2008 Woodie Awards
Lacrosse easily beats Virginia
Eric Detweiler
Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: Sports
Normally, Terrapin men's lacrosse coach Dave Cottle would have yelled at his team to focus during a lackluster practice session the day before playing the No. 1 team in the country.
But after a great week of practice, Cottle chose a more hands-off approach before Saturday's game against Virginia.
"[Friday] I couldn't get them to concentrate on anything," Cottle said. "They were bouncing off the walls. They wanted to play."
The No. 4 Terps rewarded his patience with an inspired first-half performance en route to a suprisingly comfortable 13-7 victory over the top-ranked Cavaliers before a crowd of 4,239 at Byrd Stadium.
"I think the only people who thought we were going to win was [our] team - the guys in our locker room," said redshirt junior goalie Jason Carter. "We knew it when we came out here, and we played hard. Virginia played tough, too, but today was just our day."
Carter, who made a career-high 15 saves, played into the second half for the first time this season. He had split time in net with sophomore Brian Phipps, but Cottle said he had to stick with Carter because of how well he and the team played in the first half.
The Terps built a 9-3 halftime advantage on the strength of six second-quarter goals against the Cavaliers, who had not trailed by more than two goals in winning their first nine games of the season.
Freshman attackman Travis Reed led the push, scoring all three of his goals in the second quarter.
"We got some goals in that second quarter, and it really gave us some confidence," Cottle said. "When you're young, you need some good things to happen. Some good things happened to us early."
That included winning 10-of-14 first half face-offs, allowing the Terps to find success in the transition. Three times in the first half, the Terps won the ensuing face-off after a goal and scored again within seven seconds. In doing so, the Terps also managed to keep the ball away from the potent Cavalier offense, which struggled to find a rhythm throughout the game as the Terps forced Virginia players to settle for long shots.
But after a great week of practice, Cottle chose a more hands-off approach before Saturday's game against Virginia.
"[Friday] I couldn't get them to concentrate on anything," Cottle said. "They were bouncing off the walls. They wanted to play."
The No. 4 Terps rewarded his patience with an inspired first-half performance en route to a suprisingly comfortable 13-7 victory over the top-ranked Cavaliers before a crowd of 4,239 at Byrd Stadium.
"I think the only people who thought we were going to win was [our] team - the guys in our locker room," said redshirt junior goalie Jason Carter. "We knew it when we came out here, and we played hard. Virginia played tough, too, but today was just our day."
Carter, who made a career-high 15 saves, played into the second half for the first time this season. He had split time in net with sophomore Brian Phipps, but Cottle said he had to stick with Carter because of how well he and the team played in the first half.
The Terps built a 9-3 halftime advantage on the strength of six second-quarter goals against the Cavaliers, who had not trailed by more than two goals in winning their first nine games of the season.
Freshman attackman Travis Reed led the push, scoring all three of his goals in the second quarter.
"We got some goals in that second quarter, and it really gave us some confidence," Cottle said. "When you're young, you need some good things to happen. Some good things happened to us early."
That included winning 10-of-14 first half face-offs, allowing the Terps to find success in the transition. Three times in the first half, the Terps won the ensuing face-off after a goal and scored again within seven seconds. In doing so, the Terps also managed to keep the ball away from the potent Cavalier offense, which struggled to find a rhythm throughout the game as the Terps forced Virginia players to settle for long shots.
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