COLLEGE PARK — Maryland men’s lacrosse has seen this movie before. This time, however, the team changed what could have been a horror flick-style ending.
Avoiding a repeat from last year, the Terps utilized a new-look yet diversified offense and a overpowering performance on faceoffs to wallop visiting Princeton, 16-8, in an NCAA Tournament first-round matchup Saturday night before an announced 3,195 at SECU Stadium.
Senior midfielders Jack Koras and Eric Malever amassed three goals and two assists each, and junior attackman Eric Spanos scored four goals to send seventh-seeded Maryland (9-5) to Saturday’s quarterfinal at Hofstra in Hempstead, New York. The team will clash with No. 2 seed Duke (13-5), which pummeled Atlantic Sun Tournament titlist Utah, 19-7, earlier in the day.
Maryland scored the game’s first three goals and then tallied five straight goals in a 6:41 span bridging the first and second quarters to take a commanding 8-1 advantage. The offense added three more goals in a 71-second stretch to enjoy an 11-3 lead at halftime.
The output helped negate an error-filled game that contributed to 19 turnovers, tying a season worst. That type of effort won’t help against Duke, which induced Utah into turning the ball over 16 times.
Graduate student goalkeeper Logan McNaney (11 saves) outdueled Tigers senior Michael Gianforcaro (nine saves), and the Terps limited Princeton’s starting attack of junior Coulter Mackesy and freshmen Nate Kibiri and Colin Burns to five goals on 17 shots and two assists while committing four turnovers.
The defense got a significant respite from senior Luke Wierman, who won 20 of 26 faceoffs, scooped up a game-high 15 ground balls and dished off one assist.
Kibiri paced Princeton with three goals, Mackesy compiled one goal and two assists, and junior defenseman Colin Mulshine finished with three caused turnovers and three ground balls. But the Tigers (11-5) fell in the first round for the fourth time in their last five NCAA Tournament appearances and have lost in their last three postseason meetings with the Terps.
On May 13, 2023, the Terps were the No. 4 seed, but got stunned by Army West Point, 16-15, to mark their earliest exit from the NCAA Tournament since 2013 when that squad — the No. 8 seed at the time — was blitzed by Cornell, 16-8.
Saturday’s victory assured that Maryland was not bounced from the first round in back-to-back NCAA appearances since the 1993 team was defeated, 15-11, by No. 8 seed Army West Point and the 1994 squad was disposed of, 14-9, by No. 8 seed Duke.
The Terps also dodged ending the season with six losses in their last 10 games and a three-game losing skid. The last time they dropped three games in a row occurred in 2009 when that team fell to Virginia, Navy and Johns Hopkins in three consecutive weekends.
Maryland collected its eighth straight victory over the Tigers, which included a 13-7 cruising at home on Feb. 24. Princeton entered the game on a four-game winning streak but the Terps seemed unfazed.
With sophomore attackman Braden Erksa available but not making his 14th start of the season due to a concussion suffered in a 19-9 setback to Penn State in a Big Ten Tournament semifinal on May 2, Maryland made some personnel changes to its usual starting offense.
Spanos shifted from midfield to attack to join fifth-year senior Daniel Maltz and senior Daniel Kelly. Malever moved from attack to midfield to team up with Koras and graduate student Ryan Siracusa.
Erksa, who entered the game leading the team in points (36) and tied for the lead in goals (22), played sparingly. He took five shots and committed one turnover.
The alterations paid off handsomely. Kelly, a Towson resident and Calvert Hall graduate, racked up two goals and one assist, Maltz scored twice and Siracusa chipped in one goal and one assist.
