As No. 6 seed Maryland limps into the first round of the NCAA tournament –- which begins Saturday at 2:30 p.m. against Yale at Byrd Stadium in College Park –- the team's struggles appear to be linked to Kyle Bernlohr's troubles.
The redshirt junior goalkeeper has made a total of 19 saves and surrendered 33 goals in the past three games -– two of them losses- – for the Terps (12-3). Bernlohr still leads Division I in goals-against average at 6.49, but has slipped from first to third in save percentage at .589.
But coach John Tillman said the scrutiny should not be on Bernlohr as much as it should be trained on how opposing offenses are attacking Maryland's defense.
"Teams are really possessing the ball against us," he said Tuesday. "They're getting more opportunities than they've gotten, and I think our defense has worn down. So the quality of shots they're getting is better. So there's some concern with that. When you're having success at any position whether it's individually or offense or defense, people will scheme and game plan and realize, 'Hey, we need to be patient.' I think that's what people are doing. They're really waiting for a really good shot. Kyle's not seeing a lot of bad shots right now. People have been stingy, they're really working down the clock."
In a 9-6 loss to Ohio State in a Big Ten tournament semifinal on Thursday, Bernlohr made just three saves –- all in the second quarter -– and the Buckeyes scored seven goals in the second half to cement the victory.
But Tillman pointed out that the offense had just eight settled possessions in the first half compared to the average of 16 the unit usually enjoys.
"That means that offensively, we're not seeing the ball a lot, and conversely, we're playing a lot of defense," he said. "We've got to understand that at the other end and hep our defense. We've got to figure out ways to get more possessions, and if you watch our last two games, there have been balls on the ground that we just haven't gotten on our defensive end and in the middle of the field. That's been a point of emphasis for us. We've got to get some of these first-time ground balls and make sure we clear the ball well, and we've got to generate a few more possessions."