Maryland 2023

[Wheels]

Koras, Brennan, and Maltz have all opted to take the COVID bonus year, so they're all theoretically back. Tills is known to make hard decisions, but you have to think he wouldn't cut those guys loose. Koras had an up-and-down year, but given the off-field situation he experienced with his girlfriend's mother dying mid-season, that could explain a lot of it. He's a valuable player and probably on the first line next season.

If you can get Brennan back to his 2022 form, he, too, is a valuable midfield piece. He's in his own head, though, when it comes to shooting. Physically, the guy is a load. But he's mired in a bad shooting slump. Does he come out of it? Probably. Is he going to be a 40 goal scorer? No but he's probably good for 20.

Maltz is the conundrum. He really improved his dodging this year, but he's a bit redundant to Kelly. Kelly didn't show it this year, but he is that left-handed zone buster. Probably the best pure shooter on the team, including Murphy. Is Maltz more effective running through the box as a MF?

Murphy, too, is a conundrum. By all accounts, he's uber-talented. His issue is reliability. His teammates have a hard time playing off of him because he's unpredictable. The ball can die in his stick at time, or he won't take shots he should.

In terms of the defense, it's going to be really good next year. No one though Kolar would be a regular, but he played well as a freshman. Tills clearly looks for great athletes who also have size to play shorty. I wonder if we see an incoming freshman like Ryan Falkenstein be a surprise regular on the rope unit. The kid is a phenomenal athlete and is a legit 6-1, 200 pound player. I was surprised that Macro Signorello played offense this season, as I thought he was a Roman Puglise clone. Does he follow the same path that Josh Coffman and Chase Cope followed? Start on the offensive end because of their athletic ability but shift to shorty? Coffman, too, is back next season. But you never know how he'll respond to 2 consecutive knee injuries.

In the shot clock era, Tills has clearly started looking for close defensemen with elite footwork. Ajax came to College Park as a LSM and is now an All-American close defender. Schaller came to CP as a LSM, too. Larkin was the traditional close defender. I know they really like him, so maybe he does play up top next year.

[Wheels]

Just did some quick math.

The Terps lose 21 (10.7%) of 196 goals they scored this year to graduation.

The Terps lose 30 (25.2%) of the 119 assists they had this year to graduation.

Together, they lose 51 (15.98%) of 319 total points they scored this year to graduation.

This assumes Dante Trader returns (5g, 2a) next year, but I don't think he will.

Add back in Eric Malever, and he erases all of those losses and probably then some. You have to think Spanos and Whittier increase on their 22 and 20 point seasons, respectively.

Malever
Erksa
Kelly
Maltz
Murphy
Koras
Brennan
Whittier
Spanos

That's nine players who have all had 20+ point seasons in their careers. How all of those pieces fit together is the question.

[jrn19]

Koras was a junior, so he's back either way. He had a good season. He was playing like an All-American through the Penn State game and then the rest of it wasn't great but he's the off ball guy, he's the least responsible to some degree and with personal issues that also explains some of it. He also can play defense for you some as well which you appreciate. I'm not sure I'd put him on the 1st line because I think again you're just way too thin on shooting but he'd make a great 2nd line piece much in the way he did in 2022.

Maltz and Brennan are tricky. It wasn't just the shooting with Brennan. The rest of the game didn't seem to develop either. Despite his size he didn't play big at all. Got outmuscled quite a bit at times. More TOs than assists. The Hopkins game looked like he had his groove back and he had some other moments but then it was right back to the struggle bus. Does all of that manifest from shooting slump and losing confidence? It could. But can't ignore that from Big Ten play onward, he was a distant 10th of the 10 offensive guys who got minutes. He can't continue to be given 1st MF minutes. Gotta earn it back from 2nd or as the 7th MF.

Maltz I agree there's a redundancy there but the way he grew his game from last year and the number of key goals he scored, I think could fit well on a 2nd MF away from playing on the same attack as Kelly. Also always fits EMO. There's a role there. However I don't see a role starting as Kelly should probably start with Malever and Erksa at attack and he is redundant on the field with Kelly so at 1st MF with Spanos and Whittier that doesn't quite work.

Ultimately, again, 5 spots are locked in with Malever-Erksa-Kelly-Spanos-Whittier fingers crossed no injuries. From there, when it comes to offering guys bonus years, it comes down to whether you view them as giving enough that it's worth possibly blocking path for incoming freshmen/young guys. The young guys from past years have already broke through with Erksa, Spanos, Whittier. With next years class...does Tills see guys like Stobaugh and Gravino and McPherson as future key pieces of the offense? Are they cornerstones? Or more likely complementary guys who can fill a good role and give solid production? If the latter, I think you can bring Maltz and Brennan back and take their experience and production. With young guys missing chance to grab that playoff experience, more guys on roster who have won in May better. Plus depth of scoring is key. If we think those are some guys who can join up with 10-7-13 as key cogs, I think you gotta let them slide in there. But perhaps with 3 more years of those 3 and two 5*'s in '24 class at attack, the cupboard is full through 2026 and you keep the guys who are here and you believe can help. We'll see.

[Cno3putts]

Hopefully Terps find a goalie for next year

[tech37]

Hopefully Terps find a goalie for next year

Really? Where was the Terp's defence?

[Bmk2222]

Any grumblings of bringing in any of the 5th year Ivy guys?

[ObxTerpFan]

Never like seeing the Terp's lose but Army played great.
It will be interesting to see what Tillman does with the program in the offseason.
I would not want any other coach at the helm and am confident the Terp's will take steps to get better.
Go Terp's !!!!

[youthathletics]

Well that sucked.

Think there needs to be some re-evaluation from the coaching staff. I don’t think they necessarily did a bad job this year, but this is a program built on fundamentals and situational lacrosse and they were not good at either this year and it wasn’t just the freshmen. Thought the offensive rotations needed to be better in games down the stretch. The second midfield simply was just more productive than the first and too often didn’t get shifts. Spanos honestly shouldn’t have been leaving the field often at all last few games. And I don’t know what was happening with the one quarter a game where defense would just break down with bad slides when they weren’t needed but it wasn’t good. Felt like there was some meat left on the bone in terms of process if not in terms of overall result.

At the end of the day, injuries simply caved the team in. Malever on this team with Erksa at the end of the year and they’re scoring buckets of goals. McNaney in goal and this is a 5 goal win and you can probably give this team 2 other wins this year. Zappitello in there and things are probably less disjointed as well. People will say the team shouldn’t have been ranked #1 or #2 or whatever and perhaps true, but 14 games lost from McNaney, 4 from Zappitello, 4 or 5 where Murphy was a man-up player only. This wasn’t the team that started in January. And obviously doesn’t even account for Malever. Could have used Coffman and Cope at shortie too. The ceiling kept getting diminished as the year went on unfortunately, even if there were other disappointments as well. Program has had an incredibly run of injury luck over the last decade but I think they gave it all back this year.

I do think losing the chance to get valuable playing experience as I posted earlier is a missed opportunity. Just needed to find a way to get the win tonight. Couple more saves. Get that goal at the end. Win in OT. Just win. Get to Quarterfinal or esp Philly. And this team is in such a good spot next few years already being playoff winners in addition to developing their skills. But the future is still bright and this is a title contender immediately. McNaney back in goal is who he is. Schaller looked like an absolute stud when he stepped in for Zaps. One more year of Zaps as well. Makar is a loss but I think Zaps and Schaller has the potential to be a helluva pair and with Burlace you have a very good close D group. Larkin hopefully can step in to replenish LSM depth. We’ll see what happens with Trader but either way they have depth and talent to work with at shortie in Kolar and Redd. And offensively the nucleus is here. Erksa is a superstar. He has all the skills and wants the moment. Spanos didn’t hit the freshman wall but got better. Whittier is a heckuva player. Put Malever back in and you have a great 4 right there. Plenty of options as well back but those 4 are all matchup winners and you have guys who were drawing poles this year now drawing shorties. Another year of like and Sean Creter a 5* FOGO coming in getting to be an understudy and spelling him some.

We’re spoiled. No one has had the run we’ve had or anything close. Years like this happen. It sucks more because we should have won and another run was on the table but sometimes just not your night. We’ll see what happens with portal, do think they need to make some moves there, not major ones though if something comes open then maybe, but they have roles they should try and fill through it. If this is as bad as it gets, we got it pretty good.

Go Terps

Great post. I think you hit on a key point, which is bench depth that is game-day ready. And it is not just a Terps issue.

I believe it is a direct result, in whole, of coaching staffs navigating or ignoring a change in the way the game is advancing in style of play. I have been eluding to this on the Navy thread for over 8 years, really digging in the past two to three. The teams that have adopted a style of play that put 6-positionless offensive payers on the field are the teams that are thriving, rising, and maintaining the top tier. The teams that are still doing it the way 'it has always been played' while dipping their toe in the water of schematic change, are still flirting with the top 15 each year.

You couple-in the horrible decision by the NCAA CV19 extra years of eligibility and you buy those select teams of transfers a boost of super power. It's why you are hoping for some of those players next year. Look how Gtown is the benefactor of such and they also adopted the higher paced position less scheme.

Terps will be fine, however, I do believe there is something brewing within the coaching staff. I am not sure if it is a TIlls control thing over the OC/DC or a balance that it is not supported amongst the players and coaches with a commonality of tasks and ideas, but you can see a body language struggle between the 3 of them on the sidelines. Maybe I am wrong, I did not notice this with JL or Benson.

[jrn19]

I mean Maryland is basically the team that started the 6-on-6 positionless offensive trend so your point, while a good one, doesn’t really apply to them. Or Penn State started it to a degree with Ament and O’Keefe in ‘19 and then Maryland massively accelerated it in ‘21 and ‘22. Virginia’s offense this year is a direct response to what Maryland did to them last year. They didn’t play offense that way in 2019 or 2021.

Maryland had plenty of depth this year. It’s why they were still in this position despite all the injuries. Ruppel was their 3rd goalie at the start of the year. Schaller was their 4th defenseman. They played 10 guys consistently on offense. They played tons of guys and it was helpful. Problem was losing the difference makers.

[keno in reno]

Embarrassing.

No it's not. That's sports. Army was great.

[Finster]

Tough loss. Maryland as a program is so much different today than before Tillman arrived; it’s now considered an uneven season not getting to Memorial Day. Consider yourselves blessed.

You can’t lose you’re #1 offensive playmaker, your AA first team goalie, then your top defender and not expect a challenge. You ought to be congratulating the staff that they could elevate others that quickly.

Am I correct that Weirman graduates? If so, frankly that’s going to be the biggest hole going forward. He might not have dominated this year like years past (especially in first quarters), but at no time did anyone ever think Maryland wouldn’t grab at least the next face off. That’s an incredible luxury.

[jrn19]

Wierman will be back

[keno in reno]

You have confused me with masondickless

Get that sht out of here

[youthathletics]

I mean Maryland is basically the team that started the 6-on-6 positionless offensive trend so your point, while a good one, doesn’t really apply to them. Or Penn State started it to a degree with Ament and O’Keefe in ‘19 and then Maryland massively accelerated it in ‘21 and ‘22. Virginia’s offense this year is a direct response to what Maryland did to them last year. They didn’t play offense that way in 2019 or 2021.

Maryland had plenty of depth this year. It’s why they were still in this position despite all the injuries. Ruppel was their 3rd goalie at the start of the year. Schaller was their 4th defenseman. They played 10 guys consistently on offense. They played tons of guys and it was helpful. Problem was losing the difference makers.

It goes back much further....elements of Tierney when he went to Denver but they held they held the ball for the perfect shot, Tufts, Brown, then carried into UVA with coaching change in 2016...and they took their lumps, primarily on defense as they lagged to adapt to the high flow offense. TO that latter point, It's why I was surprised to see the Terps D struggle to against Army last night, considering they had to practice against that high flow offense style last couple seasons.

[Pork42]

He’s a freshman, for crying out loud.

He steps in for one of the top Terp goalies ever.

You have to give credit to the Cadets here,
instead of looking for someone to blame.

Too many injuries this year,
too many graduated last year,
the past two classes still developing,
they still almost pulled it off.

Too much top talent on other teams.

Felt bad for the freshman Rupple. There must be alot contributors on the this site that played goal or coached it or better yet lost money picking Maryland to win. The best goalies in the business have games like this and when the goal train starts rolling sometimes it doesn't stop. He didn't have alot of help in front of him either, but was he also tasked to directing the traffic out there? I don't live in his head but his confidence might of taken a hit during the game. Army shot pretty darn good too. I am sure he will go over the film a million times and learn from it. Anyone bitching about his performance i assume automatically never played the game at that level. On to next year.

[youthathletics]

He’s a freshman, for crying out loud.

He steps in for one of the top Terp goalies ever.

You have to give credit to the Cadets here,
instead of looking for someone to blame.

Too many injuries this year,
too many graduated last year,
the past two classes still developing,
they still almost pulled it off.

Too much top talent on other teams.

Felt bad for the freshman Rupple. There must be alot contributors on the this site that played goal or coached it or better yet lost money picking Maryland to win. The best goalies in the business have games like this and when the goal train starts rolling sometimes it doesn't stop. He didn't have alot of help in front of him either, but was he also tasked to directing the traffic out there? I don't live in his head but his confidence might of taken a hit during the game. Army shot pretty darn good too. I am sure he will go over the film a million times and learn from it. Anyone bitching about his performance i assume automatically never played the game at that level. On to next year.

+10

[joewillie78]

He’s a freshman, for crying out loud.

He steps in for one of the top Terp goalies ever.

You have to give credit to the Cadets here,
instead of looking for someone to blame.

Too many injuries this year,
too many graduated last year,
the past two classes still developing,
they still almost pulled it off.

Too much top talent on other teams.

Felt bad for the freshman Rupple. There must be alot contributors on the this site that played goal or coached it or better yet lost money picking Maryland to win. The best goalies in the business have games like this and when the goal train starts rolling sometimes it doesn't stop. He didn't have alot of help in front of him either, but was he also tasked to directing the traffic out there? I don't live in his head but his confidence might of taken a hit during the game. Army shot pretty darn good too. I am sure he will go over the film a million times and learn from it. Anyone bitching about his performance i assume automatically never played the game at that level. On to next year.

I agree 100%. One of the hardest positions to play in basically all of sports is A Lacrosse goalie. It's brutal with the way the skilled players of today can fire that ball. All angles, quick releases at mega speeds.
I tried it a long time ago when I first started playing Lax, and it was incredibly tough, even back in the Dark ages when I played.
Ruppel had some incredible games during the season and has a bright future. MD. Is in great shape in goal.
Gobigred
Joewillie78

[Finster]

Wierman will be back

Really? I fell like he’s been your FOGO for a long time. Oh well. If that’s the case, I’ll already pencil in Maryland top-5 for 2024.

[AreaLax]

[jrn19]

99.9% of the people on this board never played goal in an NCAA Tournament game, no. Yes, Brian Ruppel is better at goalie than everyone posting here. That’s a given. That doesn’t change that unfortunately he was pretty much the primary reason Maryland lost. He gave up 4-5 goals that you absolutely need your goalie to save in a playoff game. He made 5 saves. It doesn’t make him a bad player or the end of his career but that’s just the way it went. He still has a great future with the program if he chooses to ride it out since McNaney will be back next year but on Saturday they needed a subpar game at minimum to win and he was below even that level sadly. It’s okay to say that