#5 Maryland 7-3 (2-1) vs Rutgers 7-4 (1-2)
Where: SECU Stadium
When: Saturday, April 13th, 7 PM
TV: Big Ten Network
After a hard-fought 8-7 win over a stingy Ohio State squad, Maryland men’s lacrosse will look to keep the momentum going when the Rutgers Scarlet Knights visit for the Terps’ final home game of the season.
Rutgers is coming off an impressive 9-7 win on the road at Michigan last Sunday, a game that ended with 19 saves from freshman goalie Cardin Stoller to lead the Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers and their high-powered offense is led by a pair of All-Americans in Shane Knobloch and Ross Scott with Knobloch viewed as one of the top offensive midfielders in the country, while Scott will likely be an eventual PLL draft pick in May. Scott leads Rutgers in scoring with 38 points off of 17 goals and 21 assists while Knobloch is second on the team with 36 points off of 26 goals and 10 assists. Rutgers’ main problem this season has been when either Scott or Knobloch are shut down, their offense does not play well. Outside of those two, Rutgers does not have many other players that are true scoring threats. One matchup to watch will be Ajax Zappitello on Scott–Rutgers will look to get Zappitello off of Scott by using lots of screens and quick ball movement so he can try and get more open looks or be able to set up teammates more. The Terps will likely put the long-stick midfielder on Knobloch at all times and look for Rutgers to set lots of screens for him to get open and cause switches as well.
On defense, Rutgers is led by Stoller who is saving shots at a 56% rate this season. Rutgers is a team that loves to play fast and get into transition as much as possible. If the Terps play a clean game on offense and are able to keep Rutgers out of transition, they should be able to pull out the win. Look for Rutgers to mix their defense between man and zone throughout the game to keep the Terps’ offense on their toes. They did it against Michigan and it seemed to help them confuse Michigan and keep them out of the rhythm. Aside from Stoller, Ryan Splaine and Tommy Mendyke are two players to watch out for on Rutgers’ defense. Splaine is Rutgers’ top long-stick midfielder and leads the team with ten caused turnovers while also picking up 31 ground balls. Splaine also loves to be a weapon in transition as he also has two goals to his name. Mendyke is second on the team with nine caused turnovers and will likely be matched up with Braden Erksa for most of the game to try to slow the Terps’ star attackman. The Terps are 36-1 all-time against Rutgers including 18 straight wins. Head coach John Tillman is 13-0 all-time against Rutgers. A Terps win will give them a chance to earn the one seed in the conference tournament next weekend and a share of the Big Ten regular season title when they take on Johns Hopkins next weekend. Look for the Terps to be hungry and ready to play come face-off at 7 PM on the Big Ten Network.
Prediction: Maryland, 13-11
This will be another game that if the Terps let the underdog hang around, they’ll gain confidence and will have a good chance at pulling off the upset. The Terps were able to hold on last week but Rutgers has a better offense and should be able to put up more than seven points. I see this game being closer than many may think but I still believe the Terps will pull out the win in a hard fought, up-and-down battle at home. Terps goalie Logan McNaney and face-off man Luke Wierman will need to have big games if the Terps want to get to 3-1 in conference play.
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