Albany storms back to beat Maryland men’s lacrosse, 11-10

When Albany senior attacker Connor Fields scored his fourth goal of the game with 1:16 left in the fourth quarter, it gave the Great Danes their first and only lead of the game.

After regaining a four-goal lead with seven seconds left in the third quarter, Maryland didn’t score once in the final 15 minutes. No. 1 Albany scored the final five goals in the game to complete its comeback, 11-10, against the second-ranked Terps in College Park.

Maryland was in control all afternoon, leading from the middle of the first quarter until the final minutes. But instead, the Terps lost their first game since April 22, 2017 against Ohio State.

Junior defender Curtis Corley matched up with arguably the best player in the country in Fields, while senior Bryce Young guarded the nation’s top 2017 recruit, freshman Tehoka Nanticoke. Fields recorded four goals and two assists, but Nanticoke had just one assist. He entered the game with a team-high 14 goals in four games. Goalkeeper Dan Morris made several spectacular saves among his 10 in the game.

Great Danes sophomore TD Irelan entered the contest winning over 86 percent of his draws this season, so when Maryland freshman Justin Shockey escaped the the opening faceoff with the ball, a loud roar erupted from the crowd at Maryland Stadium. Sophomore attacker Jared Bernardt worked quickly from behind the cage and, just 31 seconds into the game, scored past redshirt senior goalkeeper JD Colarusso.

Shockey won seven of the 11 faceoffs against Irelan in the first half, helping Maryland maximize the team’s offensive possessions. But Irelan won the last six faceoffs of the game to help Albany toward the win. After the Great Danes scored an equalizing goal with 11 minutes left in the first quarter, they wouldn’t score for the rest of the quarter.

Fields scored less than a minute into the second quarter to get the Great Danes back within one goal, but Albany then went on a 12-minute scoring drought. In between that scoreless span for the visitors, three Maryland players—Connor Kelly, Bernhardt and Adam DiMillo—scored in just over three minutes to earn a four-goal first-half lead.

Three different Terps scored in the first 15 minutes, as freshmen Logan Wisnauskas and Bubba Fairman each found the back of the net. The same two players who helped the Maryland earn a 3-1 lead at the end of the first scored the first two goals of the second half to give the Terps a five-goal lead, the biggest lead of the game. With 10 minutes left in the third quarter, Maryland led 8-3.

But the Great Danes and their No. 1-ranked offense made several spurts late in the second half to gain momentum. Albany’s three straight goals in the third cut its deficit to just two with plenty of time left in regulation. Shockey’s first-career point late in the third sparked a small two-goal rally to give the Terps another four-goal lead with a quarter to play.

With four minutes left in the game, though, Albany tied the game on Jakob Patterson’s fourth goal of the afternoon. He, Fields and Kyle McClancy each recorded hat tricks. Fields then scored with a minute left for the game’s last goal.

The Terps will be back in action next Saturday at 1 p.m. in Philadelphia against No. 4 Villanova.

Three things to know

1. Maryland blew a couple of large leads. The Terps lead by as many as five in the second half, but that lead went down to just two in the third quarter. Maryland received goals from Kelly and Rotanz to go back up four before the start the fourth quarter, but Albany scored the game’s last five goals to earn the win.
2. The Terps didn’t score in the fourth quarter. After finding a lot of success in the first three quarters, Maryland couldn’t gain much possession in the final 15 minutes and the Great Danes took complete control of the game. Shockey was great at the X through three quarters, but ended winning just 10 of 24 faceoffs.
3. Bryce Young played great defense on Tehoka Nanticoke. It was Young’s responsibility to matchup against the 6’1, 235-pound freshman. Nanticoke never scored in the game and recorded just one assist. While he had eight shots, not many were good looks or even went on net. But Albany had enough weapons to come back anyway.