No. 7 Rutgers falls to No. 1 Maryland 11-10, Are tourney hopes squashed?
The No. 7 Rutgers men's lacrosse team was hoping for a program-changing win over No. 1 Maryland on Sunday afternoon in a Big Ten Conference Class in College Park, Md.
But, after a tight, 11-10 defeat to the Terrapins (10-1, 3-0) the Scarlet Knights (8-4, 1-2) have put pressure on themselves to win the last two games of the season in order to make the four-team conference tournament and NCAA tournament after being snubbed the last two seasons.
The win against Maryland, which hasn't happened since 1980, would have gone a long way in getting an at-large bid to the dance. It would have marked the biggest win in program history and highest ever over a ranked team after previously beating No. 3 Ohio State last season and No. 3 UMass in 2003.
Three of the five matchups between Rutgers and Maryland since both schools joined the Big Ten have been decided by one goal.
"We have to take care of ourselves," Rutgers head coach Brian Brecht said according to Rutgers Communications. "I didn't think we played as well as we could have today. I thought some guys played extremely well. I don't know if we all played our best and if we all played collectively how we needed to against a very good team on the road. We have a lot of work ahead of us."
Against Maryland, Rutgers was led by Jules Heningburg (two goals, two assists), Christian Mazzone (three goals, one assist), and Casey Rose (two goals, one assist).
Down 4-0 after one quarter of play, things looked bleak for the Scarlet Knights. But, they outscored the Terps 5-1 in the second, including the last four goals of the quarter, to tie the game up at 5-5 heading into the break. Rutgers held Maryland scoreless the last 12:51 of the first half.
During that span, Mullins and Mazzone both scored twice while Jules Heningburg added one for the visitors.
"The second quarter was the way I would have liked to have started the game," Brecht said. "It doesn't make up for the poor start to the first 15 minutes by spotting the team that's No.1 in the country at home four goals. I'm proud of the way we rallied and made it a game into halftime."
Rutgers took its first lead at 6-5 on a Casey Rose goal 2:01 into the third. The two teams traded goals and it was tied at 8-8 after three quarters of play. The Terps almost had the play of the day, but a behind the back/over the shoulder shot sailed high over the crossbar as time expired.
Rose made it 9-8 at the 12:25 mark in the fourth quarter as he started right, quickly took a few steps back toward the middle, and shot a sweeping goal low past the feet of the Maryland goalie, Dan Morris.
A few minutes later, Matt Edelman, the Scarlet Knights' keeper, made a great save on a bouncing shot with 9:42 remaining. Edelman made another key low stop with 8:22 left.
After a timeout, Rutgers spread Maryland out and played ball control, but couldn't get a shot off and the Terps took it away. The shot clock then started rolling, and Anthony DeMaio found the back of the net to knot it back up at 9-9.
In crunch time, Tim Rotanz and Connor Kelly both scored for Maryland to go up 11-9.
Rotanz goal and the sequence that led to it was the defining play. You can see that score below.
With 2:40 left, however, Rutgers' Alex Bronzo picked up a ground ball and Tommy Coyne scored on an fast break to cut the deficit to 11-10.
Mazzone then caught a pass from Heningburg just a yard or so away from the crease with just over one minute remaining, but Maryland's Jack Welding caused Mazzone to drop the ball and the Terps cleared and called timeout with 50 seconds left.
Now with 39 seconds to go, Will Snider of Maryland got a ground ball and eventually ran out the clock.
The Terps survived.
Kelly led Maryland with four goals and four assists while Bubba Fairman scored three times.
Rutgers now hosts No. 14 Penn State next Sunday night, April 22, at 7 p.m. at High Point Solutions Stadium. It then travels to take on Ohio State in the regular season finale on Saturday, April 28 at 4:00 p.m.
"There's a lot of big games still ahead of us heading towards the month of May, starting with the next one in Penn State at home next Sunday," Brecht said.
