Maryland 3-2 at Albany 1-3
Where: University of Albany
When, Saturday March 11th, 12PM
TV: ESPN+
After the Terps heart breaking triple overtime loss to Notre Dame, the Terps will look to get back to their winning ways against the Great Danes of Albany at Albany in their third road trip of the season. The Great Danes are off to another rough start to their season only starting 1-3 but will be looking to turn it all around and pull of the upset against the fourth ranked Terps.
For Albany, their offense revolves around Jack Pucci and Silas Richmond. Pucci and Richmond are both attackman and are the top two scorers for the Great Danes. Pucci leads the team in points total with 10, tallying seven goals and three assist. Richmond is second on the team in total points with nine all off of goals. The Great Danes offense is the weak point of the team. Through the four games, they only average 8.5 goals per game so far. With the Terps having one of the best defensive units in the country, it is easy to expect more of the same from Albany to struggle to come away with goals. If they want to win, they will need to win their one on one matchups, which is a lot easier said then done.
On defense, the Great Danes are led by Elijah Gash and Jake Piseno. Piseno is Albany’s long stick midfielder and leads the team in caused turnovers with 14. Piseno will likely cover the Terps biggest threat from their midfield line so look for the Terps to counter that with lots of picks to free them up. Gash is a close defender for the Great Danes that is second on the team in cause turnovers with eight while also being effective in the fast break game with two goals. Look for the Great Danes to move Gash around on the Terps attackman to switch up looks and not let them get comfortable. If the Great Danes are to pull off the upset, they will need to create possessions for their offense. Caused turnovers will be key for them.
For the Terps, the gameplan on offense should simply be to keep feeding Maltz. He is their best finisher close to the goal and he leads the team in total points and is second on the team with 10 goals. If the Great Danes lock up Maltz, look for Murphy and Kelly to move off the ball a lot to create open looks from the outside. If the Terps, want to get back to winning ways, they will need to move the ball around a lot more and move while not having the ball more as well. On defense, look for goalie Brian Ruppel to have a bounce back game. He had a rough go last week but the key for him is to simply build confidence the further into the season you go. The defense should fair well against a low scoring Albany offense. This should be a game where you see lots of new faces by the time the fourth quarter comes around which will help the Terps build depth for both sides of the field.
The Terps have a three game winning streak over the Great Danes, not losing to them since 2018. The Terps will be looking to extend that win streak to four and bounce back into the win column before they face the top team in the country next week.
