The Maryland Terrapins ended 2014 with yet another Final Four loss, this time at the hands of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by a score of 11-6. As they look ahead to 2015 and complete their fall ball season, the team brings back about half of their starters from last year’s team but lose a lot from a defense that ranked third in the nation in goals allowed per game (7.2). They also lose a couple of huge weapons from an offense that ranked 18th in the nation last season in goals scored per game (11.4).
On defense, the team loses defensive studs Michael Ehrhardt and Brian Cooper. They also lose one of the best goalies to ever come through to the program in four-year starter Niko Amato. Luckily, the Terps do bring back Goran Murray and Casey Ikeda but replacing Amato will be a tall task for Coach Tillman and the Terps. Senior Kyle Bernlohr will get the first crack at replacing Amato while sophomore Dan Morris and freshmen Jensen Makarov and Conor Cunningham get into the mix as well.
Thankfully at midfield, the Terps bring back star faceoff man Charlie Raffa who dominated the X during the Terps Final Four run before ultimately being hampered by a knee injury that had him literally crawling off the field after faceoffs at some points. With him finally healthy, expect him to be the ultimate equalizer for a young but talented team.
Offensively, the Terps were already losing stud Mike Chanenchuk and his team leading 59 points to graduation but then the news came during the summer that the team’s third leading scorer Connor Cannizzaro as well as he transferred to the University of Denver. What was already going to be a young and inexperienced offense, will be looking to fill two big holes. Luckily, the team does have a lot of talent in its youth as it brings back sophomore Matt Rambo who had 36 points (second on the team) last season. Junior Henry West and his 24 points also comes back. Waiting in the wings are sophomores Colin Heacock and Tim Rotanz. Both players were highly regarded recruits coming out of high school and should figure into the mix for the third attack spot next to Rambo and senior Jay Carlson (31 points).
What also helps, is that Maryland brings in another strong recruiting class in the form of the No. 4 ranked class in the nation according to Inside Lacrosse. Headlining the group are the class’s No. 6, 7, and 8 ranked midfielders in Adam DiMillo, Connor Kelly and Colin MacIlvennie. They also get the nation’s No. 2 ranked long pole in Matt Neufeldt. In addition, the Terps also get some help from a transfer player in the form of Syracuse’s Dylan Maltz who had four points in six games for the Orange last season and was the No. 6 ranked attackman coming out of high school.
Finally, there were some changes on the Terrapins coaching staff as they lost assistant coach Ryan Moran as he went to crosstown rival Loyola (MD) and repalced him with J.L. Reppert. Reppert comes to Maryland after spending time at Navy where he helped improve the Midshipmen’s shooting percentage from 28th (.280) to 13th (.311) over the course of his first season. It will be interesting to see if Moran, who also coached the faceoff unit along with his offensive duties, will hurt Raffa at all this season.
