No. 9 Maryland men’s lacrosse (1-1) returns to College Park this weekend to face another historically talented lacrosse program in No. 18 Syracuse (3-0).
The Terps are learning on the fly on how to adapt to some early season adversity after No. 11 Loyola dominated Maryland last weekend earning a stunning 12-7 victory.
The Terps played sloppily last weekend, turning the ball over 22 times that Loyola took advantage of, finding the back of the net. Maryland could not find the goal to take the lead before collapsing in the fourth quarter.
Loyola shutdown junior attack Owen Murphy, who scored four goals on nine shots in the Terps’ season opening trouncing of then-No. 20 Richmond. Last weekend, Loyola held Murphy to five shots with only one on goal.
While Maryland struggled, the Greyhounds consistently fired good looks towards the cage, with 17 of their 26 shots on target, and 12 found the net.
Loyola gained success last Saturday through attacking Maryland’s new defenders and midfielders, avoiding matchups against graduate student defender Brett Makar and junior defender Ajax Zappitello, who both earned spots on Inside Lacrosse preseason All-American teams.
“I mean if I’m playing us that’s a strategy I would use,” coach John Tillman said. “It starts with good fundamentals, good on ball play, good approaches, good communications, and making sure that we’re aware of the players that are out there.”
In the Terps’ loss, senior goalkeeper Logan McNaney had a rough day in the net. McNaney only saved five of Loyola’s shots, and to make matters worse, exited the game in the final minutes after tripping near the Greyhounds bench. McNaney limped his way over to the Maryland bench before heading into the locker room.
The Baltimore Sun reported that McNaney would be out for the season after tearing his ACL. If McNaney is indeed out for a long stretch, graduate student goalie Teddy Dolan will most likely take his place.
Dolan transferred over from Binghamton, and was a three-year starter for the Bearcats.
“If Logan can’t go we got confidence in the next guy and we’ll make sure that they’re ready,” Tillman said.
While Maryland’s lineup has lots of youth, Syracuse is in a similar position. But unlike Maryland’s National Championship winning season, Syracuse is coming off one of the worst years in program history. Last season, Syracuse posted a 4-10 record and ended the year on a six-game skid but is off to a great start.
The Orange have a ton of new faces to their program with a 15-member freshmen class that includes the No. 1 recruit in attacker Joey Spallina, who leads Syracuse with 11 goals. Some other new faces include graduate transfers midfielder Cole Kirst from Lehigh and attacker Alex Simmons from Denver. The duo have combined for five goals and 10 assists.
“They play schemes that play to their strengths,” Tillman said. “But just looking at them they share the ball. They’re very dangerous with the ball. They’re dangerous without the ball.”
Tillman also noted how the Orange defense is organized, as Syracuse is holding its opponents to six goals a game. The Orange is also getting good play from senior goalkeeper Will Mark, who has made 36 saves with a .706 save percentage so far.
But Maryland will be the toughest opponent for the Orange to date.
“They’re excellent and it’s a little bit of an underdog mentality for us which probably is good for us right now,” Tillman said.
Opening face-off on Saturday is set for 1 p.m. at SECU Stadium.
