PHILADELPHIA – No. 7 seed Maryland men's lacrosse is returning to the NCAA championship game for the eighth time in 13 tournaments and 17th time in program history as the Terps beat No. 6 seed Virginia, 12-6, on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field before 32,269 fans. The Terps will be seeking their fifth NCAA title and third in the last seven tournaments played, winning in 1973, 1975, 2017 and 2022.
Maryland (11-5) will play No. 1 seed Notre Dame (15-1) on Memorial Day Monday, May 27 at Lincoln Financial Field. The game starts at 1 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN. The game will be a re-match of the last two national champions with the Terps winning in 2022 and Notre Dame last season.
The Terps scored three goals in an 80-second span to take a 4-1 lead late in the first quarter and Maryland never relinquished the lead. Maryland held Virginia to a season-low in goals as well as the Cavaliers' fewest goals in a game since an 11-4 loss to Loyola on Feb. 13, 2016. It was Virginia's fewest in a match-up with the Terps since a 9-6 Terps win on March 30, 2014.
Eric Spanos had two goals and three assists for five points. Daniel Kelly notched his second hat trick of the season, scoring three first-half goals. Daniel Maltz tallied two goals, giving him eight goals in three NCAA Tournament games this year. Jack Koras recorded a goal and an assist. Braden Erksa had a pair of assists. Overall, 11 different Terps had points in the win.
As he has been all NCAA Tournament, Luke Wierman was once again a key for the Terps. Maryland's all-time leader in face-off wins and groundballs won 15-of-22 against Virginia and scooped up 10 groundballs, scoring his third goal of the NCAA Tournament. In three NCAA Tournament games, Wierman has won 55-of-77 for 71.4 percent with 33 groundballs.
Maryland stifled Virginia (12-6) all afternoon with the Terps' defense by Enners Outstanding Player of the Year Award winner Ajax Zappitello limiting the Cavaliers to 6-of-39 shooting as goalie Logan McNaney made eight saves. Zappitello had three caused turnovers and three groundballs as he defended the nation's top attackman Connor Shellenberger throughout the game and held him to one goal, which came just 55 seconds into the game. Virginia had just 14 shots on goals as the Terps' defense was stellar all game.
In addition to his solid defense with two caused turnovers and four groundballs,
Colin Burlace netted his second goal of the game on a pole goal late in the first half. He also added his first-career assist.
Will Schaller had two caused turnovers and a groundball.
Jack McDonald also had three groundballs.
Breaking Down The Action
- The teams traded goals in the opening five minutes with Shellenberger and Maltz scoring to get the game going. The Terps ripped off three goals in a span of 1:20 with Kelly tallying twice and Wierman netting one off a face-off-win to put the Terps up 4-1 with 2:58 left in the first quarter. Maryland led by that 4-1 score after the first 15 minutes.
- Maltz, Kelly and pole Colin Burlace scored to put the Terps ahead 7-3 at halftime.
- The lead expanded to six at 9-3 as Jack Koras and Eric Spanos scored 20 seconds apart within the first minute of the second half.
- Maryland outscored Virginia 4-1 in the third quarter to take an 11-4 lead after 45 minutes. Spanos scored twice in the stanza.
Multi Terps Update
- Eric Spanos (two goals and three assists) had the 15th multi-point game of his career. It was his 12th multi-goal game of his career.
- Daniel Kelly (three goals) had his 18th multi-point game of his career and his 13th game with multiple goals.
- Daniel Maltz (two goals) had his 46th multi-point and 34th multi-goal game of his career. Maltz has multiple goals in 11 games this season.
- Jack Koras (one goal and one assist) recorded his 22nd multi-point career game.
- Braden Erksa (two assists) had his 24th multi-point game in his two years as a Terp.
- Colin Burlace (one goal and one assist) has his first-ever game with multiple points.
NCAA Numbers
- With 46 appearances, the program is 73-41 all-time in the tournament, with 29 Final Four trips, 17 Championship Game appearances and four National Championships.
- Under Coach Tillman, the Terps have made every tournament since 2011, going 31-10, and earning 10 championship weekend appearances.
- The Terps are searching for their fifth NCAA Championship in program history, having made eight of the last 13 title games.
- Maryland is the No. 7 seed for the sixth time since the tournament began in 1971. The Terps are 8-5 all-time as the seventh seed.
- This is Maryland's 46th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and an NCAA-best 21st straight appearance. The next highest NCAA postseason streak is six (Virginia and Georgetown).
Terps In The Record Books
- Luke Wierman became the program's all-time faceoff winner in the Terps' season opener. With 15 wins today, he added to his career total of 864
- Wierman is also the program's leader in career groundballs. He picked up 10 and now has 466 in his career.
- Logan McNaney is fourth on the all-time saves list. With eight in the game, he now has 575 for his career. Niko Amato (2011-14) is third on the list with 625 saves in his career.
- Daniel Maltz scored two goals to increase his career total to 120. He sits at No. 11 on the all-time list, passing Grant Catalino (2008-10), who had 119 career goals. Scott Hochstadt (1996-99) is 10th with 121 goals.
- Ajax Zappitello is 10th on the all-time caused turnovers list. He added three on Saturday, giving him 74 in his career as he passed. Ryan Clarke (2004-07) for ninth place with 73 caused turnovers in his career.
Hat Trick Terps
- Daniel Kelly had three goals for his second hat trick of the season and seventh of his career. It was also his first in an NCAA Tournament game.
Pole Goal!
- Colin Burlace continued the tradition of long pole goals and tallied the seventh long pole goal of the season for Maryland in the second quarter. It was the second goal of the season and his career, also scoring against Loyola (Feb. 10).
- The other pole goals have come from Ajax Zappitello (two), Jack McDonald, Nick Alviti and AJ Larkin.
- In 2023, the Terps had seven pole goals. In 2022, the team had 10.
Get To 10 And Win
- Since John Tillman took over the program in 2011, Maryland has won 161 of the 183 games in which it has scored 10 or more goals.
- Maryland is also 122-19 since 2015 when scoring at least 10 goals.
Single-Digit Defense
- Maryland is 126-12 since Tillman took over the program in 2011 when it allows nine goals or less, including a 51-game winning streak from 2017 to April 20, 2024, when holding foes to less than 10 goals.
- The Terps are 6-1 this season when holding opponents under 10 goals with wins over Princeton (twice), Loyola, Ohio State and Rutgers.
Series History
- Maryland owns a 51-47 all-time advantage over Virginia in 98 matchups.
- The two former ACC foes have met in the NCAA Tournament nine times, with the series tied at 5-5 advantage.
- The last time the two teams met in the postseason was in the 2022 Quarterfinals. The Terps won 18-9 en route to an undefeated National Championship season. Owen Murphy led the way offensively with four goals.
- Maryland and Virginia played earlier this season in College Park in a top-five matchup. The Cavaliers came out on top 14-10. Griffin Schutz led Virginia with six points. Luke Wierman won 16-of-28 faceoffs for the Terps, and Eric Spanos totaled four points.
- The two teams met in the NCAA Semifinals just once, in 2003. Virginia ultimately won 14-4.
- The series is nearly a century old, with the first game coming in 1926, a 10-1 Maryland win. The Terps won the first six games of the series.
Numbers To Know
- 1: AJ Larkin and Colin Burlace each had his first-career assist in the game.
- 4: Daniel Kelly has multiple goals in four of his last six games.
- 5: Wierman has all of five of his goals this season in his last six games.
- 6: Jack Koras now has 6 goals in the NCAA Tournament.
- 5: Maryland is seeking its fifth NCAA Championship on Monday.
- 8: Maryland has made eight of the last 13 NCAA Championship games.
- 8: Maltz has 8 goals in the NCAA Tournament.
- 11: Wierman has 11 of his 32 career points in NCAA Tournament games with five and six assists.
- 14: Daniel Maltz has scored a point in all 14 games he has appeared in this season.
- 15: Siracusa has scored a goal in 15 of 16 games this season.
- 17: Luke Wierman has 17 career games with 10 or more groundballs.
- 17: Maryland is returning to the championship game for the 17th time in program history, second-most of any team in NCAA history behind Johns Hopkins (18).
- 21: This was Maryland's 21st consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
- 41: Maryland has scored 41 goals in three games of the NCAA Tournament.
- 53: Wierman won 15 face-offs to give him his 53rd career game with 10 or more wins in a game.
- 55: Wierman has won 55 face-offs in the NCAA Tournament for a 71.4 percentage).
Up Next
- Maryland will play No. 1 seed Notre Dame (15-1) on Memorial Day Monday, May 27 at Lincoln Financial Field. The time starts at 1 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.
