Though the Maryland men’s lacrosse team earned a comfortable 15-11 victory over Penn State on April 8, coach John Tillman was wary of his squad’s rematch Thursday with the Nittany Lions in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
The previous win came at Maryland Stadium on Senior Day, features the coach felt gave the Terps an extra advantage. During Thursday’s tilt in Columbus, Ohio, they didn’t have the same emotional push or home support.
Still, No. 1-seed Maryland shook off an uneven offensive showing to beat No. 4-seed Penn State, 8-6, and advance to the Big Ten tournament final. They’ll play the winner of Johns Hopkins vs. Ohio State on Saturday.
Attackman Matt Rambo entered the contest with points in 52 straight games, tied for the third-longest streak in the nation. And in his last meeting with Penn State, he scored four goals.
But he failed to record a point against the Nittany Lions and took just one shot on goal.
Without Rambo’s production, midfielder Connor Kelly stepped up with his second four-goal performance in a row. All of his finishes came in the second half, helping the Terps pull away following a shaky spell between the second and third quarters.
After just three minutes and 10 seconds, midfielder Tim Rotanz gave Maryland (11-3) a 2-0 lead when he caught a pass at the edge of the offensive zone, burst forward and faked a low shot before shooting over Penn State goalkeeper Colby Kneese.
But the Terps converted just two of their next 11 shots in the half. So while they held Penn State (12-3) to a single first-half goal, equaling their best defensive half this campaign, their offensive shortcomings caused them to enter intermission with a slim 4-1 advantage.
Kelly extended the Terps’ lead 19 seconds into the third quarter with a hard right-handed shot from the left wing. Penn State answered with three consecutive goals, however, including a one-handed catch and finish from attackman Mac O’Keefe that cut Maryland’s lead to 5-4 midway through the period.
But Kelly hit three straight long-range efforts to halt the run. His third strike in that stretch, which gave him four goals, put the squad up, 8-4.
While Penn State scored twice in the final three and a half minutes, the Nittany Lions could not recover from Kelly’s outburst, as the Terps will play for their second consecutive conference tournament championship.
