The Terps led by two goals with under three minutes left.
Tied at 11, No. 7 Maryland men’s lacrosse and Michigan were in an all-out scrap for a ground ball. It appeared that the Terps ended up on the favorable end of the scrum, but a check dislodged the ball from Colin Burlace’s stick, allowing Michigan graduate attacker Justin Tiernan to go the other way and beat Logan McNaney for the go-ahead goal.
Plagued by inconsistent offense and timely turnovers, the Terps were unable to deliver a response as they dropped their Big Ten opener to the Wolverines, 12-11.
“We did such a good job to get the lead,” Maryland head coach John Tillman said. “We just never really got it where we can get it to two. Obviously, in such a back and forth game that would have been great for us.”
The defeat marked the first time since 2017 that Maryland has lost consecutive regular-season games.
Maryland stumbled out of the gate in Ann Arbor. Luke Wierman lost five straight faceoffs, and Michigan capitalized to the tune of the game’s opening two tallies. On the other end, some of Maryland’s best shooters in Owen Murphy and Eric Malever squandered good looks at the cage.
A point of emphasis for the Terps coming off their loss to Virginia was limiting turnovers — they committed 18 against the Cavaliers. However, they failed in that task Saturday, committing 17 total and five in the opening quarter alone.
“Obviously, just got to work on the fundamentals of our stick work, you know,” Tillman said. “…a lot of times it’s just poise in the moment.”
Fortunately for the Terps, they forced six Michigan takeaways in the game’s first 15 minutes, and Daniel Maltz scored on an extra-man opportunity to halve the Wolverines’ lead at the end of the first frame.
Maryland settled into the physical battle in the second quarter, spearheaded by Wierman finding some comfort. Eric Spanos, Eric Malever and Braden Erksa notched three unanswered scores to give Maryland a 4-3 lead, its first of the game.
While Michigan battled back to eventually even the game, a Jack Koras goal on the brink of halftime sent the Terps into the break up 6-5.
As was the case to start the game, Maryland’s offense hit a wall to begin the third quarter. Erksa scored the only goal of the period on an impressive individual effort, but the Terps were casual elsewhere. They committed another five turnovers and Michigan converted on three of its 10 shot attempts to take an 8-7 lead after 45 minutes.
Things got worse for Maryland to open the fourth, as Tiernan caught the ball in space and beat McNaney to secure his hat trick.
However, Maryland was able to gain back the momentum when long-stick midfielder AJ Larkin cranked a pole goal in transition to bring Maryland back within one. The sophomore’s tally was then followed up by a pair of scores from Maltz to put the Terps up 10-9. But Michigan once again had an answer in the form of an Isaac Aronson goal.
After Ryan Siracusa put the Terps back in front with 3:47 left, Tiernan then netted back-to-back goals in under two minutes to propel Michigan ahead.
The Terps generated a good look for Murphy on a chance to send the game to overtime, but his shot went straight into the netting.
Three things to know
1. A third straight defeat. Maryland came to Ann Arbor hoping to avenge last year’s two losses to Michigan. Instead, the Wolverines made it a third win a row on the day when they celebrated the 2023 Big Ten Championship team.
2. Wierman struggled. Wierman won just 11 of 27 faceoffs. When the Terps needed possessions, their all-American was unable to generate them.
“I know Luke, he’ll come back ready to roll,” Tillman said. “We’re going to keep working on what we can do to help him on the wings.”
3. Maryland’s offense continued its inconsistency. As has been an issue all season, Maryland’s offense couldn’t find sustained success. It scored just once in each of the first and third quarters, and has now scored over 12 goals just three times this season.