Maryland
No. 5 Maryland men’s lacrosse holds off Rutgers, 11-6
Led by a strong defensive effort and timely offense, No. 5 Maryland men’s lacrosse Saturday pulled away late from Rutgers to secure an 11-6 victory and also a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament.
The game began like most of the Terps’ games this season, with both offenses struggling to generate much of anything. Maryland’s lone tally of the opening quarter came from Daniel Kelly, who was filling in for the injured Daniel Maltz for the second straight week. The Terps were especially careless in possession, turning the ball over six times in the frame.
Defensively, though, the Terps were stifling early on. They prevented multiple good looks at goal and Logan McNaney was strong when called upon. However, Rutgers’ got on the board with 50 seconds left in the frame when Rutgers long-stick midfielder Ryan Splaine ripped the bottom left corner in transition.
“I thought [defensive coordinator] Jesse [Bernhardt] put together a good plan,” head coach John Tillman. “I think these guys executed the plan and communicated well.”
Maryland’s offense found some rhythm in the second frame, large in part due to it committing just two turnovers. With that added time on the ball, it was able to find the back of the net five times.
After Kelly got his second to put the Terps ahead, Ryan Siracusa tattooed the top corner with a beautiful low-to-high finish. Braden Erksa delivered a score as well while Jack Koras also found the net twice.
With McNaney continuing to be a hard-to-solve puzzle for the Scarlet Knights, finishing the half with seven saves, Koras’ latter tally gave Maryland a 6-4 lead heading into the break. As well, Ajax Zappitello made a diving check at the end of the frame to save a goal.
The second half opened the same way the first did, with more unimpressive offense. The Terps’ attacking unit as a whole was highly variable, unable to open the game up despite numerous looks to do so. Kelly was an exception to that, cutting to the cage late in the frame and securing his hat trick.
Again, the Terps’ defense was tremendous — but also received a bit of luck. Ross Scott and Colin Kurdyla each finished on the doorstep for the Scarlet Knights, but Kurdyla’s shot, which clearly hit the back of the net, was ruled no goal by the referees.
Maryland took a 7-5 lead into the final frame but the Scarlet Knights quickly answered to cut the deficit in half, a deserved score after having one unfairly wiped out.
But in the final 10 minutes, Maryland exploded to come out on top.
Three seconds after Siracusa netted his second goal of the night, Luke Wierman cleanly won a draw and buried the ball into the bottom corner for his first goal of the season. Less than two minutes later, Zach Whittier scored just his second of the year to give the Terps’ a four-goal advantage.
“It was so hard to score, getting two in a row… I think it energized us,” Tillman said.
The Terps got some added insurance with 2:25 left when Jack Brennan also found the back of the net for the first time all season.
Three Things to Know
1. Both goalies shined. McNaney put together one of his best games all year, stopping 15 of the 21 shots he faced. On the other end, redshirt freshman Cardin Stoller was just as strong, making 14 saves of his own — some of which will go on the highlight reel.
“Man, it’s the best thing in the world playing with a goalie like that,” graduate defender Jackson Canfield said of McNaney.
2. An even matchup at the faceoff X. Wierman, who has been unstoppable of late, won just over half of his faceoffs Saturday. However, he came up huge late, giving the Terps’ a three-goal lead.
3. “The Rivalry” will have added stakes. With this win, next week’s game between Maryland and Johns Hopkins will be for the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. As well, if the Terps come out on top, they will take home a share of the regular-season title.
“We try not to make it bigger than it is, you know, but it’s a rivalry and we love that.” Kelly said. “It’s a game that’s circled on our calendar every year.”
Maryland schools made nation-leading strides in their recovery from students’ learning loss in the pandemic, data show.
Maryland schools made nation-leading strides in their recovery from students’ learning loss in the pandemic, according to new data.
They ranked third in the nation in their students’ reading recovery rates, and were fifth in math recovery, according to the 2025 Education Scorecard from Harvard and Stanford Universities and Dartmouth College.
D.C. led the U.S. in math and reading recovery.
The data was presented at the Maryland State Board of Education meeting Thursday.
Trish Brennan-Gac, executive director of literacy nonprofit Maryland READS, said the state board is correct to celebrate gains in reading, but proficiency is “nowhere near where we need to be.”
“It is not that we are No. 3-ranked in reading proficiency,” she told WTOP. “It’s a rate of change, and we are making a faster rate of change,” than most school districts nationally.
Brennan-Gac was at the meeting to ask that the state board consider ways to reduce the use of technology in classroom instruction and support a return to print and textbooks in schools.
“This is no longer a fringe concern. It is a growing movement, and it’s not about social media and phones,” she told the board.
Brennan-Gac said the board and Maryland schools superintendent Carey Wright can take a “visible meaningful leadership role.”
“You can develop transition guidance and funding pathways for districts that are ready to move now, and send a clear signal to the field that Maryland prioritizes developmentally appropriate instruction aligned to brain research that shows how books, not tech-based platforms, are effective in wiring kids’ brains for reading,” she said.
The Maryland State Department of Education has issued guidance to school districts on the use of cellphones in schools, and this year issued guidance on the use of artificial intelligence. In both instances, the state has made clear that it leaves implementation of policies to individual school districts.
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Gov. Wes Moore has requested a federal disaster declaration to help farmers recover from their losses after temperatures dipped into the 20s in April, devastating some of Maryland’s agriculture industry.
Temperatures dipped into the low to mid 20s for several hours, causing widespread damage to crops, wine grapes, berries, peaches and apples in some parts of the state.
“We had 6, 7 hours I believe here under 32 and that’s just a lot of stress on those small fruits and buds,” said Ben Butler, the farm manager of Butler’s Orchard in Germantown back in April.
Moore asked for the U.S. agriculture secretary to declare a federal disaster using Maryland Farm Service Agency data to back up the request. According to the agency, there were historic losses, including 94% of the apple crop, 99% of the peach crop and 98% of the barley in several jurisdictions.
The Maryland Wineries Association says 36% of grape acreage sustained total losses, with a $24.4 million projected deficit in wine sales for the 2026 vintage.
“For the majority of the varieties, the yield, the 2026 crop yield, will essentially be zero,” said Robert Butz, the owner of Windridge Vineyards.
The hours-long deep freeze in April left grapes at Windridge Vineyards in Germantown dead on the vine.
News4 visited Windridge Vineyards just a few days after the disaster. Butz said not only were there grape losses, some of the vines were damaged as well. He called the devastation “catastrophic.”
It’s challenging, but he said he’s pleased with the support being given to local farmers and the disaster declaration request.
“This announcement by the governor is further evidence of that, right,” Butz said. “Marylanders care about their farmers. That’s great.It’s incredibly gratifying for those who do this work.”
Moore is asking the agriculture secretary for a quick decision so emergency loans and relief programs are made available right away so farmers can prepare for the next growing season.
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