Maryland surprises No. 2 Duke to reach 29th men’s lacrosse Final Four
Maryland surprises No. 2 Duke to reach 29th men’s lacrosse Final Four
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — A little more than two weeks ago, the Maryland men’s lacrosse team limped into the NCAA tournament with its offense in tatters. Since then, the seventh-seeded Terrapins have engineered a stunning about-face during back-to-back wins, the latest a 14-11 upset of No. 2 seed Duke in a quarterfinal Saturday afternoon at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium.
The triumph secured Maryland (10-5) a berth in next Saturday’s semifinals against No. 3 seed Johns Hopkins or No. 6 seed Virginia. (Those teams meet Sunday in Towson, Md.) It also ran Coach John Tillman’s record to 10-1 in NCAA quarterfinals.
The Terps will be making their 29th appearance in the Final Four thanks in large part to a masterful fourth quarter. Graduate attackman Daniel Maltz put the Terps ahead to stay at 12-11 with 5:01 to play. The former Riverside High standout added another goal less than two minutes later, and senior midfielder Jack Koras’s empty-net goal with 33 seconds left ignited a wild celebration along the sideline that spilled onto the field at the buzzer.
“To beat a team like that, you’ve certainly done something special,” said Tillman, whose Terps outscored Duke 7-2 in the final quarter. “It wasn’t the prettiest game and we haven’t been the prettiest team at times, but we’ve had a lot of kids just fight and scrap, so [I’m] just proud of the guys, the way they hung together. When we got down, no one panicked. Everybody was staying positive.”
Maltz finished with a team-high four goals, and graduate midfielder Ryan Siracusa added three goals and an assist. Graduate goalie Logan McNaney had 11 saves to help Maryland overcome 18 turnovers, although it had just two in the fourth quarter.
Faceoff specialist Luke Wierman won 20 of 29 draws, including 7 of 10 in the fourth quarter. The program’s career leader in faceoff wins also led the Terps with eight groundballs to move to the top of that list, too. The Terps finished with a 36-22 advantage in groundballs and held a 12-4 margin in the final period.
Sophomore attackman Braden Erksa chipped in two goals, both in the fourth quarter, after playing sparingly in Maryland’s 16-8 victory over Princeton in its NCAA tournament opener Sunday in College Park. Erksa has been working his way back to full health following a violent collision that sent Maryland’s leader in points off the field on a stretcher during a loss to Penn State in the Big Ten tournament semifinals May 2.
“It’s all just about sticking together,” Terps defenseman Ajax Zappitello said. “I think Coach Tillman did a great job echoing that … [and] just keeping us very down to earth and in the moment.”
Graduate attackman Dyson Williams scored a game-high six goals for the Blue Devils (13-6). Senior attackman Brennan O’Neill struck three times for the nation’s No. 3 scoring offense, which was limited to three goals after halftime. Duke’s undoing included just nine shots in the second half and going 3 for 5 on clears during the fourth quarter, allowing the Terps to run valuable time off the clock.
“I want to congratulate Coach John Tillman, his staff and his players on moving on,” Duke Coach John Danowski said. “They’re a great program with a great history. We failed to clear several times, gave them extra possessions. They were the better team today for sure.”
The comeback began to take shape after the Terps found themselves on the wrong end of a sudden momentum shift late in the second quarter. Following a tally that trimmed its deficit to 7-5, Maryland allowed a goal 32 seconds before halftime when Blue Devils midfielder Tyler Carpenter stripped the ball from the Terps’ Owen Murphy and passed to Williams, who easily beat McNaney.
McNaney, the most outstanding player as the Terps won the 2022 NCAA tournament, played a significant role in keeping the Terps within striking distance despite Duke holding nearly a two-to-one advantage in shots on goal in the first half. McNaney had five saves in the first quarter alone but allowed Williams to score with four seconds to go.
“We were just stressing to the guys in the huddle, like, ‘Everybody take a deep breath,’ ” Wierman said. “This game is far from over, and just getting the guys on the same page and reiterating the little things to focus on, like protecting our sticks and things like that, trying to get everyone focused that way.”