Maryland 2022 National Champions

[NYterp09]

A nice early test and glad the terps were up to the challenge, but the clearing game was very concerning. Syracuse wasn’t even pressing that hard, just a ton of stupid and careless plays.

[jrn19]

That wasn't the prettiest. Lot of things to like, lot of things to improve on. But another solid W.

Pros
- Wis was Wis, and def felt like he was playing with an extra juice and some more showmanship back at the Dome
- Even in a game where Cuse cut off a lot of adjacents and were on their sticks and didn't let them whip the ball around the zone the way they usually do, still a 40% off. eff day and that was with a couple of pipes and Gavin stealing some goals. So many great looks still.
- The injuries at D-Mid are concerning (Higgins looked gimpy today) but whoever gets asked to play there puts in such a good shift. Bubba was great again, Koras played really, really well. The defense on the whole was tremendous. I thought they should have put Makar on Dordevic in the 2H, but felt like the plan was to just let Dordevic get his goals knowing no one else on Cuse can dodge, and he can't pass when a hard double comes. In the end, only 4 guys for Cuse scored. Defense was tremendous.
- Great game for Logan. Still would like to see him get better low, but he gobbled up anything high, was good out of the cage, sharp early when Cuse tested him.
- Wierman battled and played great in the 4Q (won 62% of draws) the wings were terrific too. Pugs and Bubba battled hard raking out some key GBs when it became a scrum. Felt like we won all the scrums. That's gotta be the goal on FOs.
- Murphy is a weapon. He can shoot it, he can invert from MF, got speed. They could play him at attack some shifts to spell Khan or Malever. He's going to be such a good player here.

Cons
- clearing. god that was rough. Looked like Hopkins yesterday. Just too many adjacent passes from goalie to long pole. Someone's gotta just take the ball and go. It's on everyone else to make sure they're not offsides, you get the ball and you go. Also just a lack of focus on some when they got the ball in the zone, Brennan one in particular
- Turnovers outside of clears weren't great. Lot of February issues there, just weird passes off line, guys not bringing it into their sticks. Passing isn't 100% crisp yet, but again, it's February
- Man I hope they can get healthy in the rope unit. Smith, Coffman, Cope already out and Higgins looked gimpy.

All in all, not the best game, but a 4 goal road win vs a Top 20 team. Onto Princeton.

[10stone5]

Yeah, I thought Wierman turning things around was one
key, also Donville, they needed Donville today.

[1766]

Hats off to the Terps. As of the early season, you can't argue they are the class of lacrosse. Syracuse is hard team to figure out after their two games but Maryland is just on a different level. A much more complete team.

[molo]

As Powell, the best color man deadpanned, “No weaknesses.”

[jrn19]

As Powell, the best color man deadpanned, “No weaknesses.”

Just shortie depth. Though Koras did a really great job filling in today. But only being able to go 2 deep there in the tournament when Higgins and Smith got hurt was a reason they fell short. Need Puglise, Fairman, Higgins to stay healthy and get one, ideally all 3, of Smith/Coffman/Cope back.

But yeah, on offense and defense, there just are no weaknesses. Three straight games above 40% off. efficiency against 3 tournament teams from last year is incredibly impressive, as is shutting down Syracuse and Loyola on defense last two weeks.

[PulpExposure]

I completely agree with the observations above. This was a B- game for the Terps at best - the number of turnovers were abnormal for the Terps. Sloppy stick work, some bad passes and some bad decisions.

Credit to Syracuse as well - the defensive pressure did cause a lot of the stress on the offense. Cuse is a good team and will do well this year but the absence of Hiltz really hurts. They need like one or two more offensive players who are actual threats to beat their guys - Terps put their third pole on Dordevic (Zappitello) and Makar and Rahill just blanked their guys.

[1766]

I completely agree with the observations above. This was a B- game for the Terps at best - the number of turnovers were abnormal for the Terps. Sloppy stick work, some bad passes and some bad decisions.

Credit to Syracuse as well - the defensive pressure did cause a lot of the stress on the offense. Cuse is a good team and will do well this year but the absence of Hiltz really hurts. They need like one or two more offensive players who are actual threats to beat their guys - Terps put their third pole on Dordevic (Zappitello) and Makar and Rahill just blanked their guys.

Whoever covered, I think his name is Curry, completely took him out of the game. I know he is supposed to be on one of Syracuse's guys but he didn't do anything. Total non factor.

[jrn19]

I completely agree with the observations above. This was a B- game for the Terps at best - the number of turnovers were abnormal for the Terps. Sloppy stick work, some bad passes and some bad decisions.

Credit to Syracuse as well - the defensive pressure did cause a lot of the stress on the offense. Cuse is a good team and will do well this year but the absence of Hiltz really hurts. They need like one or two more offensive players who are actual threats to beat their guys - Terps put their third pole on Dordevic (Zappitello) and Makar and Rahill just blanked their guys.

Whoever covered, I think his name is Curry, completely took him out of the game. I know he is supposed to be on one of Syracuse's guys but he didn't do anything. Total non factor.

Makar. He's right there with Bowen for best cover guy in America and honestly, I think he might be a little better. Just tremendous. I was thinking they should put him on Dordevic but they basically gave Dordevic his goals knowing Makar could eliminate Curry and when he slid adjacent to double Dordevic he couldn't pass out of it. Good gameplan by Bernhardt.

[Wheels]

As Powell, the best color man deadpanned, “No weaknesses.”

Just shortie depth. Though Koras did a really great job filling in today. But only being able to go 2 deep there in the tournament when Higgins and Smith got hurt was a reason they fell short. Need Puglise, Fairman, Higgins to stay healthy and get one, ideally all 3, of Smith/Coffman/Cope back.

But yeah, on offense and defense, there just are no weaknesses. Three straight games above 40% off. efficiency against 3 tournament teams from last year is incredibly impressive, as is shutting down Syracuse and Loyola on defense last two weeks.

I asked about Koras taking runs on defense today. Tills and Roman were really fired up that he took on that role, even in the 4th quarter. Smith will be back soon. Doesn't look like Cope or Coffman will. Coffman was out during warm ups taking shots and warming up McNaney. Looks like his right leg isn't 100%. Can't tell if it's a knee or ankle. But people close to the program said he's the furthest away from being back but that Smith will be soon. They'll need Smith. Bubba played a tremendous game today.

The TOs in Q2 were just kind of lackadaisical. Guys thinking they were past a Cuse defender when they weren't. DeMaio didn't move his feet a couple of times on adjacent passes and his defender knocked down a couple of passes. Khan and Malever were pressing too much. You could tell they were frustrated by their shooting and kept wanting to make a play. Makar made Curry disappear. McNaney played his best game of the season. If he can play like that the rest of the season, the Terps will be in really good shape.

Kudos to Wierman for gutting it out. Phaup went 6-10 in Q2, and with all of the failed clears (4 in 1H) and turnovers (9 in 1H), the defense was on the field a lot. Wierman evened things out later in the game.

One more thing. People sleep on Wisnauskas's athleticism. That goal he had in the 2nd quarter up top where he hitched a shot, got by defender, and inside rolled the sliding defender to score was not exactly an easy goal.

After the game, Gait and the 3 Cuse players were pretty happy. Tills, Roman, and Wis did not seem happy at all. Take pity on Princeton next week.

[jrn19]

The one adjustment I really liked in the 2H was doubling Dordevic with a pole. Makar was usually an adjacent, but whoever it was; they sent two and one time even three poles after him as opposed to sending a shortie. That really threw him off and as good a dodger and shooter Dordevic is, he’s not a passer yet. Couldn’t pass out of the dodge and make Maryland hurt for how aggressive they were with the double. Overall I thought it was a smart game plan for dealing with a limited offense. Paid off too, a lot of Cuse’s goals were frustrating ones to give up, but their off. efficiency was still only 25%

[stupefied]

I completely agree with the observations above. This was a B- game for the Terps at best - the number of turnovers were abnormal for the Terps. Sloppy stick work, some bad passes and some bad decisions.

Credit to Syracuse as well - the defensive pressure did cause a lot of the stress on the offense. Cuse is a good team and will do well this year but the absence of Hiltz really hurts. They need like one or two more offensive players who are actual threats to beat their guys - Terps put their third pole on Dordevic (Zappitello) and Makar and Rahill just blanked their guys.

Whoever covered, I think his name is Curry, completely took him out of the game. I know he is supposed to be on one of Syracuse's guys but he didn't do anything. Total non factor.

Makar. He's right there with Bowen for best cover guy in America and honestly, I think he might be a little better. Just tremendous. I was thinking they should put him on Dordevic but they basically gave Dordevic his goals knowing Makar could eliminate Curry and when he slid adjacent to double Dordevic he couldn't pass out of it. Good gameplan by Bernhardt.

He is. Makar can cover both big physical players and the small quick players. Bowen struggles agaisnt some

[127205020]

Makar did not have primary responsibility for Curry. The Terps used their LSMs to cover Curry. They strung him out on all his dodges and the Terps had slide packages for help when needed. That would be #20 and #56 who did the primary work blanking Curry,

[keno in reno]

As Powell, the best color man deadpanned, “No weaknesses.”

Just shortie depth. Though Koras did a really great job filling in today. But only being able to go 2 deep there in the tournament when Higgins and Smith got hurt was a reason they fell short. Need Puglise, Fairman, Higgins to stay healthy and get one, ideally all 3, of Smith/Coffman/Cope back.

But yeah, on offense and defense, there just are no weaknesses. Three straight games above 40% off. efficiency against 3 tournament teams from last year is incredibly impressive, as is shutting down Syracuse and Loyola on defense last two weeks.

I asked about Koras taking runs on defense today. Tills and Roman were really fired up that he took on that role, even in the 4th quarter. Smith will be back soon. Doesn't look like Cope or Coffman will. Coffman was out during warm ups taking shots and warming up McNaney. Looks like his right leg isn't 100%. Can't tell if it's a knee or ankle. But people close to the program said he's the furthest away from being back but that Smith will be soon. They'll need Smith. Bubba played a tremendous game today.

The TOs in Q2 were just kind of lackadaisical. Guys thinking they were past a Cuse defender when they weren't. DeMaio didn't move his feet a couple of times on adjacent passes and his defender knocked down a couple of passes. Khan and Malever were pressing too much. You could tell they were frustrated by their shooting and kept wanting to make a play. Makar made Curry disappear. McNaney played his best game of the season. If he can play like that the rest of the season, the Terps will be in really good shape.

Kudos to Wierman for gutting it out. Phaup went 6-10 in Q2, and with all of the failed clears (4 in 1H) and turnovers (9 in 1H), the defense was on the field a lot. Wierman evened things out later in the game.

One more thing. People sleep on Wisnauskas's athleticism. That goal he had in the 2nd quarter up top where he hitched a shot, got by defender, and inside rolled the sliding defender to score was not exactly an easy goal.

After the game, Gait and the 3 Cuse players were pretty happy. Tills, Roman, and Wis did not seem happy at all. Take pity on Princeton next week.

Coffman's injury is a big deal for the Terps. He is great, and losing Higgins last year really showed in the title game.

[PulpExposure]

I completely agree with the observations above. This was a B- game for the Terps at best - the number of turnovers were abnormal for the Terps. Sloppy stick work, some bad passes and some bad decisions.

Credit to Syracuse as well - the defensive pressure did cause a lot of the stress on the offense. Cuse is a good team and will do well this year but the absence of Hiltz really hurts. They need like one or two more offensive players who are actual threats to beat their guys - Terps put their third pole on Dordevic (Zappitello) and Makar and Rahill just blanked their guys.

Whoever covered, I think his name is Curry, completely took him out of the game. I know he is supposed to be on one of Syracuse's guys but he didn't do anything. Total non factor.

Makar. He's right there with Bowen for best cover guy in America and honestly, I think he might be a little better. Just tremendous. I was thinking they should put him on Dordevic but they basically gave Dordevic his goals knowing Makar could eliminate Curry and when he slid adjacent to double Dordevic he couldn't pass out of it. Good gameplan by Bernhardt.

The other thing I noticed is every time Maryland needed to come up with a ground ball on the defensive end, there was Makar busting through with it.

[NYterp09]

I completely agree with the observations above. This was a B- game for the Terps at best - the number of turnovers were abnormal for the Terps. Sloppy stick work, some bad passes and some bad decisions.

Credit to Syracuse as well - the defensive pressure did cause a lot of the stress on the offense. Cuse is a good team and will do well this year but the absence of Hiltz really hurts. They need like one or two more offensive players who are actual threats to beat their guys - Terps put their third pole on Dordevic (Zappitello) and Makar and Rahill just blanked their guys.

Whoever covered, I think his name is Curry, completely took him out of the game. I know he is supposed to be on one of Syracuse's guys but he didn't do anything. Total non factor.

Makar. He's right there with Bowen for best cover guy in America and honestly, I think he might be a little better. Just tremendous. I was thinking they should put him on Dordevic but they basically gave Dordevic his goals knowing Makar could eliminate Curry and when he slid adjacent to double Dordevic he couldn't pass out of it. Good gameplan by Bernhardt.

The other thing I noticed is every time Maryland needed to come up with a ground ball on the defensive end, there was Makar busting through with it.

Makar is an absolute animal on the GBs. Dudes got a vacuum on the end of his pole.

[BigTom5]

I completely agree with the observations above. This was a B- game for the Terps at best - the number of turnovers were abnormal for the Terps. Sloppy stick work, some bad passes and some bad decisions.

Credit to Syracuse as well - the defensive pressure did cause a lot of the stress on the offense. Cuse is a good team and will do well this year but the absence of Hiltz really hurts. They need like one or two more offensive players who are actual threats to beat their guys - Terps put their third pole on Dordevic (Zappitello) and Makar and Rahill just blanked their guys.

Whoever covered, I think his name is Curry, completely took him out of the game. I know he is supposed to be on one of Syracuse's guys but he didn't do anything. Total non factor.

Makar. He's right there with Bowen for best cover guy in America and honestly, I think he might be a little better. Just tremendous. I was thinking they should put him on Dordevic but they basically gave Dordevic his goals knowing Makar could eliminate Curry and when he slid adjacent to double Dordevic he couldn't pass out of it. Good gameplan by Bernhardt.

He is. Makar can cover both big physical players and the small quick players. Bowen struggles agaisnt some

Hard argument to make. Bowen almost always covers the opposing team’s best player. You can’t make the same argument for Makar. In fact, he rarely plays the best player. It was Grill last year who got the big matchups. He covered Sowers and Shellenberger in the final four. I thought with Grill’s graduation Makar would slide into the top matchup but it’s been hit or miss. He took on Nolting but wasn’t the primary matchup for either Curry or Dordevic. The Dordevic matchup was particularly puzzling given you put your most inexperienced pole on him and he was getting beat regularly. I get that the kid grew up playing with him and might know some tendencies, but it was pretty obvious early on that it was a bad matchup.

[jrn19]

I completely agree with the observations above. This was a B- game for the Terps at best - the number of turnovers were abnormal for the Terps. Sloppy stick work, some bad passes and some bad decisions.

Credit to Syracuse as well - the defensive pressure did cause a lot of the stress on the offense. Cuse is a good team and will do well this year but the absence of Hiltz really hurts. They need like one or two more offensive players who are actual threats to beat their guys - Terps put their third pole on Dordevic (Zappitello) and Makar and Rahill just blanked their guys.

Whoever covered, I think his name is Curry, completely took him out of the game. I know he is supposed to be on one of Syracuse's guys but he didn't do anything. Total non factor.

Makar. He's right there with Bowen for best cover guy in America and honestly, I think he might be a little better. Just tremendous. I was thinking they should put him on Dordevic but they basically gave Dordevic his goals knowing Makar could eliminate Curry and when he slid adjacent to double Dordevic he couldn't pass out of it. Good gameplan by Bernhardt.

He is. Makar can cover both big physical players and the small quick players. Bowen struggles agaisnt some

Hard argument to make. Bowen almost always covers the opposing team’s best player. You can’t make the same argument for Makar. In fact, he rarely plays the best player. It was Grill last year who got the big matchups. He covered Sowers and Shellenberger in the final four. I thought with Grill’s graduation Makar would slide into the top matchup but it’s been hit or miss. He took on Nolting but wasn’t the primary matchup for either Curry or Dordevic. The Dordevic matchup was particularly puzzling given you put your most inexperienced pole on him and he was getting beat regularly. I get that the kid grew up playing with him and might know some tendencies, but it was pretty obvious early on that it was a bad matchup.

Dordevic got his goals, but Makar and Rahill completely took away their match-ups and Cuse had no answers beyond Dordevic. He was the only one who could dodge. It was clear the game plan was to let Dordevic get his but to take away any other dodgers and force Dordevic to pass when the double came and find the open man and he couldn’t do it. Dordevic is a great dodger, but he can’t pass when the double comes. So while he scored, he had like half of the Cuse goals and only 3 or 4 guys total scored. None of their other options contributed.

[BigTom5]

I completely agree with the observations above. This was a B- game for the Terps at best - the number of turnovers were abnormal for the Terps. Sloppy stick work, some bad passes and some bad decisions.

Credit to Syracuse as well - the defensive pressure did cause a lot of the stress on the offense. Cuse is a good team and will do well this year but the absence of Hiltz really hurts. They need like one or two more offensive players who are actual threats to beat their guys - Terps put their third pole on Dordevic (Zappitello) and Makar and Rahill just blanked their guys.

Whoever covered, I think his name is Curry, completely took him out of the game. I know he is supposed to be on one of Syracuse's guys but he didn't do anything. Total non factor.

Makar. He's right there with Bowen for best cover guy in America and honestly, I think he might be a little better. Just tremendous. I was thinking they should put him on Dordevic but they basically gave Dordevic his goals knowing Makar could eliminate Curry and when he slid adjacent to double Dordevic he couldn't pass out of it. Good gameplan by Bernhardt.

He is. Makar can cover both big physical players and the small quick players. Bowen struggles agaisnt some

Hard argument to make. Bowen almost always covers the opposing team’s best player. You can’t make the same argument for Makar. In fact, he rarely plays the best player. It was Grill last year who got the big matchups. He covered Sowers and Shellenberger in the final four. I thought with Grill’s graduation Makar would slide into the top matchup but it’s been hit or miss. He took on Nolting but wasn’t the primary matchup for either Curry or Dordevic. The Dordevic matchup was particularly puzzling given you put your most inexperienced pole on him and he was getting beat regularly. I get that the kid grew up playing with him and might know some tendencies, but it was pretty obvious early on that it was a bad matchup.

Dordevic got his goals, but Makar and Rahill completely took away their match-ups and Cuse had no answers beyond Dordevic. He was the only one who could dodge. It was clear the game plan was to let Dordevic get his but to take away any other dodgers and force Dordevic to pass when the double came and find the open man and he couldn’t do it. Dordevic is a great dodger, but he can’t pass when the double comes. So while he scored, he had like half of the Cuse goals and only 3 or 4 guys total scored. None of their other options contributed.

I understand that the game plan was. You don’t think it is a waste to have Makar on Seebold? If Cuse only has two main dodging threats, why not put your alpha on one of them?

Still doesn’t address the question of why doesn’t Makar historically cover the best player…

[jrn19]

I completely agree with the observations above. This was a B- game for the Terps at best - the number of turnovers were abnormal for the Terps. Sloppy stick work, some bad passes and some bad decisions.

Credit to Syracuse as well - the defensive pressure did cause a lot of the stress on the offense. Cuse is a good team and will do well this year but the absence of Hiltz really hurts. They need like one or two more offensive players who are actual threats to beat their guys - Terps put their third pole on Dordevic (Zappitello) and Makar and Rahill just blanked their guys.

Whoever covered, I think his name is Curry, completely took him out of the game. I know he is supposed to be on one of Syracuse's guys but he didn't do anything. Total non factor.

Makar. He's right there with Bowen for best cover guy in America and honestly, I think he might be a little better. Just tremendous. I was thinking they should put him on Dordevic but they basically gave Dordevic his goals knowing Makar could eliminate Curry and when he slid adjacent to double Dordevic he couldn't pass out of it. Good gameplan by Bernhardt.

He is. Makar can cover both big physical players and the small quick players. Bowen struggles agaisnt some

Hard argument to make. Bowen almost always covers the opposing team’s best player. You can’t make the same argument for Makar. In fact, he rarely plays the best player. It was Grill last year who got the big matchups. He covered Sowers and Shellenberger in the final four. I thought with Grill’s graduation Makar would slide into the top matchup but it’s been hit or miss. He took on Nolting but wasn’t the primary matchup for either Curry or Dordevic. The Dordevic matchup was particularly puzzling given you put your most inexperienced pole on him and he was getting beat regularly. I get that the kid grew up playing with him and might know some tendencies, but it was pretty obvious early on that it was a bad matchup.

Dordevic got his goals, but Makar and Rahill completely took away their match-ups and Cuse had no answers beyond Dordevic. He was the only one who could dodge. It was clear the game plan was to let Dordevic get his but to take away any other dodgers and force Dordevic to pass when the double came and find the open man and he couldn’t do it. Dordevic is a great dodger, but he can’t pass when the double comes. So while he scored, he had like half of the Cuse goals and only 3 or 4 guys total scored. None of their other options contributed.

I understand that the game plan was. You don’t think it is a waste to have Makar on Seebold? If Cuse only has two main dodging threats, why not put your alpha on one of them?

Still doesn’t address the question of why doesn’t Makar historically cover the best player…

Did Seebold do anything? No. Did Curry do anything? No. So Dordevic got his goals. It didn’t make much of a difference in the outcome. Cuse only scored 10 goals and their off. efficiency was 25%, well below that they averaged last year. Worked out pretty well.