ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Posted in Maryland’s locker room this year was a stark reminder of the pitfalls a defending national champion can face.

This decade has not been kind to teams attempting a repeat. Loyola was ousted in the first round in 2013. So were Duke (2015), Denver (2016) and North Carolina (2017).

“We were literally like ‘We don’t want to be like some of those teams,’” Maryland coach John Tillman said. “They are terrific programs, but outside of Duke repeating [in 2014], it’s been almost like ‘Wow, that is the curse.’ We had to push that much more, but we had to navigate that everyone wants to celebrate and I’m like ‘That was last year.’”

Tillman could exhale and take the long view just a little Sunday afternoon. A week after surviving Robert Morris to open the NCAA tournament, his Terrapins had once again handled matters in the quarterfinals, dealing Cornell a 13-8 defeat at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

“I don’t think we’ve really peaked yet,” said freshman attackman Bubba Fairman, who had three goals and two assists. “I think we’re coming along.”

The top-seeded Terrapins (14-3), who improved to 7-0 in quarterfinals under Tillman, will meet fourth-seeded Duke (15-3) in Saturday’s semifinals in Foxborough, Mass.

Jordan Dowiak scored four goals for the Big Red (13-5), who never led and trailed by as many as eight goals before a four-goal flurry in the fourth quarter.

“We didn’t find our groove early,” Cornell interim coach Peter Milliman said. “We had a few looks in the first half that I think are usually pretty good looks for us and they didn’t fall.”

Maryland adopted a common tactic to deal with Big Red attackman Jeff Teat, shutting off the sophomore and effectively limiting the sophomore’s direct impact on the game. Teat had two assists (one in transition) and took only one shot.

Sophomore Jack Welding had the primary responsibility for locking off Teat, though fellow defensemen Curtis Corley and Bryce Young and short stick Adam DiMillo (on extra man) also took turns as Maryland was content to play 5-on-5.

“A lot of teams are not really comfortable playing defense in that environment, and I think a lot of the goals we scored today — although it doesn’t show up in the stat sheet — those were part of Jeff being shut,” Milliman said. “I’m not oblivious to the fact that he’s one of the best players in our game and we are much better offensively with him touching the ball. But as you can see, there were some early parts of the game where we made that the game plan, to get Jeff the ball, we probably struggled more than anything else.”

Despite the lack of offensive continuity, the Big Red pulled within 6-4 late in the first half. It was as close as they would get against a Maryland bunch reinvigorated after a practice week filled with bursts in short sessions after a schedule that had worn down the Terps over the previous month.

While a possession advantage surely helped (the Terps were 15 of 24 on faceoffs), Maryland was crisp coming back out of the locker room. After fending off a Cornell extra-man chance, the Terps got a Logan Wisnauskas goal off a Fairman assist on their first possession of the half. Fairman then scored three times in less than four minutes as Maryland ran its lead to 11-4.

“It kind of seemed they had all the answers to everything,” Cornell goalie Christian Knight said.

Cornell scored four in a row in the fourth quarter to close within 12-8 before Jared Bernhardt stemmed the rally with a goal and the Terps managed to burn off much of the final six minutes on offense.

It was a final, unfulfilling chapter in Cornell’s season-long revival. The Big Red came off two consecutive losing seasons and dropped two of their first three games. Yet they figured things out by a March 10 defeat of Penn State and went on to win their first Ivy League tournament since 2011.

While Milliman spent the season as the program’s interim coach, the Big Red is clearly in better shape as a program than it was when he took over a year ago.

“We made some great memories over the years and it’s great that we got back to where Cornell should be,” said senior defenseman Jake Pulver, who helped limit Tewaaraton finalist Connor Kelly to a goal on three shots.

As for Maryland, it is 20-6 in the postseason in eight seasons since Tillman’s arrival. Sunday simply continued the string of stellar May play now customary in College Park.

Still, Tillman conceded this was arguably his toughest year he’s had since taking over at Maryland. Not only were there residual praise and accolades to accept on the back end, the Terps became the sport’s hunted without the benefit of so much of the personality and experience that carried them to the top.

“This team is really different from last year, and that’s why I’m so proud of them,” Tillman said. “We mentioned at some point this year that Matt Rambo and Colin Heacock aren’t walking through that door. [Neither’s] Dylan Maltz. Jon Garino’s not here anymore.”

But Kelly and Bernhardt and Tim Rotanz remained. So did Corley and Young and goalie Dan Morris. Fairman and Wisnauskas blended into the program superbly.

After Sunday’s deconstruction of Cornell, Maryland is still standing, still looking for more and as much of a sure thing in the quarterfinals this decade as it ever was.