5/31/22
Yesterday ended the college lacrosse season, with the Maryland Terrapins beating Cornell with a final score of 9-7 earning the program’s 4th National Championship. The Terps ended the season 18-0, with only a handful of teams in the history of college lacrosse ever accomplishing this, the last of which being the 2006 Virginia Cavaliers. With all that said, one has to ask the question, was this the best team ever?
The 2022 Terps were the 14th team all time to go undefeated, the first, appropriately enough, were the ’73 Terps. Out of these 14 different teams, some of the ones that stand out among the rest are the ’79 Johns Hopkins Blue Jays, the 1990 Syracuse Orangemen, the 97′ Princeton Tigers, and the aforementioned 2006 Cavs.
Each one of these teams has a lot of significance to them. The ’79 Blue Jays had some defensive legends of the game, including arguably the best defensemen ever in Dom Petromala and lacrosse icon Quint Kessenich. They dominated the defensive end of the ball on their way to an undefeated season. The 1990 Syracuse team was flatout absurd. They changed the world of lacrosse with three words: the Gait brothers. Paul and Gary changed the way lacrosse was approached and the level it was being watched. They did things on the field that made people want to try and do themselves, as well as made people want to watch. They inspired guys like the Powells to go to Cuse and play lacrosse as a family, even though the Princeton Tigers would ultimately rule the 90s.
Princeton won 5 championships in the 90s, including 3 in a row from 96-98. The best of those teams was the one in the middle, the ’97 Tigers. The Brilliance of Bill Tierney is what made this team so spectacular, along with an absurd roster. Tierney introduced slide packages with doubles involved, which was unheard of before hand, and was able to turn the ball over in more ways than the offense chucking the ball, faceoffs, and saves. It was truly innovative for the sport. Finally, the ’06 Cavs were put together like the ’92 dream team. Ben Rubeor. Matt Ward. Kyle Dixon. Michael Culver. Matt Kelly. Kip Turner! I mean, the roster speaks for itself, its fucking stacked. They beat teams individually. Across the field, the Cavs would win their own individual matchups. It was awesome to watch, and it was a very different way then how the Terps played this year.
The Maryland Terrapins beat teams as a unit. In one word, the Terps this year were selfless. Starting on their effortless offense, they waited patiently for the right shot, not necessarily the best one, but the right one. Everyone on the field for their offense had the potential to beat their defensemen and shoot it, and maybe it was in a good place on the field, but it was not the right shot. Maryland would move the ball across the field without cradling and shoot the shit out of the ball for the right shot. Second, it was selfless of Coach Tillman to stick with and trust Luke Wierman after the last play in the ‘ship from last year. He trusted him and Wierman balled the fuck out this year. Lastly, the defensive side of the ball was as selfless as ever. It starts with the D-mids, and Bubba Fairman switching over from offense to defense. Changing positions is tough, but Fairman knew it was for the greater good of the team. The close D played as a unit, which is always a pure sight to see. And in between the pipes, Logan Mcnaney balled out the entire year, particularly Memorial Day Weekend. So, where does this team rank among the greats?
I am trying to compare these teams against any team all time. That means the older teams would have to play with the shot clock, and the more recent teams might have to play without the clock. Personally, I don’t think anyone can touch the ’90 Syracuse team. They were loaded everywhere on the field, and on top of that, they changed the game forever. Second on the All-time list in my opinion is the Princeton team. It isn’t based on any other fact that they won three years in a row at one point. Their dominance lasted for such a long time, and that isn’t really seen in lacrosse today. Third, I’m taking the ’06 Cavs team. As I said, they remind me of the ’92 USA basketball team, and I think it would be very tough for any team all time to matchup against them. Even the next team on the list, this year’s Terps. They had absurd individual pieces, so that isn’t the problem, I just doubt how they’d do against better teams in big games. They were obviously better then Princeton and Cornell this year by a lot, but Maryland kept making stupid mistakes to keep both teams in the game. Lastly, ’79 Hopkins is in last because although they arguably had the best defense of all time, their offense was laking. The Blue Jays didn’t have the kind of balance these other teams had.
Maryland was absurd this year, no question, and they are easily a top 5 team of all time. Congrats to the Terps on a hell of a year and I’m pumped to see what they have in store for next year.
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