Terps face Brown for spot in second straight championship game
No. 1 overall seed Maryland will make its 24th appearance in the NCAA lacrosse Final Four when the Terps take on 5-seed Brown May 28 in Philadelphia, Pa. The matchup features Maryland’s fourth-ranked scoring defense in the country against Brown’s top-ranked scoring offense.
The Terps are 15-0 all-time against the Bears, including three meetings in the NCAA Tournament, but Maryland head coach John Tillman and his squad still aren’t about to take Brown lightly.
“I’ve been very impressed with Brown University’s team,” Tillman said. “They are a terrific team and they are ranked highly in just about every offensive category out there, so it presents a lot of challenges for us. We’re going to do our very best to prepare this week and compete as hard as we can on Saturday.”
Tillman, who’s not only looking to take the Terps back to the finals for the fourth time in the last six years, but is also in search of his 100th win as a head coach, referred to Brown’s style of play as “unique” and added that he sees no weaknesses for the Bears.
“It is a unique animal,” Tillman said. “Throughout the year you are playing against different styles and trying to prepare, but they are very unique. I think having a great faceoff guy, a great goalie, great guys in the middle of the field, a really good defense and an outstanding offense in addition to fantastic transition players poses a lot of problems.”
Tillman and the Terps will likely have one less problem to worry about on Saturday as Brown star attackman Dylan Molloy is expected to be on the sidelines. Molloy, who leads the nation in total points (114), goals (60), and assists (54) and is Brown's first ever Tewaaraton finalist, is highly questionable to play in the semifinal against Maryland because of a broken foot that he suffered in the Bears first-round game against Johns Hopkins.
But based on what Tillman has seen from Brown in the postseason since Molloy’s injury, the Terps head coach knows a true challenge lies ahead.
“I think what Brown proved last week is they are more than just one guy and they have a lot of really good players,” Tillman said. “I think what we have to be ready for is three things: if he plays and he’s full strength, if he plays and he’s limited or he doesn’t play. Those are things that we have to factor in and we have to plan for all of those.
“With that being said, I think they have a really good system. If you listen to their players, it’s about their system, not one guy. Dylan Molloy I would probably argue is the best guy we’ve seen on film all year. But they played a really good Navy team last week and won without him. [Navy goalie] John Connors stood on his head to keep that game close or they might have pulled away a little bit earlier.”
Without a doubt, Brown is talented. But Maryland has some firepower of its own.
Terps junior Matt Rambo is on fire right now, totaling 22 points over his last four games (13 goals and nine assists). Rambo also has proven to have the clutch-gene with 19 goals in his nine NCAA Tournament appearances, tied for the fifth-most in Maryland history with Joe Walters (2003-06).
Rambo is cooking right now, but Maryland as a whole is also red hot. The Terps have won a single-season program record 15 straight games, scoring 12 goals per game during the streak and allowing just 7.5 goals per game. Maryland also won its 16th game against Syracuse in the quarterfinal, breaking the program record for victories which was set last season.
Momentum and improved depth are two factors that very well could lead to Maryland’s first lacrosse national championship since 1975.
“At this time of year we have kind of seen it all,” Tillman said. “We are hoping that playing more people will be helpful. We are deeper than we have been over the last three or four years and we feel more comfortable playing those guys, so if those guys play well it will give us a better opportunity to win.”