Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
College Park, MD–
If you are a college lacrosse program, it is becoming very difficult to make a trip to College Park. Today, the Maryland campus hosted two First Round NCAA games, where the Men’s team faced Vermont and the Womens team faced Duke. We are happy to report that both of these teams left College Park searching for answers for what happened.
On the Men’s side, Graduate midfielder Jonathan Donville, sophomore attacker Jack Koras and fifth-year midfielder Anthony DeMaio all scored before five minutes had elapsed in the period. Then, sophomore defenseman Ajax Zappitello caught a pass from graduate attacker Keegan Khan and fired a shot low that beat Vermont graduate goalie Ryan Cornell, notching the first goal of his career.
Vermont looked as if their defense would keep them somewhat close in this game, however by the half, the Terps dominance was all but felt by the Catamounts.
The second half featured more Maryland offense and more Vermont confusion on how to stop the onslaught. Maryland cruised to a 21-5 victory over Vermont in College Park on Sunday afternoon, advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals for the eighth consecutive season.
“I give Vermont credit,” Maryland head coach John Tillman said. “Their length, I think, caused some problems early, and then we got used to it and our guys did a great job with it.”
On the Women’s side, Cathy Reese and her squad showcased again what they do when it comes to tournament time, dominate.
Maryland used its draw control success to roll past Duke, 19-6, on Sunday afternoon in College Park to advance to the NCAA quarterfinals. The Terps will face No. 7-seed Florida on Thursday for a chance to book their ticket to the Final Four.
Duke, who played solid defense in the first period, just could not find many offensive options in the second period and even in the second half.
Duke’s inability to take control of faceoffs and mistakes inside of the crease led to at least 5 Maryland goals and forced Duke to go to their back-up goalie just before halftime.
Maryland held a 19-2 shot advantage and 11-1 draw control lead in the second period.
With the victory, Maryland advances to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament where it will match up against No. 7-seed Florida. The Gators defeated Jacksonville, 15-10, in Gainesville, but they will need to travel to College Park for Thursday’s game. The winner will advance to the Final Four in Baltimore over Memorial Day weekend.
