#7 Maryland (9-4, 3-2 B1G / #3 Seed)
at
#5 Johns Hopkins (11-4, 4-1 B1G / #2 Seed)
Big Ten Semifinals
May 4, 2023
Homewood Field
3:30 p.m.
BTN
COLLEGE PARK, MD - The 119th edition of The Rivalry heads to the Big Ten Tournament with No. 3-seeded Maryland traveling to Homewood Field to face No. 2-seeded Johns Hopkins in the tournament semifinals at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 4. This will be the first-ever meeting between the long-time rivals in the Big Ten Tournament at Homewood Field.
The game will be
televised on BTN.
The winner of the game will meet the winner of the semifinal between No. 1 seed Penn State and No. 4 seed Michigan in the championship game on May 6 at 5:30 p.m. at Homewood Field. The Nittany Lions and Wolverines play in the first semifinal at 1 p.m. on May 4.
No. 7 Maryland is 9-4 on the season following a 14-11 win over No. 16 Rutgers at home in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. The Terps are 5-1 away from College Park this year with five consecutive wins following a Feb. 11 loss at Loyola. Maryland's five-game road winning streak has come at Princeton (11-5, Feb. 25), Albany (16-9, Mar. 11), Virginia (14-13 OT, Mar. 18), Ohio State (12-11 OT, Apr. 7) and Rutgers (11-8, Apr. 16).
The 5th-ranked Blue Jays are 11-4 overall and 6-2 at Homewood Field in 2023. Johns Hopkins' last loss at home came nearly two months ago in an 18-13 defeat to Virginia on Mar. 7.
Series History - Johns Hopkins
- This will be the 119th meeting between the Terps and the Blue Jays. Maryland is 49-68-1 against Johns Hopkins all-time. The Blue Jays list this as the 125th game between the two rivals. Hopkins counts seven more games in the series (1895-23) before men's lacrosse was an official varsity sport at the University of Maryland.
- Since 1924 Maryland and Johns Hopkins have met on the lacrosse field every year (except for 1944 & 1945 due to World War II and 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
- This will be the first time Maryland and Hopkins meet at Homewood Field in the Big Ten Tournament. The only other time the conference tournament was played at Homewood was in 2016. That year, Maryland captured the tournament title, besting Penn State in the semis, 16-9, and beating Rutgers, 14-8, in the championship game. Maryland and Johns Hopkins have split the four games between the two schools in the Big Ten Tournament. The Blue Jays won the first two (2018 & 2019), while the Terps won the last two (2021 & 2022).
- It took four years of Big Ten lacrosse for Maryland and Hopkins to meet in the Big Ten Tournament, which came in the 2018 championship game in Ann Arbor, MI. Tied at 5-5 at the half, Will Snider scored back-to-back goals to give the Terps a 7-5 lead midway through the third quarter. But the Blue Jays scored eight of the next nine goals to open up a 13-8 lead. Louis Dubick scored twice down the stretch, but Hopkins took home the title with a 13-10 win.
- The 2019 semifinals saw Hopkins with a 12-7 comeback victory in Piscataway, NJ. Maryland built a 6-2 halftime lead, but the Blue Jays outscored the Terps 10-1 in the second half to advance to the title game, where they lost to Penn State 18-17 in OT.
- Maryland captured the 2021 Big Ten Championship game over Hopkins, 12-10, on May 8 in University Park, PA. The Blue Jays opened up a 9-6 lead less than a minute into the third quarter, but Maryland's defense shut Hopkins down for the next 27:17. That allowed the Terrapin offense to run off five straight goals to take an 11-9 lead. The Blue Jays cut the lead to one with 1:44 left in the game, but Anthony DeMaio, who led all scorers with four points, tallied his second goal for insurance.
- The 2022 Big Ten semifinals saw the No. 1-ranked Terps cruise to a 16-11 victory at home in College Park. Maryland led 8-4 at the half and opened up a 14-6 lead after three quarters before coasting to the final whistle. Once again, it was Wisnauskas putting on a show with four goals and three assists. Anthony DeMaio also had a hat trick, while Keegan Khan and Eric Malever each had four points on two goals and two assists. McNaney was sensational in net, making 14 saves.
The Terps won the Big Ten Tournament in 2016 - the only other time the tournament was held at Homewood Field.
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Offensive Defenders
- Through 13 games, Terrapin defensive players have been surprisingly offensive. So far, in 2023, six Maryland defenders (close, long poles, short-sticks, and goalies) have scored goals or tallied assists. Terp defenders have 15 goals and seven assists for 22 points which is 8.3% of Maryland's total points.
- Terp defenders accounted for six points in the Terps' 13-10 win over #9 Penn State (Mar. 25). SSDMs Dante Trader Jr. and Eric Kolar scored twice, while SSDM Donovan Lacey and LSM John Geppert tallied assists. It was the first time Maryland defenders accounted for six points in a game since Mar. 12, 2022, when Geppert (2g, Bubba Fairman (1g, 1a), Justin Sherrer (1g), and Garrett Gibbons (1g) totaled six points in a 24-6 win over Albany.
- Trader Jr. has made an immediate impact in his first season with the Maryland men's lacrosse program and leads the Terrapin defenders with five goals and two assists. Trader Jr. has scored two goals in a game twice this season (vs. #19 Syracuse, Feb. 18 & vs. #9 Penn State, Mar. 25). He picked up his first-career assist at #4 Princeton (Feb. 25) and added his second in the Big Ten quarterfinal victory over #16 Rutgers (Apr. 29).
- Kolar is also in his first season seeing playing time and has three goals, including his first-career multi-goal game vs. #9 Penn State (Mar. 25).
- Geppert picked up where he left off last season when he scored five goals and added an assist. So far, in 2023, he has two goals and an assist. LSM Jack McDonald and Def. Ajax Zappitello have also racked up "pole goals" this year, while Zappitello and SSDM Donovan Lacey have also picked up assists.
- Nick Redd was added to the list with his first career goal against #7 Johns Hopkins (Apr. 22).
- Brett Makar, the 2023 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, got in the scoring column for the first time in 2023 with a goal vs. #16 Rutgers (Apr. 29). It was Makar's second career goal.
10: The Magic Number
Get To 10 & Win
- Since John Tillman took over the program in 2011, Maryland has won 150 of the 169 games in which it has scored 10 or more goals for a .888 winning percentage.
- The Terps scored at least ten goals in 17 of 18 games in 2022, with the lone single-digit scoring game coming in the NCAA Championship game, a 9-7 victory over Cornell on May 30.
- Maryland is 9-3 in 2023 when scoring 10+ with wins over Richmond, Syracuse, Princeton, Albany, Virginia, Penn State, Ohio State, and twice over Rutgers. The 13-12 3OT loss to Notre Dame on March 4 was the Terps' first loss when scoring 10+ since the 2021 NCAA title game (May 31).
- The last time Maryland failed to reach 10 goals or more at home dates back to May 9, 2015. Maryland hosted Yale in the first round of the NCAA tournament and advanced with an 8-7 victory. The Terps trailed 7-4 early in the fourth quarter, but four straight goals by Bryan Cole, Joe LoCascio, Matt Rambo, and Henry West brought home the victory.
- Maryland is also 111-16 (.874) since 2015 when scoring at least 10 goals.
Holding Opponents To Single-Digits
- Maryland is 119-11 since Tillman took over the program in 2011 when it allows nine goals or less for a .915 winning percentage. The Terps have won 46 games in a row when holding foes to less than 10 goals.
- Maryland is 4-0 in 2023 when holding opponents to less than 10 goals after a 15-4 win over No. 19 Richmond (Feb. 4), holding No. 6 Princeton to five goals in an 11-5 Terrapin win (Feb. 25), a 16-9 win at Albany (Mar. 11), and limiting No. 10 Rutgers to five goals below its season average in an 11-8 victory (Apr. 16).
- The last time the Terps allowed less than 10 goals and lost a game was March 4, 2017 - a 5-4 loss at Notre Dame.
- The last time Maryland suffered a home loss when giving up less than 10 goals was back in the first year of the Big Ten Tournament when Ohio State topped the Terps, 9-6, in the conference semifinals at SECU Stadium.
Terps' 98th Season of Men's Lacrosse
- The Terps boast an all-time record of 881-282-4 (.757) entering the 2023 season, dating back to the first varsity team in 1924 (a team was not fielded in 1944 and 1945 due to World War II). Maryland has finished with a .500 or better record in all 97 seasons of existence. The program reached the 800-win milestone with a thrilling 12-6 victory on April 12, 2017 on the road against Albany.
- Maryland finished the decade of the 2010s 134-42 for a .761 winning percentage, making it the winningest decade in Terrapin lacrosse history. Nine of those seasons came under the direction of head coach John Tillman, who has posted a 122-38 record and .763 winning percentage at the helm for Maryland.
- Maryland Men's Lacrosse By the Decade:
- 2020's: 47-6 (.887)
- 2010's: 134-42 (.761)
- 2000's: 111-49 (.694)
- 1990's: 95-47 (.669)
- 1980's: 83-41 (.669)
Maryland is 46-6 (.885) so far in the 2020's, including a perfect 18-0 season in 2022, punctuated by an NCAA Championship.
Staff Updates
- The Terrapins welcome two new assistant coaches in 2023.
- Jake Bernhardt rejoined the staff on July 6, 2022, after five seasons at the University of Vermont working under fellow Terp alum Chris Feifs. During his tenure the Catamounts won the America East twice, made their first two NCAA Tournaments in program history, and went 44-24. Bernhardt was a member of the Terrapins' staff in 2014 as the Director of Operations.
- Tim O'Branski joined the Terps in September 2022 as the team's volunteer assistant coach. Before becoming a Terp, O'Branski spent two years as offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator at Mercer University.
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