Advertisement

Mike Preston: No. 5 Maryland men’s lacrosse can’t keep up in 14-10 loss to No. 3 Virginia | COMMENTARY

Mike Preston, Baltimore Sun
·4 min read

COLLEGE PARK — When the game had ended and No. 3 Virginia men’s lacrosse had beaten No. 5 Maryland, 14-10, in front of 7,845 fans at SECU Stadium, there was only one logical conclusion: The Cavaliers had too much offensive firepower for the Terps to slow down, much less control.

Virginia midfielder Griffin Schutz finished with four goals and two assists and attackman McCabe Millon (McDonogh) had three goals. But the Cavaliers also have senior attackman Connor Shellenberger, who had two goals and an assist.

The only Terps defender who could keep pace with Shellenberger was senior Ajax Zappitello, but Virginia used a bunch of picks and screens to free up Shellenberger, who dominated Maryland’s other defenders.

Senior attackmen Eric Malever and Daniel Kelly, graduate student midfielder Ryan Siracusa and junior midfielder Eric Spanos led the Terps with two goals apiece, and Spanos added two assists. But lacrosse is a game of spurts, and Maryland (5-2) couldn’t keep up.

“I think it definitely impacts the game, and riding momentum is very important,” Spanos said. “I think one of the things for us going forward is that if the defense makes a stop against an offense like that, we go down and put one in the back of the net and ride the momentum. That would be huge for us.”

Cutting back on the turnovers would help, too. Maryland had 16 and Virginia only had eight. It’s hard to beat a strong offensive team like the Cavaliers (6-1) when they keep getting the ball back, especially with a deliberate, methodical offense like Maryland’s.

The Terps, though, kept the game close because they have a dominant faceoff specialist in Luke Wierman, who won six of seven in the fourth quarter.

Virginia, on goals from Millon and Shellenberger in the final 6:57, had an 11-7 lead at the end of the third quarter and took a 12-7 advantage on midfielder Chase Yager’s goal with 13:27 left in the fourth.

The Terps pulled within 12-10 after Kelly caught the carom of his own shot and deposited it for a goal with 11:04 remaining. But Virginia midfielder Luke Pisani beat short-stick midfielder Jackson Canfield down the right alley for a goal with 8:11 remaining, and senior attackman Payton Comier got past defender Nick Redd for a goal to virtually seal the win for Virginia with 4:18 left.

“Limiting turnovers would definitely help us,” Spanos said. “We got a lot to work on. We’ll just come back Monday, and go back to work. It’s one game at a time and I think our coaches will put us in a position to help us.”

Related Articles

Maryland scored within the first three minutes of the game as Spanos beat midfielder Noah Chizmar from behind the net, but Virginia attackman Ryan Colsey tied the score at 1 off an extra-man situation nearly three minutes later.

Spanos, at 6 feet 5 and 220 pounds, took advantage of the smaller Yager from behind net again by scoring off a ricochet that hit the inside pipe to put Maryland up 2-1 with 8:40 left in the first quarter.

But Virginia scored three straight goals, including two from Schutz, in the final 5:12 of the quarter to take a 4-2 lead.

The Cavaliers scored the first two goals of the second quarter, including a 10-yard shuffle shot from Schutz with 7:55 left as Virginia went ahead 6-2. The Terps looked sluggish at that point, but then went on their own three-goal scoring spree, including one each from Kelly and Sircausa, to pull the Terps within 6-5 with 3:48 left.

Both of those shots were from the left of the net and basically in the same area as both Kelly and Sircausa twisted and turned defenders with identical moves. Virginia, after a poor pass from Terps goalie Logan McNaney (10 saves), scored off a fastbreak on a shot by Griffin Kology with 2:49 remaining as the Cavaliers went into halftime with a 7-5 lead.

No. 5 Maryland at No. 18 Michigan

Saturday, 2:30 p.m.

TV: Big Ten Network