PHILADEPHIA, PA – Junior Dylan Molloy watched from the sidelines last week as his fellow teammates won an 11-10 thriller over Navy at home during the NCAA Division I Quarterfinals. Molloy, who was considered by many to be sidelined for the remainder of the season, surprised the nation by warming up versus Maryland Saturday afternoon.
Molloy wasn’t a chess piece for the Bears, but contributed with two goals including bringing Brown within two with 14:15 remaining in the fourth.
The dynamic attackman defied the odds, and played in extreme pain throughout the afternoon.
Head coach Lars Tiffany talked about the extent of Molloy’s injury during their postgame press conference adding “He’s one of the toughest men to ever be, put a lacrosse helmet on, to play this game with a broken foot. A Jones fracture, the fifth metatarsal, is phenomenally heroic.”
Tiffany expanded on his praise for Molly adding “I believe that there’s never been a stronger effort put out there by an athlete and training staff, Beth Conroy and Mike Pimentel, endless hours Dylan was in the training room eight hours a day.” The head coach continued “Delivering him Chipotle to him so he didn’t have to leave. He did everything asked of him. He was in a pool here in Philadelphia trying to get the flexibility, keep the swelling down, just icing, constantly around the clock.”
Unfortunately for Brown, the Bears found themselves on the wrong side of a 15-14 overtime thriller, and watched their history making season come to a torturous end. Maryland had advanced to their second straight NCAA Division I National Championship.
It was a game of streaks & comebacks for both Brown and Maryland, but the Terrapins found
Brown quickly found themselves down 4-1 with 10:20 remaining in the first quarter, but a Molloy goal sparked the way for four straight Bear goals, giving the Bears a 5-4 lead with 5:41 remaining in the first.
Maryland’s Connor Kelly tied the game at 5-5 with 3:22 remaining in the first, and a shootout ensued.
Both Brown and Maryland continued to exchange blows for the second quarter before the Terrapins took yet another four goal lead, adding goals from Matt Dunn, Colin Heacock, as well as two from Dylan Maltz.
Senior Bailey Tills stopped Maryland’s run with 23 seconds to go in the third, closing the Terrapins lead to 12-9. Tills did everything in his power to extend his final days as a Brown University lacrosse player, leading the charge for a late fourth quarter comeback as well as contributing five points (four goals, one assist) on the afternoon.
Along with a goal by Tills, Kylor Bellistri, Henry Blynn, and Brendan Caputo catapulted the Bears into overtime, giving Brown a legitimate chance to punch their ticket to play on Memorial Day.
Maryland’s Heacock had over plans.
Heacock ripped a shot past goaltender Jack Kelly to advance to the National Championship, ending Brown’s season.
Kelly talked about the back and forth gameplay adding “It’s definitely a tough pill to swallow. We fought back the whole game. They went up four. We came back. They went up three, we came back. I mean, for me personally, I can’t speak for the other guys, but I was proud. I was upset. I was deranged. It was just an up and down, it was a great game of lacrosse. It was great for the fans to watch. And it was fun playing.”
The senior goaltender had 14 saves despite the lost, and offered insight to the emotions following Maryland’s game-winner. “Yeah, it was just definitely really tough to watch all those guys run right by the crease and dogpile number two. It was tough to watch. But hats off to those guys. It must have been a great feeling for them.”
Despite losing in the National Semi-final, Brown finished the season 16-3, including an Ivy League regular season title, as well as the ability to play all their NCAA Tournament games prior to Championship Weekend on campus.
Tiffany spoke highly of his players, and finished off the press conference with “So this was the way the game that we believe it should be played, and fortunately have the great men. I coach great men. Great, talented men. As you saw, well spoken, representatives, incredible people. And so this is the style that’s going to define Brown lacrosse and Brown University.”
Maryland advances to play North Carolina in Monday’s National Championship at 1:00pm EST. Follow InLacrosseWeTrust for all your NCAA Lacrosse Championship coverage.
