COLLEGE PARK, MD – No. 4 Maryland had five different multi-goal scorers as the Terps beat No. 16 Syracuse, 15-12, at SECU Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Daniel Kelly (four goals and two assists for six points) and
Jack Koras (three goals and an assist for four points) each posted career highs in points in the victory, which came in Syracuse's first game at Maryland since 1997.
The Terps (2-1) extended their home win streak to 20 games in a row, and they have won 37 of their last 39 games dating to 2020. The Orange dropped its first game of 2023 and now stand at 3-1 on the season.
Dante Trader Jr., who starred for Maryland football this past fall, scored his first two collegiate goals for the Terps, including an amazing individual effort in the fourth quarter where he maintained the ball after being knocked down, drawing a penalty; he then ran down from midfield and scored. Trader also had three groundballs.
Kyle Long (two goals, two assists), Owen Murphy (two goals, assist), and Daniel Maltz (goal, assist) also had multi-point games for the Terps. In addition, John Geppert scored his 10th career pole goal.
Face-off man Luke Wierman continued his dominant play this season, winning 24-of-31 face-offs and scooping up 12 groundballs. The 24 wins equaled his career high.
On defense, Brett Makar limited Syracuse's Joey Spallina - who entered the game with 11 goals and 13 points – holding him to one goal and one assist. Makar had five groundballs and a caused turnover.
Ajax Zappitello had three caused turnovers and four groundballs.
Graduate student Teddy Dolan made his first start in goal for the Terps in place of Logan McNaney and made nine saves.
The Terps took 50 shots, their most since taking 50 against Virginia last season at Audi Field.
This was Syracuse's first game at Maryland since the 1997 NCAA Tournament and first regular-season game in College Park since 1983.
From Coach Tillman
"I just feel like we got better flow today. I think that was a focus during the week, just getting more people involved. Everything was highlighted from stick work, our balancing of the field, decision-making, our patience and shot selection...Today you could sense that the guys were in rhythm and in sync."
Breaking Down The Action
- Maryland opened the game with the first three goals of the afternoon coming from Kelly, Jack Koras, and Maltz as the Terps took the first 13 shots of the game in building a 3-0 lead in the first 2:56 of the game. The Orange got on the scoreboard as Michael Leo scored with 4:30 left in the first to make it 3-1 after the first.
- Syracuse scored the first two goals of the second quarter to even the game at 3-3 on a goal by Luke Rhoa. Maryland regained the lead at 4-3 on a man-up goal by Owen Murphy set up by Kelly with 7:47 left in the second. Long, Jack Koras, and Murphy scored to make it a four-goal run to give the Terps a 7-3 advantage on four goals in a span of 2:36. Syracuse scored the next two goals, coming from Griffin Cook and Jake Murphy, cutting Maryland's lead to 7-5. They responded with two goals in the final 55 seconds of the first half as Kelly and Geppert scored 10 seconds apart to give the Terps a 9-5 lead at halftime.
- The Orange opened the second half with a pair of goals to make it 9-7 just over three minutes into the game, but Maryland, once again, answered as Kelly notched the hat trick, followed by Trader scoring his first collegiate goal off a face-off win and another Kelly goal to make it 12-7 with 9:33 left in the third quarter. Syracuse tallied the final two goals of the third quarter to make it 12-9 in favor of Maryland after 45 minutes.
- After Spallina scored on a behind-the-back goal to make it 12-10, the Terps responded with three goals as Long notched his second of the game, then Koras posted his first-career hat trick for a 14-10 lead - both on man-up. Trader then scored after an amazing individual effort where he was knocked down for an ensuing penalty, maintained the ball, and scored for a 15-10 lead.
Home Cooking
- Maryland extended its home win streak to 20 games at SECU Stadium on Saturday.
- The Terps are 75-14 overall in home games under John Tillman since 2011, and Maryland has won 17 straight non-conference matchups at home since 2018.
- Maryland will play six regular-season home games in 2023.
Multi-Games
- Long had his 37th career-high multi-point games with two goals and an assist. He had his 11th career game with two goals.
- Maltz had his 26th career-high multi-point game with a goal and an assist.
- Jack Koras had his fourth-career multi-goal game and seven multi-point game of his career. The last time he two goals and points in a game was against Vermont in the NCAA Tournament last season.
- Murphy had his 17th career multi-point, 14th multi-goal, and second multi-assist career game (his only other one came vs. Mount St. Mary's in 2020).
- Kelly had his third multi-goal game, with two coming this season, in the last two games. It was his fourth-career multi-point game and first-career multi-assist game.
Hat Trick Terps
- Maryland has had a hat trick in 60 straight games dating back to February 2, 2019.
- Kelly has his third career hat trick to extend the streak. Koras added his hat trick.
Numbers To Know
- 1: Trader scored his first two collegiate goals.
- 1: Kelly had his first-career game with multiple assists.
- 2: Jack Koras scored two goals in a game for the fourth time in his career.
- 3: Jack Koras had a career-high with three points.
- 3: The Terps scored their third pole goal of the season, coming off the stick of John Geppert. Last season, Maryland had 10, with Geppert scoring five of them.
- 6: Kelly had a career-high in points with six points on four goals and two assists.
- 21: Kyle Long extended his point-scoring streak to 21 games dating back to the 2021 season.
- 24: Wierman won 24 face-offs to tie his career-high.
- 26: Wierman won double-figures in face-offs for the 26th time in his career.
Series History
- Maryland now leads the all-time series, 13-6, after winning the first regular-season game between the teams at Maryland since 1983.
- The Terps have won the last five meetings, winning NCAA Tournament games in 2011, 2014, and 2016 and a regular-season game at Syracuse last season, 14-10.
- The last time the teams played in College Park was in the 1997 Final Four, with Maryland winning 18-17.
- The last regular-season meeting at Maryland was a 16-13 Syracuse victory.
Up Next
- The Terps head to No. 5 Princeton next Saturday, Feb. 25, at 1 p.m. That game will air on ESPN+.
