Maryland senior midfielder Tim Rotanz thought he had seen it all from teammate and fellow midfielder Connor Kelly.

Then, Saturday’s 12-10 victory over visiting Notre Dame happened.

On that memorable day, Kelly’s evolution continued in an unexpected way that stunned the Fighting Irish, whose modus operandi begins with a stingy defense that rarely gets torched by a single player.

The three goals scored by Kelly against Notre Dame were nothing new for the senior from Easton, Conn. Kelly is a year removed from a 46-goal season that, besides pushing the Terrapins toward their first NCAA title since 1975, marked the most goals scored by any Maryland midfielder ever in a single year.

But Saturday’s win by the unbeaten, top-ranked Terps (5-0) produced the newer version of a player who is much more than the classic dodger and knock-down shooter that showed up in College Park in 2014.

Kelly was a revelation, as he carved up the Irish defense with a seven-assist explosion. His day featured throwback looks off of alley dodges, no-look passes inside from 20 yards out and several diagonal skip passes that split Notre Dame defenders and left finishers such as attackmen Logan Wisnauskas and Jared Bernhardt in perfect positions to catch and score.

Maryland never trailed, and the Irish never figured out to counter Kelly’s quarterbacking masterpiece. He became only the fourth player in Maryland history to record 10 points in a game and the first since Bob Boneillo, the last Terp to do it in 1979.

Kelly’s seven assists also tied a school record – this, from a scorer who registered a total of 11 assists last year and entered the season with 27 career helpers.

“I didn’t realize [Kelly] had some of those passes in his back pocket. I don’t think I’d seen that aspect of his game,” said Rotanz, who likened Kelly’s performance to that of former star attackman Matt Rambo, who graduated last year after spending three excellent seasons as Maryland’s quarterback.

“Some of those looks – hook passes from 20 yards – were not really in the game plan [against Notre Dame]," Rotanz added. "Connor was looking through the defense and making it happen. He has been known as a shooter and a scorer. Now, he’s a reason our guys are cutting so hard, knowing [Kelly’s] head is always up and looking to feed.”

“It looked like [Kelly] was two steps ahead of the play as the initiator. He made tough feeds look easy,” said former Maryland attackman Colin Heacock, another star with last year’s national champions.

“It’s clear that Connor is taking on a leadership role," Heacock added. "His playing style is crazy, but he still goes about his game so quietly and nonchalantly. I FaceTimed him right after the Notre Dame game and asked him how did he get those 10 points? Connor wouldn’t take the credit. He just said, ‘My teammates kept popping open.’”

Kelly, who was one of just two collegiate players on the 2018 U.S. men's training roster, doesn’t do self-promotion. He barely celebrates following a score. He’s more comfortable discussing a part of his game that he feels is lacking.

“What led me to love lacrosse more than any other sport I’ve played are been the players and the mentors that have been around me,” said Kelly, the second-youngest of six children raised by Mark and Pennie Kelly in the Fairfield area.

“When you play with such great talent and smart guys [at Maryland], you learn to let the game come to you,” he added. “The game slows down and becomes so simple. Everybody is a role player in our offense, and the ball finds its way to the back of the net.”

It makes perfect sense that Kelly is a senior captain who became the school’s seventh consecutive USILA All-American (first team in 2017) to wear jersey No. 1 after wearing No. 40 for three seasons.

“What we’ve seen is a guy who came in [from Avon Old Farms as an Under Armour High School All-American] pretty heralded. You never know how much better a guy will get,” Maryland’s eighth-year coach John Tillman said. “Connor just keeps going up and up and up.

“Some guys are one-dimensional," Tillman added. "Connor came here with a diverse game and has really good awareness of what the offense needs. He doesn’t need the ball. He can move the ball or affect the game with his defense, which he has really improved. He’s worried more about getting guys organized than he is about his points.”

That’s classic Kelly.

He will switch from midfield to attack smoothly, generate multiple-goal games with his 100-miles-per-hour shot from medium or deep range and make a fine goalie look average. Then, he would rather talk about the pass or screen or play call that set him up for success.

“Connor has never liked to brag,” said Mark Kelly of the younger of his two sons that include Bronson Kelly, a 2015 graduate of and former midfielder at Johns Hopkins.

“He is a thinker," Mark Kelly added. "If you ask him a question, he might not come back with an obvious answer. When he was young, he’d be in the backseat of the car with his hands pressed up against his face. I’d ask him what he was doing, and he’d answer, ‘I’m thinking!’

“Growing up, Connor was a so-so lacrosse player. He looks at lacrosse like a chess game now. He thinks outside the box.”

Kelly excelled at numerous youth sports, including football and hockey. His father recalled a turning point for Connor, when he was cut from the varsity hockey team as a sophomore at Fairfield Prep, which he attended before transferring to Avon.

“All of his friends made the team, but Connor got cut,” Mark Kelly said. “I think his attitude about sports changed after that. He took it more seriously. Besides being a competitor, he started to become a kid who wanted to be a leader.”

By the time Connor Kelly got to Avon, he had changed.

Over three seasons under head coach Skip Flanagan, Kelly shifted between attack and midfield, had successful turns as a defensive midfielder, and went on to lead the team in scoring as a junior and senior. He helped the Winged Beavers to two Founders League titles and was an all-New England honoree as a senior.

On the football field, Kelly also proved to be an exceptional talent who rarely left the field. Over three years, he started at wide receiver and safety, returned kickoffs and punts and was the team’s punter and placekicker. As a senior, he led Avon to a league title and was the Founders MVP and all-New England.

“Connor is still as modest and self-effacing as he was when he got here,” Flanagan said. “We knew he was a talented player. His attitude was the same no matter what position we asked him to play. His approach was, ‘How can I help?’ All we did here was to enhance the foundation Connor’s family sent to us.”

Kelly drew serious interest from North Carolina and Duke, but Michigan was the only school to offer him a lacrosse scholarship before Maryland entered the picture during his junior year at Avon. He and Tillman clicked immediately, and after his official visit to College Park, Kelly signed on as a Terp.

Well before he had established himself as a dangerous weapon in the Maryland offense, Kelly was a fall ball newcomer getting used to academic demands and getting knocked around on the practice field.

“I was struck by how big and fast people were flying around the field. You learn pretty fast how gritty they are around here,” Kelly said. “Fighting is allowed [in practice], to a point. If you’re not going hard after a ground ball, you’re going to get your head knocked. I remember [former defenseman] Casey Ikeda checking the ball out of my stick as I dodged him. As I’m picking up the ground ball, Casey’s stick came down so hard on my arms. That got my attention.”

Kelly got enough of the Maryland coaching staff’s attention to stick as a second-line midfielder his freshman year. He appeared in 19 games and totaled eight points. In a sign of things to come, Kelly showed up on a big stage by erupting for three goals in Maryland’s NCAA tournament quarterfinals win over North Carolina. The Terps ended up losing the NCAA title game to Denver.

“It’s not like Connor came in super-talented and it happened like that,” said Maryland senior midfielder Adam DiMillo, snapping his fingers. “He really worked at it. He spent lots of [extra] time shooting, playing defense in practice, getting his nose dirty. Even now, every day he hits the reset button and is trying to get better at something.”

DiMillo has lived with Kelly, an economics major, for three years. The two share off-campus housing with six other players. He said Kelly has “no monster TV or video games” in his room and regularly reads books on leadership and business that pile up next to his bed.

Kelly enjoyed a breakout sophomore year. He started 18 games on the first midfield and finished with 31 goals – third-best on the team – and 13 assists. Kelly thrived as a shooter in an offense driven by the older Rambo and Heacock and midfielders Bryan Cole and Henry West.

He put up huge numbers late in the year, scoring four goals apiece in the Big Ten semifinals and final, as Maryland bested Penn State and Rutgers. The Terps charged into the NCAA title game with a 16-game winning streak, and Kelly showed up by matching his career-high with four more goals against North Carolina.

But the red-hot Tar Heels had the last word in a 14-13 win in overtime, and Kelly took home a nightmare to marinate in all summer. His extra-man shot in overtime from about 10 yards out hit Carolina goalie Brian Balkam in the mid-section, and Maryland never got the ball back. Chris Cloutier cashed in an extra-man chance at the other end.

“I still think about that shot,” said Kelly, who added he struggled to sleep consistently that summer, while sharpening his focus on preparing for his best year in 2017. “I still see our seniors [in 2016], so disappointed with their careers over. I still see Cloutier at the other making that gut-wrenching shot. That still drives me.”

“Frankly, I was worried about [Kelly],” said Maryland offensive coordinator J.L. Reppert. “We would want Connor to take that shot 100 out of 100 times. He wasn’t the reason we lost that game. He came in the following fall as a man possessed. He was engaged and on fire and he turned into a leader on this offense.”

Kelly’s best was about to happen. He started all 19 games at midfield, ranked first among Division I midfielders with 46 goals and was money in the season’s final month.

Kelly scored nine goals to spark the Terps to another league championship and earned Big Ten Tournament MVP honors.

He lit up Albany for five goals in the NCAA quarterfinal, hit Denver with a hat trick in the semifinals and added a goal on Memorial Day, as Maryland finally erased its four-decade title drought with a 9-6 win over Big Ten rival Ohio State.

After Maryland lost its entire attack to graduation, it was clear that Kelly would have enhanced responsibilities in 2018.

Heading into Saturday’s showdown against visiting, No. 2 Albany, Kelly clearly is responding to the challenge.

He overcame two days with a severe stomach virus and surprised his coaches and teammates by starting the season opener against Navy. Kelly’s energy was limited, but he still put up a goal and three assists to push Maryland to a 10-4 win. He produced 13 combined points in victories against Marist and High Point.

His latest throw-down moment came with those fireworks against Notre Dame. Kelly’s heroics earned him Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season.

“I still can’t believe [Kelly] played that day against Navy,” Rotanz said. “When I saw him that Friday night, I was sure he wouldn’t play. Then when he was warming up with us [before the Navy game], I asked if he was sure he could do this. Connor just shrugged. When it’s game time, he knows how to battle.”