Maryland men’s lacrosse’s defense sees uncharacteristic start to first four games

Franklin Zessis
Mar 5
2 min read

No. 12 Maryland men’s lacrosse’s defensive prowess has been a staple in the John Tillman era.

Since Tillman took over as the Terps’ head coach, his defenses have held opposing offenses to fewer than 10 goals in 152 games, with several coming within the first four games of the season.

The 2026 campaign has not followed that trend. Maryland has allowed double-digit goal-scoring performances in each of the first four games this season — the first time since the 2020 season, which was eventually canceled due to COVID-19.

“[We’ve been] working the last couple weeks on the off-ball defense,” Tillman said. “You always got to work on off-ball defense, because … you're going to spend a lot more time away from the ball.”

While Maryland has opened the season with a difficult schedule — playing three teams within Inside Lacrosse’s top ten— the Terps played the exact same schedule to begin last season. By week four of the 2025 season, three of Maryland’s opponents ranked inside the top-11.

In Maryland’s first four games last season, it held all of its opponents to under 10 goals.

Part of the reason for Maryland’s struggles this season is that teams have changed the way they attack Maryland’s defense. The most glaring example of that game is Maryland’s matchup against Syracuse.

The Terps played the Orange twice last season and held Syracuse to just 15 combined goals. Part of its defensive success was limiting the play of attacker Joey Spallina. The 2025 Second Team All-American struggled against Maryland’s defense, tallying just two goals in the two meetings.

But in Maryland’s second game this season, Spallina doubled that total. Part of the reason for Spallina’s success was Syracuse’s ability to get Spallina away from defender Will Schaller.

The Orange frequently used pick plays in order to create space and prevent the 2025 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year from attacking Spallina’s hands.

“If I'm other people, I totally would understand why you might try to do that,” Tillman said on Feb. 25. “I think people are trying to look at different ways to try to maybe get leverage or get switches.”

While Maryland’s defense was better in its following game against Princeton’s top scorer — Nate Kabiri— it struggled against the rest of the Tigers' unit, as it posted five multi-goal scorers.

While the Terps have started slowly and their defense has underperformed compared to prior seasons, there is still reason for optimism.

In Maryland’s prior game against Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish entered the game as the nation’s top offense, averaging 20 goals per game. But the Terps held them to a season-low 11 goals as senior goalie Brian Ruppel made a season-best 11 saves.

The performance also came in a match where attacker Eric Spanos was a late-game scratch, and the Terps’ offense put just 17 of 40 shots on goal.

Friday’s contest against Delaware should act as a reprieve in Maryland’s schedule, as the Blue Hens have scored double-digit goals just once in their first five games.

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