#4 Maryland (3-0) (0-0 B1G) vs. #11 Princeton (2-0) (0-0 IVY)
February 24, 2024
SECU Stadium
2 PM
B1G+
COLLEGE PARK, MD - No. 4 Maryland returns home to host No. 11 Princeton on Saturday afternoon. The game can be streamed live on ESPN+.
The Terps are 3-0 to start the 2024 season, including two overtime wins over No. 19 Richmond and No. 7 Syracuse.
Owen Murphy and
George Stamos notched the two game-winners for the Terps.
Princeton will head to College Park to play its third game in seven days. The Tigers are 2-0 with a 15-5 win over Monmouth followed by a 15-6 win over Manhattan.
series history
- Maryland owns a 34-12-1 advantage over Princeton and is 5-0 since John Tillman took over the Terps in 2011.
- This is just the eighth regular-season meeting between the two national powers since the NCAA era began in 1971.
- Most recently, Maryland topped Princeton 11-5 in New Jersey last season. Brian Ruppel made his collegiate debut and notched 14 saves, the most for a true freshman since 1993 (Brian Dougherty, 23). Daniel Maltz had five points.
- The last time the two sides met in College Park the Terps were victorious 15-11. The two teams met later in the 2022 Final Four, a 13-9 Maryland win that saw Logan McNaney notch a career-best 19 saves.
Maryland topped Princeton 11-5 in New Jersey last season.
About the 2024 terps
- The Terps welcome back a large number of key returners from the 2023 team, including defenseman Ajax Zappitello, faceoff specialist Luke Wierman, attackmen Braden Erksa, Daniel Maltz and Daniel Kelly, and midfielders Jack Koras, Jack Brennan, Eric Spanos, Zach Whittier and Owen Murphy. Zappitello and Wierman were both First Team All Big-Ten and All-Americans last season while Erksa was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
- Zappitello will don the heralded and historic number one jersey for the Terps.
- In total, the Terps return over 90 percent of last year's goal scoring.
- The Terps also get back two key pieces from season-ending injuries suffered in 2022 NCAA Tournament MOP Logan McNaney and attackman Eric Malever who totaled 48 points (26G, 22A).
Ajax Zappitello is the second consecutive close defenseman to wear the Maryland No. 1 jersey.
Wierman on the charts
- With his 12th of 17 face-off wins against Richmond on Feb. 3, Luke Wierman became Maryland's all-time program leader in face-off wins. He broke Andy Claxton's record of 648 that had stood for over three decades. Against Syraucse, Wierman added 16 more faceoff wins and now has 683 all-time
- Wierman is also climbing up the career groundballs list and is one of only three Terps in history to scoop up 300 or more groundballs. He joined the exclusive 300 Club with his first of eight groundballs vs. Johns Hopkins on April 22, 2023. With 9 groundballs at Syracuse, Wierman now has 365 total, good for third overall in program history. Next on the list is No. 2 Brian Haggerty (1996-99) with 380.
Luke Wierman became Maryland's all-time leading faceoff win leader against Richmond.
McNaney Returns, continues to climb rankings
- When Logan McNaney started in cage at Richmond on Saturday, Feb.3 , it marked his first game action in just under a year. After suffering a season-ending ACL injury against Loyola last season, McNaney missed the remainder of the 2023 season. Against the Spiders, McNaney played all 65:05 minutes and made 13 saves, including two in overtime.
- McNaney followed up that performance with 12 saves against Loyola, holding the Greyhounds to just four goals for their lowest scoring total since 2017. He then made a season-high 14 saves at Syracuse
- McNaney has 445 career saves, good for sixth all-time. He is just 55 saves away from becoming just the four Terp ever to eclipse 500 career saves.
Logan McNaney was named to the USILA Team of the Week on both Feb. 13 fand Feb. 20.
Maltz Approaching 100 Career goals, Moving up the career points list
- With 96 goals so far over his five-year career, Daniel Maltz is just four away from becoming just the 18th Terp ever to eclipse 100 goals.
- Additionally,starting with C. Rennie Smith, who totaled 128 career points from 1955-58, a total of 61 Maryland men's lacrosse student-athletes have reached the 100-point milestone for their careers. Maltz is the latest Terp on the 100-career-points list after his four points vs. Notre Dame on March 3, 2023.
- Maltz currently sits tied for 31st all-time with 129 career points.
Maltz has scored two goals in each of fhe first three games this season.
Zappitello on the caused turnover charts
- Ajax Zappitello is climbing the career caused turnovers list. With 54 CT's, he's just five back of Brett Makar at No. 13.
- He is one of just 16 Terps to eclipse 50 caused turnovers.
Zappitello caused three turnovers at No. 7 Syracuse on Saturday.
Overtime is terp time
- In two of the first three games this season, the Terps have found themselves in overtime---coming out victorious in both.
- Owen Murphy got the job done in Maryland's season opener at Richmond, connecting from deep in 2OT. SSDM George Stamos was the unlikely hero at Syracuse, notching the game-winner off a successful Maryland clear.
- Maryland went 2-1 in overtime games last season, with overtime wins at No.1 Virginia and at No. 19 Ohio State.
- The Terps are 14-8 in overtime games under John Tillman and have won four straight dating back to last season.
The Terps have won four straight overtime games dating back to last season.
10: The magic number
- Since John Tillman took over the program in 2011, Maryland has won 154 of the 174 games in which it has scored 10 or more goals for a .885 winning percentage.
- Most recently, the Terps scored 13 goals with hat tricks from two guys (Braden Erksa and Jack Koras) in an overtime win at No. 7 Syracuse.
- Maryland is 121-11 since Tillman took over the program in 2011 when it allows nine goals or less for a .917 winning percentage. The Terps have won 48 games in a row when holding foes to less than 10 goals.
- Most recently, the Terps allowed just four goals to No. 12 Loyola in a dominant defensive showing. Ajax Zappitello held Loyola's Evan James (nine points in season opener) without a point and Logan McNaney made 12 saves in cage. As a team, the Terps held the Greyhounds scoreless in both the first and third quarter. The four goals was Loyola's lowest point total since May, 14, 2017.
Maryland has won 48 consecutive games when it holds its opponents to single digits.
History of success
- Maryland has an all-time record of 884-283-4 (.757), 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 98 seasons. The program reached the 800-win milestone with a 12-6 victory on April 12, 2017, at Albany.
- The Terps boast four NCAA Championships, 28 Final Four appearances and 522 All-Americans.
- With a 14-9 win at No. 5 Johns Hopkins on May 4, 2023 in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinal, the Terps extended their streak of double-digit win seasons to 20, the longest active streak in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse. The streak also coincides with the Terps making 20 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, also the longest such streak in the country in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse.
- Since joining the Big Ten in 2015, Maryland is 38-7 (.844) in conference play. The 38 wins are 14 more than Johns Hopkins, which has 24. Penn State and Rutgers each have 23 wins, Ohio State has 20, and Michigan has seven.
The Terps won the 2022 National Championship with a perfect 18-0 record.
