Maryland vs. Syracuse: Three things to watch
Maryland owns an 8-6 advantage in its series with Syracuse, but the Orange have had the upper hand in NCAA tournaments, winning four of six meetings in the postseason. The unseeded Terps (11-4) bounced No. 8 seed North Carolina, 13-6, in the first round on Sunday and are 19-11 in the quarterfinal round. Syracuse (15-1), which blasted Siena, 10-4, on Sunday, is a torrid 26-2 at this stage of the tournament. Here are a few factors that could influence the outcome at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., on Sunday.
1) Decipher Syracuse’s defense. The Orange’s success this season has been founded on the strength of its defense. The unit is surrendering just 7.0 goals per game, and the last six opponents have yet to reach 10 goals in a game. From boasting a shutdown defenseman in senior John Lade, an athletic long-stick midfielder in senior Joel White and the Division I career wins leader in senior goalkeeper John Galloway, Syracuse dares its opponents to make their moves. “They’re not very complicated,” Maryland coach John Tillman said. “They’re just really good at what they do, and you know what they’re going to do. It’s just hard to beat their guys. John Lade covers your best guy, and he can mark anybody. With your 1-on-1 matchups, you’ve got to do a really good job of playing at a really fast speed, being patient, making them work. And when you get other opportunities like extra man or ground balls or transition, you’ve got to make the most of them.”
2) Give Holmes some support. The Terps are blessed with one of the best faceoff specialists in the country in sophomore Curtis Holmes, who has won 62.0 percent (188-of-303) of his draws this season. On paper, it would seem that Holmes has a huge advantage over the Orange’s rotation of four, which is led by senior Jeremy Thompson (.513 on 61-of-119). But Tillman said Maryland must also worry about keeping White and senior midfielder Jovan Miller, who play on the wings, occupied. The Terps will probably counter with senior short-stick defensive midfielder Dan Burns and sophomore long-stick midfielder Jesse Bernhardt, but their assignment isn’t easy. “Even if you can’t win the ball clean, they can tie you up and now you’ve got White and now you have Jovan and some really good wing guys that you’ve got to deal with,” Tillman said. “Now I like our wings, but I think they like their wings, too.”
3) Keep hustling. Maryland is frequently regarded as a blue-collar team that tries to squeeze everything out of its players and coaches. That was apparent in the win against North Carolina and on Tuesday, the coaching staff showed the players selected video clips featuring unselfish and hustle plays such as sophomore midfielder John Haus diving to beat Tar Heels sophomore midfielder Marcus Holman to claim possession after a shot and Holmes batting a loose ball to a teammate a split second before getting creamed. “We’re constantly reminding them, ‘Yeah, we won, but look at the sacrifices that were made,’” Tillman said. “And then when we made those plays, we showed the bench, and the bench was jumping around and exploding. When we haven’t been the same team, we haven’t had the passion, energy, emotion. And we aren’t good enough to just line up and play. We need to have that chip on our shoulders, we need that edge.”
Categories: Maryland, Three things to watch
