Preview: No. 4 Maryland men’s lacrosse continues tough early season slate against No. 11 Princeton

No. 4 Maryland men’s lacrosse (3-0) continues its streak of facing top-ranked teams, hosting No. 11 Princeton (2-0) on Saturday at SECU Stadium.

The Terps are coming off a thrilling 13-12 road overtime win over No. 6 Syracuse last weekend. The Orange looked like the victors until their would-be game-winning goal was waved off by officials after review as Michael Leo dove into the goal mouth. Sophomore midfielder George Stamos fired a shot into the left corner of the net less than a minute later, sealing the win.

“I did not expect taking that shot, it wasn’t drawn up for that,” Stamos said. “I just held my stick there as an outlet. [Colin Sharkey] juked two guys, saw me, kinda made eye contact, he threw it. I caught it, stepped in, looked for a [second] to make sure no one was coming to play me … and I just wound up shooting it.”

Despite the win, Maryland’s offense struggled in the second and third quarters, scoring just two goals total. Sophomore attacker Braden Erksa helped jolt the Terps’ offense with two goals to open the fourth. The reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year tied a career-high with four goals and added two assists as well.

Defensively, Ajax Zappitello was tasked with defending the nation’s leading scorer Joey Spallina. Zappitello caused three turnovers and held Spallina to just one goal on seven shots, earning him Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors. Zappitello has limited Maryland’s opposition’s best attackers in all three games this season.

Logan McNaney joined Zappitello with Big Ten weekly honors. The graduate student goalkeeper was named the Big Ten Specialist of the Week after recording a season-high 14 saves.

The Terps face another tough challenge this weekend in Princeton. Maryland got the best of the then-ranked No. 4 Tigers last season, winning 11-5. Attacker Daniel Maltz and midfielder Jack Koras combined for seven goals in the matchup.

This season’s Princeton team has played well all around to start the campaign, defeating both Monmouth and Manhattan. The Tigers have outscored their two opponents a combined 30-11.

Attacker Coulter Mackesy led Princeton’s offense in last year’s matchup with Maryland, scoring three of the team’s five goals. Mackesy has begun his junior season with four goals in two games, but his shooting percentage leaves much to be desired as his four scores have come on 18 shots, a .222 clip.

Scoring for the Tigers has been evenly distributed through their two games this season. Freshman Colin Burns leads the team with seven goals and five assists, while fellow freshman Nate Kabiri has contributed six goals and three assists.

“[Princeton] does a really good job of putting pieces in the spots and coaching those guys up,” coach John Tillman said. “A lot of guys left but putting up 30 goals in two games is no small task.”

Watch for senior Michael Gianforcaro in goal for Princeton, coming off a second-team All-Ivy League selection. Gianforcaro has allowed just 11 goals with 20 saves in two games to open the season, good for a 65 percent save rate.

The matchup this weekend will be the Tigers’ first test against a top-ranked team, while the game will be Terps’ fourth-straight to open this season. Opening face-off is set for 2 p.m.