Maryland men’s lacrosse rolls past Colgate, 11-6

Maryland men’s lacrosse picked up their first win against a ranked team in 2019 on Tuesday, defeating No. 16 Colgate at home, 11-6.

Jared Bernhardt and Logan Wisnauskas led the way for the No. 3 Terps’ offense, scoring four and three goals, respectively. Bubba Fairman, Louis Dubick, Christian Zawadzki and Will Snider each added a goal as well. Griffin Brown led Colgate with two goals, while Mike Hawkins, Sam Cleveland, Nicky Petkevich and Brian Minicus added one apiece.

Austin Henningsen bounced back after having a nightmare game against Penn on Saturday, going 14-of-20 on faceoffs after winning just six last week. However, Justin Shockey, who was winless last week, didn’t see the field at all Tuesday night, possibly indicating where head coach John Tillman plans to lean for at least the near future.

Senior goalkeeper Danny Dolan wasn’t asked to do as much as he has in previous games, facing just 15 shots from the Raiders, but still had himself a strong day in net, making nine saves. Maryland held a 34-24 advantage in shots and led 24-15 in shots on goal.

The game began with some fairly sloppy play from both sides, as the Terps and Raiders combined to turn the ball over 10 times in the first period. It was a strong first few minutes for the goalies, though, as Dolan and Colgate’s Connor Mullen held both teams scoreless through the first 11 minutes of play.

But the scoring picked up quickly for the Terps, as they would go on to score four goals in the final four minutes, including a slick behind-the-back goal from Louis Dubick and a last-second finish from Jared Bernhardt to put Maryland up four after one.

They kept things rolling into the second as well by adding five more goals to their total. By the end of the first half, both Bernhardt and Wisnauskas had hat tricks and the Terps were up 9-3 going into the half. The nine scores are most goals Maryland has had in a first half this season.

Things hit a bit of a lull in the third quarter, as just one goal was scored by Bernhardt to put the score at 10-3, but Colgate began to make the push all Terp fans feared would happen after they cut their lead to four, but Will Snider’s first goal of the season and competent defense down the stretch helped Maryland ease their way to a 11-6 win.

The Terps will be back on the road again this weekend as they head up to Annapolis to face Navy.

Three things to know

1. This is the best performance from Maryland we’ve seen so far this year. Fans have been waiting for Maryland to really put things together as a team, and that’s what the Terps showed in this game. Despite struggling to score in the second half, they were able to keep Colgate at arm’s length all game for the comfortable win.
2. Maryland’s scoring depth still hasn’t emerged yet. Maryland hasn’t had too much trouble scoring goals so far this season, surpassing 10 goals in all four contests in 2019. But most of it has been from the team’s primary goal scorers in Bernhardt and Wisnauskas, who now have combined for 25 goals on the season and over 50 percent of the Terps’ scoring. Tillman can’t complain about the results thus far, but an off game from either or both could put Maryland in a tough spot offensively.
3. Austin Henningsen looks like the lead faceoff specialist. Shockey’s absence Tuesday and Henningsen’s rebound performance indicate the latter is in clear position to be Tillman’s go-to FOGO going forward. So long as he avoids Penn-like performances, Henningsen should have a strong year at the X for the Terps.