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NCAA MEN’S LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIPMay 29, 2016Kyle BernlohrBryan ColeColin HeacockJohn TillmanPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania THE MODERATOR: From Maryland we have head coach John Tillman, Kyle Bernlohr, Bryan Cole and Colin Heacock. We'll have an opening statement from Coach. COACH TILLMAN: Obviously almost a day removed. Very excited to have the opportunity to play tomorrow on Memorial Day, which is a really special day, and proud of our players for their efforts yesterday and all season to beat a really, really good Brown team, as good a team as any team we've played all year. Doing our best to try to get our guys ready and prepare and do our very best, try to play 60 minutes of good lacrosse. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the players. Q. Kyle, obviously the Carolina offense is clicking a lot better than they were the first time you guys saw them. What have you seen from them that they're doing maybe better, different, and what do you need to do to adjust now? KYLE BERNLOHR: They're just a team that's peaking at the right time. Since the last game, you kind of see how they developed. They're moving the ball quicker. I think they're improving at each position. They're a loaded team. It's another great Carolina team, and they're playing great lacrosse right now. So we've got to be ready, play our game, and understand what they're going to do and understand what we want to do. Q. Any of the players, we were talking a little bit about your familiarity with your opponent tomorrow. What advantages does that bring? Granted it goes both ways, you probably both know each other equally as well? COLIN HEACOCK: Well, yeah, Carolina is a great team, a great coaching staff and awesome players. It's always a pretty big game when we're playing one another. We just know we have to come out, a lot of energy, and just do little things in order to get the win. BRYAN COLE: I mean, I think us and Carolina have both come a long way since we played in March. Just like Kyle said, they're improving constantly. They're one of the best teams in the country right now. And we're moving, improving constantly as well, just trying to work our way up to play our best 60 minutes. Both teams are different now, and it's going to be a good tilt. Q. Colin and Bryan, how much confidence do you guys have beating Brown in that shootout and going into Carolina on a short turnaround? COLIN HEACOCK: Well, I mean, it was definitely a great win for the team. Leading up to this point, the scout guys really gave us a great look, always pushing us and trying to get us better. Getting that win, all the credit goes to them. So now we've just got to continue to do the little things whether it's the ground balls or the extra passes and just continue to listen to the coaching staff. BRYAN COLE: I mean, Colin hit the nail on the head there. Our scout team was awesome, and then you look at the middle of the field where Bonaparte and Austin Henningsen and their wing guys just fighting for 60 minutes was awesome to see. And then our defense just really battled for a complete 60 against a really, really high-powered offense of Brown. We have a lot of confidence in the middle of the field and the defense, and offensively we're just trying to produce as much as we can. Q. Bryan, can you talk about how yesterday's game against a team that plays that Helter Skelter style really reminds you of Carolina or maybe the way they're getting it done now? It looks messy but somehow goals keep appearing on the scoreboard. Are you ready to engage in that kind of game or would you rather do it with a little bit of control, the way Maryland likes to? BRYAN COLE: We've got to be able to prepare as best we can and weather the storm in any way that it comes. The way our schedule is set up, we play a lot of different teams who play a lot of different styles. So our defense has been able to corral, like, a lot of pretty high-powered offenses, and another really, really good offense coming in on Monday. And we're just trying to do the best we can to -- we can't really go full speed today but we're trying to replicate that as much as we can, try and get Kyle and the defense some looks of what we think we're going to see, and then offensively we're just going to take it as it comes, complete confidence in our attack guys. If they get a good opportunity in transition, even our defensive middies or long poles coming down, if they get a good opportunity, definitely go ahead and take it. And then offensively when we get settled in the 6 on 6, just try to work for the best shot. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. Q. Coach, Matt Rambo had a penalty yesterday similar to one he had in the Big Ten Tournament. What did you say to him after that penalty, and did you talk to him about the ramifications of that going into the championship game? COACH TILLMAN: Absolutely. You know, Matt's a guy that does a lot for us. And I think when you have talented players, it's trying to manage them as best you can. Part of what makes Matt a great player is he's very creative, plays with a lot of passion. He's a little bit stubborn. But I think the great ones have some stubborn in them. So it's trying to manage that. You can't make him robotic, but you're trying to instill some discipline in them, and he's still a work in progress in certain ways. I think we've made a lot of progress. But for all the times where Matt maybe, his wheels get off the road a little bit, he's done so many great things for our team that, again, you've got to take the good with the bad as a coach and kind of say, all right, if we can clean that up and build on that and improve that and take all the other things, we've got a pretty good guy. So it's a teachable moment, as we like to say, and hopefully that's something he can put in the back of his mind and the same situation comes up, we do a better job with it. Q. Joe Breschi was in here earlier and he said Maryland is the number one team for a reason, and North Carolina is just the unseeded team crashing the party. Being the favorite, does that put the onus on you guys to win this tomorrow? COACH TILLMAN: I think anytime you kind of say there's a favorite, it's just someone's opinion or it's kind of relative. You look at the last two weeks, I don't think anybody's playing any better. So it just depends on how you want to look at it. Like if you say, all right, you've got a team that just handled Loyola pretty well, and I think it's a really good Loyola team and a team that did what they did to Notre Dame, who we have so much respect for, and then beat Marquette, a No. 6 seed, I don't know who's hotter right now. You might say that they're the favorite. Our kids, they see what they've done, how hot they are. They put up what they put up in the first quarter. Now we've got to figure out, given all the goals we gave up yesterday, can we stop them. So there's got to be a sense of urgency on our part. I'm not sure we're concerned about who is the favorite. We just realize there's a really, really good team that's going to be on the field tomorrow and we better be ready. Q. There's been a few games down the stretch where you guys have kind of struggled at faceoff. You've kind of been able to pull the comfortable victories. Do you feel like you've learned to play with that possession disadvantage? COACH TILLMAN: It's certainly not something you're excited about. It really isn't. I mean, obviously kind of stating the obvious, but you're doing everything that you can to avoid it. But, man, we've played some pretty good ones. Will Gural was as good as what everybody said he was. And Williams was outstanding. We kind of knew, not having Charlie and Curtis, that we've had in the last five years, that this would at times be challenging. We just have kind of newer parts there. I think Coach Mattes has done a great job. I think we've tried to incorporate wings and 10-on time as much as possible. And that's kind of been our mantra all year. But I'm not sure we're comfortable. I think one thing that came out of Syracuse in that second and third quarter, when we won, like, one out of, like, 10, was, all right, this doesn't feel good but we're not changing it right now. Like we've got to deal with it. Don't focus on the fact that we're losing faceoffs, how can we get those possessions back? And in that game it was Kyle was pretty hot so we got a few there. Playing some good defense and maybe hoping for some turnovers. And then when you get the ball, be as opportunistic as possible, because you gotta be efficient if you're not getting as many chances. So I'm not sure we're totally comfortable with it, but we've come to terms with this is reality. And we have to maximize what we have. And it is what it is. If things get better, that's great. I thought the biggest play of the game, obviously, was Matt Dunn's ground ball in overtime. That's a faceoff that Will Bonaparte scrapped for that eventually got into our box and came into play on that 10 on 10 faceoff that we practiced where Matt got it, handled some pressure and dumped it to Will and Will had a chance for break. And certainly if he had a chance for a 4 on 3 we would have taken it. He pulled it out, and that was the last possession. Although we didn't necessarily win that faceoff the team came together and we manufactured a possession. And sometimes that's what you have to do, especially with a guy like Bones Kelly. He is awesome, and I thought after the first quarter, in the first game, I thought he took it to us pretty good. Q. You've seen a lot of Carolina over the years including last year in the postseason. How much has their offensive identity evolved a bit here since last year? And even how much has it changed a bit since you guys saw them last two months ago? COACH TILLMAN: They're doing a lot of things they've done in the last couple of years. And I think the evolvement of that attack, you had kind of the Sankey and Bitter. And I think the first game, those guys played together in 2012 against Maryland and they took it to us pretty good down there. That was the launching of the era. We just have to be maybe the sacrificial lamb. They put up a lot of goals on us. And they were there to stay. And I feel like you kind of see Pontrello had to move from midfield to attack. And even like from the first game to now, our game with them until now, Stephen's done such a great job becoming that quarterback, becoming more comfortable. I think anybody that's changing positions it takes a little time. You saw Cloutier yesterday; he looked great. So that chemistry I think has evolved and maybe they're not the same as what they were last year with Sankey and Bitter, but they're really successful kind of doing it their way and taking what their strengths are. And that's a credit to Dave Metzbower. Those guys are working together, working so well together, and I think David is smart enough, and he's such a good teacher, to figure out ways to get those parts to really hum. And those kids seem to be sharing the ball and moving and cutting and they're playing really fast. Q. Going off that last question, how was your game plan for tomorrow going to reflect those changes? COACH TILLMAN: We're working on it now. We certainly put in some hours last night watching some films, seeing how things have evolved and changed and they're certainly doing some different things. Obviously with one day to prepare, and you have, as the year goes on, you have a lot of different plays and formations you can always go back to. So we're not going to go through every game, but we're obviously going to look at the last few, look at some tendencies and things like that and say, all right, we can't worry about every single play. We've got to defend the knowns, defend some of the trends but also stay true to who we are and make sure we're on the same page because a well-coordinated defense, at least in our opinion, is more important than just focusing on their parts. If a guy dodges and he dodges to a certain spot, or he's sliding or not sliding, are we organized, are we covering up the inside, how are we recovering? Are we communicating picks, things like that? So the sets may change but a lot of the things we do we need to be consistent. Q. Can you just go through their last two wins that you've been able to dissect, and I'm sure you've looked at them a ton. Different but similar in the way, kind of like a bomb just goes off and there goes the game away from their opponent and it's gone. Kind of like get into a few of the details of how they suddenly just blow Notre Dame off the screen and then yesterday people were just sitting down and it was on the way to being over? COACH TILLMAN: I think a few things. One, Stephen Kelly. He started very fast in the last few games and given them opportunities early. And I think any of us, we go into a game and you get the first few faceoffs, there's a sense of comfort there. Just kind of, all right, we've got the first possession, let's get into a flow. All of a sudden you get another one and another one, and whether they score or you scored, it's nice to get those reps early. So I think Stephen's really helped them. And obviously the wing play's been very good too. And I think their ground ball play has been very good. So they're getting a lot of possessions there. And then just their tempo and their execution has been very, very good. And it's not been one thing. I think they share the ball really well. Certainly Cloutier got a lot of goals last year. It wasn't like he just lined up and dodged people. There was a lot of movement, a lot of sharing of the ball, and eventually maybe they found him or he attacked on approach, things like that. So they're pretty unpredictable. That's why we've got to be pretty buttoned up and not be so focused on, all right, this guy or that guy. It's we've all got to be on the same page, because they can throw different looks and plays. And I think David's thrown some different wrinkles in there. He's been coaching a long time. So he'll have a few wrinkles for us tomorrow. And we've just got to be able to communicate through some of those things. Q. You addressed this a bit yesterday, of course, but, A, you had to be in the second game once again and, B, obviously had to work a lot harder to get to Monday. What specifically are you going to try to do today to kind of help with that recovery time? COACH TILLMAN: I think we have to be really prudent about what we're doing. It wouldn't make a lot of sense for us to spend a ton of time outside and really going 100 percent. So we'd like to do as much walk-through as we can. We played them before. So the personnel part is a little bit easier I think for both teams. And then maybe some different wrinkles that we've seen and then some things that we want to do just showing everybody -- kids learn differently. There are some of our guys that can just watch the film and pick it up. But I think most of our kids, they're better when they're on the field walking through it and then learning as they go through it. And I think that's really helpful for us. So I think knowing that we had the later game, I think both games it was hot, it was taxing. We've got to do the best we can to give them as much as they need but also try to be fresh and recover. And it's trying to hit that sweet spot. Certainly you get it the way you get it. You love to be the first game, but that's part of the process for them. Life's not always fair. We're lucky to be here. So just to have an opportunity, we've got to make the most of it and not really focus on that. We've just got to focus on the opportunity we have. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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