Leading up to the game yesterday, the biggest questions from the outside looking in were how Maryland would replace Jared Bernhardt, and how would the transfers fit in to the offense. Those questions were quickly answered in Maryland’s dominate 21-13 win over High Point.
It took little time for the transfers to announce their arrival in College Park as Jonathan Donville scored his first goal of his Maryland career just 43 seconds into the game as took a feed from Anthony DeMaio and finished it near side. Johns Hopkins transfer Owen Murphy got his first goal in a Maryland uniform when he got underneath his defender and buried the shot to give the Terps a 3-0 lead at the 3:33 mark in the 1st quarter. Keegan Khan made it 4-0 48 seconds later when the Villanova transfer took the ball from X and fired a lefty shot past the Panther goalie. Khan also provided the highlight of the afternoon when he caught the pass from Wisnauskas on the crease and fired it behind the back to get the hat trick. You couldn’t have asked for a better start for the transfers as the trio of Donville (2 G), Khan (4 G, 2A) and Murphy (4 G) finished with 10 goals and 2 assists.
Someone who isn’t new to the program but now has heightened expectations is Logan Wisnauskas. The man they call Groot left no doubt that he was worthy of the number 1 jersey as he finished the day with 5 goals and 3 assists. He is now tied with Matt Hahn for fourth all-time in career goals with 149, and is third all-time in career points with 245, just 12 points back from Matt Rambo for second. Wisnauskas took control early as he got on the board at the 8:43 mark in the opening frame. He was able to able to finish in multiple was as he scored on the time and room shots, off the dodge and was a facilitator as well. Another player who is in a new role is 5th year senior Bubba Fairman, The Sandy, UT native played more defense than in previous years and more than held his own. His athleticism was on full display in the second quarter when he took a feed from Wisnauskas in transition, lowered the shoulder and buried the shot to get his first goal of the season.
The defense had an up and down afternoon. They were able to lock down Asher Nolting as a goal scorer, but he did record 6 assists. Running mate Brayden Mayea led the Panthers in scoring with 5 goals, doing most of his damage off ball. At the faceoff X, the Terps finished the day winning 59.4% of the draws, with Virginia transfer Gavin Tygh and Luke Weirman taking most of them.
Next up, the Terps welcome the #8 team in the country as Loyola (MD) heads to College Park on Saturday, Feb. 12th for a Noon faceoff.