After suffering defeat in the first round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2013, Maryland men’s lacrosse looks to return to glory ahead of the 2024 season and make it back to Memorial Day weekend in John Tillman’s 14th season as head coach.
Maryland, who was projected fifth in the country by USA Lax Magazine, had to make one change to the staff this season with former offensive coordinator Jake Bernhardt leaving to become the head coach at Colby College, prompting head coach John Tillman to appoint former Navy offensive coordinator and Terps alum Michael Phipps as his replacement. Phipps was an attackman for the Terps from 2004-2007 while scoring 85 points in 41 games played. Phipps will look to give the Terps offense a boost after taking a dip in production from 2022 to 2023. Along with Phipps joining the team, the Terps will get Eric Malever back from injury after missing the 2023 season with a torn ACL. Malever was a key piece of the Terps’ offense during the 2022 national championship team. Malever’s return adds an experienced quarterback to the attack unit that the Terps were missing last season. The Terps did not hit the portal much on the offensive side of the field this offseason, adding only one player on offense in Griffin King out of Brown. Brown tallied 25 points in ten games for Brown last season and will look to give the Terps’ offensive midfield a boost after losing Kyle Long to the PLL.
While the offense has firepower, Maryland will have to answer some questions on defense after losing a pair of multi-year All-Americans in Brett Makar and John Geppert to the PLL, as well as Dante Trader Jr. as a short stick defensive midfielder this season. With their losses on the defensive side of the field, the Terps hit the portal and hit it fairly well. The Terps added three defensive players from Vermont in Jackson Canfield, Nick Alviti, and Colin Sharkey. Canfield and Alviti are two all-conference long stick defenders while Sharkey will look to fill Trader’s role as a short stick defensive midfielder. However, with all the new faces on defense, the Terps will be led by Ajax Zappitello who drew the honor of wearing the number one jersey to become just the second defender after Brett Makar to ever wear it. The Terps will also get back star goalie Logan McNaney who tore his ACL in just the second game of the season last year. While freshman goalie Brian Ruppel did a solid job in relief for McNaney, McNaney’s experience on the field will help the Terps be one of the best defenses in the country yet again.
The schedule that coach Tillman has put together for the Terps this season is absolutely brutal. However, it will show just how good or bad this team really is this season and give them many tests before postseason play. All but three teams on the Terps schedule are ranked on the Inside Lacrosse preseason media poll. However, two of those three teams still received votes on the poll. The Terps schedule will also include three of the four final four teams from last season and five of the eight quarterfinalists. The Terps will face 11 teams that they faced last season with only Brown being a fresh opponent. The Terps went a combined 8-5 against the teams they faced last season including two losses to the reigning Ben Ten tournament champs in Michigan.
With key pieces coming back from injury, and many new faces on the defense, the Terps will be looking to prove the 2023 season was a fluke and they are still a team to be feared week in and week out. The Terps open their season up on the road for the first time since 2017 when they travel to Richmond to take on the Spiders. The game is set to start at 1 PM and will air on ESPN+.
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May 7, 2024