No. 2 Maryland men’s lacrosse entered Saturday with the bar set high after last weekend’s dominant home win over Syracuse.

The Terps traveled to No. 5 Princeton to face yet another top offense in the country — a rematch of last year’s NCAA Tournament matchup, in which the Terps took down the Tigers. 

Princeton’s offense surged in the opening minutes, but Maryland bounced back from the early deficit for an eventual come from behind win, 13-9, in convincing fashion.

The Terps controlled the opening faceoff to retain the game’s first possession. Zach Whitter scored seconds later on Maryland’s first offensive possession — providing Maryland with a one-score lead. 

But it wouldn’t last long. 

Princeton’s high powered offense answered right back, providing the equalizer on its first offensive possession of the game with a goal from Tucker Wade. 

It added another minutes later. Coulter Mackesy scored his sixth goal of the season, putting Princeton ahead, 2-1. 

The home offense erupted for three straight unanswered first-quarter goals, extending its lead to two.

“Give Princeton credit, they came out, they executed, they were just a step faster,” coach John Tillman said.

Maryland’s faceoff group has combined for over a 60 percent win rate this season. But the trend didn’t last early into Saturday — Princeton won the first five of six faceoff opportunities to begin the game.

The Terp offense improved their attack pace to close the first quarter. Matthew Keegan netted his first goal of the game, followed by a goal by Aidan Aitken’s first score of the season. The red-hot scoring was extended with a goal from attackmen Daniel Kelly — earning the road lead back in a back-and-forth first half.

“Winning on the road is hard,” Kelly said. “We try and come out here, play hard, execute the game plan and we did that today.”

It proved to be all Maryland in the second quarter, as the Terps rolled on all three phases of the field. A straightaway goal by Jack Schultz, along with a second score by Whittier, made it six unanswered to close out the half. 

After 20-plus minutes of limited offense, Princeton’s Colin Burns got the Tigers back in the scoring column to start the second half, cutting the deficit back to three goals. 

Another Princeton score minutes later by Nate Kabiri cut the deficit back to just two against a backpedaling Maryland defense. 

But a rough first half for Spanos, the former Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week netted his first goal of the game, extending the Terp advantage back to four by the end of the third period.

Maryland held onto the advantage throughout the remainder of the final quarter, securing the road win to extend Tillman’s career record against Princeton to 8-0. 

“To go on the road and beat a good team, I’m proud of our guys,” Tillman said. “Last week’s over. You gotta reset. You realized you’re going on the road and playing a really good team, and I thought our leaders all week were good about that.”

Maryland looks to continue its red-hot play next week in Atlanta, Georgia, for a neutral-site, 2024 National Championship rematch against Notre Dame at 1 p.m.