No. 9 Maryland men’s lacrosse (2-1) heads north this weekend for a big test against No. 3 Princeton (2-0).
The Terps got back on track last Saturday earning a hard fought, 15-12, victory against No. 19 Syracuse, using stretches of scoring runs together to get back in the win column. While the Terps took 50 shots, many sailed high and outside the net, leaving goals out on the field.
“Against a team like Princeton you really have to try to play our best game, just be efficient,” coach John Tillman said. “Be us, be good on the ground…I thought our ground ball play was better last week. I thought we had more energy.”
The Terps are one of the best ground ball teams in the nation, averaging just under 40 ground balls a game, the seventh highest total in the nation. Princeton has been playing clean lacrosse over its first two games of the season, averaging only 12 turnovers a game, making those ground balls a bit hard to come by, especially if face-off specialist senior Luke Wierman is not dominating.
The two squads faced each other twice last season, once in the regular season and the other in the NCAA semifinals. In the regular season the Terps took down the Tigers, 15-10, and in the postseason Maryland claimed a 13-8 victory.
In the regular season matchup former Terps Jonathan Donville and Logan Wisnauskas combined for eight goals, four apiece on 15 shots. Then a few months later, Wisnauskas and Keegan Khan combined for nine points, propelling the Terps to the National Championship game.
Princeton has not forgotten about those games.
It’s a big time matchup,” junior defender Ajax Zappitello said. “In talking to some of the Princeton guys it’s clear that they’ve had this game circled on their calendar for over a year now. I think the whole team’s excited to prove our work on the road and I don’t think there’s any better way to do it than a big time match at Princeton.”
Now that all three of those players and some other key contributors have since graduated, Maryland is required to turn to others for points. So far junior attackers Daniel Kelly and Owen Murphy, senior attacker Daniel Maltz and senior midfielder Kyle Long have been carrying the load. The quartet have combined for 34 points so far in three games.
With the Terps’ explosive offensive power they held the lead in last season’s meetings for almost the entire game, yet Princeton brought back lots of talent from last year’s semifinals squad, including most of its first midfield line, attackers and defenders.
“They’re very fast on offense, they move a lot and do a lot of picking,” Tillman said. “If you don’t do a good job on the picks they’ll get leverage. If you have to switch they get better matchups and then that’s problematic. They are shooting the ball well.”
Graduate student goalkeeper Teddy Dolan will make his second straight start in goal. Against Syracuse, Dolan flashed some potential but still had his struggles, recording nine saves while allowing 12 goals.
While Syracuse’s offense is mainly younger players, Saturday brings challenges with a veteran lineup on the offensive side.
“Defensively…we know the kind of animal we’re going up against,” Zappitello said. “I think we’re really looking forward to seeing how well Dolan does in cage. We’re looking forward to our short stick D middies, the guys have been working really hard.”
Opening face-off is set for 1 p.m.
