Teams look to end title droughts in lacrosse Final Four

The NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse tournament has produced first-time champions in three of the past six years. One of the four teams that will be present at championship weekend in Philadelphia has a chance to continue that trend.

But for fans of a couple of the other participants, a title would feel like something new. A vast majority of the students at those institutions, after all, weren’t alive to witness their school’s most recent championship.

The program that appears closest to achieving that long-awaited breakthrough is Maryland. The Terrapins entered the tournament as the top seed and have looked the part of the No. 1 team with a pair of methodical victories to earn this visit to Lincoln Financial Field. In fact, the Terrapins haven’t lost since March 5 and arrive in Philly with a 15-game winning streak in tow.

"Somebody mentioned that," said Terrapins coach John Tillman of the streak. "The coaches just kind of looked at each other like, 'Really? We haven’t lost since then?' Honestly, at this time of year it’s not just about that. It’s about what level you’re playing and maximizing what you have. ... We certainly realize it takes a lot to get here, and we’re excited about what’s in front of us."

What’s in front of the Terrapins right now is a date with Brown, the lone semifinalist that is seeking its first title. The Bears have captivated long-time observers of the sport and newcomers alike with their high-octane approach to the game.

"I think Brown is very unique," Tillman said. "We’ve played teams that maybe have slight aspects of their style — certainly Rutgers likes to get up and down the field — but nobody who’s fully committed to what they do."

Unfortunately, Brown will likely still be without leading scorer Dylan Molloy. The Tewaaraton Award favorite played through what appeared to be a minor foot injury in the Bears’ first-round win against Johns Hopkins. But after that game the severity of the damage became more evident, and Molloy missed last week’s 11-10 quarterfinal win against Navy.

"Any coach would say to his team, 'All right, next man up,' " Bears coach Lars Tiffany said. "But the key is our men believed it. They accepted it, they embraced it. Now moving forward here, the battle is to not be content with what we’ve done."

Getting past Maryland won’t be easy, with or without Molloy. Winning on semifinal Saturday hasn’t been the issue for the Terrapins, who have made it to three of the past five championship games. This group, furthermore, might be Tillman’s deepest squad. As Tiffany put it, their moniker is appropriate for their winning formula.

"It’s just like Aesop said — the old tortoise and the hare fable," he said. "They’re the turtles. You’ve got a combination of extreme skill with phenomenal game sense and intelligence. Here at Brown we accept turnovers. We accept the fact that if we go for some of those home-run feeds, turnovers are going to happen. They just don’t force things that aren’t there. The challenge for our defense is can we maintain a razor-sharp focus for a minute-and-a-half at a time?"

The wait for a national crown hasn’t been quite as long for North Carolina faithful, but the Tar Heels managed to end a much lengthier drought by just getting to this point. The Tar Heels won four championships and nearly had a fifth when they lost a 13-12 heartbreaker to Syracuse in the classic 1993 final. But that was UNC’s last trip to championship weekend.

The Tar Heels’ current run seemed unlikely when they began the 2016 campaign 3-3. The tide turned UNC’s way thanks to a couple of key Atlantic Coast Conference results in April, an overtime win at Duke and a huge comeback victory against Notre Dame.

"In the fall when we first got together, we had really great energy and developed some great senior leadership," recalled coach Joe Breschi. "Then in the spring when we got into our first games, it was almost like we were looking around waiting for guys to make plays. The offense was a bit stagnant. We just had to say, 'All six of you cohesively need to step up..' ... They’ve improved so much from the start to where they are today. I think that’s the most exciting thing to see, given the amount of work they’ve put in."

With those early losses weighing down their overall résumé, the Tar Heels entered the tournament unseeded. They didn’t look like underdogs last week, however, when they opened a nine-goal lead in a rematch with Notre Dame en route to a 13-9 victory. But they have another difficult assignment in Saturday’s semifinal contest against Loyola.

Followers of the seventh-seeded Greyhounds have enjoyed more recent success than the other members of this weekend’s foursome. Loyola won the school’s first NCAA championship in any sport in 2012. If the Greyhounds can win a second in the coming days, it will be due in large measure to some key newcomers. Freshman attackman Pat Spencer was named both the rookie and offensive player of the year in the Patriot League, and has shown why by notching six goals and six assists in the Greyhounds’ two tournament wins thus far.

"I’d be lying if I said I thought he’d put up the numbers that he has," Greyhounds’ coach Charley Toomey said. "I did see him as a guy we’d hoped to settle in at the offensive end. We saw signs of it in the fall that he was a really tough kid to cover. ... The game has certainly slowed down for Pat as the season has progressed."

Another freshman, Jacob Stover, has helped solidify the Loyola defense since taking over in goal. They’ll need another solid effort to slow that more cohesive Tar Heels offense.

With their sisters in action just down the road in Chester, Pa., in the women’s Final Four, UNC and Maryland have the opportunity to pull off the rare double. Princeton is the only school to claim both the men’s and women’s Division I lacrosse titles in the same year, accomplishing the feat in 1994.

Follow Eddie Timanus on Twitter @EddieTimanus.