Maryland men's lacrosse dominates Richmond in 12-7 season-opening win

John Gugs
Feb 1
3 min read

In their first game of the 2025 lacrosse season, the Terps men’s lacrosse squad came away with a convincing 12-7 win over the 20th-ranked Richmond Spiders. This marks the 32nd consecutive season-opening win and fourth consecutive win over Richmond in as many seasons.

While three of the last four meetings proved to be one-score contests, Saturday’s season opener was anything but that after Maryland held Richmond scoreless through the first half, marking the first time since Feb. 14, 2015 that the Terps have done so. Maryland’s defense also shined in the win after forcing three first-half shot clock violations and five turnovers for the game.

Shea Keethler started the game off with a face-off win for the Terps, but it wouldn’t be until 8:46 left in the first quarter when impact transfer Matt Keegan scored the team’s first goal of the season. Keethler would win the ensuing face-off but the Terps would not be able to extend their lead with Richmond’s defense buckling down early. It wasn’t until the final second of the quarter when Zach Whittier capitalized on a beautiful assist from Keegan to push Maryland ahead, 2-0.

Spanos found Kelly on the first possession of the second quarter for the Terps third goal of the day as the offense started finding success with backdoor cuts as Richmond defenders ball watched. With 8:13 left in the second quarter, Richmond called their first timeout of the half with the Spiders’ offense struggling to get many good looks on cage – but Maryland goalie Logan McNaney was looking good with five early saves.

Bryce Ford would tack onto the early onslaught for his first goal at Maryland before Keetler recorded his first point at Maryland after Jack Dowd assisted Kelly for his second goal of the game, pushing the lead to 5-0. Ford and Keegan added two more goals 90-seconds apart to give Maryland a 7-0 lead at halftime.

Richmond’s first goal came after a face-off win over 31 minutes into the game, but Sean Creter answered back with his third face-off win of the game before recording his first goal. Richmond would answer back with their second goal before Keegan, Erksa and Kelly teamed up for a three-goal run over a near-eight minute stretch to give Maryland an 11-2 lead heading into the fourth quarter, marking their largest lead of the day.

With the game out of reach, Richmond outscored Maryland 5-1 in the final quarter as head coach John Tillman put in the rest of his rotation to close out the final four minutes of the game.

Maryland will now travel to Loyola (Md.) next Saturday, Feb. 8 with the game set for 1 PM on ESPN+.

Takeaways

Three stars in the win: McNaney, Schaller, and the incoming offensive transfers. McNaney finished the day with 14 saves and a 70% save percentage in his first game as the Terps #1. Schaller stepped up today in his first game as the top cover defender for the Terps. He shut down the Spiders’ top offensive player Aidan O’Neil holding him to just one goal on the day while Schaller was guarding him. The incoming offensive transfers in Keegan, Ford, and Dowd combined for ten total points with Keegan leading the way with five.

The big question Terps fans were wondering entering the game is where would Eric Spanos start the game, ultimately lining up at left wing along with Braden Erksa at X and Daniel Kelly on the right wing. On defense, it was Will Schaller that started in Ajax Zappitello’s former role as the main cover defender, another big question ahead of the season-opener.

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