Maryland’s men’s lacrosse title defense didn’t make it out of the second weekend of May.
“We knew we’d have our hands full, and that’s what we got,” Coach John Tillman said.
Maryland (10-6), which became the first undefeated team to claim a national title in 16 years last season, became the first defending champion to fall in the first round since North Carolina in 2017.
Braden Erksa had four goals and an assist for the Terrapins, who had not lost in the first round since a 16-8 defeat to Cornell in 2013.
Knox Dent made 16 saves for Army (13-3), which will face either fifth-seeded Penn State (9-4) or unseeded Princeton (8-6) in the quarterfinals May 21 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis.
“I think right now there’s just a tremendous belief in the room,” Morin said. “When you pair that with an unrelenting effort, good things happen. We’re really happy to be here, and we’re not done yet.”
It was the latest — and last — twist in an uneven season, especially compared with last year’s juggernaut. Gone were a spate of veteran players who anchored a team that lost just once in a span of two seasons.
The result was an inconsistency that was both predictable and jarring for a program with nine trips to the NCAA semifinals, seven title game appearances and two national titles since Tillman took over the program before the 2011 season.
These Terps lost starting goalie Logan McNaney in early February to an injury and played the last four games without starting close defenseman Ajax Zappitello. They never won more than three straight games all season.
They also hadn’t dropped back-to-back games — at least, until Saturday.
Maryland rallied from a five-goal deficit and took its first lead when senior defenseman Brett Makar found the net in transition and Erksa scored in a span of less than two minutes late in the third quarter. But it remained a tie game or a one-goal contest throughout the fourth quarter until the final minute, with Erksa knotting it at 14 with 5:18 left.
Army, as it had all night, promptly responded. Maryland eventually got a goal back from Daniel Kelly with 36 seconds left, then won the ensuing faceoff and got off three shots, but Christian Fournier’s groundball helped the Black Knights burn off the final 10 seconds and seal the victory.
“Lots of ups and downs, even tonight,” Makar said. “We didn’t start great, but the way we battled back summed up what this group did all year. Whether is it was injuries, guys battling back Monday to Friday to play on Saturday, I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. I know the program is in great hands. You saw a lot of guys grow up fast this year.”
Maryland was coming off a 14-5 drubbing against Michigan in the Big Ten title game, the program’s most lopsided loss since 2006. And with Zappitello still sidelined, the Terps had to find a way to become stingier without one of their two ace defensemen.
That didn’t happen in the first quarter. Army scored the first three goals and bolted to a 7-2 lead after 15 minutes. It was the most goals the Terps surrendered in a quarter of an NCAA tournament game since they yielded seven to Hofstra in the third period of a 2000 first-round victory, and the most they allowed in the first quarter of a postseason contest since they gave up eight to Princeton in the 1997 title game.
“Not a great way to start, digging ourselves a hole,” Tillman said. “Seven goals in a quarter, we’re getting up to what we like to keep guys to in a game. It wasn’t one thing. Give them credit. They were opportunistic.”
Rather than succumb quietly, Maryland dominated possession in the second quarter, winning seven of eight faceoffs in the period and outshooting the Black Knights 16-5. The Terps ripped off five goals in a row, including one that Army goalie Knox Dent accidentally kicked in, and went into the break tied at 8.
But Maryland never created any separation, and Army continued to have players win one-on-one matchups against the Terps’ defense and goalie Brian Ruppel (five saves). That left Maryland with only its third first-round loss in 20 tries since the field expanded to 16 in 2003.
“When you lose like this, obviously I’ll put the finger right on me, like, ‘What could I have done better to put these kids in a better position?’ ” Tillman said. “Obviously, it’s a one-goal game, and you go and look, ‘Maybe we should have done X, Y or Z, and if we had, maybe these kids would have another week together.’ ”