Coaches of NCAA lacrosse finalists are close buddies

FOXBORO, Mass. -- Two schools located five exits and about 35 miles apart on Interstate 95 in Maryland will play Monday for the Division I NCAA men's lacrosse championship. But Loyola (Md.) and the University of Maryland actually are much closer than that.

"I used to live a block from Charlie," Maryland coach John Tillman said of Loyola coach Charlie Toomey. "He's my closest friend in the coaching fraternity. This game is a little awkward in many ways, but our kids know what's at stake."

That would be Maryland's first national championship since 1975 and the first in Loyola history.

"John and I are very close. We've been best friends for years," Toomey said. "One year when I was coaching at Annapolis, our Christmas tree fell over. John was there right away, helping my wife pick up the ornaments. He's one of those people who is always in my corner. And I'm in his. But not on Monday."

The coaches' friendship is one reason the schools don't play each other in the regular season despite their proximity.

"He said he doesn't want to play against friends," Toomey said of Tillman. "I told him, 'Now look what happened!' "

Friendship aside, the 2012 title game actually is a study in contrasts. Loyola (17-1) is ranked No. 1 in the nation and Maryland (12-5) is unseeded. Loyola has a top-five offense and loves to run. Maryland values possessions on offense and has a top-10 defense in front of goalie Niko Amato.

That unit will be tested by the nation's most potent attack duo -- Eric Lusby (18 points in three tournament games, five goals in each of the last two) and Mike Sawyer (51 goals).

"We know we'll give up shots," Tillman said. "But it's the shots we want to give up. If we keep guys out of the paint, Niko will take care of business."

Lusby scored on shots from all angles in Saturday's 7-5 victory over Notre Dame.

"When he sees net, he shoots for it. When he sees a bad defensive approach, he takes advantage," Toomey said.

Loyola midfielder Josh Hawkins, who was recruited by Maryland, said of Lusby: "His game is smooth. He made a move on Saturday -- a toe drag when he slipped under the defense -- that I hadn't seen before. To pull that out of a hat at this time of year is very impressive. He's feeling it."

So are all the Greyhounds, who are one overtime loss to Johns Hopkins away from a perfect season. Also noteworthy is that Loyola was not ranked in the top 20 in the preseason.

"Because we were unranked but knew what kind of team we had, we had a chip on our shoulders all year," Lusby said.

The Terrapins can play the "no respect'' game, too, as they entered the NCAA Tournament unseeded.

"We don't focus on seeds," said Amato, who was the losing goalie in last year's championship game loss to Virginia. "We don't think of it as an unseeded team against a No. 1 seed. We just think of it as two good teams playing for a championship."

And two coaches who will have to put aside their friendship for a couple of hours on Memorial Day.