The University of Maryland’s men’s lacrosse team’s season came to an end with a 16-8 loss to Cornell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday afternoon at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium.
Maryland finishes the season with a 10-4 record, while the Big Red of Cornell advance to next weekend’s NCAA quarterfinals with a 13-3 mark.
Cornell jumped out to an early two-goal lead scoring twice by Matt Donovan and Steve Mock inside the first minute and a half of action. The Terps answered back at 11:04 when senior Jesse Bernhardt took a pass from junior goalie Nike Amato the distance and scored on a 14-foot bouncer to cut the lead to 1-2. From that point on it was really all Cornell.
Rob Pannell and Steve Mock both finished the day with four crucial goals and goaltender AJ Fiore held the Terps to only four second half goals. Cornell’s offense was just too much and Maryland never had enough time to make any chance of a comeback.
The game marked the final game of the careers for nine Maryland seniors; Jake Bernhardt, Owen Blye, Mike Scheeler, Landon Carr, Curtis Holmes, Billy Gribbin, John Haus, Jesse Bernhardt, and Kevin Cooper.
The Big Red now move onto the second round to face Ohio State next weekend for a chance to play in the Final Four.
