Preview: No. 12 Maryland men’s lacrosse looks to snap losing skid against No. 4 Penn State

No. 12 Maryland men’s lacrosse (5-3, 0-1 Big Ten) continues its conference road trip this weekend, facing No. 4 Penn State (7-1, 1-0) on Sunday night.

The Terps suffered their second straight loss in their Big Ten opener against No. 14 Michigan last weekend, 12-11. Maryland has now lost three of its last four games as a once-promising 4-0 start has dwindled into a 5-3 record.

Failing to win possessions is one major reason for the Terps’ recent skid — faceoff specialist Luke Wierman had sub-.500 outputs in two of the three losses. Wierman won just 10 of 27 faceoffs, including 0-for-4 in the first quarter, in the loss to the Wolverines.

“I know Luke will come back ready to roll,” coach John Tillman said. “We’re gonna keep working on what we can do to help him on the wings and put him in a better position to be more successful.”

The blame in the poor stretch does not just fall on Wierman, as Maryland has struggled to get ground balls lately. Opponents have picked up a combined 102 ground balls, compared to the Terps’ 75, in their three losses.

“I think for us, playing at a faster pace but not feeling rushed is something that we gotta continue to work on,” Tillman said. “We’re looking at everything right now, trying to figure out ‘How do we maximize what our guys have’.”

Maryland needs to improve both at the X and with its ground balls to avoid dropping three straight games for the first time since 2009. The task won’t be easy against Penn State.

The Nittany Lions lost their season opener to Colgate, 13-12, but have not lost since — including two wins against top-10 teams. Penn State’s seventh straight win came last weekend against Ohio State, a game where it fought back from a 6-1 deficit.

Senior attacker TJ Malone ranks third among all Division I players in assists per game (3.57) and points per game (6.00) as the leader of the Nittany Lions’ offense. Malone led the team with four points in the win over the Buckeyes, a feat he has accomplished in four of seven games played.

Midfielder Mac Costin earned USILA Team of the Week honors for his hat-trick against Ohio State. Costin secured his third three-goal outing this season with a go ahead goal in the fourth quarter. The graduate student’s 16 goals ranks third on the team.

Goalkeeper Jack Fracyon ranks ninth in the nation in save percentage (.567). The reigning Big Ten Specialist of the Year is allowing around just nine goals per game with over 12 saves per game. But Fracyon had one of his worst performances last weekend, allowing nine goals with eight saves — the second time this season he finished an outing with a sub-.500 save percentage.

Faceoff duties for Penn State have been evenly split between Chase Mullins and Colby Baldwin. Baldwin has had three games this season with at least 20 faceoff attempts. Mullins, a redshirt sophomore, took a majority of faceoffs the last two games and went 21-of-41 (.512) over that stretch. 

Maryland has beaten four top-20 opponents this season. A fifth win would be big to snap its skid, regain momentum and avoid slipping in the early stages of conference play.