2018 Men’s Lacrosse Year in Review: #3 Maryland Terrapins

With the 2018 college lacrosse season complete and fall ball just around the corner, it’s time to start looking back at how all 71 teams did during the season, as well as what to expect from each squad for 2019. These are not end of season rankings, as some people might think.

We’re almost done looking back to 2018 with plenty of team recaps thus far and continued our series this week with Loyola, Johns Hopkins, and Albany.

So with that, let’s continue the recaps!

#3 Maryland Terrapins

Conference: Big Ten
2018 Record: 14-4 (4-1 in Big Ten play)
Postseason: Defeated Rutgers in Big Ten semifinal, lost to Johns Hopkins in Big Ten championship, defeated Robert Morris and Cornell in NCAA Tournament, lost to Duke in NCAA Semifinal
Head coach: John Tillman (8th Year)

Statistical Leaders

Goals: Connor Kelly (46)
Assists: Connor Kelly (36)
Points: Connor Kelly (82)
Faceoffs: Justin Shockey (135-of-245; 55.1%)
Ground balls: Justin Shockey (70)
Caused turnovers: Curtis Corley (14)
Goals against average: Dan Morris (9.17 GAA)
Save percentage: Dan Morris (52.9%)

Personnel Losses

Key seniors departing: M/A Connor Kelly (46 Gs, 36 As, 24 GBs), G Dan Morris (9.17 GAA, 52.9% SV %, 15 GBs), LSM Matt Neufeldt (56 GBs, 11 CTs, 4 As), D Bryce Young (25 GBs, 11 CTs, 2 Gs, 3 As), M Tim Rotanz (20 Gs, 21 As, 18 GBs), M/SSDM Adam DiMillo (7 Gs, 1 A, 36 GBs, 2 CTs), D Michael Adler (13 GBs, 11 CTs, 1 G, 1 A), FOGO Will Bonaparte (31.3% faceoff draws), A Colin Giblin (6 Gs, 3 As)
Senior scoring departing: 151 of 329 points (45.9%)
Senior starts lost: 77 of 180 (42.8%)

Season Summary

It was the same old song and dance for the Terrapins in 2018. They made it back to Championship Weekend for the fifth straight season, but could not repeat as national champions in a loss to Duke in the semifinals.

They began the regular season with a five-game winning streak, highlighted by a tight two-goal win over Notre Dame at home. All was going well entering an undefeated matchup with Albany in College Park. But up by four entering the final quarter, the Great Danes scored all five fourth quarter goals to upset the Terps by a single tally. Maryland let their guard down for one quarter with a decent lead and ended up on the wrong side of the result.

The Terrapins went on another five-game winning streak with much tougher opponents. After beating Villanova and North Carolina, Maryland entered Big Ten play by clobbering Michigan in the second half. They then escaped State College with a one-goal win over Penn State and squeezed out another one-goal victory at home, this time against Rutgers. But they ran into a hot Ohio State team and lost by two goals at home in a rematch of last year’s NCAA National Championship.

A trip to Homewood Field against Johns Hopkins ended the regular season on a very high note. Maryland needed three overtimes before Will Snider scored the game-winner to bring home the wooden crab to College Park. But after a win over Rutgers in the Big Ten semifinals, Hopkins got their revenge in the Big Ten title game and took home the conference championship.

But that didn’t stop the Terps from getting the top seed in the NCAA Tournament. They faced NEC champion Robert Morris at home in the first round, but almost exited early. The Colonials led by three goals at the half, but Maryland woke up with an 11-5 second half to move on to the quarterfinals. They had no problem shutting down Jeff Teat and Cornell to advance to the semifinals for the fifth straight year. But against former ACC rival Duke, Maryland could not grab enough momentum in the third quarter to get ahead of the Blue Devils and lost by five.

Sophomore Jared Bernhardt and redshirt-freshman Logan Wisnauskas, a Syracuse transfer, started in all 18 games at attack for the Terps. Both players finished with at least 50 points, with Bernhardt recording 40 goals as their top attackman. Anthony DeMaio and Colin Giblin also saw some starts at attack early on, but junior Will Snider started 10 games, including big ones down the stretch. Louis Dubick returned for his junior year as the man-up specialist. The midfield was spearheaded by senior Connor Kelly and his team-highs in goals, assists, and points. John Tillman started leaving him on the field when the team was on defense, making Kelly act like an attackman. But he would switch back to midfield when the Terps were on offense. Fellow senior Tim Rotanz and freshman Bubba Fairman joined Kelly for the entire year on the first midfield line. Fairman finished with 26 goals and 35 points in his rookie campaign. Many of the third attackmen also saw time at midfield, as well as Christian Zawadzki and Ethan Mintzer, when he wasn’t hampered with injuries. Adam DiMillo contributed on offense while also serving as a key SSDM.

Bryce Young missed the first three games due to injury but started the final 15 games. Senior classmate Michael Adler, who was also on the man-down unit, started in place of Young. Junior Curtis Corley and sophomore Jack Welding started all 17 games alongside Adler and Young. Senior Matt Neufeldt and junior Nick Brozowski were the two main LSMs on Maryland’s defense, while freshman Roman Puglise and junior Thomas O’Connell served as the primary short stick defensive midfielders along with DiMillo. Contributions were also made form Drew Harrison and Wesley Janeck. Austin Henningsen started as the primary faceoff taker before freshman Justin Shockey took his role, but they both finished with winning percentages above 50%. Senior Dan Morris started all 18 games in goal with a near 53% save percentage.

Looking Ahead

Connor Kelly is the biggest loss for this Terrapin team. But all three main starting attackmen and Fairman return to College Park for 2019, along with a bevy of reserve midfielders, including Hartford transfer Alex Smith. Freshman James Avanzato and sophomore Steven Shollenberger will be back after suffering injuries that made them miss most or all of last year.

Defensively, the team loses Young, Adler, Neufeldt, DiMillo, andMorris. The Terps do have some guys with limited playing time in Blake Carrana, Matt Rahill, Matt McIlroy, and Zach Pinney that could fill in at close defense, while the short sticks should be fine with the numbers they have. Cameron Brosh, Drew Morris, or Colin Miller could be veteran options that take over in goal. Brosh played in two games last season, while Morris was an Under Armour All-American in 2017.

Here’s who the Terrapins will be adding to their roster for next year.*

*Compiled from a multitude of websites. Schools usually officially announce their recruiting class during the fall semester.