UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The #1-ranked and undefeated Maryland men's lacrosse team won its third Big Ten Tournament Championship on Saturday night at Panzer Stadium, rallying to beat Johns Hopkins, 12-10. The Terps (12-0) have captured the Big Ten Conference's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament as the bracket and seeding will be unveiled on Sunday night at 9 p.m., on ESPNU.
Kyle Long's goal with 5:34 left in the fourth quarter gave Maryland the lead for good at 10-9 as the Terps reeled off five goals in a row in the second half to rally from a 9-6 deficit early in the third quarter. Daniel Maltz scored a team-high three goals, including two in the decisive fourth quarter.
Jared Bernhardt was named the Tournament MVP after recording 10 goals and three assists for 13 points in the event.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
- Maryland won its third Big Ten Tournament title and first since 2017. The Terps' other title came in 2016.
- Overall, this is Maryland's 43rd men's lacrosse conference championship, including regular-season and tournament titles.
- This is Maryland's seventh conference tournament championship, winning the ACC Tournament four times (1998, 2004, 2005, 2011) in addition to the three Big Ten crowns (2016, 2017, 2021).
WINNING 'THE RIVALRY' THREE TIMES
- Maryland beat Johns Hopkins for the third time this season, winning twice in the regular-season, 18-10 on March 6 and 14-13 on April 24.
- This season marked the first time since The Rivalry started in 1924 that the teams played three times in the same season - with Maryland winning all three games.
- Johns Hopkins leads the all-time series 67-47-1.
- Maryland lost both of its previous meetings with Hopkins in the Big Ten Tournament with the Blue Jays eliminating Maryland in the Semifinals in both 2018 and 2019.
PERFECTION CONTINUES
- At 12-0, Maryland is off to its best start since after starting 12-0 in 1987. That season ended at 12-1 with a loss to Johns Hopkins in the NCAA Semifinals.
- Maryland has never started a season 13-0 as they would be able to do in the NCAA Tournament next week.
- The last time Maryland had an undefeated season was in 1973, when the NCAA Champion Terps went 10-0.
BERNHARDT CONTINUES TO RE-WRITE THE RECORD BOOK
- Tewaraaton Trophy favorite Jared Bernhardt etched his name atop another Maryland record on Saturday night. Bernhardt set the Maryland record for goals in a single-season with two in the game, surpassing Mark Douglas' record of 52 set in 1991. Bernhardt now has 53 and counting in 2021.
- Bernhardt set the record with his 53rd goal on a dart with 12:20 left in the first quarter.
- He added to his program record for career points with three and now has 266.
- His all-time program record for career goals is now 184 after tallying two against Hopkins. Bernhardt also holds the program record for goals per game with 4.42 per game.
BREAKING DOWN THE COMEBACK WIN
- Hopkins led by three goals on several occasions at 8-5 in the second quarter and 9-6 in the third quarter before the Terps mounted their comeback.
- Maryland reeled off five consecutive goals in the second half to complete the comeback.
- Long gave Maryland its first lead since 4-3 with 7:11 elapsed into the game, putting the Terps up 10-9 with 5:34 left in regulation - which proved to be the game-winning goal. Maltz tied the game at 9-9 with 11:17 left in the fourth quarter. Maltz' third goal of the game put the Terps up 11-9. Anthony DeMaio finished the scoring with a goal with 21 seconds left.
- In the third quarter, down 9-6, Maryland scored the final two goals of the quarter on tallies by Bernhardt and Bubba Fairman to trail 9-8 heading to the fourth quarter.
- Hopkins' Joey Epstein (three goals) scored the first two goals of the second quarter while holding Maryland off the scoreboard for nearly 15 minutes as the Jays were up 8-5 when Eric Holden scored his second goal of the season with 1:15 left in the first half to make it 8-6 at halftime.
- The teams traded three-goals runs in the first quarter as Hopkins led 3-1 after Jared Bernhardt opened the game's scoring. Then Maryland ripped off three goals to regain a 4-3 lead. The Jays came back with three goals to retake the advantage 6-4 with 2:35 left in the first quarter. Logan Wisnauskas' second goal of the game wrapped up the first quarter scoring with Hopkins leading 6-5.
DEFENSE BUCKLES DOWN
- After allowing six goals in the first quarter, the Terps' defense tightened up and allowed just two goals over the final 45 minutes and one in the final 44:01.
- That included a stretch of 27:17 of holding the Blue Jays without a goal for from 14:01 left in the third quarter until 1:44 was left in the fourth quarter.
WISNAUSKAS BACK ON THE SCORESHEET
- After seeing his goal-scoring streak end at 35 games in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinal, Logan Wisnauskas was back in the goal-scoring column with two goals in the game along with an assist for three points.
- Wisnauskas, who had four assists in that semifinal, now has points in 54 consecutive games, the third-longest active streak in the country.
- On the all-time lists, Wisnauskas stands fifth in career points with 221; sixth in career goals with 132.
- He moved to a tie for 12th on the all-time career assists lists as he now has 891, passing Ed Mullen (89) and tying Mike Hynes (91).
RACKING UP POINTS
- DeMaio had two goals and two assists for four points has he extended his point-scoring streak to 38 games.
- DeMaio now has 29 career multi-point games and 12 career multi-assist games.
- Kyle Long had that winning goal and two assists for his 19th multi-point game and 12th multi-assist game of his career.
