Maryland advances to NCAA quarterfinals with 16-8 win over Princeton

Maryland’s offense averaged just over ten goals per game this season – the lowest among NCAA tournament teams. Today, the Terps eclipsed that mark in the first half and finished the game with a season-high 16 goals.

The Terps’ offense came alive in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and cruised to a 16-8 win over Princeton (11-5, 4-2) in College Park.

The Maryland offense featured three players with hat tricks – Eric Spanos, Eric Malever and Jack Koras. Spanos snapped a cold streak as he scored just two goals over his last three games. His four goals on Saturday are his most since April 6th against Ohio State.

“We tried to do some different things that kind of shuffle the lineup,” coach John Tillman said. “The good news is with our offense, everybody can go anywhere and we don’t have to rely on one guy.”

Luke Wierman set up multiple goals after winning faceoffs and feeding attackers. The offense stayed poised and scored twice with less than two seconds on the shot clock. The shooting woes were gone as the Terps shot 55% in the first half.

The Terps (9-5, 3-2 Big Ten) held an 11-3 lead at halftime, their largest lead this season. The last time Maryland scored double-digit goals in the first half was last March against Penn State.

“They jumped on us from the get go and they were doing a really good job isolating one on one matchups,” Princeton coach Matt Madalon said. “We knew it would be a tough spot to defend and it always is. [Maryland] just really executed.”

Wierman won 20 of 23 faceoffs when the two teams faced off in February. He continued his play on Saturday, winning 20-of-26 and picking up a season-high 15 groundballs. Princeton used three of its five faceoff specialists but none of them found success against Wierman.

The offense cooled down to start the second half, going on a 13-minute scoring drought. Eric Spanos broke the cold spell scoring in close after fooling the goalkeeper with a pump fake. Despite this, the Terps were outscored by two in the third quarter.  

The defense stifled Princeton’s comeback efforts, headlined by Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Ajax Zappitello. The senior had three of Maryland’s eight caused turnovers – his eighth time with multiple caused turnovers in a game this season.

“You can always count on [Zappitello] to lock his defender down,” Malever said. “He’s just a student of the game. He’s gotten better and better… Our defense when they’re clicking, they’re one of the best defenses in the country.”

Tigers goalkeeper Michael Gianforcaro collected 20 saves against Maryland in the first meeting but had no answer for the offense today. The senior mustered just one first-half save and finished the game with nine.

Meanwhile, Logan McNaney allowed just eight goals with 11 saves. It was a bounce-back performance after allowing 19 goals to Penn State last week.

Daniel Maltz’s back-to-back fourth-quarter goals combined with the defense allowing one goal sealed the Terps’ first NCAA tournament win since 2022.

Maryland advances to face No. 2 Duke (13-5, 1-3) next Saturday in Hempstead, New York.