#5Â Maryland (8-3) (3-1Â B1G)Â vs. #3 Johns Hopkins (9-3) (4-0Â B1G)
April 20, 2024
Homewood Field
4 PM
ESPNU
COLLEGE PARK, MDÂ -Â No. 5 Maryland (8-3, 3-1) travels across the state to Baltimore to battle No. 3 Johns Hopkins (9-3, 4-0) in the 120th edition of "The Rivalry". With a win, the Terps will claim a share of the Big Ten title and lock up the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. This marks the first time The Rivalry has had both teams ranked in the top-five since 2011. The game is the final regular season one for both sides.
Maryland is 8-3 on the season coming off an excellent defensive showing in an 11-6 win over Rutgers. Maryland has won three games in a row, also defeating No. 4 Penn State and Ohio State in that span. The Terps also have three over- time wins (at No. 19 Richmond, at No. 7 Syracuse, Brown) plus 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.
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Johns Hopkins is 9-3 and has won all four of its Big Ten games, including two consecutive overtime wins against Ohio State and No. 7 Penn State. The Blue Jays also have wins over Towson, Georgetown, Loyola, North Carolina, Virginia, Rutgers and Michigan. Their losses have come against Denver, Syracuse and Navy.
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series historyÂ
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This will be the 120th meeting between the Terps and the Blue Jays. Maryland is 50-68-1 against Johns Hopkins all-time. The Blue Jays list this as the 127th 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.Â
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).
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Last season, the two teams met twice, first in the regular season finale in College Park and then in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinal at Homewood Field. The two teams split those games.
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In the 2023 Big Ten Semifinals, third-seeded Maryland bested second-seeded Johns Hopkins, 14-9, in Baltimore behind a hat trick from former Blue Jay
Owen Murphy and a career-high four points from
Zach Whittier. Ten Terps had points in the game and eight scored goals. Hopkins scored the first three goals of the game but Maryland rebounded with six of the next seven and never looked back after that.
Luke Wierman won 13 faceoffs in the game and became just the second Terp to ever eclipse 600 career wins. True freshman
Brian Ruppel made 11 saves. Maryland allowed just six goals over the final 54:41 of game action.
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In the 2023 regular season finale, 6,594 fans gathered to watch the greatest rivalry in college lacrosse. The game was tied at every score from 0 to 10 and featured eight lead changes with Johns Hopkins prevailing 12-11. Freshman
Braden Erksa had a career-high five points on a career-high tying four goals and an assist. Hopkins captured a share of the Big Ten Championship with the win and was led by Russell Melendez who scored two goals including the game-winner with 3:51 left to play.
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The last regular regular season meeting at Homewood Field came in 2022 and saw the Terps score the most goals in series history with a 22-7 victory. The 15-goal margin was also a series record. Logan Wisnauskas continued his dominance of Hopkins with an eight-point outing on five goals and three assists. Keegan Khan and
Owen Murphy each scored four times and added an assist.
Luke Wierman controlled the game at the faceoff X, winning 17-of-27 with nine groundballs and a goal.
Logan McNaney allowed just four goals in three quarters of action in cage and made 11 saves.
Saturday will mark the 120th edition of the greatest rivalry in college lacrosse.Â
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 Rutgers, Wierman added 11 more faceoff wins and now has 781 all-time.Â
- 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. Thanks to five groundballs vs. Rutgers on Saturday, he now stands at 421 for his career and 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.Â
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%. Â
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. Â
- Behind a nine-save performance at Penn State, McNaney officially became just the fourth Terp ever to eclipse 500 career saves.
- Against Rutgers, he made a season-high 15 saves and allowed just six goals, bringing him to 527 career saves.Â
Against Rutgers on Saturday,
Logan McNaney not only made a season-high 15 saves, he also tied his career best with seven groundballs.Â
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.Â
- 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 145 career points and 13th all-time with 110 career goals. Against Michigan on March 23, Maltz led the Terps with four points on three goals and an assist.Â
- 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.
- Most recently, Maltz scored two goals within eight seconds in the fourth quarter at Penn State.Â
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 66Â CT's, he's now in sole possession of No. 11.
- Zappitello is one of just 16 Terps to eclipse 50 caused turnovers.Â
- He caused at least one turnover in each of the first 10 games this season, and has multiple in eight games.
Zappitello caused a season-high three turnovers at No. 7 Syracuse on Feb. 17 while guarding Joey Spallina.
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.Â
- 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 158Â of the 180Â games in which it has scored 10 or more goals for a .878Â winning percentage.
- Additionally, Maryland is 124-11 since Tillman took over the program in 2011 when it allows nine goals or less for a .919Â winning percentage. The Terps have won a remarkable 51Â games in a row when holding foes to less than 10 goals.
- Most recently, against Rutgers, the Terps accomplished both of those feats--scoring 11 goals and limiting Rutgers to just six (including only two in the second half). The win gave the Terps their third straight win in conference play.Â
Maryland has won 51Â consecutive games when it holds its opponents to single digits.
History of success
- Maryland has an all-time record of 890-287-4 (.755), 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.Â
- 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 39-8Â (.830) in conference play.Â
The Terps won the 2022 National Championship with a perfect 18-0 record.Â
