Maryland men's lacrosse set for make-or-break rematch vs. Penn State

John Gugs
4 days ago
5 min read

#10 Maryland 7-5 (3-2) vs #15 Penn State 7-5 (3-2)

Where: SHI Stadium, Rutgers University

When: Thursday, April 30th, 6PM

TV: BTNBetting: Maryland +1.5, Moneyline: -110, O/U 19.5

Maryland men’s lacrosse was able to hold off a stingy Rutgers squad in the Big Ten quarterfinals by a score of 13-10. Now, the Terps will head up to Piscataway to take on Penn State where the Terps will try to avoid their first two game losing streak to the Nittany Lions in program history.

Penn State won 16-8 over Rutgers in their final game of the regular season to earn the two seed in the conference tournament and a share of the Big Ten regular season title as they finished 3-2 in conference play including the 10-6 win over Maryland back on March 21st. Penn State is led by Jeff Tambroni who is 137-92 at Penn State and is looking to win the program just its second conference tournament title in program history this season.

In the first matchup against the Terps, it was a tale of two halves essentially for the Penn State offense. Penn State hopped out to a 5-2 lead after the first quarter and extended it to a 7-2 lead before the Terps defense was able to start to figure things out and settle in. The main thing that helped the Terp defense settle in was switching to a zone. This was the first game without Will Schaller after he went down with a season ending knee injury and the defense was out of sorts to start the game. Defenders were sliding too early and leaving their own matchup wide open for easy looks. Others were not communicating so guys were covering the same man and leaving others wide open. And defenders were ball watching and leaving their matchup wide open for even more easy looks. Penn State feasted on the Terps' very poor man defense in the first half and it created a hole the Terps were never able to climb out of. Since the Penn State game however, the defense has looked much better, only allowing seven goals per game since the game at Penn State. If the Terps are able to not explode immediately against the Nittany Lions like they did in the previous matchup, I like their chances to pull out the win.

On defense, Penn State simply made the Terps uncomfortable all game long. The offense was never able to get into a rhythm or a flow to put together enough that they could cut into the Penn State lead and take their own lead in the end. Penn State’s defense dominated their matchups and played sound off ball defense most of the game. The Terps offense already does not feature much off ball movement, and when you pair that up with a defense that is playing at the top of their game, it is hard to get guys open off ball to get good looks on cage. The biggest thing the Terps offense will need to do this weekend is to draw slides. The best way to beat Penn State’s defense is to make the off ball defenders move off of their man and to dish the ball to the players that they slide off of. The best way to draw slides is to set picks to try and create favorable matchups. Eric Spanos scored zero points against Penn State in the first matchup when it was his first game back from injury. Coming off a five point game against Rutgers, the Terps will need him to be aggressive and attack the matchups he is given if they are to pull out the win.

Things to watch out for

How does the face-off battle play out in round two?

In the first matchup against Penn State, the Terps lost the face-off battle 10-9. It was the only game all season that the Terps lost the face-off battle. Henry Dodge went just 6/12 while Jonah Carrier went 2/7. If the Terps are to pull out the win, they will need Dodge and Carrier at the top of their game and will need to win the face-off battle to give the Terps offense as many possessions as possible.

How does the goalie battle play out?

In the first matchup, Preston Hawkins got the best of Brian Ruppel as he made 14 saves and only allowed six goals against the Terps offense. Hawkins started out the season rough entering the first matchup south of a 50% save percentage on the season. However, Hawkins is currently up to a 50.8% save percentage thanks to a decent conference play. With both goalies turning it up a notch during conference play, we could be looking at yet another low scoring hard fought battle in the semifinal on Thursday. Whichever goalie is able to outperform the other, I like their team’s chances to pull out the win and advance to the final.

How does the addition of a healthy Hunter Aquino and Eric Spanos change the matchup?

In the first matchup, while Eric Spanos did play in the game, he did not look like himself on the field. He looked sluggish and like he was still very bothered by his knee injury. On the other side of the field, Penn State was missing their best offensive player in Hunter Aquino as well who was dealing with an injury. Since the Penn State game, Spanos is averaging 4.2 points per game off of 14 goals and seven assists in five games. For Aquino, he has only been back for two games in which he has scored seven total points off of six goals and an assist. The two of these star players being healthy changes the matchups on both sides of the field and changes how both teams will defend each other. Look for both Spanos and Aquino to be aggressive trying to carry their team to victory and lead them to the Big Ten title game.

IBG Prediction: Like last week, this is a game where both teams essentially need this win. According to Lacrosse Reference, the Terps only have a 3% chance of making the NCAA tournament with a loss to Penn State. Meanwhile, Lacrosse Reference says Penn State has a 0% chance at making it in with a loss to Maryland. This will be a do or die game between two programs that absolutely hate each other and want to be the one to eliminate the other from postseason play completely. The Terps defense has been winning them games in conference play, meanwhile it is Penn State’s offense that lost them games they should not have in conference play by going cold. With two teams that are extremely familiar with each other, the specialist battle will be massive and I believe the Terps have the advantage in that. If the Terps are able to win the face-off and goalie battle, I really like their chances to win the game and advance to Saturday’s Big Ten final. I think the Terps specialist and the adjustments the coaching staff makes gets this team over the hump Thursday evening and they pull out an 11-10 overtime win over Penn State to essentially lock themselves into the NCAA tournament and possibly set up a rematch with Johns Hopkins in the Big Ten final game.

With a loss, the Terps would have a two game losing streak to the Nittany Lions for the first time in school history all while likely being eliminated from 2026 postseason play entirely. The game is set to face-off at 6PM on Thursday April 30th and will be airing on the Big Ten Network.

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