No. 11 Maryland Drops 10-6 Loss to No. 9 Penn State in Conference Opener

Saturday, March 21

University Park, PA

3 PM

Maryland

3-4, 0-1

Penn State

5-3, 1-0

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Maryland	2	1	1	2	6
Penn St.	5	2	0	3	10

Maryland Men's Lacrosse Gets Ready to Face Penn State

No. 11 Maryland Drops 10-6 Loss to No. 9 Penn State in Conference Opener

3/21/2026 3:00:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

The Terps held the Nittany Lions scoreless for 35 straight minutes on Saturday.

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA — No. 11 Maryland battled the No. 9 Nittany Lions in a low-scoring contest on Saturday afternoon in the Terps' first Big Ten contest of 2026. Maryland's defense held PSU — which entered averaging over 14 goals per game — to 10, but the home squad took the 10-6 win to drop the Terps to 3-4 on the year. AJ Larkin equaled his career-high with two goals. Leo Johnson had three points on a goal and two assists.

After Braden Erksa and Johnson netted early goals, the Nittany Lions used a 5-0 run across the end of the first quarter and the start of the second to claim a 7-3 halftime lead, but Maryland held PSU scoreless for 35:03 after the run as goals from Larkin and Chris Lyons helped keep the Terps in Saturday's contest.

Johnson finds Erksa who nets the extra-man goal!#BeTheBest pic.twitter.com/rdcTEKwBrZ
— Maryland Men's Lacrosse (@TerpsMLax) March 21, 2026

Brian Ruppel made a trio of saves in the third quarter as he kept the Nittany Lions off the board to preserve his first shutout quarter of the season. He came up key for his Terps in several big moments, but Maryland was unable to overcome the early deficit.

Larkin nets another and the Terps are back within 1!#BeTheBest pic.twitter.com/ztOd63KJC9
— Maryland Men's Lacrosse (@TerpsMLax) March 21, 2026

Ruppel made 11 saves against Penn State (5-3, 1-0 Big Ten) as Maryland forced nine of the Nittany Lions' 16 turnovers. The Terps are back in action on the road against Michigan on Mar. 28.

How it Happened:
1st Quarter:

PSU opened a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes.
Erksa's ninth goal of the season got the Terps on the board.
Leo Johnson evened the game with his 18th of the year with 4:18 to play.
Penn State scored three late goals to take a 5-2 lead into the second.

2nd Quarter:

The Nittany Lions scored the first two goals of the quarter before being held scoreless for the final 11:14 of the half.
Larkin scored his third of the season to snap PSU's 5-0 lead before the half.
The home squad led 7-3 at the break.

3rd Quarter:

Lyons opened the second-half scoring with his 140th goal of his career.
Ruppel made his ninth save with under four minutes to play.
Ruppel made three saves in the shutout frame, but PSU took a 7-4 lead into the final quarter.

4th Quarter:

Zach Whittier opened the scoring with his sixth of the season two minutes into the quarter.
Larkin's second of the day brought the Terps within a goal with 7:19 to play.
PSU responded with its first goal since the second quarter.
The Nittany Lions added another run to take a 9-6 lead with 5:14 to play.
Penn State closed out its 10-6 win.

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