COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Shaylan Ahearn and Libby May entered the media tent for the postgame press conference after a hot, muggy afternoon in College Park to a most welcome sight.

Water bottles.

“Are these for us?” they asked. “They’re free?”

With a program like Maryland women’s lacrosse, it’s not uncommon to speak with players or coaches who act like they’ve been there before. That’s because, in recent memory, they have. But like those ice-cold waters dripping with condensation in the humid weather, the reactions of Ahearn and May were refreshing.

Just last weekend, Maryland captured the Big Ten championship — something that was once a ho hum accomplishment for the Terps. Not for this group. Grace Griffin and Tori Barretta were the only Terps on the roster for the program’s last conference crown in 2018. The past two seasons were nothing like what Cathy Reese’s program had come to expect during her time leading the team, which is what made Sunday’s thorough dominance of Duke in the second round of the NCAA tournament — and the postgame festivities thereafter — such an innocent scene.

Ahearn controlled nine draws and scored twice, and May scored five goals with one assist, though it was truly a complete effort in second-seeded Maryland’s 19-6 win over the Blue Devils, who knocked Maryland out of the NCAA tournament in the second round a year ago.

“We’ve worked so hard the past three years to get to this point,” May said. “If we just focus on Maryland lacrosse and the little things, the rest will take care of itself.”

A 5-3 first quarter in favor of Maryland (18-1) didn’t necessarily foreshadow the blowout that was soon to materialize. The second quarter, however, set the wheels in motion. The Terrapins had 12 possessions in the second period. They scored on 10 of them.

That was largely because of Ahearn and the play of her teammates on the circle, who faced the monumental task of neutralizing Maddie Jenner. Entering the game, Jenner had only produced fewer than 10 draw controls three times this spring. Her lowest of the campaign was seven. Ahearn and Co. held her to just four on Sunday.

“We take a lot of time preparing for the draw,” Ahearn said. “I have the draw girls who are on the circle with me sit in a room and we go over what we want our gameplan to be and what we’re going to focus on. I think we just executed that perfectly.”

Jenner, who set the NCAA’s single-season draw controls record on Friday and will almost certainly break the career mark when she returns to Durham next season, couldn’t execute her signature self-draw because of Ahearn’s quickness in pushing the ball out to the circle. And that’s where Maryland used its grit and speed to win the ball and settle into its offense.

“We weren’t our typical selves on the circle,” Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “They did a good job of anticipating where the ball was going to go. … Maddie’s the reason why we’re here. She hasn’t had a bad day. She hasn’t had an off day all season long.”

There was no better display of that formula than in the second quarter, which ended with Maryland ahead 15-5. The Terps held a 19-2 advantage on shots and an 11-1 advantage on draws in the period.

May and Shannon Smith each deposited two goals during an 8-0 run to end the quarter. Eloise Clevenger, Hannah Leubecker, Aurora Cordingley, Jordyn Lipkin and Ahearn scored the others. Griffin and Ahearn tacked on the first two goals of the third quarter, too, making it a 10-0 run.

“These girls can run for days,” Reese said about the ferocity of her players in the middle of the field. “They’re just out there, and they’re really pushing our transition. To balance that out, our offense is being a lot smarter. We’ve been a lot smarter about our possessions. With our speed … these guys can really control that area of the field. Our attackers and our ride can really help out, too.”

Maryland now draws seventh-seeded Florida in the NCAA quarterfinals, to be played Thursday in College Park at a time to be determined. Maryland’s draw and midfield play dominated a February 26 matchup against the Gators, an 18-8 Terps win.

And now, for a Maryland team that has previously embraced its experience and been-there-before mentality, there’s an inviting sense of naïveté. This isn’t the Maryland of old. It’s young and hungry. And the results have been nothing short of refreshing.