COLLEGE PARK — If the kryptonite for Maryland men’s lacrosse has been Big Ten rival Michigan, then the argument could be made that Penn State has been a remedy.
The No. 2 Terps sprinted to a huge lead in the first half, weathered a mini comeback in the third quarter and completed a wire-to-wire 13-8 victory over the No. 6 Nittany Lions on Saturday afternoon before an announced 5,023 at SECU Stadium.
Fifth-year senior attackman Daniel Kelly and senior midfielder Matthew Keegan compiled a game-high four points each on two goals and two assists for Maryland (8-1, 1-1 Big Ten), and senior attackman Eric Spanos and junior attackman Braden Erksa scored three goals each to power the team to a much-needed win after last Saturday’s shocking 11-10 triple overtime setback to the Wolverines.
While Michigan has defeated the Terps in the past four matchups, the latter has owned Penn State. Maryland boasts a 42-2 record against the Nittany Lions and collected its sixth consecutive regular-season victory in the series.
Graduate student long-stick midfielder Jack McDonald said he and his teammates didn’t make any grand changes to their strategy in their first game since that setback to the Wolverines.
“I think it was fixing the kinks and stuff,” he said. “We knew that there were certain things we needed to get better at. But in the grand scheme of things, we just realized that we needed to get back to work. There was nothing really more to it. It’s a long 12 games in the regular season. We knew at some point, you take a setback every now and then, but it was just getting right back up and getting back on track and just getting to the little things.”
Penn State might have hoped that the Terps had prevailed against the Wolverines. Under coach John Tillman, Maryland is now 34-8 after losses, and Keegan, a Binghamton transfer, acknowledged that conference games have a certain gravitas to them.
“You could feel the intensity even after last week,” he said. “Coach said it: The league games, they do have a different feel to them. These teams know each other a lot, and playing in an environment like that, even though it’s my first year, that’s what you want as a player.”
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Maryland’s Matthew Keegan scores against Penn State in a Big Ten men’s lacrosse game at SECU Stadium. (Kim Hairston/Staff)
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Maryland’s Matthew Keegan scores against Penn State in a Big Ten men’s lacrosse game at SECU Stadium. (Kim Hairston/Staff)
An offense that was held to just 25% shooting in that setback to Michigan was much more effective against the Nittany Lions. The Terps converted 50% of their shots and turned in three three goals in transition, including a fastbreak strike from junior long-stick midfielder AJ Larkin with 5:57 left in the first quarter and a pair of assists from junior short-stick defensive midfielder George Stamos.
“During the week, we knew we were going to be able to hit in transition,” McDonald said. “We wanted to pick our spots when we would go in transition because playing in the Big Ten is really hard. You don’t want to give up short possessions. But we were able to execute and going from D to O is something we always preach, and they fell today, it was awesome.”
Spanos completed his hat trick in the first 17 minutes of the game, and Erksa sealed his with 5:45 left in the third quarter. The starting offense accounted for 10 of the team’s 13 goals and six of the 11 assists.
“When the guys got opportunities, I thought they shot well, and it’s a credit to those guys and Coach Phipps just kind of setting each other up,” Tillman said, referring to offensive coordinator Michael Phipps. “I think they did a very good job of looking for each other, a lot of assisted goals. The transition ones make it a lot easier because obviously your hands are free, which is good.”
Maryland was equally as productive on defense. Graduate student goalkeeper Logan McNaney stopped a game-high 10 shots, junior defenseman Will Schaller, a Bel Air resident, caused three turnovers and scooped up four ground balls, and Larkin, a Baltimore resident and a Loyola Blakefield graduate, amassed three caused turnovers and three ground balls.
The Terps tagged Penn State with its worst offensive showing of the season and limited an offense that had averaged 13.9 goals entering Saturday’s matchup.
“I think we were just on the same page,” McDonald said of the defensive effort. “I think that was something we lacked against Michigan just getting hot and basically playing grounded. I thought we did a good job of it in the first half.”
Senior attackman Matt Traynor led Penn State with three points on two goals and one assist, and sophomore attackman Kyle Lehman and freshman midfielder Hunter Aquino scored two goals each. Sophomore faceoff specialist Colby Baldwin won 15 of 22 draws with a game-high five ground balls, but the Nittany Lions fell for the second game in a row after suffering a 13-9 loss to then-No. 9 Ohio State on Sunday.
Despite losing seven of its top 11 scorers, Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Ajax Zappitello, and school faceoff wins leader Luke Wierman, Maryland finds itself in a favorable position with victories over No. 4 Princeton, No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 8 Syracuse, No. 10 Richmond and now Penn State. Tillman credited the players and coaches with looking inward rather than outward.
“We just started all over in August and just said, ‘All right, let’s just maximize what we have,’ and these guys have done a great job,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of close games, and we’ve been fortunate to win a good amount of them, and last week we didn’t. But even in the wins, there were things we needed to improve upon and get better, and last week, there were some things we needed to improve upon and get better. But we really don’t change.”
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
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No. 2 Maryland at Rutgers
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