Maryland men’s lacrosse survives in overtime to down Brown, 14-13

Daniel Maltz fired a shot past the feet of goalie Connor Theriault and a collective sigh of relief went over the crowd at SECU Stadium. The goal secured Maryland’s 14-13 win over Brown.

Brown (0-5) was the Terps’ first matchup against an unranked opponent. The Bears offense averaged just 8.25 goals per game entering the matchup but started hot in the first half. 

Brown’s offense exploded in the first quarter with four goals from four different players.

Maryland (5-1) responded with four goals of its own in the first. That momentum was quickly squashed when Brown opened the second quarter with three unanswered goals, forcing Maryland to call timeout. Junior Matteo Corsi sparked the run with back-to-back unassisted scores.

“I just felt like we were a little late on some of our slides. [Corsi’s] really good and he kind of ran wild in that first half,” coach John Tillman said. “I showed our guys all week clips of [Brown] diving for backups, guys jumping in front of shots. They play hard, they’re a tough team.”

The Terps cut into the lead when Eric Malever found Jack Koras right in front of the net for a goal. Malever found Daniel Maltz at the net for another goal minutes later, cutting the lead to one.

Brown once again opened the third quarter with a goal when Kevin Sweeney scored in the first 18 seconds of the third. Brown maintained its slim lead as an Erksa goal late in the third cut the lead to one.

However, Brown’s scoring slowed in the second half. An almost 20-minute Brown scoring drought allowed the Terps to climb back from a 10-7 deficit.

Goals from Ryan Siracusa and Braden Erksa saw Maryland take its first lead of the game with ten minutes left.

“[We] got the ball moving, got it around, had longer possessions, brought on momentum and went from there,” Siracusa said.

Brown tied the game with two minutes to go but it was quickly answered by Erksa. The attacker finished the afternoon with five goals and two assists.

Jack Kelly tied the game again, this time with forty seconds left to send the game to overtime. 

Maryland wasted no time in overtime. After winning the faceoff, the Terps took a timeout. After missing one goal, Maltz fired another that found the net and ended the game.

Last week’s struggles continued for faceoff specialist Luke Wierman and goalie Logan McNaney. 

Wierman was in uniform but spent the afternoon on the sideline as junior Shea Keethler and freshman Sean Creter took over faceoff duties. The two won just seven of 16 first-half faceoffs, with Keethler winning six. 

Brown’s faceoff specialist Dash Sachs turned it on in the second half. Sachs won all six faceoffs taken in the third quarter and won 17-30 in the afternoon.

McNaney’s allowed eight goals on 16 shots with five saves in the first half. McNaney returned to form in the second half, allowing five goals. The goalie finished the day with 10 saves for a .435 save percentage.

Erksa’s late-game heroics put the Terps back in the win column. Maryland continues its homestand next Saturday against No. 6 Virginia.