No. 11 Maryland men’s lacrosse came into its matchup against No. 9 Penn State dominating the all-time series with a 43-2 all-time record and had never lost on the road. 

But history meant nothing in Saturday afternoon’s matchup. 

The Nittany Lions took a commanding lead early in the game. Maryland cut its deficit to just one in the fourth quarter, but Penn State responded with three goals of its own to beat Maryland 10-6 at Panzer Stadium. 

With three straight games against ranked teams to end the regular season, Maryland is in serious danger of missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2002. 

In 2025, the most losses from an at-large bid in the regular season was Duke’s four losses. Maryland has already that number, with four games left this year. Unlike Maryland the Blue Devils won five games against ranked teams, while Maryland has won zero so far in 2026.

Penn State opened the game dominating every facet of play. It had 16 shots to Maryland’s five in the first quarter alone. Chase Robertson had seven, converting for two goals.

The offensive pressure in the first half eventually led to lots of production from the Penn State attack. Stretching over the first and second quarters, the Nittany Lions scored five goals in a row. The attack was coming from all over the field with every goal being scored by a different player.

Powering the offensive attack was an overwhelming possession advantage for Penn State. Aided by a dominant first half on faceoffs, winning eight of 12 attempts, the Nittany Lions were able to pelt Brian Ruppel with shots. Despite Ruppel making seven saves, the sheer volume of attacks was too much to handle. 

On defense, Penn State goalie Preston Hawkins’s 14 saves were a career high. Hawkins posted a 70% save percentage and made several key saves that kept Maryland star Eric Spanos scoreless throughout the game.

Hawkins held Maryland to just one shot on multiple possessions. Aided by an elite defensive performance, the Terps’ offense struggled to find any rhythm on attack. The six goals Penn State allowed are the lowest of any team against Maryland so far this season.

Penn State continued its early faceoff dominance, carrying that momentum en route to winning 11 of 19 attempts. Maryland had been dominating faceoffs all season, but Penn State flipped the script on the Terps. 

Despite falling down early, Maryland took control of the game shortly after. The Terps scored the next four goals straight, narrowing the Penn State lead. 

Maryland’s offense was led by an unlikely source: AJ Larking. The senior’s two goals doubled his season total. Leo Johnson produced some offense of his own throughout the game, scoring once and assisting on two goals.

The Maryland defense held the Nittany Lions scoreless for 35 minutes. With Will Schaller not playing due to an ACL injury, Peter Laake led the way for the Terps backline.

The third quarter was when the defense really buckled down against Maryland, not allowing any points, and brought the game back within reach. Despite allowing 10 shots in the period, just three required saves from Ruppel.

Larkin’s second goal of the game cut the lead down to one goal late in the fourth quarter, but that would be the closest the game would get. 

Penn State took full control of the final six minutes of the game, as Mac Hobbs ended the scoring drought and took back the momentum off the game. The Nittany Lions would go on to score three straight goals to put an exclamation on an overall dominant performance. 

Maryland starts of Big Ten play with a loss, and after a matchup with unranked Michigan next week the schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Terps.