Reigning two-time Defensive Player of the Year Brett Makar’s Terrapins were in a battle as the first half was winding down. Up two and looking for some life, Makar joined the offense in transition and scored his second-career goal to send his bench into a frenzy en route to a 14-11 win over the Scarlet Knights.
Maryland played arch-rival Johns Hopkins last Saturday with a chance to earn the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. After a narrow 12-11 defeat, John Tillman and the Terps fell to No. 3 in the Big Ten, moving themselves out of a first round bye. Instead, the Terps hosted No. 6-seeded Rutgers in the quarterfinals.
Just two weeks ago, Maryland beat the Scarlet Knights 11-8 in Piscataway, NJ. After getting dominated by Penn State the following week, Rutgers entered College Park knowing a loss would likely end their season.
After a quiet, one point game in their first matchup of the season, Dan Kelly came out firing. The junior attackman scored the games opening goal, and posted his fourth hat trick of the season just 17 minutes into the game.
Erksa collected five assists while Daniel Maltz put two away to maintain the lead through the first half. Makar’s big goal with under a minute left in the second quarter, as well as tallies from Jack Koras and Zach Whittier along the way, sent the Terps into the locker room up 8-5.
“This whole year I’ve been trying to get one percent better everyday,” said Erksa. “Going through the season, getting more and more confident, trying to play my best lacrosse not only for myself, but for my teammates.”
Maryland’s defensive unit came out surging in the second half. Even with All-Big Ten defenseman Ajax Zappitello out with an injury, the Terps held Rutgers to no goals and just four attempted shots in the third quarter.
“You’re gonna see everything, and this is a year where we’ve just had more guys dinged up than last year,” said Tillman in response to the injuries this season. “Everything goes around and comes around, so you have to make the most of what you got.”
While the Terps were shutting the door on the defensive end, their offense stayed steady, scoring two goals in the third and one early in the fourth to bury the Scarlet Knights with a six goal lead.
Rutgers managed to stop the bleeding for a second with two quick goals to cut the lead to four, but Maryland followed with a 3-0 run in under three minutes to close Rutgers out.
The Knights went on to score a few goals late, but it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback as their season will likely end at the hands of the Terrapins.
A goal and six assists from Braden Erska, along with seven combined goals from Maltz and Kelly led the way for the Terps who will make the short trip to Homewood Field next Thursday to take on Johns Hopkins in the Big Ten Semifinals.
“Happy for our guys to get the win and to have another opportunity to continue in the tournament,” said Tillman. “We’re starting to look forward already with a quick turnaround and a lot of preparation to do before Thursday.
