1.) John Tillman is a great X-and-O guy.

If it wasn’t for Tillman’s play-calling in overtime, the Terps’ season might have ended in the quarterfinals for a fourth consecutive year. The game-winning goal – a low-to-high shot from attackman Grant Catalino on the right wing – was the result of a play Tillman instituted in practice just last week. The Terps started working on the play, named “Stag,” on Tuesday and ran it four times against the Orange on Sunday.

Tillman knew Syracuse’s defense had a tendency to slouch toward cutters on the crease, so he developed the play to exploit that tendency by getting Catalino open on the outside off a double-seal. The Terps ran the play – starting with a dodge from midfielder Scott LaRue on the right wing – with 32 seconds left in overtime. It worked to perfection, and the rest is history.

“I knew they’d hedge a lot, and so you had to do things that took advantage of a hedge,” Tillman told The Washington Times. “We knew if they pulled over that much, we could double seal. If the guy sealed their own guys, there was no way that guy was getting back.”

2.) The Terps’ senior class finally got the monkey off its back.

When the Terps’ senior class arrived in College Park in 2007, it’s fair to say there was some hype surrounding the group. Ranked No. 2 in the nation by Inside Lacrosse – only behind ACC rival Virginia – the class was supposed to lead the Terps to multiple Final Four appearances. That never came into fruition.

Many players from the class have been staples in the Terps starting lineup since they first stepped on campus. Attackmen Ryan Young, Travis Reed and Catalino and defender Max Schmidt all earned a spot in the starting lineup in their first season with the Terps, while defender Brett Schmidt stepped into a starting role as a sophomore.
But despite the wealth of talent the group possessed, the Terps’ season ended in the NCAA quarterfinals for the past three years. With Sunday’s win over Syracuse, the senior class has finally led the Terps to the Final Four and accomplished what they set out to do when they first arrived in 2007.

3.) Curtis Holmes and Niko Amato are going to be the core of the Terps for the next two years.

Even though the Terps are going to lose 17 players to graduation and face a massive rebuilding project next season, the team has strong options at arguably the game’s two most important positions. Sophomore faceoff specialist Curtis Holmes and freshman goalkeeper Niko Amato will make up the core of the Terps for the next two seasons.

Both have had breakout campaigns this year – Holmes’ faceoff winning percentage of .625 is the nation’s seventh-best mark, while Amato’s 6.82 goals against average is good for No. 4 in Division I. Both were also key in the Terps win over Syracuse. Holmes dominated at the faceoff X, winning 11 of 14 draws, and Amato anchored the Terps defense, making nine saves, one of which came against Orange midfielder Jovan Miller with 19 seconds left in regulation and kept the Terps upset bid alive heading into overtime.

Don’t expect numbers like those to fall off next season.

Controlling possession and having a hot goalie can give a team an insurmountable advantage, and if the Terps can get consistent performances from Amato and Holmes next year, the task of replacing 17 seniors won’t seem that tough.