Tierney Reflects on Win No. 400 over Georgetown

As he looked back at Saturday’s 16-9 defeat of Georgetown, Denver coach Bill Tierney credited his players and assistant coaches. It’s something he’s done plenty of times before.

About 399 times, to be precise.

Tierney joined Duke’s John Danowski as the only Division I men’s coaches to hit the 400-victory mark, getting to the plateau on his second try.

“In all facets felt like it was one of our most complete games,” Tierney said. “That part of it — the 400 part — is the bonus.”

The milestone victory would have drawn attention regardless, but his first attempt came as part of a wild week for Tierney and the Pioneers (6-3). After a March 23 victory at Towson, Denver played a midweek game at Princeton, a program Tierney led to six national titles.

When the game was agreed upon last year, Tierney wasn’t thinking about hitting a round number. But it was an unavoidable subplot.

Tierney acknowledged it was surreal looking around that night and seeing former players from both Princeton and Denver. He also said he “basically apologized” to his team for inadvertently putting them in such an unusual spot on a night Denver lost 14-13.

One upshot: Even with the 400^th win still looming, there was bound to be less hoopla for the next game, no matter what.

“Coming out of the Princeton loss, it really allowed our guys to not worry about that stuff as much and focus,” Tierney said. “They knew how important the next game was. We had to get back on track, and they really didn’t think about it quite as much with the Georgetown game because you had to think about so much with the Princeton game.”

Even after all the victories, Tierney acknowledged “the losses are still much more devastating than the wins are elating.” After seven national championships, 400 victories and still in the midst of a riveting second act in the Rockies, a few things have remained constant through the years.

“One thing we insist on is that kids buy into each other and buy into how we go about our business,” Tierney said. “They do, and do it so well. When you lose a game here or there, you feel like you let them down as opposed to the other way around. I never want them feeling like that.”

Retrievers’ Big Day at the X

It hasn’t been the easiest year for UMBC, which saw its top three defensemen go out and eventually plugged in a couple of short stick defensive midfielders to fill some holes.

Last weekend provided a glimpse of what the Retrievers (2-6) could eventually become with some health, some maturity and (perhaps most importantly) some faceoff wins.

Freshman Brandon Galloway was 20 of 23 at the X in UMBC’s 19-8 defeat of Lafayette. It was the Retrievers’ largest scoring total since dropping 20 on Vermont in 2007, and the team’s 25 total faceoff wins were their most since going 28 of 34 against Vermont in 2014.

“Brandon is really a very athletic kid — he would be on our first or second midfield if he wasn’t facing off,” coach Ryan Moran said. “Given our lack of depth, he’s just been a tremendously selfless kid, doing whatever the team needs of him. He’s improved a lot, week to week.”

UMBC now sits at 44.0 percent on faceoffs for the season, a considerable improvement over last year’s 35.4 percent mark. Galloway snagged 16 groundballs against Lafayette, and his rapid progress provides some hope the Retrievers can start to limit their defensive possessions as they vie for an America East tournament berth.

“That’s a pretty impressive stat,” said Moran, whose team plays host to Binghamton on Saturday. “Most faceoff guys struggle to scoop it the first time, but he didn’t have that issue whatsoever. I’m hoping he can continue to improve and put us in position to either have a possession edge or at least have that become a push.

Terps Face a Blitz

Maryland found itself in an unusual spot Sunday night — and not just because it fell to Penn State for the first time in 37 meetings.

The Terrapins (8-2, 0-1 Big Ten) surrendered eight goals in the first quarter to the Nittany Lions, creating a hole they never entirely erased in a 13-10 loss in the conference opener for both teams.

“They’re the No. 1 scoring offense in the country,” defensive midfielder Roman Puglise said. “They showed it. They showed it fast and often in that first quarter. Credit to them and what they do, but we overall as a unit need to get better.”

That Penn State would put together such as blitz isn’t a surprise. The Nittany Lions scored 12 goals in the second quarter against Robert Morris on Feb. 9, nine in the first quarter against Cornell on March 8 and then nine and eight in the first two quarters against Jacksonville on March 10.

However, the Terps hadn’t yielded eight goals in a quarter since spotting Johns Hopkins eight goals in the opening period of a 14-10 loss on April 17, 2004.

“There’s going to be a chip on a lot of our shoulders,” Puglise said. We have an expectation and we didn’t live up to it. You’ll see a better performance next weekend.

Rutgers Growing Up

Brian Brecht tried to warn everyone. Rutgers graduated 12 seniors from last season, including 11 who played regularly and 10 of whom held significant roles a year ago.

So the Scarlet Knights’ 4-4 mark in mid-March wasn’t a calamity. It was a sign of a young team that happened to play Army, Loyola, Lehigh and Syracuse in nonconference play.

“Sometimes, people expect just because you were on the bubble and had some good years that you’re automatically going to get better the next year,” Brecht said.

It takes time. But Sunday’s 14-6 rout of Ohio State --- and on the road, no less --- is a hint these Scarlet Knights (6-4, 1-0 Big Ten) are piecing things together.

Attackmen Kieran Mullins (21 goals, 24 assists) and Adam Charalambides (30 goals) have done their jobs this season, and the move of Ryan Gallagher from midfield to attack has worked as well. Defenseman Kyle Pless, who moved from long pole to close defense, has grown more comfortable at his new position. Max Edelmann (.620 save percentage) has thrived after missing two games with injury.

It's become a more cohesive bunch than a month ago, which isn’t astonishing considering the Scarlet Knights start two attackmen, two midfielders, two close defenseman and a faceoff man who weren’t in those spots last year.

And now, Rutgers will try to build off their most complete game of the season Saturday at Johns Hopkins.

“These guys have gotten better and I’m happy they’re developing and happy for a great win in the conference,” Brecht said. “It’s one game and it’s not going to make or break the season. We have to get back and follow up and get better in the month of the April.”

Delaware Digs In

Delaware enters Saturday’s trip to Fairfield at 8-2, which already gives the Blue Hens their most victories since going 11-7 and reaching the NCAA tournament in 2011.

No one in Newark, though, believes Delaware has arrived just yet in coach Ben DeLuca’s second season, even if things are unquestionably smoother than last year’s 6-8 debit.

“I think this year we’ve been very fortunate in a lot of ways to have guys that experienced that season last year and understand what the expectations were and what we’re doing and how we’re doing it and were able to get our freshman class integrated pretty quick,” DeLuca said. “I’d be the first to say we’re far from where we want to be.”

One of the instant difference-makers in the freshman class is Ontario native Tye Kurtz, who had seven goals and three assists in a 15-7 rout of Fairfield last week in the Blue Hens’ CAA opener. He’s one of three 20-goal scorers on the team, along with Charlie Kitchen and Joe Eisele.

But the team’s steadiest player might be goalie Matt DeLuca, who is tied for second in the country in save percentage (.620) and has double-digit saves in every game this season.

Ben DeLuca was quick to credit close defense mainstays like senior Austin Haynes and junior Zach Strassner for helping to anchor a unit giving up just 8.6 goals a game. Still …

“I’m very proud of how guys have allowed Matt to see the shots we want him to see,” the coach said. “But plenty of times, Matt has saved some balls that he had no right saving.”

NUMBERS OF NOTE

True freshmen who started on attack for North Carolina in its 10-8 defeat of Duke. With Brian Cameron, Jacob Kelly and Nicky Solomon all getting the nod, it marked the first time the Tar Heels had ever started three true freshman attackmen in one game. Overall, 10 the 27 players who logged time for the Tar Heels (7-3, 1-0 ACC) in the triumph were freshmen.

Loyola’s Kevin Lindley (eight goals, two assists) and Pat Spencer (two assists, eight goals) both had 10 points in Loyola’s 21-7 rout of Colgate. It was the first time since at least 2002 that Division I teammates recorded 10 points in the same game.

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