Last time Maryland men’s lacrosse took the field it delivered, as the Terps withstood and survived a furious Cornell comeback, winning the 2022 National Championship to clinch a perfect 18-0 season.
As part of the celebration, then-senior defender Brett Makar climbed into the stands to find his father, who gave him a big hug.
“I’m super close with my dad, both my parents, super super lucky they are so involved in my life,” Makar said. “When that final horn sounded just a lot of emotion came over me…and just really lucky I was able to share that moment with him.”
It was the first undefeated NCAA Championship season since 2006 and the Terps’ fourth NCAA Championship title. Yet the defending national champs will look very different this year, especially on the offensive end with lots of players seeing increased minutes.
This year No. 2 Maryland opens the 2023 season against No. 20 Richmond.
Most of Maryland’s returning star power is on the defensive side of the ball, with Makar returning for his fifth year alongside senior goalkeeper Logan McNaney. Junior defender Ajax Zappitello will also look to build on a breakout sophomore year, which earned himself a spot as a USA Lacrosse Preseason Second Team All-American.
There will be several new faces to the offensive side of the ball after the Terps’ top four goal scorers (Logan Wisnanuskas, Keegan Khan, Anthony DeMaio and Jonathan Donville) from last year’s championship squad graduated. Maryland also lost its fifth-leading goal scorer, junior attacker Eric Malever, after he tore his ACL and MCL and broke his tibia in the fall.
Maryland’s top five goal scorers from the 2022 season combined for 186 of the team’s 318 goals.
Head coach John Tillman expects players like junior attacker Owen Murphy, senior attackers Daniel Maltz and Ryan Siracusa and sophomore attacker Eric Spanos to see more playing time this season. The Terps also bring back senior face-off specialist Luke Wierman and senior midfielder Kyle Long, which should provide some scoring depth to their high powered offense.
“It’s a little bit right now trying to get them comfortable together, whether it’s who’s working together kind of adjusting the schemes to fit their skill sets but also preparing them for Richmond,” Tillman said.
Maryland is 2-0 against Richmond, having eked out two one-goal victories in 2019 and 2020
“Richmond is going to play their system, which is a unique defensive system that if you don’t do it right they can get the ball back and turn you over and create double teams,” Tillman said. “A great transition but they will also mix in zone.”
Richmond is coming off a NCAA Tournament appearance after winning the Southern Conference Tournament. The Spiders fell a goal shy of upsetting No. 3-seed UPenn in the first round.
Richmond joined the A-10 conference this season, where it earned the top spot on the A-10 preseason poll. This is the first season with men’s lacrosse in the A-10.
With the veteran leadership on the defensive side of the ball that means that Makar earned the honor of wearing the No. 1 jersey, a special honor in the program. Some past players to wear the jersey include Jared Bernhardt, Wisnauskas and Matt Rambo. Makar is the first defensive player to don the No. 1 jersey.
“I think the only pressure I kind of feel is just to live like Jared and Logan, just the kind of guys they were outside of lacrosse,” Makar said. “They were always great teammates more than anything…and had a big part of the leadership role I was able to come into because I was able to follow guys like Jared and Logan.”
While the team lost a lot of veteran players, it has still turned the page on a brand new season with the same expectations as being one of the best lacrosse teams in the nation.
“We’re just excited about this group and what this group can do really just seeing these new guys in new spots and trying to just be the version of ourselves,” Tillman said. “We’re excited that our fans can be there and support us and certainly want to make sure that they dress warmly.”
Maryland’s season opener will start at 1 p.m. on Saturday at SECU Stadium.
