The No. 3-seed Terps lost to unseeded Notre Dame by two goals in their NCAA Tournament quarterfinal match today in Princeton, N.J.

A few notes:

- The Terps’ starting attack unit of Grant Catalino, Ryan Young and Notre Dame transfer Will Yeatman went 0-for-13 shooting, never finding their rhythm. Travis Reed, who came in off the bench, scored the attack’s only goal of the game.

- At the start, though the game went at a fast clip that would seem to favor the Terps, who work best in transition, the Fighting Irish were the ones who took advantage. With the game tied 1-1, they took a four-goal run through the second quarter to go up 5-1.

 The Terps struggled to find open shots on Notre Dame’s top-3 defense, and even when they did, they rushed and missed the target. In the first half, just five of their 15 shots hit the cage and just three found the back of the net, resulting in a 5-3 deficit at halftime.

“I thought the game was played in the first quarter at a very fast pace,” coach Dave Cottle said. “I kind of liked the pace. I just wish we wouldn’t have given up as many goals and scored a few more because we were trading chance for chance and that was something we were willing to do. But we had one goal at the end of the first quarter, and then we were playing catch-up.”

- Another problem for the Terps was they weren’t always able to trade possession for possession. The Fighting Irish won 10-of-15 faceoffs in the game, double the number of the Terps, including 7-of-10 in the first half. At one point, the Fighting Irish scored to make it 3-1, then took the ensuing faceoff and didn’t even let the Terps touch the ball before they put it in the cage again. That prevented the Terps from responding to Notre Dame’s scores and swinging momentum their way.

- For the third season in a row, the Terps ended their season one game short of the Final Four. That makes the senior class just the second in program history never to go to a national semifinal. (They bowed out in the first round in 2007 before their three straight quarterfinal exits.)

- In the second game of the day at Princeton, No. 5-seed Duke played No. 4-seed North Carolina. And even though Notre Dame wouldn’t meet either team until the national title game, coach Kevin Corrigan knew where his allegiance lay: “I’m rooting for Duke a little bit right here because Duke was so good this year that they got them in the tournament and us in the tournament. So I can’t help but root for them a little bit.”

Before the start of the tournament, some questioned whether the Fighting Irish, 7-6 upon entering the postseason, deserved their spot in the 16-team field, but the selection committee awarded them a berth on the strength of their wins, particularly against then-No. 2 Duke, 11-7, in their first game of the season. And now, after upsetting No. 6-seed Princeton in the first round last weekend and now the No. 3-seed Terps, they have proved their place and will face the winner of No. 7-seed Cornell and unseeded Army in the Final Four next Saturday.

Check the Diamondback’s website later for the full story.

The No. 3-seed Terps are losing by two goals to unseeded Notre Dame at halftime of their NCAA Tournament quarterfinal match, but for much of half the game wasn’t even that close.

The Fighting Irish scored first, but the Terps answered soon after to tie. But from that point on, Notre Dame took over, scoring the next four goals through the 8:36 mark of the second quarter and taking a 5-1 lead.

Though the Terps have the top-10 offense, Notre Dame was playing like they did, especially thanks to faceoff specialist Trever Sipperly. He won 7-of-10 plays from the center ‘X’ in the half, put the Terps on the defensive for the majority of the game’s first 30 minutes and stealing the spotlight from Notre Dame’s top-3 defense.

Still, the backfield did hold up its end of the bargain, allowing just five Terp shots in the first quarter. The Terps got to 15 for the half, but just five of those hit the cage.

The Terps managed to swing momentum their way halfway through the second quarter. After a rare unforced Notre Dame turnover, the Terps took the ball deep into their opponents’ territory. Midfielder Joe Cummings moved in but couldn’t find room to turn and shoot, so he instead dished it back out. But fellow midfielder Jake Bernhardt saw an opening and charged in to score from 10 yards out, ending a 17-minute scoring drought with 7:01 remaining in the second quarter.

Notre Dame nearly stole all energy the Terps had gained by winning the ensuing faceoff and running at the crease, but the breakaway shot hit the pole. The Terps scored again with a goal from John Haus a few minutes later, pulling to 5-3. Neither team scored again, allowing the Terps to maintain their newfound rhythm heading into the intermission.

Kate Yanchulis is the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team beat writer for The Diamondback. She can be reached at kyanchulisdbk@gmail.com.

The No. 3-seed Terps face unseeded Notre Dame at Princeton, N.J., in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament after beating Hofstra, 18-10, in last Saturday’s first-round game.

The Terps avoided playing home team Princeton when the Fighting Irish upset the No. 6-seed Tigers 8-5 in last weekend’s first round. But while they are not playing the Ivy League champions, they are playing a Notre Dame team looking to avenge its upset loss to the Terps in the first game of last year’s tournament.

Both teams look very different this year. The Fighting Irish, rather than barrel into the postseason undefeated, barely squeezed into the 16-team NCAA Tournament field at 7-6. The Terps, on the other hand, turned last season’s inconsistent 9-7 effort into an 11-3 record and top-3 seed.

While Notre Dame again possesses a strong defense that possesses the third-lowest goals-against average in the country, the Terps’ offense scores 11.7 goals per game on average, two goals more than the Fighting Irish. And last year, even playing at the Notre Dame’s slower pace, the Terps beat the Fighting Irish at their own game, winning 7-3. Still, the Terps would prefer to use their offensive firepower to put their opponents away.

Kate Yanchulis is the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team beat writer for The Diamondback. She can be reached at kyanchulisdbk@gmail.com.

The No. 1 Terrapin women’s lacrosse team is set to take on No. 8 seed Penn in the second round of this year’s NCAA Tournament. The opening draw should start in the next few minutes here at Ludwig Field.

Last Saturday, the Terps (19-1, 4-1 ACC) trampled Marist in the first round of the tournament, 20-5. Attacker Karri Ellen Johnson scored five goals, while attacker Sarah Mollison and midfielder Amanda Spinnenweber added hat tricks.

Johnson’s high-scoring output wasn’t out of nowhere. Last season against Colgate in the first round, Johnson’s first career NCAA tournament game, she scored three of the first four goals while assisting on the fourth.

The Terps’ 46 shots tied for the fourth-highest shot output in the NCAA women’s lacrosse championship history. Marist’s 11 shots are tied for the fifth-fewest.

Overall, the Terps looked in top form while Marist failed to keep up. Today should be a different story. The Quakers (15-3) faced the Terps earlier this season. While coach Cathy Reese’s team pulled out a 12-6 victory in Philadelphia, Reese played backup goalie Mary Jordan the entire game. Starter Brittany Dipper sat out because of mid season struggles.

Penn has lost only three times this season. The culprits? The Terps, and No. 2 seed Northwestern and No. 3 seed North Carolina. The Quakers don’t have any big wins, though, but did take down Dartmouth twice.

The winner of today’s game heads to Towson, Md. next weekend for the NCAA Final Four.

Chris Eckard is the Diamondback’s Terrapin women’s lacrosse beat reporter. He can be reached at ceckard@umdbk.com

In preparation for the No. 1 Terrapin women’s lacrosse matchup with No. 8 seed Penn on Saturday (noon, Ludwig Field), here’s a video of two of the team’s important offensive playmakers – attacker Karri Ellen Johnson and midfielder Brandi Jones.

(There’s a few highlights from the two teams’ match earlier this season).

Chris Eckard is the Diamondback’s Terrapin women’s lacrosse beat reporter. He can be reached at ceckard@umdbk.com

The Terrapin softball team was on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament for most of its up-and-down season.

But when the tournament brackets were released at 10 p.m Sunday, the bubble didn’t burst for the Terps. Not only are they in the postseason for the first time since 1999, they’re even hosting a regional.

The team will host a double-elimination tournament at Robert E. Taylor Stadium featuring Fordham, Syracuse and No. 14 seed Oklahoma in the College Park Regional from May 21 to May 23, the NCAA announced yesterday. The Terps play Fordham on Friday at 7 p.m., with the Orange and Sooners facing off two hours prior. The top two teams from the tournament will head to the Super Regionals.

Ending the program’s 10-year tournament drought was coach Laura Watten’s top goal for this season, the last of her five-year contract. After positioning themselves for the postseason headed into the regular season’s last series, the Terps lost a game to ACC-worst Boston College, and followed the defeat with another disappointment after being bounced from the ACC Tournament in the first round by Florida State.

But the Terps’ 33-22 record and mid-season ACC surge proved enough to push them into the postseason. Watten, having achieved her lofty goal, sung her team’s praises in a press release:

“This is just an awesome accomplishment for us. I was hired at Maryland to get this team into the postseason and compete with the best in the country. We earned the respect of the NCAA committee because of our success and strength of schedule, and it is a testament to the strength of ACC softball,” coach Laura Watten said. ”We have a young, strong team, full of heart and passion, that has worked extremely hard throughout the entire year and they are ready to compete this weekend. I am extremely proud of this team. They have earned this postseason bid.”

Jeremy Schneider is The Diamondback’s Terrapin softball beat writer. He can be reached at schneider@umdbk.com.

UPDATED with details, quotes

When the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team needed a jolt in Saturday’s first-round NCAA Tournament game, the Terps found it in the most unlikely of plays.

The No. 3-seed Terps’ offense had been unable to find its rhythm in the first 30 minutes. While the Terps’ defense had held up its end of the field, holding a top-5 Hofstra attack to three goals, the Pride easily erased the Terps’ one-goal halftime lead to start the second half.

The score was tied when goalie Brian Phipps left the crease to pick up a ball behind the goal line and lofted a pass 30 yards upfield for a routine clear. But Hofstra’s Tim Holman intercepted the lazy floater and ran straight at the crease, beating Phipps one-on-one to give the Pride their first lead, 5-4.

But it was also their only lead. Faced with the suddenly real possibility of an early postseason exit, the Terps responded, taking a 7-1 run to secure an 11-8 victory over Hofstra and a spot in the quarterfinals against the winner of today’s Princeton-Notre Dame match.

“We know that there’s going to be peaks and valleys and that we’re in the process of climbing a mountain that if we fall down, it’s over,” coach Dave Cottle said. “And our guys just didn’t want the season to end, and when they got down, they just pulled their necks and played.”

Rather than panicking, the Terps stayed calm and collected even after they fell behind, which they attributed to their experience-packed roster.

Phipps, who was having a good day before his errant pass, with seven saves up to that point, continued his strong play after, adding seven more and ending with a 64 percent save percentage. Because the senior captain did not let the mistake faze him, by the end of the game his coach could even manage a joke about it.

“We’re counting on him to play his best lacrosse, and I thought he was outstanding,” Cottle said. Then, laughing, he added in an aside to Phipps, “You had 14 saves and one assist, right?”

But while Phipps helped the Terps contain the strong Hofstra attack, the stellar play by the opposing goalie kept the Pride in the game.

Goalie Andrew Gvozden had 10 saves through the first half to keep his team close despite the Terps domination of all other statistical categories – they beat them in shots, faceoffs and ground balls but still could not crack Gvozden.

“Usually we tell them where to shoot, but we couldn’t figure it out,” Cottle said. “So we just said, ‘You guys are good players. You figure it out on your own. If he makes a save one place, shoot it someplace else.’”

Gvozden reached a career-high 13 saves with three in the third quarter, but that was where his luck ran out.

The Terps started the fourth quarter up just two goals, a manageable deficit. But though the Pride scored a fast break goal off the opening faceoff, to pull within one again, the Terps scored four straight goals to take an 11-6 lead. Gvozden recorded no saves in the final 15 minutes of the game.

The Terps allowed their opponents two garbage goals in the final two minutes, but it didn’t threaten their win. That was thanks in part because up to that point the defense had more or less contained some of the Pride’s top offensive threats, shutting out attackman Jamie Lincoln, Hofstra’s leader in goals points, and attackman Stephen Bentz.

And while the Terps’ offense took a while to come to life, by the end of the game 10 different Terps had put the ball in the cage.

“That’s just the way our team is, and it just makes everyone even more excited,” said attackman Ryan Young, the only Terp to score multiple goals. “If someone comes in and they have a goal right off the bat, you can see it on our bench – everyone goes crazy. Our whole team has absurd adrenaline rolling every time we walk out onto the field, and that just helps a lot.”

Kate Yanchulis is the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team beat writer for The Diamondback. She can be reached at kyanchulisdbk@gmail.com.

Though the No. 3-seed Terps no doubt were hoping for a stronger start in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, going into halftime they have just a one-goal edge against Hofstra (9-4) at Byrd Stadium.

While the Terps played – and dominated – in the two weeks leading up to the postseason, the Pride had not played since beating Towson 12-10 two weeks ago. But though they missing the cut for their four-team conference tournament last week, they made the NCAA Tournament thanks to their 3-1 record against the top 15, and they have proved so far that they can stick with the Terps.

 Long pole Brian Farrell put the Terps on the scoreboard first 3:29 into the game, but three minutes later Hofstra tied the score on an extra-man opportunity.

When attackman Grant Catalino scored a soon after to give the Terps the lead again, the tide seemed to turn the Terps’ way. However, Pride goalie Andrew Gvozden had 10 first-half saves, preventing the Terps from opening up their lead. Though the Terps controlled possession much more in the second quarter, the teams scored two goals each, leaving the Terps with just a slight edge at the intermission.

Kate Yanchulis is the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team beat writer for The Diamondback. She can be reached at kyanchulisdbk@gmail.com.

The chase for the title begins today.

The No. 1 Terps (18-1, 4-1 ACC) take on Marist (10-7) in the first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament here at Ludwig Field. The opening draw is set to begin at noon.

Last season, the Terps trampled Colgate in the first round, 20-3. They edged Syracuse in the next round 12-10.

In the past week the Terps have reeled in the awards – a No. 1 seed in the tournament, ACC Player of the Year, ACC Co-Coach of the Year, ACC Rookie of the Year and a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist. But even with all the accolades, the Terps are just ready to take the field.

All week, Reese and her players have stressed the importance of focusing on the Red Foxes, rather than look farther down the road. While Marist doesn’t present a huge challenge, the mindset will be important for the Terps to keep. Last season, the team lost to North Carolina in the Final Four before reaching its goal of playing Northwestern in the National Championship game.

Some Terps’ NCAA Tournament numbers:
26 – Invitations to the NCAA Tournament (Nation-best)
54 – Games played in the tournament (Nation-best)
9 – National Championships (Nation-best)
39 – Wins in the NCAA Tournament (Nation-best)
2001 – Last time the Terps earned the top seed and last national championship

Chris Eckard is the Diamondback’s Terrapin women’s lacrosse beat reporter. He can be reached at ceckard@umdbk.com.