Maryland men's lacrosse faces Notre Dame for spot in Final Four

The No. 3 seed Terps enter Sunday’s quarterfinal matchup with Notre Dame having won 13 straight games, including a decisive 17-11 win over Vermont in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Despite entering the quarterfinals undefeated and as the higher seed, the Terps find themselves in the dubious position of having to travel to No. 6 seed Notre Dame, where they will have to defeat the Irish to earn their first trip to the Final Four since 2018.

Maryland won’t have much time to think about the perceived snub, however, as a quick look at the roster and stats show that the Irish are likely the toughest test the Terps have faced to date.

Sunday’s game will feature a pair of Tewaaraton finalists in Maryland’s Jared Bernhardt and Notre Dame’s Pat Kavanagh.

Bernhardt enters Sunday’s game leading the nation in points per game (6.31) and goals per game (4.54), while coming off of a 6 goal, 7 point performance in the Terps’ NCAA opening-round win over Vermont.

Maryland’s close defense will have it’s hands full with Kavanagh (25g, 36a), a creative attackman who can both find open teammates working from the X and score in a variety of ways.

“He’s as advertised,” Maryland head coach John Tillman said of Kavanagh. “He’s really blossomed and he’s always been a guy that has outstanding skill. He’s ultra-competitive, tremendous instincts and he’s just kind of grown into his body and gotten bigger and stronger. So those instincts and that competitiveness and those skills aren’t going away. It’s almost like being a 6-7 guy who’s a point guard/forward who becomes 7-1 and he brings all of those skills, just bigger. So, you get a guy who, again, is tremendous behind the goal, they put him in front of the goal, he’s good inside, he’s excellent on the ride, so he makes guys around him better.”

While Terps close pole Brett Makar has played extremely well of late, Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Nick Grill was matched up with Kavanagh last season and has seen just how improved he is from a year ago.

“I give Pat [Kavanagh] all the credit in the world from last year watching him and playing him last year and watching the film this year, he looks like a Tewaaraton finalist for sure and I think he backs it up completely. He’s finding guys, making everyone better and then he can get his when he wants. So just making sure we are ready for that,” said Grill.

The Irish also enter Sunday’s game owning one of the nation’s top EMO units as one of just four teams nationally to have scored on over half of their attempts with 22 goals in 40 tries. A big reason for that success is Bucknell graduate transfer Will Yorke (25g, 1a), a left-handed sniper on attack and a favorite target of Kavanagh.

The main matchup to watch, however, is likely to be Maryland’s offense versus Notre Dame’s defense. The Terps enter Sunday’s game ranked second nationally in scoring offense (16.23 goals per game), while the Irish come in ranked second nationally in scoring defense (8.45 goals allowed per game).

Maryland’s offense starts with Bernhardt, but the Terps are loaded with scorers, including Logan Wisnauskas (31g, 28a), Daniel Maltz (37g, 9a), Kyle Long (14g, 25a), Anthony DeMaio (19g, 13a), Bubba Fairman (16g, 5a) and Colgate graduate transfer Griffin Brown (11g, 2a).

The Terps prolific scoring group will have it’s hands full, however, with Notre Dame net minder Liam Entenmann. The Irish sophomore goalie leads the nation in goals allowed (8.37) and is third nationally in save percentage (.592). At 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, Entenmann is one of the larger goalies Maryland will face this season, leaving less open room for the Terps’ shooters.

“Entenmann is a big kid, takes up a lot of the goal and plays a wide base,” Tillman said. “So his feet are really wide so there’s an illusion, too, that he’s covering even more of the goal. Very well schooled guy...so we’re going to have to play well. Arguably the best guy in the goal that we’ve seen.”

In front of Entenmann will be a close defense led by fifth-year senior Jack Kielty, who at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds will pose a physical presence around the crease and likely be tasked with trying to slow down Bernhardt.

With both teams seemingly so evenly matched, Maryland’s fifth-year seniors, Bernhardt and DeMaio, could give the Terps an edge. Bernhardt in particular was a starter for the Terps’ 2017 national championship team and has been both a leader and a mentor for the younger guys on the team, as they look to get back to playing on Memorial Day.

“I think one of the things I mentioned with Jared all year was, he’s such a selfless guy,” Tillman said. “He keeps saying that he wants the other guys to be able to experience the journey and the experiences and a lot of the things that he did when he was a young guy. He obviously had a great senior class in ‘17 that just led the right way. But also, we had a lot of big games and success and I think he reflects upon those times fondly. Whether it's winning the Big Ten championship or regular season, or getting deep in the playoffs, I think he just wants those guys to know what it’s like.”

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