SPECIALTY PROTECTION
WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE
With only 1,000 seats available at the University of Maryland Field Hockey and Lacrosse stadium, the game was moved from Byrd twice due to two different snow storms, the open bleachers did last long. Almost right along with the opening whistle, security guards dressed in yellow shut down all of the entrances and started turning people away. Knowing the intensity of this game, however, most fans instead chose to stand in the snow, behind a fence, in the woods just to catch a glimpse of this matchup. Despite a close start, the Terps came out firing and at one point held a nine goal lead eventually finishing with a 13-6 final. Although Georgetown had the “better” defense, one of the top goalies in the nation and the “top” faceoff man in the country, the Terps looked like the more experienced squad. Dave Tamberrino had the hot hand winning 12-21 faceoffs, Harry Alford had an unbelievable 25 saves, and Maryland’s “inexperienced” defense held the Hoya’s to 6 goals- 4 of which came late in the fourth quarter.
After 2 steady possessions from each team to open the game, with each getting one good shot from their offense and one good stop from their defense, it was Georgetown who would start the scoring. Junior Attackman Sean Denihan drew all the attention from behind off of some good Hoya ball movement, leaving Trevor Casey alone on the crease for the easy put in.
The opening minutes of the game had surprisingly accurate ball movement and stick skills, however it was the dodges that appeared to be a bit awkward. A combination of the cold weather and opening game jitters had both teams getting great looks, including hitting some pipes, however no one was really flying by anyone. Despite not getting beat one on one, the Georgetown coaches decided to throw in an early zone to throw Maryland a bit off their game. Big mistake. This was the beginning of the end for the Hoyas, as Maryland’s snipers started ripping shots from all over the field. One went just high, another hit pipe, needless to say it was an unusual and short lived experiment. The Georgetown defense immediately got out of the zone and seemed to be a bit off their game after the quick changes.
Maryland got on the board immediately after the switch as attack man Joe Walters got his d man hung up and pushed the solo dodge to the left. He was double teamed right away but somehow managed to keep the ball and back out kicking it outside to Billy McGlone. McGlone took two steps and fired it home for his first of three goals on the day. 1-1 to end the first.
With the faceoffs relatively even at this point, Georgetown won the opening draw of the second quarter and held on to it for a three and a half minute possession. With some great shots and some great saves by Alford, the Hoyas were stonewalled and the ball eventually makes it over the mid line and into Joe Walters stick. Walters was given way too much room, considering he’s probably the best shooter in division one lacrosse, and makes Georgetown pay with an all alone lefty rip from the top left. 2-1 Maryland.
The physical nature of the two teams was extremely evident from the get go. They each traded hits up and down the field as middies, defensemen and even attackmen got in on the action. After one such meat session at the midfield line, the ball is again kicked out to Joe Walters on the top left side who is again immediately doubled. Feeling the pressure, Walters moves the ball over to freshman midfielder Will Dalton who rips a high to low shot that senior goalie Rich D’Andrea thought went wide. 3-1 Maryland.
After the ensuing faceoff there was again some big time hitting leaving a loose ball around the midfield line. A Hoya midfielder picked it up and the offense immediately went back to work moving the ball around the outside. It eventually makes its way back out top to Junior Midfielder Pete Cannon who buries the lefty dodge high to high to bring Georgetown back within one. 3-2 Maryland.
The Terps didn’t waste much time getting back on the board, as a sloppy pass from their O rolled up to around the midline. Terps middie Billy McGlone scooped up the loose ball and took it all the way into their offensive zone, finding fellow junior midfielder Brendan Healy cutting towards the goal. Healy bobbles the pass, picks it up off the turf and takes a hard righty dodge finishing it with high to low stick side shot. 4-2 Maryland. Both teams again traded possessions and hits until around a minute left when Georgetown held on to the ball for the final shot. However an aggressive Terp defense caused the ball to hit the turf with 20 seconds left and after a Maryland clear, they call timeout with 15 seconds left on the board.
Senior midfielder Andrew Schwartzman took the ball from out top and ran it behind the goal for the invert dodge. He takes one quick move and takes off lefty around the front of the goal, drawing three defenders along the way who easily get the ball onto the turf. As it’s getting kicked around, Billy McGlone again comes to the rescue picking up the loose ball and ripping a lefty top corner shot with 3.1 seconds left on the board. 5-2 Maryland at the half.
The third started off in similar fashion as the second, with the Hoyas again possessing the ball for over three minutes. And once again, in similar fashion, the ball ends up on the turf and quickly into the Maryland offense’s hands. Within a minute of getting the ball, the Terps again worked the inverted dodge of Andrew Schwartzman who this time kicks it around and out top to you guessed it, Billy McGlone. McGlone quickly switches hands with a right to left split dodge and hits the overhand high to low for the four goal lead.
Georgetown again gets possession of the ball and moves it around for another two minutes without finding the back of the net. Maryland causes another turnover and gets the ball moving in transition eventually getting to Andrew Schwartzman who this time decides to try his luck out top. He flies by his defender with a right to left split finishing the move with an overhand rip. 7-2 Maryland. The Terps win the ensuing faceoff and go right back to work with an out top left to right split dodge from senior middie Mike Hartofolis. 8-2 Maryland.
It was at this point that the Hoyas realized they needed to do something drastic to get back into the game, so they pulled senior goalie Rich D’Andrea and put in freshman Miles Kass. The trial by fire method isn’t the most reliable and this was once again another perfect example, as the Maryland offense went on to welcome Kass to Div. 1 lacrosse with two back to back goals. The first came off of another faceoff win and this time the ball was moved around the outside to Xander Ritz, who sniped the stick side near corner off a dodge from the goal line extended- an almost impossible shot when there isn‘t even a goalie in the cage. 9-2 Maryland. Not wanting to let Kass grab any footing, the Terps get their second on the backup with Joe Walters hitting senior middie Ian Healy inside for the diving put in. 10-2 Maryland.
The Georgetown troubles were more than evident underneath the surface, especially after the goalie switch, however they were quickly put into the limelight after a Maryland push from the back which brought an immediate flag. As the penalized Terp defender got up from the ground, he was repeatedly shoved in the face by a different Georgetown player as the Terp just stood there and took each shot. What was going to be a one minute man up for the Hoya’s quickly became a one minute all even with a two minute non releasable man down after the three minute unsportsmanlike conduct. As if that weren’t enough, Georgetown was then forced to pressure on the all even 5 on 5 hoping for a turnover and were instead called for a slashing penalty. 2 men down. Fifteen seconds later they were then hit with another penalty, this time for offsides. 3 men down. The six on three man up was more than enough for senior middie Dave Matz who brought the Terps to a nine goal lead on the easy put in. 11-2 Maryland.
Seeing that they needed something major, Sean Denihan finally gets his team back into the scoring column off of a fast break feed from senior LSM Brodie Merrill. Denihan set his feet and fired the low to low shot into the net after an almost 20 minute scoring drought. While the goal certainly got the Hoya’s back into the swing of things, Maryland’s faceoff man Dave Tamberrino was still feeling it and once again won the draw. Terp middie Jimmy Borrell picked the ball up off of the wing and went immediately into a dodge finding the back of the net within 15 seconds of Denihan’s goal.
Tamberrino again won the ensuing faceoff however neither team was able to notch another goal for the rest of the quarter. Despite graduating their entire starting defense, both short stick d middies and their starting goalie, Maryland wasn’t missing a step. The rough and tumble defense was shutting down almost everything causing the Hoya’s to start making mistakes they normally wouldn’t make. Even if shots did happen to get loose, sophomore goalie Harry Alford was an absolute wall stopping nearly everything that was thrown at him with some tremendous saves. Alford made five times the amount of saves of D’Andrea and Kass combined; enough said.
The 4th started with another Terp faceoff however both teams went silent for almost the entire first half of the quarter. The silence was broken as Georgetown’s Trevor Casey again found the back of the net at 7:41 left. A man down clear by Maryland was broken up by a hard riding Hoya offense and the ball was sent back down with numbers. Seeing the fast break advantage Georgetown worked the ball down low finally hitting Casey on the back side of the doorstep. 12-4 Maryland.
This sent the Hoyas on a bit of a tear as they fought back with time quickly disappearing from the clock. Senior middie Bryce Queener got the next Hoya goal, as he got the ball out top right and ripped the stick side high shot for the their 5th goal of the game. 12-5 Maryland. Not wasting any time, Sean Denihan again got into the scoring column with a nice back handed righty flip off a lefty dodge from behind. 12-6 Maryland. Despite a strong final push, the nail in the coffin came with a little over 2 minutes left, as an overly aggressive Georgetown defense caused another man up opportunity for the Terps. The Maryland Man up worked the ball around the outside eventually getting the call to keep it in as the clock dipped below two minutes. After several more sessions of around the horn, the man up ran their play and ended it with sophomore attack man Mike Phipps standing wide open in front of the goal for the easy quick stick. 13-6 Maryland final.
Both teams looked good for an opening day and it was very apparent that Maryland’s “question marks” could very well turn into strong points in no time. Think of the last time that Maryland didn’t have a great defense? The keys to the game were without a doubt goalie play, faceoffs and offensive firepower. While the Hoya’s are a great team up and down the board, they just couldn’t match the sheer number of offensive weapons on the Terp roster. 11 people scored for Maryland. 11. Georgetown had 4. It’s impossible to cover an offense with that many scorers., plain and simple.
| Scoring | |
|---|---|
| Joe Walters | (1, 4) |
| Bill Mcglone | (3, 0) |
| Michael Phipps | (1, 1) |
| Dave Matz | (1, 1) |
| Brendan Healy | (1, 1) |
| Andrew Schwartzman | (1, 0) |
| Xander Ritz | (1, 0) |
| Ian Healy | (1, 0) |
| Michael Hartofilis | (1, 0) |
| Will Dalton | (1, 0) |
| Saves | |
|---|---|
| Harry Alford | 25 (0.806) |
| Current Record | |
|---|---|
| Maryland | 1-0 |
| Scoring | |
|---|---|
| Sean Denihan | (2, 1) |
| Trevor Casey | (2, 0) |
| Brodie Merrill | (0, 1) |
| Mike Boynton | (0, 1) |
| Brice Queener | (1, 0) |
| Pete Cannon | (1, 0) |
| Saves | |
|---|---|
| Miles Kass | 3 (0.375) |
| Rich D'andrea | 2 (0.200) |
| Current Record | |
|---|---|
| Georgetown | 0-1 |
