Be the Best. The Maryland Terrapins lacrosse program has lived up to their mantra under John Tillman.
Since taking over in 2011, Maryland has won the most NCAA tournament games (24), played in more Final Fours (9), and produced more All-Americans (67) than any other team in the country.
You don’t have to tell that to their Big Ten counterparts. Since joining the Big Ten in 2015, Maryland is 35-5 in the regular season and has 8 regular season and tournament titles.
Maryland has set the standard for lacrosse excellence in 2022.
- They’re a perfect 16–0 on the season
- Maryland is 7-0 against teams that made the tournament and is 3-0 against teams in the Final Four. The Terps defeated Princeton back in late February and Rutgers twice
- They are beating teams by an average of 9.3 goals/game
- They have the country’s top offense and defense according to Lacrosse Reference
- The Terps had 6 players drafted in the PLL Draft in May: Logan Wisnauskas (Chrome), Roman Puglise (Whipsnakes), Bubba Fairman (Cannons), Jonathan Donville (Chaos), Keegan Khan (Whipsnakes), and Jake Higgins (Waterdogs)
Maryland’s offense has been nearly unstoppable this year. The top-ranked Terps have thrived in Bobby Benson’s high-powered motion offense. Benson’s offenses have finished No.2 and No.1 respectively since coming over from Johns Hopkins after the 2020 season.
The Terps thrive on ball movement and finding the one-more. They look to exploit the two-on-one mismatch to turn good shots into great goal-scoring opportunities.
The Terps are led on offense by Tewaraton finalist and the first overall pick in the PLL, Logan Wisnauskas (55G/40A). The Terps have seven players with 30 or more points this season.
John Tillman used the Transfer Portal to bolster the Terp offense in the offseason. Keegan Khan (32G/26A, Villanova), Jonathan Donville (29G/20A, Cornell), and Owen Murphy (32G/5A, Johns Hopkins) have fit right in Benson’s high powered offense.
The Terp’s defense is led by Brett Makar and Ajax Zappitello. The two did a masterful job last week of shutting out Virginia’s Connor Shellenberger and limiting Matt Moore to one goal and one assist.
Good luck dodging on their d-mids. The Terps had three short-stick d-mids drafted in May: Roman Puglise, Bubba Fairman, and Jake Higgins.
FOGO Luke Wierman has stepped up his game in 2022. He is the top-ranked FOGO in the country and provides the Terps with a tremendous possession advantage (+148 on the season) against their opponents.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a weakness with the Terps this season or a reason why the Terps won’t win it all. But there are two numbers to keep in mind that might work against Maryland.
- 5: The Terps have finished the runner-up 5 times in 6 opportunities under Tillman. Some in the media have mentioned that if you are going to catch the Terps, your best shot is on short rest.
- 2: Does it matter if you play in the first or second semifinal game? Yes. 9 of the last 10 D1 champions have played in the first semifinal game. The lone exception: 2017 Terps.
Quint Kessenich’s NCAA D1 Lacrosse Semifinals Preview
