The Maryland lacrosse team has been one of the hottest teams in the country over the last month.
However, after dropping last Saturday’s game to Ohio State, the Terrapins need to get back on track against Johns Hopkins.
The college lacrosse world has seen several different teams sit atop the polls this season. At times, we’ve seen Denver, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse, and even Maryland hold the No. 1 ranking.
The Terps held the top spot in the second and third weeks of the season. However, back-to-back losses to Notre Dame and Villanova really set them back.
Following that wake-up call, Maryland ripped off a five-game winning streak. During that time, the Terps defeated a pair of top five teams in Albany and Penn State.
Maryland also topped a very stingy Rutgers squad in triple overtime on April 16.
The biggest challenge could be in Maryland’s season finale when Johns Hopkins will come to College Park.
The Blue Jays are still in the mix for at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title. The Terps could’ve wrapped it up with a win over Ohio State, but now it’s very crowded at the top of the conference.
Maryland will be looking for their second consecutive victory over Johns Hopkins. The Terps were victorious in last year’s meeting by an 11-8 decision, which was fueled by a four-point outing from midfielder Bryan Cole.
Johns Hopkins comes into Saturday evening’s contest winners of four of their last five games. The Blue Jays thumped Michigan 19-8 at Homewood Field last Saturday afternoon.
The Blue Jays’ offense may not be quite as lethal as the Terps. However, Johns Hopkins scores 12.5 goals-per-game and despite Ryan Brown having graduated, they still possess a talented scoring trio of attackmen Kyle Marr and Shack Stanwick, and midfielder Joel Tinney.
Marr may present the biggest issue for the Maryland defense. The sophomore attackman has an absolute cannon and doesn’t hesitate in the slightest when the ball ends up cradled in his stick.
The Terps haven’t had too many issues slowing down opposing teams’ starpower. They cause 6.8 turnovers-per-game and the Blue Jays cough it up 9.8 times per contest.
Being that this is Maryland’s final regular season contest, it’s extremely important to gain some positive momentum heading into the Big Ten Tournament. The Terps ended up winning the annual conference tournament last season by defeating Rutgers 14-8.
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Getting hot at the right time often becomes a huge deal heading into the NCAA Tournament. Maryland will need to beat Johns Hopkins and the Big Ten Tournament certainly won’t be any easier, so they’re going to need all the mojo that they can acquire.