A picture from this year's Red-White lacrosse scrimmage at Byrd Stadium. Red won.

I’ve been sitting here scratching my head since May of last year.  I know, that’s a long time to scratch my head, and it’s really starting to burn.  After an up down season, the Terps ended up with more losses than any other year in the eighty-five year history of the program, but they also pulled a miraculous first round upset in the NCAA tournament of #7 Notre Dame before falling to Syracuse in the second round.  Like you, Maryland’s men’s 2009 lacrosse team left me baffled.  Baffeled!

In fact, the entire sport of lacrosse is baffling to me.  It looks kind of like hockey, if hockey was played on grass instead of ice, with baskets on broomsticks and a ball instead of hockey sticks and a puck, and if the scoring object, in this case a ball not a puck, was tossed around instead of sliding it to each other.  You can see the analogy.  I know that the object of the game is to get the ball into the opponent’s net.  You got to put the proverbial bisket in the proverbial basket.  Maybe that’s all you really need to know to blog a preview.  That and literacy.  To the facts.

• Fact: The Terps have two National Championships (1973 and 1975), but they haven’t been to the finals since 1998. 
• Fact: Maryland started the year #7 in the vaunted Lacrosse Magazine poll.  After Duke was upset by Notre Dame, the Terps leapfrogged to #6.  Fuck Duke.
• Fact: The season already started, and the Terps won their 17th straight home opener by defeating Bellarmine 12-7.  No, Bellarmine is not a club team from Ireland.  They’re a catholic school from Louisville, KY.  Yes, I had to look that up.  1-0 baby, woo hoo!  Next up crosstown rival Georgetown, and then Duke.  Fuck Duke.
• Fact: Of Maryland’s 16 “Top Players” (which is, apparently, how you look at it in lacrosse rather than just looking at the starters), only five are seniors.  The seniors are in key positions – attacker Will Yeatman brings balance to the offense, defender Bryn Holmes doubles as a master face-off taker, and Brian Phillips holds down the goal.  After losing 12 seniors from last year’s squad, by and large this team is young.  Then again, last year’s squad didn’t live up to expectations, so maybe it’s a wash.
• Fact: There are ten players on the field for each team in lacrosse: 3 defenders, 3 midfielders, 3 attackers, and a goalie.
• Fact: Junior Grant Catalino leads the offense in scoring, and he started the year with four assists and two goals against Bellarmine.  That’s like the lacrosse version of a double-double.
• Fact: The Terps played their home games at Ludwig Field last year during the Tyser Tower renovation but they return to Byrd Stadium in 2010, which should help bolster their homefield advantage.  According to head coach Dave Cottle, “It’s a big-time environment. If you look across the country, it’s one of the best, most impressive places to play lacrosse.”  Fear the Tower.
• Fact: Coach Cottle has 27 years of experience, and his overall record is 269-111, ranking fifth among active head coaches.  Like many of the other Maryland athletic programs, success on the Lacrosse team starts with solid coaching.
• Fact: This year’s men’s lacrosse team features a blog of its own, the MLax Blog, written by Patrick Fischer.  Yes, THAT Patrick Fischer, I know.  Where did you think I lifted that nugget about the home opening winning streak from?

Bold prediction: A young Terps squad shocks the nation and ends-up in the finals this year.  I’m really risking my reputation in the lacrosse world with that prediction, but I’m willing to put it on the line for what I truly believe in.  Go Terps!

Now, I may not know much about lacrosse, but I know how to read and write.  I hope you learned something about the 2010 Maryland men’s lacrosse team.  I’m still baffled.