After dropping its last two games against Syracuse and Princeton, No. 9 Maryland Men’s lacrosse (1-2) has a perfect bounce-back opportunity — No. 2 Notre Dame.
Despite it being just February, Saturday’s matchup has massive implications for a Maryland team that started the season ranked No. 1.
Maryland holds a narrow 10-9 lead in the all-time series, but head coach John Tillman is only 6-8 against the Fighting Irish in his time at Maryland.
In the most recent matchup between the two teams, Maryland came away with a dramatic one-goal victory over then-No. 1 Notre Dame. The Terps now look to take down the highly ranked Fighting Irish for the second season in a row.
Notre Dame Preview
Notre Dame (3-0) has dominated to start its season. The Fighting Irish have won all three of their games by an average of 10 goals, including a 19-goal victory against Bellarmine.
Leading the offense is attacker Josh Yago. Coming off a career high in points last season, the Air Force transfer, Yago, has made an immediate impact with the Fighting Irish. He leads the team with 13 points and nine goals.
Two other players are in double figures with points already this season. True freshman attacker Teddy Lally — who was the No. 6 player in the 2025 recruiting class — has scored 11 points despite not starting a game this season. Junior attacker Brock Behrman has tallied 10 points and already surpassed his seven total points in 2025.
Holding down the defense for Notre Dame is 2025 All-ACC goalkeeper Thomas Ricciardelli. Ricciardelli’s start hasn’t been as strong as his production a season ago. He has saved just 47.8% of the shots he faced. The Fighting Irish’s dominant offense has kept Ricciardelli from being tested too heavily.
Maryland’s offense faltered in its losses to Syracuse and Princeton, but Ricciardelli will need to return to his 2025 form to keep the likes of Eric Spanos and Leo Johnson off the board.
Will Maryland Bounce Back?
Maryland has not started a season 1-2 since 2016, when they also started with a postponed game and a win in the opener before dropping the next two.
Still, the Terps rattled off 16 straight wins that season, but ultimately fell to North Carolina in the national championship game.
Lots will need to be fixed on both sides of the ball for the Terps to repeat that streak. Maryland has a chance to get that season’s comeback started against top-ranked Notre Dame, with the win going a long way toward restoring hopes of a championship.
Maryland would fall to 1-3 with a loss, something that seemed unfathomable given the sky-high expectations given to the Terps at the start of the season.
