One game into the 2012 campaign, Maryland's young defense is feeling a little better about itself after Saturday's 12-6 victory over No. 19 Hartford.
Against an offense that returned more than 88 percent of its offensive output – including its entire starting attack and midfield – the No. 8 Terps allowed just 23 shots and blanked senior attackman Ryan Compitello, who recorded 22 goals and 27 assists last year.
"We did pretty well, I thought," said sophomore Michael Ehrhardt, who joined sophomore Brian Cooper and freshman Goran Murray in making their first career starts on close defense. "We've just got to clean up a bunch of stuff, a lot of the inside stuff. But we were looking forward to this experience, the first start for the three of us with a great leader in [redshirt sophomore] Niko [Amato] in the cage. And we've got [junior long-stick midfielder] Jesse [Bernhardt] up top. They lead us. We just communicate a lot, and it was fun going out there."
The strength of the defense loomed as a question mark after the graduation of starting defensemen Brett Schmidt, Max Schmidt and Ryder Bohlander, long-stick midfielder Brian Farrell and short-stick defensive midfielder Dan Burns.
But Ehrhardt, Cooper and Murray combined for 10 groundballs and five caused turnovers, Bernhardt finished with team highs in groundballs (eight) and caused turnovers (three), and the short-stick defensive midfield duo of senior David Miller and Landon Carr totaled six groundballs.
"I thought at times we looked really good. At times, we gave up some things that we shouldn't have," coach John Tillman said. "But I'm not surprised by that. We're a work in progress down there."
The defense's progress will be scrutinized as Maryland prepares to meet No. 2 Johns Hopkins, No. 6 Villanova, and Atlantic Coast Conference rivals Virginia, Duke and North Carolina. Ehrhardt said he and his teammates know the doubts surrounding them won't recede until season's end.
"We've got to live up to the expectations that we have," he said. "That's the purpose of coming to an ACC school, to play for a top school. Our defense is a legacy here. It's big-time lacrosse here, and we've got to fill in the shoes each year."