To hear John Tillman describe it, the Maryland coach had some choice words for the players in the aftermath of Saturday's 10-6 loss at then-No. 14 Yale.
But rather than take offense, the Terps – who dropped from No. 7 to No. 10 in the latest Cascade/Maverik media poll after that loss – agreed with their coach's candid assessment.
"We put it on ourselves," junior goalkeeper Kyle Bernlohr said after Tuesday night's 11-7 victory over No. 11 Penn. "We've got to do a better job of protecting the ball. We've got to throw it better, we've got to catch it better, we've got to move our feet. All the little details are what really lost us that game. It's just the intangibles that we've got to take care of. Moving forward with this win, I think we can really get on a roll here."
Unlike Saturday, Maryland was aggressive on offense, won faceoffs, and controlled time of possession by collecting ground balls. Sophomore attackman Dylan Maltz said Tillman's words set the tone for Tuesday night.
"Coach Tillman, he always says stuff, and we know that he's right," the Syracuse transfer said. "So we just took it as good motivation, and we played hard."
Tillman said he did not regret his criticism, and compared his reprimands to those delivered by the players' parents.
"Some of the things we've been doing, we've been talking about since August," he reasoned. "Turnovers, just forcing plays, and it hasn't gotten better. So it was at a point where it was, 'OK, we're going to make a little bit of a stand and you may not like the way we say it, but we're going to hammer it home. Don't worry about the tone, worry about the message.' And I thought the guys responded pretty well to that."
Circling back to "Three Things to Watch" …
1) Where's the offense? The Terps (2-1) erupted for 11 goals on Tuesday night, nearly matching their output from the first two games. And the offense recorded seven assists, which was one more than its season total. Scoring the game's first three goals helped, but Tillman said the key was crisp passing that forced the Quakers defense to move and open up gaps for Maryland's shooters.
"It was what we wanted – sharing it, moving, just everybody getting involved, not letting the ball with everybody standing around to watch one guy dodge," he said. "That's what happened on Saturday. There were a lot of guys watching and one guy trying to do it all. We're kind of a new team in a lot of ways. [Last season's leading scorer] Mike Chanenchuk is not here. So a lot of times, you're going to have to have other leaders step up. [Senior attackman] Jay Carlson has done a good job of helping us get organized, calling out sets, and I thought the guys really bought into trusting each other."
2) Who will take faceoffs? Despite his struggles on faceoffs this season (44.4 percent, 8-for-18), senior Charlie Raffa is still respected. So his absence from Tuesday night figured to be a considerable blow for the Terps. But junior Jon Garino Jr., who was even more ineffective at 10 percent (1-for-10), won 63.6 percent (14 of 22) of his draws and scooped up a game-high 10 ground balls. Garino was so good that freshman Will Bonaparte and junior Andrew Walsh didn't take a faceoff.
"He was really good on the whistle," Tillman said of Garino. "He was very disciplined. We didn't do a great job on Saturday with that. We moved early, we weren't patient. … Once it came out, he was better on the first scoop. He missed a couple of the first ground balls last week and then it became a 50-50. This time, when it came out, he got it the first time and was able to get a little bit of space to get safety and find the next guy."
3) Will Maryland pressure the ball? Both teams were careless with the ball. The Terps coughed up the ball 22 times, while Penn committed 19 turnovers. But the key stat to Tillman was the ground balls. Maryland enjoyed a 36-22 advantage in that category, and Tillman said that dominance was an encouraging sign of the players' attitude.
"When you look at the ground ball stats in the first half, that said a lot about the way the guys came out," Tillman said. "When you're going 20-5 in the first half, that's great."