. The way he handled that situation, how much he helped the younger guys get to where they need to get to, what a great leader he was, everybody is so excited for him and that says a lot about Jake and the kind of guy he is.”great leader he was, everybody is so excited for him and that says a lot about Jake and the kind of guy he is.”
Video from today’s game will be on terptalk.com tomorrowVideo from today’s game will be on terptalk.com tomorrow
No comments have been posted yet, be the first!
Post a comment by filling out the form below.
