PRINCETON, NJ – No. 6 Maryland had outstanding efforts on both ends of the field as the Terps won at No. 4 Princeton, 11-5, in frigid temperatures at Class of 1952 Stadium. Freshman goalie Brian Ruppel made his collegiate debut in goal and made 14 saves to anchor a Terrapin defense that allowed just five goals. The 14 saves were the most by a Maryland freshman in his first-career start since Hall of Famer Brian Dougherty made 23 in his first start as freshman on May 4, 1993 vs. Towson State.
On offense, Daniel Maltz scored four goals and added an assist for five points. Jack Koras had three goals and a helper for four points. It was Koras' second game in a row with a hat trick and four points, to equal his career best.
Daniel Kelly also scored two goals, his third game in a row with multiple goals. Maryland's other goals came from Owen Murphy and Ryan Siracusa. The Terps were 3-of-6 on man-up with Kelly, Koras and Maltz scoring with the extra man
The Terps (3-1 overall) led throughout, taking a 2-0 lead in the first quarter and holding that lead throughout thanks to stellar defense. The third quarter proved to be the decisive one as the Terps outscored Princeton 7-2 over that 15-minute span with Koras and Maltz each scoring two in the period.
In front of Ruppel, the two-time C. Markland Kelly Award winner at Catonsville High School, the Terrapin defense was stout. Brett Makar had six groundballs and caused four turnovers. Ajax Zappitello had three caused turnovers while Jack McDonald had two caused turnovers and two groundballs.
Face-off man Luke Wierman won 13-of-20 and had a game-best nine groundballs. He moved to fifth in career groundballsat Maryland and now has 242. His 450 career face-off wins stand sixth all-time.
In a rematch of the 2022 NCAA Semifinals, Princeton suffered its first loss of the season and is now 2-1. Coulter Mackesyled the Tigers with three goals.
Tillman's Take
"Definitely not the cleanest game, but really proud of the guys and how hard they played. Obviously, shoutout to Brian, who played and started his first collegiate game. I thought he played incredibly well for a young guy, just a lot of poise, good decisions in the clearing game and timely saves when we needed them. That was huge."
Breaking Down The Action
Maltz!
Numbers To Know
Series History
Up Next
On offense, Daniel Maltz scored four goals and added an assist for five points. Jack Koras had three goals and a helper for four points. It was Koras' second game in a row with a hat trick and four points, to equal his career best.
Daniel Kelly also scored two goals, his third game in a row with multiple goals. Maryland's other goals came from Owen Murphy and Ryan Siracusa. The Terps were 3-of-6 on man-up with Kelly, Koras and Maltz scoring with the extra man
The Terps (3-1 overall) led throughout, taking a 2-0 lead in the first quarter and holding that lead throughout thanks to stellar defense. The third quarter proved to be the decisive one as the Terps outscored Princeton 7-2 over that 15-minute span with Koras and Maltz each scoring two in the period.
In front of Ruppel, the two-time C. Markland Kelly Award winner at Catonsville High School, the Terrapin defense was stout. Brett Makar had six groundballs and caused four turnovers. Ajax Zappitello had three caused turnovers while Jack McDonald had two caused turnovers and two groundballs.
Face-off man Luke Wierman won 13-of-20 and had a game-best nine groundballs. He moved to fifth in career groundballsat Maryland and now has 242. His 450 career face-off wins stand sixth all-time.
In a rematch of the 2022 NCAA Semifinals, Princeton suffered its first loss of the season and is now 2-1. Coulter Mackesyled the Tigers with three goals.
Tillman's Take
"Definitely not the cleanest game, but really proud of the guys and how hard they played. Obviously, shoutout to Brian, who played and started his first collegiate game. I thought he played incredibly well for a young guy, just a lot of poise, good decisions in the clearing game and timely saves when we needed them. That was huge."
Breaking Down The Action
- The Terps struck first as a result of a beautiful defensive play from Makar that led to a Kelly goal in transition. Murphy put the Terps ahead 2-0 with 50 seconds left at the end of the first quarter.
- Maltz scored off a feed from Murphy to make it 3-1 Terps with eight minutes left in the second quarter. The Terpsled 3-1 at halftime of a defensive game. Ruppel had eight saves in the first half in allowing just one Tiger goal.
- Maryland opened up the offense in the third quarter scoring seven goals to build a 10-3 lead after three. Maltz had three goals in the quarter and Jack Koras scored twice in the period.
- Princeton scored two goals in the fourth quarter and Koras finished the scoring with 2:15 left in the game for the 11-5 final.
- Maryland now has had a hat trick in 61 straight games dating back to February 2, 2019.
- Maltz had his hat trick of the season and first since scoring three vs. Johns Hopkins on May 8, 2021.
- Koras had his second hat trick in as many weeks.
Maltz!
- Maltz had his biggest game since April 18, 2021 against Ohio State when he also had four goals and an assist for five points.
- It was the seventh time in Maltz' career that he scored four goals in a game and first since that Ohio State game in 2021. He did it five times in the 2021 season, including five against Michigan in the season opener on Feb. 20, 2021.
- Maltz had multiple points in a game for the 27th time in his career and third this season. It was the 16th time Maltzhad multiple goals in a game and second this season.
- Ruppel became the first Maryland freshman to start in goal for the Terps since Logan McNaney started against Notre Dame on Feb. 29, 2020, making 10 saves in a win.
- Ruppel's 14 saves were the most by a freshman in his first-career start since Brian Dougherty made 23 vs. Towson on May 4, 1993. That was the 10th game of the season and Dougherty led Maryland to the NCAA Tournament.
- In addition to Maltz, here is the rundown of multiples for the Terps:
- Koras had his eighth career game with multiple points and fifth with multiple goals and second in a row with three goals and four points.
- Braden Erksa had two assists for the first time in his career. It was also his second game with multiple points this season as he had three points on two goals and an assist in the opener vs. Richmond.
- Kyle Long had two assists for 38th all-time game with multiple points and 21st with multiple assists.
- Kelly had his fifth career multiple point and fourth multiple goal game with two goals.
- Murphy's goal and assist for two points gave him 18th career multi-point game.
Numbers To Know
- 1: Dante Trader Jr. had his first college assist, a week after scoring twice.
- 2: Koras has scored three goals for two consecutive weeks, his first two career hat tricks.
- 4: Maltz scored four goals in a game for the seventh time in his career.
- 5: In holding Princeton to five goals, the Terps are now 117-11 when holding opponents to single-digits under John Tillman since 2011.
- 6: With six groundballs, Makar was one shy of his career-best of seven set in 2021.
- 10: The Terps are now 141-16 in games they score 10 or more goals since John Tillman took over in 2011.
- 14: The 14 saves by Ruppel were the most by a freshman in his first Maryland start since Hall of Famer Brian Dougherty made 23 in his first game on May 4, 1994 against Towson State.
- 22: Long extended his point-scoring streak to 22 games dating back to the 2021 season.
- 27: Wierman won double-figure face-offs for the 27th time in his career.
- 242: Wierman moved to fifth in career groundballs with 242, corralling nine in the game.
- 450: Wierman now has 450 career face-off wins, sixth-most in Maryland history.
Series History
- The Terps lead the all-time series with Princeton 34-12-1, a series that dates to 1927.
- Maryland has won six meetings in a row dating to 2006.
- Maryland won both of last season's meetings 15-11 in the regular-season College Park and 13-9 in the NCAA Semifinals.
Up Next
- The Terps will return home to host No. 3 Notre Dame at SECU Stadium on Saturday, March 4 at 1 pm. The game will be broadcast on B1G+.
