In a game that was hyped up to be a close hard hard-fought game, Maryland men’s lacrosse controlled things from the very beginning and blew out the Loyola Greyhounds 11-4.
To start the game off, the Terps’ defense played lights out and picked up where they left off last week and shut Loyola out for the entire first quarter. Logan McNaney was a brick wall in the goal all day and the Terps defense was causing turnovers and giving the Terps offense multiple extra possessions. Zach Whittier, Eric Malever, Owen Murphy, and George Stamos all came away with goals in the first quarter as the Terps raced out to a 4-0 lead. Daniel Kelly and Jack Brennan assisted on two of the four goals for the Terps in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Greyhounds ended up finding its groove on offense and were able to cut it to a one-goal game within the first nine minutes of the quarter. However, that would be the last bit of life the Greyhounds would show for a while after scoring again until 1:53 left in regulation with the game already decided. The Terps offense went stagnant to start the second quarter letting the Greyhounds get back into the game. It was not until 5:58 left in the second quarter that the Terps added to their goal tally when Eric Spanos found Ryan Siracusa who found the back of the net to stop the 3-0 Loyola run. The Terps would score once again on a fast break when Jack McDonald found Braden Erksa for another goal that would give the Terps a 6-3 lead heading into halftime.
The Terps had the momentum out of halftime and they built on it to start the second half as well. Colin Burlace scored yet another fast break goal for the Terps to keep their run going while Daniel Maltz added two goals to the Terps run in the third quarter as well. Erksa added an assist to his day while Spanos and Malever tallied an assist each in the third quarter as well. The Terps defense kept keeping the Greyhounds out of the back of the net getting yet another shutout in a quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Terps defense picked up where they left off and kept forcing turnovers and giving McNaney easy saves opportunities. Loyola would only add one more goal the rest of the game and it was not until McNaney and the rest of the starting defense was pulled out. The Terps let off the gas in the fourth only adding two more goals coming from Spanos and Eliot Dubik. On the day as a whole, the Terps did not have a hat trick scorer which is a rarity, however the offense was very balanced having 10 total goal scorers. If the Terps are able to have a balanced scoring attack on offense like they did today, they will be a hard offense to stop this season.
The Terps were led by Mcnaney on defense today who had 12 saves on the day and showed he still has what it takes to be an All-American goalie even after sitting most of last season out due to injury. Offensively, it was Spanos that led the Terps who had three total points with a goal and two assists on the day.
Next: Maryland will north to to take on a red hot offense in the Syracuse Orange. Next week will show just how good this Terps team truly is and if they will be able to compete with some of the top teams in the country that they have on their schedule. The game is set to start at 6 PM EST and will air on ESPNU.
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May 2, 2024
