The Terps begin postseason play on Thursday.
Maryland men’s lacrosse ended its regular season on a whimper, losing “The Rivalry” to Johns Hopkins, 7-5, in a meek offensive performance. But with the regular season behind them, the Terps have a chance to add another win to their NCAA Tournament resume on Thursday against Penn State in their first postseason game of the year.
The game will begin at 8:30 p.m. and air on ESPNU.
What happened last time
Maryland and Penn State’s first meeting of the season took place on March 31. The Terps, ranked No. 12 in the country, entered the road matchup as the underdogs, as Penn State opened the season 7-1 and was ranked No. 4.
In the first half, Maryland looked like the worse team. Its offense struggled to generate quality looks and Penn State found soft spots in its defense, utilizing picks and ball movement.
The first half ended with the Nittany Lions holding an 8-4 advantage, with star attacker TJ Malone scoring three goals.
The Terps showed marginal improvement in the third frame, as their defense and goalie Logan McNaney settled into the game, allowing just two goals. Offensively, they found the net three times, one being a transition goal for defensive midfielder Nick Redd.
The tide of the game truly changed early in the fourth, as Luke Wierman won the first six faceoffs of the quarter.
The Terps proceeded to rattle off six unanswered goals, taking a 13-10 lead. Penn State got one back, but Maryland held on to win, 13-11, in one of its best performances of the season.
What’s happened since
Maryland turned its victory over Penn State into a three-game win streak, defeating Ohio State and Rutgers.
Against the Buckeyes, the Terps won a defensive battle, 8-7, on the back of one of Eric Spanos’ best games of the year, in which he scored four times.
The next week, Maryland’s defense completely shut down the Scarlet Knights, beating them 11-6. Logan McNaney made 15 saves, while Daniel Kelly posted a hat trick in relief of Daniel Maltz.
Maryland’s offense has not returned to the form it found in the second half against Penn State, though, which was never more apparent than in its regular season finale loss to Johns Hopkins.
The offense managed just four goals — with defensive midfielder George Stamos adding one — as the Terps lost, 7-5.
Meanwhile, Penn State followed its loss to the Terps with another heartbreaker, this time to Johns Hopkins. It let another halftime lead slip and lost in overtime, 9-8.
The Nittany Lions responded to the losses with three straight wins, though, during which their offense shined. First, they comfortably defeated Michigan, 14-8, behind five goals from TJ Malone.
Then they beat Rutgers twice in a row, first to close out their regular season, and then again in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament.
Penn State is regarded as a team inside the bubble by tournament experts, and will look to secure a spot by defeating the Terps.
Three Things to Watch
1. Can Wierman dominate again? The first matchup between Maryland and Penn State hinged on Wierman’s performance at the faceoff. In the first half, Penn State’s platoon of Colby Baldwin and Chase Mullins won eight of 13 first-half faceoffs. But as Maryland launched their second-half comeback, Wierman won 11 of 14, helping Maryland string goals together. The Terps will again look to their all-conference faceoff man to help give their struggling offense opportunities.
2. What will change offensively? It is no secret that Maryland’s offense struggled throughout the regular season, particularly toward the end. If the Terps hope to make a postseason run, their offense will need to find a spark. Exactly where that spark will come from remains to be seen.
“You don’t necessarily have to blow everything up,” head coach John Tillman said after the loss to Johns Hopkins, “but you certainly have some time to kind of look at all aspects and figure out, ‘hey, is there a way we can do it better?’”
3. NCAA Tournament implications. On the rating percentage index (RPI) rankings, the official tool the NCAA uses for deciding tournament seeding, Maryland is No. 7 and seen as a lock to make the tournament. However, the Terps can drop or raise their seeding in the Big Ten Tournament. Two wins could push them as high as No. 4, while a loss on Thursday could move them out of the top 10.