Maryland men's lacrosse advances to Big Ten Championship with 10-8 win over Penn State

John Gugs
May 2
4 min read

After finishing the regular season 10-2 and ranked third nationally in the Inside Lacrosse media poll, Maryland men's lacrosse started off postseason play with a narrow 10-8 win over the Penn State Nittany Lions to advance to the Big Ten championship game.

In a game that was a tale of two halves, it was Maryland who came out victorious as they held off a gritty Penn State comeback thanks to a three-goal run by the Terps in the fourth quarter. Daniel Kelly found the back of the net twice in that three-goal run while Matthew Keegan capped off the run and sealed the game for the Terps.

The Terps came out to a commanding start, scoring twice in the first five minutes thanks to goals from Braden Erksa and Keegan. The Terps' defense was playing lights out and not giving Penn State many good looks offensively, holding them to just a goal in each of the first two quarters. Penn State turned the ball over seven times in the first half and Logan McNaney had a great first half with seven saves on nine shots on goal as well. Kelly added a first half hat trick for the Terps, along with Elijah Stobaugh scoring to give the Terps the dominant 6-2 lead heading into halftime.

The second half started in the complete opposite way of the first half. The Terps were shut out the entirety of the third quarter while Penn State started to claw back. The Nittany Lions rattled off four straight goals in the third quarter to tie the game back up. A big reason Penn State was able to claw back was its advantage at the face-off dot. Penn State went 4/5 from the dot in the third quarter which was giving the Nittany Lions extra possessions and helping them claw back in. The Terps only had five total possessions in the third quarter and four ended with a turnover while the fifth ended with a saved shot by Penn State.

In the fourth quarter however, the Terps were able to take the lead back thanks to Keegan’s second of three goals on the day. Penn State would tie the game back up with 7:55 to go in the game but Kelly would score his fourth goal of the day just 42 seconds later and the Terps would then go on their run and never look back. Penn State was not able to make a single save in the fourth quarter, while McNaney made two with Penn State’s offense also turning the ball over five times in the final frame,e holding them to just two goals in the fourth quarter.

Takeaways

The Good

The Terps only missed the net on nine of their shots on the day. While they did not take a lot of shots overall on the day, they made sure when they did shoot, they were good looks and made sure to put them on goal.

The Bad

While they only missed the goal on nine of their shots, the Terps only took 24 total shots on the day. In postseason play, they will need to be able to get more shots off to be able to test the goalie more and pull ahead in a game against a good team. Taking so few shots helped Penn State get back in the game.

The Ugly

The Terps only won four of the 22 face-offs on the day against the Nittany Lions. It will be impossible for the Terps to make a long run in May if they do not fix their face-off issues and start to help the defense out and win extra possessions.

Three Stars

Daniel Kelly

Kelly finished the day with a game-high five goals while shooting 100% on the day as well. Kelly’s two goals in the fourth quarter were massive for the Terps and ended up being the difference in the game.

Matthew Keegan

Keegan finished the day with three goals while also adding an assist to his name. Along with Kelly, Keegan’s goal in the fourth quarter sealed the win for the Terps and helped them advance to the Big Ten Championship.

Logan McNaney

McNaney had a bounceback game, making ten saves and going 55.5% on the day in net. McNaney also added three ground balls and a caused turnover to his name on the day. If McNaney can consistently play well in May, the sky's the limit for this team.

The Terps will face Ohio State for the second time this season when they match up in the Big Ten Championship in Ann Arbor at 8 PM on Saturday night. The Terps won the first matchup against the Buckeyes 13-8 in Columbus and will be looking to keep the Buckeyes from winning their first Big Ten tournament title while adding a fifth trophy to their collection.

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