A Little Rain Doesn't Stop the Terps in 11-7 Upset of Syracuse

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The Maryland men’s lacrosse team stampeded toward goalie Logan McNaney as the buzzer sounded and rain poured down at SECU Stadium.

The drenched crowd roared as Daniel Kelly saluted his teammates for a job well done against No. 2 Syracuse.

“This ain’t the Dome,” he exclaimed as more clouds rolled over the horizon. “It ain’t 70 and sunny in College Park.”

It may have been a playful jab, but Kelly was correct. The ingredients for fireworks were not in the cards, for Saturday at the University of Maryland — where sleet turned into rain that continued throughout the afternoon — two top-10 teams battled it out in a rematch of one of games of the year in 2024.

The heavyweight battle lacked the same entertainment value, but it provided a blueprint for how Maryland has won so many games in the past 15 years under coach John Tillman.

In a game in which Syracuse outshot Maryland, made the same number of saves and lost just one fewer faceoff, it was the Terps that limited mistakes and cashed in on opportunities en route to an 11-7 victory.

The Maryland defense locked in throughout the first half, with five caused turnovers and several contested shots. In the second half, Eric Spanos helped ignite a balanced offense that scored on two man-up opportunities.

“[The win was] huge,” Spanos said. “We know what we have in our locker room, and we know what we’re capable of. We can do whatever we want with the guys in our locker room.”

Ultimately, the stat sheet shows no clear standout players for Maryland — something with which Tillman is perfectly fine. Eight different players scored, and six different Terps recorded a caused turnover in the winning effort.

On paper, this might not be the most star-studded of Tillman’s Maryland teams, but it proved Saturday that, as a unit, it stacks up with any team in the country.

“Maybe we don’t have that one dominant guy, but we have enough,” Tillman said. “We need to know our formula. We need to be fundamentally sound. That’s who we are, and we’re not going to rely on one guy. To me, that’s a fun thing. Today, we had some really good efforts.”

Syracuse took a 5-4 halftime lead on 21 shots but went just 2-for-20 in the second half despite entering the matchup ninth in Division I with a 36.4 shot percentage. Coach Gary Gait said it’s possible the weather played a role in the poor shooting day, but he thinks it’s more likely a combination of missed opportunities and a solid Maryland defense.

“Maryland executed their gameplan almost to perfection,” Gait said. “They just played great team defense. … They were opportunistic, making plays. They did a better job of scoring a goal when they needed to, getting a ground ball when they needed it. Everything was even, but their players made plays.”

Maryland took the halftime deficit and turned it around with a 4-1 third quarter, when it felt like every bounce, every ground ball and every game-deciding play went the Terps’ way. Tillman made his team practice in adverse conditions throughout the week in preparation for the expected weather — an advantage that might have paid dividends.

“We were slipping and sliding, but we wanted to get our guys used to it,” Tillman said. “There was no other way to mimic it other than to throw these guys out there.”