Yale was one of the few teams all year to say they could top Maryland. As luck would have it, they met again today for the first round of the NCAA tournament. This time though, the Terps defense would prove to be too much for the Bulldogs, and the Ivy champs are headed back home early.
The first quarter was about as fast as most expected. Neither of these teams is known for lighting up the scoreboard, and would much rather grind out a win with their defense. Maryland was getting some shots off early, but they just were not able to finish. After the first, Maryland would be up 2-1 on the Bulldogs.
The second quarter wasn’t much better as Yale won the quarter 2-1. At the start of the second, Maryland quickly scored in the first 30 seconds to go up by two. Yale’s defense held strong and forced Maryland into a few bad shots before finally answering with a goal of their own nearly eight minutes later. Coming right after the Cornell/Albany barn burner of a game, this was a drastic change of pace. After some more slow movement, but no stall calls, Yale finally tied it up with just 14.7 second left when Michael Keasey unleashed a rocket from the top right corner.
After halftime, things didn’t pick up too much. Yale won the opening faceoff from a violation and turned the ball over within a minute. Maryland went right down the field and scored, but that was it in the third for the Terps. Yale would reel off three straight goals over the next 10 minutes. The best part about how they did it was using both inside and outside shots, meaning the Maryland couldn’t lock in on any one thing to stop.
Maryland started the fourth man-up after one of the strangest off sides calls I’ve seen in a long time. A Yale attackman just ran around his defender going to the ball, a good three yards on the wrong side of the field. The referee didn’t even blow the whistle quickly because it was just so bad and just seemed confused. The Terps wound up not being able to take advantage of their numbers and right after the penalty was killed, they threw it out of bounds. Yale took the restart and scored immediately. This would be their last goal of the game.
Maryland then won the ensuing possession to answer right back and used a three goal burst in the middle of the period to tie and then go up by one. Yale would fight for the win valiantly, ultimately sending a shot off the pipe with just 18 seconds left. Depending on how the rest of the games go, something that might dominate news is that last shot by Yale. There are some Vines and videos floating around showing that the ball actually bounced off the pipe, into the goal, and then back out. Tough break for Yale.
Maryland now moves on to face the winner of North Carolina versus Colgate. They beat North Carolina already this season, but neither team is an easy draw for the Terps. They at least won their way into the Annapolis quarterfinal, which really works in their favor. Maryland survives for one more week of play and is another week closer to a second consecutive championship weekend appearance.
