Dante Trader Jr. flashed his speed twice, scoring seconds after Maryland won the face-off from both close up and about 20 yards out.
Several other Terps flashed their lightning fast speed, scoring several goals directly after winning the face-off as part of a 6-0 scoring run through the first and second quarters.
No. 2 Maryland men’s lacrosse (6-2, 1-0 Big Ten) used that 6-0 run to power to a 13-10 win over No. 10 Penn State (5-3, 0-1 Big Ten) in the Terps’ conference-opener.
“I think the guys that have been here realize that the conference games are always tough, [I’m] proud of the guys,” coach John Tillman said. “Wasn’t always pretty, [a] tough second quarter…Jesse [Bernhardt] did a good job with the defense tightening things down and making some adjustments.”
Penn State earned the first offensive possession of the game and struck first as graduate student attacker TJ Malone scored, but the Nittany Lions could not muster much after that.
Maryland settled in a few minutes into the game, as youngsters Zach Whittier and Eric Kolar remained impressive as they continued to see their minutes increase. Goals from the duo midway through the first quarter put the Terps ahead 2-1.
But graduate student attacker Jack Traynor responded with two goals himself to put the Nittany Lions back in front, 3-2.
Sophomore attacker Eric Spanos answered to tie the game even at three with 56 seconds left in the opening frame, but was sandwiched between two Nittany Lions and slowly walked off the field. Spanos did not return.
Trader scored on the ensuing face-off and senior midfielder Kyle Long scored while soaring in the air across the crease with just three seconds left in the first quarter, capping off a stretch where Maryland scored three goals in under a minute.
Trader and junior attacker Daniel Kelly continued the scoring, striking just 18 seconds apart to make it a 5-0 Maryland run.
“Those goals are huge for us since it gets us starting fast,” junior midfielder Jack Koras said. “Everyone gets hot as we go over those situations a lot in practice. We want to get one or two of those a game and that will help build our offense and make us even stronger.”
Penn State switched face-off specialists going to redshirt sophomore midfielder Hudson Bohn, but he didn’t fare much better initially as senior attacker Daniel Maltz found Kolar, who scored again seconds after Maryland won the face-off.
“They run their face-off guy off, at least they showed that a lot,” Tillman said. “So they do give you a quick six-on-five so we practice those situations.”
The Nittany Lions eventually stopped Maryland’s 6-0 scoring run as graduate student attacker Kevin Winkoff scored from long range.
That score flipped a switch for Penn State as it found its groove in the second quarter. The Nittany Lions went on a 4-0 run following a Maryland score, as they trailed by only one as the clock dwindled down in the first half.
But Koras scored right before halftime to give Maryland a 10-8 halftime lead. Maryland outshot the Nittany Lions in the first half by 18 but that only resulted in a two-goal lead.
The Traynor brothers torched Maryland, combining for five goals and seven points through the beginning of the third quarter.
But after both teams scored in the opening minutes of the frame the game flipped to a defensive slugfest where neither side could score. During the 17-minute scoring drought the teams combined for 12 turnovers and 17 missed shots.
Long ended the scoring drought with a bouncer, padding Maryland’s lead as the Terps hung on to the win. They held the Nittany Lions to seven fourth quarter shots as freshman goalkeeper Brian Ruppel made a couple of saves.
“Whether we get a stop or not it’s the next 80, the next 80,” junior defender Ajax Zappitello said. “I think that carried over…but just having that mentality was definitely big for us and just not getting complacent with the stops we were getting.”
