Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

Issue date: 4/7/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Laura Grammar

Terrapin men's lacrosse players did not show their usual excitement when midfielder Drew Evans scored with 4:04 left in the third quarter of Friday's game against No. 9 Navy.

After Evans took the pass from freshman attackman Ryan Young behind the net and beat Navy goalie Tommy Phelan for the score, he didn't jump around or even pump his fist. He simply left the field to a few high fives, while his teammates got ready for the ensuing face-off.

Rather than jubilation, the Terps felt a stronger emotion - relief.

After nearly 41 scoreless minutes, the goal cut the Navy lead to four.

While the No. 3 Terps (7-3) added three more goals in the next 10:57, it was not enough to overcome the slow start. Navy held on for a 5-4 win before a crowd of 7,106 at Byrd Stadium.

The Midshipmen (9-2) prevailed despite going scoreless in the second half on the strength of a four-goal second quarter.

"It wasn't so much that we were not executing things," senior midfielder Max Ritz said of the stretch that doomed the Terps. "We were just making careless mistakes and not playing with the intensity we did the last few games."

The Terps were without their leading scorer, freshman attackman Travis Reed, who was suspended as a result of being charged with driving under the influence and possession of marijuana early Wednesday morning. But they had chances down the stretch to even the game.

However, after the brief offensive outburst, the Terps struggled to get the equalizer against Phelan, who made 11 saves, including two after freshman attackman Grant Catalino's goal with 8:07 remaining made it a one-goal game.

"It was such an uphill battle," Terp coach Dave Cottle said. "We had to scratch and claw for every goal. We were just looking for some guys to make some plays or to come up with something offensively that would make it easier on them."

Navy had trouble controlling the ball in the fourth quarter while trying to run out the clock against the aggressive Terp defense, which provided the Terp offense several scoring opportunities in the closing minutes.

One chance came when freshman long pole Brett Schmidt caused a turnover with 1:34 left, but after a time-out, the Terps turned the ball over, as junior midfielder Dan Groot could not connect on a short pass to freshman attackman Ryan Young.

On the Terps' final opportunity following another Navy turnover, junior midfielder Jeff Reynolds had his stick hit, forcing a shot to fly well over the goal with 11 seconds left, and then on the restart, he lost the ball to a Navy player, who tossed it far downfield as the last few seconds expired.

"Things just didn't go our way on those couple of possessions," Ritz said. "It's a shame. I wish we had a couple more minutes there."

Navy only managed one fourth-quarter shot and nine in the second half, but they played well enough offensively in the first half to get the win.

Midshipmen midfielder Patrick Moran gave his team the lead, scoring the only goal of the first quarter with 8:08 left, but it was the second quarter that won the game.

Cottle called Navy's second quarter one of the best quarters any team has played against his squad all season.

Attackman Tim Paul notched a pair of goals to help the Midshipmen build a 5-0 lead at the half, and it could have been more. Sophomore goalie Brian Phipps made seven saves in the second quarter, including one late in the half that deflected off the post and would have made it a six-goal lead.

Navy, which is giving up fewer than five goals per game this season, won 10-of-13 face-offs and controlled the tempo of the game in the first half.

It was the first time the Terps have been shut out in a half since April 2, 2005, against Virginia.

"I was disappointed that we got outfought in the first half," Cottle said. "Navy worked harder than us when the ball was on the ground."

The Terps rebounded in the second half and seemed to have seized all the momentum when Catalino's goal cut the lead to one with the pumped-up fans on their feet cheering for the Terps to finish the comeback.

But it turned out to be too little, too late.

"This team is filled with a bunch of great guys," senior defender Joe Cinoski said. "Every one of them is a fighter. I knew that if we could get the opportunity, we were going to take advantage of it. We just didn't get the opportunity, and we ended up losing."

After wins against top-five opponents in their previous two games, it was a disappointing result for the Terps, who lost at home to Navy for the third straight time.

But Cinoski said it provides excellent motivation to be better Saturday when the Terps travel to Baltimore to play Johns Hopkins.

"I think Hopkins is going to see an angry bunch of Terps next weekend," Cinoski said.

edetweilerdbk@gmail.com

Story appended due to editing error. Reed was actually arrested Wednesday.

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