Preview: Maryland men's lacrosse set for season-opener vs. Loyola

John Gugs
7 hours ago
4 min read

#1 Maryland vs Loyola (MD)

Where: Jones-Hill House

When: Saturday February 7th, 2:30 PM

TV: BTN+

Betting: Maryland -7.5, O/U 21.5 (DraftKings)

After having their first game of the season against Richmond postponed, the Terps men’s lacrosse squad will now open up their season at home against their in-state rivals, the Loyola Greyhounds. Loyola, like the Terps, had their week zero matchup postponed due to the weather last week. The program announced the game will be moved indoors to Jones-Hill House and will start at 2:30 PM.

The Greyhounds are led by head coach Charlie Toomey who is at Loyola for his 21st season with the school. Loyola is coming off a season where they finished with their lowest win total since 1975 after they went 3-11 last season. Loyola brings in a new offensive coordinator in Justin Ward who was previously at Army. Ward, who is a graduate of Loyola, helped coach Army to have the third best scoring offense in the country last season with 14.21 goals per game.

This year, Loyola returns a good portion of their scoring from the previous year. Matthew Minicus, Mason Cook, and Henry Haberman were the Greyhounds top three scorers in 2025 and all are returning for 2026. Minicus was the Greyhounds leading scorer in 2025 and is back for another season. Last season, Minicus finished with 52 points off of 25 goals and 27 assists. Cook and Haberman both finished with 24 points last season however Cook did that in one less game played in and five less games started than Haberman. With all three starting attackmen coming back and the addition of coach Ward, the Loyola offense is expected to take a massive leap in 2026 after just averaging 9.3 goals per game last season.

However, on defense, the Greyhounds are not as lucky when it comes to returning production. Remi Reynolds who led the Loyola defense is gone as well after leading the Greyhounds in caused turnovers and was second on the team in ground balls. However, the Greyhounds return their two other defensive starters in Jake Wilson and Joe Houlihan who were second and third on the team in caused turnovers in 2025. Along with returning Wilson and Houlihan, the Greyhounds return their goalie in Max Watkinson. Watkinson finished last season with a 55.1% save percentage including a 57.9% save percentage against the Terps last season. Loyola will look to build on their defensive production last season after averaging 11.71 goals allowed per game in 2025.

The two biggest matchups this weekend will be the Terps Will Schaller on Minicus and who from Loyola will draw the matchup on Eric Spanos this season. In last season’s matchup against the Terps, Schaller held Minicus to just one goal and one assist. If Schaller is able to contain Minicus and his quick burst that makes him so effective, that will be key for the Terps to come out with a win. Last season, Spanos went off against Loyola finishing with four goals on the day including three coming in the fourth quarter comeback. Wilson drew the Spanos matchup for most of the game last year, however, Loyola also went into a zone defense which the Terps then had Spanos move to the top of the formation. If Spanos is able to get to his spots and get his hands free within 7 yards, the Terps offense should be able to score plenty on Saturday afternoon.

IBG Prediction: Originally, the game being outdoors in the cold, I was expecting a score of like 12-7 or 13-8. But now that the game has been moved indoors to Jones-Hill House, that can have a big effect on the goalies and I think it will be a lot more high scoring now. This will be Brian Ruppel’s first start for the Terps since he had just five saves against Army in the first round of the 2023 NCAA tournament. After learning under McNaney for another two seasons, how much more improved will he be, has been a big question heading into the season. And when your first start will be indoors, that could be a big mental hurdle to get over. Loyola was very young last season and returns a lot while the Terps will have quite a few new faces on both sides of the field. I expect this game to be closer than many might think but with a lot of scoring happening. I think the Terps offense will help the defense out in this game and the Terps will get the 2026 season started off with a 15-10 win over the Greyhounds.

The Terps will look to make it three wins in a row over the Greyhounds and go to 24-3 all time against Loyola and start this year off with a bang. The game is now set to face-off at 2:30 PM on Saturday inside Jones-Hill house and will be streaming on BTN+.

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