Maryland men's lacrosse looks to stay hot in 120th meeting of "The Rivalry"

John Gugs
13 hours ago
6 min read

#7 Maryland 6-4 (3-1) at #12 Johns Hopkins 7-4 (2-2)

Where: Homewood Field, Baltimore

When: Saturday, April 18th, 2PM

TV: ESPNU, Mark Dixon and Paul Carcaterra

Betting: Maryland -2, O/U 21

After a commanding 12-2 win over Rutgers in their final home game of the season, the Terps will take the short trip up I-95 to Baltimore for the 120th meeting of “The Rivalry” to cap off the regular season. A win for the Terps this weekend will lock up the top overall seed in the Big Ten tournament to an automatic bye week, as well as solidify their chance at an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament.

The Blue Jays are led by Peter Milliman who is in his sixth season at Johns Hopkins with a record of 47-41 and has a career record of 112-77 in 13 seasons. Milliman has a career record of 2-7 against the Terps and will be looking to get his second win over the Terps on Homewood Field. Johns Hopkins is coming off of a devastating 7-6 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes that came down to the wire. Hopkins will be looking to earn a share of the Big Ten regular season title for the fourth time in school history and their third in four years.

On offense, the Blue Jays are led by a dynamic duo in Hunter Chauvette and Matt Collison. Collison is a 6-foot-4, 225 pound lefty midfielder that can beat a defender in multiple ways. Collison is great at using his large frame to put his defenders in bad spots to either get himself open or to set up a teammate or he can use his deceptive speed to get around defenders and get to the middle of the field for an easy shot. So far this season, Collison is second on the Jays in scoring with 32 points with 21 goals and 11 assists. Anytime Collison is on the field, expect AJ Larkin or Trevor Owens to be on him as much as possible to try and take him out of the game. With Chauvette, he is another lefty but at the attack spot that has been key for the Blue Jays this season. Chauvette can dodge and beat defenders, however where he does most of his damage is off ball and getting to open spots for his teammates to find him. There are not many better shooters in the country from the lefty wing than Chauvette. With off ball defense being something the Terps have massively struggled with this season, if they are able to contain Chauvette and not let him get his hands free off ball, they should slow the Blue Jay offense down enough to pull out the win. I expect Riley Reese to be the main defender on Chauvette this weekend as he has been the main off ball close defender since entering the lineup.

On defense, the Blue Jays are led by Reece DiCicco and Carson Brown. DiCicco leads the Blue Jays with 17 caused turnovers while Brown is second on the team with nine. DiCicco also leads the team in ground balls with 39 while Brown is third on the team with 30. DiCicco is a very solid short stick defensive midfielder for the Blue Jays that has done a good job this season at shutting down the opponents midfielders. Look for the Terps to try and create switches on the Blue Jay defense to put DiCicco in bad matchups. Brown has been the Blue Jays #1 close defender this season and has won his matchup in most games this season. While Erksa is the Terps main initiator, Brown is a bigger defender at 6-foot-2 200 pounds. It would not surprise me to see Brown on Spanos to start the game at the very least to try and slow Spanos down.

One thing that has helped Hopkins hold offenses to just 9.63 goals a game this season has been the goaltending. While he was not the starter at the beginning of the season, Oran Gelinas has taken the starting spot and has shined since earning it. In nine games played and six starts, Gelinas has a 58.4% save percentage and has just a 9.14 goals against average. If Gelinas is in a rhythm and making clean saves, it could be a very long day for the Terps offense.

Things to watch out for

How does the goalie battle play out?

Both goalies in Gelinas and Ruppel have been solid this season. After a rough start to the season, Ruppel has been 50% or better in six of the last season games including going 80% last week against Rutgers. The Terps will need him to have a great game against Hopkins with Gelinas who is at 58.4% on the season starting in the other net. Gelinas has been 50% or better in every game he has started this season and has made double digit saves in all but one of his starts. The goalie that plays the best and makes the key saves could very likely lead his team to the win this weekend.

Which team can stay out of the penalty box the best?

Both the Terps and the Blue Jays have committed over 20 penalties this season. Hopkins has committed 26 penalties this season and is holding opposing man up offenses to just 30.8%. Meanwhile, the Terps have committed 21 penalties and are holding opposing man up offenses to a country best 5.3% only giving up one man up goal the entire season. However, the Terps man up offense has struggled this season only converting on 23.5% of their opportunities while the Blue Jay man up offense has converted on 45.8% of their opportunities. In a rivalry game that is arguably the biggest rivalry in lacrosse, emotions can easily run high, especially if the game ends up being as close and low scoring as many expect. The team that is able to stay disciplined and stay out the penalty box as well as capitalize on man up opportunities the best will have a massive advantage in the game and will have the upper hand in pulling out the win.

Can Henry Dodge and Jonah Carrier keep the ball on the Terps side of the field?

The Terps are one of the best face-off teams in the country winning 61.3% of their face-offs which is fourth in the country. Meanwhile, for Hopkins it has been a different story with them only winning 47.8% of their face-offs this season. In a game that is expected to be close and low scoring, every possession will matter and the Terps advantage at the face-off dot could be what puts them over the edge in this game to pull out the win.

IBG prediction: No matter how good or bad either team is, this game is always very physical and very emotional. Both teams are playing for a chance at the #1 seed in the Big Ten tournament and a chance to fully solidify their NCAA tournament hopes. Both teams will likely lock up an at-large spot in the NCAA tournament with a win. Meanwhile, both teams would need to likely win multiple games in the Big Ten tournament if they are to lose this weekend. With everything that is at stake in this game this weekend, I expect more of the same physically and emotionally and expect this to be a low scoring and close game. While Hopkins has a slight edge at goalie, the Terps have a massive edge at the face-off dot and I think that will be what gets them over the hump and pulls out a 10-9 win on enemy soil.

The Terps will be looking to extend their three game win streak this weekend and to keep the beautiful crab trophy in College Park for at least one more year when they make the trek up I-95. With a win, the Terps will lock up a Big Ten tournament semifinal spot and could possibly lock up an NCAA tournament berth as well. The game is set to face-off at 2PM and will be airing on ESPNU.

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