No. 4 Maryland men’s lacrosse (3-2) heads north to take on Albany (1-3) this weekend.
The Terps are 6-1 all-time versus Albany, and look to get back in the win column against a team that has only scored double-digit goals in two of its four games this season.
Last time out, the Terps walked off the SECU Stadium field with their heads hung low after suffering their first home loss since a 16-11 defeat to Johns Hopkins in 2019.
No. 2 Notre Dame came away with the hard fought victory in triple-overtime, defeating Maryland 13-12 after senior attacker Pat Kavanagh scored the game-winner. Maryland’s offense disappeared in overtime, turning the ball over five times during the 10 extra minutes of play.
So far this season Maryland is 1-1 against top-five teams, 3-1 against ranked opponents and 0-1 against unranked foes.
“We only play 12 regular season games so you’re going to play in some big ones,” coach John Tillman said. “You’re going to leave it all out there and whatever happens on Saturday you can’t let it impact negatively next week.
The loss to Notre Dame shared lots of similarities to the Loyola loss in the beginning of February. In both those games the Terps dominated the stat sheet, outshooting their opponent by 16 shots, but Maryland fell both times.
Maryland has struggled with its shooting percentage five games in, shooting at a 26.5 percent on an average of 45 shots a game. Its shooting percentage is ranked No. 52 among all Division One schools.
“Sometimes we are taking that first opportunity not because of selfishness just because the guys feel like ‘Hey I think it could be there’,” Tillman said. “As you play more hopefully the game slows down and the guys know the difference between an okay opportunity and a great opportunity.”
One area Maryland hasn’t struggled in is its face-offs and ground ball battle. Senior face-off specialist Luke Wierman continues to dominate, having won slightly more than 70% of his face-offs. It’s been a collective effort to pick up ground balls, giving the offense more opportunities.
In both losses the Terps finished with at least 20 turnovers, while that number stayed below the 20-line in their three victories.
Though Albany is not always scoring a ton of goals, the Great Danes play clean lacrosse, limiting their turnovers. Albany ranks No. 18 in the nation in turnovers per game, averaging only 14.75 a game. For comparison, Maryland ranks No. 55, averaging 18.40.
“They want to create turnovers because turnovers get the ball back but they also get them running,” Tillman said. “You’ve got to make sure that your spacing is good. You got to make sure that you’re good at ball security.”
Maryland is not the toughest task for Albany this season, as it already faced No. 3 Cornell earlier this season. The Great Danes held their own, even holding the lead for stretches, but ultimately fell, 12-10.
The Great Danes’ leading goal scorer is freshman attacker Silas Richmond. He’s scored nine goals on an efficient 18 shots, and has scored at least two goals in all four games this season.
Albany also has one of the best defenders in the country in senior long-stick midfielder Jake Piseno. Piseno is averaging 3.50 caused turnovers a game, second-most in the country and the most by any long-stick midfielder. No other Great Dane has caused over six turnovers. Piseno also leads the team in ground balls with 18.
Opening face-off is set for noon at Bob Ford Field at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium.
