No. 2 Maryland men’s lacrosse vs. Loyola (Md.) preview

No. 2 Maryland males’s lacrosse took care of enterprise in its season-opening win over No. 20 Richmond. The Terps entered the 12 months with some uncertainty after shedding six of their 10 starters from 2022 however rapidly put these considerations to mattress.

Senior attackman Daniel Maltz led the sport with 5 factors, tallying two objectives and three assists, whereas junior attackman Owen Murphy scored a game-high 4 objectives. Freshman attackman Braden Erksa additionally had a powerful efficiency in his collegiate debut, scoring two objectives and doling out one help.

This weekend presents a brand new problem for the Terps, who will face an in-state rival in Loyola (Md.). The 2 groups are very conversant in one another, assembly 4 occasions within the final 11 years. The Terps received three of the 4 matchups, however misplaced a very powerful one again in 2012, which gave Loyola its lone nationwide championship.

Saturday’s sport will likely be performed in Baltimore and streamed on ESPN+ at 1 p.m.

Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds (0-0)

2022 file: 8-8 (6-2 Patriot League)

Head coach Charley Toomey enters his 18th season on the helm of Loyola’s lacrosse program. Since 2012, Toomey has led the Greyhounds to a mean of 12.2 wins per season and enters the 2023 season with a 168-85 profession file, sitting simply behind his former faculty coach, Dave Cottle, for essentially the most wins in program historical past.

Loyola struggled within the 2022 season, lacking the NCAA Match for the primary time since 2015. The Greyhounds started final season because the eighth-ranked crew within the nation however dropped their first 4 video games. Loyola may have a possibility to surge again into the nationwide rankings, although, with No. 2 Maryland on deck.

Gamers to observe

Adam Poitras, senior midfielder, No. 51 – Poitras began in 34 of his 38 earlier video games as a Greyhound and is a mannequin of consistency. He ranked prime 5 in whole factors in every of his three seasons at Loyola, ending third in 2022 after scoring a career-high 29 objectives. Poitras scored two objectives towards Maryland final 12 months and can play a key position in Loyola’s gameplan.

Payton Rezanka, graduate short-stick defensive midfielder, No. 34 – Rezanka was one in all two Greyhounds on the All-Patriot League first crew and the one one returning. In 15 video games, he tallied three objectives, one assists, 31 floor balls and a team-high 27 brought about turnovers. Whereas not a lot of an offensive risk, Rezanka will make life troublesome for Maryland’s attackers.

Evan James, senior midfielder, No. 8 – James completed proper behind Poitras in factors final season with 37, totaling 26 objectives and 11 assists. James took a slight step again from his sophomore season — through which he recorded 32 objectives and 12 assists — however his play in 2022 nonetheless netted him an All-Patriot League second crew choice. With Poitras, Rezanka and Poitras all returning, the Greyhounds ought to have an excellent midfield.

Power

Expertise. The most important power Loyola holds heading into the 2023 season is its immense quantity of expertise. The Greyhounds return six of their 10 starters from final 12 months, all of that are upperclassmen. Whereas it had a disappointing 2022 marketing campaign, Loyola’s core nonetheless stays intact.

Weak spot

Goalkeeping. One of many largest query marks the Greyhounds face is who will begin in purpose. Sam Shafer spent the final three years as Loyola’s goalkeeper and accomplished his fifth and last season in 2022. Junior Luke Staudt is the front-runner for the opening, however he doesn’t have a lot expertise after taking part in in simply seven video games — beginning in a single — by way of his first two seasons.

Three issues to observe

1. Can Maryland’s protection stay dominant? The Terps performed one in all their finest defensive video games in years final weekend towards Richmond. Maryland held the Spiders to 4 objectives — the fewest it’s allowed since 2018 — on a really inefficient 42 shoots. The Terps’ sturdy defensive play is headed by graduate defenseman Brett Makar, junior defenseman Ajax Zappitello and senior goalie Logan McNaney all coming back from final 12 months’s squad, however head coach John Tillman was not impressed within the crew’s first sport of the season.

“A giant story for the sport is simply, , ensuring that we play nicely versus the invert, the choose sport. I didn’t really feel like we performed the choose sport notably nicely final week. I didn’t suppose we have been nice off-ball final week,” Tillman stated. “Logan bailed us out a ton. Clearly, we’ve bought to be higher this week.”

2. Which crew has the benefit? That is Maryland’s second sport of the season and Loyola’s first, creating an attention-grabbing benefit for every crew. Maryland had the chance to work out a few of its preseason kinks towards Richmond, whereas Loyola bought to observe movie on the Terps’ first sport.

“We actually don’t know precisely who’s taking part in for them. So, there’s quite a lot of us type of working by way of hypotheticals,” Tillman stated. “It does type of make me surprise, ‘Are we higher off shifting again and beginning per week later,’ however there may be some worth too. For lots of these guys that is sport two and never sport one, and, , you hope that possibly that have serves us nicely.”

3. Can Loyola bounce again? The Greyhounds have been a staple amongst faculty lacrosse’s elite applications underneath Toomey however underachieved final 12 months. Loyola completed the season with an 8-8 file and received simply two of eight nonconference video games. Regardless of this, the Greyhounds nonetheless have a plethora of returning expertise and must be again within the nationwide championship race, and there’s no higher method to show that than beating the reigning nationwide champions.