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April 11th, 2008 | 12:02 am

Reading between the article

My game preview for the 104th meeting between the Terps and Hopkins takes a look at the Blue Jays and their struggles. But here are a few things you won’t find in the pages of Friday’s edition of The Diamondback, deleted scenes if you will…(in the order of when they happened)

Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said he feels the Terps are a better team this season and he is especially worried about how his team will react to the goalie tandem of Brian Phipps and Jason Carter. He’s looking for his team to take smarter shots.

While my story was about Hopkins NCAA tournament hopes, Inside Lacrosse/ESPN analyst Quint Kessenich said the Terps should be alright, even if they fall to Johns Hopkins. He said they are playing for seeding at this point but added all three of their remaining regular season games are really important because “the ACC tournament doesn’t do anybody any favors.”

Kessenich noted that even though the Blue Jays have lost five straight, they are probably favored by many to win this game on their home field. He said you could easily argue that Hopkins has played better during their 5-game losing streak this season than last season’s 3-game skid.

A player with the last name Holmes has scored the first Terp goal in each of the last two meetings between these teams. In 2006 at Homewood, it was Travis Holmes who got the scoring started for the Terps en route to an 11-4 win. Sophomore midfielder Bryn Holmes, who was in the stands to witness his older brother’s tally, got the Terps on the board in last year’s 8-7 overtime loss to the Blue Jays at Byrd Stadium.

While Bryn Holmes hasn’t faced Hopkins at Homewood Field, he has played there twice in MIAA championship games while at McDonogh. He’s not exactly sure what it will be like to play in front of a hostile Hopkins crowd, but he’s just excited for another chance to take the field.

“I played there a lot, and I love the atmosphere,” Holmes said. “It’s definitely the Mecca of lacrosse, I guess you could call it.”

If the Terp-Hopkins rivalry was not enough for you, it will also be Homecoming at Johns Hopkins on Saturday. Junior midfielder Dan Groot’s summation of the situation:

“It’s a great atmosphere. They’ve got the band over there. It’s a great venue. There’ll be a lot of people if we can get some good weather.” (For the record, weather.com is predicting 73 degrees with a 60 percent chance of thunderstorms.)

Stay tuned next week for Editor’s Commentary and maybe even an Alternate Ending….

edetweilerdbk@gmail.com

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April 4th, 2008 | 07:27 pm

Party like its the Terps vs. Navy

UPDATE: Freshman attackman Travis Reed was suspended for the game. For more coverage, check here.

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To quote my esteemed colleague Greg Schimmel, ‘Well, that sucked.’

In this case, that was walking through Lot 1 beside Byrd Stadium about an hour and 20 minutes before the Terps game tonight against Navy.

I was definitely the only person in the lot not having any fun, and in my blue dress shirt and khaki pants, I looked as out of place as anything.

There was a good mix of students and alumni, and the Monster Energy Drink truck even made an appearance to toss out free product.

One group seemed to be having the most fun with about 25 people bouncing violently to blaring music in an impromptu dance party.

Some of the writers up in Tyser Tower have remarked how close some of Midshipmen faithful set up to the Terp fans and even wondered if things could get chippy by game time.

Over at the stadium, the mood is much different, so far.

As the clock started counting down, indicating an hour till game-time, my unofficial head-count yielded 71 fans, most of them sporting the white “Beat Navy” shirts being handed out to the first 1,000 in the door.

But it’s only a matter of time before the Lot 1 crew stumbles over here, and it should be interesting to see what the total attendance is. There was a lot of extra people on campus today for the big Spring Open House for Admitted Students, and surely, some potential students will want to stay around to see this game.

I’ve never been to a Terps’ lacrosse game against Navy, but if the weather holds out, it should be an electric atmosphere at Byrd tonight.

On Wednesday, I blogged about how excited the players were for this game. Apparently, the fans are just as pumped.

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April 2nd, 2008 | 09:21 pm

The waiting is the hardest part

You know how you felt before that history exam worth 40 percent of your semester grade? Remember the anticipation leading up to your first high school date with the cute girl/guy from home room?

Now combine them, and that’s kind of how Terrapin men’s lacrosse long pole Brian Farrell is feeling right now waiting to play Friday’s home game against Navy.

“It gets you pumped up,” said Farrell, who is one of 27 Terps who has never suited up for a home game against the Midshipmen. “You already get chills down your back come Wednesday and you’ve still got two days to prepare. It’s going to be fun, and it should be a good game.”

It’s an 8 p.m. Friday start time that should bring a large crowd out to Byrd Stadium. (If you’re looking for incentive to go, the first 1,000 fans in get free t-shirts.)

Junior midfielder Jeremy Sieverts, a Butler transfer, is readying for his first shot at Navy at home. Last year’s game at Navy-Marine Corps. Field in Annapolis brought out 14,625 to see the Terps win 8-7 in two overtimes, and Sieverts doesn’t expect anything different this year—except for maybe a few more Terp fans.

“Last year was a great experience playing there,” Sieverts said. “I think it will be just as exciting with a great atmosphere again this year. We’re really excited for Friday.”

For freshmen like attackman Grant Catalino, it’s a new experience altogether. Even though he’s played in rivalry games already this season, Catalino admitted he really doesn’t know what to expect.

“The last few games have been pretty big rivalries, but from what I hear the Navy game is one of the biggest we have here,” Catalino said. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited but nervous at the same time.”

Add in the fact that the Terps haven’t beat Navy at home since 2002 and that both teams are ranked in the top-10 for the fifth straight year, and it should make enough for high drama at Byrd.

Maybe even enough to make you blow off studying for that big exam. Go ahead and ask the cute kid on your dorm floor to accompany you.

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March 22nd, 2008 | 06:39 pm

A quick history lesson…

Next time you, the Terp fan, wants to criticize Duke, consider these facts.

Trinity College, a small Methodist University in North Carolina, was looking to move in the late 1800s. Washington Duke, a devout Methodist tobacco farmer who hit it big after returning from the Civil War with next to nothing, wanted them in Durham. So he outbid the city of Raleigh to get Trinity to move to his hometown, Durham. A little more than 30 years later, his son, James Buchanan Duke– by then one of the wealthiest men in America, gave a large endowment to the university and it changed its name to Duke to honor the late Washington Duke.

So next time you want to hate on Duke, remember the man who made your passion possible.

All this is obviously relevant because I visited the Duke Homestead and Tobacco Museum in Durham this afternoon while I was trying to kill time before the Terp men’s lacrosse game at UNC. (All of the information above was courtesy of my brilliant tour guide, Jennifer.)

I learned a lot about “bright leaf” tobacco cultivation, saw a model Liberty Bell made out of tobacco and hung out with this cool animatronic tobacco farmer.

It’s a great night for lacrosse in Chapel Hill, and thanks to the P.A. announcer here, fans are well aware of Duke’s losses in men’s basketball and men’s lacrosse this afternoon. Both announcements got loud ovations from both Terp and Tar Heel fans.

There was no mention of James Buchanan Duke.

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March 20th, 2008 | 06:47 pm

A Spring Break

The Terp men’s lacrosse team has already played on two days or less rest three times this season.

The No. 9 Terps have responded well, winning all three games, two of which were bounce-back games after losses.

And the flurry of early season action is no accident, according to coach Dave Cottle. He said the schedule was designed to benefit his young team.

“We had to teach our guys how to play first and be able to adjust on the fly,” Cottle said. “Now we’re getting into the preparation phase a little bit.”

The Terps are finished with mid-week games, and they have at least six days between games for the remainder of the regular season.

But that doesn’t mean they’ll get a break. The Terps (5-2) are about to hit the part of their schedule that sees them play top-10 teams in four consecutive weekends, starting Saturday at No. 5 North Carolina.

Cottle said his team needs the time to prepare. He stressed that playing teams that are so evenly matched makes preparing for each game supremely important.

After Sunday afternoon’s home win against Air Force, the coaches spent part of the evening breaking down film on North Carolina. While the players got Monday off from playing after a pair of weekend games, they spent time that day watching film as well.

Not exactly Academy Award-winning viewing but nearly as much of a reward for the Terps at this point in the season.

“We played so many games on short rest, we look forward to having the luxury of a full week to prepare,” Cottle said.

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March 17th, 2008 | 08:33 pm

If they can do it…

Despite a busy weekend that included two Terp men’s lacrosse games, coach Dave Cottle apparently found time to catch up on NCAA men’s basketball conference tournament action– and use it to motivate his team.

After the No. 9 Terps lost at UMBC Friday night on Maxx Davis’ goal with 1.5 seconds left in the third overtime, they had a quick turnaround, hosting Air Force on Sunday afternoon.

Cottle said he told his team to look at the example set by the Pittsburgh (4 games in 4 days to win the Big East Tournament) and Georgia (two games on Saturday at the SEC Tournament) basketball teams.

“The only thing I thought we should be tired of is losing, not of playing two games in three days,” Cottle said.

The Terps responded with a 16-4 win in which they had a 13-0 run, made possible because they held the Falcons scoreless for 44:03 from the last minute of the first quarter to late in the fourth quarter.

Cottle said he was happy with the bounce back effort after the Terps failed to execute and finish key chances against the Retrievers. He also praised a total team effort.

Grant Catalino, Will Dalton, Jeff Reynolds and Dan Morrison each scored a pair of goals and eight others tallied single goals for the Terps, who don’t play again until Saturday’s game at No. 5 North Carolina– which should give the Terps just enough time to draw some motivation from the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball Tournament.

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March 5th, 2008 | 06:57 pm

Learning from the best

It may not have been a good day to be Brian Phipps, Jason Carter or any of the other Terp men’s lacrosse goalies.

Former Terp Joe Walters, currently a member of Major League Lacrosse’s Rochester Rattlers, showed up at practice today to work out the goalies and prepare for his new team’s training camp in April.

I talked with Walters, who said he stays with senior attackman Max Ritz when he comes back to College Park, about playing with his old team, but of course, I’ll hold all the good stuff for a forth-coming story about the surprising number of former Terps that have come back to help out the team already this season.

However, I did give him a chance to play analyst and break down this year’s Terp team.

“The one thing about this team is there’s so much youth. There’s what four freshmen starting? If you’ve got freshmen starting, that’s something that’s pretty unheard of in big-time D-1 lacrosse. The team has some youth, but so far they’ve looked pretty good. They’ve had one upsetting game against Duke, but I’m sure they’ll bounce back and have a good game against Towson this weekend.”

Walters was a four-time All-American, a member of the 2006 U.S. National Team and the No. 1 overall pick in the MLL’s 2006 draft, so hopefully those young players took some notes.

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March 1st, 2008 | 11:49 pm

A No Good, Very Bad Day

BREAKING NEWS!!! Terrapin lacrosse teams lost the same number of games at Duke today as our waitress at the Durham Waffle House had teeth: 2.

No, it was not a very good day to be a Terp lacrosse player or a Diamondback staffer in Durham.

The first bad thing that happened affected photographer Yuchen Nie. He slipped down the muddy hill outside our hotel room leaving his rear end wet and mud-streaked.

Then the women’s team felt Yuchen’s pain. They lost a back-and-forth contest to the Blue Devils this afternoon, surrenduring the game-winning goal with three seconds left.

Next came the Waffle House incident. The All-American Breakfasts were good enough, but the meal got low ratings for presentation. Add in the trip to a strip mall to search for a jacket for me since my own mysteriously disappeared somewhere between my room in Elkton Hall and Yuchen’s car, and we jumped back into the lead for worst day.

However, this evening the men may have evened the score by getting dominated  by the Blue Devils from the start in a 15-7 loss. Junior Dan Groot said he was “shell-shocked” by the outcome.

As I walked to the locker rooms after the game to do interviews, a small boy wearing a Duke jersey looked up at his dad and said, “Dad, I knew they were going to win, but I didn’t know they would manhandle them like that.”

Similarly, I knew this trip might not be great, but I had no idea what I was really in for.

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February 28th, 2008 | 03:58 pm

(Hopefully not) Scandalous!

In preparing for the Terp men’s lacrosse team’s game at Duke on Saturday, I hoped to avoid the scandal that cost the Blue Devils’ the second half of their 2006 season as much as possible.

In my opinion, it has run its course. The scandal has been in the headlines for nearly two years, and it’s been nearly a year since all charges were dropped in the criminal cases against three fromer team members. I figured it’s about time to let it go. (Even if 38 non-charged players thrust it back into the public attention last week by filing suit against Duke University, the city of Durham, and others involved in the case.)

Last year it was a big deal when the Blue Devils came to College Park in their first road game since the scandal. At the time, the question was how Duke would respond to a hostile crowd, which could use the scandal to potentially distract the team. However, the Blue Devils responded by handing the Terps their most lopsided loss of the season, 14-7.

Now that team is a year older thanks to an NCAA ruling granting players an extra season of eligibility for the lost ‘06 season, one of the only reasons the scandal still matters, and playing in front of the hometown fans. But you have to remember, the Terps have 18 true freshmen on the roster, so most teams would have an experience edge on them, at least this early in the season.

Still, when I first brought up the topic of the game against Duke to coach Dave Cottle after his team’s win at Mount St. Mary’s on Tuesday, one of the first things he addressed was the scandal. After saying the Blue Devils were the best team he’s seen on tape all season, he brought up the extra season of eligibility and the pain the team had to endure to get it.

“The way I figure it is if I had to go through that and our players had to go through that to get an extra year, I’m not for it,” Cottle said.

So maybe I’m wrong. Maybe, even two years removed from the charges, it is still a big deal. Either way, my game preview is going to focus on the action on the field. The Terp defense still has to figure out how to stop a prolific offense led by the reigning Tewaaraton Trophy winner.

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February 15th, 2008 | 02:47 pm

Keeping controversy going

Terrapin coaches had to make some tough decisions in the fall regarding position battles. From Ralph Friedgen’s quarterback dilemma to Sasho Cirovski’s dual freshman goalie system, the coaches faced questions and second guessing as their seasons progressed.

With that said, men’s lacrosse coach Dave Cottle better be ready for some of the same with his goalie situation. He has declared open competition for the spot between redshirt junior Jason Carter and reigning ACC Freshman of the Year Brian Phipps.

The goalies are saying all the right things. A few weeks ago, Phipps expressed that he and Carter would support each other through out the season. Yesterday, Carter said he’s going to be excited no matter who wins the job, and the competition is bringing out the best in both of them.

It seems to be true. Phipps gave up a single goal in three quarters of play the first weekend of scrimmaging. Against Princeton last weekend, Carter gave up two goals in a half against the Tigers.

Cottle said he has complete confidence in both net-minders, and he has not named a front-runner with the regular season opener looming on Feb. 23.

But that doesn’t mean he won’t make the tough decision.

“There’s the old saying: if you have two goalies, you don’t have any. Well, we think we have two goalies. So this weekend will be a big weekend in determining who’s going to play,” Cottle said.

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