Charlie Raffa squirmed on the turf, kicking his legs and nursing his right arm close to his body.

Minutes earlier, Raffa, the Terrapins men’s lacrosse team’s all-American faceoff specialist, had walked onto that same Byrd Stadium field flanked by family members during a Senior Day ceremony. But with less than three minutes remaining in the first quarter of the Terps’ Saturday afternoon tilt against Penn State, Raffa lied writhing in pain as a pack of trainers sprinted over to him. Reserve faceoff specialist Jon Garino Jr. warmed up on the sideline, and a hush fell over the announced 4,052.

With the No. 3 Terps holding a 6-1 lead, Raffa recovered his own faceoff and rushed down the field. But as he launched a right-handed shot at the goal, Penn State defender Ryan Guittare stuck out his right shoulder and bumped into Raffa, stopping him in his tracks.

After Raffa walked off the field with the help of trainers, Garino went 8 of 10 the rest of the way, and the Terps picked up the 12-5 victory to extending their winning streak to eight games. But with four regular season games remaining before the Big Ten tournament begins April 30th, Raffa’s injury loomed large.

Coach John Tillman declined to comment on the specifics of the injury and said the team likely won’t release any forthcoming details in the near future. 

“It’s definitely tough seeing that, because I’ve played with Charlie for four years,” attackman Jay Carlson said. “It was tough seeing Charlie down just because you know he gives it his all, all the time.”

Raffa ranks fourth in program history with With 443 career faceoff wins. And as the Terps have made deep postseason runs with different pieces on offense and defense, the Syosset, New York, native has been a constant despite regularly batting injuries over the past few seasons.

Still, the Terps received solid play from Garino on Saturday and cruised to another blowout win.

“When you have Charlie in front of you, sometimes you can feel sorry for yourself, or just kind of wait for your turn,” Tillman said in reference to Garino, who has sat behind Raffa for two seasons.

Besides their 10-8 win over North Carolina March 21st, the Terps have won every game since Feb. 28th (a 12-3 win over Drexel) by at least seven goals.

Fresh off of a 13-4 thumping of Michigan last week, the Terps (9-1, 2-0 Big Ten) jumped on the Nittany Lions (3-7, 0-2) early, with attackmen Dylan Maltz, Carlson and Matt Rambo giving the Terps a 3-0 lead less than six minutes into a game.

Penn State midfielder Mike Sutton put the Nittany Lions on the board with a nifty spin move with 7:56 left in the quarter, but the Terps scored five more goals before the end of the quarter and never looked back.

“It definitely takes some pressure off us to see the offense put up eight goals so quickly,” defender Casey Ikeda said. “It makes [the defense] feel a little more at ease.”

The Nittany Lions started the game with man-to-man defense, before switching to a zone after the Terps got off to the hot start. The Terps cooled after the first period and didn’t score in the second. Still, with the big cushion from the first quarter, the Terps defense was able to fend of the conference foe.

Bernlohr (eight saves) led another dominant performance from the defense, which played without junior defender Matt Dunn for the third game in a row. Sutton notched a hat trick, but the Nittany Lions otherwise had trouble generating a rhythm.

In last year’s national semifinal against Notre Dame, Raffa sustained an injury that removed him from the game early in the third quarter after going 11 of 13 at the X. The Fighting Irish outscored the Terps, 5-2, in the second half and rolled to a win.

As the Terps moved towards the season’s homestretch, Tillman certainly hopes Raffa won’t experience the same fate as last year.

“Charlie has been a warrior,” Tillman said. “He’s used to throwing his body around and taking some big hits.”