#7 Seed Maryland (11-5) vs. #1 Seed Notre Dame (15-1)
NCAA Championship
May 27, 2024
Lincoln Financial Field
Noon
ESPN
COLLEGE PARK, MD - No. 7-seeded Maryland will play for its fifth NCAA Championship on Monday when the Terps face No. 1 Notre Dame in the National Championship game. The game will air on ESPN at a new start time of noon. The Terps are playing in the National Championship game for the eighth time since
John Tillman's first season in 2011.
The meeting between Maryland and Notre Dame is one between the past two National Champions. The Terps won it in 2022 with an undefeated 18-0 season while the Fighting Irish are the defending champions, winning the first title in program history in 2023.
Maryland is coming off a dominant semifinal victory in which it held No. 6 Virginia to its lowest goal total (6) under Lars Tiffany. The Terps were excellent defensively in the 12-6 win and got a first-half hat trick from
Daniel Kelly and a 15-22 performance at the faceoff X from
Luke Wierman.
Notre Dame, who was not lost since February this season, was equally as dominant in its semifinal win, besting No. 5 Denver 13-6. Pat and Chris Kavanagh combined for nine points in the win.
series history - Notre Dame
The Terps are 9-8 all-time against the Irish. The two sides have never met in the NCAA Championship game.
NCAA Numbers
Under
John Tillman, Maryland has been in 10 of the last 13 Final Fours and eight of the last 13 Championship games.
Wierman In the record books
- With his 12th of 17 face-off wins at Richmond on Feb. 3, 2024, 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. He now stands at 866 overall.
- Against Duke on Saturday, May 11, Wierman claimed another program record, recording eight groundballs to give him 456 for his career. That broke another of Claxton's records that was set in 1992.
- 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.
- His 62.0 winning percentage this season ranks third nationally.
Wierman has won over 70% of his faceoffs in the postseason.
McNaney 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.
- Heading into the NCAA Championship, McNaney currently stands at 575 career saves.
Against Rutgers on April 13,
Logan McNaney not only made a season-high 15 saves, he also tied his career best with seven groundballs.
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 on March 3 and officially cemented himself as the 18th Terp in program history to score at least 100 points.
- Maltz currently sits 24th all-time with 156 career points and 12th all-time with 120 career goals.
- Thanks to an extra-man goal against Princeton on May, Maltz also sits in a tie with Matt Rambo for the fourth most extra-man goals in program history (17).
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 74 CTs, he's in a four-way tie for sixth all-time.
- Zappitello is one of just 16 Terps to eclipse 50 caused turnovers.
- He caused at least one turnover in 13 games this season, and has multiple in 10 games.
- Zappitello has been named the Enners Outstanding Player of the Year and the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
- Against Duke, Ajax Zappitello held Duke's Josh Zawada to just one point. He followed that up by holding Virginia star Connor Shellenberger to just one goal and two points.
Zappitello was drafted No. 3 overall in the 2024 PLL Draft on Tuesday, May 7 by the Maryland Whipsnakes.
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 161 of the 183 games in which it has scored 10 or more goals for a .880 winning percentage.
- Additionally, Maryland is 126-12 since Tillman took over the program in 2011 when it allows nine goals or less for a .913 winning percentage, including a 51-game winning streak when holding foes to less than 10 goals from 2017 to April 20, 2024.
Maryland is 126-12 under Tillman when holding opponents to single digits.
History of success
- Maryland has an all-time record of 893-289-4 (.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 99 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, 29 Final Four appearances and 525 All-Americans.
- The Terps extended their streak of double-digit win seasons to 21 with a win over Duke in the NCAA Quarterfinals, the longest active streak in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse. The streak also coincides with the Terps making 21 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 41-9 (.820) in conference play.
The Terps won the 2022 National Championship with a perfect 18-0 record.
