Quint Kessenich: Previewing the NCAA tournament quarterfinals
The payoff of the playoffs is here.
A record-setting crowd is expected Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, where Johns Hopkins and Maryland will meet to begin the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament quarterfinals. The largest-ever attendance in this round (17,017) also came at Annapolis, in 2008.
The next day, PPL Park in Chester, Pa. — two hours up Interstate 95 — will host NCAA tournament games for the first time.
For the winners, a berth in the semifinals along with validation of all the work that went into getting this far.
For the losers, well ... nobody remembers a quarterfinal loser.
Here are the keys for each team to move on to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., for championship weekend:
— By Quint Kessenich, Special to The Baltimore Sun
A record-setting crowd is expected Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, where Johns Hopkins and Maryland will meet to begin the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament quarterfinals. The largest-ever attendance in this round (17,017) also came at Annapolis, in 2008.
The next day, PPL Park in Chester, Pa. — two hours up Interstate 95 — will host NCAA tournament games for the first time.
For the winners, a berth in the semifinals along with validation of all the work that went into getting this far.
For the losers, well ... nobody remembers a quarterfinal loser.
Here are the keys for each team to move on to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., for championship weekend:
— By Quint Kessenich, Special to The Baltimore Sun
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UMBC's Phil Poe, Maryland's Curtis Holmes
MARYLAND
1. Own the loose balls. Ground-ball wins through effort and toughness will determine possession and dictate momentum. Faceoff men Curtis Holmes (McDonogh) and Charlie Raffa must get to 50 percent on Hopkins' Mike Poppleton. 2. Draw on the positive NCAA playoff experiences of 2011 and 2012. Maryland has won four of its past postseason games, beating North Carolina, Syracuse, Duke and Lehigh. 3. Give Hopkins fits with strong midfield defense. Long-stick midfielder Jesse Bernhardt and short-stick defenders Landon Carr and David Miller are superb cover men. They can clamp down on Blue Jays playmakers Lee Coppersmith, Rob Guida and John Ranagan. 4. Set shots are much more accurate than shots on the run. When midfielders Chanenchuk, Snider, Michael Shakespeare and John Haus are able to get their hands free and set their feet, they are accurate shooters. When they are releasing off an alley dodge or sweeping, the Terps' percentage plummets. Dodging with authority and then kicking the ball to the weak side can lead to set shots. |
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