Just a few weeks ago, No. 11 Maryland men’s lacrosse had its best performance of the season, dominating Rutgers on both sides of the ball. 

As the opening whistle blew for the Big Ten quarterfinals rematch between them, Henry Dodge won the opening face-off and sprinted straight down the field.

Dodge fired a pass to set up Leo Johnson, and just seven seconds in, Johnson buried the goal, giving Maryland a lead.

It would be a lead that would not be relinquished, and despite a late push by Rutgers to make it interesting, Maryland maintained its wire-to-wire lead to earn a 13-10 win at SECU Stadium and advance to the Big Ten tournament semifinals.

Specialists were the key to winning for the second time against the Scarlet Knights.

Maryland dominated face-offs, with Henry Dodge playing almost perfectly throughout the game.

Dodge won 12 of his 14 face-off attempts, good for a 85.7% win percentage. Despite being almost exclusively limited to winning face-offs all year, Dodge showed off some offensive ability throughout the game.

The senior claimed ground balls from his own face-off wins and sparked offense downfield, aiding a Terps offense that has struggled in set attack this season.

Maryland won 20-of-27 face-offs. Jonah Carrier had a solid performance despite not being on the level of Dodge.

“It gives us a lot of confidence knowing we’re gonna keep getting the ball and keep getting opportunities,” Leo Johnson said. “They give us a lot of confidence on both sides of the ball.”

Continuing his specialist prowess, Brian Ruppel was great. The senior goalie got off to an amazing start, saving the first seven shots he faced. Ruppel’s production slowed down later in the game, but he finished with 11 saves and a 52.4% save percentage. 

Playing off Ruppel’s excellent start, Maryland’s defense looked to be on its way to another great performance against the Scarlet Knights. After allowing just two goals in the first meeting, the Terps continued that dominance into a shutout first quarter. 

“I thought [Ruppel] started super hot tonight,” head coach John Tillman said. “I thought he was huge for us, because he kind of bailed us out early.”

The defense struggled and some cracks started to show in the second quarter, allowing four goals. It bounced back from the poor second quarter and looked to be in control again, but the Scarlet Knights again started to spark some offense. Rutgers scored three straight goals in the fourth quarter to cut the lead down to just two.

Despite allowing double-digit goals for the first time since the opening game of Big Ten play, Maryland’s defense did enough to hold on to the win.

On the other side of the ball, it was the opposite script, with the attack starting slowly.

Being able to create offense has been one of the Terps biggest struggles all year and that looked like it would be the case again after a bad first half on attack.

Shot quality was low, with just 15 of Maryland’s 27 first-half shots being on goal. Even when the Terps got shots on goal, not all of them had a real chance to beat Cardin Stoller. Stoller feasted against the Terps’ offense early, making nine saves in the first half.

This changed in the third quarter.

Maryland found its rhythm on offense, scoring twice in the first six minutes. The Terps’ attackers forced Stoller to make tough saves, but he failed, recording just one save in the third quarter. 

The Terps continued their attacking prowess throughout the second half, scoring seven total goals. When the defense started to falter, the offense scored three goals in the final four minutes to stamp the win. The 13 goals Maryland produced are tied for the third most they have scored all season.

“I think the mindset, obviously, is similar [to last matchup] but more about shooting our best shots,” Johnson said. “Just kind of seeing what each other’s doing and shooting off that.”

In a game where the defense didn’t necessarily come through in the end, it could prove crucial that Maryland has experience closing a game out with its offense.

Maryland will face Penn State in the semifinals, the team it had its most lopsided loss to in the regular season.