#12 Maryland (5-3) (0-1 B1G) at #4 Penn State (7-1) (1-0 B1G)
March 31, 2024
Panzer Stadium
7 PM
BTN
COLLEGE PARK, MD - No. 12 Maryland is set for its second consecutive road conference game when it travels to University Park for a top-15 class against the No. 4 Nittany Lions on Sunday evening.
Maryland is 5-3 on the season, with three overtime wins (at No. 19 Richmond, at No. 7 Syracuse, Brown). The Terps also have home wins over No. 12 Loyola and No. 11 Princeton. The Terps' losses are against No. 6 Notre Dame, No. 4 Virginia and No. 20 Michigan. Maryland has faced ranked opponents in seven of its first eight games.
Penn State dropped its first game of the season to Colgate, but has since rattled off seven straight wins. The Nittany Lions have ranked wins over No. 10 Yale and No. 8 Cornell. They defeated Ohio State in their Big Ten opener, 12-9.
series history
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The Terps are a remarkable 40-1 all-time against the Nittany Lions, including a perfect 11-0 mark in University Park.
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Last season, the No. 2 Terps came out on top 13-10 in College Park as eight different Terps scored. SSDMs
Eric Kolar and
Dante Trader Jr. each scored twice in the win over the No. 9 Nittany Lions.
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In 2022 in University Park, the No. 1 Terps scored 13 unanswered goals en route to an 18-7 win.
- Of note, Penn State assistant coach John Haus is a 2013 graduate of Maryland. He played four seasons in College Park, includ- ing his final three under Coach Tillman. He was a first-team All-ACC and USILA first-team All-America selection in 2013.
Maryland is 40-1 all-time against Penn State
Wierman In the record books
- 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 Michigan, Wierman added 10 more faceoff wins and now has 741 all-time.
- Wierman is also climbing up the career groundballs list. With seven groundballs against Michigan, he officially became the second Terp all-time with 400+ groundballs in his career, now standing at 402. He only trails Andy Claxton and his 451 all-time.
- Wierman set yet another program record against Princeton on Feb. 24, 2024 as he won a remarkable 20 of 23 faceoffs for 87%, marking the highest faceoff win percentage in program history for those who won a minimum of 20 faceoffs.
Luke Wierman set Maryland's all-time single-game faceoff percentage record against Princeton on Feb. 24 when he won 20 of 23 for 87%.
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 followed by 10 saves vs. Princeton.
- McNaney has 493 career saves, good for fourth all-time. He is just seven saves away from becoming just the fourth Terp ever to eclipse 500 career saves.
Logan McNaney was named to the USILA Team of the Week on both Feb. 13 and Feb. 20.
Maltz Reaches 100 Career goals, Moving up the career points list
- Daniel Maltz scored the game's first goal between the Terps and Fighting Irish and officially cemented himself as the 18th Terp in program history to score at least 100 points.
- 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 29th all-time with 143 career points and 14th all-time with 108 career goals. Against Michigan on March 23, Maltz led the Terps with four points on three goals and an assist.
- Maltz also notched an extra-man goal against the Wolverines, putting him in a three-way tie for fifth all-time in EMO goals with 16 in his career. Joe Walters stands No. 1 in that category with 20 extra-man goals to his name.
Maltz reached the 100-goal mark on March 3 against the Irish.
Zappitello on the caused turnover charts
- Ajax Zappitello is climbing the career caused turnovers list. With 62 CT's, two coming last week at Michigan, he's now tied with Bryn Holmes at No. 12.
- Zappitello is one of just 16 Terps to eclipse 50 caused turnovers.
- He has caused at least one turnover in every single game this season, and has multiple in six of eight games.
Zappitello caused three turnovers at No. 7 Syracuse on Feb. 17.
Overtime is terp time
- In three of the first six games this season, the Terps have found themselves in overtime---coming out victorious in all three.
- 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. Daniel Maltz notched the winner against Brown, coming off a feed from Braden Erksa.
- 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 15-8 in overtime games under John Tillman and have won five straight dating back to last season.
10: The magic number
- Since John Tillman took over the program in 2011, Maryland has won 156 of the 178 games in which it has scored 10 or more goals for a .876 winning percentage.
- Maryland is 122-11 since Tillman took over the program in 2011 when it allows nine goals or less for a .917 winning percentage. The Terps have won 49 games in a row when holding foes to less than 10 goals.
- Most recently, the Terps held Princeton to seven goals in a game the Terps never trailed. Logan McNaney made 10 saves while Luke Wierman won 20 of 23 faceoffs to help the Terps dominate possession.
Maryland has won 49 consecutive games when it holds its opponents to single digits.
History of success
- Maryland has an all-time record of 887-286-4 (.756), 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 38-8 (.826) in conference play.
The Terps won the 2022 National Championship with a perfect 18-0 record.
