The University of Maryland, the No. 1 overall seed and defending national champions, narrowly defeated Robert Morris 14-11 in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship Sunday afternoon.
Robert Morris scored two goals in six seconds during the second quarter to expand its early lead and take a 6-3 advantage into the half. But the Terrapins scored four times in four minutes to open the second half, on their way to outscoring the Colonials 6-1 in the third quarter and regaining control of the game.
No No. 1 seed has lost in the first round of the national tournament since it began in 1971.
Tewaaraton Award finalist Connor Kelly finished with a team-high four goals and freshman Bubba Fairman added three goals and an assist for Maryland.
The Terrapins went 12-3 across the regular season and conference tournament and defeated nine ranked opponents in order to earn the top seed. Robert Morris had to win the NCAA Championship’s lone play-in game, against Canisius last Wednesday, to advance to the matchup in College Park.
Maryland will play Cornell, a 10-9 winner over Syracuse on Sunday, in next weekend’s quarterfinals.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.