Despite Maryland advancing through its Big Ten schedule untarnished, despite Jared Bernhardt’s sizzling Tewaaraton-worthy campaign while leading an offense that averaged 16.23 goals per game and despite a defense that held opponents to under 10 goals a contest, one question persisted. 

How would the Terrapins fare against the ACC?

We got an answer this afternoon in South Bend at Arlotta Stadium. The Big Ten champs came out on top, but needed extra time to top sixth-seeded Notre Dame. Senior midfielder Anthony DeMaio completed a picture perfect give-and-go with Logan Wisnauskaus then stuck a shot over Liam Entenmann’s left shoulder to keep Maryland’s perfect season alive and clinch its 27th trip to Championship Weekend in program history. 

The scoreboard at Arlotta read Notre Dame 14, Guests 13 because Maryland was the higher seed, but it didn’t matter. The third-seeded Terps get to play another week. 

“We all believe in each other,” DeMaio said after calling the sequence that led to the game-winning goal “nothing special.” 

It would have been easy to lose that faith despite surging out to a 5-1 lead after the first quarter. As Notre Dame did throughout the season, the Fighting Irish surged back in the second quarter, outscoring Maryland 6-2 to tie the score at 7 entering the break. Notre Dame’s duo of Kyle Gallagher and Charlie Leonard combined to win 12 of 16 faceoffs in the first half, including 8 of 9 in the second quarter. That advantage, combined with two failed clears in the quarter, had the Terrapins asking for trouble, Maryland head coach John Tillman said. 

“That’s as bad as we played all year for one quarter,” Tillman said. “And give Notre Dame credit. They were a big part of that.”

Yet Tillman tried to frame the situation as a positive and did not dwell on what happened. The score was still tied and Maryland had a man advantage to start the second half, which Bernhardt scored on for his fifth goal of the afternoon and 64th of the season. 

Bernhardt was held scoreless the rest of the way, as Notre Dame answered with a 3-0 run that started with back-to-back goals from freshman midfielder Eric Dobson. A week after setting a career high with 17 saves against Drexel in a 10-8 first-round win in Denver, Entenmann followed up the performance with 16 stops back on the home turf of Arlotta. He made six in the third quarter alone. 

“Liam couldn’t have been a whole lot better,” Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan said after the game before adding he believed he’ll be the best goalie in the country for the next three years. 

The Terrapins’ next-play mentality came in handy in the fourth quarter, when trailing 12-9 with 12 minutes to play after Will Yoke’s second goal of the game. Wisnauskas scored two minutes later on a bounce shot from the right wing after DeMaio found him with a cross-field pass. The goal kicked off a four-goal run for Maryland, which Wisnauskas capped off with a low-to-high riser off a pass from Daniel Maltz (one goal, one assist) to give the Terrapins their first lead since 14 seconds into the second half. 

After Dobson fed Wheaton Jackoboice for his fourth goal of the game, Maryland had several possessions. Entenmann made his 16th save on a Maltz shot with 2:37 left, then with under a minute to play, Notre Dame defenseman Arden Cohen caused a turnover with a masterfully timed slap check on Bernhardt. 

“That will not be your last play,” Tillman told Bernhardt afterward. 

“I think he just showed you how great a player he is, willing us to the win,” Tillman said. “I don’t see a better guy out there, and there are a lot of great ones out there.”

In many ways, it was fitting DeMaio fired home the winner after Luke Wierman won the opening faceoff of overtime. The redshirt senior from San Diego is one of two players remaining from Maryland’s 2017 national championship roster. Bernhardt is the other. 

“Reason for coming to Maryland?” asks the last question on DeMaio’s roster bio. He only needed six words to answer: “To compete for a national championship.” 

The Terrapins will get a chance to move a little closer to that goal next Saturday in East Hartford in another ACC test against second-seeded Duke. 

“Enjoying the moment is really important,” Tillman said. “All athletes and really every American has sacrificed so much this year. We love our players so much, and we know the sacrifices they made. To see them happy and joyous, it’s worth its weight in gold.”