On Senior Day, seniors start and end the scoring in 17-4 rout
Less than 2 minutes into Saturday’s game against Fairfield, Maryland senior midfielder Adam Sear, scored a goal to kick off Senior Day at Byrd Stadium in appropriate fashion. With less than 3 minutes to go, senior Fran Gormley ended it in kind, scoring the fourth goal of his career.
In between, the Terps’ loaded junior class took over, combining for 10 goals and eight assists in a dominating 17-4 performance against the over-matched visitors from the Eastern College Athletic Conference.
With three starters out of the lineup, including top scorer Sam Snow, Fairfield (8-5) had no answer for Maryland attackmen Grant Catalino (4 goals, 1 assist), Ryan Young (2 goals, 3 assists), Joe Cummings (3 goals), and Travis Reed (1 goal, 2 assists).
But it was a goal by reserve attack Gormley, on a feed from freshman Owen Blye (2 assists), which the Terps celebrated most.
“He’s such a great feeder. He’s got great vision,” said junior long-stick defender Brian Farrell. “I told him in practice, ‘You gotta come out and bury that thing.’ He just came around and stuck it. It’s just great to see, on Senior Day, his whole family here, all his brothers. It was awesome.”
Gormley, one of the team’s most popular players, was a former student body president at Georgetown Prep. After scoring two goals in his freshman year, Gormley sat out his sophomore and junior seasons to concentrate on academics. When he quit, Maryland coach Dave Cottle told him the door was always open.
“I took him up on that offer,” said Gormley. “I was off the team. But these seniors, the guys in my class, I remained close with them. I met some of the younger guys and they were the ones who actually initiated me coming back.”
Last weekend in an ACC Tournament win over North Carolina, Gormley scored his first goal since 2006.
“Now he’s gonna be in my office asking for more time,” joked Cottle. “It’s been special having him back.”
Maryland (10-3) dominated from the start, holding Fairfield scoreless for the first 22:03 and rolling to an 8-0 lead as Cummings, a sophomore, scored three times against Stags’ goalie Joseph Marra (11 saves, 10 goals against), who entered leading the nation in save percentage (.616) and goals-against (7.1 per game).
But Fairfield had little defense against Maryland’s superior depth, speed, and skill. The Terps forced more turnovers, 25-15, and turned many of them into fast-break scores.
“We’re a little more athletic than them. If we could get them between the lines, we’d have a chance to run, and get transition opportunities,” said Cottle. “We did a good job of doubling, knocking the ball out, and putting a lot of pressure on them, turning and creating a lot of offense.”
All-ACC junior Brett Schmidt (5 caused turnovers, 3 ground balls) led the defense along with junior Ryder Bohlander (2 caused turnovers, 2 ground balls, assist), who tallied the first point of his career on a fast-break, after Schmidt forced a turnover.
On another fast-break, freshman Jesse Bernhardt got the first assist of his career, feeding Farrell for a sidewinder on a rare longstick-to-longstick connection.
“Young was side open on the back side, but I was telling Young, ‘You guys get way too many goals,’” said Farrell. “And it was time to get Jesse an assist. I though, I’ll just shoot it and see if it goes in.”
Maryland continued to frolic in the open field in the second half, building a 15-1 lead.
“That’s the type of kids we have,” said Farrell, who has five goals this season and 20 for his career, a record for Maryland longsticks. “We have kids that can run up and down, play defense, break it down, and go play offense. I love playing that kind of lacrosse.”
Maryland dominated in every facet, taking more shots, 51-23, winning more ground balls, 39-24, and faceoffs, 15-9. Led by senior goalie Brian Phipps (7 saves, one goal against), Maryland also was 20-of-20 on clears and disrupted 7 of Fairfield’s 20 attempts to clear.
“We were better today than we were early in March,” said Cottle. “We’re playing a lot of guys and it’s starting to pay off for us.”
