Even though famous Pennsylvania groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter Saturday morning, Mother Nature came through with a perfect, sunny day for the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team’s first scrimmage of the “spring.”

For Terp fans, it was a welcome change from last season when scrimmages kicked off the first weekend in February with a minus-7 degree wind chill, according to sports information director Patrick Fischer. Many fans crowded beside the Comcast Center turf fields to get their first look at the Terps, who feature 18 freshmen on the roster.

The players responded beating Loyola (Md.) University 4-3 in the opener before holding on for an 8-6 win over 2007 NCAA semi-finalist Delaware.

Freshman Brett Weiss paced the offense with two goals and three assists on the day, including the game-winner against Loyola.

“The weekend went well,” said senior midfielder Will Dalton, who notched a goal against Delaware after running over a defender. “We are a young team, but we played together as a team. Offensively, we played well, but we didn’t capitalize on all our opportunities. That’s something that this week we’re going to have to address and go after a lot harder.”

The scrimmages offered the first of three chances to experiment with different units and build chemistry before the Terps’ first regular season game on Feb. 23. But at this point, coach Dave Cottle said there are some aspects of the game his team has not even covered in practice yet.

“I think we’re making strides toward where we want to be,” he said.

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