After No. 4 seed Penn State's 16-9 loss to top-seeded Maryland in Thursday night's Big Ten Conference men's lacrosse tournament semifinal at Homewood Field, Nittany Lions coach Jeff Tambroni opened his postgame conference by focusing on what his team had endured over the past 11 months.
On June 12, Tambroni and the players learned that redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Connor Darcey had been killed in a single-car accident in Boston. The program dedicated the 2016 season in Darcey's memory.
"It's been a long year for us, but I would say within that year, I've learned a lot as a father and as a coach," he began. "I would say the perspective that these young men have brought back to my life about what it really means to be a coach and what it means to be around young men of their caliber is an honor. It's going to be tough to end this season with this result, but it was all brought back to my attention when I walked into that locker room and realized the first-class young men that we have and the way they battled all year. It just makes me very proud."
No. 18 Penn State is the only team this spring to have defeated top-ranked and reigning NCAA champion Denver. But after a Big Ten-opening win against Ohio State, the program suffered three consecutive one-goal losses to the No. 3 Terps, No. 9 Johns Hopkins and No. 17 Rutgers.
"It was hard," conceded junior attackman Nick Aponte. "Everybody wanted to punch a hole in the wall when we got back into the locker room after a couple of those games. That was three in a row. I give credit because our seniors led, and the team looked up to them and saw how they carried themselves. So I guess we just have to learn from it."
Maryland coach John Tillman offered his praise of the Nittany Lions, saying: "That's a team we have a lot of respect for. Certainly a group that has been through a lot since last summer, and I think that team has played incredibly hard and just done a great job managing a tough situation. Our hearts go out to those kids and what they've experienced this year, and how they've been able to persevere says a lot about them."
Circling back to "Three Things to Watch" …
1) Production from Matt Rambo. After failing to score a goal and finishing with just one assist in Maryland's 11-10 overtime win against Penn State on April 10, the junior attackman led all scorers with five points on three goals and two assists. Rambo was especially critical during his team's opening 6-0 run, with two goals and two assists.
But Rambo's unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty with 5:11 left in the first quarter opened the door for the Nittany Lions' 3-0 spurt. In the end, the Terps coasted to victory, but Tillman said Rambo must be more disciplined.
"You kind of see the best and worst right there," Tillman said. "I think he's a guy that plays really hard. He's very passionate. He cares so much. Sometimes we have to remind the guys, you've got to manage the game, don't let the game manage you. Like any young guy, he's excited. So [we are] focusing on being more disciplined. I know he knows better. I thought it was a teachable moment, which is really important for us. I know he'll learn from that and grow from it, and he'll do a great job down the road because one of the reasons we were doing well was because of Matt's effort."
2) Strategy against Penn State's attack. The starting trio of junior Nick Aponte, freshman Grant Ament and senior TJ Sanders accounted for five goals and three assists in that overtime loss to Maryland. On Thursday night, Aponte scored four times, Sanders added one goal and two assists, and Ament scored once. But their production was kept in check because the Terps answered every Nittany Lions run with a goal or stop of their own.
"It just seemed like every single time we would get momentum back, they just somehow stopped us, either by a save or a couple goals and stuff like that," Aponte said. "It was a rough one today."
3) Possessions from faceoffs. Maryland won 15 of 25 draws against Penn State a month ago but went just 12-for-29 Thursday. Freshman Austin Henningsen (leg) returned from a four-game absence and won two of six, but freshman Will Bonaparte took the majority of faceoffs, going 10-for-22 with six ground balls. The Terps won four of seven draws in the third quarter, and Tillman credited volunteer assistant coach Chris Mattes with rotating the duo of sophomore long-stick midfielder Bryce Young and freshman short-stick defensive midfielder Wesley Janeck with redshirt senior long-stick midfielder Greg Danseglio and junior short-stick defensive midfielder Isaiah Davis-Allen on the wings.
"In the second half, Bryce Young and Wes Janeck really gave us some energy off the wing," Tillman said. "Danseglio and Isaiah are always really good, but I thought those two guys really helped us. We got some possessions back and were able to kind of flip the possessions because it seemed like for an awful long time there in the second quarter, they had the ball a lot, and it felt like our defense was starting to get a little fatigued."