Business as Usual for Maryland in Methodical 9-6 Win Over Georgetown

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — An NCAA quarterfinal between Beltway behemoths had all the makings of a throwback to the time before the shot clock arrived in college lacrosse.

Or, less generously, it would be like a trip to the dentist.

Either way, second-seeded Maryland was perfectly comfortable playing much like it did throughout its rugged conference schedule. And the Terrapins departed Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium with a 9-6 victory over Georgetown before a quarterfinal-record crowd of 17,721, a game short on style points but long on extending Maryland’s brand of dominance at this stage of the tournament.

“It gave us a great trial run,” Maryland long pole Jack McDonald said. “I think we were ready. I think we knew what was going to come with Georgetown. It was going to be a slower game. It was kind of going to be a rock fight, and that’s what we kind of called it all week. We were prepared. We knew we were going to play a lot of defense, but we love it.”

Braden Erksa scored three times and tacked on an assist for the Terps (13-3), who will face sixth-seeded Syracuse (13-5) in Saturday’s second semifinal in Foxborough, Mass.

Maryland improved to 11-1 in quarterfinals under coach John Tillman and advanced to its 30th semifinal, passing Johns Hopkins for the most in tournament history.

“There is a reason why he is the best coach in the country and he’s going to be a Hall of Famer,” Georgetown coach Kevin Warne said. “I think you saw that today. His teams are really good. They don’t make mistakes. They will be a problem next week for somebody.”

Lucas Dudemaine had two goals and two assists, and Aidan Carroll scored twice and added an assist in his final game with the Hoyas (12-5), who fell in the quarterfinals for the fourth time in five years.

Unlike the previous three trips, this Georgetown team was unseeded, fresh off a road victory and an unquestioned overachiever on the season relative to external preseason expectations.

And Maryland was, well, Maryland. The Terps weren’t always fancy this season, and they haven’t scored more than 14 goals in any game. But they’ve also now won a combined seven games against the seven other quarterfinalists, whittling away at opponents with a tenacious defense.

Georgetown knew it was coming, but it was still difficult to adequately prepare for. The Hoyas had seven turnovers and one shot on goal in the first quarter, taking time to settle as Maryland dictated a style that would kindly be called methodical.

“They did a great job of plugging gaps, making sure we weren’t getting our normal looks, our conventional looks that we tend to get,” Carroll said. “I think they were being really decisive and making sure when they slide, we weren’t comfortable with where we were throwing the ball.”

Georgetown did its part to muddle things, too, and the Terps managed only transition goals by Daniel Kelly and Geordy Holmes in the first quarter. The Hoyas found their only extended rhythm in the second period, at one point ripping off three consecutive goals to take a 4-3 lead and offer glimmers of an offense that had averaged 17.8 goals during its five-game winning streak entering the quarters.

But it didn’t last. First, the Terps deadlocked it less than a minute later on Eric Spanos’ goal off an Erksa pass, then went ahead 1:32 before halftime on a midfield connection from Matthew Keegan to Bryce Ford.

“We took that punch, and to punch back was huge,” Tillman said.

From there, Maryland’s defense showed few vulnerabilities. Georgetown scored only twice in the final 35:08, with one of those an extra-man goal.

And when the Hoyas did get looks, sixth-year goalie Logan McNaney stopped 11 shots, including five in the fourth quarter.

“They hold their slides really well,” Warne said. “They have a great perimeter, and they hit landmarks. They make it difficult for you to decide if they’re actually sliding full time, half the time, just stepping off their man. They play games with you a little bit, and what happens is it slows you down. And the guy they have in the goal’s not bad. He gobbles it up. Those guys are very athletic and they get their hands on you and they’re like a machine.”

Yet it was anything but a rout. Kade Goldberg’s goal with 8:42 remaining — just after Georgetown sophomore Anderson Moore (12 saves) stuffed back-to-back shots — brought the Hoyas within 7-6. Maryland quickly restored a two-goal advantage when Erksa got the better of a behind-the-cage collision with Joe Vranizan and then scored as the Hoya short stick remained on the ground.

When Kelly zipped in a low shot off a Ford feed with 2:21 left, Maryland went up three. It’s the sort of margin that often feels (and is) insurmountable in the Terps’ conference clashes.

It was in this case, too.

“Kind of had a feeling it would feel like a Big Ten game, and that’s really what it was,” Tillman said.

Georgetown, whose seven consecutive tournament appearances is the second-longest active streak behind Maryland’s 22, was muted in its disappointment. Warne was the first to acknowledge he wasn’t sure he would have believed back in August that the Hoyas would be a game away from their first semifinal appearance in 26 years.

But they were there in large part due to Carroll, who finished with 50 goals and 27 assists and aided in helping the Hoyas grow up as the spring unfolded. What could have easily been an understandable step back instead turned into the sort of bridge year the best programs — including the one Georgetown faced Sunday — can summon when needed.

“I don’t think anyone thought that this group could take us this far, and they proved a lot of people wrong,” Carroll said. “I know that sometimes it’s not a nationwide story, but internally, I think we know how far we really came and the sort of pressure we were under this year. We’ve set the precedent of winning the Big East every year, and it probably looked pretty easy this year, but I can tell you we were in a pressure cooker all year.”

That’s business as usual for Maryland, which is a victory away from its ninth trip to Memorial Day since Tillman’s first season in 2011. That’s rarified air; the last program to get to nine NCAA finals in 14 tournaments was Syracuse from 1989-2002. (The Orange actually reached 10 title games in 15 years from 1988-2002.)

But this group of Terps remembers how its last run ended, a 15-5 drubbing against Notre Dame last year in Philadelphia. Sunday may have lacked artistry, but Maryland thought it was beautiful to move a round closer to the program’s fifth all-time NCAA tournament title.

“We were in this same spot last year, and we didn’t get the job done,” Kelly said. “This is a hungry group that’s going to Boston for a reason, and that is to bring that back home.”