Strong defense has been a tradition of Maryland's lacrosse program throughout its proud history, but there was doubt about this year's team after the Terps lost three All-Americans.
Eight games into the season, No. 3 Maryland (7-1) has exceeded expectations. The Terps are ranked No. 1 nationally in scoring defense, and their mark of 4.88 goals allowed per game is their lowest through eight games since 1969. They held No. 4 North Carolina's high-powered offense to eight goals Saturday night, No. 10 Princeton to two and Villanova to four.
In lacrosse, where the top scorers get all the attention and the new substitution rules favor the offense, a Terps player has won Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors five of six times this season.
That's not just impressive, but total domination.
"When I was a freshman, I had defensemen like Brett and Max Schmidt ahead of me," Maryland senior defenseman Casey Ikeda said. "They all brought something different to the table, but they taught the younger guys about having a great work ethic, that you had to play a tough, hard-nosed style.
"When you play at a place like Maryland, you know you are going to lose great players every year, so we have the next-man-up mentality. We're aware of the tradition here."
This season has been beyond the norm. Maryland has had some great defensemen through the years — Mike Farrell, Brian Jackson and Brian Burlace, just to name a few. The Terps had a pretty star-studded defense in 2014, but lost All-America defender Goran Murray (ineligible), goalkeeper Niko Amato (graduation) and long-stick defensive midfielder Michael Ehrhardt (graduation).
Maryland was expected to suffer growing pains in the first half of the season, but the Terps have been extremely good, and downright suffocating on occasion.
Maryland has held an opponent scoreless for at least an 11-minute stretch in all eight games and for 20-plus minutes in six of eight. In four games, it didn't allow a goal for 30 minutes; North Carolina was blanked for 33:25 and held eight goals below its average.
"Right now, I have guarded optimism," said coach John Tillman, whose Terps host Michigan on Sunday. "It is still early in the season, at a time when offenses are still trying to find themselves. I'm waiting to see where we're at down the stretch, when teams start playing better and scheme against you. That's when we will know who we are and what we're really about. The early signs, though, have been encouraging."
Coaches usually don't like to gloat this early in the season. Maryland's success, though, is a reflection of Tillman and defensive coordinator Kevin Conry. It's easy to determine when players buy into a system, because they start repeating the same cliches and phrases as their coaches.
Ikeda sounds like a Tillman clone and preaches about the system, not individual performances. He and fellow close defensemen Matt Dunn (Loyola Blakefield) and Mac Pons (Boys' Latin) know one another's positions, which shows in their slides and support in man-to-man defense.
But it isn't just about the back end. Maryland has a great long-stick defensive midfielder in freshman Matt Neufeldt, a former hockey player who is athletic, fearless and relentless in going after ground balls. The Terps also have two good short-stick defensive midfielders in sophomore Isaiah Davis-Allen and freshman Adam DiMillo.
Ikeda and Tillman like to point out that Maryland is successful at winning faceoffs (56.4 percent) and clearing the ball (84.4 percent).
"If we get great wing play or win faceoffs, that is one less opportunity the other team has to score," Ikeda said. "It's not just about one-on-one matchups, but the system. We know someone is going to get beat, that the other team is going to make a play, but is the support there? If we slide once, will the second slide be there? If we will have to, we will slide again and again to support each other."
Another key is Maryland's off-ball defense, which is surprisingly good, considering the new starters in the lineup. Maryland plays mostly man-to-man but occasionally will play zone.
"The hardest thing to do defensively is to communicate and play when you're not on the ball as a young defender, and that's what has really surprised me more than anything. It's not that these guys are able to play and shut down dodgers," ESPN analyst Paul Carcaterra said.
"They're playing a complete type of defense where they're supporting one another, and the biggest shock to me is the lack of experience and how good these players are off the ball and how well they have embraced the team concept."
Few have embraced it more than junior Kyle Bernlohr. He always has been a good goalie, but had the misfortune of playing behind Amato, the starter for the past four seasons.
This season, though, Bernlohr has been great in the cage, with a .699 save percentage.
"He just happened to play behind Niko," Tillman said. "Kyle has always played well, but here was another situation where it was incumbent upon the player to step up and take advantage of the opportunity through practice. And Kyle has done that."
And so have Pons and Dunn and Neufeldt. Playing defense at Maryland is not just a part of the game, it is The Game.
And that's how the Terps keep winning.