Maryland Men's, Women's Lacrosse Both Capture ACC Titles

It was a good day for the lacrosse lovers among us: both Maryland's women's and men's lacrosse teams captured ACC Championships this afternoon. The men upset Duke 11-9 in Durham, while the Lady Terps captured their third straight ACC title by defeating UNC 12-7. This is just the second time in ACC history that a school pulled off a sweep of the ACC titles.

The women's team is used to capturing ACC championships. The men...not so much: this is the first ACC Championship for the Terps since 2005, which is a pretty long time considering there are only three other teams in the conference. That's a streak that feels good to end, I imagine. The competition faced was pretty impressive, too: the Terps beat both the #1 and #2 seeds on the way to the title. Duke, in fact, was undefeated in the ACC.

Things started off a little spotty, with Duke garnering a 5-2 lead at the end of the first quarter. Maryland answered strong, though: the Terps won the final three quarters 9-3, including a 4-1 second quarter, to grab the 11-9 win. Grant Catalino led the Terps with a hat-trick, and freshman goalkeeper Niko Amato was a huge difference; after a shaky first quarter, he made a number of big saves down the stretch and looked fantastic for the final three quarters.

Now, hopefully, first-year coach John Tillman and the Terps can come up big in the NCAA tournament. Poor performance there is what did Dave Cottle in, but if this tournament was any indication, maybe we can expect better things in the future.

Congrats to both of the lax teams. It was quite the Easter Sunday for the lax-bros out there.