After a hard fought defensive battle against Ohio State, the Terps defense kept up their stellar play to clinch a top-two seed in the Big Ten tournament thanks to an 11-6 win over Rutgers.
The game came out to a very slow start. Both teams turned the ball over back and forth and neither team was able to get many shots on the cage. It was not until 6:41 left in the first quarter that the Terps would strike first thanks to a goal from Daniel Kelly. Kelly, starting his second game in a row due to Daniel Maltz ruled out, has capitalized after scoring in two consecutive games now. The Terps defense would stand tall until the final minute in the quarter when Rutgers would finally find the back of the net to tie things up at one.
In the second quarter, things started to open up for both offenses and both offenses started to find the back of the net more. Rutgers would get the scoring started just over a minute into the quarter to take their first lead of the day. The Terps then retook the lead with two straight goals from Kelly and Ryan Siracusa with 10:19 left in the quarter. Both offenses kept finding the back of the net trading goals, keeping it a one goal game until the Terps would pull ahead by two with 1:03 left in the quarter. Braden Erksa was able to net his 22nd goal on the year while Jack Koras added two more goals to his total on the season to give the Terps a 6-4 lead heading into the half. Rutgers was getting goals by moving well off the ball and catching Terps defenders’ ball watching. Terps goalie Logan McNaney had seven saves through the first half and helped the Terps have a successful clear 10/11 times. Face-off man Luke Wierman went 7/12 from the face-off in the first half as well.
The start of the third quarter was very much like the first quarter as both teams registered one goal each. It was not until 3:47 left in the third quarter that Kelly would net his third goal of the game giving him the Terps lone hat trick on the day. Rutgers got a goal back to cut the Terps lead back to two with 2:28 left in the quarter and the score would stay 7-5 heading into the fourth quarter. Both teams turned the ball over a total of nine times in the third quarter and both goalies had a total of six saves in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Terps defense kept up their dominance over the Scarlet Knights offense. McNaney added another three goals to his name in the final quarter while the Terps defense turned Rutgers over another two times. Rutgers’ offense was able to get nine shots off in the quarter but only one was able to find the back of the net. The Terps offense was able to open things up in the fourth quarter yet again adding another four goals in the quarter. Siracusa, Wierman, Zach Whittier, and Jack Brennan all tallied goals in the quarter. Siracusa netted his 14th on the season, Wierman and Brennan tallied their first goals on the season while Whittier scored his second goal on the season. Wierman finished the game going 11/21 from the face-off while McNaney finished the game with 15 saves on just six goals allowed.
Maryland’s win over Rutgers clinched a bye in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament and sends them straight to the semifinals. The win over Rutgers also sets up next week’s rivalry game against Johns Hopkins as a chance for the Terps to win a share of the Big Ten regular season title and earn the number one seed in the Big Ten tournament. The Terps will travel to Johns Hopkins next Saturday April 20th. The game will face off at 4PM and will air on ESPNU.
Related Links
Notes on FB scrimmage (+)
Maryland in the mix for OV after Penn. WR picks up offer on visit (+)
