COLLEGE PARK, Md. — If there’s anyone on the Maryland men’s lacrosse team familiar with carrying on traditions, it’s Louis Dubick.
The attackman is a third-generation Terrapin. He’s in the midst of what could be a breakout senior season after serving in a niche role for three years, a Maryland specialty. And after a record-setting high school career, he demonstrated last Saturday he hadn’t forgotten how to find the back of the net.
Dubick scored a career-high five goals in the Terps’ 14-9 victory at Navy, matching his total from all of last year in a single afternoon. Maryland (5-0) visits Notre Dame (1-1) on Sunday.
“You just figure out how to work hard and stay patient and hopefully your time will come,” Dubick said. “That’s the cool thing about this place. You don’t know when it’s going to come, but when it does, you know the coaches trust you and everybody has your back. There’s always an opportunity to pick up where somebody else left off.”
Dubick is no stranger to scoring in bunches. At Churchill High School, he set Maryland state records in goals (254), assists (252) and points (506) to draw interest from the likes of Johns Hopkins, North Carolina and Ohio State.
There was also the opportunity to play at Maryland, where his grandfather, Harry, lettered in 1950 and 1951. His father, Marc, was also a Terp, earning letters in 1981, 1982 and 1983.
Dubick especially enjoyed his recruiting trip to North Carolina and came home raving about his experience in Chapel Hill. Then came a conversation with the family patriarch.
“I called my grandfather and he said, ‘Lou, we really want you to go to Maryland,’” Dubick said. “At that point, the story was kind of over.”
In some ways, it was really just beginning.
Dubick made it a point to have his grandfather’s nameplate placed above his locker, with his dad’s name right next to it. Both are regular reminders of the legacy he’s continuing in College Park.
“He doesn’t talk about, but you can just feel it,” said junior attackman Jared Bernhardt, whose older brothers Jake and Jesse played at Maryland. “When you’re on the field and off the field, you can feel that he just cares so much about being a Terp.”
Etching out a large role, though, took some time for Dubick. When he was a freshman, the Terps had an attack unit of Colin Heacock, Dylan Maltz and Matt Rambo, while Bryan Cole functioned as one of the team’s top table-setters. By last season, Bernhardt and Logan Wisnauskas emerged as potent attackmen, and Connor Kelly led the team in assists.
Dubick settled into a place on Maryland’s man-up unit, scoring 13 goals (seven on extra-man) over the last three seasons. He made a spot start in 2017 against Ohio State, but was largely a steady role player.
Kelly and Tim Rotanz graduated after last season, leaving two open starting spots on offense. And it was clear in the fall Dubick was ready to claim one of them.
“He was just playing fast in the fall, and it was really impressive,” coach John Tillman said. “He looked like he was ready and could be more productive. He’s making great decisions. He’s a very capable dodger if you don’t pay attention to him, and he’s a good inside passer. He’s unselfish, and he’s really doing a great job of taking what the defense is gives.”
Saturday, that meant sitting on the crease and picking apart Navy in Annapolis — a place he still remembers visiting in 2012 to watch the Terps beat Johns Hopkins in the NCAA quarterfinals.
Dubick already has 10 goals on the year, doubling his previous best for a season, and against Navy he became the 10th Terp to score at least five goals in a game in Tillman’s nine-year tenure. But his value to an offense that’s still relatively young goes beyond that.
“Everyone has a specific role on a team, and Lou’s doing a great job on the crease,” Bernhardt said. “But he’s [also] doing a great job of getting us organized and communicating with us.”
Dubick already has a degree in finance and has a post-graduation job lined up as he wraps up his master’s degree this spring. There’s also the matter of continuing the family’s lacrosse tradition, right down to the jersey number handed down through the years.
“I put on 32, and I think about my dad and how he wore it and all the good times he had here, and my grandfather, who unfortunately passed away a couple years ago, and how proud he would be to see us win a national championship,” Dubick said. “Three-two means a lot to me. This place means a lot to me. I just cherish every day here, and it’s crazy it’s coming to an end.”