(Inside Lacrosse Photos: Chris Cecere)

Just 4.8 more seconds 10 years ago, and the story could be different. That’s how much time was left in overtime when Cornell’s John Glynn scored, eliminating the 2007 University of Albany Great Danes in the Quarterfinals of their first NCAA Tournament.

A few inches in 2014, just enough for Ty Thompson’s last-second shot to get around the facemask of Notre Dame goalie Conor Kelly, and the Thompson Trio is at Championship Weekend. One more quarter, if Albany could have held its lead going into the final frame against Notre Dame in 2015.

The best lacrosse team at a mid-major has gone to the NCAA Quarterfinals three times, each time with one of the sport’s powers cutting them short of a trip to the final four. But there’s a growing feeling that this Albany team is different and as complete as any one before it. They pass the eye test. The numbers agree. They’ve confronted the program's one fatal flaw (face-offs) and have captivated and elevated the sport with a fast, fun philosophy based on a commitment to positive attitude.

Is this the year Albany carries the America East flag into Championship Weekend?

If it sounds like a story you’ve heard before, look out West to a different sport. Gonzaga basketball had knocked on the doorstep for two decades until breaking through to the Final Four — then the national championship game — in 2017.

“I always look at us like Gonzaga in college basketball,” says Albany assistant Merrick Thomson. “They’re not in a traditional powerhouse conference. They don’t always get the media recognition, but when it comes to the tournament and over their last 10 years, they’ve been getting to certain stages. This year they got over the hump. I look at them like us.”

Albany is a large state university, not a small private school, but there are some key similarities. Like Gonzaga, they dominate in their mid-major conference, but there's also coaching continuity and dedication to a philosophy that’s become a national brand.

“I’ve looked at Gonzaga for years. If you look at it, they’ve had great continuity in their coaching staff,” said Albany athletic director Mark Benson. “Great continuity among their assistants. A philosophy they build off of. We’ve had that continuity and had that success. We have a very distinct style of play and a brand that’s national. When they think of Albany lacrosse they think it’s fun, fast-paced, uptempo.”

The path that’s been set since Albany’s 2007 run seems to be leading toward this moment. With the most complete Albany team ever assembled, it begs the question: Why not Albany lacrosse at Championship Weekend? Why not Albany lacrosse — NCAA champions?

‘Albany guys’

Albany was No. 2 in the country when it hosted in the NCAA First Round a decade ago, before that loss to Cornell. Thomson and current associate head coach Liam Gleason were on that team that featured Jordan Levine, Frank Resetarits and Brett Queener.

They see a lot of themselves in this group.

“The kids now are similar to the ones who were here on that 2007 team. A close-knit group, so friendly and all about the program and passionate about it. It makes it so much fun to be around them,” Thomson says. “It reminds me of my teams when I was here. Same type of kid. Blue-collar kids. Under-looked or under-appreciated by recruiters, scouts, those ACC, Big Ten schools.”

Thomson said he didn’t get many scholarship offers — nor did his classmates. Connor Fields was ranked No. 15 on the Power 100 rankings, but he only had one or two scholarship offers, Thomson says.

Gleason says the balance is similar. While some of the successful Thompson-led teams were offense-heavy, this is the best group from top to bottom. Fields (52G, 61A) is the focal point, one of the likelier Tewaaraton winners of the five finalists. But it’s not all about him, as there are eight different 20-point scorers, with linemates Justin Reh (39, 18) and Bennett Drake (35, 9) coming into their own as players as the season has progressed.

Kyle McClancy, Adam Osika and Sean Eccles anchor a two-way group of middies that causes matchup problems in transition. TD Ierlan has been winning face-offs at a 72.5% clip, taking pressure off a defense that is much better in 2017. Erik Dluhy, AJ Kluck and Stone Sims are playing with more confidence than ever and are backstopped by JD Colarusso, who has been a consistent presence since stepping into the goalie role this year.

But it’s something else about this group. These are the players whose headshots are now legendary. They’ve been shirtless on Barstool Sports. They simply seem to be having more fun than any other team, whether it’s at practice or dancing to “Right Back Where We Started From” — Fields’ post-goal song that’s featured incessantly in the hockey classic “Slap Shot,” and played incessantly at Albany due to his production.

Gleason puts it simply. They’re “Albany guys.”

“Albany guys have always been Albany guys. I could hang out with these guys if I was there age. It would be just like my years,” he said.

In the recruiting process, the staff knows pretty quickly if they’re going to fit in or not.

“We know if they’re going to be someone who wants to be there. I don’t know what it is. If he’s smiling when he’s hanging out in the chair (in the coaches’ offices), then yeah. If he’s a little reserved, he’s probably not an Albany guy,” Gleason thinks for a second about his word choice. “Kyle (McClancy) is reserved, but he’s got that long red hair. Who he is, that style and that attitude, he’s Albany through and through. I couldn’t tell you what the niche is, but we know it when we see it.”

Gleason and Thomson had a simple reason they chose Albany: head coach Scott Marr. His fun philosophy was a selling point, and it is for this current group and future classes.

“It’s really attracted a lot of really talented kids to our program. People know you’re going to have fun. You’re going to have a good time. I’m talking about on the field. You’re going to enjoy playing lacrosse,” Gleason says.

“If you meet Coach Marr, you want to come here and play,” says Thomson. “We don’t label you. There’s just so much fun.”

'The Secret'

It wasn’t always easy.

After 2007’s NCAA Quarterfinal season, the success didn’t parlay into 2008. The Danes lost the first five and went 8-8. A 7-7 season followed, then seasons of 5-11, 5-10 and 5-11. In 2011, three wins in a row had the team looking toward a successful season, but in an Ohio State game the week before Syracuse, the entire starting midfield got injured.

“It was Murphy’s Law,” Marr says. “Everything that could go wrong did.”

In 2012, it hit a crescendo. A freshman, then-midfielder named Lyle Thompson was on the team, his brother Myles and cousin Ty playing attack with Joe Restarits. It didn’t immediately translate into victories, with the team starting 0-7.

Gleason, who was in his first year on staff, said negativity started to permeate the program despite Marr’s overall positive mindset.

“When you lose and you lose again, it’s tough. The doubt starts to creep in. After 2007, everybody thought we would be there again. When you start losing and you haven’t won an America East championship, that just kinda compounded. The culture went from being positive to negative,” Gleason says. “Losing will bring that out in you.”

Gleason’s mom sent him a DVD of “The Secret,” which is based on the law of attraction and highlights positive thinking as the path to positive results. They watched it as a team.

“When you do things well and positive, good things are going to happen. When you’re negative, the result is negative. Then we started talking about things like that,” he says. “I think that was a huge culture change from that on that team. That team needed to focus on the positive things.”

Marr has always preached positivity, but being a fiery guy, he had to change, as well. “The kids changed, and I changed to,” he says. “I realized that going crazy and yelling wasn’t the way to get the best out of them.”

“We started saying things positively, attracting positive vibes and putting them into the air and see what comes back,” he said.

They turned that into an America East Tournament championship appearance. Since then, they’ve won four out of five America East championships.

This year’s team can’t say “come on!” in practice when someone messes up. Against Yale this season, Albany was down by four goals late. Thomson says his team’s response is one of the greatest moments of his coaching career.

“The guys on our bench had no doubt we were going to win that game,” he says. “They constantly kept believing. Every time I went over to them, they just said 'We’ve got the next one.’”

The philosophy is shared by the highest level of the athletics department’s administration.

“I’m a believer in energy and positive energy. Marr shares that philosophy,” says Benson. “It is really about positive energy, and I think they’re on the same page with us administratively. It’s a great opportunity to showcase our school with the community and the national coverage. It’s hard to not want to be part of something with so positive and uplifting.”

#NODAPL

Just before Thanksgiving, controversy swelled in North Dakota over the Dakota Access Pipeline, which was set to go through Native American lands. Protesters said it would threaten the sacred ground and the environment.

Marr jumped into a car with Lyle Thompson and his family, and they traveled 30 hours to protest and host a Medicine Game. The Albany lacrosse team spelled out the hashtag #NODAPL in a photo, and Marr shared a letter with InsideLacrosse.com urging the lacrosse community to take a stand on the issue.

“I’ve known Coach Marr for seven, eight years now. I know who he is. It’s not a surprise to me. He’s standing up for what he believes in. … I see more and more similarities we have and how our relationships have really impacted each other. He’s someone who really makes me see life in a different way, and I believe I’ve done the same for him,” Thompson said in a story in December.

It’s the ultimate symbiotic relationship. Marr would not be the coach he is today without Lyle Thompson; Thompson likely would not be the influential figure in the lacrosse and Native America communities without Marr’s guidance.

Players don’t wear decals just of their home country, but of three nations: USA, Canada and the Iroquois Nation. All three flags are showcased at Casey Stadium and in the locker room. The team will welcome top-ranked Tehoka Nanticoke next season, who grew up in Six Nations and is now at IMG Academy.

“Everything comes from Coach Marr and his mentality of inclusiveness,” says Merrick Thomson, an Ontario native. That’s why we have three stickers, not one, on each helmet.”

“I remember Scott calling me and saying I’m going to jump in a van with the Thompsons and their kids and protest and support the Native Americans,” Benson says, as Marr asked if the university was OK with that. “Why wouldn’t we be? You need to speak up and stand for what you believe in. That’s what I love about this team. It’s easy to categorize them as fun, loose and free-spirited. They are free-spirited, and it shows personality and character. But they're great students. They’re not causing problems on campus. They’re doing well inthe classroom.”

The team has a GPA of 3.12, Benson says. They’re an active and positive influence on campus. Benson says that Marr signed a five-year contract in 2015, taking him through 2020.

The Missing Piece

There’s no way to undersell the impact that freshman TD Ierlan has had on the team.

When Marr was asked what he discusses with Ierlan before a game, he said it’s just one word: “Compete.”

“He does it all on his own. He’s a tireless worker. His work ethic is unbelievable. He prepares himself as good as anyone I’ve ever seen for an 18-year-old kid. His composure throughout the game, his ability to make adjustments. I’m amazed, honestly,” Marr said after the team's victory against Carolina.

The freshman from Victor H.S. (N.Y.) has won 72.5% of his draws, second behind Denver’s Tewaaraton candidate Trevor Baptiste. This past week, he was named as a second-team Inside Lacrosse Media All-American and was a standout at the IL/Epoch Committed Academy. In the First Round win against North Carolina, he won the first 10 draws and finished 23-of-30 with 11 groundballs. He has a winning lacrosse pedigree and a background as a successful wrestler.

Last season, the Danes were 49.5% in face-off win percentage. A huge disparity led to an America East Semifinals loss to Hartford and has been the Achilles’ heel for the Danes. Marr joked last season, “on my gravestone, it's going to say, 'If he only had a face-off guy.”

His success has put the ball in the hands of Fields and the offense a lot more. It’s also taken a ton of pressure off a defense that had been accustomed to seeing a lot of possessions because of the style of play from Albany combined with its lack of face-off success.

"This year with TD, it really allows us to do so much more. Our guys are energized. In the past, I’ve used five or six rotating in because of how much D we’re playing. We’ve stuck to the same three guys [this year]. They’re not tired, where in the past we played a lot of defense,” Gleason says.

Against Maryland, the Danes’ opponent in the Quarterfinals on Sunday, he won 16-of-27 face-offs. Maryland has struggled in recent weeks, playing sub-50% at the face-off X in its last five games.

The Pinnacle Moment

Marr called his team's win against Carolina, “the greatest accomplishment we’ve ever had.”

That phrases encompassed more than the victory. The 6,472 fans who showed up to Casey Stadium in a downpour made up the biggest NCAA First Round crowd in history. The team showed up against the defending champs on national TV and represented the Capital Region with force.

"Quite possibly the best athletic event I’ve ever been a part of," Marr said after the game, in which Albany withstood a nine-goal surge from Carolina in the second half. "Seventeen years in the making. The stadium, the community, the students. It was surreal, unbelievable how much energy we got from the building and how they fed off it."

Fans nationally have fed off Albany. Benson started as AD in the summer of 2014, so he caught the end of the Thompson run. He wasn’t all that familiar with lacrosse before, as he had not been at a school that sponsored it.

He was a fan immediately.

“Right from the first game I saw I said, ‘We’ve got an opportunity with this program to make a great reach into our community,’” Benson recalls. “This can increase our number of applicants. This is why students like to be at Albany. … I saw from a business standpoint a real opportunity. We’ve increased marketing, social, we’re selling season tickets. Look at the tailgate lot. There was not one open spot out of 260 right by the stadium. We’ve been making it more than a game, an event something you want to be a part of.”

Marr said 17 years ago, he saw the Albany job as an opportunity to “make his mark.” Being the first public school to sponsor Division I lacrosse in his home state was appealing, and the profile of the school was something he saw potential in for recruiting. Albany had competed as a Division II and III school prior. Marr, who had been an assistant at Maryland and Delaware, had applied for jobs at Ohio State and Johns Hopkins prior to landing the Albany job, as he was ready in that stage of his career to be a head coach.

It’s blossomed into a national brand. Benson recalls a trip to Chicago for a wedding. He was wearing an Albany lacrosse shirt, and he ran into a man from Oregon, who said his 12-year-old son’s favorite team was Albany. That family had no connection to the university other than seeing the lacrosse team on TV.

But can the Danes win? Maryland beat Albany, 12-11, in mid-April after a last-second push fell just short in front of more than 3,000 fans on a Wednesday afternoon.

The numbers say they can. Brian Coughlin’s data crunch suggest Albany is the favorite to win the whole thing. LaxFilmRoom’s AnalyticsLacrosse.com currently has them the No. 2-rated team based on several criteria including adjusted offense and defense, as well as strength of schedule.

They have the attitude and talent to be the Gonzaga of lacrosse, pushing through to the sport’s biggest stage. Win or lose, they’ve brought positivity to the sport.

“The lacrosse community is so used to certain teams being in Final Fours. People have assumed that’s happening. With the growth of lacrosse. With all these other teams stepping up, going head to head with these blue bloods, anything can happen. Within our community, we have no doubt that we’re a championship contender,” says Thomson. “Eliminate the noise and don’t worry about what other people say. People want to hold on to those types of traditions, we want to move forward for the lacrosse community."