No. 2 Maryland men’s lacrosse entered the fourth quarter down two goals. That deficit ballooned to six goals in a span of eight minutes.
The Terps turned over the ball and Greyhounds graduate student midfielder Payton Rezanka raced up the field and passed to senior midfielder Mustang Sally, who scored in transition. Sally’s goal was part of a 5-0 Loyola run to ice the game.
Turnovers were a problem all game for the Terps as Loyola earned its third ever win against Maryland, securing a 12-7 victory. The defeat was the Terps’ first regular season loss since Villanova in 2020.
“I thought they executed better today over the course of 60 minutes,” coach John Tillman said. “I felt like for a while we were kind of hanging in there and we just couldn’t get over the hump and get the goal to go ahead.”
Maryland’s offense looked disconnected all game, unable to take the lead at any point. Loyola struck first as senior midfielder Adam Poitras sent a laser that senior Logan McNaney didn’t see, giving Loyola an early lead.
Maryland’s offense struggled out of the gate, turning the ball over two times and the Greyhounds forced a shot clock violation. Greyhounds junior goalkeeper Luke Staudt was exceptional. On one Maryland possession, the Terps fired three on target shots and Staudt saved all of them, keeping the Terps scoreless. Stadut finished with 19 saves.
Senior midfielder Evan James doubled the Greyhounds lead, firing a shot from the center to put Loyola ahead 2-0 with 2:30 left in the first quarter. James scored twice more, finishing with a hat trick.
With the Terps offense struggling, Tillman called a timeout with Maryland on offense. After the timeout the Terps passed the ball around before redshirt senior midfielder Jack Brennan found junior attacker Daniel Kelly on the right side of the net, who scored to get Maryland on the board.
The Terps managed to tie the game a couple of times but could never find a goal to give them the lead.
Maryland won the face-off battle all afternoon as senior Luke Wierman became the ninth Terp to pass 400 career face-off wins. Wierman entered the game needing five and finished with 18.
Despite winning 14 more face offs than the Greyhounds, the Terps were outplayed for much of the game as the turnovers were a big problem. All their starting midfielders and attackers turned the ball over at least twice.
“I think we showed our youth a little bit at times,” Tillman said. “We won a bunch of face offs but I didn’t feel like we always capitalized that and turned that into opportunities.”
The Terps managed to tie the game at three after Brennan and Kelly scored goals on back-to- back possessions midway through the second quarter, and entered halftime trailing by one, 5-4. They found the opening goal of the third quarter to tie the score as five as senior attacker Daniel Maltz scored an unassisted goal, rocket sliding it past Staudt, but they just couldn’t get over the hump.
Loyola responded with a 2-0 run but Maryland cut the deficit to one, one more time before collapsing. Maryland earned a one minute man-up situation and appeared to not take advantage of the opportunity, turning the ball over. But Loyola turned the ball over right back and Kelly scored right before the penalty expired.
That was the closest Maryland could get as Loyola went on a 5-0 run, capitalizing on the Terps’ turnovers — including scoring four goals in the span of three-and half-minutes in the fourth quarter to slam the door on a Terps comeback bid.
“They were able to get a couple in transition, a couple of energy goals for them and it was just kind of tough for us to bounce back,” graduate student defender Brett Makar said. “I think we got a great group in that locker room and I know it’s going to eat at these guys and there’s still a lot to play for.”
The Terps turned the ball over 22 times, including 13 in the second half. Only 26 of Maryland’s 42 shots were on target, and Loyola took full advantage with 17 of its 26 shots on target.
