The University of Maryland is preparing for what should be another stellar season for Coach John Tillman and the Terps.
2012 ended in a rough fashion for Maryland, as they lost in the NCAA Lacrosse Championship game to the Loyola Greyhounds, 9-3. It was the Terps’ eleventh trip back to the championship game, after they lost last year 9-7 to Virginia in the finals.
Two years in a row, both ending in losses is tough to swallow, especially in the NCAA finals. However, it was the NCAA finals that they lost in, which is a much larger picture than the two losses.
Maryland has not been in a first place game since 1998. Their longest stretch of going trophy-less was from 1779-1995. Last time they won the gold was in 1975, where they won 20-13 over Navy. Then, Bud Beardmore was head coach and President Gerald Ford was in the White House.
Like I said though, the bigger picture is that their season did end in the final game of the spring for NCAA Men’s Lacrosse.
Coach Tillman has taken what past head coach Dave Cottle built and turned it back into a Beardmore era type of team. The Terps went 2-4 in the NCAA Championship games with Coach Bud, winning in ’73 & ’75 and were runners up in ’71, ’74, ’76 and ’79.
Returns:
John Tillman has a lot of talent on his team, some returning and others new.
Returning to the Maryland lineup will be netminder Niko Amato, who has not been a disappointment at all. After taking over as starting keeper for Brian Phipps, Amato had big shoes to fill, which he has. He made 156 saves this past season, having a save percentage of .538 as a junior. In his sophomore season, Niko went on to make 165 saves, while recording a .583 save percentage. It’s safe to say that Tillman can expect his goalie to make 50 percent of his saves in 2013.
Captain Owen Blye will be running the offense on attack. Blye has stepped up tremendously since becoming a starter, will continue to grow and add to his 40 points (20G, 20A) just from last season. We didn’t see a lot of Blye in the championship game, grabbing no points and taking minimal shots, which was a bad sign for the Terps. Maryland will need to see him take on the role as Game Tempo General, if you will. Meaning, when the balls on offense, he will need to step up and control the offensive portion of the Terps’ game-plan. Push it during a fast break or quick restart scenarios and possess when needed. The way he played in their April 14 match up against Johns Hopkins will be the way Blye has to play during 2013.
One thing spectators will not be disappointed in is the show Owen puts on. Skip to the 9:45 mark and you’ll see what I am talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttG8YuL1UWY
Midfielders John Haus, Kevin Cooper and Mike Chanenchuk will need to continue their dominance from last year. They will all need to pick up the hustle left behind by Drew Snider, who was a little sleeper until late in the season. 31 points isn’t easy to come by, but if it’s split up by 4 midfielders, and if younger players step up, I don’t see the Terps’ midfield falling far down the depth charts.
Attackmen Billy Gribbin and last year freshman Jay Carlson have big shoes to fill with the graduation of the teams number one point scorer, Joe Cummings. Together, they posted a combined 39 points, while Cummings alone dropped 49. Needless to say, there’s a lot of pressure on the attackmen this season to take control of games.
Defensively, Maryland was a beast last year. Not to take anything away from their offense, but most of their problems did land in the offensive territory with finishing and possessing. Their defense kept them in the close games.
Jesse Bernhardt returns as the team’s top LSM from last year. Goran Murray played very well in his freshman campaign, shutting down top attackmen and sticking to the team’s defensive strategies. Brian Cooper & Michael Ehrhardt will round out the close defense. Landon Carr will continue his expectation as a highly talented short stick d-mid, who will play some offense during transition.
Curtis Holmes returns at the faceoff X for the Terrapins. The senior will look to continue his dominance at the X from his last year’s average of .521 (133-255). UMd will need a little better showing than 52 percent from Holmes if they want to get back to championship weekend.
Two young players that have a chance at making a statement are Charlie Raffa and Kevin Forester. Raffa recorded only 2 points for the Terps last season, but has shown promise in his offseason play. This past summer he helped the U19 USA team win the gold medal after losing to both the Iroquois and Canadian U 19 national teams. He will have to bring his momentum from this summer into College Park if he wants to see the field. Charlie went 63-114, winning an average of .552 of his faceoff’s.Â
Forester is another name Coach Tillman would like to see step up. Like Raffa, his freshman season was quiet (3G, 1A), and that’s not to say he wasn’t trying. Maryland obviously had a game plan and stuck to it, while Forester and Raffa had to wait in line and support their team. That’s beside the point though. Forester and Raffa are in the same boat and will need to impress Tillman to get playing time.
Losses:
Defensive Coach Kevin Warne has taken the head coaching job at Georgetown University. He helped the Terps’ defense become the solid group that it is today. The Hoyas defense will be just as stingy as Maryland’s was last year. Joining Coach Warne is former Terp Goalie Brian Phipps. He helped coach the goalies and defense at Maryland the past two years with Warne and will continue to do the same at Georgetown.
Joe Cummings. What can you say about a guy that took over games to help your team preserve the win? You don’t really have to say much. His 49 points (30G, 19A) speak for themselves. He didn’t make his first career start at attack until his senior season and that was hard to do, considering the talent the Terps had at attack two years ago, (i.e. Catalino and Young). He will be severely missed at attack for the Terrapins.
Drew Snider was a late bloomer for Maryland. There were sparks from him throughout the season, but he didn’t turn on the jets until the NCAA’s. In his last 4 games, he scored 10 goals. It doesn’t seem like much, but those 10 goals helped boost Maryland to the NCAA Championship game and put another weapon in their arsenal. There’s another 31 points that someone will have to pick up this year.
Michael Shakespeare, although he didn’t have many points, played with heart and passion, and you can’t easily replace that. He put up 21 points (19G, 2A), hustled to ground balls and forced turn over’s that assisted in the Terps making their way to the finals. It’ll be hard to find another player like Shakespeare to spill their blood and sweat.
Replacing a SSDM like David Miller is going to be tough. He played the team defense and communicated well with the other defenders, letting them know when to slide. Miller executed his play on defense at all costs. Gelling with the close D, along with Carr and Bernhardt will be key to this year’s defense.
Additions:
Men’s lacrosse in College Park has added some new faces to the coaching staff. Ryan Moran, Kevin Conry and Brian Farrell will be joining Coach Tillman on the sidelines this spring.
Moran was a former Terp and joined the staff in 2008 as an assistant coach. On September 11 of this year, Ryan was promoted to Associate Head Coach, the first in program history.
Kevin Conry will be the team’s Defensive Coordinator in 2013. Alongside him will be former Terp 3x All-American LSM Brian Farrell. Kevin pops down to College Park after five years with the Fairfield Stags as an Associate Head Coach. Brian is the highest scoring defensive player in the history of the men’s lacrosse program. His presence and I.Q. will help current LSM’s become even more dangerous, giving Maryland more fire power in their ammo locker.
Recruitment:
According to Inside Lacrosse, Maryland was slated as the number 6 out of 20 top recruiting classes for 2012. Coach Tillman is bringing in four attack, six midfielders and three defense-men.
Bradlee Lord and Tyler Brooke are two attackmen from Connestoga High School in Pennsylvania. Lord was ranked as the number 5 overall attackman in the country, while Brooke scooped up the number 23 ranking, as reported by Inside Lacrosse. These two will be competing for time with Cummings gone and that third attack spot open.
Tommy Forsberg scored 45 goals and 32 assists his senior year at John Glenn and helped his team win the Suffolk County Championship. He joins three other top attackmen who were brought to College Park to do somewhat of the same job he’s applying for.
David Goodwin rounds the attack out. For Goodwin it’s “size doesn’t matter.” At only 5’6″, he’s going to have to rely on muscle and speed, kind of like Joey Sankey of UNC. From watching tape on him, he’s quick and shifty, which will work for him in his lack of height.
Thoughts about a post grad year at a prep school was on the mind of faceoff recruit Andrew Walsh. Although, like many faceoff guys do, he made a speedy modification, and went with his commitment to Coach Tillman and UMd. He will be battling Holmes and Raffa for the top faceoff spot.
The younger brother of current Terp Mike Chanenchuk is attending College Park. Matt Chanenchuk, out of St. Anthony’s in NY, decommitted from Navy and chose Maryland. Fellow midfielder Alex Schell, who attended Salisbury (Conn.), will be fighting for a spot along with Chanenchuk.
Episcopal midfielder Jon Garino will put up a workout for a spot on a Maryland midfield line. The 5’10” Newtown Square, PA native helped lead his team to the Inter-Ac title over rival Haverford School. He played with four broken ribs and won 20-28 faceoff’s for the Churchmen. Hopefully those ribs are healed and that hustle of his is still intact because he has to compete with three other faceoff specialists.
Zach Fixen and Nick Manis round out the midfielders for Maryland.
Only three defensemen were recruited by Coach Tillman. All are six foot and above, which gives them good range for checks and size for pushing their opponents around. Ryan Lehmanis is out of Garnet Valley, PA. Matt Dunn comes from Loyola Blakefield while Kyle DeVinney jumps to College Park from the McDonogh School.
Maryland played Denver in a friendly match over the weekend in the Seatown Classic played in Washington state. The Pioneers took home a 12-9 victory over the Terrapins. Reported by Inside Lacrosse, the Terps apparently did not have their entire team with them. As to reasons why, they have not been disclosed, but from what it seems like, the Terps have work to do if they’re new recruits and middle classmen want to get playing time.
There are many players with talent on this year’s Terrapin roster, but very few spots are open. These boys will have to show Coach Tillman and the rest of the Terrapin family exactly why they are there. There’s more to becoming a Terp than just looking cool and wearing the gear.
