HEMPSTEAD, NY – No. 7 seed Maryland men's lacrosse advanced to the NCAA semifinals for the third time in four years by rallying to defeat No. 2 seed Duke, 14-11, on Saturday at Shuart Stadium. Maryland (10-5) will make its 29th Final Four appearance, tying the most by any program in history with Johns Hopkins.
Maryland will play the winner of No. 6 seed Virginia and No. 3 seed Johns Hopkins on May 25. The game will be played in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field. The time will be announced later and will be televised on ESPN2.
The Terps battled back after falling down 5-1 in the opening quarter. They outscored the Blue Devils 13-6 for the remainder of the game, led by Luke Wierman's dominance from the face-off circle. Daniel Maltz scored the game-winning, go-ahead goal at 5:01 in the fourth quarter. He added another score, his team-leading fourth of the game at 3:03 to put the game away.
Braden Erksa scored at 10:16 in the fourth to give Maryland its first lead of the game. The score capped off four consecutive by the Terps. Erksa added another goal at 7:50 to put the Terps ahead again and finished with two scores and an assist.
In coming back from down four goals, Maryland had its largest comeback in an NCAA Tournament game since also trailing Towson by four goals (7-3) in the 2019 NCAA First Round, before coming back to win 14-13 in overtime.
After adding eight groundballs today, Luke Wierman became the program's leader in career groundballs. He now has 456, passing Andy Claxton (1989-92), who had 451 career groundballs. Wierman won 20-of-29 faceoffs to add to his other career program record. He also added two goals in the game to match his career-high output. His performance was pivotal to the victory.
Ryan Siracusa (three goals and an assist) recorded his first career hat trick, finishing with a career-high four points. Zach Whittier supplied two assists.
Defensively, Ajax Zappitello held Josh Zawada, Duke's second-leading point scorer to one assist. Colin Burlace caused a turnover and picked up two groundballs. Logan McNaney made 11 saves at goalie.
Dyson Williams and Brennan O'Neill combined for nine goals. Duke ends its season with a 13-6 record.
Breaking Down The Action
- Duke led 5-1 at the end of the first quarter. Luke Wierman scored the Terps' lone goal after a face-off win at the 4:31.
- The Terps made it a two-goal game after back-to-back scores by Ryan Siracusa and Daniel Maltz to begin the second quarter. Siracusa scored again and Wierman tallied his second goal later in the stanza to outscore Duke 4-3. Still, the Blue Devils entered halftime with an 8-5 advantage.
- Maryland once again outscored Duke in the third period, this time 2-1. Maltz scored his second goal and Jack Brennan entered the scoring column. The Terps entered the final quarter down 9-7.
- The Terps outscored the Blue Devils 7-2 in the final frame to secure the victory. Maltz scored the game clinching goal at the 5:01mark. He added another score at 3:03, his fourth of the game. Jack Koras then supplied the dagger with an goal with 33 seconds remaining.
NCAA Numbers
- This is Maryland's 46th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and an NCAA-best 21st straight appearance.
- With 46 appearances, the program is 72-41 all-time in the tournament, with 29 Final Four trips, 16 Championship Game appearances and four National Championships.
- The 29 Final Four appearances tie Johns Hopkins for the most by any program in history.
- Under Coach Tillman, the Terps have made every tournament since 2011, gone 30-10 and earned 10 championship weekend appearances.
- This marks the sixth time since the tournament began in 1971 that Maryland is the No. 7 seed. The Terps are 7-5 all-time as the seventh seed.
- The last time Maryland was the No. 7 seed was 2014. The Terps earned a Memorial Day weekend appearance by taking out Cornell in the first round and Bryant in the quarterfinals before falling to No. 6 seed Notre Dame in the semifinals. The first time the Terps were a No. 7 seed was 1982.
- The Terps were also named the No. 7 seed in 2007 and 2008. Maryland also had the seed in 1991, a year in which they made a run to the Semifinals with wins over Rutgers and No. 2 Brown.
Hat Trick Terps
- Ryan Siracusa recorded his first career hat trick in the game.
- Daniel Maltz also finished with a hat trick. It was his fourth of the season and the 19th of his career.
- Jack Koras (three), Eric Spanos (three), Braden Erksa (three), Eric Malever (two) and Daniel Kelly have also scored hat tricks this season.
Multi Terps Update
- Daniel Maltz (four goals) had his 45th multi-point and 33rd multi-goal game of his career.
- Ryan Siracusa (three goals and one assist) recorded the 11th multi-point game of his career. It was his fifth multi-goal game.
- Braden Erksa (two goals and one assist) had his 23rd multi-point game in his two years as a Terp. It was his 15th career game with multiple goals.
- Luke Wierman (two goals) tallied his ninth career multi-point game of his career. It was his third career game with multiple goals.
- Zach Whittier (two assists) recorded his sixth multi-point game. It was his third with multiple assists.
Terps In The Record Books
- Luke Wierman became the program's all-time faceoff winner in the Terps' season opener. With 20 wins today, he added to his career total of 849.
- After adding eight today, Wierman became the program's leader in career groundballs. He now has 456 career groundballs, passing Andy Claxton (1989-92), who had 451 career groundballs.
- Logan McNaney is fourth on the all-time saves list. With 11 in the game, he now has 567 for his career. Niko Amato (2011-14) is third on the list with 625 saves in his career.
- Daniel Maltz scored four goals to increase his career total to 118. He sits at No. 12 on the all-time list, passing Jim Wilkerson (1980-83). Grant Catalino (2008-10) is No. 11 with 119 career goals.
Dominating The Series
- Maryland owns a 63-20 all-time advantage over Duke, with the first meeting coming in 1940.
- The two former ACC foes have met in the NCAA Tournament eight times, with the Terps holding a 5-3 advantage.
- The last time the two teams met was also in the NCAA Tournament, the 2021 National Semifinals. The third-seeded Terps dominated en route to a 14-5 win behind five goals from Jared Bernhardt. The win sent the Terps to their sixth championship game in 10 years with coach John Tillman at the helm.
- The two teams have never met in the NCAA Quarterfinals. However, they have met in four separate semifinal games since 2011.
- The Terps won an outstanding 28 consecutive games in the series from 1955 to 1989.
Numbers To Know
- 1: Ryan Siracusa recorded his first career hat trick.
- 1: Luke Wierman is the program's leader in career faceoff wins and groundballs.
- 2: Wierman tied his single-game career-high with two goals.
- 3: Wierman has three multi-goal games in his career.
- 4: Siracusa scored a career-high four points.
- 7: Seven fourth-quarter goals are the most for the Terps in an NCAA Tournament game since scoring nine in the fourth quarter against Army in the 2004 first round of a 16-12 win.
- 7: Maryland scored a season-high seven goals in a quarter for the second week in a row, also scoring seven in the second quarter against Princeton last week.
- 7: Maryland's seven fourth-quarter goals were the most the Terps scored in any fourth quarter since scoring seven vs. Ohio State on April 16, 2022.
- 10: John Tillman has made 10 Final Fours as Maryland's head coach.
- 11: Wierman won 20 face-offs to give him his 11th career game with 20 or more wins in a game.
- 13: Daniel Maltz has scored a point in all 13 games he has appeared in this season.
- 14: Siracusa has scored a goal in 14 of 15 games this season.
- 15: Braden Erksa has 15 multi-goal games in his career.
- 19: Maltz has 19 career hat tricks.
- 21: This was Maryland's 21st consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
- 29: Maryland will make its 29th appearance in the Final Four.
Up Next
- Maryland will play the winner of No. 3 Johns Hopkins and No. 6 Virginia in the NCAA Semifinals on May 25 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The time of the game will be announced later and will be televised on ESPN2.
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