Joe Cummings stood next to his locker inside M&T Bank Stadium with his head down and mind racing.

Joe Cummings scored 27 goals and dished out five assists last season. (Photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics)

Just minutes removed from the Maryland men’s lacrosse team’s 9-7 loss to Virginia in the NCAA championship game last May, Cummings thought about what could have been and what his team was so close to accomplishing.

But more importantly, he thought about the team’s seniors – 17 to be exact – and how their window at taking home college lacrosse’s greatest trophy had come to a close.

“You work your whole life for a moment like this. To lose doesn’t feel good,” Cummings said in a low voice that day. “The example that our seniors have set is priceless. It’s something that I’m going to carry into my senior year. The legacy that they’ve left is huge.”

Now in his senior year, Cummings doesn’t want to suffer the same fate as last year’s graduating class.

Cummings and the No. 8 Terps start their season – and their quest to win the program’s first national championship in 36 years – Saturday with a game against Harford inside Byrd Stadium.

“I think about it everyday. I use it as motivation,” Cummings said Tuesday in regards to last year’s championship game loss. “That will always be something that sticks in my mind. You had it. You were right there and then you lost it by two.”

A year after graduating 17 seniors, a group that included three starting defensemen in Max Schmidt, Brett Schmidt and Ryder Bohlander, two starting attackmen in Grant Catalino and Ryan Young, one starting midfielder in Dan Burns and long pole defensive specialist Brian Farrell, the Terps will rely heavily on their midfield unit and sophomore goalkeeper Niko Amato, who was named to the All-ACC team last season after posting a .582 save percentage and 6.78 goals against average in 18 games.

Last season, the Terps strengths were their attack and defense units, but this year, Maryland’s top threats will be playing on both sides of the ball in the midfield.

The Terps’ midfield includes Cummings (32 points last season), John Haus (28), Drew Snider (20), Jake Bernhardt (18), Kevin Cooper (13) and Princeton transfer Mike Chanenchuk, who was a second-team All-American and the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2010 after scoring 28 goals and dishing out eight assists. Chanenchuk did not play for the Tigers last season and was officially added to the Terps roster in January.

“Having those veteran middies is going to be huge for us,” second-year coach John Tillman said. “We’re going to rely on those guys a lot. Their experience is going to have a big impact on how far we go.”

However, Maryland will be without the services of Bernhardt for at least the “first few weeks” of the season, according to Tillman. Bernhardt injured his shoulder in a preseason scrimmage against Loyola on Feb. 4, and even though Tillman was optimistic for his return before the end of the season, he would not rule out the possibility of a medical redshirt for the senior midfielder.

“He has to potential to come back, but we’re not sure,” Tillman said. “We’re going to do everything we can to get him back. We’re going to see what that timeframe is and if he does come back, will he be effective enough to help us. We certainly don’t want to put him in a position where he would hurt himself or make it worse.”

In addition to it’s strong midfield unit, Maryland also boasts one the nation’s top face-off specialists in Curtis Holmes, who was named a first-team preseason All-American by Inside Lacrosse after winning 63 percent of his face-offs last season.

Still, it will be difficult for the Terps to replace all of the offensive production that was lost with the graduation of Catalino and Young, who combined to record 90 points last season. As a whole, the Terps lost 40 percent of their scoring from a year ago.

“Offensively, there’s no way you can replace a Ryan Young or Grant Catalino,” Cummings said. "Those guys are great players. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do things differently and be just as good or maybe even better.”

With a solid offensive core returning in Cummings and attackman Owen Blye, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in points last season behind Young and Catalino, two talented transfers in Chanenchuk and attackman Billy Gribbin (Penn State) and the nation’s No. 1 rated freshman class, according to Inside Lacrosse, Tillman is hopeful there won’t be much of a drop-off on the offensive side of the ball.

Of the Terps new faces in College Park this season, players and Tillman said Chanenchuk, Gribbin and attackman Kevin Forster (LaSalle College High School, Pa.) have been the most impressive.

“We lost some really special players last year,” Cummings said. “But we’ve got special players waiting to step up and do things this year. So we’re excited.”

As his team looks ahead to a new season, Tillman cited many of the accomplishments the Terps made last year, including making their first appearance in the title game since 1998 and winning their first ACC championship in six years. But, as the flagship university of Maryland – the de facto home of lacrosse – the fact that the Terps have not won a national championship since 1975 still rings in the ears of all those involved with the program.

During their 36-year title drought, the Terps have gone 0-6 in championship games, including last year’s loss to Virginia.

And for Cummings, who still thinks about that day back in April when he watched Virginia players storm the field in celebration just 20 yards away from him, it’s a streak he wants to bring to a close in his final season in College Park.

“There’s no guarantee that we’ll get back to that same stage,” Cummings said. “But we want to be the best. We want to win a championship.”