Orange have 10 titles; Terps last won in ’75
The weight of history is impossible to ignore Sunday in the NCAA lacrosse quarterfinal between Syracuse and Maryland.
For the Orange, it’s all about what they have accomplished. For the Terrapins, it’s all about what they have not. While top-seeded Syracuse (15-1) has won a record 10 national titles, unseeded Maryland (11-4) hasn’t captured one since 1975.
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| UP NEXT |
| Maryland vs. Syracuse |
| When » Sunday, noon |
| Where » Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass. |
| TV » ESPNU |
| WEEKEND CAPSULES |
| Virginia vs. Cornell |
| When » Saturday, noon |
| Where » Shuart Stadium, Hempstead, N.Y. |
| TV » ESPN2 |
| Seeded No. 7, its lowest in a decade, not much is expected from Virginia (10-5) as it plays No. 2 Cornell (14-2), which has won 11 straight since falling to the Cavaliers 11-9 on March 12 in Baltimore. But Virginia has rallied from the loss of dynamic twin midfielders Shamel Bratton (dismissal) and Rhamel Bratton (suspension), playing with discipline and purpose. |
| Johns Hopkins vs. Denver |
| When » Saturday, 2:30 p.m. |
| Where » Shuart Stadium, Hempstead, N.Y. |
| TV » ESPN2 |
| The NCAA tournament committee was criticized for handing Denver (14-2) a No. 6 seed. All complaints will be muted if Bill Tierney’s offensive-minded squad, led by Mark Matthews (66 points) and Alex Demopoulos (56 points), can hang with No. 3 Johns Hopkins (13-2), which seeks to return to Baltimore for the Final Four and play for a 10th NCAA championship. |
| Duke vs. Notre Dame |
| When » Sunday, 2:30 p.m. |
| Where » Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass. |
| TV » ESPNU |
| A rematch of the 2010 NCAA title game, won by Duke 6-5 when C.J. Costabile took a faceoff and scored five seconds into overtime. Also, a rematch of a regular season game three months ago when Notre Dame won 12-7 behind Zach Brenneman and Kevin Ridgway, both All-Americans. No. 5 Duke (13-5) has been led by Zach Howell (58 points) and Jordan Wolf (50 points). |
There’s enormous pressure for the seniors on both teams. Syracuse’s loaded class of 2011, which includes seven All-Americans, has already won more games (60) than any group in program history. But the unrelenting weight of high expectations at Syracuse, coupled with last year’s shocking opening-round loss to Army in the Carrier Dome, has left the Orange believing their legacy will be defined by how they finish. Their goal is to match the Syracuse class of 1990, which won three national championships.
For Maryland’s talented senior class, the redemption bar is set lower after falling in the quarterfinals each of the last three seasons, including a 2009 loss to Syracuse. A victory on Sunday would be particularly satisfying as it would send the Terps to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore for their first Final Four since 2005.
Maryland had the same opportunity last year, but the No. 3 Terps lost to unseeded Notre Dame 7-5. According to senior midfielder Dan Burns, the Terps took too much for granted after seeing seeded teams fall, clearing their path to a title.
“Last year we looked at our opponents a lot more than we looked at us,” Burns said. “Seeing Notre Dame beat Princeton and Army beat Syracuse, our heads were in a lot of different places. This year, all the other games aside, it’s just about us.”
Despite their divergent seeds, records and histories, Orange coach John Desko says there won’t be much separation in talent Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium. The Terps bear little resemblance to an unseeded team, according to the coach.
“We’ve played Maryland in championship games before,” Desko said. “This feels almost like a championship game.”
Syracuse showed some vulnerability early. Seven of its first nine wins came by two or fewer goals. But after a humbling 11-6 loss to Cornell, the Orange reeled off six straight wins by an average margin of 8.2 goals per game. Feeding their fire further, is Sunday’s return to Foxborough, the site of their Final Four triumphs in 2008 and 2009.
Syracuse also has faced an elite schedule, playing six of the teams that remain in the tournament in the regular season. The seventh remaining team is Maryland, which Syracuse beat in a preseason scrimmage 11-9 in the Carrier Dome.
But that was before the emergence of Maryland freshman goalie Niko Amato and sophomore faceoff specialist Curtis Holmes, and before the Terps discovered their passion for possession under first-year coach John Tillman.
“I see a lot of [Syracuse] in us [with] veteran guys who have been around,” Tillman said. “To their credit, they have some hardware and they’ve done some things, and our group is trying to accomplish what they’ve done.”
