Maryland men’s lacrosse dominated with four goals in transition during its regular-season win over Penn State. Coach John Tillman said he expected the Nittany Lions to take away that aspect of the Terps’ attack in the rematch.
Penn State did exactly that. Maryland didn’t score in transition.
But attacker Daniel Kelly’s career-high five goals led a strong performance from the Terps’ half-field offense. Maryland defeated Penn State, 10-8, at U-M Lacrosse Stadium on Thursday to advance to the Big Ten championship.
“[Daniel Kelly] had a great game,” Tillman said. “All those goals were critical, but man, especially in the fourth when he got his hands free, those were huge for us.”
Kelly’s biggest scores came uncovered from the outside — his signature spot — to give the Terps a late lead after they blew a four-goal advantage. Maryland’s defense was under constant pressure, especially in the second half.
The Nittany Lions had 20 more shots as the Terps won only 22 percent of faceoffs. That was despite Colby Baldwin, Penn State’s primary faceoff, not playing due to injury.
“I thought their wing play was better,” Tillman said. “There were times where when a ball goes down [on a faceoff], we’re equal on hands, but then you gotta get the ball out. I thought at times today, we just didn’t exit very clean or efficiently.”
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The Nittany Lions scored four times in the span of six minutes in the third quarter. Senior Matt Traynor, the Big Ten leader in points per game, created openings after being held scoreless in the opening half. The midfielder tied the game with a behind-the-back score after cutting to the side of the cage.
But goalkeeper Logan McNaney gave up only two goals in the fourth quarter.
The graduate student saved 10 of 18 shots on goal after allowing a career-high 19 scores in last season’s postseason loss to Penn State. He corralled multiple saves on point-blank shots in the first half to help build a lead that largely came through the Terps’ success at the X.
Junior Braden Erksa opened the scoring when he dashed from behind the cage and drilled a low shot. Later in the frame, the attacker tried a similar maneuver before being swarmed. Erksa responded with a one-handed pass for an open goal — an encouraging sign for the conference leader in turnovers per game.
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Kelly rarely plays at the X, but proved his ability there to complete a first-half hat trick.
The fifth-year attacker received the ball behind the cage with less than 10 seconds on the shot clock in the closing minutes of the first half. With a short-stick defender on him, Kelly dashed to the side of the cage and drilled a shot to extend the Terps’ lead.
“If you’re going to short-stick him, you deal with some different things,” Tillman said. “Whether it’s how well he dodges, how well he picks, how well he frees up his teammates. He doesn’t need a lot of space.”
Kelly’s two late scores, along with McNaney’s ability to resettle after a disastrous stretch, helped the Terps avoid a catastrophic collapse. The veterans have both been with Maryland since at least 2021 — their postseason experience in challenging spots proved vital on Thursday.
“I never felt the guys getting jammed up or panicking at all,” Tillman said.
