#7 Seed Maryland (8-5) vs. Princeton (11-4)
NCAA First Round
May 13, 2024
SECU Stadium
7:30 PM
ESPNU
COLLEGE PARK, MD - No. 7-seeded Maryland hosts Ivy League champs Princeton in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at SECU Stadium on Saturday, May 11, at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU and ESPN+.
The first 100 college students will get into the game for free. They will need to show a student ID at the gate to gain entry.
The winner of the game will meet the winner of the matchup between No. 2-seeded Duke and Atlantic Sun champion Utah in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday, May 18 at Hofstra in Hempstead, NY.
Maryland is 8-5 on the season following a loss to Penn State in the Big Ten semifinals. The Terps are an impressive 5-1 at home in 2024.
Princeton enters the NCAA Tournament 11-4 overall and winners of four straight. The Tigers dispatched Yale and Penn to claim the Ivy League Tournament Championship for the second consecutive year. Princeton is 4-3 on the road and 2-0 at neutral sites this season.
series history - Princeton
- Maryland owns a 34-12-1 advantage over Princeton and is 6-0 since John Tillman took over the Terps in 2011. The Terps have won seven straight in the series.
- The Terps and Tigers met earlier this season on Feb. 24, with the Terps coming out on top 13-7 thanks to a four-goal effort from Eric Spanos and a 20-of-23 performance at the faceoff dot from Luke Wierman.
- The last time the two teams met in the NCAA Tournament came in the 2022 semifinals where the No. 1 Terps earned a hard-fought 13-8 win over the fifth-seeded Tigers. The win brought the Terps to 17-0 on the season before they eventually completed the perfect season and claimed the National Championship. Logan Wisnauskas tallied four goals in the game, including the 200th and 203rd of his career to make him the school's all-time leader.
- 2022 saw the teams meet twice as well, with the Terps also winning 15-10 in the regular season in College Park. Logan Wisnauskas and Jonathan Donville each scored four goals in the game.
- The Terps won the first six games of the series, beginning in 1927. They had a series-best nine-game win streak from 1954-1962. The Tigers won five straight from 1992-2004.
Luke Wierman set a program record in faceoff percentage (minimum 20 attempts) when he went 20-of-23 vs. Princeton on Feb. 24.
NCAA Numbers
- This will mark Maryland's 46th appearance in program history and an NCAA-best 21st straight appearance. The next highest NCAA postseason streak is six (Virginia and Georgetown).
- Maryland's first-ever NCAA appearance came in 1971 when the Terps lost to top-seeded Cornell in the championship game.
- The program is 69-41 all-time in the tournament with 28 Final Four trips.
- Since 2011 under coach John Tillman, the Terps have made every tournament, gone 28-10, and earned nine Championship Weekend apperances with two NCAA Championships.
- The Terps are 31-7 all-time in NCAA Tournament First Round Games.
Logan McNaney was named the 2022 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player
As the no. 7 seed
- This marks the sixth time since the tournament began in 1971 that Maryland is the No. 7 seed. The Terps are 5-5 all-time as the seventh seed, including 3-2 in First Round games.
- The last time Maryland was the No. 7 seed was 2014. The Terps earned a Memorial Day Weekend appearance by taking out Cornell in the First Round and Bryant in the Quarterfinals before falling to #6 Notre Dame in the semifinals.
- The first time the Terps were a 7-seed was 1982.
- The Terps were also named the 7-seed in back-to-back years in 2007 & 2008. Maryland also had the seed in 1991, a year where they made a run to the Semifinals thanks to wins over Rutgers and #2 Brown.
Matt Dunn and the Terps were a No. 7 seed in 2014 and made a run to the semifinals. Maryland topped Cornell in the First Round in College Park.
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 Penn State on May 2 in the Big Ten semifinals, Wierman added 19 more faceoff wins and now has 809 all-time. No other Terp has surpassed 700 wins, much less 800.
- Wierman is also climbing up the career groundballs list. With seven groundballs against Michigan on March 23, he officially became the second Terp all-time with 400+ groundballs in his career. Thanks to seven groundballs vs. Penn State on May 2, he now stands at 433 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.
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.
- 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.
- Heading into the NCAA Tournament, McNaney currently stands at 545 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 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 148 career points and 13th all-time with 112 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 68 CT's, he's tied for 10th all-time in program history with Michael Ehrhardt.
- Zappitello is one of just 16 Terps to eclipse 50 caused turnovers.
- He caused at least one turnover in each of the first 10 games this season, and has multiple in nine games.
- Zappitello, who was named the Big Ten Defensive Player, has caused 18 turnovers this season, the fourth most in the Big Ten. He became the fifth Terp to be named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a Terp has taken home the award for four straight years now.
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 158 of the 180 games in which it has scored 10 or more goals for a .878 winning percentage.
- Additionally, Maryland is 124-12 since Tillman took over the program in 2011 when it allows nine goals or less for a .912 winning percentage, including a 51-game winning streak when holding foes to less than 10 goals from 2017 to April 20, 2024.
Maryland huddles after an 11-6 win over Rutgers on April 13.
History of success
- Maryland has an all-time record of 890-288-4 (.754), 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 41-9 (.820) in conference play.
The Terps won the 2022 National Championship with a perfect 18-0 record.
