With No. 11 Maryland men’s lacrosse staring at a five-goal deficit and struggling to slow down No. 9 Penn State’s high-flying offense, John Tillman knew he needed to make a change.
Maryland
No. 11 Maryland men’s lacrosse drops Big Ten opener to No. 9 Penn State, 10-6
The Terps’ head coach switched to a zone defense early in the second quarter. That move immediately changed the tide of the game.
Maryland held the nation’s eighth-best offense scoreless for the ensuing 35 minutes, allowing time to slowly climb back. AJ Larkin’s second goal of the game left the Terps down one with seven minutes remaining.
But Penn State ultimately cracked the Terps’ compact defense. Three goals in a three-minute span iced the game and dealt Maryland a 10-6 defeat at the Panzer Stadium. The loss marked its third consecutive year with a defeat in their Big Ten opener.
Brian Ruppel barely had a second to catch his breath early in Saturday’s contest. After practically willing No. 11 Maryland men’s lacrosse to a triple-overtime win last weekend, the senior netminder could only do so much.
Waves of Nittany Lion chances flooded the cage and long defensive possessions left Ruppel exposed in the cage. Ruppel faced five shots in the first five minutes, and Penn State was just getting started.
Maryland allowed a season-high 42 shots, with 21 challenging Ruppel in net. While he tallied 11 stops — his fourth consecutive double-digit save performance — it wasn’t enough to lead his team to victory.
Will Schaller’s injury against Virginia left the Terps in a precarious situation. Without a clear next defensive option, Tillman turned to senior Riley Reese to make his first career start, against a top-10 offense.
It went about as bad as Terps’ fans could’ve expected in the first half. Penn State generated quality chances on nearly every possession, beating defenders with ease. The trio of Peter Laake, Mikey Alexander and Reese struggled to keep pace with the Nittany Lions’ quick ball movement, leaving Ruppel stranded on an island.
While the Big Ten’s leader in saves per game fared well early on — he only allowed two goals in the opening 11 minutes — Penn State’s potent attack struck soon after. The Nittany Lions netted three unanswered goals to close out the first quarter.
Maryland trailed 5-2 after 15 minutes, marking its third quarter this season conceding five scores. It happened just three times all of last year.
After committing a season-high 19 turnovers to close out nonconference play, that wasn’t the main problem on Saturday. The Terps simply couldn’t get possession of the ball to give their defense a chance to recover.
Penn State corralled five straight faceoffs following Henry Dodge’s opening win. That stretch left Maryland’s defense on the field for nearly all of the final four minutes. Even when the Terps gained possession, the offense continued to stall out.
After Penn State produced the first two scores, Erksa stopped the bleeding on a man-up opportunity. Leo Johnson flipped a pass to Erksa standing on the doorstep, and he buried a shot at the near post to put Maryland on the board.
Four minutes later, Johnson got his own goal. The Yale transfer charged from behind the cage and fired a bouncing shot past Penn State goalie Preston Hawkins. But that was Maryland’s last goal for the ensuing 18 minutes.
While Ruppel singlehandedly kept the Terps within striking distance, the offense couldn’t find much success against Hawkins. The redshirt freshman turned in his best performance of the season with 14 saves and a 70% save percentage, outdoing his Nittany Lion counterpart.
1. Eric Spanos held scoreless. After missing the previous three contests, Spanos’ return to the starting lineup was a welcoming sight for fans. But the senior attacker was held off the scoresheet despite firing seven shots. That marked his first scoreless performance since last year’s Big Ten Tournament meeting against Penn State.
2. Maryland lost the faceoff battle. The biggest talking point heading into Saturday’s game was the matchup between two of the nation’s top faceoff units. While Maryland hadn’t lost in that department all season, Reid Gillis and Colby Baldwin controlled the X. The duo won 11 of the 19 bouts, keeping the country’s top faceoff specialist silent.
3. Ranked woes continue. When Tillman crafted one of the hardest nonconference schedules in the country, the hope was to prepare his team for Big Ten play. But the Terps have struggled against ranked opponents this season. Maryland’s 0-4 record in top-20 clashes has dimmed its postseason aspirations.
Maryland
Your Voice Your Future | Town Hall
Baltimore Sun co-owner Armstrong Williams held a town hall to discuss juvenile justice in Maryland.
Williams was joined by a panel featuring DJS Chair Betsy Tolentino, City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, and Todd Scott, the founder of ‘We Rise.’
There was also a studio audience of teen “success stories.”
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You can watch the full Town Hall above.
Maryland
GOP Panel Picks Replacement For Vacant 3rd District Seat
BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Maryland State Del. Nino Mangione was picked over the weekend to serve as the County Council’s newest member.
The move came Saturday, when the two-person Baltimore County Republican Central Committee held a public hearing and a vote at the Holiday Inn Timonium.
Mangione was one of seven candidates vying to fill the 3rd District seat left vacant in May by Councilman Wade Kach, who resigned due to health issues after serving on the County Council for more than 11 years.
Other candidates who competed for the 3rd District seat included Todd Huff, Lynne Jones, Tim Braue, Eric Rockel, Gerard Wittstadt, and E.J. McNulty.
Mangione was the only figure who simultaneously ran for a council seat in this year’s election bid. He is also running as a 5th District candidate, which includes most of the current 3rd District.
The county is operating under a new redistricting map that was approved for the 2026 election cycle last year. The map was passed in a 5-2 vote.
Baltimore County will hold its primary election on June 23.
Maryland
Maryland Lt. Gov. responds to ballot error saying ‘It happens almost in every election’
MARYLAND (WBFF) — Starting Monday, June 1st, marks the first day mail-in ballots across the state will be canvassed for the 2026 primary elections, as local boards of election officials can begin the process of opening, reviewing, and counting the mail-in ballots already received.
Just last week, the Maryland State Board of Elections began sending out replacement mail-in ballots after an error assigned hundreds of thousands of residents to the wrong political party.
ALSO READ | Maryland State Board of Elections starts sending out corrected mail-in ballots after error
The Board of Elections has pointed the finger at its vendor, Taylor Print and Visual Impressions, Inc., for this error, but members of Congress and political analysts say more answers are needed on how this happened.
“A mail-in ballot error like this only leads to people getting into more conspiracy theories, election rigging, back to the 2020 talk all over again,” said Political analyst John Dedie.
Just a few days ago, FOX News Digital posted an interview with Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor, asking for a response to President Donald Trump’s calls for the Department of Justice to investigate the state’s mail-in ballots.
ALSO READ | Maryland Freedom Caucus calls mail-in ballot error a crisis, urges federal audit of rolls
“The administration is a separate body from the board of elections,” said Maryland Lt. Governor Aruna Miller. “It happens, sometimes Ballots get mailed the wrong way. It happens almost in every election. So we’ll see what the investigation shows…I don’t think it was in malice, in any bad way that this happened. I think it was just error by the vendor.”
Meanwhile, at the latest Maryland State Board of Elections meeting, Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis answered questions from board members if an outer investigation will take place following the election.
“We always do a lessons learned after every election,” said DeMarinis. “And this will be a part of our lessons learned, and we will, of course, be working with you know and getting more you know information about how to prevent this in the future, with it.”
DeMarinis adding…”we’ve been open and transparent about it. I don’t necessarily know what more of an investigation would shed light on.”
According to the Board, more than 500,000 voters requested mail-in ballots.
Without being able to identify who received the wrong party ballot, the board says all mail-in voters were sent replacements.
The Board is urging all voters to vote with the replacement ballot, adding safe guards are in place to ensure voting will not happen.
Since this error, a Congressional committee has reached out to the Board requesting a response by June 9th.
ALSO READ | Congressional committee members want answers about Maryland’s mail-in ballot mistake
FOX45 spoke with Republican Congressman Morgan Griffith of Virginia. Griffith said, “We will be keeping an eye on it because we have concerns we want to make sure that the federal elections, state folks can do whatever in the state or local elections, but in the federal elections it’s our job to make sure that voters are getting an opportunity to vote that they’re not being disenfranchised by some accident or intentional act.”
Political analysts also tell FOX45 that more answers are needed to ensure voter confidence.
“There needs to be more answers and possibly a hearing on this,” said Dedie. “Not wait till next year when they’re back in Annapolis after the election.
For now, anyone who has questions on this error and the next steps, the Board is urging you to contact them or go to their website.
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