BALTIMORE — Throughout a truncated week of practice in College Park, Maryland’s defense faced the music far too frequently.

Every time a ball zipped to the back of the net, the Terrapins received an earful of the Johns Hopkins fight song. And just days after allowing 12 goals in a loss to Ohio State, it was a regular reminder of the unit’s slippage over the last month.

“It kind of had us ready for playing here,” goalie Dan Morris said.

More than ready.

The Terps edged Hopkins 8-7 in triple overtime — the first time in the 116-game series a contest lasted into a third extra session — before 10,388 fans at Homewood Field to claim the Big Ten’s regular season title. Maryland won its fourth in a row against the Blue Jays, its longest streak in the series since 1961-64.

Even a pair of late goals in regulation and Will Snider’s goal 49 seconds into the third overtime didn’t obscure the potential payoff for the Terps.

Maybe their defense is back on track, and just in time for May.

“Defensively, we had to bounce back,” coach John Tillman said. “The last couple weeks, we’ve been carved up. There’s a lot of pride in that locker room. They know the standard for Maryland defense.”

Maryland (11-2, 4-1 Big Ten) had reached double figures in every game this season, Hopkins in all but one. Both teams allowed three conference opponents to drop at least 10 goals on them, anathema to programs constructed to produce fundamentally sound defenses.

Naturally, they combined for a tense, riveting low-scoring game worthy of the storied series.

It began with a senior day even more emotional than usual as the late Jeremy Huber’s parents participated in Hopkins’ pregame ceremonies. Huber died in 2015 during his freshman year, and Saturday marked the final regular season game at Homewood for his recruiting class.

Hopkins was exceptional at handling Maryland stars Jared Bernhardt and Connor Kelly, who combined to shoot 0-for-24 and mustered just an assist apiece. With defenseman Patrick Foley marking Bernhardt and long pole Robert Kuhn pestering Kelly, the Blue Jays (9-4, 3-2) flummoxed the Terps in settled situations and took a 7-5 lead into the final four minutes.

“This is how we should play every game,” said goalie Brock Turnbaugh, who made eight saves. “It’s been a while since we played good, solid team defense. As a goalie, I don’t expect anything less from my defense from here on out.”

But Maryland — which hadn’t rallied from a two-goal deficit in the fourth quarter to win since the 2015 NCAA tournament first round against Yale — drew even on goals from Logan Wisnauskas and Snider in a 56-second span and eventually forced overtime.

“What you should talk about is what a great job those guys did,” Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said. “Tough to defend a team that’s averaging 12-point-some goals a game and keep them to eight in five quarters. You’re bound to make some miscues, and a good team like that will capitalize on them.”

So it was in overtime. Maryland managed nine shots in the first two extra periods without putting any on cage. But after claiming a faceoff win on a violation, the Terps set up their offense and Logan Wisnauskas fired a pass to Snider, who then deposited a goal from about 12 yards out.

WILL SNIDER WINS IT IN 3OT! @TerpsMLax takes it 8-7 for the fourth straight #TheRivalry win over @jhumenslacrosse. Terps are @bigten regular-season champs. pic.twitter.com/fRQuVaschI

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 28, 2018

Snider goes down as one of the more unlikely heroes in the long-running rivalry. The junior, who was making his fifth start, entered the day with three career goals before delivering the tying and winning scores.

“He’s a pretty dynamic shooter and a nice dodger and for him to break out of his shell, especially in a game like this with the last two goals of the game, was huge,” midfielder Tim Rotanz said.

A steady sixth option on offense would be a welcome development for Maryland, which has five 20-point scorers and no one else in double digits. But the Terps also committed just seven turnovers and managed a near-split on faceoffs after winning just 36.6 percent over the previous four games.

But a recovery from the defense, which held Hopkins’ potent attack of Kyle Marr, Shack Stanwick and Cole Williams to two goals and three assists, was the best sign for Maryland’s postseason prospects.

“It was definitely a gut check,” said Morris, who made 13 saves, including two in the second overtime. “Like Coach said, we take a ton of pride in our defense at Maryland. We’ve had decades upon decades of great defensemen and great defenses. The last couple games, we’ve been getting torn up a little bit, giving up a lot more goals than the standard is for our defense.”

Maryland will meet fourth-seeded Rutgers in Thursday’s Big Ten tournament on Thursday in Ann Arbor, Mich.

As for Hopkins, which faces Ohio State in the Big Ten semifinals, it was left without a victory over its biggest rival or a piece of the conference regular season title for the third year in a row. And it happened on a day when it trailed for less than two minutes in regulation.

“Simple: No moral victories,” Pietramala said. “We came into this game hoping to win, expecting to win. At moments, we played well enough to win. Unfortunately, at the end they made one more play than we did.”