NCAA Lacrosse Instant Juice: Syracuse 7, Maryland 13

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For the second straight season, the Syracuse lacrosse season ended in the NCAA quarterfinals with a 13-7 loss to Maryland Saturday afternoon.

A quick take on eighth seed Syracuse’s disappointing 13-7 loss against No. 1 seed Maryland Saturday afternoon, in the NCAA quarterfinal round before a large crowd at Brown Stadium in Providence, R.I.:

WHAT HAPPENED: The Terrapins (16-2), after falling behind early 1-0, dominated play except for a stretch late in the third quarter with a patient, crisp offense, a swarming defense, and a little luck as four Orange shots hit the goal pipe, to return to the Final Four for the third straight year.   Syracuse (12-5) only scored two consecutive goals twice during the game, and even with plenty of offensive chances because of a huge edge in faceoffs, SU could not convert when it needed to most in its attempt to comeback in the second half.  UM has won 15 straight games.

» Related: Football aside, Syracuse athletics had banner year

ANALYSIS: Syracuse certainly had its chances, winning the faceoff battle when the game was still close to get offensive possessions, but the Syracuse shooting was rushed, often times off net.  Even mixing up its defenses, the deep Terps found seams in the Orange zone “D” to get shots inside and out past goalie Evan Molloy (four saves).

HEROES: Former Orange player Dylan Maltz haunted his ex-teammates with three goals in the first half, while Terps star Matt Rambo scored four times and added two assists.  UM goalie Kyle Bernlohr was sharp throughout finishing with 15 saves on 22 shots on goal.    .

ZERO: The Orange offense was off kilter, albeit that had something to do with the Terrapins buttoned-up defense, but SU’s shot selection was poor overall.  Twice on man up opportunities in the first half with the game close, the ‘Cuse shot too quickly in the sequence to lose that advantage.

WHAT’S NEXT: The off season. Syracuse finishes its 100th season of lacrosse with a 12-5 record, falling short of the semifinals by one game for the second consecutive year.  The loss to Maryland also means the program will have gone seven straight seasons without winning a national championship, the longest drought since the first of 11 titles in 1983.

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About Brad Bierman 848 Articles
Now in his sixth decade of covering SU sports, Brad was sports director of WSYR radio for eight years into the early 1990s, then wrote the Orange Watch column for The Big Orange/The Juice print publication for 18 years. A Syracuse University graduate, Brad currently runs his own media consulting business in the Philadelphia suburbs. Follow him on Twitter @BradBierman.