No. 10 Maryland men’s lacrosse survives Virginia in triple overtime thriller, 13-12

Photo courtesy of Mackenzie Miles/Maryland Athletics.

The 99th edition of No. 10 Maryland men’s lacrosse (3-3, 0-0 B1G) and Virginia (3-4, 0-0 ACC) was a game of inches. 

In triple overtime, after countless opportunities from both sides to end what felt like a must win game, Virginia got the ball off a Terps turnover to start the third period of extended play. 

Cavalier Ryan Colsey had a shot to win it for Virginia, but his attempt slammed off the post of the goal, giving Maryland another opportunity.

The Terps had struggled deep into shot clocks all season, getting caught sleeping defensively and giving up easy goals. But when it mattered most, Zach Whittier caught his defending sleeping, and he slipped open and fired the game winning shot, sending Maryland to a 13-12 victory. 

“I got choked up in the last huddle, just so proud of the guys. Certainly there’s a lot we need to clean up and definitely ways to improve. But just the fight, the grit, the resolve and the guys shaking off mistakes,” Terps head coach John Tillman said. 

With one quarter left in regulation, Maryland had a seemingly comfortable lead. After trailing 1-0 in the opening minutes of the game, the Terps took the lead and never looked back. 

That was until the Cavaliers found a weakness in Maryland’s offense. The Terps decided to completely close off a Virginia offensive player and play five-on-five instead of six-on-six, leading to four straight copy-and-paste style goals for the Cavaliers. 

Virginia scored, establishing its offense from behind the net on four different instances – all coming in the final minutes of regulation, turning what once looked like a Maryland win to a one goal Virginia advantage with a minute to play. 

Definitely did not handle the fourth quarter [well]. I gotta do a better job and manage that for the guys, and do some other things as well,” Tillman said. “But there’s a lot we can take from this and build on.”

Leo Johnson did what he’s done all season for the Terps, stepping up and winning one-on-one offensively. He stopped the bleeding with 30 seconds left in regulation with a massive goal, sending the game to its first of three overtime periods. 

Maryland has been victim to the same mistakes game after game this season: struggles in transition, uncaused turnovers, and getting caught sleeping defensively. Despite wins against Virginia and Delaware last week, these issues continue to plague the Terps. 

Maryland’s defense got caught sleeping and gave up an easy first quarter goal to get the game started. And further into the quarter, offensively the Terps threw transition turnovers on back-to-back possessions. 

Maryland had 18 turnovers throughout the game and failed two clears – one coming off a won face off that earned the Terps possession initially in triple overtime. They threw a turnover on the clear, giving Virginia an opportunity to win. 

Despite all of their struggles, the win felt like a true momentum shifter for the settled offense — and for Maryland goalie Brian Ruppel, who continues to improve.

Ruppel had 14 saves throughout the game, each coming at an important moment of the game.

“We just wanted to win so bad. We wanted to beat these guys so bad. Guys fight hard all week, so so hard. Guys put so much into it. Just the feeling, seeing everybody happy, seeing everyone smiles, it’s priceless,” Ruppel said. 

Offensively, Maryland’s settled six-on-six offense looked the best it has since its first game against Loyola. The Terps were able to spread the ball all around, starting with Braden Erksa, who tallied a goal and four assists. 

Nine of Maryland’s 12 goals came from different players.

The Terps will look to keep their momentum going into Big Ten play — where they’re set to play Penn State on the road on March 21.