COLLEGE PARK — — The Maryland men's lacrosse team needed a spark in a big way, and 6-foot-5 Grant Catalino fit the bill nicely.
The senior attackman scored four of his game-high five goals in the second half to propel the No. 3 Terps (2-0) to a convincing 20-8 thumping of No. 14 Georgetown before 3,966 at Byrd Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The number of goals surrendered and the margin of defeat were the highest for the Hoyas (1-1) since a 20-8 setback to Virginia in an NCAA tournament quarterfinal in 2006.
Ever the diplomat, Catalino spread credit to his teammates.
"I think from the very start, it was a team effort," said Catalino, who has led the team in goals and points in each of the previous three seasons and leads this year with seven goals and 10 points. "We were down as a team, we got up as a team. We knew that in order to finish them off, we would need the whole team. Definitely, our team, going into halftime, it was more comforting that we had the lead, but we knew that they weren't done, and we weren't done either."
Before Catalino's outburst — which included three goals in a span of four minutes, 22 seconds in the third quarter — Maryland had looked sloppy and sluggish en route to taking a 6-4 lead into halftime.
After halftime, both sides exchanged goals, setting the stage for Catalino's heroics.
After senior midfielder Max Seligmann's third goal of the contest — on an extra-man opportunity — helped Georgetown close the gap to 7-5 with 11:49 left in the third quarter, Terps senior long-stick midfielder Brian Farrell picked up a ground ball off the ensuing faceoff and passed it to senior midfielder Scott LaRue. LaRue, standing at the left point, found Catalino on the left wing, and Catalino whipped the ball past senior goalkeeper Jack Davis with 11:39 left.
After Georgetown sophomore midfielder Brian Casey scored 81 seconds later, sophomore faceoff specialist Curtis Holmes won the ensuing faceoff and passed to Catalino for another score. Eighty-one seconds after junior midfielder Joe Cummings scored, Catalino converted a feed from sophomore midfielder John Haus to extend Maryland's lead to 11-6.
The Terps wound up outscoring the Hoyas 7-3 in the third quarter and 14-4 in the second half. Georgetown coach Dave Urick said he had no idea how Catalino — whom he called "a time-and-place shooter" — got open for his scoring chances.
"I'm not sure," Urick said. "That's a real good question. We'll probably find out when we're able to see it on tape."
Fueling Maryland's run in the third quarter was Holmes' play. The Terps scored five goals following faceoff wins, including three immediately after faceoffs.
"I thought it was huge," said Holmes, who won 20-of-31 faceoffs including 19-of-27 in the last three quarters. "Obviously, it gets the momentum going in our favor. … We just really got hot and turned it on, and Georgetown kind of folded after that. I thought we played well."
Defensively, Maryland clamped down on Hoyas sophomore attackmen Travis Comeau and Davey Emala, both of whom scored three goals in the team's 15-12 season-opening victory over Jacksonville. Senior defenseman Max Schmidt limited Emala to just one goal, while senior Ryder Bohlander did not allow Comeau to score or even take a shot.
Redshirt freshman goalie Niko Amato made eight saves, four of which occurred in the first 4:03 in the game.
"I thought it was a pretty good feeling to get out there and get the first couple under my belt and then afterwards, the defense just forced good shots that I like to see," he said. "It got easier from there."
