Amid tough season, Brian Ruppel has been consistent bright spot for Maryland men’s lacrosse

Franklin Zessis
16 hours ago
3 min read

Arguably the biggest question heading into this season for No. 12 Maryland men’s lacrosse was in goal.

With Logan McNaney — the program’s all-time leader in saves — getting selected 11th overall in the Professional Lacrosse League draft, the Terps needed a new goalie.

But Brian Ruppel has filled in seamlessly. The senior has posted double-digit saves in all but two games this season while sporting at least a .500 save percentage in five of his eight games this season.

“We have confidence that we're going to get good performance, and we can kind of rely on playing the way we want to play,” coach John Tillman said. “If your goalie is not playing well, you start thinking to yourself, do we need to change what we do? … So I think having a steady guy in there does go a long way.”

During Maryland’s offseason, Tillman was busy. He utilized the transfer portal to bolster every position except Maryland’s goaltending. The biggest reason for Tillman’s confidence in Ruppel was the way he performed during the fall last season.

“We didn't know who was starting until literally, the week before the season last year,” Tillman said before the season. “It was that close between Logan and Brian.”

Ruppel also held an advantage coming into this season. He played the final 13 games of the 2023 season after McNaney went out with a knee injury — something Ruppel stated was “huge for him coming into this season.

The experience showed in Maryland’s season opener as Ruppel allowed just eight goals and posted a .556 save percentage.

Part of Ruppel’s success this season has come from his ability to secure groundballs and handle the ball during clears. Ruppel partially credits his skills to the time he spent as an attacker and midfielder on his varsity high school team during his freshman season.

Despite playing other positions, Ruppel maintained his goalie skills during his freshman season. The following season, he returned to the goalcrease.

“My high school coach at the time was awesome about it,” Ruppel said. “He would obviously make sure I'm practicing all kinds of stuff in practice, but I'd go with him on extra days or after practice and get shots with him. He would pretty much train me outside of practice.”

He added that the skills he learned as an attacker have also translated to his vision in goal, and he can better understand how those players think and what they see when they are looking to shoot or pass.

While Ruppel struggled in Maryland’s next two games against Syracuse and Princeton, the senior said he didn’t change much and “got back to basics.”

It worked. Ruppel stopped half of then-No. 2 Notre Dame’s shots and started a four-game stretch in which he recorded at least a .500 save percentage.

The final game of that stretch was one of Ruppel’s best this season. The Maryland native was relied upon heavily in the opening quarter against Penn State as the Nittany Lions dominated possession, and the Terps' defense was playing its first game without defender Will Schaller due to injury.

Ruppel made five first-quarter saves, with several coming on wide-open looks. While Maryland did not win the game, Ruppel’s continued strong play and an adjustment by Maryland to play a zone defense allowed the Terps to shutout the ninth-best scoring offense for over 36 minutes of game time.

With three games remaining until the Big Ten tournament, and Schaller’s continued absence due to injury, the Terps will need Ruppel to continue to perform well in order to secure a spot in the NCAA tournament.

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