Preview: No. 6 Maryland men’s lacrosse returns home to face Ohio State

No. 9 Maryland men’s lacrosse (6-3, 1-1 Big Ten) returns home to face Ohio State (6-5, 1-1 Big Ten) on Saturday at noon.

The Terps enter the weekend coming off a much-needed win last Sunday over No. 8 Penn State, 13-11. Maryland looked doomed to take its third straight loss, trailing by four goals at halftime. But a second-half offensive explosion, including six straight goals to open the fourth quarter, put the Terps back in the win column.

“Early in the game we just kind of rushed things. We were taking anything that came our way at times,” coach John Tillman said. “Guys were a little anxious and fired up. … We settled in, played with a little more poise, a little more patience and executed better.”

Midfielder Jack Koras tied a career-high four goals, including a pair of goals to jumpstart the fourth-quarter scoring run. The excellent performance earned the senior Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors for the first time this season.

Faceoff specialist Luke Wierman also won a Big Ten weekly award for his bounceback performance. Wierman won 16-of-27 faceoffs, including seven of eight in the fourth quarter. The conference Specialist of the Week honor marked the eighth of Wierman’s career and his third this season.

The success at faceoff, combined with scooping ground balls at a higher rate, won the possession battle for the Terps — an area they struggled with during their two-game losing streak. Maryland scooped nine more ground balls than Penn State as a collective.

“We got some unsettled and unscripted goals out of ground balls which is great,” Tillman said. “Luke getting that many possessions, it certainly helps. The rhythm, the guys getting more and more touches and feeling more comfortable, [it] protects your defense a little bit.”

Maryland now turns its sights to Ohio State, just its second unranked opponent of the season.

The Buckeyes started the season 4-0 but have since lost five of their last seven games. Most recently, Ohio State earned its first conference win last weekend at Rutgers, 14-8.

Freshman Caleb Fyock has started 10 games at goalkeeper this season and is coming off his best performance. Fyock earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week after holding Rutgers to just eight goals with 12 saves. Fyock is allowing an average of 9.1 goals with 10.6 saves per game on the campaign.

The Buckeyes’ offense features four players with 20 or more points this season. Junior Alex Marinier leads the team with 22 goals, including a career-high five in the win over the Scarlet Knights.

Graduate student Tommy Burke has taken a majority of faceoffs this season, sporting a 56 percent win rate. But Burke took just six chances at the X in the win last week, as freshman Jack Oldman took 20 faceoffs, winning 11. Last Saturday was just the third time this season Oldman has received at least 20 faceoffs in a game — Burke has done that five times.

Wierman will need another good performance against either Burke or Oldman to keep the Terps rolling. A second straight win would help bolster Maryland’s resume with just three regular season games remaining.