The perfect season is complete! Your Maryland Terrapins are National Champions after surviving a furious fourth-quarter comeback to come away with a 9-7 win over Cornell. This is the first perfect season since the 2006 Virginia Cavaliers and the most wins in a season without a loss.
Maryland looked to be cruising to an easy win entering the 4th quarter, holding a 9-3 lead. But just as it seemed that the celebration could start early, Cornell went a 4-0 run and seized all of the momentum. The Terps were running on fumes while the Big Red got a second wind and was completely outplaying Maryland. But as was the case against Princeton, Logan McNaney was a brick wall in net. The tournaments Most Outstanding Player finished with 17 saves, including two huge stops in the final three minutes to keep the Cornell run at 4 goals.
Before the late comeback by the Big Red, it was the the Anthony DeMaio show. He had 5 points on 4 goals and 1 assists in the first half to lead Maryland's offense. He showed his range again and scored in multiple ways to give the Terps the lead that proved necessary. Tewaaraton frontrunner Logan Wisnauskas put up a casual 4 points on 2 goals and 2 assists as well.
The typical potent offense of the Terps played an atypical sloppy game. Throwing the ball away, dropping passes and missing shots that they usually at least make the goalie save. Maryland had 22 turnovers, including 11 unforced ones that kept giving the Big Red more and more chances. Some of the errors can be attributed to the heat and fatigue, and some to the Cornell defense which was constantly in our players hands and forced 11 turnovers as well.
In a season with upsets, upstart programs and new stars, the Maryland Terrapins were a constant throughout the whole thing. They showed their dominance for most of it but were also able to withstand adversity when it struck. With the 2022 season now in the books, a handful of stars including Wisnauskas, DeMaio, Fairman, Puglise and Khan will begin their rookie season will the PLL, and new stars will emerge as we look forward to 2023.
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