Blog from Todd Carton
Many observers including Maryland men’s lacrosse coach John Tillman expressed some surprise when the Terrapins received the sixth seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Despite their semifinal loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten Women’s Lacrosse Tournament, no one seemed surprised when the Terps women received the top overall seed for the NCAA Tournament.
Stony Brook and UMass are the only other teams entering the Tournament with just a single loss. Though they sport a gaudy 18-1 record, Massachusetts has only one win against an NCAA Tournament foe – unseeded Albany. Stony Brook a similar 18-1 record with a handful of more impressive wins. The Seawolves own a 7-1 against tournament teams including wins over Notre Dame, Florida and eighth seeded Northwestern. Their lone loss came at Johns Hopkins.
Maryland’s resume includes nine wins against the other 25 tournament teams. Three of those have come against other seeded teams and their lone loss came in a rematch against an Ohio State team that was, in all likelihood, playing for their NCAA Tournament lives. They deserved and earned the top seed.
By earning one of the top six seeds, Maryland will host the first game and, should they win, the quarter final match as well. On Sunday May 10, the Terps will play the winner of the first round game between Jacksonville and UMass.
The Dolphins are making their third consecutive NCAA appearance and come into the game with an 11 game winning streak that includes a 15-5 win over Detroit in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. Both of their losses – to Florida and Stony Brook – came in their only two games against NCAA Tournament competition.
UMass has also won 11 straight games and received their bid as the automatic qualifier from the Atlantic 10 Conference after defeating Richmond 8-4 in the conference tournament title game. Their win against Albany is their lone game against NCAA Tournament opposition.
Assuming the Terps reach the quarterfinals, and given their superior talent and 89-2 home record under head coach Cathy Reese, everything suggests they will, whoever they might play in that second game, presents at least a minor level of intrigue. The Terps’ quarterfinal opponent will be either Louisville or Notre Dame both now in the ACC or fellow B1G foes Northwestern or Ohio State.
Notre Dame faces Ohio State and Louisville tackles Northwestern in first round games. Those winners will then meet in the second round. Remember, Maryland has a first round bye. For those having difficulty visualizing this, you can look at the bracket by clicking here.
Maryland has never played Louisville, who is in their first ACC season, in women’s lacrosse and the only time the Terps have faced off against the Fighting Irish came last season and resulted in a 16-10 Maryland win in College Park.
A possible rematch with Northwestern, a team the Terps surprisingly routed 16-5 in Evanston earlier this season, but one that has had some postseason success against Maryland, or a rubber match against Ohio State each presents it own interesting angle.
As has been the case for each of the past two seasons, the title is really Maryland’s for the taking. The Terps have just one loss in each of the past three years and have split their championship opportunities. They should have the advantage of playing on their home field, where they have won 35 consecutive games, until the Final Four.
On the other hand, as Missy Meharg’s field hockey team learned, playing at home does not assure a win. The Terps need to come ready to play regardless of the opponent. Their loss to Ohio State may have been a bit of a wake-up call but it also provided a bit of a road map to developing a game plan that can succeed against Maryland: Get the ball on the ground at the draw and run long possessions until you create a defensive breakdown.
Rest assured other coaches, particularly Northwestern’s coach, Kelly Amonte-Hiller should the Wildcats reach a quarterfinal match with the Terps, who has employed a slowdown tactic in other games against Maryland, took careful notes and will carefully dissect the game film from that Ohio State win.
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