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.

After handling Robert Morris, 17-1, Maryland women’s lacrosse will face a familiar foe in James Madison.

The Terps bowed out of the NCAA Tournament at the hands of the Dukes last year, losing 15-14 after blowing a four-goal lead late. While the Terps avenged the loss with a regular season victory, they meet again with the stakes heightened.

James Madison is one of the few teams to win a national championship in the past decade, and is certainly not a team to overlook. It ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation this year and has some firepower at attack, headlined by first-team All-American Isabella Peterson, who holds the program records in all-time points, goals and draws.

The match will kickoff on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. at the Maryland Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex. It will be streamed on ESPN Plus.

If Maryland wins, it will host the winner of Virginia and Florida on Thursday.

What happened last time

Holding the No. 9 ranking and on a three-game winning streak, Maryland welcomed then-No. 2 James Madison to College Park on March 10 in its biggest challenge yet.

Maryland passed the midweek test with flying colors, as its defense anchored an 11-8 victory.

Five different Dukes found the net in the first two quarters, as they held a 5-2 advantage midway through the second quarter. But Maryland outscored them, 8-3, in the final 38 minutes of play, highlighted by a four-goal performance from attacker Libby May, along with a pair of goals from attackers Eloise Clevenger and Hannah Leubecker.

The most notable performance, though, was Maryland goalkeeper Emily Sterling’s 14-save outing.

What’s happened since

Both teams saw their seasons undergo a similar trajectory after their matchup in College Park.

Maryland went on to win its next four games, which earned it the No. 1 ranking in the country, before it was dethroned by Penn at the end of March. Since then, the Terps have lost three of their last seven games, including a defeat at the hands of an unranked Rutgers team.

After losing to Maryland, James Madison lost the remainder of its ranked games, including a 10-goal loss in the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship against Florida. But in a back-and-forth affair, the Dukes fended off Penn State, 14-13, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Maddie Epke totaled five goals and Peterson and midfielder Taylor Marchetti each posted hat tricks.

Three things to watch

1. Emily Sterling’s status. Sterling shut down the Dukes with 14 saves in March, leading the Terps to victory at “The Plex.” But her status is in question after exiting the Rutgers game and missing Friday’s contest.

2. A battle at the draw circle. James Madison ranks 12th in the country in draws, but was outmatched, 14-9, in its last match. A battle between two All-Americans in Peterson and Maryland’s Shaylan Ahearn will be entertaining to watch.

3. Elite offense and elite defense. Both James Madison and Maryland rank top-15 in scoring offense and defense, culminating in a key matchup that will determine whose season ends. Maryland’s defense prevailed the last time around, but with recent struggles on Maryland’s offense and the Dukes showing out against Penn State, this matchup could cause some serious problems for the Terps if they don’t turn things around.