The Terps started the game off after a rare face off loss by Luke Wierman. After a long possession by the great Danes, they took advantage of a defender loosing their man and started the scoring on the day. After some back and forth possessions without any scores, the Terps got their first goal on the day by Daniel Maltz right on the doorstep of the goal. Once again, the Great Danes won the face off, and once again, they capitalized with another goal to take the lead back on the Terps. Throughout the next 10 minutes, both teams would be able to create decent chances to score but neither team was able to put the ball in the back of the net. It was not until just under two minutes left in the first quarter that the Terps would tie it back up thanks to a goal by Braden Erksa. Off the ensuing face off win by Wierman, Jack Koras was coming from behind the goal and had a nice pass to Maltz to set up Maltz’s second goal on the day to give the Terps the 3-2 lead heading into the second quarter.
After a penalty committed by both the Terps and the Great Danes towards the end of the first quarter, there would be five on five play to start the second quarter. Wierman would start the quarter with just his third face off win on the day and on the ensuing possession, Koras would score his first goal of the day to extend the Terps lead to two. After a turnover by the Great Danes, Daniel Kelly would score from the same spot Koras scored and the Terps would extend the lead to three. After the goal, Kelly would commit a penalty to give the Great Danes another man up opportunity. Both teams would start to have some more empty possessions with the defenses starting to lock down a bit more. But with 9:30 left in the first half, Maltz would get his third on the day giving him yet another hat trick and extending the lead to four for the Terps. The Great Danes would snap the Terps 5-0 run with a snipe from about 13 yards to make it 6-3 Terps. The Great Danes goalie would make a great save off of a Kelly shot and then they would take advantage on the next possession with a quick stick goal right on the doorstep of the goal to cut the Terps lead back to two. Wierman would be starting to find his groove from the face off which would help keep getting the Terps possessions after goals. Off of a scrum for a ground ball, Erksa would somehow come out of it with the ball and would get an easy shot on goal with an empty net and convert to end the Great Danes quick 2-0 run. After a Wierman face off violation, Dante Trader would commit a penalty and give Albany their third man up opportunity on the day. The Terps would be able to kill the penalty thanks to a save by Brian Ruppel. Both defense would hold their ground up until 1:16 left in the half when Colin Burlace would commit a penalty and give Albany their fourth man up on the day. The Great Danes would end up capitalizing right away to make it 7-5 with just over a minute left in the half. On the ensuing face off, Wierman would get the win, but the Terps would wind up turning it over but the Great Danes would not take advantage and the score would stay 7-5 heading into the half.
Ruppel has six saves so far with a save percentage of 55%. Albany is getting the bulk of their scoring off of unsettled chances and man up opportunities. The Terps defense will look to clean it up in the second half to try and extend their lead. On offense, like the rest of the season, Maltz was leading the day for the Terps with his three goals so far. Wierman was having a down day from the face off so far only winning 50%. If the Terps are to pull away in the second half, they will need Wierman to win more face offs and give the Terps more offensive possessions.
To start the second half, Albany would get another face off win and start the second half on offense. The Terps would cause a turnover on the opening possession and would settle in offensively. After some saves by the Albany goalie, Koras would find the back of the net to get the second half scoring started for the Terps. After another caused turnover by the Terps defense, the Terps would once again extend their lead off a goal by Zach Whittier. Albany would win the next face off and end the Terps quick 2-0 run to cut the lead back to three and make it 9-6 Terps. The Terps were starting to get a bit sloppy on clearing the ball and the Great Danes were taking advantage by forcing two turnovers on consecutive possessions. Albany would use the extra possessions to cut into the Terps lead once again and make it 9-7 Terps with just over six minutes left in the third quarter. Terps head coach John Tillman would wind up calling a time out to try and squash Albany’s momentum. After a face off win by Wierman, the Terps would be able to put together a long possession and give their defense a rest. Erksa would catch a rebound off a save by the Great Danes goalie and would put it away to stop the Great Danes 2-0 run. After some back and forth defensive stops by both teams, Koras would score his third on the day to give extend the Terps lead and give them another 2-0 run on the day. After an Alany turnover on the next face off, the Terps would get the last possession on the day and Maltz would capitalize off an assist by Brennan for his fourth goal on the day to make it 12-7 heading into the fourth quarter.
Two minutes would go by in the fourth before either team would get another goal. The Great Danes would get yet another shot off right on the doorstep of the goal and took advantage to cut the Terps lead to four once again. Albany would win the ensuing face off as well but were not able to take advantage and would wind up turning it over. The Terps however would take advantage of the turnover and Erksa would get his fourth goal on the day to make it 13-8 Terps. Owen Murphy would get his first goal of the day on the ensuing possession thanks to a nice assist by Whittier to extend the Terps lead to six. The Great Danes would keep winning face offs, but the Terps defense started to lock things down. Ruppel would make a great save and would lead to a fast break and Trader would wind up netting his first goal of the day on the fast break to extend the Terps led to seven. Off yet another face off win for Albany, they would get a quick goal to stop the Terps run and cut the Terps lead to six. On the ensuing possession after a Wierman face off win, the Terps would just look to kill lots of clock and give the defense a break. They would do that as well as adding another goal to their lead and Kyle Long would score his first of the day to make it 16-9 with 3:43 left in the game. Coach Tillman would wind up putting in the backups with 3:30 left in the game to give the starters some rest and the backups some experience. With the backups in, the Terps would hold on the the seven goal lead and bounce back on the road with the 16-9 win over the Great Danes.
Ruppel would finish the day with 12 saves and Wierman would finish the day with just 46% face off win percentage in what would be considered a uncharacteristic down day for him. The Terps might not have made it look pretty but they got the win. With a player like John Geppert, the Terps star long stick midfielder, they were still solid on the defensive side of the field. However, they will need to clean up their clear game which struggled at times today before they head down to Charlottesville to take on the top ranked Virginia Cavaliers next week.
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